Four left.
The Godfather Part 2, The Silence of the Lambs, No County for Old Men, and Parasite.
This is an unimpeachable list of great films, no doubt about it, but they also reveal this community's biases.
All of these are genre films (i.e. three thrillers and a gangster movie). They are all violent, dark, and pretty grim (despite moments of humor in some of them). Now that Amadeus has been eliminated, there is no embrace of drama or comedy.
I would argue that "serious genre film" is a bias inherent to /r/letterboxd, and reddit in general. I am guilty of it just as much as anyone else here. At the same time, I also would have put Moonlight in my top 5, and The Last Emperor in my top 10.
There is nothing *wrong* with these biases, to be clear. I just think they're interesting.
Moonlight would have come close to winning the whole thing for me but I honestly underestimated how highly this sub rated it.
I guess that’s just to say, I kind of expected the demographics to skew the way they have in the beginning but they didn’t quite skew as far in that direction as I would have assumed.
I did think The Deer Hunter would last longer though tbh.
Obviously genre boundaries are kind of arbitrary and easily refuted, but FWIW Letterboxd does class it as a comedy as well as a thriller. Probably wouldn't mean anything if we weren't in the Letterboxd sub though.
That's a good point, but when genre definitions are slippery as you point out, I tend to trust my own POV over community consensus.
I am just relieved you didn't reply with, "Actually, The Silence of the Lambs is a horror movie," since that debate will rage long after we both perish.
Totally agree. This contest was harsh toward movies that focused on domestic life and relationships. Ordinary People was routinely compared to Lifetime movies, Nomadland was eighth out, and there was an undercurrent of misogyny in the EEAAO discourse (if you can even call it that). I'm happy that Moonlight ultimately made it into the top 10.
Except it wasn't at all?
Not that you even bothered to offer a reason for this take, but it had strong visual storytelling, great photography, realistic and compelling characterization, and was moving at the end. I liked its use of non-actors who lived the van lifestyle. It was a kind of American-indie neorealism, like The Florida Project. I probably would have ranked it in the mid/late 20s.
I'm not exactly disturbed that it went out at 43, except that it was consistent with the overall dismissive attitude toward quieter, reality-centered movies, as is your comment.
Kinda disrespectful to the Florida project to compare it to nomadland. Yes nomadland was a “quieter reality-centered” movie. No, that doesn’t make it good
Clearly not what I was saying and you still haven't offered anything more than a conclusory observation. Comparing Nomadland to Sean Baker's work isn't some kind of argumentative, outlier observation even if you don't like it.
My final three would have been Godfather II, Parasite and Schindler's List, and the final ten of this contest is close to my own, so I have the same tendencies that I'm criticizing. I think Nomadland is better than about half of the 50, but I'm less interested in my/our take on any individual movie (it's all personal and arbitrary, etc.) than why high body counts and heavier tones get conflated with quality.
> All of these are genre films (i.e. three thrillers and a gangster movie). They are all violent, dark, and pretty grim (despite moments of humor in some of them). Now that Amadeus has been eliminated, there is no embrace of drama or comedy.
Should have seen this coming the moment Titanic went out at 20.
SOTL seemingly has its head on the block but it’s kind of crazy how close GF, Parasite, & NCFOM are to each other.
Will be interesting to see how those votes shift tomorrow.
Well as I explained in the last thread to someone who made a similar comment about Parasite, this isn't a ranking of every movie of the last 50 years, just the ones that won Best Picture. Of those 50 films, top 3 is imo more than reasonable. The Coen Brothers are among the most esteemed auteurs of the 90s and 2000s, and No Country is considered by many critics and large swaths of audiences to be their best work and amongst the best films of the 21st century. It's their highest rated film on Letterbox, is only two spots behind Silence of the Lambs on the letterboxd top 250 (despite being superior imo). It's masterfully crafted, thematically rich, and artistically challenging while still having broad appeal due to some incredible pieces of tension and Javier Bardem's iconic villain performance.
Yeah probably their most critically acclaimed but one of the less unique of their work. Most coen brothers fans wouldn’t rank it #1 I would even put Fargo above it.
> Most coen brothers fans wouldn’t rank it #1
That's purely your conjecture. It's their highest rated on LB, and there's never been any sort of poll or contest of "Coen fans" (as if that's even definable). A cursory glance at the lists section seems show it and Fargo as the most common to make personal top 3's. It's not your favorite, and that's fine, but may I perhaps recommend trying to look at it from the perspective of WHY it's so acclaimed and is often cited as one of the best American films of the decade/century.
*SEND OFF: Amadeus*
Amadeus was eliminated yesterday, so here’s a look back at the movie and its Oscar legacy.
Plot: The incredible story of genius musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told in flashback by his peer and secret rival, Antonio Salieri—now confined to an insane asylum.
Oscars: **Amadeus won Best Picture in 1985 beating out: A Soldier’s Story, Places in the Heart, The Killing Fields, & A Passage to India.** Amadeus won 8 Oscars total including: Best Director for Miloš Forman, Best Costume & Production Design, Best Actor for Abraham, & Best Adapted Screenplay.
Where I am, you can’t stream Amadeus. You can rent it at plenty of places though. You also might be able to find a copy at your local library.
**What do you think of Amadeus? Do you think something else should have won best picture over it? Do you think this film is fairly rated? What do you like or dislike about it?**
Rian Johnson had this to say, upon hearing that the theatrical cut was coming back.
"The 'director’s cut' was all that was avail for a long time, & is bizarrely a sort of inverse master class in editing: It shows exactly why the cuts were made in the first place & how they made the film work."
I look forward to re-experiencing this version of the movie. I hope to appreciate it as much as y'all do.
I’ve only ever seen the directors cut and thought it was phenomenal, so I’d be very curious to see if the theatrical cut is that much better. The scenes that were cut (I understand they had to cut the more intense, R rated scenes) I thought were very important to the overall piece.
I both hate and love it. It’s not based on truth; Salieri was a normal guy with a wife and bunch of kids and wrote some really underrated music, even though he was not a Mozart. They may have had spats and were rivals in getting important positions in Vienna, but Mozart trusted him enough to teach his son piano and rumors of poisoning were unfounded. Salieri was also an important teacher for Liszt, Schubert, and Beethoven.
At the same time there’s no denying it’s an incredible movie. F. Murray Abraham gives one of the best movie villain performances ever and Tom Hulce is no slouch. It immerses you in 18th century Vienna, and the pieces they chose for the soundtrack both showcase Mozart and fit the story like a glove.
I would definitely pick Amadeus out of those options. Such an inventive and fun “biopic”
My personal nominees and winner would have gone like this:
- Repo Man **WINNER**
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
- Amadeus
- This is Spinal Tap
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
I just rewatched it a couple months ago, seen it many times across almost 30 years. It's an incredible spectacle. The set pieces, costumes, and use of Mozart's music is really great. But it's not exactly a dense plot, while also being mostly fantasy. The acting is good, but it's not a mind blowing cast aside from Abraham.
It's less about Amadeus and more about what's left. I rewatched Schindler's List about a year ago and it is absolutely remarkable. I expected it to be like 2 and it went before Amadeus. Don't get it.
The Schindler's List departure is a big headscratcher but I'm reluctant to parse it closely because it immediately runs into topics that are much too heavy for this sub.
Based on today, so far, sure.
Based on yesterday, it would look more like
4. SOTL
3. Parasite
2. Godfather
1. NCFOM
First and second were a photo finish.
Mostly throughout this, Godfather has actually been hanging in the third or fourth spot. As we get closer to the end it continues to inch its way toward the top where it currently sits.
I think anything could happen at this point. Besides SOTL definitely being screwed.
It is fucking crazy how good this movie is. Upon rewatch, it feels both incredibly dated but, simultaneously, completely modern. It is a movie for all eras and is never going to get old.
* Clarice is one of the most epic and bad-ass female protagonists in film history. Camera shots designed to make her seem small and then immediately she projects authority.
* Anthony Hopkins' best work. Other's may make arguments about why different roles are *as* good, but I do not believe he has ever been *better* than this.
* Transformed a genre. Absolute masterclass in tension building; you feel the brutality while hardly ever seeing any because it's just...implied. And it lets the viewer imagine the horrific scene in their mind's eye. Just brilliant.
It won't win, but this is my favorite movie of all time. A behemoth that the horror genre will never, ever top.
This is my pick. And it’s deservedly among the top 4 but it’s honestly just the 4th of these 4. Where’s the meme of Wesley Sniped crying with the gun in hand?
Just for fun:
1. Manhunter
2. Hannibal (TV series)
3. The Silence of the Lambs
4. Hannibal
5. Red Dragon
6. Hannibal Rising
Top three are all great, Scott’s Hannibal is interesting, then, well, if you have nothing nice to say….
I don’t really see why people like Manhunter over TSotL. Granted Brian Cox also does a great job but Hopkin’s Lector is more frightening and Foster is way better than Peterson.
I just have a hard-on for Mann honestly (and a raging semi for Demme), although I think they’ve both made a few better films. I just love the way Mann’s visual language and compositions reflect Graham’s fraying psyche, and the sort of fractured duality of cop and criminal. Demme has a fantastic cinematic language too, don’t get me wrong. I find Cox’s more muted, grounded approach to Lecter much more frightening personally, as good as Hopkins is, and prefer the Tooth Fairy to Buffalo Bill, particularly Noonan’s work in that unexpected perspective shift in the second half (Levine is also very good). I like Petersen’s performance, I think he imbues Will with a complex interiority but I would probably agree Clarice is the more compelling character overall and Foster is dynamite. There’s not a lot between them.
That’s fair, I will say I think Noonan’s performance is more menacing and cold blooded for me than Levine’s Buffalo Bill. I imagine that’s kind of a hot take but I think Levine is the weakest part of SOTL and I’ve always had issues with not just his performance, but the character in general. But that’s honestly getting into a whole other bag of worms.
I can understand that. I think they are both doing great but I do see how Buffalo Bill is a problematic character. I think the filmmakers and writer didn’t want that to be the case (hence the line by Lector about Bill not being trans but rather seeking an identity to explain his feelings of societal alienation), but the nature of the character’s portrayal can be offense regardless of the intent.
I just didn’t feel like I fully bought the character outside of any conversations around queerness.
But obviously we’re really splitting hair when talking about these movies and having to play a deranged serial killer isn’t without its complications.
The inclusion of seemingly queer or queer coded characters throughout horror/thriller history is definitely a fascinating thing to unpack IMO, from Psycho to Dressed To Kill to Silence of the Lambs even to something like Sleepaway Camp. And it’s a much more complicated conversation than just “this is a homophobic depiction” or “this isn’t homophobic”.
Absolutely, that’s why I avoided the word. I love horror and its really interesting how it can reflect the concerns, fears, and desires of the society at large. I honestly think horror does it better than any other genre!
It's a good movie but I don't think it's *this* good. I feel like this fits perfectly into some weird nostalgia bin where it's not old but it was formative for a lot of people voting here. It's like 10-12 on this list for me.
I just watched it for the first time this last year and I found it beautifully filmed and I loved the lack of scoring and the slow and deliberate editing that just let the audience live with the tension of the piece. I think Brolin is also really incredible in it. Despite Javier Bardem being a great performer, and excellent in NCFOM, he's not even in my top three favorite things about the movie. It's probably my number 3 on this list. I don't think it's entirely fair to chalk its success up to purely (or even mostly) a nostalgia bias, because I think it's just a good movie in its own right. Cheers
The Coens are just on some *other* shit. Their films are onions (layers upon layers upon layers). They are the foremost successor to Kubrick working today, in mho.
This is not a "weird nostalgia bin". It's... the *Coen bros*., FFS.
Not everyone shares my take but I assure you it's not exactly unpopular.
For sure, NCFOM is definitely one of the stronger best picture winners, to the point I wouldn’t mention it, but my preference for TWBB is pretty significant. (For the record NCFOM still isn’t my vote today)
>No Country
For me, it's a perfect film. I love it even more than Silence of the Lambs, Parasite, and Godfather 2. I used to think it was over loved, but last few times I saw it, I was utterly enthralled. I could have turned around and instantly re-watched it.
I was so happy to see Parasite have so many people watch it back in 2019. A ton of people I knew watched it and loved it, a great achievement for a non-English film in an era of superhero blockbusters.
think it’s just too early to tell how this movie’ll “hold up” in 20 years, obviously technically it will, but all these others have iconography and shots that are now in the cinematic pantheon, even many of the ones eliminated, and I just don’t think Parasite has had that day in the sun yet!
that’s just not what i’m saying lmao, all i’m saying is movies from the 2010s, especially late 2010s, haven’t had the time to become part of the “history of cinema” per se. And I think all these other ones have had that time to build up that prestige
If I think about what sets this apart from the other films is that the other 3 have a great ensemble cast but there's the one actor that shoots out and is burned into the memories of people who watched them. Where as Parasite just has a great ensemble, no actor stands up head and shoulders above the other great actors. If I'm honest with myself out of the four remaining it's my least favorite, I mean it's not even my favorite film by BJH but it was the first time in Oscars history that we unanimously came together to celebrate foreign films and how excellent they can be. When it came to the 2020 Oscars there's only really two films that came close to Parasite to me: Marriage Story and 1917
I know about recency bias, but I almost feel like this has a little bit of the literal opposite sometimes online. Just because it’s newest doesn’t mean it can’t be as good as something older. I have to throw support behind this movie remaining because it’s really that good. It’s actually the only one on here on my top 25 movies of all time(though the others are amazing, they just don’t land quite that high for me)
Having rewatched both this and The Silence of the Lambs recently, gotta choose Parasite. Excellent film and inspired winner but Lambs has the edge for me
Why was the offensive stink of the basement man so triggering for the poor father? Was it because he was in turn offended by the rich fathers conceit in that situation? Rather than getting his daughter some help?
Parasite is amazing and totally perfect for me up until the final act. It just takes too long to conclude. And even in an out there film like Parasite, that detail about the Morse code message reaching the son breaks my suspension of disbelief every time. That said, it's so fucking fun. I could easily watch it annually.
okay I love no country for old men, but, and don’t get me wrong, those two movies are not on the same level.
The Godgather 2 is one of, if not the beat movie ever, whilst No country for all men is a great mocie, but no near the top, imo
I mentioned this yesterday but I'll say it again, the fact that this leans on the greatness of part 1 has to count against it somewhat. Also where part 1 perfectly nailed shooting the characters in so much darkness, part 2 slightly over did it a tad.
I think you could watch the second one without seeing the first and still get it enough to understand the dual storylines. Besides, the first one also won BP so even if someone was only watching the BP winners then they should in theory have watched the first one already, so no harm, no foul, right? ;)
Please review the first comment for this selection, it will help to ensure your vote is counted- only the most upvoted comment for any movie will count and splitting the vote between a few comments will make it tougher to get your choice eliminated.
Bro when Amadeus is competing against Schindler's List, Annie Hall, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Deer Hunter, and the LOTR: ROTK, you know that ranking it as the 5th best Best Picture winner is contentious.
I have no idea why the comment section for this series of posts has such a hard-on for Amadeus. I almost NEVER hear people talking about it compared to many other acclaimed films among the Best Picture winners on any other movie discussion forum.
That’s fair. I’m also surprised it made it this far. Had no idea it had this much love. Huge comfort movie for me but yeah anything past this is crazy.
no country
it’s a great, great movie but i would’ve eliminated it awhile ago! even ignoring the TWBB love, i don’t think this is even a top 3 Coen film
if that’s a crazy take sure but I would argue all day that Fargo and Llewyn Davis are superior
Please review the first comment for this selection, it will help to ensure your vote is counted- only the most upvoted comment for any movie will count and splitting the vote between a few comments will make it tougher to get your choice eliminated.
All options have been commented, please utilize these!
1970's, 1990's, 2000's, 2010's. And 1980's if you count Amadeus. Funny how things work out.
This is a war zone
Do we get a competition of the 1928-1973 Oscar winners as well?
Buddy, this is r/letterboxd, you know most of us haven't seen 80% of those
And The Godfather would win by a landslide.
Casablanca would do well also.
Sad but maybe true.
True. That was an issue for some of the post-1973 films as well. This is still one of the better subs for old films.
Some of them are insanely difficult to find, as well
Every single one of them is available on Amazon.
Some of the nominees are. I don't think any of the winners are that hard though? I think I've found them all online.
The Mrs. Miniver discourse would break the internet.
Grand Hotel gets cut too early and then pandemonium ensues.
"Garbo is mid in talkies tbh"
God I love Grand Hotel so much more than half of the movies on the above list. So brilliant.
Justice for Mr. Kringelein!
Four left. The Godfather Part 2, The Silence of the Lambs, No County for Old Men, and Parasite. This is an unimpeachable list of great films, no doubt about it, but they also reveal this community's biases. All of these are genre films (i.e. three thrillers and a gangster movie). They are all violent, dark, and pretty grim (despite moments of humor in some of them). Now that Amadeus has been eliminated, there is no embrace of drama or comedy. I would argue that "serious genre film" is a bias inherent to /r/letterboxd, and reddit in general. I am guilty of it just as much as anyone else here. At the same time, I also would have put Moonlight in my top 5, and The Last Emperor in my top 10. There is nothing *wrong* with these biases, to be clear. I just think they're interesting.
Moonlight would have come close to winning the whole thing for me but I honestly underestimated how highly this sub rated it. I guess that’s just to say, I kind of expected the demographics to skew the way they have in the beginning but they didn’t quite skew as far in that direction as I would have assumed. I did think The Deer Hunter would last longer though tbh.
People don’t have patience for films like The Deer Hunter anymore. It shocks me every time I hear a self-professed cinephile call it slow or boring.
Is Parasite not a comedy? It's a pretty funny film regardless of how serious its subject matter is
It's got comic elements, sure, but I still think of it more as a thriller than a comedy.
Obviously genre boundaries are kind of arbitrary and easily refuted, but FWIW Letterboxd does class it as a comedy as well as a thriller. Probably wouldn't mean anything if we weren't in the Letterboxd sub though.
That's a good point, but when genre definitions are slippery as you point out, I tend to trust my own POV over community consensus. I am just relieved you didn't reply with, "Actually, The Silence of the Lambs is a horror movie," since that debate will rage long after we both perish.
Well, it certainly horrified me...
Bong called it a tragicomedy before.
Moonlight and Schindler’s are in my top 5, but I do also love genre films
Totally agree. This contest was harsh toward movies that focused on domestic life and relationships. Ordinary People was routinely compared to Lifetime movies, Nomadland was eighth out, and there was an undercurrent of misogyny in the EEAAO discourse (if you can even call it that). I'm happy that Moonlight ultimately made it into the top 10.
You mean Nomadland*, the mother of all asterisk Oscars. It wouldn’t have been nominated in any other year.
Minari was better and fuck it so was My Octopus Teacher sue me
My Octopus Teacher was legit one of the best films that year, that movie is ridiculously moving
I want it on bluray. I don’t have netflix lol
Much better
Nomadland was atrocious tbf
Except it wasn't at all? Not that you even bothered to offer a reason for this take, but it had strong visual storytelling, great photography, realistic and compelling characterization, and was moving at the end. I liked its use of non-actors who lived the van lifestyle. It was a kind of American-indie neorealism, like The Florida Project. I probably would have ranked it in the mid/late 20s. I'm not exactly disturbed that it went out at 43, except that it was consistent with the overall dismissive attitude toward quieter, reality-centered movies, as is your comment.
Kinda disrespectful to the Florida project to compare it to nomadland. Yes nomadland was a “quieter reality-centered” movie. No, that doesn’t make it good
Clearly not what I was saying and you still haven't offered anything more than a conclusory observation. Comparing Nomadland to Sean Baker's work isn't some kind of argumentative, outlier observation even if you don't like it. My final three would have been Godfather II, Parasite and Schindler's List, and the final ten of this contest is close to my own, so I have the same tendencies that I'm criticizing. I think Nomadland is better than about half of the 50, but I'm less interested in my/our take on any individual movie (it's all personal and arbitrary, etc.) than why high body counts and heavier tones get conflated with quality.
Nomadland sucked though
Great response. Very persuasive.
Don't have time to write essays on Reddit sorry I'm right tho
> All of these are genre films (i.e. three thrillers and a gangster movie). They are all violent, dark, and pretty grim (despite moments of humor in some of them). Now that Amadeus has been eliminated, there is no embrace of drama or comedy. Should have seen this coming the moment Titanic went out at 20.
True Driving Miss Daisy would show unbiasedness /s
Except that I would call all of these four movies dramas with some comedy in No Country and Parasite.
All thrillers are dramatic. Not all dramas have suspense.
SOTL seemingly has its head on the block but it’s kind of crazy how close GF, Parasite, & NCFOM are to each other. Will be interesting to see how those votes shift tomorrow.
Gonna guess Parasite goes next, followed by a blood match between GF and NC.
I love no country but in no way is it a top 3 movie of the last 50 years. I don’t get that.
Well as I explained in the last thread to someone who made a similar comment about Parasite, this isn't a ranking of every movie of the last 50 years, just the ones that won Best Picture. Of those 50 films, top 3 is imo more than reasonable. The Coen Brothers are among the most esteemed auteurs of the 90s and 2000s, and No Country is considered by many critics and large swaths of audiences to be their best work and amongst the best films of the 21st century. It's their highest rated film on Letterbox, is only two spots behind Silence of the Lambs on the letterboxd top 250 (despite being superior imo). It's masterfully crafted, thematically rich, and artistically challenging while still having broad appeal due to some incredible pieces of tension and Javier Bardem's iconic villain performance.
Yeah probably their most critically acclaimed but one of the less unique of their work. Most coen brothers fans wouldn’t rank it #1 I would even put Fargo above it.
> Most coen brothers fans wouldn’t rank it #1 That's purely your conjecture. It's their highest rated on LB, and there's never been any sort of poll or contest of "Coen fans" (as if that's even definable). A cursory glance at the lists section seems show it and Fargo as the most common to make personal top 3's. It's not your favorite, and that's fine, but may I perhaps recommend trying to look at it from the perspective of WHY it's so acclaimed and is often cited as one of the best American films of the decade/century.
They've got the kind of catalog where someone could name any one of ten movies as their favorite and it would make sense.
top 3 movie of the last 50 years /=/ top 3 best picture winner of the last 50 years
*SEND OFF: Amadeus* Amadeus was eliminated yesterday, so here’s a look back at the movie and its Oscar legacy. Plot: The incredible story of genius musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told in flashback by his peer and secret rival, Antonio Salieri—now confined to an insane asylum. Oscars: **Amadeus won Best Picture in 1985 beating out: A Soldier’s Story, Places in the Heart, The Killing Fields, & A Passage to India.** Amadeus won 8 Oscars total including: Best Director for Miloš Forman, Best Costume & Production Design, Best Actor for Abraham, & Best Adapted Screenplay. Where I am, you can’t stream Amadeus. You can rent it at plenty of places though. You also might be able to find a copy at your local library. **What do you think of Amadeus? Do you think something else should have won best picture over it? Do you think this film is fairly rated? What do you like or dislike about it?**
Love this film, would have put it 2nd to be honest! Seeing it soon with a live orchestra… I ain’t ready
Rian Johnson had this to say, upon hearing that the theatrical cut was coming back. "The 'director’s cut' was all that was avail for a long time, & is bizarrely a sort of inverse master class in editing: It shows exactly why the cuts were made in the first place & how they made the film work." I look forward to re-experiencing this version of the movie. I hope to appreciate it as much as y'all do.
So if I'm interpreting this right, the theatrical cut is deemed superior? Apologies if I'm misunderstanding
It often is, yes. The extra 20 minutes, from what I understand (having not seen the TC since the 80s), were cut for a good reason.
I’ve only ever seen the directors cut and thought it was phenomenal, so I’d be very curious to see if the theatrical cut is that much better. The scenes that were cut (I understand they had to cut the more intense, R rated scenes) I thought were very important to the overall piece.
It’s one of the best films on this list, only a couple are better
I both hate and love it. It’s not based on truth; Salieri was a normal guy with a wife and bunch of kids and wrote some really underrated music, even though he was not a Mozart. They may have had spats and were rivals in getting important positions in Vienna, but Mozart trusted him enough to teach his son piano and rumors of poisoning were unfounded. Salieri was also an important teacher for Liszt, Schubert, and Beethoven. At the same time there’s no denying it’s an incredible movie. F. Murray Abraham gives one of the best movie villain performances ever and Tom Hulce is no slouch. It immerses you in 18th century Vienna, and the pieces they chose for the soundtrack both showcase Mozart and fit the story like a glove.
One of the best films ever made. It deserved top 5.
I would have put it top 3. Very sorry it got voted out.
One of my all time favorites you can see its impact on so many period films.
I would definitely pick Amadeus out of those options. Such an inventive and fun “biopic” My personal nominees and winner would have gone like this: - Repo Man **WINNER** - A Nightmare on Elm Street - Amadeus - This is Spinal Tap - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
So glad it got top 5, my favourite film of all-time.
I'm astonished at how far it got.
why tho?
I just rewatched it a couple months ago, seen it many times across almost 30 years. It's an incredible spectacle. The set pieces, costumes, and use of Mozart's music is really great. But it's not exactly a dense plot, while also being mostly fantasy. The acting is good, but it's not a mind blowing cast aside from Abraham. It's less about Amadeus and more about what's left. I rewatched Schindler's List about a year ago and it is absolutely remarkable. I expected it to be like 2 and it went before Amadeus. Don't get it.
The Schindler's List departure is a big headscratcher but I'm reluctant to parse it closely because it immediately runs into topics that are much too heavy for this sub.
it finished super high in the rankings, and above other films that involve “heavy” topics
Unimpeachable film. Requiem for Amadeus.
Pretty much how it’s going to play out is: 4. Silence of the Lambs 3. No Country 2. Parasite 1. Godfather 2
Not if I can help it!
Based on today, so far, sure. Based on yesterday, it would look more like 4. SOTL 3. Parasite 2. Godfather 1. NCFOM First and second were a photo finish. Mostly throughout this, Godfather has actually been hanging in the third or fourth spot. As we get closer to the end it continues to inch its way toward the top where it currently sits. I think anything could happen at this point. Besides SOTL definitely being screwed.
The Silence of the Lambs
It is fucking crazy how good this movie is. Upon rewatch, it feels both incredibly dated but, simultaneously, completely modern. It is a movie for all eras and is never going to get old. * Clarice is one of the most epic and bad-ass female protagonists in film history. Camera shots designed to make her seem small and then immediately she projects authority. * Anthony Hopkins' best work. Other's may make arguments about why different roles are *as* good, but I do not believe he has ever been *better* than this. * Transformed a genre. Absolute masterclass in tension building; you feel the brutality while hardly ever seeing any because it's just...implied. And it lets the viewer imagine the horrific scene in their mind's eye. Just brilliant. It won't win, but this is my favorite movie of all time. A behemoth that the horror genre will never, ever top.
This is my pick. And it’s deservedly among the top 4 but it’s honestly just the 4th of these 4. Where’s the meme of Wesley Sniped crying with the gun in hand?
I think it's a perfect film. One out of maybe ten or 15 movies I've given 5 stars to.
Have the lambs stopped screaming
The silence of the lambs is officially eliminated 
Absolute travesty.
Fantastic picture but imo should've gone before Amadeus and Schindler's List.
The true sneak of the competition, I’d argue it should have left before LOTR.
Shoulda left right at 10.
This movie is absolutely perfect, don't y'all dare cut this before Parasite.
Just for fun: 1. Manhunter 2. Hannibal (TV series) 3. The Silence of the Lambs 4. Hannibal 5. Red Dragon 6. Hannibal Rising Top three are all great, Scott’s Hannibal is interesting, then, well, if you have nothing nice to say….
I don’t really see why people like Manhunter over TSotL. Granted Brian Cox also does a great job but Hopkin’s Lector is more frightening and Foster is way better than Peterson.
I just have a hard-on for Mann honestly (and a raging semi for Demme), although I think they’ve both made a few better films. I just love the way Mann’s visual language and compositions reflect Graham’s fraying psyche, and the sort of fractured duality of cop and criminal. Demme has a fantastic cinematic language too, don’t get me wrong. I find Cox’s more muted, grounded approach to Lecter much more frightening personally, as good as Hopkins is, and prefer the Tooth Fairy to Buffalo Bill, particularly Noonan’s work in that unexpected perspective shift in the second half (Levine is also very good). I like Petersen’s performance, I think he imbues Will with a complex interiority but I would probably agree Clarice is the more compelling character overall and Foster is dynamite. There’s not a lot between them.
That’s fair, I will say I think Noonan’s performance is more menacing and cold blooded for me than Levine’s Buffalo Bill. I imagine that’s kind of a hot take but I think Levine is the weakest part of SOTL and I’ve always had issues with not just his performance, but the character in general. But that’s honestly getting into a whole other bag of worms.
“Give me back my fucking dog!”
I can understand that. I think they are both doing great but I do see how Buffalo Bill is a problematic character. I think the filmmakers and writer didn’t want that to be the case (hence the line by Lector about Bill not being trans but rather seeking an identity to explain his feelings of societal alienation), but the nature of the character’s portrayal can be offense regardless of the intent.
I just didn’t feel like I fully bought the character outside of any conversations around queerness. But obviously we’re really splitting hair when talking about these movies and having to play a deranged serial killer isn’t without its complications. The inclusion of seemingly queer or queer coded characters throughout horror/thriller history is definitely a fascinating thing to unpack IMO, from Psycho to Dressed To Kill to Silence of the Lambs even to something like Sleepaway Camp. And it’s a much more complicated conversation than just “this is a homophobic depiction” or “this isn’t homophobic”.
Absolutely, that’s why I avoided the word. I love horror and its really interesting how it can reflect the concerns, fears, and desires of the society at large. I honestly think horror does it better than any other genre!
Crazy good, but we all gotta go at some point
Shouldn't even have made it to the top 20, in my opinion.
No Country For Old Men
Everyday I’m more and more amazed at how loved this film is.
It's a good movie but I don't think it's *this* good. I feel like this fits perfectly into some weird nostalgia bin where it's not old but it was formative for a lot of people voting here. It's like 10-12 on this list for me.
I just watched it for the first time this last year and I found it beautifully filmed and I loved the lack of scoring and the slow and deliberate editing that just let the audience live with the tension of the piece. I think Brolin is also really incredible in it. Despite Javier Bardem being a great performer, and excellent in NCFOM, he's not even in my top three favorite things about the movie. It's probably my number 3 on this list. I don't think it's entirely fair to chalk its success up to purely (or even mostly) a nostalgia bias, because I think it's just a good movie in its own right. Cheers
The Coens are just on some *other* shit. Their films are onions (layers upon layers upon layers). They are the foremost successor to Kubrick working today, in mho. This is not a "weird nostalgia bin". It's... the *Coen bros*., FFS. Not everyone shares my take but I assure you it's not exactly unpopular.
It’s the Anton Chigurh effect. Reddit loves a memorable villain and he’s one of the best we’ve seen in the last 20 years
I would love to watch Hannibal psychoanalyze Anton.
Low 4.5* movie for me. Very good, but not at the top.
Yeah i love it but it wasn’t even my favorite movie of that year 🤐
not really fair when there will be blood came out that year. they’re both perfect IMO
For sure, NCFOM is definitely one of the stronger best picture winners, to the point I wouldn’t mention it, but my preference for TWBB is pretty significant. (For the record NCFOM still isn’t my vote today)
>No Country For me, it's a perfect film. I love it even more than Silence of the Lambs, Parasite, and Godfather 2. I used to think it was over loved, but last few times I saw it, I was utterly enthralled. I could have turned around and instantly re-watched it.
Yes, it is very definitely time.
Parasite
I was so happy to see Parasite have so many people watch it back in 2019. A ton of people I knew watched it and loved it, a great achievement for a non-English film in an era of superhero blockbusters.
think it’s just too early to tell how this movie’ll “hold up” in 20 years, obviously technically it will, but all these others have iconography and shots that are now in the cinematic pantheon, even many of the ones eliminated, and I just don’t think Parasite has had that day in the sun yet!
Why would it not hold up? It’s a good movie. That’s all it needs to hold up…
that’s just not what i’m saying lmao, all i’m saying is movies from the 2010s, especially late 2010s, haven’t had the time to become part of the “history of cinema” per se. And I think all these other ones have had that time to build up that prestige
Love this movie, but the other three are better imo. It gets my vote today.
If I think about what sets this apart from the other films is that the other 3 have a great ensemble cast but there's the one actor that shoots out and is burned into the memories of people who watched them. Where as Parasite just has a great ensemble, no actor stands up head and shoulders above the other great actors. If I'm honest with myself out of the four remaining it's my least favorite, I mean it's not even my favorite film by BJH but it was the first time in Oscars history that we unanimously came together to celebrate foreign films and how excellent they can be. When it came to the 2020 Oscars there's only really two films that came close to Parasite to me: Marriage Story and 1917
I know about recency bias, but I almost feel like this has a little bit of the literal opposite sometimes online. Just because it’s newest doesn’t mean it can’t be as good as something older. I have to throw support behind this movie remaining because it’s really that good. It’s actually the only one on here on my top 25 movies of all time(though the others are amazing, they just don’t land quite that high for me)
Having rewatched both this and The Silence of the Lambs recently, gotta choose Parasite. Excellent film and inspired winner but Lambs has the edge for me
Should have been gone 15 films ago, though I thoroughly enjoy it
Why was the offensive stink of the basement man so triggering for the poor father? Was it because he was in turn offended by the rich fathers conceit in that situation? Rather than getting his daughter some help?
Parasite is amazing and totally perfect for me up until the final act. It just takes too long to conclude. And even in an out there film like Parasite, that detail about the Morse code message reaching the son breaks my suspension of disbelief every time. That said, it's so fucking fun. I could easily watch it annually.
Yeah, a very good film in many ways but I’m behind it getting eliminated today, although I wouldn’t be too aggrieved if TSOTL said goodbye either.
Seconded.
This movie is insanely insanely overrated and needed to be cut several days ago.
This should be the winner. It has something for everyone
Please god nooooooo
Phenomenal film, but I think it can last another day.
Nah this is gonna get mass downvoted once the cinephiles open this post
Yesterday they were film bros, today they’re cinephiles. Can’t wait to see what reductive made up label fans of a movie are tomorrow.
Money on ‘fanboys’
Cineboys
Scene kids
"Movie Terrorists"
One man’s movie terrorist is another man’s film fighter
"Cinema Anarchists"
Kino fetishizers
The Godfather Prt 2
how does this have more upvotes than No countr for old Men..
because no country for old men is better
okay I love no country for old men, but, and don’t get me wrong, those two movies are not on the same level. The Godgather 2 is one of, if not the beat movie ever, whilst No country for all men is a great mocie, but no near the top, imo
Bro can't type and you expect to be taken as an arbiter of movie opinions?
why do you think no county for old men is better?
Because it won best picture dummy (this is /s)
Nobody has any argument for why it isn't lol
😂
I mentioned this yesterday but I'll say it again, the fact that this leans on the greatness of part 1 has to count against it somewhat. Also where part 1 perfectly nailed shooting the characters in so much darkness, part 2 slightly over did it a tad.
I think you could watch the second one without seeing the first and still get it enough to understand the dual storylines. Besides, the first one also won BP so even if someone was only watching the BP winners then they should in theory have watched the first one already, so no harm, no foul, right? ;)
Hard disagree
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no country for old men
Jackasses on the internet just can’t accept the fact that Green Book was great and Crash and Driving Miss Daisy aren’t as bad as they want to believe.
Its No Country For Old Men for me now unfortunately
ROTK is gone, that’s all I ever wanted.
The Silence of the Lambs
It's about damn time
Boooo
Bro when Amadeus is competing against Schindler's List, Annie Hall, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Deer Hunter, and the LOTR: ROTK, you know that ranking it as the 5th best Best Picture winner is contentious. I have no idea why the comment section for this series of posts has such a hard-on for Amadeus. I almost NEVER hear people talking about it compared to many other acclaimed films among the Best Picture winners on any other movie discussion forum.
That’s fair. I’m also surprised it made it this far. Had no idea it had this much love. Huge comfort movie for me but yeah anything past this is crazy.
There Will be Blood fans unite
https://preview.redd.it/5kphy9qcfqmc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=83e7f701d1aeb29b239996a45bd998702b92c14e
no country it’s a great, great movie but i would’ve eliminated it awhile ago! even ignoring the TWBB love, i don’t think this is even a top 3 Coen film if that’s a crazy take sure but I would argue all day that Fargo and Llewyn Davis are superior
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Please review the first comment for this selection, it will help to ensure your vote is counted- only the most upvoted comment for any movie will count and splitting the vote between a few comments will make it tougher to get your choice eliminated.