Reserved - this is going to take some time.
1) Reservoir Dogs
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]While certainly not a perfect film, and even I wouldn't say it's the best film of all time. I think Reservoir Dogs shows that true perfection comes from imperfection, the accidental truths, the character and identity of a film sit within it's set back. Films will always be a circumstance to the environment they were made in, shaped by the people involved and the details leading up to it's conception. To me Reservoir Dogs makes filmmaking a thing, something you can reach out and hold, there's plenty of great things in Reservoir Dogs, but to me Reservoir Dogs will be the burning passion and the beaming light of filmmaking.
2) Apocalypse Now
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Speaking about films being shaped by the environment they're made in. Apocalypse Now was almost not to be a thing, I think it's a phenomenal story that the creation process of the film was more transformative to those behind the camera than one the story actually tells. That being said, Apocalypse Now is a profound film, a story of the duality of all men, both the light and the dark, granted we further slip into darkness as the film continues up the river, the film itself never actually stops moving, the pacing is always in constant motion, if the characters ever do stop, then violence will erupt, as then constantly move towards oblivion. This is, in my opinion, the greatest film ever made.
3) The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]The quintessential Western, Sergio Leone's civil war epic is purely cinematic power, gusto and scope. It's not a film of heavy emotions, it's a film of brutality and loss, despite all it's coolness and memorable set pieces, at the centre of the film lies the battle between greed, corruption and perseverance within all of man, with the innocents lost. The whole trilogy deserves placing, but The Good, The Bad and The Ugly will always echo in the history books as the greatest.
4) A Clockwork Orange
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]A change of pace from epics, A Clockwork Orange is a bizarre odyssey deconstructing hedonism with fascism, Kubrick's psychedelic distopia is argument between depravity and free will, as he takes one of the most memorable screen psychopaths in Cinema through the wringer as he is forced through a horrific rehabilitation technique that makes me cringe everytime I see it to reveal the essential depravity that lies in all of society, and ultimately within oneself.
5) Rashomon
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Kurosawa still to this day proves to the be the best at cinematic storytelling. He's camera placement and blocking will always maintain even the most passive viewer's attention, and in Rashomon, he begs for your attention. It's a film that you can see the ripple effects of it's narrative across all of cinema to this day, even coining the term the "Rashomon effect" yet still the film easily tops any twist heavy thriller that is made today. It's proves that cinema is an everlasting language, one that transcends time and dialect.
6) Magnolia
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling drama is a masterclass in sheer force of cinema. Bouncing across 8 interconnecting narratives that share settings and recurring themes, it's a wonder it doesn't come apart, and one could make the argument it does. However, with slight self-indulgence driving the flick, Magnolia works through it's muted sensibility and ability to get within it's characters. Never quite pessimistic but never working towards optimism, Magnolia is a show that fiction is the window to life, we can never fully escape our pasts, we can never fully attach ourselves to a person. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't, it doesn't mean our issues aren't important. Everything is treated on a level playing field and ultimately Magnolia shows that you are important.
7) Fight Club
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]On the other hand, coming out the same year as Magnolia. Fight Club implies you aren't important. We are a single unit of uselessness in a container of nothing. We are dictated by the things we buy and sold as the person you should be. Obviously for the film to be successful, it has to counterbalance the nihilism, so Fight Club becomes a witty cynicism of vapid culture crossed with a cautionary tale of ultimately cultural annihilation and revolution, the film is one of the most dark mindbender to hit cinema in recent memory.
8) Network
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Sidney Lumet's news broadcast satire is practically prophetic in it's deconstruction of sensationalist media along with vapid anti-establishment notions. Essentially following the mental breakdown of a news broadcaster, who speaks out against the corporation he works for following his final broadcast, is found that ratings following the evening raise, as what becomes a stand against the corporation that left him, he gets brought back, neatly packaged and desensitised, to be swallowed whole and become a victim of the same fate he fought against because of the vapidness of the passive watcher more interested in the crazy man than the truth being said. What once looked like a ludicrous outlandish satire remains dangerously truthful to the media we see today.
9) The Big Lebowski
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]The Coen Brothers' cultural car crash of film noir mixed with stoner slacker with middle American pass times, looney tunes and porn might not be one of the greatest films of all time. But bloody hell does everyone need to watch it. Is it a statement of the constant regurgitation of stories from decades gone by? Is it a story of fear and paranoia brought upon us through the years? Did the Gulf War really happen? Where is the purpose of culture in our world? Or we as men becoming further obsolete? The Big Lebowski almost insists we are at the end of something, upon this point we are in constant downward turmoil, yet with people like The Dude, all we can do is roll up and see the good time go by.
10) Synecdoche, New York
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Almost labyrinthine and inconceivably dense, Synecdoche is probably the most important film one has ever made, especially considering this forum and the people who follow it. Synecdoche was originally conceived as a horror film, but with a focus on mundane terrors, the sort of ones that cause existential crisis. To say the film is depressing would be an understatement, a constant reminder of both one's own morality and that of eternal yet mundane mistakes, it follows a stage director trying to create his most important piece of work, however it further consumes his life as he further and further seeks out how to find both his purpose in the world along with what is real. It's a real tough one to get your head around and an even tougher watch, but it will last forever, even if you watch it once, the impact will always be there.
11) The Red Shoes
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]A beautiful and everlasting piece of cinema, following the creation of art and the madness that inherence it. We follow a young ballerina who captures the heart of a young and prodigious composer as they work their way up a prestigious production company. However the head of the company has fallen for the girl as well, tearing between her love and her passion. It sounds like a very corny old romance film, but despite it's age, The Red Shoes is still seductive and enigmatic as the day it was made, following a sense of inevitability throughout, the film is utterly captivating and utilises the full force of cinema.
12) Ikiru
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]While Kuwosawa is mainly remembered for his fantasy and mythical work. Ikiru is a total different story, following an ageing bureaucrat as he attempts to make sense of the world in his final days, he fights for a playground to be made as his final kind deed. Lyrical and poignant, Kuwosawa doesn't allow for sentimentality, and instead, harshly cuts half way through his film to the final act, where we see the reactions and confusions following the narrative, and instead pits the reactionary nature of gossip and our knowledge of the character against one another to respect life as a whole. As the films most poignant image shows the ageing man becoming closer with his own childhood in a cycle that shines our innocents through.
13) The Graduate
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Debatably one if the finest scripts of all time. The Graduate is follows that difficult time between hedonism and purpose within life, when the weight of the world lies on your shoulders and your peers expect great things. However, missteps and miscalculations can lead to a life of despair, when Mrs. Robinson seduces young Dustin Hoffman it's our of retaliation of her own humdrum life caused very promiscuity in her young life, stopping her from becoming rich and purposeful, and in effect, stopping her daughter and others from being so to.
14) Taxi Driver
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Originally boo-ed at in it's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Taxi Driver is a film slowly building up tension and violence throughout, following the further and further unhinged Travis Bickle as his PTSD starts to create this devastating effect of vigilantism on the streets of New York. It's a story of nonstop darkness and despair about the fragility of the human mind with a strong criticism aimed at violence and the representation and perception of violence.
15) Citizen Kane
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Pretty much the daddy of them all, Citizen Kane is pretty much paradoxical in it's own delivery, a story of a wealthy typhoon who can only muster up pity in his final moments. The film is beautiful and still holds up to this day, the camerawork and narrative style are truly revolutionary and changed the direction of cinematic storytelling for good. The performances are still wonderfully stellar and the film still has all the clought that made it such an enduring masterpiece through all these years.
16) Mulholland Drive
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]David Lynch's masterwork is dark and twisted descent into the dreamland of Hollywood, what makes Lynch's film so effective is that unlike filmmaker's of the past who aim for realism, or aim to break the convention of cinema, Lynch understands that our fundamental understanding from the world is from fantasy, our answers are crafted by fantasy and fantasy is created to get us closer to our desires. So when the facade is lifted in the final act, the film is no longer about fantasy but however, it is about desire. Despite it's lack of coherence, Lynch destroys our own perspective of the universe by removing our own lenses, delivering something that isn't surreal but instead closer to reality than even we can perceive.
17) Dazed and Confused
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Slight change of pace, Linklater's nostalgia if trip back into the 70's is both very funny and very sweet. Allowing his characters to converse infront of the camera instead of flashy camera techniques creates a sense of longing for the past, while also belonging amongst those on screen. It's simply infectious as Linklater emulates the genuine subtleties within conversation between person to person. Pure joy to behold.
18) Schindler's List
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Spielberg's masterpiece chronicling a huge part of recent history that should never be forgotten, never mind the thousands who are still killed today through dictatorship. Authentically captured through black and white, the film painfully throws you into the heart of brutality and pain in Poland at the time of the Holocaust. The film features many haunting segments following the pain and loss of life, and it never once looses itself upon the broader context. Interestingly enough, the film never makes one mention of Adolf Hitler until the very end, almost to remove the man from the equation to avoid blame being taken away from those who committed the horrendous deeds.
19) 8 1/2
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Fellini's wonderfully surreal self-critical portrait follows a frustrated filmmaker in the midst of a huge science fiction production that he has lost interest in. The film blurs the lines between reality and fantasy as see the director transfixed on gazing beautiful women, seemingly haunting his every thought. It's also quintessentially Italian through and through, and I'm a big fan of Italy.
20) The Third Man
Why I love it -
[Show spoiler]Simply stunning film noir oozes paranoia out of every orifice as it makes you question every intention and choice of the characters as the film manoeuvres towards it's wonderfully famous climax. Much of the film is shot with dutch angles as to lead the audience astray while forcing them to question every inch of the screen, and the renown score is unorthodox score makes your hair stand on end.
21) There Will Be Blood
[Show spoiler]Epic in scope and bold in madness, There Will Be Blood feels like an all American classic, the powerhouse performance at the centre of it along with the haunting imagery and striking score feels like we're strapped in to a horror film, despite how dramatic it is, the film proves there is nothing more horrifying that a human soul corrupted by greed and despair. It's the Citizen Kane of the 21st Century.
22) One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
[Show spoiler]The ultimately battle of wits comes forth in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, conformity and order vs chaos and fun. Despite Nurse Ratchet being amongst one of the greatest villains of all time, she is never in the wrong, and Jack Nicholson makes for the perfect anti-hero, despite really being a detriment. But the great joy of the film is the understanding developed through the really loveable and memorable side characters, making for a superb and riveting drama that's hugely comedic and well deserved of it's multitude of Oscars.
23) Requiem for a Dream
[Show spoiler]Fast paced downer featuring four superb connected stories through the down fall of drug abuse. What makes Requiem for a Dream so superb is the attention to the editing, drug abuse is fully emulated through the atmosphere created through the bombardment of montages, all climaxing in the most gut crunching finale ever, that feels all the more inevitable the closer the film gets to concluding.
24) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
[Show spoiler]Another drug film, yet this time not condoling but baring witness to as the film physically whirls from scene to scene without any sense of direction or sobriety. The camera floats effortlessly as these two smacked up men hit Vegas hard looking for Journalism jobs, as Gilliam not only catches a huge sub culture on the 70's, but captures it within the heart of the moment.
25) Grave of the Fireflies
[Show spoiler]The most depressing animated film ever made, following two kids as they struggle to survive in a war torn Japan, as they search for further independence from a dying subculture, there's a sense of real magic with the adult storytelling that captures the character perfectly along with the misunderstanding of war and the horror that is withstanded. It's one that will stick with you for a lifetime.
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Blu-ray Community Top 50 Films of All Time - 2015 Edition (Please Read First Post)
Film is wholly subjective, so to me, my favorites are the "greatest". I really hate the connotation of the word, so I'm not sure if I'll participate or not. We'll see.
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