Best Of

Team American: World Police. Fuck yeah!

@CB said:
TBH: Anything made before, like, 1985 is going to be a really hard sell. The pacing of movies has changed over the years, and unless you're already familiar with them, older films are really hard to watch because they feel so slow compared to modern films. Even classics feel intolerable to a person who's never seen them, and who is used to modern pacing. I'm not just talking about action, either, even dramas and romances are quicker paced now, and it's noticeable.

There is something to that. Honestly, I think the modern era of film starts in the 70's probably with the Godfather. Now, that isn't about pace as much as it was film executives trying to figure out a way to lure people from the TV. Competition from television forced filmakers to innovate in the 70s. The content had more of an edge, the acting style shifted away from simulated stage plays to more realism, a push in technology to set up more elaborate shots, fx, and stunts to give the audience something they could not get from a 30 minute show on the Boob Tube. It is funny, today TV and Film companies are all the same, back then they were competing against each other for eyeballs. The 70s is where things really shift in film.

Good to remember that movies for most of the 20th century were an evolving art form that was adapted from vaudeville and stage plays

Looking at the AMC Filmsite they list these main Genre types

Action
Adventure
Comedy
Crime and Gangster
Drama
Epics / Historical
Horror
Musical / Dance
Science Fiction / Fantasy
War
Western

Now I would argue Mystery / Suspense is a genre as well as Documentary, so I'm adding those because I know more than AMC...

Now.... If I am to make some rules, I mean a young man is going to have pretty easy 24/7 access to every film that came out in the last decade, or at least realize they exist, if you really, said, Cliff, pick a true five star perfect film in each category that has at least aged enough to grow a little hair?

Action - Die Hard - It broke the rules by having a normal guy save the day, it is a great escapist film that is every bit as good the tenth time you watch it.

Adventure - Raiders of the Lost Ark, Coolest guy on earth does impossible things while being scared shitless of snakes... It's perfect.

Comedy - Monty Python, some people get it, the rest suck at life. The Holy Grail is more silly fun, but Life of Brian is smarter. I'd say start with Grail, if you laugh plenty, move on to Life of Brian. Coin flip on which is better, just depends on my mood.

Crime and Gangster - Some people will tell you Godfather and Godfather II all day long, and those are amazing films, but to me, Goodfellas just has this pace, you can't take your eyes off it. The Godfather is a more mature, more fleshed out story, but Goodfellas is better entertainment.

Drama - Wide category, could go a million directions with this, but if you have never seen the 1957 12 Angry Men... Do that. There was a remake, that is also worthy, but the 1957 original is the master class on how you bring a play that moves in real time to the screen. In terms of pure dialogue, perhaps the greatest script ever written.

Epics / Historical - See, have to be honest, not my favorite genre. Spartacus, Ben-Hur, Cleopatra all sort of bore me, Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, while I appreciate them as works of art, I'm just not that into them. To pick one, I'd say Schindler's List. Why?? It moves me, it makes me cry.

Horror - I kind of want to say Psycho, just because it's Psycho and everyone should see it, and it holds up, and the performance Hitchcock gets out of Anthony Perkins is so far ahead of it's time... Seriously, when you put it in context of what was available at the time those guys were pushing the limits... But, if I am being honest, I love Alien. Alien is a horror film, anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong. In Space no one can hear you scream.... muhahahahaha The Ridley Scott original FYI, James Cameron's Aliens is a fun movie, but not nearly as good, and definitely not a horror film, that one is more of an action movie.

Musical / Dance - West Side Story, it's the best of the genre, hands down, nothing else comes near it. Basically it is Romeo and Juliet with fight dancing. It's also one of those rare occasions where the filmmakers knew how to take a stage production and translate it to film. Not gonna lie though, I also love Little Shop of Horrors. I was the demented dentist in a stage production once... Now you know too much about me.

Science Fiction - Blade Runner - It feels relevant today, it's such a brilliant blend of genres, sci fi, action, noir... and it is one of those that is even better the second time you watch it.

Fantasy - The Classic Star Wars trilogy - DUH!!!!

War - Full Metal Jacket - Now, due respect to the Saving Private Ryan faithful, and to lovers of old John Wayne movies and such... War is a tricky genre because it is so often romanticized. Who the good guys are vs. the bad guys, the lines are often drawn for us. Full Metal Jacket is honest. It is brutally honest. I met my share of guys that fought in that war. It's a story of when you are a kid, and it's you or him.... That's war for the grunt on the ground. Plus, it's almost two films in one, the first and second act contrast so brilliantly, best war film ever made.

Western - See, this is hard, because for me, Western's have changed so much, there are Western Sub genres. High Noon is the classic black and white early Hollywood. It is a fun easy watch, fairly short, easy to follow, just the events of one day as a conflict approaches. Essential viewing. True Grit with John Wayne is probably my favorite. It is a redemption story, by todays standards maybe it will feel a bit silly, but it has a heart, a reluctant hero redemption story. Always delivers. You obviously have all the Sergio Leone Westerns that inspired so many modern filmmakers. Visual works of art, but maybe a little thin on narrative. In fact that is why Eastwood swore Unforgiven would be his last Western. He wanted to make the anti Leone western in the sense that the life of violence was not just something of a visual treat but it had weight, it had a consequence and that was not something you saw much of in that genre prior to Unforgiven. All listed fantastic films if forced to pick one, True Grit.

Mystery / Suspense - Look, it is going to be a Hitchcock film... Which one?? Well, Rear Window is probably the most simple entertaining film he made, Vertigo probably the best, but it takes a few times seeing it to really appreciate how layered it is, for me, there is just something campy and fun about the suspense / mystery chase caper North by Northwest. It's a fun watch, I love it, probably my favorite Cary Grant performance.

Documentary - Roger and Me made me care about the world I live in. It's that powerful. I saw it when I was 15, it is still relevant, it is still the best film Michael Moore has ever done (and he has done a few great ones). I think it holds up because it's not an agenda political film in the sense that he wants to prove some point, he simply wants to shine a light on his suffering neighbors, give them a voice. It never seems exploitive to me, it seems honest, like this is what is happening, are we okay with this? Powerful film, see it.

So there you have it, a TLDR version of the films I consider essential viewing.

Bubba Ho-Tep!