But what about Clerks, Mallrats???

May 27, 2005 4:48 PM

Time Mag's 100 All Time Best Flicks Compiled by their OWN critics, of course. Hence no Kevin Smith masterpieces mentioned. The List also fails to mention some of the most popular movies of all time. It can't be right if it doesn't include the Wizard of Oz.
posted by PrincessLara (35 comments total)

Er....Drunken Master II?
What no, Babe: Pig in the City?
posted by Smedleyman at 5:06 PM on May 27, 2005

Missing:
The Graduate
All About Eve
African Queen
2001: A Space Oddity
Modern Times
High Noon

just to name a few (not to mention WOZ) yet they have The Fly from 1986? What are they smoking? Lots of good stuff on their list regardless.
posted by caddis at 5:30 PM on May 27, 2005

I saw this yesterday, when it was posted on slashdot. Every best-of list is bound to have some glaring omissions and perplexing inclusions, but this struck me as a particularly bad one all around.

P.S. Kevin Smith sucks, seriously.
posted by ori at 5:30 PM on May 27, 2005

Gone With the Wind? Hello?
posted by ColdChef at 5:33 PM on May 27, 2005

No Glen Garry/Glenn Ross, No BarFly? What a farce.
posted by j.p. Hung at 5:36 PM on May 27, 2005

I love Kevin's movies, but none of them deserve top 100 status. If so then what about other cult favorites like Rocky Horror Picture Show (if not for the music alone, or Janet), Harold and Maude or Napoleon Dynamite?
posted by caddis at 5:42 PM on May 27, 2005

That list is terrible. But what did you expect from Time magazine?
posted by elisabeth r at 5:52 PM on May 27, 2005

Can one currently see Berlin Alexanderplatz in the US without hunting for dodgy copies? I thought there was some kind of obnoxious rights issue...
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 5:53 PM on May 27, 2005

I'm shocked that Miller's Crossing is on there but no Fargo. I liked Miller's Crossing, but in a small-time gangster wannabe-Godfather kind of way.

And when I think of animated films released since the Little Mermaid brought it back in 1989, I think Finding Nemo is about sixth or seventh on my list. No mention for the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, wuh?
posted by Arch Stanton at 5:57 PM on May 27, 2005

I'm also struck by what's missing here (some mentioned above), but I'm more surprised by what is here: Chungking Express, Nayakan, Talk to Her, City of God. Four great films that would be on my top 100.
posted by btwillig at 6:16 PM on May 27, 2005

They shouldn't allow films from the last 10 years onto any "top 100" lists - they simply haven't had time to be compared with the past, and haven't settled in right.

Also, I'm tired of lists that take no stand as to numbering their stuff, or number from 1 to 100. Make it a countdown or suffer the shame of my disapproval!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:23 PM on May 27, 2005

If you want to talk animation, no Fantasia?
posted by Eekacat at 6:44 PM on May 27, 2005

Odd how Guilty Pleasures is somehow a separate category? I mean, this list is subjective as all get out -- do these guys have a series of chinesebox like layers of semi-objectivity that allows them to discern movies they like because they are great and then movies they like because they think they're great but not really GREAT.

Or something.

And no Max Castle films? Pfft.
posted by undule at 6:54 PM on May 27, 2005

(Just to warn you, PrincessLara, you should just claim the Kevin Smith comment was sarcastic. Metafilter doesn't like Kevin Smith.)
posted by kevspace at 6:55 PM on May 27, 2005

Wait, are you saying that in a list of 100 films, some got left out???
posted by samh23 at 6:56 PM on May 27, 2005

If you want to talk more animation, no Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away. No Incredibles, either.

No Fight Club, Big Lebowski, L.A. Confidential, or Usual Suspects.

And was Talk To Her really that amazing? Give me something by Claire Denis any day, like Beau Travail.

Given their choice of modern 'best' films, I refuse to contemplate this list any more.
posted by A dead Quaker at 7:26 PM on May 27, 2005

wow, time magazine!! where can i procure this underground 'zine?
posted by yonation at 7:42 PM on May 27, 2005

Only one Woody Allen film on the list, and it's fucking Purple Rose of Cairo? I like that film, but it's minor Woody. Including Annie Hall should have been a no-brainer, though I prefer both Crimes and Misdemeanors and Manhattan.
posted by Ty Webb at 7:46 PM on May 27, 2005

I'm shocked that Miller's Crossing is on there but no Fargo.

Miller's Crossing is a far better film than Fargo. No comparison.

But yeah, the list blows. No Carnal Knowledge, Five Easy Pieces, or the Graduate? No Stardust Memories? Bah. And aren't Berlin Alexanderplatz and Singing Detective and Dekalog TV? And... Charade?! Ugh. I hate that movie.
posted by dobbs at 8:18 PM on May 27, 2005

It's about as good a top 100 anything list as any other. Meaning: it's only good to the people who wrote it.
posted by papakwanz at 9:20 PM on May 27, 2005

No Seven Samurai? No Sanjuro? Bakayaro!
posted by ronin21 at 3:52 AM on May 28, 2005

I like the top 250 list at IMDB - it's really a joint quality/popularity list, but manages to have a balance of both. So it has The Seven Samurai and Star Wars in the top ten. It is, of course, biased only to those films which have received wide-release in North America, but frankly, there is no world cinema from which you could make a list - every major movie audience (e.g. China, India, etc) would have their own lists.
posted by jb at 5:23 AM on May 28, 2005

No Manos: The Hands of Fate????
posted by The Deej at 7:44 AM on May 28, 2005

No The Shawshank Redemption? It's #2 on IMDb's list!!! (Personally, I'd rank it ahead of The Godfather.)
posted by Doohickie at 9:00 AM on May 28, 2005

No Double Team, the Jean Claude Van Damme/Dennis Rodman classic?
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:27 AM on May 28, 2005

Is there a suitable number for such a list? If we the people of MeFi were to make a list of 1000 must-see films, would that be sufficient for everyone? Why does the list numeric have to end with a 0? Over at NetFlix, I've rated 2107 films and other things on DVD. I've barely scratched the surface of cinema myself. Lists are always fun, but they're far from comprehensive, or even useful generally.

Any list that would include The Godfather holds no weight in my subjective perspective, which places me in a minority of which I'm proud. Hated that movie.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:52 AM on May 28, 2005

Any list that would include The Godfather holds no weight in my subjective perspective, which places me in a minority of which I'm proud. Hated that movie.

Conversely, I was willing to give this list a little more weight than I normally would have because it did not include American Beauty, a good but fantastically overrated film that seems to pop up on these lists fairly often.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:52 AM on May 28, 2005

Yeah. Props for including Man with a Movie Camera, but Léolo? Hm. A good film, but far from great IMO (an opinion shared by Maltin, Ebert, The NY Times and IMDb--and, well, the Times' best-of went to 1,000).
posted by Tuwa at 2:26 PM on May 28, 2005

Also--this list has 106 films on it (Apu trilogy, LOTR trilogy, Godfather 1 & 2, Olympia 1 & 2). Another pet peeve: lists that cheat on their numbering (Ebert, you're a recidivist).
posted by Tuwa at 2:34 PM on May 28, 2005

Not that anyone asked, but here's my latest vain attempt at such a list.
posted by ZachsMind at 3:23 PM on May 28, 2005

And aren't Berlin Alexanderplatz and Singing Detective and Dekalog TV?

They got theatrical releases, and they're better than 99.9% of movies not made for TV. I urge anyone who hasn't seen these to run, not walk. Great, great films.
posted by languagehat at 5:40 PM on May 28, 2005

I urge anyone who hasn't seen these to run, not walk. Great, great films.

In re, The Singing Detective make sure you're seeing the real one with Michael Gambon, as there was an Americanized remake with Robert Downey Jr. It is indeed a great film, one of the most impressive and compelling things ever done for the medium of television in my opinion.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 6:28 PM on May 28, 2005

(Just to warn you, PrincessLara, you should just claim the Kevin Smith comment was sarcastic. Metafilter doesn't like Kevin Smith.)

kevspace, In a feeble attempt to redeem myself to the community here, the reference to the Clerks and Mallrats omission from the top 100 was meant as sarcasm. However, I do find MOST of Kevin Smith's work highly amusing, but I'll just keep that to myself from now on here on MetaFilter. Deal???
posted by PrincessLara at 6:36 PM on May 28, 2005

I have no time to list what _I_ think is missing, but what is Purple Rose of Cairo doing on the list. An okay film, but the best 100.

Seriously, what or who created this list and are do they now feel embarrassment?
posted by fluffycreature at 8:23 PM on May 28, 2005

make sure you're seeing the real one with Michael Gambon

Good Christ, yes. I blocked the existence of the remake out of my mind so thoroughly this didn't even occur to me.
posted by languagehat at 6:33 AM on May 30, 2005