Next we’ll have ‘The Top 10 Lists Ever Listed!’
June 21, 2007 at 5:08 pm by Curt Holman in Randomly NotedIt’s been a busy week for pop-culture lists. Wednesday night the American Film Institute announced its list of “The 100 Best American Films.” The AFI list has improved significantly from its initial version of the top 100, retaining perennials like Citizen Kane, The Godfather and Casablanca; adding worthy additions like Nashville, Sullivan’s Travels, Cabaret, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Saving Private Ryan; while dropping inessentials like Fantasia, Birth of a Nation and The Jazz Singer.
Overall, any endeavor that encourages young people to watch movies from before the 1980s that do not involve Star Wars or Steven Spielberg should be supported wholeheartedly.
Also this week, Entertainment Weekly weighs in on “The 50 Greatest Action Movies Ever.” The first 25 appear in the print edition, with numbers 26-50 being online. It’s a weird split. Numbers 1-25 turn out to be pretty good picks: The first six are Die Hard, Aliens, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Road Warrior, The Matrix and The Seven Samurai, and it’s hard to dispute any of those. Entertainment Weekly’s lists tend to be full of “Huh?” choices, but this one has surprisingly few of those, although The Bourne Ultimatum and Lethal Weapon probably rank a little high.
The next 25, however, feature significantly worse films like Pitch Black, Independence Day and Twister, and it quickly becomes clear that they use a weird quota system for the whole 50, restricting it to one film apiece from John Woo, Jackie Chan and the James Bond franchise. A high-speed comedy from the silent era, like Safety Last, probably deserves inclusion, and it’s hard to believe that Jurassic Park, the original Star Wars and any of the Lord of the Rings movies are restricted from a list of 50 action films.
Finally, an article on MSNBC.com headlined “Beatles? Nirvana? Overrated!” has already started arguments thanks to the assertion of writer Dave White (an old friend of mine, incidentally) that the most lauded pop bands in history are overrated. He’s totally wrong about the Clash, but correct in his observation that anything enshrined as THE BEST EVAR! is probably getting more than it deserves. That probably goes for Citizen Kane and Die Hard at the top of those other lists, too.
June 21st, 2007 at 7:52 pm
“The Sixth Sense” is included, but “Being There” is not? Blasphemy. And they find room for “Toy Story,” though not for “Hannah and Her Sisters,” “The Americanization of Emily,” “Barfly,” “The Bad News Bears,” “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” “Ghost World,” “Lolita” (the original), “Lone Star,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “The Player,” “Sid and Nancy,” “Straw Dogs” and “Zelig”?? Beyond blasphemous.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Dave White is the awesome! I love reading his commentary!
June 24th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Die Hard is the greatest action flick of all time? C’mon. Give me a break. Just about everything else on the list was better than Die Hard. And, yeah, yeah, Die Hard was the quintessential action movie, but no more than the first Terminator, which was far more original and witty — and didn’t even make the top 25!