HOME * REVIEWS * AWARDS & PREDICTIONS * MIDTOWN LISTS * FILM FESTIVALS * ODDS & ENDS * LINKS * CONTACT

THE TOP 10 PROJECT INDIVIDUAL LISTS
The Top 10 * Individual Lists * Contributors Page * What it's all about

Billy Wilson Frank Miller's Sin City (Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller, 2005) The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, 2004) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003) The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985) Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001) Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) The Matrix (The Wachowski Bros., 1999) The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004) The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) Top 10 Directors: Tim Burton Quentin Tarantino Stanley Kubrick Alfred Hitchcock Hayao Miyazaki Orson Welles Steven Spielberg Martin Scorsese Francis Ford Coppola Sam Raimi tally after this list / June 5, 2006 Alan Pavelin Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Sansho Dayu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954) Gertrud (Carl Dreyer, 1964) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1988) Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952) A One And A Two . . . (Edward Yang, 2000) Voyage to Italy (Roberto Rossellini, 1953) Au hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966) I have restricted myself to one per director, which means omitting such supreme masterpieces as Andrei Rublev, The Sacrifice, Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, Ugetsu Monogatari, Ordet, Passion of Joan of Arc, Three Colours Red, and Diary of a Country Priest, any one of which I feel, after re-viewing it, just has to be the greatest ever. Top 10 Directors: Andrei Tarkovsky Robert Bresson Kenji Mizoguchi Alfred Hitchcock Yasujiro Ozu Carl Dreyer Roberto Rossellini Akira Kurosawa Andrzej Wajda John Ford "I have been passionate about world cinema since the 1960s, and am particularly interested in the portrayal of religion on screen (in 1990 I self-published a small book, Fifty Religious Films, now out of print). I write articles on cinema for online journals." tally after this list / May 23, 2006 David Oppedisano The Devil Is A Woman (Josef von Sternberg, 1935) The Shanghai Gesture (Josef von Sternberg, 1941) The Scarlet Empress (Josef von Sternberg, 1934) Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945) Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) Dune (David Lynch, 1984) Les Anges Du Péché (Robert Bresson, 1943) Vampyr (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932) A New Leaf (Elaine May, 1971) Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938) Top 10 Directors: Josef von Sternberg Kenji Mizoguchi Alfred Hitchcock Carl Th. Dreyer Robert Bresson David Lynch Woody Allen Michelangelo Antonioni John Waters Albert Lewin Runners-up: Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg, 1931) The Life Of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952) Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg, 1932) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, 1937) North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) Female Trouble (John Waters, 1974) Ordet (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1955) Sleeper (Woody Allen, 1973) Black Narcissus (Michael Powell, 1947) It’s A Gift (Norman Z. McLeod, 1934) Not Reconciled, Or Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules (Jean-Marie Straub, 1965) David Oppedisano is a film journalist and researcher living in London. His books include Who’s Who of Contemporary Hollywood, Chronicle of the Cinema and Radio Times Guide to Films. tally after this list / April 9, 2006 Jesus LovesYou Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973) armed with money from John Lennon; only Jodorowsky could make an even stranger film than 'El Topo'. Città violenta (Sergio Sollima, 1970) aka Violent City/The Family, This is the movie that has one of the greatest Morricone soundtracks, (which is hard to find on LP or CD!) if not for 'Once Upon A Time in the West', this would be the best movie Charles Bronson ever did. West of Zanzibar (Tod Browning, 1928) Sleazy fun from Browning whose 'Freaks' is always listed as his best film, I dunno, but for my money this movie starring Lon Chaney is unafraid to reach the lowest point humanly possible for a human being to reach. The Gambler (Karel Reisz, 1974) Forget James Cann in 'The Godfather', this is the best movie James Caan ever did period. James Toback wrote the script but Karel Reisz has the vision to carry out this sleazy tale of addiction and failure all the way through while Gustav Mahler's 'Symphony No. 1' plays out on the soundtrack. Viva La Muerte (Fernando Arrabal, 1971) Jodorowsky's Panic Movement contemporary makes this bizarre mediation on the Catholic Church and Franco's dictatorship, not to be missed. Apartment Zero (Martin Donovan, 1988) weird mediation on a cinefile's homoerotic attraction and repulsion to his American roommate (who happens to be a former CIA death squad soldier let loose in Buenos Aires, Argentina,). The film perfectly captures life in Buenos Aires and the embarrassment of being a movie buff. The Wide Blue Road (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1957) This movie throws you off completely, just when you think it's really a neo-realist movie, it takes a left turn and becomes a melodramatic Hollywood cornball drama, takes another turn and becomes a propaganda piece for the communist party, but it doesn't matter what it may be, by the time you know it, you have a pretty good movie that leaves you thinking long and hard about what you have just seen. Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957) A movie so good, you'll actually come away thinking Kirk Douglas is a good actor (he isn't!). Timothy Carey almost steals the movie, but that honor falls on the double whammy casting of Adolphe Menjou and George Macready that actually steal the movie, Kubrick was on the top of his game, out to prove that the 'Killing' was no fluke, and minus the ego of his later films. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976) this is not a showpiece for Ben Gazzara as you would assume from one viewing but a bizarre movie that strips away our expectations of cinematic form, from genre, acting and story, you need to watch this film several times before you actually understand it. One-Eyed Jacks (Marlon Brando, 1961) the cinematic link between Stanley Kubrick and Sam Peckinpah is directed by the Greatest Actor of all time. The film that Kubrick got fired from! Karl Malden chews up the scenery with style and proves he's more than just a nose. Check this one out by all means. Top Ten Directors I can't name ten good directors, because I believe directors have good movies and bad movies, like Scorsese despite all the good movies he's made has lately made some pretty awful movies, if I have to name somebody, I'll go with Kubrick who made at least ten good movies in succession. "My background information is the following: my name is Jesus Lovesyou. I am a missionary who watches films in his spare time. I am currently living and preaching the word of the lord in Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay. Although I have no degree in film, I believe films should be referred to as movies since they are intended for the masses. I officially changed my name years ago in order to preach the scriptures and deliver God's message." tally after this list / April 6, 2006 Michael W. Phillips Jr. Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1943) La Regle de Jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939) Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kirshner, 1980) Jules et Jim (Francois Truffaut, 1961) Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) Top 10 Directors: Alfred Hitchcock Martin Scorsese Steven Spielberg Ernst Lubitsch Akira Kurosawa Takeshi Kitano Howard Hawks Jean-Luc Godard Michael Powell Werner Herzog Michael W. Phillips Jr. is the writer and webmaster of Goatdog's Movies. He pays the bills by editing things on paper and stays sane by helping people make films and running the projector at a revival house. tally after this list / March 20, 2006 Film Prophet Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943) Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957) Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1948) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Top 10 Directors: Alfred Hitchcock Martin Scorsese Steven Spielberg Billy Wilder Akira Kurosawa Frank Capra Ingmar Bergman Stanley Kubrick Tim Burton Woody Allen Film Prophet is an amateur online movie reviewer who enjoys composing movie lists. tally after this list / March 17, 2006 Jeff Cardarelli Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1943) The General (Buster Keaton, 1926) 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963) The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut, 1959) Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974) The Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstien, 1925) Top 10 Directors (in alphabetical order): Woody Allen Ingmar Bergman John Cassavetes Federico Fellini Alfred Hitchcock Jim Jarmusch Stanley Kubrick Akira Kurosawa David Lynch Martin Scorsese Jeff Cardarelli is a film enthusiast, and he tries to be open for every genre, director or film epoch. tally after this list / March 9, 2006 Daniel Zuares Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970) La Regle du jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939) Sansho Dayu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954) Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966) Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975) The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1943) The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957) Playtime (Jaques Tati, 1967) L'Avventura (Michaelangelo Antonioni, 1960) Daniel Zuares is film buff, hoping some day to become an independent filmmaker. tally after this list / March 8, 2006 Jason Mlinarsik Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966) Top 10 Directors: Orson Welles Stanley Kubrick Alfred Hitchcock Akira Kurosawa Ingmar Bergman Martin Scorsese Luis Bunuel David Lean Steven Spielberg Jean Renoir Jason Mlinarsik is a Film Enthusiast. tally after this list / February 28, 2006 Louis Goldberg These are in no order of preference. Many people say how difficult or even pointless it is to make a list of 10 best films because it excludes so many others the critic likes. I don't think any list reflects an objective best 10 since liking a film is a subjective experience. However, a top 10 list gives someone looking at the list an idea of what the critic's tastes are. My list is atypical. It features a number of obscure films or the lesser films of major filmmakers. It excludes many films that are generally considered the best in polls such as the Sight and Sound Best 10 Films poll that they conduct every ten years. Tokyo Olympiad (Kon Ichikawa, 1965) Loving this film hasn't as much to do with loving sports as it does loving film form. Asked to document the 1964 Summer Olympics, Ichikawa creates an impressionistic version of it that is one of the most amazing film spectacles ever. And this is to be distinguished from the actual Olympic event as spectacle. While there is much to admire in Leni Riefenstahl's film of the 1936 Olympics, and while Riefenstahl also uses the event to play with film form as in her famous diving montage, Ichikawa's use of color, slow-motion, freeze frames, widescreen composition, and aerial shots combined with his choice of subjects makes this the superior film. And because there are so many facets to the film: shots of people eating in the mess hall, reporters typing away, the man from Chad walking around town, kimono-clad attendants standing in the rain, the referees measuring distances, etc., it's almost more than a look at just the Olympics, it presents so much human activity that it's like a documentary of the whole world circa 1964. Two sequences stand out. First, the opening torch relay. It represents the torch of civilization returning to re-admit Japan into the world of nations after WW2. The torch goes past all of the key Japanese icons, the Hiroshima Peace Tower, Mt. Fuji, the Emperor, until it takes its place in the stadium. The second is a very short but brilliant sequence detailing the marksmanship contest. A lot of the athletic events take place in front of the noisy crowd, but silence reigns in this sequence. The firing of a gun is less physical and more mental. Ichikawa uses a rack focus between the gunsight and the shooter's eye. In a brief series of shots he captures the essense of the interiority of this event. Only Angels Have Wings / To Have And Have Not (Howard Hawks, 1939 & 1944) I believe that Hawks is the finest American filmmaker even if his films are not intellectually or philosophically as deep or literary as say films by Kubrick or Woody Allen. And Hawks films aren't emotionally moving in the sense that you might cry during them. They are simply very funny and/or very thrilling. They are clasical Hollywood entertainment at its best: fun, exciting, and moral without being preachy. Hawks is attracted to a certain kind of person, one who is an alpha male and "cool" and can operate well in reality. He likes to put this kind of person together with a similarly-minded female and record the fireworks. These two films are very similar and yet I find it impossible to choose between them, to pick one and leave off the other because each has things in them I love that the other doesn't. I could go through the films in detail but I'm going to stick to essentials. Although entry into the fraternity of flyers in Angels requires that you risk your very neck, they are tough guys, great role models, and you admire them and wish to belong & be like them. The main character in TH&HN is more of a loner, his entourage of quirky associates forming less of an obvious group, but his ability to handle life is just as impressive. Both films are set in "mythical" exotic locales: a fictious Barranca and a just as fictious Martinique. However, while in most films you stand apart from the images and just watch, these are two films where their overall environment is rendered so endearingly that you don't just want to watch, you actually want to live in this film, and be these people. A Time To Love And A Time To Die (Douglas Sirk, 1958) A lot of people look at Sirk's films and enjoy them for a sense of their melodramatic campiness. This war film is one of the films where he plays it straight and creates a masterpiece. Few have written about this film. Jean-Pierre Melville called it Sirk's best film and there was an attempt to revive it in New York sometime in the 90s, but it's basically forgotten today. Even those who admire it don't really appreciate just how special a film it actually is. One of the many amazing qualities the film has is its density of characters and incidents. We seem to meet someone new almost every ten seconds and in a short shot or one brief line these characters become completely realized. One result of this approach is that the plot gives way to the moment. Another is that after 130 plus minutes you feel you've met half the world and watched 20 films instead of just one. Just as the film's title suggests, the world follows a pattern of contrasts: love, war, good, bad, sensitivity, insensitivity, and so on. The film expresses this by having a good event follow a bad one which is followed by another good one. It's formulaic but the results are effective: just when your spirits are put down, something perks them up again and when things look like they're going well, your hopes are dashed, and that is life, after all. The film's politics and its philosophical points are all coming from the right place. Its sentiments are so well put into dialogue: "Let's forget everything outside this room." "Without doubt, there would be no room for faith." "-I didn't know you wanted children so much. -It's your children I want to have. -In times like these, aren't you afraid? -Other things frighten me more, like not having them." "This was my daughter's room. Her name was Elsie. After the second air raid she didn't come home. I didn't tell the authorities because I didn't want anyone else to stay in her room, but I want you to." "-My parents had their honeymoon in Hildesheim. They described the 1000 year old rose-vine climbing up the cathedral gate. I suppose that's gone now. And Holland with its canals and dykes, we wouldn't be welcome there either. -We bombed Rotterdam. -So even if we could go on a honeymoon there's no place, it's all been destroyed by bombs and hate." Some of the dialogue may make the film seem pro-family values, but Sirk's leftism is the guiding factor. It's just that it's a film that loves life even while admitting how barbaric we can be. The film makes interesting use of symbols like the blooming tree or the curtains that open and close. Lisolette Pulver isn't just acting, she IS this wonderfully perky person, perhaps the most lovely female character in movies. Seeing her in this film you think any other woman you married would be second best. And being a war film, it is a film about death and about what's wrong with a society that has hate and competition and war and death at its center. It reminds you of the problems we face as a species and it reminds you you die no matter how well you live, though it's important to live well. But if it's a film that puts the ego of the human race in its place, that's not a bad thing. A Day In The Country (Jean Renoir, 1936) Maybe two bittersweet romances on a top 10 list is pushing it, but Renoir's film isn't just boy meets girl, boy loses girl. He's expressing a kind of pattern that almost defines human nature or just nature itself. It's not a mistake that most of the film takes place outdoors. Nature is God and we become our animal selves while in it. Nature decrees, we follow, and the tragic sadness of this edict is imposed on all of us. The End of Summer (Yasujiro Ozu, 1960) Most critics look to Tokyo Story as Ozu's masterpiece, others will site other titles, now his earliest films seem to be coming into fashion, but the one film which contains and sums up all of Ozu's views on things is this one. Ozu considered Tokyo Story melodramatic and this is a film which has jokes around the thought of concern over a parent's death, and it's a film which tries to have as little plot as possible, making it even more minimal than other Ozu. Ozu's films are about moment to moment changes that take place as time passes, changes both social and personal. Their low-angle viewpoint and their slow contemplate-this pace are the viewpoint of a buddhist sitting in meditation (though another brilliant description of Ozu's low-angle viewpoint is "the view of a child looking in on the adult world"). One of the first shots is of a neon sign which reads New Japan in English. It tells you what the film will concern itself with as it contrasts "old Japan" with this newer one. And what distinguishes the two is Zen. Some Japanese are still zen masters and some are not. Those who are not they are selfish, scared, and out-of-touch, and the whole film is just a contrast between the two types of people. In a very early scene a man is filled with fear and ulterior motives. One look at him and the woman he'd like to land rejects him. In another scene, the family patriarch ambushes the worker sent to spy on him and flusters the man up so much that the guy pays for the main charater's noodles. "The fool," sums up the patriarch. Part of what makes a man a zen master is self-containment. The patriarch's daughter-in-law is upset the old man is seeing a mistress, she doesn't think it's right. But later, she realizes the old man is dying and having some last enjoyment and tries to apologize for her earlier behavior. He answers: "I've been rejected by people so many times, it makes no difference." He simply wasn't bothered or intimidated by what she thought or did and it certainly didn't stop him. Ozu's later films are ones which acknowledge that an audience is watching, that they are films. Their characters seem to be looking at the camera and us. They can be turned away from us and it still has the same effect. The patriarch is sitting on the floor while his mistress's daughter is moving back and forth in the background. He mutters "restless girl" and that's meant to be from him to us. In this way, the film is not so much a drama as it is a lecture with a narrator pointing out things from time to time saying, "See..." Ultimately the film is about accepting things. The patriarch is dying, that's just the way it is. "It can't be helped." The Mistress's daughter asks which of two men might be her Dad and is basically told it doesn't really matter since it doesn't alter the fact she's alive now. The couple goes to the bike races, they hold their bets, the race is done, the bets don't pay, they tera up the receipts and the torn paper blows on the wind. The film concludes with a blunt metaphor: a shot of 7 or 8 mourners walking away is followed by a shot of 7 or 8 gravestones. This doesn't just mean that the characters will someday die, but the actors playing them, and every member of the audience, which means you and me. But again, a film that reminds us that life is ephemeral is not a bad thing, it's a true thing. Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock, 1964) Just because Robin Wood & Bernardo Bertolucci will tell you this is a top 10 film doesn't mean that it's easy to articulate why. Looked at as objectively as is possible, Marnie is a mess, flawed beyond belief. I have watched this film with audiences who laugh at nearly every line thinking the whole thing is just preposterous. So how is it the film can make a top 10 list when most people look at it as the point where Hitchcock lost what powers he had? In one word: emotionalism. There are many perfect or near perfect films that people praise which you can admire but which leave you cold. Marnie, at least for me as a subjective experience, is nothing but hot. I've seen the film many times. I know what's coming. There are no surprises. And yet, if put in front of it for 10 minutes, I'm sucked in and played like an organ. I cry. I gasp. It's uncanny. It shouldn't happen to me but it does without fail. Of course, you have to watch it alone or in a small group and if it doesn't work for someone their laughter will destroy what magic the film is capable of. Someone described watching Marnie as like going through therapy and since it deals with a woman's psychological problems, it is very intense. Marnie has OCD, anxiety attacks which compel her. The device of redding out the screen is brilliant--an internal state of anxiety expressed externally in visual filmic terms. Marnie refuses to exchange. She won't put out for cash but steals the money from men instead. She's fascinating because she's so troubled and so different. I think I root for her and have more sympathy for her and want her to succeed more than any character in movies. She wants to be left alone and you can't help but intervene because you want to nurture and cure her. Hitchcock presents part of that intervention as sexual. It doesn't help Marnie any to rape her. It's wrong. But. You see, there's a but there. Love breeds desire and so she has to be brought into a world of sexuality even if its by force. Rape isn't something you would personally do, but Hitchcock goes beyond what you would personally do to fulfill the forbidden desire he has set up. Then the Herrmann score paints the relationship between Mark and Marnie as romantic, so there's no room to interpret it differently. Love and rape align. You can root for the girl, be puzzled by her, fascinated, try to understand her and help her, what have you, but if you are honest, all of this means you will want to have her as well. And while all these sexual aspects are part of the film, if that's all the film were about, it couldn't make a top 10 list. Marnie is a film about repair, about curing neurosis through connection, confession, and insight. Maybe that works on paper better than the film does in reality, but despite how odd a route it seems to take at times, because it reaches a cure and an epiphany, it's the most hope-filled film ever made. Rebel Without A Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) I almost want to say that the content of this film doesn't matter, that it's the style and form which make it special, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. Even so, let's talk first about style. Not only is Rebel scored with contemporary music, it IS contemporary music: aggressive, dissonant, conflicted, raging & powerful. I showed it to someone who said, it looks like they watched West Side Story, but Rebel came first and is superior, it's just presented as if it were a ballet or musical. The film is all physical movement and energy with its characters running about in constant motion. Now, content. On the surface, it's about teen deliquency, but again, it's more primal than that, it's about outsiders who all have family issues so that it's more like a Modern Art version of a Greek Drama. One of the characters is named Plato and although Jim tries his best, he winds up rolling in agony on the ground, unable to stop the tragedy that comes to Plato. By today's standards, these kids are just too polite to be real hoods, but the issues the film deals with are still universal and a propos. Jim tries to call Judy and her dad answers the phone and gets rid of him. Judy overhears this and says to herself, "He didn't have to do that." That's the whole conflict of being an emerging adult in a parent's household in a nutshell. And two seconds later, Judy leaves the house through a window. If the parents (and by extention society) can't operate with decency, then all of the kids have to discover morality on their own. And Rebel knows that's no easy task. The kids find a refuge where they can explore freedom and emotion on their own: "I love somebody. All my life I wanted someone to love me and now I love somebody." Ray's ending isn't entirely apocalyptic, because even though things are stacked against you, there isn't yet the complete destruction of the world as pictured in the planetarium. But it's there in the background of things, we live with it, it's coming, but not quite today. The Red Shoes (Michael Powell, 1948) Most of the Powell & Pressburger films are tremendous and critics all seem to find a favorite and promote it. The Red Shoes had an early reputation but today people often eschew it for others like IKWIG, Blimp, Stairway to Heaven, Narcissus, even A Canterbury Tale, Tales of Hoffmann, and The Small Back Room. I'm glad we have all of these films but still have to put The Red Shoes on my list of top 10. Again we have a film whose form seems to predominate over its content, a film that is all color and music and movement. The form is dazzling but the film has content as well. True ballet fans consider it a completely ridiculous depiction of the art, but it isn't really about the ballet, they could all be circus performers and you could still have the same story. What matters more is the creation of such a unique character such as the haughty Lermontov or the issue of the love triangle over Vicki or the work and passion required to create. What fascinates me are the details, the comings and goings. It's not by accident that there are trains in this film. The film begins, the students arrive, 45 minutes passes in a title card, we meet Kraster but we also meet his girlfriend and a pal and a stuck-up couple who act annoyed. By the next scene all of these people are gone from the film for good but Kraster. Prof. Palmer comes in and disappears two scenes later as does Vicki's relative. Some people are central to scenes like the Russian ballerina, but then they too disappear, and just when you think they are gone for good, scenes later they are brought back again. The camera pans past a large outdoor dinner party at dusk. There are long tables and people are seated at them. Then there is a pretty blonde girl who is standing up. Who is she? We'll never know because, while we see her for a second, the camera keeps moving past her. In a way, this is a film not just about the passage of time but about aging through time reflected primarily through the forming & losing of relationships. Pierrot Le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965) Gee, another widescreen, color film with a musical feel to it. Although it has a ton to say about our culture, politics, and relationships, I just like the way it looks and moves forward episode after episode. Some of those episodes are quirky slapstick, others improvised, still others are deeply beautiful or personal. It's absurd and then poignant and then absurd again. Even so, I'm engrossed. I suppose it's message is that people lie and betray and can't love and get along but I don't care about that as much. I just want to see Anna Karina on a balcony in the middle of a long unbroken shot overlooking Paris with her hair awry, a rifle in her hand, a strange expression on her face while a voice-over expresses her deep, free soul: "C'est moi, Marianne." Top 10 Directors: Orson Welles Jean-Luc Godard Francois Truffaut Michael Powell Jean Renoir Howard Hawks Yasujiro Ozu Ernst Lubitsch Akira Kurosawa Alfred Hitchcock Louis Goldberg is Chief Programmer for Cinema Guild, a student film society on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. He was also a film columnist for the Ann Arbor Observer for a year. "CG was established in 1950, making us (as far as we know) the 2nd oldest college campus film society still in operation (we think Doc Films at the U of Chicago which began in 1932 and is still running is first). In the early 1960s, Cinema Guild helped co-found and operate the Ann Arbor 16mm Film Festival and former CG members include Lawrence Kasdan and Neal Gabler." tally after this list / February 4, 2006 Philip B. DeKane The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939) 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1957) Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938) Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954) The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1928) Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960) The rest of the Top Twenty: 11. Andrei Rublev; 12. Grand Illusion; 13. His Girl Friday; 14. Raging Bull; 15. Persona; 16. Ikiru; 17. Some Like It Hot; 18. Wild Strawberries; 19. Rashomon; 20. Vertigo Top 10 Directors: Jean Renoir Luis Bunuel Ingmar Bergman Alfred Hitchcock Robert Bresson Yasujiro Ozu Orson Welles Akira Kurosawa Andrei Tarkovsky Jean-Luc Godard Philip B. DeKane received a B.A. in English with a concentration in Film Studies from Michigan State University, and is an aspiring film critic and historian. tally after this list / January 9, 2006 Mitchell Seal Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966) 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) La Passion de Jeanne d'arc (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1928) El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970) Aguirre, der Zorn gottes (Werner Herzog, 1972) Singin' In the Rain (Stanley Donan & Gene Kelly, 1952) Top 10 Directors: Stanley Kubrick Luis Buñuel Alfred Hitchcock Akira Kurosawa Alejandro Jodorowsky Mitchell just wanted to vote. tally after this list / December 27, 2005 David Jonas Frisch Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) Au Hasard, Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966) Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954) 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) Aguirre, Wrath Of God (Werner Herzog, 1972) Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr, 1996) Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990) Scenes From A Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1973) Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977) If I were to continue my list it would something like this: 11. Week-End, 12. The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie, 13. Ordet, 14. Trust, 15. Sherman's March, 16. The Decalouge, 17. My Night At Maud's, 18. L'Avventura, 19. Sans Soleil, and 20. something from Tsai Miang-Liang. If I were to remake this entire list the directors would stay the same, only the particular titles and rankings would change. Top 10 Directors: Yasujiro Ozu Abbas Kiarostami Robert Bresson Ingmar Bergman Andrei Tarkovsky Akira Kurosawa Werner Herzog Luis Bunuel Woody Allen Jean-Luc Godard The second tier of my pantheon: 11. Eric Rohmer, 12. Krzysztof Kieslowski, 13. Bela Tarr, 14. Tsai Ming-Liang, 15. Hal Hartley, 16. Stanley Kubrick, 17. Carl Dreyer, 18. Michelangelo Antonioni, 19. Chris Marker, and 20. Ross McElwee. At last count 79 of my 100 favorite films are from these twenty directors. David Jonas Frisch suffers from a severe case of "a.b.d."-induced writer's block, but does manage to maintain extremely organized lists of his favorite films. He is greatly influenced by the writings of Acquarello, Chris Fujiwara, Kent Jones, and David Sterritt (among Cinematheque contributors), as well as Geoff Andrew, Godfrey Cheshire, Stanley Kauffmann, Donald Richie, and Jonathan Rosenbaum. If for any reason you are having trouble sleeping, David recommends contacting him (davidjfrisch "at" hotmail) for updated movie lists and/or recommended social science readings (which are such powerful sedatives they require a prescription). David also wants to thank his wife, whose love and support makes his list-making possible. tally after this list / December 21, 2005 Yama Rahimi The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996) In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai, 2000) The Leopard (Lucchino Visconti, 1963) The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Dr Zhivago (David Lean, 1965) Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears, 1988) Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Philip Kaufman, 1988) Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986) Top 10 Directors: Alfred Hitchcock Federico Fellini Akira Kurosawa Stanley Kubrik Pedro Almodovar David Lynch Wong Kar Wai Abbas Kiarostami Lars Van Trier Stephen Frears Mr Rahimi is an Afghan-American filmmaker. He attended the LA Film School and wrote, produced and directed two shorts so far. He is currently working on several projects. tally after this list / December 15, 2005 Romulo Tejera 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) La Maman Et La Putain (Jean Eustache, 1973) Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973) Once Upon A Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968) Le Cercle Rouge (Jean Pierre Melville, 1970) Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967) Illtown (Nick Gomez, 1996) The Devil Probably (Robert Bresson, 1977) The Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara, 1992) One Froggy Evening (Chuck Jones, 1955) Top 10 Directors: Stanley Kubrick Jean Pierre Melville Marlon Brando Nicholas Ray Robert Aldrich Nick Gomez Francis Ford Coppola Robert Bresson Fritz Lang Alfred Hitchcock Romulo Tejera is a graduate of the College of Staten Island with a Masters in Cinema/Media Studies. tally after this list / December 9, 2005 Brian W. Fairbanks Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975) Stanley Kubrick’s unheralded masterpiece transports the viewer to another time and place in ways no other film has done. A remarkable achievement and a true cinematic experience like no other. Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) The greatest horror film of all time, one in which the "monsters" are less horrific than the humans who create them. In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison, 1967) An atmospheric mystery with a message that avoids being preachy or sanctimonious. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) Howard Hawks' adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel is legendary for not making a lick of sense. It's equally legendary for not needing to. A noir masterpiece Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956) The best science fiction films are those that imagine a future that is plausibly and frighteningly real. Don Siegel’s classic fills the bill only too well. The pods have, indeed, taken over. In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1951) An expose of Hollywood that’s as bitter as "Sunset Blvd" but more believable. Humphrey Bogart's finest performance. Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960) Stanley Kubrick’s epic isn’t as intelligent as "Lawrence of Arabia" or as literate as "Ben-Hur," but it's the most passionate and moving with Kirk Douglas leading a superb all star cast. Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979) The triumph of style over substance brilliantly portrayed by Peter Sellers. Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) One of Hitchcock's least appreciated films is also one of his best. How can a Hitchcock spy film that features George Sanders, Robert Benchley, Herbert Marshall and Edmund Gwenn, to say nothing of Joel McCrea as the all too human hero, not be letter perfect? Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995) Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic improves on "Goodfellas" and is the perfect antidote to the romanticized mobsters of "The Godfather" films. (This list could look completely different tomorrow or the day after, but none of the films listed above are in danger of falling out of my top 50.) Top 10 Directors: Alfred Hitchcock Stanley Kubrick Howard Hawks Billy Wilder Martin Scorsese James Whale Don Siegel Orson Welles John Huston Sergio Leone Brian W. Fairbanks holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Cleveland State University. A life-long film buff, he has written about the cinema for numerous online publications, including Paris Woman Journal where he has served as Entertainment Editor since the year 2000. A selection of his film reviews are collected in I Saw That Movie, Too available from Lulu.com. In 2005, he published Writings, collecting fifteen years of essays and criticism of film, literature, music, and society in one volume. He lives in Ohio. tally after this list / December 8, 2005 Isaac León Frías (in no particular order) Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1928) L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934) La regle du jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939) Ivan Grozny 1 and 2 (Sergei Eisenstein, 1944-46) Los olvidados (Luis Buñuel, 1950) Viaggio in Italia (Roberto Rossellini, 1953) Tokio Monogatari (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) The Searchers (John Ford, 1956) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1957) Top 10 Directors (in no particular order): Carl Th. Dreyer F.W. Murnau Charles Chaplin John Ford Jean Renoir Alfred Hitchcock Yasujiro Ozu Roberto Rossellini Orson Welles Ingmar Bergman Isaac León Frías has been a Film critic in Peru for 40 years. He was also Professor of Languaje and Film History and Director of Filmoteca de Lima(1986-2001). He is also a member of FIPRESCI. tally after this list / December 7, 2005 David Robson (in alphabetical order) Hellzapoppin' (H.C. Potter, 1941) The Phenix City Story (Phil Karlson, 1955) Mothlight (Stan Brakhage, 1963) Performance (Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg, 1970) F For Fake (Orson Welles, 1973) Zigeunerweisen (Seijun Suzuki, 1980) Lessons of Darkness (Werner Herzog, 1992) Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas, 1996) The Pillow Book (Peter Greenaway, 1996) Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002) Top 10 Directors (in alphabetical order): Michelangelo Antonioni Charles Burnett Samuel Fuller Peter Greenaway Sogoo Ishii Phil Karlson Akira Kurosawa Ida Lupino Seijun Suzuki Orson Welles David Robson is co-writer/co-editor of the film 'zine PURE ENJOYMENT (with Aaron S. Luk). He holds a degree in theatre from the University of Virginia, worked for many years at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and is working on an array of stage and film projects. He sees an insane amount of films for one not paid to do so. tally after this list / December 6, 2005 Lucas McNelly Dekalog (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1989) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Scenes From a Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1973) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) Les Enfants du Paradise (Marcel Carne, 1945) Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977) The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967) Lucas McNelly runs the film collective d press Productions and spends his free time watching classic cinema and writing reviews for his blog. tally after this list / December 6, 2005 SEE MORE TOP 10 LISTS

HOME * REVIEWS * AWARDS & PREDICTIONS * LISTS * MIDTOWN * FILM FESTIVALS * ODDS & ENDS * LINKS * CONTACT