#90
The Red Shoes
Dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1948)
When I saw this I was shocked to find out that it was made all the way back in 1948, because it was really ahead of its time. It is one of the later films in the collaboration of the highly-inventive "Archers," Powell and Pressburger, and arguably their masterpiece. The film is nothing short of insane - especially since it's about something as graceful and delicate as ballet. Highlighting the middle of this visually stunning movie is a truly ingenious and creative segment that combines ballet with filmic elements. A great character study then breaks into one of the craziest endings of all time. A must see.
*****
#89
Carrie
Dir. Brian De Palma (1976)
Staying on the topic of insane movies, we go to an adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie by one of the craziest directors out there in Brian De Palma, who is most famous for his version of Scarface. After a girl who is constantly picked on discovers that she has telekinetic powers... well, you can imagine that's not the ideal combination of circumstances. The whole movie is great, but one scene in particular is worth your hour and a half. In a scene that's been parodied time and time again, a bloodied Carrie unleashes hell at her school's prom, causing a fiery massacre. Crazy!
*****
#88
Abre Los Ojos
Dir. Alejandro Amenábar (1997)
And at #88, yet another crazy movie! If you remember Vanilla Sky from a few years back, well this is the movie Vanilla Sky was based off of, and both movies actually have Penélope Cruz playing the same role, though of course in different languages. This movie is the very definition of psychological thriller. The main character César is essentially stuck between real life and dreaming and brings up some interesting questions. Definitely one of my favorite movies from recent years (let's say post-1995), and one of the movies contributing to the rise of elite-quality Spanish-language film in the past 15 years.
*****
#87
Red River
Dir. Howard Hawks (1948)
A bad ending can completely ruin an otherwise great movie (for me, Donnie Darko was an example of this - disagree all you want). However, in the Western genre where the endings are predictable anyway (i.e. the hero wins in a shootout), a bad ending is forgivable. In this case, John Wayne - a heroic American icon - actually plays the villain, and it's understandable why Hollywood would not want him to die in a shootout; instead, the characters inexplicably decide to just become friends in the end. It's the fact that John Wayne is the bad guy that makes this movie so good though, as his complex character here and his similar role in The Searchers are two of the greatest performances of all time.
*****
#86
The Battleship Potemkin
Dir. Sergei Eisenstein (1925)
The Battleship Potemkin is one of the most influential movies of all time, and if I were weighing historical influence more in these rankings, it would be much, much higher. It is still a great movie though and is largely responsible for defining the cinematic language as we know it today. The director Eisenstein was a pioneer in "montage," which is the juxtaposition of otherwise unrelated film shots to convey a message. In this case, he uses montage to show the horrible conditions in Russia at the time, and the film climaxes in a famous depiction of the massacre at the Odessa Staircase - a scene that has been remade countless times by movies such as The Untouchables, The Godfather, and even Star Wars Episode III. Eisenstein's ultimate goal was to create a propaganda film that would incite the masses to overthrow the Tsarist regime, and if you recall from your history books, I'd say this was pretty successful.
*****
#85
No Country for Old Men
Dir. Joel & Ethan Coen (2007)
While No Country is not as "Coen-esque" as the usual Coen Brothers fare (Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski), I think this is their best movie and am ready to call it a modern classic. There are several reasons it is the best movie I have seen in the past 5 years. The most obvious one is Javier Bardem's performance as one of the greatest villains of all time in Anton Chigurh. Everything about the character and the performance is perfect: Chigurh's unpredictability and unstoppability, Bardem's timing and stoic acting, and of course the hair. The other huge reason this movie is so good is the directing. The movie is masterfully suspenseful (the convenience store scene and the hotel scene are awesome), and can be compared to Hitchcock. That is a huge compliment.
*****
#84
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Dir. Woody Allen (1985)
While Woody Allen is most famous for his unique, quirky style of comedy, I think his biggest strength is in the way he portrays romance. Accordingly, my two favorite movies of his are Annie Hall and this, which is one of his few non-comedies. The premise is great: a movie character falls in love with a woman who watches his movie all the time and steps out of the screen to meet her. He is stuck in his idealistic movie character mentality, though, and is also constantly being pressured to go back into the movie world where he supposedly belongs. Interestingly, I do feel that most "romance" movies feel really fake and thus I am not a fan of the genre - but while the premise for this movie is far from realistic, the emotions seem genuine and can make this touching for even those too proud in their masculinity to admit it.
*****
#83
Dog Day Afternoon
Dir. Sidney Lumet (1975)
The first half of Dog Day Afternoon is so good that if only the second half were better this movie would probably make my top 20. A bank robbery goes incredibly wrong and the thieves have to deal with some ridiculous situations, for example having to order pizza for their hostages. Eventually the robbers become celebrities, which leads to a really weird twist that sets up the movie's merely above-average second half, which I will not get into. Still, the first half is loads of fun and so many levels of ridiculous, and it alone is so great that it makes the whole film much more than worth watching.
*****
#82
Moulin Rouge!
Dir. Baz Luhrmann (2001)
I can see Moulin Rouge as kind of a love-it-or-hate-it movie, and obviously because it makes this list, I am one of those who love it. The music is great; I like the arrangements of some great pop hits and the way they were incorporated into the movie, and the singing, which is done by the actors themselves, is superb. As for the plot, it is a creative and seamless combination of plots from three of the greatest operas of all time in Puccini's La Bohème, Verdi's La Traviata, and Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld. Top that off with the quirkiness and "bounciness" that we've come to expect from Baz Luhrmann (whose modern adaptation Romeo + Juliet is also great), and we've got a great, fun movie with great music.
*****
#81
Woodstock
Dir. Michael Wadleigh (1970)
While I like classic rock, I am not the biggest fan in the world of the genre. However, when combined with some great editing (a little piece of trivia: a young Martin Scorsese was one of the editors), all of a sudden the music becomes five times as interesting to me. Technically this is a documentary about the famous concert, but it is more significant for essentially being the birth of the "concert film." It features some immortal performances, probably the most famous of which is Jimi Hendrix's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner," and if you're ever looking for something to do for four hours, watching the director's cut of Woodstock is one of the best things you can do with that time.
*****
For the complete Top 100 list, click here.
Movies #100 - #91 here.
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