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Best Movies of All time


Criteria


My list of the Greatest movies of all time is governed by these principles. First, the movie must be of high caliber, well made, directed, and acted. Second, it must have had a significant impact on the film industry, either through content, style, process of of making, or a combination of these impacts. It must stand out, above the rest of the films of its genre.


  1. Lord of the Rings, Return of the King (and all three parts--I was always awed by the power the Star Wars phenomenon had on the world. It burst on the scene in 1977 and captured the imagination of the masses. It is still as powerful a force of movie nature as it ever was; however, Peter Jackson's masterpiece dethrones it as the best of all time. The scope is even bigger than the galactic scale of Star Wars. The acting is better, and so is the direction. Lord of the Rings in all three of its parts, forms an invincible unit. Nothing comes close. To be sure, Peter Jackson owes much to George Lucas. The innovative special effects of Star Wars paved the way for all films of this genre. But George's vision, much as I love it, is not the equal of Peter's.
  2. Star Wars--It is a spectacle on the galactic scale, with dashing heroes, and creepy, black-clad villains. It was humorous at the same time as it was diverting. The moviemaking was impeccable, combining all of the effect of today with the technology available in 1977. The special effects themselves took over three years to produce. The direction was solid, and the acting, by a largely unknown cast (with the exception of Sir Alec Guiness) above par. The story was simple, but it captured the imaginations of the world, and is still going strong. Lucas's production values and techniques revolutionized moviemaking, and all films after Star Wars owe much to its legacy. The characters, and indeed the film itself, have become cultural icons fully as large as the legacy of the filmcraft left by this monumental achievement...a legacy that has spanned 20 years, and immensely successful re-releases of the films, which are beefed up by redone special effects, and added scenes. Star Wars is now the highest grossing film in movie history, and will be for some time to come.
  3. Ben Hur--The ultimate 1950's spectacle comes from an age where spectacular movie making was the norm, but it was different from the other movies of the era. It was bold, with great themes, and great stories. The acting was solid, the direction superb, the score rousing, and the thrills plentiful. Heston defined the era's downtrodden hero with his performance as Judah Ben Hur. Stephen Boyd was equally as impressive as his evil nemesis. The spectacle's climax of the magnificent chariot race took nearly a year to plan, film, and edit. It is breathtaking, and takes place on the largest set ever constructed for Hollywood, before or since. Ben Hur won 11 Academy Awards, the most of any movie, and for the 1950's, defined its genre with majesty and power.
  4. Citizen Kane--Orson Welles's homage to William Randolph Hearst is at once a triumph of acting, directing, and writing. Welles starred in and produced this masterpiece about a young newspaper tycoon and the influence he had on the people around him, and they on him. The script crackles, the acting is top notch all around, even down to the supporting characters, and the story is timeless. This picture is definitely one for the ages.
  5. The Manchurian Candidate--John Frankenheimer's chilling vision of McCarthyism and its influence on politics was so controversial that even the critics had to see it twice to believe it. The story is unthinkable, insane, and horrifying...all without blood, gore, or even much violence. Laurence Harvey's portrayal of the doomed, preprogrammed assassin evokes the deepest sympathy and darkest loathing at the same time, and is truly remarkable. Sinatra's Major Marco shows us authority in the film with great skill, and Angela Lansbury is the complete embodiment of true evil in film, so despicable you wish her dead from the opening moments, which is a sobering thought. There is no film like it, before or since, with the possible exception of some of Rod Serling's more twisted visions in the Twilight Zone.
  6. The Bicycle Thief--This 1949 film stars no real actors, but still evokes some of the most owerful imagery ever depicted on film. The simple story involves searching for a lost bicycle. Pee Wee Herman did the same thing, with an infinitessimal amount of intelligence, which just goes to show how great this film really is. Basically, the hero has to find his bike in order to get to work. The imagery of the Bicycle being his livelihood, and his lack of the bike being his death (both of spirit and body), is stunning. The Bicycle also represents his freedom to work and to live, with no ties to anyone or anything (the man does have a family, and is happy, but achieves true liberation through the Bicycle). Coming soon after the war and the tragic injustices of Mussolini, the film makes a simple, yet incredibly powerful statement about human will and the human soul.
  7. 2001-A Space Odyssey--Stanley Kubrick's visual experience is stunningly made, and meticulously crafted. The human interactions in this movie are largely superfluous to the visual splendor of it. Gary Lockwood's Frank Poole dies, but this is largely unimportant to the film, which is more about Kubrick's vision, which is largely unclear throughout. The beginning is imagery on a par with the Bicycle Thief, whereby primitive man is at peace until coming across the monolith, it's menacing 1 x 4 x 9 shape in sharp contrast to the rolling hills. After this contact, he becomes violent and warlike, and learns to kill. Kubrick might be saying that too much knowledge will destroy man and his peaceful existence, but this is only my opinion. In any event, the effects are stunning, and the imagery of the film world-class. The HAL 9000 (IBM one letter back in the alphabet) computer that runs the ship is a great asset to the movie (voice of Douglas Rain). The thinly veiled menace in his voice is a great touch, and so subtle you don't notice until it's too late. This is a marvelous film.
  8. Metropolis--Fritz Lang's expressionist masterwork is still enthralling today, 70 years after its release. some scenes are incredibly powerful, and some ludicrous, but the film is still a landmark of movie making, the culmination of the expressionist movement. The most powerful scene is where the slave workers seem to actually be a part of the machines on a gigantic wall, showing their bare emotions about how they perceive others view them. Expressionism is a powerful filmmaking art, and Metropolis embodies all of the aspects of the genre.
  9. Gettysburg--This movie is hard to describe, except to say that watching it puts you THERE, at Gettysburg, in July of 1863, where John Buford and a brigade of Federal cavalry buy enough time for the rest of the Union army to get there and set up. Where Joshua Chamberlain courageously charges loaded guns with bayonets drawn, out of ammunition. Where Pickett sent his men to certain death with a smile on his face. The acting is superb, especially Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain. The cinematography is jaw-dropping, with wide, panoramic shots of the battle and its many small vicissitudes. The movie pulls no punches, and shows itself for what it is...an historical treatment of Gettysburg, with very little left to the realm of fiction. You will not look at the American flag the same again, ever. The haunting, sad quality of even the happy marching songs will stay with you, as you think about the brother kill brother mentality that this bloody war wrought on our country. It will change you, for the better.
  10. Dr. Strangelove--Kubrick's masterful dark comedy, with Peter Sellers's magnificent portrayal of three different roles. Never was the end of the world so funny and frightening at the same time. Sellers on the phone with the Russian Premier is one of the all time classic scenes. Only Kubrick could have George C. Scott utter the frightening line "I can personally guarantee only 10 or 20 million dead...tops." with such farcical aplomb.
Honorable Mention--Das Boot, White Heat, Battleship Potemkin, The Gold Rush, City Lights, A Detective Story, Twelve Angry Men, On the Waterfront, Gandhi, Gone With the Wind, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Nosferatu, The Blue Angel (Der Blaue Engel), The Godfather, and The Magnificent Seven.



Worst Movies of All Time


Criteria


Basically, the same criteria as for the best movies, only in reverse. The Power Rangers is a special case, having absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever. The rest of the films fall into the "so bad, they're good" category, tasteless as some of them are. Plan 9 is a cult classic, but still godawful.


  1. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, The Movie/Beavis and Butthead do America (tie)--There has never been a more disgusting display of anti-children messages concocted for the silver screen. The film has nothing redeemable about it, from the silly, unbelievable mock-fights, to the villain creating monsters simply by spitting on the ground. Even the villain's craftier lines laced with some attempt at humor will be lost amongst the mind-numbing garbage. Beavis and Butthead are equally abyssmal, but for a different reason. While the Power Rangers encourage mindless conformity as the only way to be cool, Beavis and Butthead encourage complete and utter rebellion as the only way to be cool. Personally, I thought that idea went out with riveted jackets and pompadours. Beavis and Butthead are also completely tasteless as far as their so called humor is concerned. In any event, both films are excreably bad.
  2. Plan 9 From Outer Space--Ed Wood's "masterpiece" is laughably bad, so much so that the film has a macabre likability, despite bad acting, writing, and directing. This makes it worth watching if only for the "Yes, I have seen it." value. You really have to admire Ed Wood, a man with absolutely no talent, and the exact opposite amount of enthusiasm. He did his films on a shoestring budget, with little more than pure chutzpah. He was voted worst director of all time--too bad the voters never saw the Power Rangers movie.
  3. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes--Another movie that is laughably bad, all the more so because of its deadpan delivery. The producers actually thought the movie was serious. And besides, any movie that stars the San Diego Padres Chicken has GOT to be terrible. This is another cult classic that has a large fan following, generally at lousy film festivals, where it shares top billing with Plan 9.
  4. The Rocky Horror Picture Show--Another movie pretending to be serious. Despite its almost mythic cult status, with viewers counting the 1000's of times they have seen it, this movie is pathetically awful. A bizarre combination of La Cage aux Folles meets Plan 9 from Outer Space, the story is confusing in the extreme, the acting hilariously overdone, and the direction wooden. Oh, and if you go see it, watch out for flying food.
  5. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians--Aliens in green jumpsuits sprinkled with glitter and with bent over bicycle handlebars attached to their heads kidnap Santa Claus from Earth in order to make Christmas for the little Martians better. Although this movie is good-natured, it suffers from all the usual setbacks, like no acting, no direction, and in this case, no real cinematography, as everything has a fuzzy pallor to it, almost as if the entire film were shot out of focus.
  6. Dumb and Dumber--It's a shame no one gave Jeff Daniels a second look, despite great work in Gettysburg, Arachnophobia, and Terms of Endearment, until he made this tasteless garbage-heap. He and Jim Carrey recycle all of the old stand-by's, like drinking piss and making "caca" jokes while it happens. This stuff is almost never funny, and even Carrey's talent cannot shine up this tarnished, listless film.
  7. Ishtar--This is another of the "Honest, we're serious" films that flopped majorly. Despite a $45 million price tag, and the talent of two very fine actors in Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty, the film, quite simply, stank. How this was achieved is beyond the normal realm of comprehension. The story is unbelievable, the jokes poor, the script lousy, and the direction the worst kind of hamming. This kind of film makes one wonder about great actors' motives.
  8. Leonard, Part 6--Bill Cosby is many things, but a spy, he is not. A comic James Bond he is most definitely not, as this film proves. It is a jumbled mishmash of cliches and out of this world gadgets that is as unbelievable as it is pretentious. Cosby, though, does try hard, and does illicit some laughs, but not on purpose.
  9. Friday the 13th, Part IV (The Final Chapter)--This is the worst of a bad series of films, with even the title misleading. The plot is duller than most, and the gore is almost laughable in its sheer expectedness.
  10. The Lonely Lady--Pia Zadora has the dubious distinction of being included in the Worst Movie List twice (she played a child Martian in Santa Claus movie above). Basically, she's in this film to have sex with, and manipulate, the producers who give her jobs. She's lousy, the script is lousy, and the film is laughable.