The 2010 Movie Survey!

[slipjig3]

Dear shiny gods, you're likely asking, is he actually doing this again? You bet'cher Cracklin' Oat Bran I am.

This is usually an every-other-year event, but thanks to some recent conversations I've been champing at the bit, and I'm really only two months early, and insert your own thin rationalization here. So without any further ado, drum roll, please:

Adam's 2010 LiveJournal Greatest Movies of All Time Survey

What I require of you:

1) In a comment to this post, give me your list of the 10 greatest movies of all time. Define the word "greatest" by whatever criteria you like, be it "favorite" or "most important" or whatever. Only feature-length theatrical films will be eligible (even if it was just a showing or two at a film festival or one week in Podunk); direct-to-video, made-for-TV and short-subject titles are not eligible. Also, please only nominate individual films, not series of films. Items that do not fit these criteria will be ignored in the final scoring.

2) Please make sure your list is in order, or as close as you can make it. In other words, #1 will be your top choice, #2 will be your second choice, and so on. I used to allow participants to submit lists "in no particular order," but since 2009 I've been using a modified scoring system that won't allow for that. (If sorting your list is proving difficult, at least make sure your top two or three are in order; the scoring system puts the majority of the weight at the high end of the scale, so that the difference between #1 and #2 is much greater than, say, between #9 and #10.)

3) Please do not look at other people's responses until you've handed in yours. I don't want lists that amount to, "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that one! *typetype*" Also, changes are not allowed once your list is submitted; any changes made after the fact will be considered invalid.

4) If you can, please pimp this out in your journal. The more, the merrier! Every time I go in hoping for 100 lists or more, but even though the number of responses has increased pretty much every time, I still haven't quite made it. So yes, I need your help. Please point at me!

5) Deadline: 10 a.m., Monday, November 15. Results to be posted as soon after that as I can get them calculated.

As always, I look forward to seeing your lists, and thank you all again!

Comments

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

I'll start! Me first!

1) Singin' in the Rain
2) The Piano
3) Metropolis
4) The Third Man
5) Brazil
6) The Thin Blue Line
7) Amadeus
8) Vanya on 42nd Street
9) The Producers
10) Pulp Fiction

[yendi]

I take it that #9 refers to the original, and not the remake?

(Yeah, it seems obvious, but I still remember some of the choices that made the list last year, especially once the brackets began.)

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Good point. Yes, dear gods, the original, please.

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

The Producers is like Highlander: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.

Don't get me started on Matthew Broderick screwing up The Music Man, either.

[malchienne.livejournal.com]

Third Man
Fitzcarraldo
2001
8 1/2
Ikiru
The Shining
Fight Club
Unforgiven
Red (Three Colors)
A.I.

[malchienne.livejournal.com]

that's in order 1 thru 10 - top to bottom. always hard seeing others lists and wanting to add more in. fun.

[bardiphouka.livejournal.com]

I could probably come up with 10 easy in each genre.

[rain-herself.livejournal.com]

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. American Beauty
3. Inception
4. A Streetcar Named Desire
5. Dead Poets Society
6. Fight Club
7. Breakfast at Tiffany's
8. Memento
9. Pulp Fiction
10. Bull Durham

[auntiegrizelda.livejournal.com]

1. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
2. The Princess Bride
3. A League of Their Own
4. The Other Boleyn Girl
5. Wall-E
6. RENT
7. Sister my Sister
8. 1776
9. Elizabeth: The Golden Age
10. The DaVinci Code

You are an evil bastard dearie. It was so hard to come up with a Top Ten. So very very hard.

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

While I respectfully disagree with you putting it at #1, The Last Of The Mohicans (1992) is a fantastic movie and I wanted to show you my support.

[auntiegrizelda.livejournal.com]

I don't expect anyone to agree with it. It's an old favorite of mine...I've loved it since I first saw it.

To be honest, I could've put any of my list in the top spot. But LOTM is just too near and dear to my heart to NOT put it there.

[rafaela.livejournal.com]

1. Harold and Maude
2. The Royal Tenenbaums
3. Withnail & I
4. Three Colors: White
5. Fat Girl
6. Hot Fuzz
7. Fight Club
8. Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind
9. Koyanisqaatsi
10. Sense and Sensibility (1995)

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

1. Citizen Kane
2. M
3. Blade Runner
4. Lawrence of Arabia
5. A Clockwork Orange
6. Star Wars
7. Casablanca
8. Pulp Fiction
9. Clerks
10. Fight Club

This list is rather heavy on 90s stuff, because I'm rather cinema-illiterate, and it's also rather heavy on SF- and geek-cult-favorites, because those are ones I'm likely to have seen.

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

DAMMIT!

I forgot Blade Runner. Ah, well.

[rafaela.livejournal.com]

Ouch! I forgot M! Oh, well, honorable mention.

[yendi]

1. The Third Man
2. Bride of Frankenstein
3. The Princess Bride
4. Blade Runner
5. Let the Right One In (2008 version)
6. Casablanca
7. To Have and To Have Not
8. Citizen Kane
9.The Dark Knight
10. The Thing (1982 version)

As always, my list could run five times this length, and only the first two slots are locked into place.

[botia.livejournal.com]

Mirrormask
The Lost Boys
Donnie Darko
Dogma
My Neighbor Totoro
Labyrinth
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fight Club
Total Recall

[bardiphouka.livejournal.com]

1 Stand By Me
2. American In Paris
3. Usual Suspects
4. Stagecoach (the original)
5. Citizen Kane
6. Interstate 60
7. Pan's Labyrinth
8. Schindler's List
9. The Others
10.The Crying Game

[shiyiya.livejournal.com]

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973 movie only)
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Sweeney Todd
Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
My Neighbour Totoro
Nightmare Before Christmas
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds
A Muppet Christmas Carol
Oklahoma!

(...WHAT. It says FAVOURITE. My movie taste is pretty much THINGS WITH SONGS IN. And Miyazaki.)

[shiyiya.livejournal.com]

(I know I can't change it but OH GOD HOW DID I FORGET THE PRINCES BRIDE WHAT THE HELL BRAIN)

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

Thirded. DOH!

[wyyknot.livejournal.com]

Mine are all 'greatest' because they are personal favorites.
1. Fiddler on the Roof
2. The Secret Garden
3. Ponette
4. Amadeus
5. Kim (the 1950 version with Errol Flynn)
6. Aliens (yes, the second one in that series)
7. La gloire de mon pere
8. American Anthem
9. White Christmas
10. Princess Bride

[ultra-lilac.livejournal.com]

1) The seven year itch
2) Cabaret
3) Labyrinth
4) Singin' in the rain
5) Some like it hot
6) It's a wonderful life
7) Performance
8) Indiana Jones and the last crusade
9) Star Wars episode IV a new hope
10) Chicago

[oxymoron67.livejournal.com]

1. Les Enfants du Paradis
2. Citizen Kane
3. Godfather, Part I
4. The Empire Strikes Back
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark
6. Battleship Potemkin
7. Jurassic Park
8. Schindler's List
9. Godfather Part II
10. The Lion in Winter

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

Here via figmentj.

1. Pulp Fiction
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. The Return Of The King (although I would prefer to treat the entire trilogy as one film)
4. Metropolis
5. Casablanca
6. A Clockwork Orange
7. American History X
8. The Matrix
9. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
10. Forrest Gump

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

I understand completely on the entire trilogy thing; if there were any justice in the world, they would collectively be considered one freakishly long film. Unfortunately, Lord of the Rings is exactly why that rule is in place. When I did this in 2007, half the voters who wanted to honor LotR chose to treat the trilogy as one film, and the other half didn't, often giving up three out of their ten slots to the films. (LotR wasn't unique—people did that with Star Wars and the Indiana Jones films—but it was by far the most prevalent.) In the end there was no fair way to tally the final totals without making some nasty judgement calls, so I added the rule in 2009 for the sake of my own sanity. So I offer my apologies, but yeah, it's either this hassle now or a worse one next week.

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

No appy-polly-logies necessary. Your survey, your rules. Hence my clarification.

[yendi]

Quick question (completely hypothetical at this point, as I've turned in my list): How would you treat something that exists as a pair of separate films and a larger project (thinking of Kill Bill and Grindhouse here)?

[swashbucklr]

1) Casablanca
2) The Princess Bride
3) The Last of the Mohicans
4) Princess Mononoke
5) Raiders of the Lost Ark
6) The Fellowship of the Ring
7) Star Wars
8) The Matrix
9) Airplane!
10) The Fifth Element

[wiredwizard.livejournal.com]

1) Ghostbusters
2) The Princess Bride
3) Metropolis
4) Raiders of the Lost Ark
5) Star Wars
6) The Fifth Element
7) BladeRunner
8) Fellowship of the King
9) Shaun of the Dead
10) Hot Fuzz

[eilonwy.livejournal.com]

I rather suspect my answers will be outliers. Buuuut, I'll answer anyway. :)

1. Labyrinth
2. Chasing Amy
3. Moulin Rouge
4. Sense and Sensibility
5. Plunkett & macleane
6. Clerks
7. Scotland, PA
8. The Prestige
9. High Fidelity
10. Newsies

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Hey, just wanted to say, your icon made me laugh.

Fun films, both.

[alateaqoe.livejournal.com]

There's no way I could come up with a 10 best films list - but i'll do a best of genre list - which is highly, highly subjective and only relative to the present moment. Tomorrow i might have an entirely different list.

Best Musical - The Music Man
Best Western - The Outlaw Josey Wales
Best Ghost Story - The Uninvited
Best Comedy - Noises Off
Best Thriller/Suspense -
Best Fantasy - Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring
Best Star TreK - Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan
Best Comic Book Movie - Unbreakable
Best Romance - Chocolat
Best Action - Die Hard

[alateaqoe.livejournal.com]

I forgot to put the entry after thrillers - should be Inception

[weyrdbird.livejournal.com]

My Ten Favorite Films:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Carlito's Way
3. Lord of The Flies
4. Sansho The Bailiff
5. Blade Runner (Director's Cut)
6. The Road Warrior
7. Silkwood
8. The Joy Luck Club
9. Babette's Feast
10. Singin' In The Rain (Nobody messes with Lena Lamont!) ;)

Can you guess who I am?

[(Anonymous)]

Adam, you'll know who this is as soon as you see my number one movie pick. Hasn't changed since you lived in L.G. Also thought some senior perspective was needed.
1/ The Abyss
2/ Windwalker
3/ Aliens
4/ Men of Honor
5/ The Big Blue
6/ Jaws ( despite the damage done to the shark population over the last 35 years)
7/ The Last of the Mohicans (1936 Randolph Scott & Binnie Barnes) The version I grew up with.
8/ The Patriot
9/ Happy Feet
10/ AVP: Alien vs. Predator (I know I'm one of the few but remember this is a list of MY favorites)
Tied for 11th (I know they don't count but you get to see them anyway)
All the Star Wars movies, Dances with Wolves, and Wolf
Of course, at my age these may be the only films I can remember!

Oh, all right.

[blimix.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not copying and pasting from last time. I wonder about the differences.

1. The Princess Bride
2. Beastmaster
3. Monsters, Inc.
4. The Jade Claw
5. Army of Darkness
6. The Muppet Movie
7. The Blues Brothers
8. Real Genius
9. Willow
10. The Hidden Fortress

Damn this is hard...

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was a film major at an art-centric school, so many of these are (or were) art-house or small releases when they came out.

1 The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover (Peter Greenaway)
2 Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders)
3 Paris is Burning (Jennie Livingston)
4 Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
5 Brazil (Terry Gilliam)
6 Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliot)
7 Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
8 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodovar)
9 Four Rooms (Anders, Rockwell, Rodriguez, Tarantino)
10 Sex, Lies, Videotape (Stephen Soderberg)

[zeyr.livejournal.com]

1) Lawrence of Arabia (but gods, I'm so afraid to watch it on anything short of a 60mm screen!)
2) Rashomon
3) The Adventures of Robin Hood (Flynn)
4) The Godfather
5) Nosferatu (Schreck)
6) Blazing Saddles
7) Stand By Me
8) Star Wars
9) The Seven Samurai
10) Raiders of the Lost Ark

The list changes frequently, based on whim and mood, but the top few don't move much. Mostly based on rewatchability, initial emotional impact (a ver personal decision), amount of glee I feel being able to share with others and enthusiasm of my social circles over the years towards each one.

[zeyr.livejournal.com]

And reading back through the other lists, nice to see a lot of my "just missed" show. Thing, Hidden Fortress, Real Genius, Fellowship of the Ring, Donnie Darko, etc... :)

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

Forrest Gump
Sneakers
Titanic
Twelve Angry Men
Love! Valour! Compassion!
Inception
And the Band Played On
Steel Magnolias
Aliens
The Abyss

That's just off the top of my head (top of the list = higher rated)

[(Anonymous)]

Damn - you got a few I didn't think of; 8 1/2 and Amelie specifically. And I have a few movies to find on Netflix. Thanks!

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

This is a sign of how crazy my life's been the past two weeks, that I blew a full week past this deadline without ever THINKING of my choices. Phooey. Still don't have ideas. It's been a brain-draining time.

Still, looking forward to what you did get.