Agreed.

Godzilla Minus One is the best monster movie I have seen. It has a powerful story, character development, moving dialogue and it just happens to have Godzilla as its backdrop. The devastation in the action scenes are visceral and gritty. The biggest gripe I have with the movie isn't even a gripe, it's just a selfish and ungrateful desire to have more Godzilla action scenes. Fortunately, the Godzilla vs Kong movies satiate that particular desire.
-------
Minus One looks great. Really annoyed it was barely in the cinema and now taking its time to come to streaming.

comment by Pun Muad'Dib Atreides (U21588)
posted 10 minutes ago
Agreed.

Godzilla Minus One is the best monster movie I have seen. It has a powerful story, character development, moving dialogue and it just happens to have Godzilla as its backdrop. The devastation in the action scenes are visceral and gritty. The biggest gripe I have with the movie isn't even a gripe, it's just a selfish and ungrateful desire to have more Godzilla action scenes. Fortunately, the Godzilla vs Kong movies satiate that particular desire.
-------
Minus One looks great. Really annoyed it was barely in the cinema and now taking its time to come to streaming.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s all contract issues between Toho and Legendary Pictures. They don’t want releases happening so close to each other. It’s some boolshit tho.

comment by RtM (U1097)
posted 26 minutes ago
comment by Pun Muad'Dib Atreides (U21588)
posted 10 minutes ago
Agreed.

Godzilla Minus One is the best monster movie I have seen. It has a powerful story, character development, moving dialogue and it just happens to have Godzilla as its backdrop. The devastation in the action scenes are visceral and gritty. The biggest gripe I have with the movie isn't even a gripe, it's just a selfish and ungrateful desire to have more Godzilla action scenes. Fortunately, the Godzilla vs Kong movies satiate that particular desire.
-------
Minus One looks great. Really annoyed it was barely in the cinema and now taking its time to come to streaming.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s all contract issues between Toho and Legendary Pictures. They don’t want releases happening so close to each other. It’s some boolshit tho.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Did wonder if it was something like that. Yeah it is some bullchit for sure.

comment by Bill Nick: pop star (U23088)
posted 1 day, 3 hours ago
There are in total btw 54 non-documentary movies up to 2019 with a Rotten Toms score of 100. 10 of those are on my list.
The others are:
The Kid (1921)*
Battleship Potemkin (1925)*
The Gold Rush (1925)*
Maedchen in Uniform (1931)
Top Hat (1935)*
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)*
Stagecoach (1939)*
The Philadelphia Story (1940)*
Pinocchio (1940)*
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)*
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)*
Laura (1944)
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)*
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)*
Singin in the Rain (1952)*
Tokyo Story (1953)*
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Seven Samurai (1954)*
Nights of Cabiria (1957)*
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)*
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)*
Cool Hand Luke (1967)*
Stalker (1979)*
Sugar Cane Alley (1983)
The Terminator (1984)*
Tampopo (1985)*
Three Colors: Red (1994)*
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Before Sunrise (1995)*
Toy Story (1995)*
Toy Story 2 (1999)*
Fireworks by Wednesday (2006)
Still Walking (2008)
Poetry (2010)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
Ilo Ilo(2013)
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)
The Age of Shadows (2016)
Leave No Trace (2018)
Chained for Life (2018)
Rewind (2019)
The Woman Who Ran (2019)
Mickey and the Bear (2019)


I've watched or tried to watch the ones with a *.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd strongly recommend Grave of the Fireflies. Forget about lists, it's just an amazing story. I'll tell you more about it after you've seen it.

I had very high expectations for Leave No Trace, but I found it a bit disappointing. From the same director, I'd enthusiastically recommend Winter's Bone, if you haven't already seen it.

What did you think of Kind Hearts and Coronets? Is that the one where Alec Guinness plays about 8 different roles? I recently read many consider it possibly the best Ealing comedy. (Ladykillers is a personal fave of mine.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd strongly recommend Grave of the Fireflies. Forget about lists, it's just an amazing story. I'll tell you more about it after you've seen it.

I had very high expectations for Leave No Trace, but I found it a bit disappointing. From the same director, I'd enthusiastically recommend Winter's Bone, if you haven't already seen it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah I tried Winter's Bone.

I haven't set about to create a list btw, the exercise was to identify what I thought was the greatest 100 films!!

I'll give Fireflies a try

About how you chose the list, I was curious because surely there are variables that aren't exactly related to the films themselves... like your mood, how tired you might be, where you watch it, other stuff you might have playing on the back of your mind... how do you legislate for all that? Or do you just accept that there are random factors involved and that watching some films some other time might just make the list different?

comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 1 minute ago
About how you chose the list, I was curious because surely there are variables that aren't exactly related to the films themselves... like your mood, how tired you might be, where you watch it, other stuff you might have playing on the back of your mind... how do you legislate for all that? Or do you just accept that there are random factors involved and that watching some films some other time might just make the list different?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

These are fair points.

I'd say though that if something is really highly rated then (assuming I didn't feel the same about it the first time) I will have given it at least one more try.
As an example, one of the last films I tried was The Great Beauty, because I've seen various people raving about it. So I gave it an hour again, before I decided once more that it's not to the standard of my 100.
I've spent a colossal amount of time putting that 100 together. Thousands of hours.
Another factor though is the age at which I've put the list together, because if I had done the exercise 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, then I have no doubt there would have been different things which I appreciated.
It's really hard to say what I value as being a great film, but significant factors are the pace of the film, the visual quality of it, it's role in the development of the art or it's references to existing development. Inventiveness and originality. Lighting. Production quality. Maybe things like quality of the dialogue. The way that the film thinks about the world.
Many such things 20 years ago I probably wouldn't have given much of a damn about or understood.

But on top of all of that, a really important factor is how the film engages you, absorbs you. And ultimately how much you want to watch it. I have watched so many many films, because I felt I needed to try them out. And when I'm watching one, and right away I forget about whether it's going to be a contender, but am just absorbed in watching it, that happens very rarely, and those films tended to make my list (fair enough, it is a list).
Most if not all of those 100, I will have watched that film (usually on the first watching) and been given a sense of wow, what an experience that was.

* its *

Interesting posts. Different films engage for different reasons, and I totally subscribe to the idea of when in your life you cross paths with a film being a major factor. I had that experience years ago watching Streamers, which is broadly considered a minor work in Robert Altman's filmography. I've always been very taken by films that make me consider the themes in ways I might not have done beforehand, but it also makes me somewhat reluctant to watch them again later on. Like I just want that impression to remain.

I haven't re-read your list, but I don't recall noticing any of Jim Jarmusch's work on it. I personally really loved Ghost Dog and Dead Man, but again, these are films I haven't rewatched since their original releases.

Speaking of pacing, that's something I find very interesting. Different cultures have different narrative approaches, which inevitably impacts the pace of a film. I guess that's another reason why one's state of mind can have a big impact on the viewing experience.

comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted about an hour ago
comment by Bill Nick: pop star (U23088)
posted 1 day, 3 hours ago
There are in total btw 54 non-documentary movies up to 2019 with a Rotten Toms score of 100. 10 of those are on my list.
The others are:
The Kid (1921)*
Battleship Potemkin (1925)*
The Gold Rush (1925)*
Maedchen in Uniform (1931)
Top Hat (1935)*
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)*
Stagecoach (1939)*
The Philadelphia Story (1940)*
Pinocchio (1940)*
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)*
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)*
Laura (1944)
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)*
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)*
Singin in the Rain (1952)*
Tokyo Story (1953)*
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Seven Samurai (1954)*
Nights of Cabiria (1957)*
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)*
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)*
Cool Hand Luke (1967)*
Stalker (1979)*
Sugar Cane Alley (1983)
The Terminator (1984)*
Tampopo (1985)*
Three Colors: Red (1994)*
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Before Sunrise (1995)*
Toy Story (1995)*
Toy Story 2 (1999)*
Fireworks by Wednesday (2006)
Still Walking (2008)
Poetry (2010)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
Ilo Ilo(2013)
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)
The Age of Shadows (2016)
Leave No Trace (2018)
Chained for Life (2018)
Rewind (2019)
The Woman Who Ran (2019)
Mickey and the Bear (2019)


I've watched or tried to watch the ones with a *.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd strongly recommend Grave of the Fireflies. Forget about lists, it's just an amazing story. I'll tell you more about it after you've seen it.

I had very high expectations for Leave No Trace, but I found it a bit disappointing. From the same director, I'd enthusiastically recommend Winter's Bone, if you haven't already seen it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Grave of the fireflies is harrowing. It's a one time watch only because it will never leave you.

Princess Mononoke is up there too.

comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 30 minutes ago
Interesting posts. Different films engage for different reasons, and I totally subscribe to the idea of when in your life you cross paths with a film being a major factor. I had that experience years ago watching Streamers, which is broadly considered a minor work in Robert Altman's filmography. I've always been very taken by films that make me consider the themes in ways I might not have done beforehand, but it also makes me somewhat reluctant to watch them again later on. Like I just want that impression to remain.

I haven't re-read your list, but I don't recall noticing any of Jim Jarmusch's work on it. I personally really loved Ghost Dog and Dead Man, but again, these are films I haven't rewatched since their original releases.

Speaking of pacing, that's something I find very interesting. Different cultures have different narrative approaches, which inevitably impacts the pace of a film. I guess that's another reason why one's state of mind can have a big impact on the viewing experience.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't have a set pace btw, just one that works.

I suppose I tend to like quite a quick tempo. One bit of the story. then on to the next bit. then on to the next bit. then on to the next bit. Keeping things going.

But I also really love the slow cinema stuff, e.g. Tsai Ming-liang and (some of) Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

Yes I like Ghost Dog too. Dead Man I thought was OK. I haven't seen any of his other stuff. I could probably have used a couple of stills from Dead Man for my greatest images actually.

Dead Man I guess I liked because of the unorthodox take on the Western.

I like his 80s and 90s work much more than his 21st century stuff, though I no longer a point of watching all of his releases like I used to.

Can't say I'm acquainted with either Tsai Ming-liang or Nuri Bilge Ceylan. I still enjoy going to see a film much more than watching at home, but there's very little by way of choice here in Tenerife.

comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 1 minute ago
Dead Man I guess I liked because of the unorthodox take on the Western.

I like his 80s and 90s work much more than his 21st century stuff, though I no longer a point of watching all of his releases like I used to.

Can't say I'm acquainted with either Tsai Ming-liang or Nuri Bilge Ceylan. I still enjoy going to see a film much more than watching at home, but there's very little by way of choice here in Tenerife.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Vive L'Amour (1994) Taiwan
Distant/Uzak (2002) Turkiye
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia (2011) Turkiye

are all very slow. very little happens.
but they're somehow riveting (especially VL'A and OUATIA. They're all very pretty, and also funny. They have a heap of atmosphere.
Vive L'amour there's no dialogue in the first hour (50% of the film) but you don't really notice.

Worth trying out to see if you like them.

There are websites which stream most things free online if you know them (although sometimes a bit harder with the foreign language ones to find the subtitles).

For a western with a difference It'sonlyagame, try
McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
the last half hour's brilliant

comment by The Guvnor XI -Iron sharpens Iron- (U12889)
posted 42 minutes ago
comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted about an hour ago
comment by Bill Nick: pop star (U23088)
posted 1 day, 3 hours ago
There are in total btw 54 non-documentary movies up to 2019 with a Rotten Toms score of 100. 10 of those are on my list.
The others are:
The Kid (1921)*
Battleship Potemkin (1925)*
The Gold Rush (1925)*
Maedchen in Uniform (1931)
Top Hat (1935)*
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)*
Stagecoach (1939)*
The Philadelphia Story (1940)*
Pinocchio (1940)*
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)*
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)*
Laura (1944)
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)*
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)*
Singin in the Rain (1952)*
Tokyo Story (1953)*
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Seven Samurai (1954)*
Nights of Cabiria (1957)*
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)*
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)*
Cool Hand Luke (1967)*
Stalker (1979)*
Sugar Cane Alley (1983)
The Terminator (1984)*
Tampopo (1985)*
Three Colors: Red (1994)*
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Before Sunrise (1995)*
Toy Story (1995)*
Toy Story 2 (1999)*
Fireworks by Wednesday (2006)
Still Walking (2008)
Poetry (2010)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
Ilo Ilo(2013)
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)
The Age of Shadows (2016)
Leave No Trace (2018)
Chained for Life (2018)
Rewind (2019)
The Woman Who Ran (2019)
Mickey and the Bear (2019)


I've watched or tried to watch the ones with a *.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd strongly recommend Grave of the Fireflies. Forget about lists, it's just an amazing story. I'll tell you more about it after you've seen it.

I had very high expectations for Leave No Trace, but I found it a bit disappointing. From the same director, I'd enthusiastically recommend Winter's Bone, if you haven't already seen it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Grave of the fireflies is harrowing. It's a one time watch only because it will never leave you.

Princess Mononoke is up there too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Truer words have never been spoken

Also don’t think I’ve seen Twilight Samurai or Hana-bi (Fireworks) in any of your lists.

comment by RtM (U1097)
posted 12 minutes ago
Also don’t think I’ve seen Twilight Samurai or Hana-bi (Fireworks) in any of your lists.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I only have 1 list.

Hana Bi I tried a while back. Don't remember it, but know I started watching it. The other one I don't know.

These ones are good, right?

Can't help but notice Starship Troopers ain't on any of those lists 😑

comment by Bill Nick: pop star (U23088)
posted 4 minutes ago
comment by RtM (U1097)
posted 12 minutes ago
Also don’t think I’ve seen Twilight Samurai or Hana-bi (Fireworks) in any of your lists.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I only have 1 list.

Hana Bi I tried a while back. Don't remember it, but know I started watching it. The other one I don't know.

These ones are good, right?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Very

comment by Bill Nick: pop star (U23088)
posted 14 minutes ago
comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 1 minute ago
Dead Man I guess I liked because of the unorthodox take on the Western.

I like his 80s and 90s work much more than his 21st century stuff, though I no longer a point of watching all of his releases like I used to.

Can't say I'm acquainted with either Tsai Ming-liang or Nuri Bilge Ceylan. I still enjoy going to see a film much more than watching at home, but there's very little by way of choice here in Tenerife.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Vive L'Amour (1994) Taiwan
Distant/Uzak (2002) Turkiye
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia (2011) Turkiye

are all very slow. very little happens.
but they're somehow riveting (especially VL'A and OUATIA. They're all very pretty, and also funny. They have a heap of atmosphere.
Vive L'amour there's no dialogue in the first hour (50% of the film) but you don't really notice.

Worth trying out to see if you like them.

There are websites which stream most things free online if you know them (although sometimes a bit harder with the foreign language ones to find the subtitles).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I've got a subscription to a Spanish indy streaming company, and I've just seen that Vive L'Amour and two other Ming-Liang films are on it. Same goes for OUTIA two other Ceylan films - but both over 3 hours' running time.

The Altman Western is also on there too. I just watched a trailer and it felt vaguely familiar.

I've added them all to my list, but I have to find the right time to watch them, since I don't normally get to sit down in front of the tv before 9.30pm, by which time I'm whacked, as I'm up before 6am every day, so they'd be hard to watch on weekdays.

One of the Ming-Liang films - Journey to the West - is just 53 minutes, so that might be a good place just to get an initial feel for his stuff.

comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Bill Nick: pop star (U23088)
posted 14 minutes ago
comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 1 minute ago
Dead Man I guess I liked because of the unorthodox take on the Western.

I like his 80s and 90s work much more than his 21st century stuff, though I no longer a point of watching all of his releases like I used to.

Can't say I'm acquainted with either Tsai Ming-liang or Nuri Bilge Ceylan. I still enjoy going to see a film much more than watching at home, but there's very little by way of choice here in Tenerife.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Vive L'Amour (1994) Taiwan
Distant/Uzak (2002) Turkiye
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia (2011) Turkiye

are all very slow. very little happens.
but they're somehow riveting (especially VL'A and OUATIA. They're all very pretty, and also funny. They have a heap of atmosphere.
Vive L'amour there's no dialogue in the first hour (50% of the film) but you don't really notice.

Worth trying out to see if you like them.

There are websites which stream most things free online if you know them (although sometimes a bit harder with the foreign language ones to find the subtitles).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I've got a subscription to a Spanish indy streaming company, and I've just seen that Vive L'Amour and two other Ming-Liang films are on it. Same goes for OUTIA two other Ceylan films - but both over 3 hours' running time.

The Altman Western is also on there too. I just watched a trailer and it felt vaguely familiar.

I've added them all to my list, but I have to find the right time to watch them, since I don't normally get to sit down in front of the tv before 9.30pm, by which time I'm whacked, as I'm up before 6am every day, so they'd be hard to watch on weekdays.

One of the Ming-Liang films - Journey to the West - is just 53 minutes, so that might be a good place just to get an initial feel for his stuff.


----------------------------------------------------------------------



btw: OUATIA is 2.5, and tbh the last 45 minutes is a bit of a waste of time.
The other 3 (including the cowboy one) are 2 hours.

Yup. Added them all to the list, so I hope to get round to them sooner or later. I've got a proper pile-up at the moment. I'm currently working my way through 3 series - 3 body problem, Gentlemen, and Maid, plus Trailer Park Boys and Seinfeld, though I'm in no hurry to get through the latter two. Will let you know what I think when I do get round to seeing any of them. I'll probably watch McCabe first.