Thursday, June 21, 2007
Randomly Noted Next we'll have 'The Top 10 Lists Ever Listed!'
Posted by Curt Holman @Curt_Holman on Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 10:08 PM
It's been a busy week for pop-culture lists. Wednesday night the American Film Institute announced its list of "The 100 Best American Films." The AFI list has improved significantly from its initial version of the top 100, retaining perennials like Citizen Kane, The Godfather and Casablanca; adding worthy additions like Nashville, Sullivan's Travels, Cabaret, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Saving Private Ryan; while dropping inessentials like Fantasia, Birth of a Nation and The Jazz Singer.
Overall, any endeavor that encourages young people to watch movies from before the 1980s that do not involve Star Wars or Steven Spielberg should be supported wholeheartedly.
Also this week, Entertainment Weekly weighs in on "The 50 Greatest Action Movies Ever." The first 25 appear in the print edition, with numbers 26-50 being online. It's a weird split. Numbers 1-25 turn out to be pretty good picks: The first six are Die Hard, Aliens, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Road Warrior, The Matrix and The Seven Samurai, and it's hard to dispute any of those. Entertainment Weekly's lists tend to be full of "Huh?" choices, but this one has surprisingly few of those, although The Bourne Ultimatum and Lethal Weapon probably rank a little high.
The next 25, however, feature significantly worse films like Pitch Black, Independence Day and Twister, and it quickly becomes clear that they use a weird quota system for the whole 50, restricting it to one film apiece from John Woo, Jackie Chan and the James Bond franchise. A high-speed comedy from the silent era, like Safety Last, probably deserves inclusion, and it's hard to believe that Jurassic Park, the original Star Wars and any of the Lord of the Rings movies are restricted from a list of 50 action films.
Finally, an article on MSNBC.com headlined "Beatles? Nirvana? Overrated!" has already started arguments thanks to the assertion of writer Dave White (an old friend of mine, incidentally) that the most lauded pop bands in history are overrated. He's totally wrong about the Clash, but correct in his observation that anything enshrined as THE BEST EVAR! is probably getting more than it deserves. That probably goes for Citizen Kane and Die Hard at the top of those other lists, too.
Comments (3)
Showing 1-3 of 3
Latest in Fresh Loaf
-
5 things to do: Atlanta Streets Alive
-
What would you do for a MoBoulevard T-shirt? UPDATE: CLEANUP CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER
Volunteers at the next Old Fourth Ward community cleanup just got a fashionable incentive to pitch in next Sat., May 18
-
5 things to do: East Atlanta Beer Fest
- More »
More by Curt Holman
-
Flamenco music provides stirring counterpoint to Alliance's 'Zorro'
The Gipsy Kings provide some of their hit songs to the flashy stage musical about the black-masked swashbuckler.
-
Out of Hand stages citywide puzzle hunt 1
'The Game' Brain-teasing competition contains larger artistic ambition
- More »
Search Fresh Loaf
Top Commenters
