IC Forum Archive

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

... as chosen by British Film Institute. It's an interesting list. Here's the top ten:

dark steve · Posts: 3002

Give the kids Porco Rosso. Air battles and a backdrop of italian facism, that's the kids want! (no, give them Kiki)

There a couple of strange choices. Is that the MTV version of Romeo and Juliet that's on there? What the hell? And youngsters hate The Red Balloon. I should know, I can still remember everyone disliking it the 5-10 times I saw it up through middle school.

I've seen I think 20.

EndlessChris · Posts: 431

I'm 17 and I've seen 10 of the movies on there.

I haven't seen spirited away - I mean, Mononoke was alright but it seems so cliche to jump on the Miyazaki bandwagon. I liked Kiki's Delivery Service, but hated Totoro. Oh yeah, Grave of the Fireflies made me cry.

I can admit that.

icycalm · Posts: 442

I am 27 and I've seen maybe a quarter of the movies up there.

We should make an equivalent list for games. Top spot would go to Postal.

Gouki · Posts: 212

I've seen more on that list than I thought I would have. Around seventeen or so. Still. I should see more.

icycalm · Posts: 442

Movies are bad for you. They corrupt.

Go play some more games.

extralife · Posts: 3316

icycalm wrote:

We should make an equivalent list for games.

Hell. Seriously. I'm going to start a thread.

MrBlarney · Posts: 133

... doesn't making lists like this always end up with screaming, frustration, and pain to all parties internal and external to the making of the list? I mean, how many times have you seen a "top 100 games" or whatnot list and just wanted to break the people behind the list? Just doesn't seem that making a list of "Top 50 Games You Should Play" is a particularly enticing enterprise. Or will it be different, since we're Insert Credit? Maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

On the original topic of movies, I think I've only seen 12 of 50. I liked all of them as far as I can remember... not really up on my movie knowledge.

Malkmut · Posts: 22

I'd include Rushmore.

Kes is a nice choice. Though The 400 Blows is infinitely better, it's a bit of a crowd pleaser, and Kes tackles the same subject with more ambition and depth. It'll either make said pre-pubescent kid really tough, or turn him into a Death Cab-lovin weenie.

yellowlightman · Posts: 359

The three most important movies I saw before I was 14 were A Clockwork Orange, Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers. That is to say, they had the most effect on me and changed my perceptions of film in a way no other movies had.

dessgeega · Posts: 3317

seeing the yellow submarine as a child changed the way i perceived the world.

it was very strange when i saw the movie again years later. i thought all my memories of it had been a dream.

username · Posts: 186

Man, I'm 11 years late and have only seen 16 of them. Shame on me.

nothingxs · Posts: 148

They forgot Casshern.

They totally forgot Casshern.

Pmm · Posts: 5

There's more french films than I expected, I'm glad to see that.

Etre et Avoir (2002) is a beautiful movie/documentary, but the conflict between the teacher and the director about money which followed had saddened me. It's as if the movie had lost a bit of its poetry.

icycalm · Posts: 442

username wrote:

Man, I'm 11 years late and have only seen 16 of them. Shame on me.

You still have 3 years to go!!!

I am totally, like, 9 years old, man.

Axelay · Posts: 195

What? No Goonies?

Kazu · Posts: 894

.... have seen about 7 of them (i'm 23 right now), including

Sawtooth · Posts: 2350

Alice In Wonderland scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. It was too frustrating for me.

I will second the Goonies; and more or less any film that helps imbue a kid with a spirit for exploration and risk-taking. There's an abandoned toy factory in my town, and when I was young I infiltrated it so many times. It was just too fun to sneak down there with a flashlight, climbing unsafe staircases, finding all the remnants of industry scattered about the floor.

EndlessChris wrote:

Oh yeah, Grave of the Fireflies made me cry.

I can admit that.

I will admit to that too. It's the only movie, aside from Life Is Beautiful, to make me cry.

They should replace The Tramp with Modern Times, where Charlie Chaplin snorts cocaine and beats the shit out of everyone.

chazumaru* · Posts: 480

I saw 36 of them, and I am only 279 monthes old !

Spirited Away instead of Mononoke is a clumsy choice. So is the absence of Les Enfants du Paradis. Also, there should be way more hitchcocks in that list. I spent most of my 12th to 15th years watching Hitchcock and Lubitsch movies, and it saved my life.

Brock · Posts: 421

I'm 18 and have seen only 17 of those listed.

WHAT HAVE I DONE WITH MY LIFE?!

I've been meaning to buy Some Like It Hot for a while now. I'm not big on movies from way back, but that one is too good to pass up.

Swimmy · Posts: 147

I realized recently that I really hate movies. The only ones I can stomach nowadays without getting pissed are crappy B horror films. So, uh, fuck this list.

shnozlak · Posts: 704

Labyrinth
Howl's Moving Castle
Never ending story
A Hard Day's Night
Head

When I was 9 or so I saw Vampire Hunter D, that changed my preseption of what animation could do... and then it made me a nerd.
I also saw Yellow submarine when I was 6 or so and thought it was the coolest movie ever.

Dark Age Iron Savior · Posts: 3148

Where ist DER DARKEN CRYSTAL?

ryan · Posts: 297

there is a disturbing lack of Porky's on there

Shapermc · Posts: 2450

Malkmut · Posts: 22

Shapermc wrote:

9. Bicycle Thieves (1948) - Italian film focusing on life after World War II

Is this also called "The Bicycle Theif"? Because, I have never heard it called this.

Yeah, it's called Bicycle Thief in America.

FocusRambo · Posts: 829

Sawtooth · Posts: 2350

Shapermc wrote:

Also, either Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal should have been on this list, and at least one Hitchcock film.

Oh shit, man, Labyrinth! A must!

You remind me of the babe/What babe?/The babe with the power/What power?/The power of voodoo/Who do?/You do/Do what?/Remind me of the babe

Zartan · Posts: 84

Axelay wrote:

What? No Goonies?

i second the motion

Rud13 · Posts: 3277

Once again, all lists are bad unless you make them.

nICO · Posts: 130

chazumaru* wrote:

Spirited Away instead of Mononoke is a clumsy choice. So is the absence of Les Enfants du Paradis.

I think Spirited Away really is his best movie. Monoke is great as well, though.

But Les Enfants du Paradis! That's only like one of my five favorite movies EVER. I actually just got around to buying the Criterion release on DVD a couple weeks ago. I really don't think it would fit in well on this list, though. Maybe in the 50 movies to see by age 20, but not by age 14. I can't imagine most kids having the patience or desire to sit through it or the understanding to really...understand...just how well constructed it is.

My Life as a Dog and La Belle et la Bete are two personal faves that completely shocked me to find on this list.

Jason and the Argonauts should quickly and without argument be cut from this otherwise agreeable list. It was probably cool 40 years ago, but in this post Jurassic Park/Lord of the Rings age, it's just laughably bad.

Lord of the Rings extended version should be on there, by the way.

I've seen 29 of these, since everyone else is throwing out the numbers.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

nICO wrote:

chazumaru* wrote:

Spirited Away instead of Mononoke is a clumsy choice. So is the absence of Les Enfants du Paradis.

I think Spirited Away really is his best movie. Monoke is great as well, though.

Spirited Away is crippled from the very beginning with a very whiney and unlikable main character. Plus she's not that identifiable... and that's not to say that a film without a main character whom you can emphasize and root for in the very beginning is a weak one, it just that Miyazaki makes heroines so damn well. Plus it was the first Miyazaki film where it just seemed as if weird stuff was happening for the sake of weird's sake, which I really do not like.

At least it's better than Howl's Moving Castle. Now that film is mess top to bottom.

Axelay · Posts: 195

FortNinety wrote:

Spirited Away is crippled from the very beginning with a very whiney and unlikable main character.

Agreed. I kept hoping something would eat her and we could get on with the story.

Shapermc · Posts: 2450

nICO wrote:

I've seen 29 of these, since everyone else is throwing out the numbers.

I was not going to even count, buy you instilled a count. I have seen 29 as well, although there are 2 that I know I saw but only remember very, very little of.

Anonymous · Posts: 0

most of those movies fucking blow.
goddamn stupid ass brits trying to get all artsy fartsy/anti-hollywood emo on us.
what about Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Scarface, Clockwork Orange, shit like that. not that fruity french crap. these movies are the ones that made a difference to me when I was 14.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

Scarface is seriously the most overrated film of all time.

Dark Age Iron Savior · Posts: 3148

~Waffen~ wrote:

most of those movies fucking blow.
goddamn stupid ass brits trying to get all artsy fartsy/anti-hollywood emo on us.
what about Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Scarface, Clockwork Orange, shit like that. not that fruity french crap. these movies are the ones that made a difference to me when I was 14.

I'm not seeing the downside to less yous.

George · Posts: 1656

It seems to me that the people who made this list are WAY out of touch with their own childhoods. The movies that made the biggest impact on me when I was a child were:

Ghostbusters
Big Trouble in Little China
True Lies
Fist of the North Star
Vampire Hunter D
Akira

Why aren't these movies, and others by John Wayne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc. on the list? These are the kind of movies that young boys love. I would have hated most of the movies on that list when I was young. There's no way I would have appreciated the fact that Spirited Away is a better made movie than Fist of the North star when I was 8.

When *I* have a son, I'm going to sit down and watch all the Kurt Russel, John Wayne, and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies with him. It doesn't hurt that I still love all those movies as an adult (can't say the same for First of the North Star and Vampire Hunter D, though).

Anonymous · Posts: 0

George wrote:

It seems to me that the people who made this list are WAY out of touch with their own childhoods. The movies that made the biggest impact on me when I was a child were:

Ghostbusters
Big Trouble in Little China
True Lies
Fist of the North Star
Vampire Hunter D
Akira

Why aren't these movies, and others by John Wayne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc. on the list? These are the kind of movies that young boys love. I would have hated most of the movies on that list when I was young. There's no way I would have appreciated the fact that Spirited Away is a better made movie than Fist of the North star when I was 8.

When *I* have a son, I'm going to sit down and watch all the Kurt Russel, John Wayne, and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies with him. It doesn't hurt that I still love all those movies as an adult (can't say the same for First of the North Star and Vampire Hunter D, though).

exaaactly. those two anime films were a HUGE influence on my life too. especially Akira. I even got a red motorcycle when I was 16 and a year later got in a really bad accident that fuxx0rd my life up for many years.

Shapermc · Posts: 2450

~Waffen~ wrote:

I even got a red motorcycle when I was 16 and a year later got in a really bad accident that fuxx0rd my life up for many years.

And you wonder why the movie is not on the list?

Anonymous · Posts: 0

LOLLERZ!

FocusRambo · Posts: 829

Sometimes you gotta fuck life up good to get somewhere.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

George wrote:

When *I* have a son, I'm going to sit down and watch all the Kurt Russel, John Wayne, and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies with him.

Even Captain Ron and Hercules in New York? (can't think of any lousy John Wayne movies off the top of my head) If so... Jesus Christ...

inmatarian · Posts: 338

I don't see Fight Club, The Matrix, Memento, or Snatch! anywhere on that list.

dark steve · Posts: 3002

It's the better for it.

nICO · Posts: 130

George wrote:

Why aren't these movies, and others by John Wayne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc. on the list?

John Wayne? I can't stand his movies. Never have been able to. He wasn't tough at all so he rarely fit his role and I've always found him to be a terrible actor. Clint Eastwood, on the other hand... gimme the Fistful of Dollars trilogy any day. And though I wouldn't suggest putting it on this list, nothing beats Once Upon a Time in the West.

This list could use some Terminator, though... And Alien.

Kurenai · Posts: 44

No offense but this would make more sense if it was called "50 Films You Should See By The Age of 14 if you are a girl", Les Quatre Cents Coups or not.

I mean these are good movies but other than children movies (most of which I heartily agree with its inclusion), the rest of the list is more of a girl-oriented affair. Whale Rider, Romeo & Juliet, The Secret Garden, Beauty and the Beast...

And I know better than think that The Godfather or Taxi Driver deserve to be in that list (14 years and all)... but no Iron Giant? BAH!

--Kurenai

George · Posts: 1656

FortNinety wrote:

George wrote:

When *I* have a son, I'm going to sit down and watch all the Kurt Russel, John Wayne, and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies with him.

Even Captain Ron and Hercules in New York? (can't think of any lousy John Wayne movies off the top of my head) If so... Jesus Christ...

OK, not ALL of them, but most certainly. Ahhnuld movies are actually consistently 3 star or higher in Roger Ebert's reviews.

nICO wrote:

George wrote:

Why aren't these movies, and others by John Wayne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc. on the list?

John Wayne? I can't stand his movies. Never have been able to. He wasn't tough at all so he rarely fit his role and I've always found him to be a terrible actor. Clint Eastwood, on the other hand... gimme the Fistful of Dollars trilogy any day. And though I wouldn't suggest putting it on this list, nothing beats Once Upon a Time in the West.

This list could use some Terminator, though... And Alien.

John Wayne is awesome. I can't stand how Clint gets all the credit when John Wayne defined the Western. John Wayne is in some great Westerns: have you seen Red River and Rio Bravo, directed by Howard Hawks, one of my favorite directors ever? John Wayne, like Humphrey Bogart (another actor Hawks directed a lot), was a force of nature - they oozed personal style. They couldn't play all the roles that actors like Toshiro Mifune and Marlon Brando could, but good directors made great movies with them.

I'll show my son the Dollars trilogy someday, but everyone should see Yojimbo before they see A Fistful of Dollars (my dad raised me to be a Kurosawa/Mifune fan, as everyone should be), and they should begin watching Westerns with John Wayne. That's just a fact.

Broco · Posts: 546

FortNinety wrote:

Spirited Away is crippled from the very beginning with a very whiney and unlikable main character. Plus she's not that identifiable... and that's not to say that a film without a main character whom you can emphasize and root for in the very beginning is a weak one, it just that Miyazaki makes heroines so damn well. Plus it was the first Miyazaki film where it just seemed as if weird stuff was happening for the sake of weird's sake, which I really do not like.

At least it's better than Howl's Moving Castle. Now that film is mess top to bottom.

I've talked to some people who were fooled by the "children's film" image into thinking it's "quite a simple film", and I ask a few litmus test questions like: did you notice the hairband? the seal? the significance of the fact that Chihiro is moving away in the intro? did you see how the No-Face is a capsule summary of the film? Nope, they missed it all. You have to take the time to savor the details and then you start to love this film.

I think Spirited Away is by far Miyazaki's best film. But it's true that I didn't realize that on my first viewing either. The film is too complicated to be able to piece together the entire plot, and there are quite serious pacing problems (the action seems to grind to a halt at times). But what's traded for these superficial flaws is the richest, most aesthetic, most human and moral film Miyazaki has ever made. Instead of complaining about its flaws I'm more impressed that a film with so much adult content could be made interesting and accessible to children at all. The main themes of Spirited Away are homelessness, greed, slavery and racism. And everyone brings their children to see it. It's a miracle.

108 · Posts: 2600

Yeah, they totally forgot "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

I saw that when I was five. I'm pretty sure it was good for me. Not being facetious or anything. I really think it was a good film for a kid to see.