Cinema 11s on a scale of 1-10

[Tabonga | 2,315]

I could easily come up with 100 movies or more that deserve a 10.  So I decided to amp it up and go for  10 of the best of those.  

(Alphabetical)

Airplane!  (1980) - A non-stop laugh fest that rarely misses the mark and has so many now classic bits.  It is in danger of being bowdlerized (like the unfortunate Blazing Saddles).

And Then There Were None (1945) Wonderfully taut Agathat Christie based murder mystery with nary a wasted line.  My only complaint is that the rather dark ending in the book was changed.

Blazing Saddles (1974) - Another non-stop laugh fest that rarely misses the mark. Unfortunately this has been bowdlerized so badly that when it is on tv it is not recognizeable. (The sad thing is the bowdlerized portions are generally bits mocking that which is deemed unacceptable.)

The Day (2011) Pretty riveting account of a very small group of survivors (of an apocalypse - the nature of which is never specified) efforts to survive on minimal supplies.  Pretty amazing since it was obviously shot on a small budget.

The Haunting (1963)  Really scary psychological horror (you never really see "anything") - and the mansion it is shot in is so spooky that it is a character in its own right. So effectively shot in black and white that it is hard to see how using color would not have been a detriment.

Little Big Man (1970) Hilarious episodic comedy/western that is occasionally deadly serious - but both are well done enough that they blend really well.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001 ++) True epic in so many ways.  Enough said. (And not trying to cheat - but you have to treat them as one giant smorgasbord.)

The Road Warrior (1981) - The best post apocalypse movie out there - gritty and unremitting it still manages a fair bit of humor.  Aside from a  couple of scenes that defy physics it is pretty realistic.

Sleuth (1972) Another taut mystery with a very small cast. Fairly long it never bores - although it does require your paying attention.

Star Wars - Episode 4 - A New Hope (1977) It is hard to appreciate how seminal this was when released if you weren't there.  It certainly blew away in terms of effects and scope all previous science fiction movie.  Plus it came at a time in society where it felt great to come out of the theater feeling good about things - with clear good and bad guys. (And if you were cognizant of such things it was a marvelous homage to the old cliffhanger serials (as was the first Indiana Jones film - not enough room for it though.)

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No set rules on what you think constitues an 11 - one of the big things I go on is can I watch this and get enjoyment out of each time.

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by Tabonga

[Gloves | 11,771]

Redline.

[Kimbolemonslice | 116]

Only 3 11s out of 10 for me

The lighthouse

May (2002)

Pulp fiction

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by Kimbolemonslice

[Bighab | 58]

Interesting list Tabonga. Several gems on there for me(LOTR Trilogy, Star Wars Ep4 and The Road warrior)The only one I'm surprised at would be The Day. 11 out of 10? More like a 5 for me and you know how much I love Post apocalyptic movies. Some 11's for me are The Usual Suspects, The Great Escape, Lawrence of Arabia.

[Tabonga | 2,315]

8 minutes ago, Bighab said:

Interesting list Tabonga. Several gems on there for me(LOTR Trilogy, Star Wars Ep4 and The Road warrior)The only one I'm surprised at would be The Day. 11 out of 10? More like a 5 for me and you know how much I love Post apocalyptic movies. Some 11's for me are The Usual Suspects, The Great Escape, Lawrence of Arabia.

I thought for a low budget effort it was well scripted and paid a lot of attention to details - like the cart the attackers had -  it was never explained why but you snapped to it if you thought about it.  And little details like them counting the few rounds of ammo they had for each gun on more than one occasion.  I have a pretty high tolerance for low budget movies but this one met all the expectations I would have for a full budget movie.  Also it was on a much more intimate scale than most post apocalyptic movies - unlike bigger larger scale efforts I found myself identifying with them in terms of thinking what would I do?*  Something I don't do with the Mad Max movies.

  One of the challenging things about a list like this is trying to decide what to keep on the list - I started out with about 20 titles and had to prune out the ones I didn't include one by one.  I also tried to include a good variety of genres. 

*Another post apocalyptic film I  would put in that category was Testament (1983).

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,511]

[Tabonga | 2,315]

6 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

 

[Link | 2,709]

My top three are coincidentally all black and white, even though two of them didn’t have to be.

Metropolis (1926)(Fritz Lang)
German expressionist sets, early science fiction, and a message for the end of exploitation.

Eraserhead (1977)(David Lynch)
A dreamlike journey through solitary urban life.

Pi (1998)(Darren Aronofsky)
A mathematician’s revelation uncovers a dangerous conspiracy. This film is poetic, full of refrains and rhythm.

Next up are 

12 Monkeys (1996)(Terry Gilliam)
A convoluted time travel loop is built in effort to prevent the apocalypse.

Bringing Out the Dead (1998)(Martin Scorcese)
A paramedic struggles to confront the ghosts of his and his patients’ past.

There Will Be Blood (2007)(Paul Thomas Anderson)
A businessman finds success on his own merits in the turn-of-the-century oil fields.

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)(Stephen Chow)
I just watched this a few weeks ago and I can’t stop thinking about it. I love kung fu movies, but like monster movies, most of them are low budget and don’t have the best writing. While the CGI here is a little poor at times, this is an excellent combination of action and humor, with top notch choreography. Reverent to the genre and a worthy update at the same time.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)(Disney)
A witch reluctantly adopts 3 children and they quest for a mysterious artifact. This is basically the dark contemporary to Mary Poppins. 

Short Circuit 2 (1989)
A sentient robot gets into trouble in rough Manhattan. I love both movies, but Johnny 5 turns into a tough, revenge-seeking punk in this one, and that’s hilarious and badass at the same time.

Critters (1986)
A space bounty hunter comes to earth in pursuit of a vicious species. This is strict B fare, but like the Short Circuit movies, I caught this on WPIX as a kid and grew obsessed. It’s better than its genre. There are three sequels (four films in all) and they’re worth it.

 

I feel like mentioning more, but that’s ten. And others might be approaching 10/10 territory rather than 11/10. I’ve definitely watched all of the above at least five times, with the exception of Kung Fu Hustle; I already want to watch it again, and that’s unusual.

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

- There will be blood

- pulp fiction

- Back to the future

- North by northwest

- no country for old men

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

I don't know how to break the scale. My favorite movies are There Will Be Blood, The Prestige, Inception, and Primer though.

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

7 hours ago, Tabonga said:

Sleuth (1972) Another taut mystery with a very small cast. Fairly long it never bores - although it does require your paying attention.

Sleuth is so great. You should watch the remake where Michael Caine plays the opposite role and it's half as long. It's awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwful.

[Tabonga | 2,315]

 

4 hours ago, Link said:

Critters (1986)
A space bounty hunter comes to earth in pursuit of a vicious species. This is strict B fare, but like the Short Circuit movies, I caught this on WPIX as a kid and grew obsessed. It’s better than its genre. There are three sequels (four films in all) and they’re worth it.

Critters is great - I didn't like the others quite as well but you can do worse than those.  There is a fifth one that just came out called Critters Attack that I haven't seen yet.

If you haven't seen it you might want to check out Giorgi Moroder's Metropolis - a cleaned up (if short) copy with a killer soundtrack.

3 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

Sleuth is so great. You should watch the remake where Michael Caine plays the opposite role and it's half as long. It's awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwful.

The remake was a travesty.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Tabonga

[Tabonga | 2,315]

@Link

If you haven't seen it you might want to track down Strange Invaders (1983) - not a 10 but it hits the mark more often than not for a relatively obscure sci fi film.

Also Night of the Comet (1984) is a pretty cute film that has taken on cult status.  Again not a 10 but it has a definite appeal.

[spacepup | 2,404]

I love your list @Link !  I really enjoy some of those.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks is one of my favorite older Disney movies, and most people I know haven't seen it.

As kids, my siblings and I probably watched this movie a dozen times!  I thought Angela Lansbury did well in it - and I always personally liked it way more than Mary Poppins.

I've seen most of the others on your list - but maybe a handful - I'll have to check em out!

[JamesRobot | 5,788]

5 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

Primer

Word

[Kguillemette | 1,543]

I can agree with Pulp Fiction being up there!

I feel this way about Bat man Begins and the Dark Knight. Jurassic Park is on that list for me too. Just a perfect movie all around.

[Link | 2,709]

12 hours ago, Tabonga said:

If you haven't seen it you might want to check out Giorgi Moroder's Metropolis - a cleaned up (if short) copy with a killer soundtrack.

I consider it something of an important travesty, tbh. It’s a shame there is so much missing. otoh, that is the version that was viable in video stores at the time. That’s how I discovered it. I do believe it brought attention to the old silent film, and that later recognition and restoration work might not have happened without it. I’m happy there is now a nearly-complete cut.

I will look for that new Critters movie, thank you! Now that you mention, I think maybe I heard something about it a while ago...

Edited July 10, 2020 by Link

[ICrappedMyPants | 302]

Can someone help me understand what is so great about There Will Be Blood?

I remember watching it and No Country For Old Men in 2007 and really only liking the latter.

[Tabonga | 2,315]

24 minutes ago, Link said:

I consider it something of an important travesty, tbh. It’s a shame there is so much missing. otoh, that is the version that was viable in video stores at the time. That’s how I discovered it. I do believe it brought attention to the old silent film, and that later recognition and restoration work might not have happened without it. I’m happy there is now a nearly-complete cut.

 

I look at it as an adjunct rather than a replacement - the soundtrack is what I find so likeable about it - that was one of the first laserdiscs I bought when we got our first player.

 

Edited July 10, 2020 by Tabonga

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

29 minutes ago, ICrappedMyPants said:

Can someone help me understand what is so great about There Will Be Blood?

I remember watching it and No Country For Old Men in 2007 and really only liking the latter.

I think it's hard to explain why a movie is great, maybe someone else can do a better job. If you don't like it, you don't like it and there are plenty of "great" movies I don't like. DDL is the GOAT actor and him as basically a Charles Foster Kane businessman's descent into madness intersecting with Paul Dano as the extremes of religion and getting some good old fashioned Paul Dano beatdowns is just *Italian finger kiss*. It's a modern day Citizen Kane and better even.

Edited July 10, 2020 by DefaultGen

[Link | 2,709]

30 minutes ago, ICrappedMyPants said:

Can someone help me understand what is so great about There Will Be Blood?

I remember watching it and No Country For Old Men in 2007 and really only liking the latter.

One can do no better than Roger Ebert (RIP). Funnily enough, he agrees with you that No Country For Old Men is a better film. (Were they frequently shown as a double feature?) 

I actually considered including “most Coen Brothers films” on my list, but that’s cheating. 

[Tabonga | 2,315]

6 minutes ago, Link said:

I actually considered including “most Coen Brothers films” on my list, but that’s cheating. 

I really liked Blood Simple, Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski.  Blood Simple was also one of my very early laserdisc purchases.

[Californication | 1,477]

Ikiru

No Country for Old Men

Django

Matrix

Gangs of New York

Sanjuro

Lions for Lambs

13 Assassins

The Hunted 

Once Upon a Time in the West

The Shining

2001 Space Odyseey

All Dogs go to Heaven

True Grit (2010)

The Godfather 

Pan's Labyrinth

The Jungle Book (1967)

Clerks

Saving Private Ryan

Gladiator

Young Frankenstein

Scent of a Woman

Heat

Hero

Fight Club

The Silence of the Lambs

The Darjeling Limited

The Royal Tenanbaums

Killing them Softly

The Hustler 

Color of Money

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Thor: Ragnarok

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Libertine

Crimes and Misdaemeanors

Midnight in Paris

Glengary Glen Ross

The Network

Rounders

Pi

Apocalypto

Misery

The Dark Knight

The Wolf of Wall Street

City of God

Prophet

Unforgiven

Sicario

Hell or Highwater

Enter the Dragon

Trainwreck

Bridesmaids

Taxi Driver

The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford

Pefume

Night Crawler

Master and Commander

Fifth Element

The Town

My Girl

Dogma

Dogville

Manderlay

As Good As It Gets

Joker

 

Edited July 14, 2020 by Californication

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

28 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

I think it's hard to explain why a movie is great, maybe someone else can do a better job. If you don't like it, you don't like it and there are plenty of "great" movies I don't like. DDL is the GOAT actor and him as basically a Charles Foster Kane businessman's descent into madness intersecting with Paul Dano as the extremes of religion and getting some good old fashioned Paul Dano beatdowns is just *Italian finger kiss*. It's a modern day Citizen Kane and better even.

This

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

17 minutes ago, Link said:

Funnily enough, he agrees with you that No Country For Old Men is a better film. (Were they frequently shown as a double feature?) 

Probably a lot of people sad TWBB didn't get best picture in 2007. Both movies are sooooo good though. (Edit: Well this article was before that so I dunno)

Edited July 11, 2020 by DefaultGen