DVDizzy Forum

I've done this in a few forums I frequent because I'm actually quite interested in the idea of critical consensus and of a 'canon' (whether of film or literature) but I've never done it ins forum that is specifically orientated towards film. Currently, I'm totalling up one I did on the forum of a video game magazine and the results, to me, generally indicate a lack of film knowledge in that demographic. There were some films which I would call objectively good but they generally placed quite low compared to the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings etc. Anyway, I'm much more interested in these results from what seems in the surface to be a pretty knowledgable community so off we go...

[*] You should vote for films that aren't necessarily your favourites (though you can if you want to) but you think are the best
[*] You can vote for up to 20 films
[*] Your #1 will get 20 points, #2 will get 19 points etc.
[*] If you vote for less than 20 films then #1 will get 20 points and #2 will get (20-(20/x)) points
[*] The voting will end on 23:59 on 31st January and, depending on how many votes there are, I should get the results up within a week

hmm, this seems very interesting. I'll give it a try:

1- Seven Samurai
2- Psycho
3- City Lights
4- Lawrence of Arabia
5- M
6- Double Indemnity
7- Nosferatu
8- Casablanca
9- Persona
10- Pulp Fiction
11- Ikiru
12- A Clockwork Orange
13- The Passion of Joan of Arc
14- The Rules of the Game
15- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
16- The Apartment
17- 8 1/2
18- The Godfathers Part I&II(I couldn't dare to separate them)
19- Amadeus
20- Citizen Kane

I'm not going to name off a bunch.

The very best movies that I think I have ever watched (that Avatar didn't list), are Fargo (1996) and Ghost World (2001).

The very best horror (will always be my vote for best genre) films I've ever seen are Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974).

I didn't see any thing saying we shouldn't include Disney films (so, should we perhaps stop at 1 each or not name any at all?).

Well I wouldn't put a limit on it if you genuinely thought those Disney films were among the best films of all time.

yamiiguy wrote:Well I wouldn't put a limit on it if you genuinely thought those Disney films were among the best films of all time.

I'm sure we all have a few.

At the very least, Dumbo deserves recognition in this company (in the company of the 50 best films of all-time).

I wouldn't put any Disney film in my top 20, in my top 50 maybe.

1. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
3. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
4. Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
5. The Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948)
6. Fanny and Alexander (Bergman, 1982)
7. The Double Life of Véronique (Kieślowski, 1991)
8. The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955)
9. The Third Man (Reed, 1949)
10. The Cremator (Herz, 1969)
11. The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)
12. Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
13. A Matter of Life and Death (Powell & Pressburger, 1946)
14. The Spirit of the Beehive (Erice, 1973)
15. Modern Times (Chaplin, 1931)
16. It's a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)
17. Ordet (Dreyer, 1955)
18. Come and See (Klimov, 1985)
19. Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
20. Under the Roofs of Paris (Clair, 1930)

I managed to leave out Lang, Godard, Tarkovsky, Malle and Pialat would you believe.

1.North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
2.Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
3.Seven Samurai (1954)
4.Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)
5.Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1933)
6.Battleship Potemkin (Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1925)
7.A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
8.The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise. 1951)

I will try to think of more later

Lazario wrote: I didn't see any thing saying we shouldn't include Disney films (so, should we perhaps stop at 1 each or not name any at all?).

Well, I didn't put any Disney movies in my list because I wasn't sure if they belonged on it. Although I could definitely see a few make it if I extended it to a top 30 or 40.

Most likely Fantasia or Mary Poppins.

I like the idea of this; I'm rather interested in the results.

1. Psycho (1960)
2. 12 Angry Men (1957)
3. North by Northwest (1959)
4. Fantasia (1940)
5. The Godfather (1972)
6. Amadeus (1984)
7. Fargo (1996)
8. Brazil (1985) - my favourite film
9. Citizen Kane (1941)
10. Pulp Fiction (1994)
11. Dumbo (1941)
12. Taxi Driver (1974)
13. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
14. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
15. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
16. The Exorcist (1973)
17. Airplane! (1980)
18. Barton Fink (1991)
19. GoodFellas (1990)
20. Amelie (2001)

This was difficult...and I feel an odd sort of guilt for the other fantastic films I rejected.

Yeah, it's not easy to do. For every film you put on there's one just as good you leave off. It's all down to preference though.

1. Wall-E (2008)
2. Modern Times (1936)
3. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
5. The Producers (2005)
6. Magnolia (1999)
7. Citizen Kane (1941)
8. City Lights (1931)
9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
10. Back to the Future (1985)
11. Spirited Away (2001)
12. The Godfather Part II (1974)
13. Goodfellas (1990)
14. Amadeus (1984)
15. Annie Hall (1977)
16. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
17. Star Wars (1977)
18. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
19. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
20. Schindler's List (1993)

Very hard to not list some of my personal all-time favorites (Il Ladro di Bambini, Il Y A Longtemps Que Je T'Aime, Almost Famous, Die Fette Jahre Sind Vorbei, Ion Non Ho Paura, The Girl From The Café), but I could not defend those as "all-time best movies". So here is my list (does include lots of my favorites, though):

01. The Godfather, Part I (1972)
02. The Godfather, Part II (1974)
03. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
04. Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
05. Rear Window (1954)
06. 12 Angry Men (1957)
07. It Happened One Night (1934)
08. Modern Times (1936)
09. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
10. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
11. The Graduate (1967)
12. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
13. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
14. His Girl Friday (1940)
15. Pulp Fiction (1994)
16. Back To The Future (1985)
17. The Apartment (1960)
18. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
19. JFK (1994)
20. Raging Bull (1980)

yamiiguy, may I please alter my list? I'm adding The Graduate to my list, which will knock Amelie off.

I'm not changing my original post to avoid confusion, and here's both the original and altered lists:

1. Psycho (1960)
2. 12 Angry Men (1957)
3. North by Northwest (1959)
4. Fantasia (1940)
5. The Godfather (1972)
6. Amadeus (1984)
7. Fargo (1996)
8. Brazil (1985) - my favourite film
9. Citizen Kane (1941)
10. Pulp Fiction (1994)
11. Dumbo (1941)
12. Taxi Driver (1974)
13. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
14. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
15. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
16. The Exorcist (1973)
17. Airplane! (1980)
18. Barton Fink (1991)
19. GoodFellas (1990)
20. Amelie (2001)

1. Psycho (1960)
2. 12 Angry Men (1957)
3. North by Northwest (1959)
4. Fantasia (1940)
5. The Godfather (1972)
6. Amadeus (1984)
7. Fargo (1996)
8. Brazil (1985) - my favourite film
9. Citizen Kane (1941)
10. Pulp Fiction (1994)
11. Dumbo (1941)
12. Taxi Driver (1974)
13. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
14. The Graduate (1967)
15. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
16. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
17. The Exorcist (1973)
18. Airplane! (1980)
19. Barton Fink (1991)
20. GoodFellas (1990)

That's fine, I'm not counting it until the end anyway

Thanks. I can't wait for the end results.

Keep those votes coming folks!

Holy shit this was hard. There are just soo many fantastic movies I want to put on this list and here you have me playing Sophie’s Choice with my babies.

01. The Godfather (1972)
02. Back to the Future (1985)
03. Casablanca (1942)
04. Aladdin (1992)
05. North By Northwest (1959)
06. King Kong (1933)
07. Jaws (1975)
08. Psycho (1960)
09. Rear Window (1954)
10. Paths of Glory (1957)
11. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
12. Roman Holiday (1953)
13. City Lights (1931)
14. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
15. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
16. Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) - I always group them together
17. Jurassic Park (1993)
18. The Crowd (1928)
19. All About Eve (1950)
20. Spider-Man 2 (2004) - I’m a nerd

I want to squeeze some Kurasawa, Keaton, and Wilder on this list but I can’t keep changing it, so just take it as is.

Here are two huge problems with trying to make an assessment like this. First, I doubt anyone has ever seen every film ever made, and probably even most people here haven't seen every film generally considered among the best ever made. Secondly, there is no way that personal taste isn't going to play a role in this. There's just no way.

Having said that, here are 20 of the best films I've ever seen, in my opinion, and off the top of my head. Gonna TRY to put them in order here for the sake of the points system...


1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Mary Poppins
3. The Wizard of Oz
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark
5. Empire Strikes Back
6. A Christmas Story
7. Casablanca
8. Miracle on 34th St.
9. An American in Paris
10. Blazing Saddles
11. The Exorcist
12. The Bishop's Wife
13. Citizen Kane
14. Beauty and the Beast
15. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
16. Taxi Driver
17. Inglorious Basterds
18. E.T.
19. Princess Bride
20. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (I have to include my favorite film; I do consider it among the best)

As has been stated though, for everything we list, we forget to mention something just as good...

Well it seems to be working pretty well so far at least. Of course, personal taste plays a part but not necessarily in what films you choose but the order you rank them. I haven't seen any oddball choices so far. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a terrific film by anyones standards.

Would you let us extend our lists by any additional amount in case you don't have enough votes?

I could easily turn my top 20 into a 30, 40 or 50 if allowed to.