This is apparently where I demonstrate how much of a l33t movie fan I am. Courtesy of Jack's blog comes this little exercise: take the IMDb's listing of Top 100 movies and bold the ones you've seen.
[As it turns out, the Top 100 has changed somewhat since this list started making the rounds. Not enough to make a difference, though.]
1. The Godfather (1972)
2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
6. Casablanca (1942)
7. Schindler's List (1993)
8. Shichinin no samurai (1954) (The Seven Samurai)
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
10. Citizen Kane (1941)
11. Star Wars (1977)
12. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
13. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
14. Rear Window (1954)
15. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
17. Memento (2000)
18. The Usual Suspects (1995)
19. Pulp Fiction (1994)
20. North by Northwest (1959)
21. Le Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain (2001) (Amelie)
22. Psycho (1960)
23. 12 Angry Men (1957)
24. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
25. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
26. Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966) (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)
27. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
28. Goodfellas (1990)
29. American Beauty (1999)
30. Vertigo (1958)
31. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
32. The Pianist (2002)
33. The Matrix (1999)
34. Apocalypse Now (1979)
35. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
36. Some Like It Hot (1959)
37. Taxi Driver (1976)
38. Paths of Glory (1957)
39. The Third Man (1949)
40. C'era una volta il West (1968) (Once Upon a Time in the West)
41. Fight Club (1999)
42. Das Boot (1981)
43. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) (Spirited Away)
44. Double Indemnity (1944)
45. L.A. Confidential (1997)
46. Chinatown (1974)
47. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
48. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
49. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
50. M (1931)
51. All About Eve (1950)
52. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
53. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
54. Se7en (1995)
55. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
56. Cidade de Deus (2002) (City of God)
57. Raging Bull (1980)
58. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
59. Rashômon (1950)
60. The Sting (1973)
61. American History X (1998)
62. Alien (1979)
63. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
64. Leon (The Professional) (1994)
65. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
66. La Vita bella (1997) (Life Is Beautiful)
67. Touch of Evil (1958)
68. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
69. Wo hu cang long (2000) (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)
70. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
71. The Great Escape (1963)
72. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
73. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
74. Annie Hall (1977)
75. Amadeus (1984)
76. Jaws (1975)
77. Ran (1985)
78. On the Waterfront (1954)
79. Modern Times (1936)
80. High Noon (1952)
81. Braveheart (1995)
82. The Apartment (1960)
83. The Sixth Sense (1999)
84. Fargo (1996)
85. Aliens (1986)
86. The Shining (1980)
87. Blade Runner (1982)
88. Strangers on a Train (1951)
89. Duck Soup (1933)
90. Metropolis (1927)
91. Finding Nemo (2003)
92. Donnie Darko (2001)
93. Toy Story 2 (1999)
94. The Princess Bride (1987)
95. The General (1927)
96. City Lights (1931)
97. Lola rennt (1998) (Run Lola Run)
98. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
99. Notorious (1946)
100. Det Sjunde inseglet (1957) (The Seventh Seal)
96 out of 100, eh? Explains why I was a virgin until the age of 32.
And I'd give them all back if someone would burn the memory of Life is Beautiful from my brain.
I avoided The Pianist for two reasons: my unwillingness to put money in a rapist's pocket, and the fact that I haven't been in the mood to see another Holocaust movie in quite some time. Can't say why I haven't gotten around to All About Eve, except I suspect my local video store replaced it with 75 rental copies of 2 Fast 2 Furious. City of God is a little recent, though I've heard it's very good, and all the Chaplin films I saw were a result of film courses in college. For whatever reason, The General didn't make the cut.
The IMDb's list hits quite a few of the expected names, but others are just ridiculous. This is to be expected, since their rankings have always skewed to recent releases (Finding Nemo won't be in the top 100 in six months, and look for the LotR movies to drop off some as well), geek films (The Matrix is not the 34th best movie of all time, people), and apparent bouts of dengue fever (Toy Story 2 at #93?). And don't look for any but the biggest of the big foreign films.
And not one damn zombie movie.
The General is actually a Buster Keaton film, not Charlie Chaplin. Some of the best stunt work ever put on film and all done by old Stoneface himself.
Bleagh. I was thinking of The Great Dictator. Obviously, I haven't seen either of them.
Missed out on: Singin’ in the Rain, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 2, and City Lights. Obviously childless and a hater of musicals.
Continuing inexplicable positions: Shawshank Redemption at #2.
Movie I most regret: Se7en.
Happy to see on the list: City of God. Unbelievable movie.
87 for me.
Dude, you're seriously missing out on some great laughs with the General.
Somehow I've missed All About Eve, too.
100 out of 100. There are a few regrets on that list but all of them gave me something to think about in filmmaking terms.
Wow, I'm up to 46, now. There were 5 older movies on the list that I saw for the first time in the past year, so at least I'm making progress.
I was going to gripe about how The Seventh Seal deserves to be higher than #100... And then I checked the current list, and I see it's fallen to #101. Psy. Looks as though The Seventh Seal and Full Metal Jacket were overtaken by The Great Dictator and Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Which... Just reminds me how much I despise that list.
Wow, I've seen 62 of these, surprised at that. I can't believe Donnie Darko is on there, either. I really liked that film, but surprised to see it here.
Ha! 37 only! I suck less than you! Film geeks, nyah nyah nyah! I taunt you with my non-film-watching ways!
I call your claim of only seeing 37 of these films a silly thing!
A mere 38 for me. Though, the list did remind me that I need to return Pete's DVD copy of the Princess Bride. I wonder if my low score has anything to do with the fact that my local Blockbuster caters more to fans of hispanic-gangster flicks, than anything else.
80 for me. Or 81, if you count Das Boot. I fell asleep half way through and decided I could live without finding out what happened to the freek who mixed milk and lemon juice.
Only 60? Clearly, I must watch more TV.