The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri (circa 1321) [Literature: Poetry]9.8/10 to 10/10
Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgment - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1508 - 1512; 1535 - 1541) / Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy [Painting]10/10 to 9.9/10
Never SERIOUSLY thought this would happen until the possibility came into view as I started more consciously considering this a couple years ago while revisiting The Divine Comedy for the first time in years...
But here we are...
Obviously this isn't some monumental event outside of I guess my own mind, but if you understand how long I've held Michelangelo's Sistine as the absolute pinnacle of Art (and this hasn't actually changed! It still is no less incredible and impossible than before!)... This will be even more improbable to anyone that has really, REALLY invested a lot of study and evaluation in Michelangelo's Sistine, because if you have like I have, you are more likely to agree with me that there is no way another work has ever topped it or ever could (it's way more profound than most realize and in so many ways I've never mentioned here, or at best vaguely alluded to, because they tend to require more prep and explanation to just start discussing out of no where).
A few things...
1. This isn't necessarily "final". Either work is so incredible that I might still change my mind back again...
2. However, I also wouldn't make this choice lightly, and I've made it with more confidence than not (though, barely above 50/50...)
3. I am, and may forever be, more knowledgeable of the Sistine and Michelangelo as an artist, so there is a percentage of this decision that remains an "estimate" even if that seems counter-intuitive to my own criteria/ratings scale. I just don't know if it's truly possible, besides being the artists themselves, to fully "get" either. They are "beyond" us one could say, tapping into something almost no one has in any skill, medium, craft... (though even the most "difficult" aspects can still be "sensed" even where not wholly grasped). This doesn't mean the journey and effort shouldn't be made. On the contrary, one stares face to face with the highest possible artistic genius ever conceived, in either case, and this alone holds an awe where each seems "impossible", an emotional conviction, investment, depth, profundity that is deeply sensed and felt, explainable to a certain degree, but surpasses comprehension, "beyond or above the principles of evaluation" (elements that any "10" should have).
4. Don't ask me to explain the ratings, the specific qualitative difference, between them. I can't really tell you, especially when it comes to a 9.8+ work. It's hard to explain in words as one is dealing with increasingly "ineffable" phenomena and qualitative properties "above stable or finite qualitative parameters" the closer one gets to the very top, but the best or simplest way I can say is that after revisiting the Divine Comedy more recently it just seems like the slightly better choice while seeming to be also completely flawless (or as close as a human can achieve) which makes it slightly more unmistakable as the absolute top-most selection. _________________ Best Classical Best Films Best Paintings
Recent revisits of...
Brazil (upgrade 8.9 to 9.0)
Napoleon Dynamite (6.5 still seems more or less accurate, probably)
Naked Gun 2 1/2 (which I hadn't watched in at least 15 years, and will be upgraded from its prior "tentative" 6.0 rating)
Idiocracy (listed at 5.8, may change some, still under consideration...)
Wanting to add some newer ones too, plus there are just tons of entries on there that are listed as "tentative" -- mostly because of how long it's been since I watched them -- at least some of which I should get back around to...
Also wouldn't mind seeing some more of whatever the best comedies of this decade are that I just haven't got around to yet...
Taking a moment to shine a spotlight on Bruegel's "Hunters in the Snow" (among his "Six Seasons Series") with a very good introductory analysis from the great channel, "Great Art Explained":
Just came across this video explanation posted on youtube a day ago, that shows similar points I've mentioned or pointed out that are central to the more layered meanings of Pulp Fiction. Maybe this is unnecessary because past explanations were enough? But renewed focus on Comedy films and all...
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