Level 8: actually coming full circle from the early days and taking the time to grasp the emotional and conceptual content of every shot of Citizen Kane, recognizing it as probably the most profound film ever made, after initially determining when between Level 1 and Level 3, that it was surely "overrated" and "empty" and having argued this violently among cinephiles who were Level 8
Level 9: realizing your life as a cinephile is a mobius strip on the order of Polanski's Chinatown and that you now, Citizen Kane having been grasped and under your belt, are persistently rewatching films with a new more refined understanding of the language of cinema and are in effect watching yourself from the past while in the present having already seen yourself based in a past that was unfolding ineluctably as if it had already happened or was bound to happen -- and that your film-going experience, perhaps your entire life, may be a reckoning with this uncanny phenomena
Level 10: you took me a little too seriously when reading the above and need to get out more, meet some people, rub noses with real life and situations, feel real things, real friends, develop a romantic relationship, find true love, absorb failures, feel hope and desire and live life to the fullest
Level 11: Level 10 was so Hollywood-ian and AfterHours is full of shit
Level 12: Nostalghia is actually Tarkovsky's best film, not his worst. I now see and feel (deeply) how the first person perspective and movement/choreography of the camera is in dialect and tension with the autobiographical, more "third person", surrogate of Tarkovsky (the protagonist) "inside" the film, his disposition, movement and actions. This constant relay between (Tarkovsky) himself on the "outside" generates a profound inner and conflicted poetry, introspective existential and spiritual ruminations, with a yearning dialect about and between himself (or his perspective of himself) on the "inside", and always in metaphorical correlation with the filmed and surrounding environments as ruins and reflections of the self, of memory and nostalgia (perplexed, immersed, between Italy and Russia) from that of past or desperate life and forgotten, lost, civilization -- and that lost, longing past in newfound, afflicted tension with the present. Like Tarvkosky, like his camera in search to and with his surrogate, I too am trying to find and understand myself through the cinematic act and shall live my life in this movie of my own making
๐ค
Okay, okay... I'm really just messing around, making this up as I go and got on a roll that was (mostly!) satirical (even if the cinematic points/allusions about Chinatown and Nostalghia are pretty legit)
Level 10 may be Hollywood-ian but there's nothing wrong with trying to live life to the fullest!
Hey since you're touching some on Chinatown, could you go in a bit more detail about some of the amazing things it does? I watched it semi-recently and I didn't pick up on any similarity to it being a mobius strip of sorts. I picked up on its commentary about political corruption but a lot of movies have tackled that topic before. What other themes is Chinatown touching on? Does the saltwater pond serve as a deep symbol? Do you agree with the idea that the saltwater pond "serves as a symbol of the inherent duality of human existence"?
Level 8: actually coming full circle from the early days and taking the time to grasp the emotional and conceptual content of every shot of Citizen Kane, recognizing it as probably the most profound film ever made, after initially determining when between Level 1 and Level 3, that it was surely "overrated" and "empty" and having argued this violently among cinephiles who were Level 8
Level 9: realizing your life as a cinephile is a mobius strip on the order of Polanski's Chinatown and that you now, Citizen Kane having been grasped and under your belt, are persistently rewatching films with a new more refined understanding of the language of cinema and are in effect watching yourself from the past while in the present having already seen yourself based in a past that was unfolding ineluctably as if it had already happened or was bound to happen -- and that your film-going experience, perhaps your entire life, may be a reckoning with this uncanny phenomena
Level 10: you took me a little too seriously when reading the above and need to get out more, meet some people, rub noses with real life and situations, feel real things, real friends, develop a romantic relationship, find true love, absorb failures, feel hope and desire and live life to the fullest
Level 11: Level 10 was so Hollywood-ian and AfterHours is full of shit
Level 12: Nostalghia is actually Tarkovsky's best film, not his worst. I now see and feel (deeply) how the first person perspective and movement/choreography of the camera is in dialect and tension with the autobiographical, more "third person", surrogate of Tarkovsky (the protagonist) "inside" the film, his disposition, movement and actions. This constant relay between (Tarkovsky) himself on the "outside" generates a profound inner and conflicted poetry, introspective existential and spiritual ruminations, with a yearning dialect about and between himself (or his perspective of himself) on the "inside", and always in metaphorical correlation with the filmed and surrounding environments as ruins and reflections of the self, of memory and nostalgia (perplexed, immersed, between Italy and Russia) from that of past or desperate life and forgotten, lost, civilization -- and that lost, longing past in newfound, afflicted tension with the present. Like Tarvkosky, like his camera in search to and with his surrogate, I too am trying to find and understand myself through the cinematic act and shall live my life in this movie of my own making
๐ค
Okay, okay... I'm really just messing around, making this up as I go and got on a roll that was (mostly!) satirical (even if the cinematic points/allusions about Chinatown and Nostalghia are pretty legit)
Level 10 may be Hollywood-ian but there's nothing wrong with trying to live life to the fullest!
Hey since you're touching some on Chinatown, could you go in a bit more detail about some of the amazing things it does? I watched it semi-recently and I didn't pick up on any similarity to it being a mobius strip of sorts. I picked up on its commentary about political corruption but a lot of movies have tackled that topic before. What other themes is Chinatown touching on? Does the saltwater pond serve as a deep symbol? Do you agree with the idea that the saltwater pond "serves as a symbol of the inherent duality of human existence"?
In the main, the "mobius strip" analogy refers to the film's complex, cyclical, and ultimately inescapable plot, where efforts to do good only lead to further corruption, merging the detective's, the victim's, and the villain's worlds into one.
Here is how the analogy applies to the film:
Cyclical Corruption: Like a Mรถbius strip, which appears to have two sides but actually has only one, the "simple" cases Gittes takes on turn out to be part of one large, twisted, and unending cycle of corruption.
The "Chinatown" Metaphor: The title represents a state of mind and a place where, no matter how hard one tries to act, "you can't always tell what's going on" and "the past keeps rearing up and repeating itself".
Inevitable Failure: Gittesโ attempt to protect Evelyn and her daughter only leads them deeper into the grasp of the antagonist, Noah Cross, mimicking a one-sided surface that leads directly back to the point of origin (danger/death).
"Forget it, Jake": The final, iconic line, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown," reinforces this concept, suggesting a loop where justice is impossible and the system is permanently broken.
Screenwriter Robert Towne and critics have highlighted the film's dense, almost unsolvable, and deeply cynical structure, making it a masterpiece of modern noir that feels both closed and endless.
YET MORE PROFOUNDLY -- and this is the element that is most likely to be missed except through careful observation: all the shots are (a) taken from Jake's perspective, following just over his shoulder, from just behind him, around him, cornered in a space with him (and so on). They are also -- SUBTLY -- HIM watching HIMSELF. The camera is "him" watching himself from first to the third person, helplessly watching himself make mistakes, become a fool, useless against corruption, the truth and justice slipping from his grasp inside the mobius strip that is the plot and that is the "state of mind" that Chinatown represents. The entire film is him analyzing his own actions, helpless against the pull of ineluctable forces and failure that a state of mind (Chinatown a metaphor of) inevitably draws and leads him too. The film is simultaneously (in its art direction, locales, style, mood, characters) resurrecting the 30s and classic noir, while also updating them into modern "New Hollywood". This continual juxtaposition, this uncanny valley between the past and the modern, the echoes and allusions to past noirs while baking Chinatown in (mostly) sunlight (a further metaphor of the "truth" -- the light) laying everything out to be seen and shown (instead of old noirs that hid them in darkness, in shadows, in stark lighting contrasts, in mysterious atmopshere...) -- yet even though the sun is everywhere, the truth is always at the tips of his fingers but never quite within grasp (in any scene, no matter how much he thinks he has it solved).
Every sequence is not him solving the mystery in fact (even though it progresses as if that is what is taking place, because his ego and ignorance that he could be wrong blocks him from self-evaluating that he is missing things and opportunities and making errors... his ego and ignorance and confidence, too, is informed by old film noirs, their private investigators that always gained the upper hand, and it is his folly...). But -- YET ANOTHER "MOBIUS STRIP", layer on to of a layer, on top of all of the above -- it is in fact him inadvertently (gradually, more and more) getting deeper and deeper clues he thinks solve the case but infact lead to more and more unmasking of corruption, of an overwhelming thickened plot that cannot be solved, into increasing details that, instead of solving the case and saving everyone, end up leading to the devastation of all involved at his own inadvertent hand, by the will of all his mistakes. The more one watches the film the more one sees that all the scenes are in fact slip-ups of the truth but in fact Jake's follies (mistakes, or not doing enough, or making the wrong choice...) and in fact letting the actual truth (chances he had to solve it) slip through his grasp. He makes mistakes, mis-reads what he is seeing, throughout. The film, shot to shot, scene to scene, is both Jake moving forward appearing to solve the mystery (and even after multiple viewings one could swear this is what he is doing) but it is infact him failing, bit by bit, to do so (everything he learns, even when it seems a solution, a "truth", yet has another open-ended angle to it). The whole film is moving forward along this line -- but WAIT -- it's actually moving backward (at least symbolically, as "deja vu" as the present uncannily retracing the past), back to Chinatown, back to the time (a deja vu upon a deja vu) where he "did (or accomplished, in truth) as little as possible" and allowed someone to get hurt (in Chinatown) which is, ironically, as if moving backwards and forwards simultaneously, what happens "again" at the end of the film. You will never wrap your head fully around this, that's part of why it's so never-endingly compelling, so astonishing as a screenplay, directorally, cinematographically.
So, furthermore, the shots are also reflecting this "mobius strip" this "paradox" between past and present wherein the camera is "Jake" (entirely first person) self-analyzing, looking over, "himself" (in the third person, inside the film), apparently helpless to figure out where it all went wrong, ineluctably trapped in a cycle he can't escape, which is furthermore played out precisely in how the film plays out and precisely as well in how the film is itself based in the 30s, through a modern "present" lense, while recreating the 30s and prior noir as if they're steeped in its past, informing its choices, its ineluctable plot, yet it is doing this as if these have taken place long ago (even while based in the same period as they are/were). And the film is a devastating twist on all the tropes of those films, taking them to their limit without completely leaving them (without going to far beyond them, but reaching their absolute limit).
The final shot, at first in shaky hand held divulging in the frantic reality of what just went down, is then very profound and subtle in that it follows Jake and his partner's down to the final scene of crime and the camera has arrived fully to the present -- it actually shifts and regains focus, jars into position suddenly, held right on Jake's stunned face, in exact unison to Jakes cognitive grasp, realization from shock, at what has just happened: "As little as possible..." before capping the film with a dolly that bookends it in classic noir fashion (re-entering the state of "Chinatown" and overlooking the locale of Chinatown re-immersed in the mood of the "film noir" as the theme music takes hold).
I rushed through all that in a blitz (as usual). I probably didn't explain it the best but hope that makes sense for now... The film needs multiple viewings to be grasped in its simultaneity of layers and even then, one will never quite grasp it really... always on the verge of it, an endless circle of layers... (the viewer too, is essentially, in the same cycle, the same "mobius strip" as Jake). _________________ Best Classical Best Films Best Paintings
Superb (vinyl!) transfer of Slint's masterpiece Spiderland onto youtube -- probably the best quality of this album available on youtube (among dozens of others)
Working on this, recommendations/discussion welcome...
Best Action/Adventure Films
IN-PROGRESS... SEVERAL TO ADD & STILL POLISHING UP THE QUALIFICATIONS...
Note that I am not requiring the film to be BOTH Action AND Adventure -- just that it is at least one or the other. It is also not required that the film "only" fit one or both these genres as its major theme (it can even be, for instance, a Horror film but if it is ALSO action and/or adventure as a major genre-focus, it can qualify... Ex: Cameron's Terminator and Aliens; or even further out from this, Hitchcock's The Birds could be argued to qualify due to it not only being a Natural Horror/Thriller, but yet just as much an early example of, or at least very strong overtones and precursor to, the Disaster/Action film) ...Also, for "Action" films: the earlier the film usually means the less "pace/high octane action" is required for it to qualify; however development of circumstances, momentum, plot, leading to "action scenes" should still be a central focus for a majority of the film... Further note that more "high octane" and more intense, "violent" action tends to start becoming truly modern towards our current pace and sensibilities with 1967's Bonnie and Clyde and especially Peckinpah's Wild Bunch (1969; though in reality, in the main this can actually be traced all the way back to Eisenstein, most notably Battleship Potemkin, already just as frenetic and pretty violent), and then more and more hyper-modern with John Woo (quite influenced by Peckinpah, particularly his Hong Kong films...) and so on from there...
* = Arguable genre selection, may be removed upon revisit or if I tweak the genre qualifications a little bit.
8.5/10
<<<<<8.6>>>>>
North By Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock (1959)
<<<<<8.4>>>>>
*Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1927) ["The Complete Metropolis", 147 minutes]
8/10
<<<<<8.2>>>>>
*Love Exposure - Sion Sono (2008)
The Wild Bunch - Sam Peckinpah (1969) [Director's Cut, 145 minutes]
<<<<<8.1>>>>>
*Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola (1979)
*The Holy Mountain - Alejandro Jodorowsky (1973)
<<<<<8.0>>>>>
*Once Upon a Time in the West - Sergio Leone (1968)
<<<<<7.9>>>>>>
The Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa (1954)
Oldboy - Chan-wook Park (2003)
Bullet in the Head - John Woo (1990)
<<<<<7.8>>>>>
*Point Blank - John Boorman (1967)
Natural Born Killers - Oliver Stone (1994) [Director's Cut, 123 minutes]
7.5/10
<<<<<7.7>>>>>
*Zardoz - John Boorman (1974)
Walkabout - Nicolas Roeg (1971)
Leon: The Professional - Luc Besson (1994) [Original Cut, 110 minutes; Extended Cut: 7.4/10]
<<<<<7.6>>>>>
The City of Lost Children - Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro (1995)
Face/Off - John Woo (1997)
Hero - Zhang Yimou (2002)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Huston (1948)
Bonnie & Clyde - Arthur Penn (1967)
*The Big Heat - Fritz Lang (1953)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - Sam Peckinpah (1974)
<<<<<7.5>>>>>
*Blade Runner - Ridley Scott (1982) [The Final Cut, 117 minutes]
Death Wish 3 - Michael Winner (1985)
King of New York - Abel Ferrara (1990)
The Killer - John Woo (1989)
<<<<<7.4>>>>>
*The Birds - Alfred Hitchcock (1963)
*Inglorious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino (2009)
*Frantic - Roman Polanski (1988)
The Getaway - Sam Peckinpah (1972)
*City of God - Fernando Meirelles (2002)
Dirty Harry - Don Siegel (1971)
*Salvador - Oliver Stone (1986)
Baby Driver - Edgar Wright (2017)
*The Game - David Fincher (1997)
Hard Boiled - John Woo (1992)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior - George Miller (1981)
Ran - Akira Kurosawa (1985)
*Harakiri - Masaki Kobayashi (1962)
*The Searchers - John Ford (1956)
Scarface - Howard Hawks (1932)
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - George Lucas (1977)
*To Catch a Thief - Alfred Hitchcock (1955)
*El Topo - Alejandro Jodorowsky (1970)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Sergio Leone (1966)
<<<<<7.3>>>>>
LA Confidential - Curtis Hanson (1998)
*Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki (2001)
Emperor of the North - Robert Aldrich (1973)
The Terminator - James Cameron (1984)
*Deliverance - John Boorman (1971)
*Uncut Gems - Josh and Benny Safdie (2019)
*Strange Days - Kathryn Bigelow (1995)
*Heat - Michael Mann (1995)
*Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - Guy Ritchie (1998)
Mad Max - George Miller (1979)
La Femme Nikita - Luc Besson (1990)
*Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Don Siegel (1956)
The General - Buster Keaton (1926)
Crank - Mark Neveldine / Brian Taylor (2006)
*Aguirre, the Wrath of God - Werner Herzog (1972)
*Ghostbusters - Ivan Reitman (1984)
Brawl in Cell Block 99 - S. Craig Zahler (2017)
(Several entries below this point are missing and will be added once remembered or revisited. A number have already been included on additional sections below)
7/10
<<<7.2>>>
Mission: Impossible III - J. J. Abrams (2006)
Princess Mononoke - Hayao Miyazaki (1997)
The Hidden Fortress - Akira Kurosawa (1958) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The French Connection - William Friedkin (1971)
*The Parallax View - Alan Pakula (1974)
*Fight Club - David Fincher (1999)
Gunga Din - George Stevens (1939)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Back to the Future - Robert Zemeckis (1985)
*Scarface - Brian DePalma (1983)
*Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - George Roy Hill (1969)
Assault on Precinct 13 - John Carpenter - John Carpenter (1976)
Hot Fuzz โ Edgar Wright (2007)
The Blues Brothers - John Landis (1980) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Minority Report - Steven Spielberg (2002)
Inception - Christopher Nolan (2010)
Exiled - Johnnie To (2006)
Total Recall - Paul Verhoeven (1990)
*Duel - Steven Spielberg (1971)
*Yojimbo - Akira Kurosawa (1961) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Time Bandits โ Terry Gilliam (1981)
*Stagecoach - John Ford (1939)
King Kong - Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (1933)
Run Lola Run - Tom Twyker (1998)
Strike - Sergei Eisenstein (1925)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<7.1>>>
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World โ Edgar Wright (2010)
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Steven Speilberg (1980)
The Fifth Element - Luc Besson (1996)
21 Jump Street - Phil Lord; Christopher Miller (2012)
*Falling Down - Joel Schumacher (1993)
*Children of Men - Alfonso Cuaron (2006)
Mars Attacks! - Tim Burton (1996)
A Better Tomorrow - John Woo (1986)
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - Irvin Kershner (1980)
*Jaws - Steven Spielberg (1975)
*Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones (1975)
*Dark City - Alex Proyas (1998)
Escape From New York - John Carpenter (1981)
*O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Joel Coen (2000)
*Saving Private Ryan - Steven Spielberg (1998)
*The 39 Steps - Alfred Hitchcock (1935)
*Miller's Crossing - Joel Coen (1990)
*The African Queen - John Huston (1951)
*White Heat - Raoul Walsh (1949)
*Wages of Fear - Henri-Georges Clouzot (1953)
*All Quiet on the Western Front - Lewis Milestone (1930)
*Battleship Potemkin - Sergei Eisenstein (1925)
<<<7.0>>>
True Lies โ James Cameron (1994)
*Blade Runner 2049 - Denis Villeneuve (2017)
Lawrence of Arabia - David Lean (1962) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Robocop - Paul Verhoeven (1987)
*Hell in the Pacific - John Boorman (1968)
*The Great Race - Blake Edwards (1965) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Wall-E - Andrew Stanton (2008)
*Unforgiven - Clint Eastwood (1992)
Conspiracy Theory - Richard Donner (1997)
The Thief of Baghdad - Raoul Walsh (1924) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
First Blood - Ted Kotcheff (1982)
*Training Day - Antoine Fuqua (2001)
Enemy of the State - Tony Scott (1998)
Inside Out - Pete Docter (2015)
Platoon - Oliver Stone (1986)
Lethal Weapon - Richard Donner (1987)
Die Hard - John McTiernan (1988)
Goldfinger - Guy Hamilton (1964) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut - Trey Parker (1999)
*Night of the Living Dead - George Romero (1968)
*Kagemusha - Akira Kurosawa (1980)
*Soylent Green - Richard Fleischer (1973)
*Outbreak - Wolfgang Petersen (1995)
Predator - John McTiernan (1987)
In the Line of Fire - Wolfgang Petersen (1993)
*For a Few Dollars More - Sergio Leone (1965) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Toy Story - John Lasseter (1995)
No Country For Old Men - Joel and Ethan Coen (2007)
Everything Everywhere All at Once - Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (2022)
*Shaun of the Dead - Edgar Wright (2004)
Cross of Iron - Sam Peckinpah (1977) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Fantastic Voyage - Richard Fleischer (1966) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Forbidden Planet - Fred Wilcox (1956) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Matrix - Lana Wachowski; Lilly Wachowski (1999)
*Full Metal Jacket - Stanley Kubrick (1987)
*E.T. the Extra Terrestrial - Steven Spielberg (1982)
*Gremlins - Joe Dante (1984)
*Gremlins 2: The New Batch - Joe Dante (1990)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - George Lucas (2005)
*Charley Varrick - Don Siegel (1973)
*Ben Hur - William Wyler (1959) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Das Boot - Wolfgang Peterson (1981)
Runaway Train - Andrei Konchalovsky (1985)
*To Live and Die in LA - William Friedkin (1985)
The Bridge on the River Kwai - David Lean (1957)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Mutiny on the Bounty - Frank Lloyd (1935)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** The Great Escape - John Sturges (1963)
*The Witches - Nicolas Roeg (1990)
*Akira - Katsuhiro Otomo (1988)
*Saboteur - Alfred Hitchcock (1942) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Bullitt - Peter Yates (1968)
*Riders of Justice - Anders Thomas Jensen (2020)
*The Killing - Stanley Kubrick (1956)
<<<<<6.9>>>>>
The Lego Movie - Phil Lord / Christopher Miller (2014) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Death Wish - Michael Winner (1974)
*Get Carter - Mike Hodges (1971)
*Road to Perdition - Sam Mendes (2002)
Planet of the Apes - Franklin J. Schaffner (1968)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day - James Cameron (1992)
Alice - Jan Svankmajer (1988)
The Towering Inferno - John Guillermin (1974) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl - Gore Verbinski (2003) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Beverly Hills Cop - Martin Brest (1984)
Batman - Tim Burton (1989)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Ben Stiller (2013)
Toy Story 3 - Lee Unkrich (2010)
*Cast Away - Robert Zemeckis (2000)
*28 Days Later - Danny Boyle (2002)
Drunken Master - Yuen Woo-Ping (1978) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Adjustment Bureau - George Nolfi (2011)
Pinocchio - Ben Sharpsteen (Walt Disney) (1940)
*Interstellar - Christopher Nolan (2014)
Galaxy Quest - Dean Parisot (1999)
RRR - S. S. Rajamouli (2022)
*Ransom - Ron Howard (1996)
48 Hours - Walter Hill (1982)
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi - Richard Marquand (1983)
Mission: Impossible - Brian De Palma (1996)
John Wick - Chad Stahelski (2014)
The Magnificent Seven - John Sturges (1960)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Mad Max: Fury Road - George Miller (2015)
Magnum Force - Ted Post (1973)
*Foreign Correspondent - Alfred Hitchcock (1940) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
From Russia With Love - Terrence Young (1963) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** The Dark Crystal - Jim Henson / Frank Oz (1982)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<6.8>>>>>
The Crow - Alex Proyas (1994)
Dr. No - Terrence Young (1962) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
District 9 - Neill Blomkamp (2009)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn - Nicholas Meyer (1982)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Adventures of Robin Hood - Michael Curtiz (1938) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson (2003) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Batman Returns - Tim Burton (1992)
*Rollerball - Norman Jewison (1975)
Dirty Dozen - Robert Aldrich (1967)
Romancing the Stone - Robert Zemeckis (1984)
The Adventures of Baron Manchausen - Terry Gilliam (1988)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome - George Miller (1985)
*The Karate Kid - John Avildsen (1984)
Toy Story 2 - John Lasseter (1999)
*Allied - Robert Zemeckis (2016)
The Killer Elite - Sam Peckinpah (1975) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Men in Black - Barry Sonnenfeld (1997)
Sin City - Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller (2005)
*1917 - Sam Mendes (2019) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Gravity - Alfonso Cuaron (2013)
Labyrinth - Jim Hensen (1986)
The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan (2008) *Titanic - James Cameron (1997)
*Fistful Of Dollars - Sergio Leone (1964) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** *Gunfight at the O.K. Corral - John Sturges (1957)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
They Live - John Carpenter (1988)
Logan's Run - Michael Anderson (1976)
The Untouchables - Brian De Palma (1987)
The Matrix Reloaded - Lana and Lilly Wachowski (2003)
Excalibur - John Boorman (1981)
*Fitzcarraldo - Werner Herzog (1982) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Barbarella - Roger Vadim (1968) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Enter the Dragon - Robert Clouse (1973)
*Godzilla - Ishiro Honda (1954) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Police Story - Jackie Chan (1985)
*Westworld - Michael Crichton (1973)
The Neverending Story - Wolfgang Petersen (1984)
6.5/10
<<<<<6.7>>>>>
Kung Fu Hustle - Stephen Chow (2004)
*Rocky IV - Sylvester Stallone (1985)
Rush Hour - Brett Ratner (1998)
*Dead Presidents - Allen and Albert Hughes (1995)
*The Revenant - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (2015) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Logan - James Mangold (2017)
Mission: Impossible โ Fallout - Christopher McQuarrie (2018)
Gladiator - Ridley Scott (2000)
The Running Man - Paul Michael Glaser (1987)
The Rock - Michael Bay (1996) Death Wish 2 - Michael Winner (1982) Road House - Rowdy Harrington (1989) Snowpiercer - Joon-ho Bong (2014) The Italian Job - Peter Collinson (1969)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<6.6>>>>>
War of the Planet of the Apes - Matt Reeves (2017)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Army of Darkness - Sam Raimi (1992) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Speed - Jan de Bont (1994) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Skyfall - Sam Mendes (2012)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** *Snake Eyes - Brian De Palma (1998)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Bad Boys - Michael Bay (1995)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Adventures in Baby Sitting - Chris Columbus (1987) Crank: High Voltage - Mark Neveldine / Brian Taylor (2009)
We Were Soldiers - Randall Wallace (2002) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Battle Royale - Kinji Fukasaku (2000) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Pitch Black - David Twohy (2000) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Edge of Tomorrow - Doug Liman (2014)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Peter Jackson (2001)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Death Proof - Quentin Tarantino (2007)
<<<<<6.5>>>>>
*Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - Ang Lee (2000) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Northwest Passage - King Vidor (1940)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Right Stuff - Phillip Kaufman (1983) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Sudden Impact - Clint Eastwood (1983) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Fugitive - Andrew Davis (1993)
*Miami Vice - Michael Mann (2006) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*AI Artificial Intelligence - Steven Spielberg (2001)
Cloud Atlas - Lana and Lilly Wachowski (2012) *The Martian - Ridley Scott (2015) Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Peter Weir (2003)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** The Town - Ben Affleck (2010)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Independence Day - Roland Emmerich (1996)
Avatar - James Cameron (2009)
*Dances With Wolves - Kevin Costner (1990) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<6.4>>>>>
The Raid - Gareth Evans (2011) [aka, "The Raid: Redemption" in the US]
Alien: Resurrection - Jean-Pierre Jeunet (1997)
Patriot Games - Phillip Noyce (1992) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Clear and Present Danger - Phillip Noyce (1994) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Enforcer - James Fargo (1976) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Wizard of Oz - Victor Fleming (1939)
The Lion King - Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff (1994)
The Little Mermaid - Ron Clements and John Musker (1989)
Die Hard With a Vengence - John McTiernan (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Thomas Crown Affair - John McTiernan (1999) [remake]
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Matt Reeves (2014)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Dark Knight Rises - Christopher Nolan (2012)
*Stakeout - John Badham (1987) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Princess Bride - Rob Reiner (1987) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Tropic Thunder - Ben Stiller (2008) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Firm - Sydney Pollack (1993)
<<<<<6.3>>>>>
The Goonies - Richard Donner (1985) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Flight of the Navigator - Randal Kleiser (1986)
Oblivion - Joseph Kosinski (2013)
*Enemy Mine - Wolfgang Petersen (1985)
The Bourne Ultimatum - Paul Greengrass (2007)
Toy Story 4 - Josh Cooley (2019)
Backdraft - Ron Howard (1991)
Robocop 2 - Ivan Kershner (1990)
Darkman - Sam Raimi (1990)
*I am Legend - Francis Lawrence (2007) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
War of the Worlds - Steven Spielberg (2005)
Superman - Richard Donner (1978) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Batman Forever - Joel Schumacher (1995)
6/10
<<<<<6.2>>>>>
Jurassic Park - Steven Spielberg (1993)
Spiderman 2 - Sam Raimi (2004)
Aladdin - Ron Clements and John Musker (1992)
Tron - Steven Lisberger (1982) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Bourne Supremacy - Paul Greengrass (2004)
*Jaws 2 - Jeannot Szwarc (1978)
*In Time - Andrew Nicchol (2011) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Waterworld - Kevin Reynolds (1995)
*Spartacus - Stanley Kubrick (1960) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Braveheart - Mel Gibson (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*American Made - Doug Liman (2017) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Menace II Society - Allen and Albert Hughes (1993) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Starship Troopers - Paul Verhoeven (1997) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Man Who Would Be King - John Huston (1975) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Open Range - Kevin Costner (2003) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Abyss - James Cameron (1989)
Last Action Hero - John McTiernan (1993) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Pee-wee's Big Adventure - Tim Burton (1985) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Goldeneye - Martin Campbell (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Casino Royale - Martin Campbell (2006)
The Lego Batman Movie - Chris McKay (2017) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Rupert Wyatt (2011)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - Leonard Nimoy (1984)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Superman II - Richard Lester (1980)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<6.1>>>>>
*The Batman - Matt Reeves (2022)
Hook - Steven Spielberg (1991) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Deadpool - Tim Miller (2016)
Escape from the Planet of the Apes - Don Taylor (1971)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Bourne Identity - Doug Liman (2002)
Convoy - Sam Peckinpah (1978)
*The Simpsons Movie - David Silverman (2007)
The Last Samurai - Edward Zwick (2003) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Up - Pete Docter (2009)
X-Men - Bryan Singer (2000)
*Shrek 2 - Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon (2004)
Big Trouble in Little China - John Carpenter (1986) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Fast and the Furious - Rob Cohen (2001)
The Last Boy Scout - Tony Scott (1991)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Con Air - Simon West (1997) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Prometheus - Ridley Scott (2012)
Rumble in the Bronx - Stanley Tong (1995)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** John Wick 2 - Chad Stahelski (2017)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<6.0>>>>>
Air Force One - Wolfgang Petersen (1997)
Point Break - Kathryn Bigelow (1991) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Emerald Forest - John Boorman (1985)
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Christopher McQuarrie (2023)
Spiderman - Sam Raimi (2002)
*The Arrival - David Twohy (1996) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Ronin - John Frankenheimer (1998) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Spiderman 3 - Sam Raimi (2007)
*Big Fish - Tim Burton (2003) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Dick Tracy - Warren Beatty (1990)
From Dusk Til Dawn - Robert Rodriguez (1996) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Desperado - Robert Rodriguez (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Armageddon - Michael Bay (1998) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Dune - David Lynch (1984) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Conan the Barbarian - John Milius (1982) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Speed Racer - Lana and Lilly Wachowski (2008)
Guardians of the Galaxy - James Gunn (2014) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Hard Target - John Woo (1993) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Apollo 13 - Ron Howard (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Red Dawn - John Milius (1984)
Commando - Mark Lester (1985)
Black Hawk Down - Ridley Scott (2001) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Stand By Me - Rob Reiner (1986)
Kindergarten Cop - Ivan Reitman (1990)
Last of the Mohicans - Michael Mann (1992)
Legend - Ridley Scott (1985) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Alexander Nevsky - Sergei Eisenstein (1938)
Collateral - Michael Mann (2004)
Shrek - Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson (2001)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Steven Spielberg (1989)
Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom - Steven Spielberg (1984)
*Joe Versus the Volcano - John Patrick Shanley (1990)
Wild Wild West - Barry Sonnenfeld (1999)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Ronin - John Frankenheimer (1998)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson (2002) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<5.9>>>>>
*Honey, I Shrunk the Kids - Joe Johnston (1989)
Twister - Jan De Bont (1996)
*Deep Impact - Mimi Leder (1998)
Broken Arrow - John Woo (1996) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - Stephen Herek (1989) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Rob Roy - Michael Caton-Jones (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Cowboys and Aliens - Jon Favreau (2011) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Panic Room - David Fincher (2002) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Moby Dick - John Huston (1956) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
I, Robot - Alex Proyas (2004) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Pirates - Roman Polaลski (1986) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Johnny Mnemonic - Robert Longo (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
A Knight's Tale - Brian Helgeland (2001) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** White Fang - Randal Kleiser (1991)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Robert Wise (1979)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Leonard Nimoy (1986)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Life of Pi - Ang Lee (2012) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Kung Fu Panda 2 - Jennifer Yuh (2011) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<5.8>>>>>
Men in Black II - Barry Sonnenfeld (2002) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Lethal Weapon 2 - Richard Donner (1989) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Perfect Storm - Wolfgang Petersen (2000) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Blade 2 - Guillermo del Toro (2002) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Gareth Edwards (2016)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Quick and the Dead - Sam Raimi (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Blade - Stephen Norrington (1998) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Hunt For Red October - John McTiernan (1990) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Star Trek - J.J. Abrams (2009) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Flesh and Blood - Paul Verhoeven (1985)
*Cool World - Ralph Bakshi (1992)
Back to the Future, Part II - Robert Zemeckis (1989)
The Incredibles - Brad Bird (2004)
*Tremors - Ron Underwood (1990)
Willow - Ron Howard (1988)
Knight and Day - James Mangold (2010)
Judge Dredd - Danny Cannon (1995)
Mission: Impossible โ Ghost Protocol - Brad Bird (2011)
Dredd - Pete Travis (2012) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Postman - Kevin Costner (1997) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Valkyrie - Bryan Singer (2008)
5.5/10
<<<<<5.7>>>>>
2010: The Year We Make Contact - Peter Hyams (1984)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*V for Vendetta - James McTeague (2005)
Swiss Family Robinson - Ken Annakin (1960) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Finding Nemo - Andrew Stanton (2003)
*Crimson Tide - Tony Scott (1995)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Andrew Adamson (2005) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Chris Columbus (2001) [aka, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"]
Alice in Wonderland - Tim Burton (2010) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Die Hard 2 - Renny Harlin (1990) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Tango & Cash - Andrei Konchalovsky (1989) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Peter Jackson (2013)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<5.6>>>>>
Aliens - James Cameron (1986) [Original Theatrical Cut, 137 minutes; Extended "Special Edition" Cut, 154 min: 5.2/10]
Bad Boys II - Michael Bay (2003) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Gladiator II - Ridley Scott (2024)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
X-Men: The Last Stand - Brett Ratner (2006) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino (2012) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Demolition Man - Marco Brambilla (1993) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Journey to the Center of the Earth - Henry Levin (1959) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Mask - Chuck Russell (1994)
Kung Fu Panda - Mark Osborne and John Stevenson (2008) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Star Wars: Episode VII โ The Force Awakens - J.J. Abrams (2015)
<<<<<5.5>>>>>
Kill Bill, Vol. 1 - Quentin Tarantino (2003) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Six Days Seven Nights - Ivan Reitman (1998)
Sudden Death - Peter Hyams (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Point of No Return - John Badham (1993) [remake of Besson's La Femme Nikita] ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Back to the Future, Part III - Robert Zemeckis (1990)
*Seven Years in Tibet - Jean-Jacques Annaud (1997) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Batman Begins - Christopher Nolan (2005)
*American Sniper - Clint Eastwood (2014)
*The Iron Giant - Brad Bird (1999)
Conan the Destroyer - Richard Fleischer (1984) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** The Return of Godzilla - Koji Hashimoto (1984)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Mothra vs. Godzilla - Ishiro Honda (1964)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** The Lost World - Harry Hoyt (1925)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Ip Man - Wilson Yip (2008)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Peter Jackson (2014)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Superman Returns - Bryan Singer (2006)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<5.4>>>>>
*The Cannonball Run - Hal Needham (1981) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Jumanji - Joe Johnston (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace - George Lucas (1999)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Francis Lawrence (2013)
Dune - Denis Villenueve (2021)
Superman III - Richard Lester (1983)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<5.3>>>>>
Lethal Weapon 3 - Richard Donner (1992) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Timecop - Peter Hyams (1994)
Top Gun: Maverick - Joseph Kosinski (2022)
*Angels and Demons - Ron Howard (2009) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Stargate - Roland Emmerich (1994) Beneath the Planet of the Apes - Ted Post (1970)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
5/10
<<<<<5.2>>>>>
Black Panther - Ryan Coogler (2018)
The Mummy - Stephen Sommers (1999) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Dragnet - Tom Mankiewicz (1987) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Another Stakeout - John Badham (1993) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Mr. & Mrs. Smith - Doug Liman (2005) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
World War Z - Marc Forster (2013) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Under Siege - Andrew Davis (1992) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Congo - Frank Marshall (1995) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - Kevin Reynolds (1991) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Ice Age - Chris Wedge (2002) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Hunger Games - Gary Ross (2012)
Hulk - Ang Lee (2003) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Polar Express - Robert Zemeckis (2004) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Cyborg - Albert Pyun (1989)
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - Edward Zwick (2016)
Batman & Robin - Joel Schumacher (1997)
Iron Man - Jon Favreau (2008)
King Kong - John Guillermin (1976) [remake]***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<5.1>>>>>
300 - Zack Snyder (2006) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Predator 2 - Stephen Hopkins (1990)
Days of Thunder - Tony Scott (1990)
X2 - Bryan Singer (2003)
Cliffhanger - Renny Harlin (1993)
The Mask of Zorro - Martin Campbell (1998) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Elysium - Neill Blomkamp (2013) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Alien 3 - David Fincher (1992) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Steve Barron (1990)
Wonder Woman - Patty Jenkins (2017)
The Last Starfighter - Nick Castle (1984) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Richard Fleischer (1954) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<5.0>>>>>
The Lost World: Jurassic Park - Steven Spielberg (1997)
Mission: Impossible โ Rogue Nation - Christopher McQuarrie (2015)
*October (Ten Days that Shook the World) - Sergei Eisenstein (1927)
Rambo: First Blood Part II - George P. Cosmatos (1985)
Ip Man 3 - Wilson Yip (2015)
Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster - Wilson Yip (2010)
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi - Rian Johnson (2017) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 - James Gunn (2017) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Top Gun - Tony Scott (1986)
The Land Before Time - Don Bluth (1988)
Jack Reacher - Christopher McQuarrie (2012)
Kill Bill, Vol. 2 - Quentin Tarantino (2004) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
GI Jane - Ridley Scott (1997) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Far and Away - Ron Howard (1992) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*Leviathan - George P. Cosmatos (1982) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Kung Fu Panda 3 - Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh (2016) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<4.9>>>>>
*Turner and Hooch - Roger Spottiswoode (1989) (Note: To be removed from this genre list)
The Rocketeer - Joe Johnston (1991)
Frozen - Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (2009) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Masters of the Universe - Gary Goddard (1987) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
King Kong - Peter Jackson (2005) [remake] ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Jupiter Ascending - Lana and Lilly Wachowski (2015)
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones - George Lucas (2002) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Peter Jackson (2012)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** King Kong vs. Godzilla - Ishiro Honda (1962)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<4.8>>>>>
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker - J.J. Abrams (2019) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Above the Law - Andrew Davis (1988) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
2012 - Roland Emmerich (2009) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Ip Man 4: The Finale - Wilson Yip (2019)
*Wyatt Earp - Lawrence Kasdan (1994) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Da Vinci Code - Ron Howard (2002)
Planet of the Apes - Tim Burton (2001)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
4.5/10
<<<<<4.7>>>>>
Hard to Kill - Bruce Malmuth (1990) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Jurassic World - Colin Trevorrow (2015) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Incredible Hulk - Louis Leterrier (2008)
*Super Mario Bros. - Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel (1993) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Transformers - Michael Bay (2007)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<4.6>>>>>
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Steven Spielberg (2008) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Mummy Returns - Stephen Sommers (2001) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Rambo III - Peter MacDonald (1988)
Pearl Harbor - Michael Bay (2001) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<4.5>>>>>
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze - Michael Pressman (1991) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Fran Rubel Kuzui (1992) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Mission to Mars - Brian DePalma (2000)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Day After Tomorrow - Roland Emmerich (2004) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Godzilla - Roland Emmerich (1998) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Jurassic Park III - Joe Johnston (2001) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Shrek The Third - Chris Miller (2007) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
K-9 - Rod Daniel (1989) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Man of Steel - Zack Snyder (2013) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Mission: Impossible II - John Woo (2000)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Michael Bay (2009)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Kung Fu Panda 4 - Mike Mitchell (2024) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Crocodile Dundee II - John Cornell (1988) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Ice Age: The Meltdown - Carlos Saldanha (2006) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<4.4>>>>>
Divergent - Neil Burger (2014) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
K-9 - Rod Daniel (1989) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Alice in Wonderland - Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske (1951) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<4.3>>>>>
George of the Jungle - Sam Wiseman (1997) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
4/10
<<<<<4.2/10>>>>>
Robocop 3 - Fred Dekker (1993) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Anaconda - Luis Llosa (1997) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines - Jonathan Mostow (2003)
Double Impact - Sheldon Lettich (1991) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Cobra - George P. Cosmatos (1986)
<<<<<4.1/10>>>>>
Lionheart - Sheldon Lettich (1990) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Kickboxer - David Worth (1989) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<4.0/10>>>>>
Curious George - Matthew O'Callaghan (2006) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
Ice Age: Continental Drift - Mike Thurmeier / Steve Martino (2012) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Michael Bay (2011)***tentative rating/may need a revisit*** Transformers: Age of Extinction - Michael Bay (2014)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<3.9/10>>>>>
The Cannonball Run II - Hal Needham (1984) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
The Mummy - Alex Kurtzman (2017) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<3.8/10>>>>>
Battlefield Earth - Roger Christian (2000)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
3.5/10
<<<<<3.7>>>>>
On Deadly Ground - Steven Seagal (1994) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<3.6>>>>>
Universal Soldier - Roland Emmerich (1992)
<<<<<3.5>>>>>
Gymkata - Robert Clouse (1985) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<3.4>>>>>
Bloodsport - Newt Arnold (1988)
<<<<<3.3>>>>>
Superman IV: The Quest For Peace - Sidney J. Furie (1987)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
2.5/10
<<<<<2.7>>>>>
<<<<<2.6>>>>>
<<<<<2.5>>>>>
*Dinosaurus! - Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. (1960) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
*The Lost World - Irwin Allen (1960) ***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<2.4>>>>>
<<<<<2.3>>>>>
2/10
<<<<<2.2>>>>>
<<<<<2.1>>>>>
<<<<<2.0>>>>>
The Vernonia Incident - Ray Etheridge (1989)***tentative rating/may need a revisit***
<<<<<1.9>>>>>
<<<<<1.8>>>>>
Last edited by AfterHours on 13 hours ago; edited 42 times in total
Running Log - Action/Adventure Films - Updates Ratings/Rankings...
Point Blank - John Boorman (1967)7.9/10 to 7.8/10 Leon: The Professional - Luc Besson (1994) [Original Cut, 110 minutes; Extended Cut, 133 minutes: 7.4/10]7.8/10 to 7.7/10 Gunga Din - George Stevens (1939)Not Rated to 7.2/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Strike - Sergei Eisenstein (1925)Not Rated to 7.2/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - George Lucas (2005)"tentative 6.4/10" to 7.0/10 The Bridge on the River Kwai - David Lean (1957)Not Rated to 7.0/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Mutiny on the Bounty - Frank Lloyd (1935)Not Rated to 7.0/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Great Escape - John Sturges (1963)Not Rated to 7.0/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Magnificent Seven - John Sturges (1960)Not Rated to 6.9/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Dark Crystal - Jim Henson / Frank Oz (1982)Not Rated to 6.9/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn - Nicholas Meyer (1982)Not Rated to 6.8/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan (2008)6.6/10 to 6.8/10 Titanic - James Cameron (1997)6.6/10 to 6.8/10 ...Apologies to all who once believed in me... our hearts will go on...
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral - John Sturges (1957)Not Rated to 6.8/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Rock - Michael Bay (1996)6.6/10 to 6.7/10 ...Estimated upgrade, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Death Wish 2 - Michael Winner (1982)6.6/10 to 6.7/10 ...Estimated upgrade, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Road House - Rowdy Harrington (1989)6.6/10 to 6.7/10 ...Estimated upgrade, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Snowpiercer - Joon-ho Bong (2014)6.6/10 to 6.7/10 ...Estimated upgrade, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Italian Job - Peter Collinson (1969)Not Rated to 6.7/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
War of the Planet of the Apes - Matt Reeves (2017)Not Rated to 6.6/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Skyfall - Sam Mendes (2012)Not Rated to 6.6/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Snake Eyes - Brian De Palma (1998)6.5/10 to 6.6/10 ...Estimated upgrade, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Bad Boys - Michael Bay (1995)6.5/10 to 6.6/10 ...Estimated upgrade, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Adventures in Baby Sitting - Chris Columbus (1987)6.1/10 to 6.5/10; 6.5/10 to 6.6/10 ...I almost upgraded it to 6.8 or so and it might deserve it... Qualitatively (over the last two times I've revisited it) this has pretty much worked it's way back to where I initially thought it would be after being a long time childhood favorite. Nice to see nostalgia more or less matching the present. Comedically and in its performances, it nods to the Hughes films of the period, while being (imo) essentially a "teenage" rendition of Scorsese's After Hours (which, although I've never seen it mentioned in the same breath, that seems like a big influence on this to me; instead of circling back to the monotony of the office, the teens circle back to their closeted lives in upper middle class suburbia) ... Circumstantially and stylistically, it may fundamentally owe something to Risky Business as well, although Risky Business is certainly more "R-rated" and breaks its moral grounds more in relationship to the upper middle class parents and upbringing...
Crank: High Voltage - Mark Neveldine / Brian Taylor (2009)6.5/10 to 6.6/10 ...Adjusting some ratings, this included, to account for qualitative comparisons with others...
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Peter Jackson (2001)6.5/10 to 6.6/10 ...Estimated upgrade, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Northwest Passage - King Vidor (1940)Not Rated to 6.5/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Cloud Atlas - Lana and Lilly Wachowski (2012)Not Rated to 6.5/10 ..Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Martian - Ridley Scott (2015)6.3/10 to 6.5/10 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Peter Weir (2003)Not Rated or "tentative 6.3/10" to "tentative" 6.5/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Town - Ben Affleck (2010)Not Rated to 6.5/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Independence Day - Roland Emmerich (1996)"Not rated or tentative 5.6/10" to "Not rated or tentative 6.1/10" to 6.5/10 ...Revisited after recent revisits of Emmerich (Stargate) and another contemporary Disaster film (Deep Impact), also (though far less in common as a Disaster film) Cameron's Titanic... It becomes increasingly silly and cliched (for the most part) after the first 1/2 (roughly 1 hr 15 mins in)... This first half is much more impressive, the effects visually spectacular (far better than the overused synthetic look of the CGI in most blockbusters today) and legitimately suspenseful and on par with Lucas' best Hollywood sci-fi-action-adventure films (like the original Star Wars trilogy). The scenes of mass destruction and apocalyptic aftermaths of cities are the most impressive and compelling. The scenes of comedy (with Will Smith, and briefly, Harry Connick) are easily its best attempts. Later comedy (stolen from Star Wars above all) where jokes are cracked amidst life threatening situations and with little suspense, among ridiculous cliches of heroism and flag-waving jingoism, are superficial and more amusing for their silliness and over-earnestness than as well aimed comedy (with some exceptions) or its heroism as serious emotion or inspiration... Just about all the serious drama beyond the mass destruction/apocalyptic sequences is either totally average Hollywood fare or way too cliche and convenient to be taken seriously... Still among the impressive things about it is the scale of it and the thematic/genre expanse -- even if overlong, overstaying its welcome a bit, with all the usual Hollywood and heroic cliches, and how ridiculous it is that the exact right people happen to survive to tie all their stories in with perfectly resolved endings idealistically mirroring the conflicts they started out with... Visually, it is very impressive in the scenes of destruction of New York and DC especially (still much better than most, decades later) -- unfortunately it looks increasingly like a video game in the ridiculous flight battle sequences against the alien invaders (with effects drawn from Star Wars but here with silly flight and coordination skills by humans against an advanced race, among a whole beehive of enemies that defy belief); however, these can probably be credited (plus or minus) with visually inspiring the 2nd trilogy of Star Wars films (Phantom Menace, etc) ... This film, although very cliche in many ways, drawing from War of the Worlds, Aliens, Star Wars, the jingoism and action of Tony Scott, his hyper "protege" Micheal Bay, and so on, was nevertheless hugely influential on blockbusters of the period, setting off a slew of apocalyptic-themed and disaster scenario films thereafter and even if highly derivative in each of its sub genres, the effects and impressive staging and confluence of all of them in one film set a groundwork for the blockbusters that followed that often pulled from one or a few aspects of it with then whole films made out of these...
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Matt Reeves (2014)Not Rated to 6.4/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Lego Batman Movie - Chris McKay (2017)Not Rated to 6.2/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Rupert Wyatt (2011)Not Rated to 6.2/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - Leonard Nimoy (1984)Not Rated to 6.1/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Last Boy Scout - Tony Scott (1991)Not Rated to 6.1/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Escape from the Planet of the Apes - Don Taylor (1971)Not Rated to 6.1/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Rumble in the Bronx - Stanley Tong (1995)Not Rated to 6.1/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Christopher McQuarrie (2023)Not Rated to 6.0/10 ...Simply forgot to add this when I saw it back in 2023...
Ronin - John Frankenheimer (1998)Not Rated to 6.0/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Deep Impact - Mimi Leder (1998)5.4/10 to 5.9/10[/size] ...Hadn't seen this since its release in theaters... It's better than its reputation suggests (even if my score might not seem like it)... Besides a few poor moments, the acting isn't nearly as "bad" as people sometimes claim and it's actually a competent film ...most of the performances are fine especially compared to blockbusters of today where everyone seems to be the most declarative, epic, heroic, charismatic version of whatever part they're playing... Elijah Wood and his girlfriend struggle in a couple scenes but are earnest and young and impulsive so it's not a big deal and not unrealistic (how many of you would look ridiculous if we could re-watch scenes of first love from 17,18,19...) ... Tea Leone, much maligned here (and elsewhere?), is simply conflicted emotionally and maybe sorta overshoots or misses the mark a couple times but it's not nearly as bad as the reputation suggests. She actually does fine for the most part. The film is notable for being mostly a suspenseful and slow-burn-downer in the realm of end of the world/disaster movies. The drama throughout is pretty normal Hollywood fare but, because the film stands by its convictions for the better part of its run time, it works more or less well enough to be serviceable and even relatively affecting (again, for Hollywood) at times, even despite the cliches... Fwiw, it would probably be a 6.0 or 6.1 except that the ending is quite rushed and doesn't seem to trust everything it had built up to (dramatically) by that point.
White Fang - Randal Kleiser (1991)Not Rated to 5.9/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Robert Wise (1979)Not Rated to 5.9/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Leonard Nimoy (1986)Not Rated to 5.9/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Gareth Edwards (2016)Not Rated to 5.8/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Knight and Day - James Mangold (2010)5.5/10 to 5.8/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
2010: The Year We Make Contact - Peter Hyams (1984)Not Rated to 5.7/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Peter Jackson (2013)Not Rated to 5.7/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Gladiator II - Ridley Scott (2024)Not Rated to 5.6/10 ...Forgot to add this after seeing it in theaters in 2024 ...Estimated, "tentative rating", needs revisit
Star Wars: Episode VII โ The Force Awakens - J.J. Abrams (2015) "tentative 5.3/10" to 5.6/10 The Return of Godzilla - Koji Hashimoto (1984)Not Rated to 5.5/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Mothra vs. Godzilla - Ishiro Honda (1964)Not Rated to 5.5/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Lost World - Harry Hoyt (1925)Not Rated to 5.5/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Peter Jackson (2014)Not Rated to 5.5/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace - George Lucas (1999)4.8/10 to 5.4/10 Stargate - Roland Emmerich (1994)5.9/10 to 5.3/10 Beneath the Planet of the Apes - Ted Post (1970)Not Rated to 5.3/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Black Panther - Ryan Coogler (2018)5.1/10 to 5.2/10 King Kong - John Guillermin (1976) [remake]Not Rated to 5.2/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Steve Barron (1990)4.7/10 to 5.1/10 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones - George Lucas (2002)"tentative 4.5/10" to 4.9/10 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Peter Jackson (2012)Not Rated to 4.9/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
King Kong vs. Godzilla - Ishiro Honda (1962)Not Rated to 4.9/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Planet of the Apes - Tim Burton (2001)Not Rated to 4.8/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Transformers - Michael Bay (2007)Not Rated to 4.7/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Michael Bay (2009)Not Rated to 4.5/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Michael Bay (2011)Not Rated to 4.0/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Transformers: Age of Extinction - Michael Bay (2014)Not Rated to 4.0/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
The Vernonia Incident - Ray Etheridge (1989)Not Rated to 2.0/10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit ... This was actually filmed near a childhood friend's house and even some scenes on his property and properties near by. His dad received a free copy of the movie for allowing Etheridge to use his property, and we watched it as kids, and even then knew it was beyond terrible. I've long remembered it (almost endearingly) as "the worst film ever made" which is how we used to refer to it, jokingly recommending it to friends while growing up. Was that the beginnings of the AfterHours' alter-ego "villain arc"? You be the judge... (what if I told you I actually starred in a kids movie on TV (really, a filmed, broadcast play that somehow made it onto TV...) that was probably even worse than this? Sorry did I just admit that shit out loud???) ...I doubt Vernonia Incident is actually the "worst film ever made" -- after all, there is probably some film somewhere of hours worth of just TV screen static or something that you are supposed to "contemplate until you start seeing your own movie inside the static" or whatever... shooting for a legendary 0 out of 10 rating... Um, anyway, Vernonia Incident may or may not have more merit than I recall as a kid, but I recall it being pretty f-ing worthless, terribly shot and acted on a shoe-string budget and (especially for an action film with a plot) idiotic, pathetic and boring... Maybe I'll be longing to waste an hour of my life to revisit it out of sheer curiosity of just how bad it really was, only now compared to my current standards and far more learned and "mature" (depending on who you ask!) evaluation of cinema...?
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Not Rated to /10 ...Estimated, "tentative rating" from years ago, needs revisit
Last edited by AfterHours on 21 hours ago; edited 33 times in total
Bold = Newly added
Bold + Italics = Was already listed but recently upgraded/downgraded
Top 10+ Music, Movies, and Visual Art of the Week(s): 2-2-26 - 2-22-26
Spiderland - Slint (1991)
Master of Puppets - Metallica (1986)
David - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1501 - 1504) / Galleria dellโAccademia di Firenze, Florence, Italy [Sculpture]
Y - Pop Group (1979)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - George Lucas (2005)
Sackcloth 'n' Ashes - 16 Horsepower (1996)
Desertshore - Nico (1970)
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables - Dead Kennedy's (1980)
Ride the Lightning - Metallica (1984)
Titanic - James Cameron (1997)
Top 10+ Albums/Movies/Visual Art for the Week(s) - Rated 6.7/10 or Below
Adventures in Baby Sitting - Chris Columbus (1987)
Independence Day - Roland Emmerich (1996)
Deep Impact - Mimi Leder (1998)
Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace - George Lucas (1999)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Steve Barron (1990)
Stargate - Roland Emmerich (1994)
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones - George Lucas (2002)
Top 10+ SONGS/TRACKS for the Week(s)
FAMILIAR ROCK/JAZZ ALBUMS - RE-RATED:
Spiderland - Slint (1991) 8.8/10 to 8.9/10[/size]
Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10 Not Rated to /10
/10 to /10 /10 to /10 /10 to /10 /10 to /10 /10 to /10 /10 to /10 /10 to /10 /10 to /10 /10 to /10
TOP 50 WORKS OF ART OF THE YEAR (2026)
A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (1964)
The Doors - The Doors (1966)
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus (1963)
Yerself is Steam - Mercury Rev (1991)
The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground (1966)
On the Way Down From Moon Palace - Lisa Germano (1991)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch - Joe Dante (1990)
The Survivor's Suite - Keith Jarrett (1976)
Slow, Deep and Hard - Type O Negative (1991)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Ben Stiller (2013)
Meet the Parents - Jay Roach (2000)
Clifford - Paul Flaherty (1994)
Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - Stanley Kubrick (1964)
Office Space - Mike Judge (1999)
Good - Morphine (1992)
Remain in Light - Talking Heads (1980)
Strange Days - The Doors (1967)
Twins - Ivan Reitman (1988)
Crank: High Voltage - Mark Neveldine / Brian Taylor (2009)
Field of Dreams - Phil Alden Robinson (1988)
T2 Trainspotting - Danny Boyle (2017)
Kindergarten Cop - Ivan Reitman (1990)
School of Rock - Richard Linklater (2003)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - David Hand (Walt Disney) (1937)
Shallow Hall - Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly (2001) _________________ Best Classical Best Films Best Paintings
Last edited by AfterHours on 4 days ago; edited 4 times in total
Just in case you doubted me ๐คก some years back where I ranked Slint's Spiderland among the best drum/percussion performances/recordings (and in this case, one of the most "lyrical", "counter-intuitive" and creative across a full Rock album) ever...
Remember, it's impressive enough to play this, carbon copy, live and fluidly, but the original drummer actually had to invent it too! _________________ Best Classical Best Films Best Paintings
The additional selections (below) are, in my opinion, superior alternatives (where possible) to each of the IMDB TOP 250 selections (including my rating of each for comparison) ... Obviously, a high percentage of the IMDB 250 are just fine, sometimes even amazing, films in their own right and none of my alternative selections are meant as full replacements to say it's not worth seeing the IMDB selection. It's really just a fun game -- even if maybe a touch "elitist"? -- a list of recommendations that may help expand horizons where useful.
There are basically two main ways I consider an alternative, those being (a) if the film shares enough thematically, tonally, emotionally, whether directly or it can be as an extension or more profound, deeper, more expansive exploration of; (b) if the film shares enough stylistically, cinematically, though thematic similarities are more important and need to exist to some degree even where stylistic similarities are abundant. The comparisons can be somewhat loose if these are in place (ex: Interstellar and 2001) and especially if one is a natural extension of the other, or a more profound or singular rendition of the other (more or less), as this is among the goals of this list. Naturally, with 7.3 and above in particular, one tends to get, on average, increasingly singular cinematic experiences. The more discrepancy between the ratings and films 7.3+, usually the greater division in similarity and the looser the comparison. That said, I will probably give a bit more "lenience" where providing alternative selections in the higher ratings, in part because I want to make sure to provide (where possible) selections that are more singular, extraordinary examples of similar thematic or stylistic cinema, even if they may be somewhat questionable as comparisons (again, Interstellar and 2001; Shawshank Redemption and Grand Illusion or Passion of Joan of Arc...).
The Shawshank Redemption - Frank Darabount (1994) / 6.9/10
>>>>>The Passion of Joan of Arc - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928) / 8.0/10
>>>>>Grand Illusion - Jean Renoir (1937) / 7.8/10
>>>>>Schindler's List - Steven Spielberg (1993) / 7.5/10
>>>>>A Man Escaped - Robert Bresson (1956) / 7.2/10
>>>>>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Milos Forman (1975) / 7.2/10
>>>>>Escape From Alcatraz - Don Siegel (1979) / 7.1/10
>>>>>Cast Away - Robert Zemeckis (2000) / 6.9-7.0/10
The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola (1972) / 7.7/10
>>>>>The Godfather, Part 2 - Francis Ford Coppola (1974) / 7.8/10
The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan (2008) / 6.8/10
>>>>>Heat - Michael Mann (1995) / 7.3/10
The Godfather, Part 2 - Francis Ford Coppola (1974) / 7.8/10
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson (2003) / 6.8/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - George Lucas (1977) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back - Irvin Kershner (1980) / 7.1/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - George Lucas (2005) / 7.0/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi - Richard Marquand (1983) / 6.9/10
Schindler's List - Steven Spielberg (1993) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Come and See - Elem Klimov (1985) / 7.7/10
>>>>>Life is Beautiful - Roberto Benigni (1997) / 7.5/10
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - Peter Jackson (2001) / 6.6/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - George Lucas (1977) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back - Irvin Kershner (1980) / 7.1/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - George Lucas (2005) / 7.0/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi - Richard Marquand (1983) / 6.9/10
>>>>>The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson (2003) / 6.8/10
>>>>>Excalibur - John Boorman (1981) / 6.8/10
>>>>>The Neverending Story - Wolfgang Petersen (1984) / 6.8/10
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Sergio Leone (1966) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Once Upon a Time in the West - Sergio Leone (1968) / 8.0/10
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson (2002) / 6.0/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - George Lucas (1977) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back - Irvin Kershner (1980) / 7.1/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - George Lucas (2005) / 7.0/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi - Richard Marquand (1983) / 6.9/10
>>>>>The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson (2003) / 6.8/10
>>>>>Excalibur - John Boorman (1981) / 6.8/10
>>>>>The Neverending Story - Wolfgang Petersen (1984) / 6.8/10
>>>>>Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - Peter Jackson (2001) / 6.6/10
Forrest Gump - Robert Zemeckis (1994) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941) / 9.0/10
>>>>>Meet John Doe โ Frank Capra (1941) / 7.5/10
>>>>>A Face in the Crowd - Elia Kazan (1957) / 7.5/10
Fight Club - David Fincher (1999) / 7.2/10
>>>>>La Haine - Mathieu Kassovitz (1996) / 7.8/10
>>>>>Mean Streets - Martin Scorsese (1973) / 7.6/10
>>>>>Trainspotting โ Danny Boyle (1996) / 7.3/10
>>>>>A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick (1971) / 7.3/10
Inception - Christopher Nolan (2010) / 7.2/10
>>>>>World on a Wire - Rainer Fassbinder (1973) / 7.6/10
>>>>>Strange Days - Kathryn Bigelow (1995) / 7.3/10
Paprika (need to see...)
Total Recall (maybe, if upgraded ranking...)
Johnny Mnemonic (maybe, if upgraded ranking...)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back - Irvin Kershner (1980) / 7.1/10
>>>>>Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1927) ["The Complete Metropolis", 147 minutes] / 8.4/10
>>>>>Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - George Lucas (1977) / 7.4/10
>>>>>The Fifth Element - Luc Besson (1996) / 7.1/10
The Matrix - Lana and Lilly Wachowski (1999) / 7.0/10
>>>>>World on a Wire - Rainer Fassbinder (1973) / 7.6/10
>>>>>Inception - Christopher Nolan (2010) / 7.2/10
>>>>>Dark City - Alex Proyas (1998) / 7.1/10
Interstellar - Christopher Nolan (2014) / 6.9/10
>>>>>2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick (1968) / 8.1/10
>>>>>Solaris - Andrei Tarkovsky (1972) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Contact - Robert Zemeckis (1994) / 7.0/10
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Milos Forman (1975) / 7.2/10
Se7en - David Fincher (1995) / 7.3/10
>>>>>King of New York - Abel Ferrara (1990) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Dirty Harry - Don Siegel (1971) / 7.4/10
It's a Wonderful Life - Frank Capra (1946) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Ikiru - Akira Kurosawa (1952) / 8.1/10
The Silence of the Lambs - Jonathan Demme (1991) / 7.1/10
>>>>>Dirty Harry - Don Siegel (1971) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Se7en - David Fincher (1995) / 7.3/10
>>>>>Candyman - Bernard Rose (1992) / 7.2/10
Saving Private Ryan - Steven Spielberg (1998) / 7.1/10
The Green Mile - Frank Darabount (1999) / 6.6/10
>>>>>The Passion of Joan of Arc - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928) / 8.0/10
>>>>>Dancer in the Dark - Lars von Trier (2000) / 7.0/10
>>>>>The Shawshank Redemption - Frank Darabount (1994) / 6.9/10
City of God - Fernando Meirelles (2002) / 7.4/10
>>>>>La Haine - Mathieu Kassovitz (1996) / 7.8/10
>>>>>Goodfellas - Martin Scorsese (1990) / 7.6/10
Life is Beautiful - Roberto Benigni (1997) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Limelight - Charlie Chaplin (1952) / 8.0/10
Terminator 2: Judgment Day - James Cameron (1992) / 6.9/10
>>>>>Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1927) ["The Complete Metropolis", 147 minutes] / 8.4/10
>>>>>Blade Runner - Ridley Scott (1982) [The Final Cut, 117 minutes] / 7.5/10
>>>>>The Terminator - James Cameron (1984) / 7.3/10
>>>>>True Lies โ James Cameron (1994) / 7.0/10
>>>>>Blade Runner 2049 - Denis Villeneuve (2017) / 7.0/10
>>>>>Robocop - Paul Verhoeven (1987) / 7.0/10
>>>>>Predator - John McTiernan (1987) / 7.0/10
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - George Lucas (1977) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1927) ["The Complete Metropolis", 147 minutes] / 8.4/10
Back to the Future - Robert Zemeckis (1985) / 7.2/10
>>>>>It's a Wonderful Life - Frank Capra (1946) / 7.5/10
Time Bandits? (possibly if upgraded ranking/rating...)
Forrest Gump? (seems like an odd choice at first, but maybe...)
Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki (2001) / 7.3/10
>>>>>The Dance of Reality - Alejandro Jodorowsky (2013) / 7.9/10
>>>>>City of Lost Children - Jean-Pierre Jeunet (1995) / 7.6/10
>>>>>Valerie and Her Week of Wonders - Jaromil Jires (1970) / 7.4/10
The Pianist - Roman Polanski (2002) / 6.5/10
>>>>>Come and See - Elim Klimov (1985) / 7.7/10
>>>>>Life is Beautiful - Roberto Benigni (1997) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Schindler's List - Steven Spielberg (1993) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Empire of the Sun - Steven Spielberg (1987) / 6.9/10
Gladiator - Ridley Scott (2000) / 6.7/10
Parasite - Bong Joon Ho (2019) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Get Out - Jordan Peele (2017) / 7.5/10
Cache??? (maybe...)
Psycho - Alfred Hithcock (1960) / 8.1/10
The Lion King - Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff (1994) / 6.4/10
Grave of the Fireflies - Isao Takahata (1988) / 7.0/10
Come and See - Elem Klimov (1985) / 7.7/10
Life is Beautiful - Roberto Benigni (1997) / 7.5/10
The Departed - Martin Scorsese (2006) / 6.8/10
Scarface?
Whiplash - Damien Chazelle (2014) / 7.2/10
Pi - Darren Aronofsky (1998) / 7.5/10
The Red Shoes - Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1948) / 7.3/10
Prestige - Christopher Nolan (2006) / 7.2/10
American History X - Tony Kaye (1998) / 6.8/10
>>>>>Brawl in Cell Block 99 - S. Craig Zahler (2017) / 7.3/10
>>>>>Training Day - Antoine Fuqua (2001) / 7.0/10
Leon: The Professional - Luc Besson (1994) [Original Cut, 110 minutes; Extended Cut, 133 minutes: 7.4/10] / 7.7/10
>>>>>Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese (1976) / 8.3/10
Spider-Man: Across the Universe - Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson (2023)
NEED TO SEE
Cinema Paradiso - Giuseppe Tornatore (1988) / 7.1/10
Need to revisit, it's been several years...
Fellini...
Last Picture Show?
The Purple Rose of Cairo?
Casablanca - Michael Curtiz (1942) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Europa - Lars Von Trier (1991) / 7.8/10
>>>>>Chinatown - Roman Polanski (1974) / 8.5/10
The Intouchables - รric Toledano and Olivier Nakache (2011)
NEED TO SEE
Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin (1936) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Playtime - Jacques Tati (1967) / 7.6/10
>>>>>Limelight - Charlie Chaplin (1952) / 8.0/10
>>>>>Brazil - Terry Gilliam (1985) [The Final Cut, 142 minutes] / 9.0/10
Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock (1954) / 8.0/10
>>>>>Blow Out - Brian De Palma (1981) / 8.0/10
>>>>>The Conversation - Francis Ford Coppola (1974) / 8.2/10
Django Unchained - Quentin Tarrantino (2012) / 5.6/10
>>>>>The Quick and the Dead - Sam Raimi (1995) / 5.8/10
>>>>>The Hateful Eight - Quentin Tarrantino (2015) / 6.5/10
>>>>>Fistful Of Dollars - Sergio Leone (1964) / 6.8/10
>>>>>For a Few Dollars More - Sergio Leone (1965) / 7.0/10
>>>>>The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Sergio Leone (1966) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Inglorious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino (2009) / 7.4/10
>>>>>Straw Dogs - Sam Peckinpah (1971) / 7.5/10
>>>>>Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - Sam Peckinpah (1974) / 7.6/10
>>>>>Once Upon a Time in the West - Sergio Leone (1968) / 8.0/10
>>>>>The Wild Bunch - Sam Peckinpah (1969) [Director's Cut, 145 minutes] / 8.2/10
Django (1966) NEED TO SEE
Once Upon a Time in the West - Sergio Leone (1968) / 8.0/10
>>>>>The Wild Bunch - Sam Peckinpah (1969) [Director's Cut, 145 minutes] / 8.2/10
Greatest Films ----->>>>> CLOSEST Album Equivalent(s)
IN PROGRESS / RECOMMENDATIONS WELCOME
Simply put, the music selections don't have to literally be about the same subject matter as the film, but they should be similar emotionally and similar thematically/conceptually, similar tonally (musical color and environment relatively comparable to the visual environment of the film), and ideally, similar structure, pace, emotional arc (climactic rises, falls)
Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941) / 9.0/10
>>>>>Symphony No. 15 in A Major - Dmitri Shostakovich (1971) / 9.0/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 9/10
Brazil - Terry Gilliam (1985) [The Final Cut, 142 minutes] / 9.0/10
>>>>>Escalator Over The Hill - Carla Bley (1971) / 8.9/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7.5/10
>>>>>Modern Dance - Pere Ubu (1977) / 8.5/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7.5/10
>>>>>Roxy Music - Roxy Music (1972) / 8.1/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>Symphonie Fantastique - Hector Berlioz (1830) / 9.0/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>Faust - Faust (1971) / 9.0/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6.5/10
>>>>>Lullaby Land - Vampire Rodents (1993) / 8.2/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6.5/10
>>>>>Radio Gnome Invisible Part 1: Flying Teapot - Gong (1973) / 8.5/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6/10
>>>>>Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables - Dead Kennedys (1983) / 8.3/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6/10
Satantango - Bela Tarr (1994) / 8.3/10
>>>>>Winterreise - Franz Schubert (1827) / 8.7/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>String Quintet in C Major - Franz Schubert (1828) / 8.5/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>Symphony No. 15 in A Major - Dmitri Shostakovich (1971) / 9.0/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>Quartet for the End of Time - Olivier Messiaen (1941) / 7.7/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6.5/10
>>>>>String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1825) / 8.2/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6.5/10
>>>>>Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major - Franz Schubert (1828) / 8.7/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6/10
>>>>>String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1826) / 7.7/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6/10
8 ยฝ - Federico Fellini (1963) / 8.2/10
>>>>>Symphony No. 15 in A Major - Dmitri Shostakovich (1971) / 9.0/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6.5/10
Underground - Emir Kusturica (1995) / 8.2/10
>>>>>Parable of Arable Land - Red Crayola (1967) / 9.0/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart (1969) / 9.4/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>Y - Pop Group (1979) / 8.9/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>Lullaby Land - The Vampire Rodents (1993) / 8.2/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6.5/10
Love Exposure - Sion Sono (2008) / 8.2/10
The Lady from Shanghai - Orson Welles (1948) / 8.2/10
The Wild Bunch - Sam Peckinpah (1969) [Director's Cut, 145 minutes] / 8.2/10
>>>>>The Doors - The Doors (1966) / 9.2/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7.5/10
>>>>>Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart (1969) / 9.4/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones (1972) / 8.2/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
>>>>>Strange Days - The Doors (1967) / 7.9/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 6.5/10
Belle de Jour - Luis Bunuel (1967) / 8.2/10
>>>>>Geek the Girl - Lisa Germano (1994) / 8.4/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick (1968) / 8.1/10
>>>>>Irrlicht - Klaus Schulze (1972) / 8.9/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7.5/10
>>>>>Neu! - Neu! (1971) / 8.8/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola (1979) [Original Theatrical Release, 153 minutes] / 8.1/10
The Conversation - Francis Ford Coppola (1974) / 8.1/10
Ikiru - Akira Kurosawa (1952) / 8.1/10
>>>>>Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1822) / 8.9/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 7/10
Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock (1960) / 8.1/10
Rosemary's Baby - Roman Polanski (1968) / 8.1/10
>>>>>Geek the Girl - Lisa Germano (1994) / 8.4/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 8/10
The Passion of Joan of Arc - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928) / 8.0/10
>>>>>Desertshore - Nico (1970) / 8.9/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 9/10
>>>>>The Marble Index - Nico (1968) / 8.1/10 / SIMILARITY SCORE: 8.5/10
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
