Amadeus. Hmmm… What
is there to say about the film telling the life story of Mozart? For the
original 1998 AFI list, Amadeus was
#53. But Amadeus was one of the 23
films that completely dropped off when the AFI list was updated in 2008. (Of those 23, only Amadeus and The Third Man
are on the IMDb list.) I’m not surprised
it dropped off. It’s really one of those films that the story is great, but the
movie is only good. I liked it as a period piece, but for me it still had that 1980s
feel to it for some reason.
 |
| Magic of Sunrise |
Sunrise: A Song of Two
Humans has been called the Citizen Kane of silent films. I can see why. For a film made in 1927 it had
some pretty groundbreaking cinematography -- things we take for granted now.
It was directed by the German Expressionist director F.W. Murnau, but
filmed in America (therefore eligible to be on the AFI list – no foreign films eligible
for AFI). It won an Oscar for
"Unique Artistic Presentation" at the first ever Academy Awards.
I had no difficulty choosing Sunrise over Amadeus. I think IMDb should take a hint from the AFI
list and get rid of Amadeus
completely. It’s not a top 100 film.
AFI’s Top 100
|
IMDB’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
#82
|
Sunrise: A Song
of Two Humans (1927)
|
Amadeus (1984)
|
#83
|
Titanic (1997)
|
Once Upon A Time in America (1984)
|
#84
|
Easy Rider (1969)
|
The Green Mile
(1999)
|
#85
|
A Night at the Opera (1935)
|
Full Metal
Jacket (1987)
|
#86
|
Platoon (1986)
|
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
|
#87
|
12 Angry Men (1957)
|
Inglorious
Basterds (2009)
|
#88
|
Bringing Up Baby
(1938)
|
The Great Dictator (1940)
|
#89
|
Sixth Sense
(1999)
|
Braveheart (1995)
|
#90
|
Swing Time (1936)
|
The Bicycle
Thief (1948)
|
#91
|
Sophie’s Choice
(1982)
|
The Apartment (1960)
|
#92
|
Up (2009)
|
Goodfellas (1990)
|
#93
|
The French
Connection (1971)
|
Downfall (2004)
|
#94
|
Pulp Fiction
(1994)
|
Gran Torino (2008)
|
#95
|
The Last Picture Show (1971)
|
Metropolis
(1927)
|
#96
|
Do The Right
Thing (1989)
|
The Sting (1973)
|
#97
|
Blade Runner
(1982)
|
Gladiator (2000)
|
#98
|
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
|
The Maltese Falcon
(1941)
|
#99
|
Toy Story (1995)
|
Unforgiven (1992)
|
#100
|
Ben Hur (1959)
|
The Elephant Man (1980)
|
Next week Spartacus
(More Kubrick!?!) vs. All About Eve. Never seen either. Not really looking forward
to the three hour Spartacus epic. Four
of my last six movies have been 3+ hours in length. And Easy
Rider, which was only an hour and a half, but felt like three hours.
I'm floored Amadeus is on the IMDb list. A list made up of the regular film goer... hell, there are 5 Nolan movies on that list (and, really, at best there should be 2). Surprised that general peeps put Amadeus on there. As you mentioned, it isn't that good.
ReplyDeleteSpartacus v AAE should be interesting. I think Spart is better, but with your Kubrick hate (most of which is completely justified) I wonder if you'll like it at all. Eve aged well and is still surprisingly good (I saw it for the first time a few years ago).