Sunday, January 6, 2013

Sunday Showdown: AFI vs. IMDb (#55)

It’s 2013, but I’m still doing the Sunday Showdown: comparing the American Film Institute's and Internet Movie Database's Top 100 films.  This year I’m going to make it all the way through the list. No matter what.

#55: North By Northwest (AFI) vs. The Pianist (IMDb)

Warsaw - WWII
Let’s start with The Pianist. I’ll admit I had never seen it. I had no interest in seeing it. It’s one of those emotional traumatizing true stories that I generally try to steer clear from, because they’re… you know, emotionally traumatizing. Ever since I’ve had kids I’ve been more vulnerable to things like families being torn apart, forced to live under inhumane circumstances, and murdered.

Just call me a sissy.

No one could accuse Roman Polanski of melodrama in The Pianist. He has provided a straight-forward film about life in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, Poland. Straight-forward to the point where he has been criticized for being too emotionally distant from the subject matter. Maybe so, because instead of sobbing at the obviously sob-worthy subject matter, I found myself instead struck by what people can endure when they are given no other choice.

I guess ultimately I can say that I didn’t like it, or feel like it reached its emotional potential. But it did what it set out to do: demonstrate the drudgery of enduring. There's something to be said for that.

Perhaps one of the most recognized scenes in movie history.
But North By Northwest. One of the most iconic films in movie history.  There’s definitely no comparison. Hitchcock. Cary Grant.

And this line:   "Tell me... How does a girl like you get to be a girl like you?"

What’s not to love?

So AFI wins again this week -- starting to pull ahead again




AFI’s Top 100
IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)

25
21
#55
The Pianist (2002)
#56
Jaws (1975)
The Lives of Others (2006)
#57
Rocky (1976)
The Departed (2006)
#58
The Gold Rush (1925)
Memento (2000)
#59
Nashville (1975)
City Lights (1931)
#60
Duck Soup (1933)
Aliens (1986)
#61
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004)
#62
American Graffiti (1973)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
#63
Cabaret (1972)
Das Boot (1981)
#64
Network (1976)
The Third Man (1949)
#65
The African Queen (1951)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
#66
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
#67
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Chinatown (1974)
#68
Unforgiven (1992)
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
#69
Tootsie (1982)
Modern Times (1936)
#70
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Life is Beautiful (1997)
#71
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Monty Python & the Holy Grail (1975)
#72
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Back to the Future (1985)
#73
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Prestige (2006)
#74
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
#75
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Raging Bull (1980)
#76
Forrest Gump (1994)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
#77
All the President’s Men  (1976)
Singing In the Rain (1952)
#78
Modern Times (1936)
Some Like it Hot (1959)
#79
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
#80
The Apartment (1960)
Rashomon (1950)
#81
Spartacus (1960)
All About Eve (1950)
#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: MASH vs. To Kill a Mockingbird. Both new to me.

1 comment:

  1. I think that line from NBNW pretty much sums you up perfectly.

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