It’s the Sunday Movie Showdown, The American Film Institute’s (AFI)
Top 100 vs. the Internet Movie Databases’ (IMDb) Top 100.
Quite behind on the Sunday Showdown this week since classes are starting at my college. You may have noticed my tardiness since we’re posting the Sunday showdown on Thursday.
Quite behind on the Sunday Showdown this week since classes are starting at my college. You may have noticed my tardiness since we’re posting the Sunday showdown on Thursday.
Fortunately this showdown is not a difficult one for me.
#26 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington vs. The Matrix
#25 To Kill a Mockingbird vs. The Usual Suspects
 |
| Difficult to understand how I could find this sentimental |
Of course, it is interesting that a movie made in 1939 about
special interest groups holding politicians in their pockets is still just as
relevant today as it was then. Mr. Smith
asks us to all take a look at democracy and what it means to us individually
and as a country. So I probably shouldn’t call it overly-sentimental, I should
call myself overly-jaded.
I will say that I enjoyed watching it again. My kids popped
in and out during it (it couldn’t hold their attention for long) and we
discussed filibusters and Capitol Hill. It was nice for me to be able to offer
a little bit of information about our government that didn’t come from School House Rock.
 |
| Just seeing this makes me want to watch it again. |
But Mr. Smith was
against Agent Smith. And Neo and Trinity. The Matrix.
I realize Matrix is love it or hate it for most people. I LOVE it. It is one of my Top 10 movies of all time, and my absolute top pick in terms of watchability (meaning: I just love to watch it, not defending it as cinematic masterpiece). Therefore, Mr. Smith never really had a chance. There are only a few that would have a chance against Matrix for me.
I realize Matrix is love it or hate it for most people. I LOVE it. It is one of my Top 10 movies of all time, and my absolute top pick in terms of watchability (meaning: I just love to watch it, not defending it as cinematic masterpiece). Therefore, Mr. Smith never really had a chance. There are only a few that would have a chance against Matrix for me.
Picking The Usual Suspects as my vote for this showdown was easy. Suspects is perhaps one of the greatest whodunits ever. And speaking of watchability… It definitely has it. AND it cemented Kevin Spacey as one of my favorite actors. I’m just sad that I can’t watch it again for the first time and get that same feeling when I found out… well, you know. (And if you don’t know then stop wasting your time reading this and go watch the movie!)
So, two votes for IMDb this week, bringing the score to: AFI
– 43, IMDb -35.
AFI’s
Top 100
|
IMDb’s
Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
43
|
35
|
|
| #11 | City Lights (1931) | LoTR: Return of the King (2003) |
| #19 | On the Waterfront (1954) | LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001) |
#20
|
It's
a Wonderful Life (1946)
|
Rear Window (1954)
|
#25
|
To Kill a Mockingbird
(1962)
|
The Usual Suspects (1995)
|
#26
|
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
(1939)
|
The Matrix (1999)
|
#27
|
High Noon (1952)
|
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
|
#28
|
All About Eve
(1950)
|
Se7en
(1995)
|
#29
|
Double
Indemnity (1944)
|
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
|
#30
|
Apocalypse Now (1979)
|
Memento
(1990)
|
| #31 | The Maltese Falcon (1941) | LoTR: The Two Towers(2002) |
#32
|
The Godfather Part II (1974)
|
Sunset
Boulevard (1950)
|
#33
|
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
|
Dr.
Strangelove (1964)
|
#34
|
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937)
|
Forrest
Gump (1994)
|
#35
|
Annie
Hall (1977)
|
Leon: The Professional (1994)
|
#36
|
The
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
|
Citizen Kane (1941)
|
| #37 | The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) | Apocalypse Now (1979) |
| #38 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) | North By Northwest (1959) |
| #39 | Dr. Strangelove (1964) | American Beauty (1999) |
| #40 | The Sound of Music (1965) | American History X (1998) |
| #41 | King Kong (1933) | Taxi Driver (1976) |
| #42 | Bonnie and Clyde (1967) | Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) |
| #43 | Midnight Cowboy (1969) | Saving Private Ryan (1998) |
| #44 | The Philadelphia Story (1940) | Vertigo (1958) |
| #45 | Shane (1953) | Amelie (2001) |
| #46 | It Happened One Night (1934) | Alien (1979) |
| #47 | A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) | Wall E (2008) |
| #48 | Rear Window (1954) | Lawrence of Arabia (1962) |
| #49 | Intolerance (1916) | The Shining (1980) |
| #50 | LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001) | Spirited Away (2001) |
| #51 | West Side Story (1961) | Paths of Glory (1957) |
| #52 | Taxi Driver (1976) | A Clockwork Orange (1971) |
| #53 | The Deer Hunter (1978) | Double Indemnity (1944) |
| #54 | M*A*S*H* (1970) | To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) |
| #55 | North by Northwest (1959) | 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, E.T.
vs. Psycho (Seriously? Do I even have
to waste my time on that one?) and The
Grapes of Wrath vs. Toy Story 3.
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