Sunday, October 6, 2013

Sunday Showdown: AFI vs. IMDb Battle (#15)

It’s the Sunday Movie Showdown, The American Film Institute’s (AFI) Top 100 vs. the Internet Movie Databases’ (IMDb) Top 100. 

#15- 2001: A Space Odyssey vs. Goodfellas

Kubrick vs. Scorsese. 

For me, it’s not a question of which of these two films do I like most. It’s a question of which of the two do I dislike least.

I’d viewed them both already for the Sunday Showdown challenge. 2001 was IMDb’s #86 against Platoon and Goodfellas was AFI’s #92 against Up.

(As an aside, I found a data entry error in the list. #92 had been switched. Up had been listed as the AFI entry, and Goodfellas listed as the IMDb entry, those should have been reversed, and the point that went to AFI for Up  should’ve gone to IMDb. So that means that coming into this week’s challenge, the actual score was AFI – 45, IMDb - 40) 
2001: A Space Odyssey and Oddity

I re-watched both 2001 and Goodfellas this week, hoping that one of them would pique my interest a little more than it had in the past. Or that my eyes would be opened to the cinematic genius making either of these films worthy of being listed in the Top 20 best films of all time.

Honestly, no such luck.

I haven’t made any secret during the Sunday Showdown that I’m not a huge Kubrick fan (even though his films made the lists more than any other director). I didn’t care for Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining or even Paths of Glory. I loathed A Clockwork Orange. The only film of his on the list I didn’t mind was Full Metal Jacket

I know that 2001 is supposed to be a cinematic masterpiece, but I have difficulty seeing it. And yes, it may be because I’m viewing the film through 2013 eyes, rather than 1968 ones. Or maybe because I have a shorter attention span than viewers of decades past. 

I think we are meant to contemplate the film rather than enjoy it. Of course, if you look at my tendency to make stupid decisions (like the one I’m making even this very weekend), you can see that contemplation is not one of my strong suits.

I think I get it: 2001: A Space Odyssey is a philosophical statement about man’s place in the univ... zzzzzzzzzzz.

Yeah, that’s pretty much my response every time I watch it. But, I still think 2001 belongs in the Top 20 over Goodfellas.  

Goodfellas - yeah, a plot but nothing special
Goodfellas does have two things 2001 does not have:  a realistic sense of pacing and an actual intelligible storyline. But that does not mean it deserves to be in the Top 20. Honestly, I don’t even think it is deserving of a Top 100 spot at all, but where it fell on the AFI list – #92 – is a better fit for it than #15.

So, as much as it pains me, I give my vote to 2001: A Space Odyssey for this week. But I wouldn’t recommend either movie. If you’ve never seen them, then count yourself blessed and move on.

That brings the score to AFI – 46, IMDb – 40. Next week… Psycho vs. Star Wars.  Psycho is on a very short list of movies that would even have a chance with me against Star Wars. But I don’t know if it will be enough.



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

46
40



#11
City Lights (1931)
LoTR: Return of the King (2003)



#15
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Goodfellas (1990)
#16
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Casablanca (1942)
#17
The Graduate (1967)
Fight Club (1999)
#18
The General (1927)
City of God (2002)
#19
On the Waterfront (1954)
LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
#20
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Rear Window (1954)
#21
Chinatown (1974)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
#22
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
#23
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
#24
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Psycho (1960)
#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
Goodfellas (1990)
Up (2009)
#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)



 

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