2012 will be
finished in less than two hours. I’ve been frantically watching films all day
to get my movie list total for this year up to 150. I’m going to make it, but
barely.
Sunday Showdown: continuing my
comparison of the American Film Institute's and Internet Movie Database's Top
100 films. #56: Jaws (AFI) vs. The Lives of
Others (IMDb)
I saw The Lives of Others last year for the
first time and really enjoyed it. It’s a
foreign film that won multiple awards in 2006, but somehow I had missed it. I immediately
told all my film buddies – and history buff friends – about it. The East German secret police was not a
common subject matter (at least for me) in films, and I was intrigued.
Basically,
it comes down to this: if you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s not perfect –
it sometimes drags, but I’m not sure if that is due to the nature of subtitled
films, or the pacing of the movie itself. Either way, well worth watching.
 |
| Zoom in, dolly out. I can see it now. |
To be
honest, I had forgotten how truly great a film Jaws is. It’s about a shark, sure. But it’s so much more than that:
storytelling at its finest. Perhaps Spielberg at his finest.
And some of
the individual shots in Jaws? Just as
wonderful today as when Jaws became the first-ever blockbuster film in 1975. I
was amazed at how many of those great shots there were in the movie. It’s one
of the mistakes people make when they forget that Jaws is much more than just a film about a shark.
Roger Ebert
once called Jaws “One of the most
effective thrillers ever made.” No argument here.
So, as we finish out 2012, AFI leads by a slim margin: 24 to IMDb's 21.
So, as we finish out 2012, AFI leads by a slim margin: 24 to IMDb's 21.
AFI’s Top 100
|
IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
24
|
21
|
|
#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)
|
