Saturday, August 24, 2013

Sunday Showdown: AFI vs. IMDb (#24 & #23)

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

This week:

#24: E.T. the Extra Terrestrial vs. Psycho

#23: The Grapes of Wrath vs. Toy Story 3

My sister-in-law tells me that your tastes in food change every seven years. The thing is, you never know when that seven year change is going to occur. That’s why you should always try food you don’t like whenever it is on your plate: because it may be TODAY that your palate changes and you begin to like that always-hated food. Of course, you may have another six and a half years of trying the grossness before your palate changes. Bummer.
E.T.
Yawn.

I guess I was hoping the same may be true about my intense loathing for E.T. That if I watched it again, now, as an adult, my palate may have changed and I would begin to enjoy that always-hated movie.

Well, it didn’t. I still disliked it as much as I ever had. And I don’t plan on putting it on my plate any time again soon to see if my tastes change.

Seriously, could that E.T. goodbye scene be any longer? And did anybody else but me wonder where the heck the cornfields where E.T. is first found are in the middle of Elliot’s suburban neighborhood? Whatever. I feel bad now for calling Jimmy Stewart’s last couple of films overly-sentimental. E.T. has them beat, hands glowing finger down.

So even though I couldn’t actually watch Psycho this week because it’s so back-logged on Netflix, it gets my vote.

#23: Grapes of Wrath vs. Toy Story 3 was a much more difficult decision. I hadn’t actually seen either of them before, and enjoyed them both immensely, although the two couldn’t be more different.

Grapes of Wrath
Phenomenal acting by  Henry Fonda & Jane Darwell
Grapes of Wrath is a terribly bleak and wonderful movie. It’s based on the John Steinbeck novel we all had to read in high school about tenant farmers during the Great Depression. It’s a beautiful film about family and politics and survival of the common man. And the strength of women when life demands it of them.

Wrath was directed by the John Ford (more well known for his Westerns) and had stunning performances by a very young Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell. It’s another one of those classic films that you might have missed but you should definitely see. (Plus it’s on Netflix Instant.)

Toy Story 3 is also a gem. I am not a general fan of animated films, but I did enjoy this one. It’s touching end to the series. But at the same time it seemed like most of the story had already been told before (Toys are about to be thrown away, how can they get out of this mess? Oh, they’ll have to work together as a team. And now they’re all friends forever – yay!) But even with the similarities to the other two, I still liked
Toy Story 3
Here we go again, guys!
this Toy Story the best of the three.

But I can’t give Toy Story my vote over a class like Grapes of Wrath. Comparatively, it’s too inconsequential.

So this week, one vote each for AFI and IMDb. AFI wins for Grapes of Wrath, IMDb wins for Psycho. (Psycho will show up again as AFI’s #14 against, wait for it… Star Wars). IMDb had the good sense not to put E.T. on its list at all.

The overall score is now: AFI – 44, IMDb – 36


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

44
36



#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)



#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
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 is Some Like it Hot vs. Raiders of the Lost Ark and Chinatown vs. Once Upon a Time in the West. The first will be very easy for me, the second I can’t speak to yet, since I haven’t seen Once Upon a Time yet.