^ laughing at the idea of any sort of best movie list without Amadeus
This is gonna be a longy, folks. Reactions to my original thoughts from before the list was revealed, too. Let's do that first, from this post.
"1996: Forrest Gump was #71. Pulp Fiction, #95. Ewww"
Now Forrest Gump is #76 and Pulp Fiction is #94. I'm still displeased.
"Also, the, for lack of a better term, stupid fuckers said Amadeus could be replaced with 'better movies.'"
...apparently such as Sophie's Choice. And Titanic. And The Sixth Sense. And In the Heat of the Night. Though I'm fans of the last three, and I'm soooo glad In the Heat of the Night is on there instead of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, they cannot measure up, in any way, shape, or form, to Amadeus. Oh, and Yankee Doodle Dandy is apparently better too. Bullshit.
"I would cry of happiness if Lost in Translation or Eternal Sunshine made it onto the list, but I doubt either of them will. Still, my third or so favorite movie on there, American Beauty, will make it onto the list, and quite high, I'm hoping."
I was right about Translation and Sunshine, but everyone saw that coming. I'm kind of shocked that American Beauty wasn't there. Even by the time they got to the top 20, I was like "yeah, it wouldn't be unreasonable for it to be here."
"Saving Private Ryan will be on the list, and quite high, because they are so wet for Spielberg"
At least I was right about this one
"Titanic will be the highest debut."
Or not.
"At least one of the Lord of the Rings movies will be on there"
Yay
"Things that will probably do better: Goodfellas, Schindler's List (there's no way it's getting ranked below The Graduate now), Pulp Fiction, Annie Hall, The Godfather Part II, Amadeus better go up in the rankings you assholes, Network because it's become more than just a great movie, it's become bizarrely prophetic, anything Eastwood because since 1996, he's gone from being Legendary Actor, Okay Director with One Really Really Good Movie to The Greatest Director Of Our Time (And By That, We Mean Ever). Though if Unforgiven drops off the list totally and Million Dollar Baby is on it fairly high up, I won't be surprised."
Goodfellas = a whole 2 spaces higher
Schindler's List = a whole space higher
Pulp Fiction = a whole space higher
Annie Hall = fell 4 spots :(
The Godfather Part II = the same... it's just weird that The Godfather gets the BEST MOVIE EVER (next to Citizen Kane) hosannahs and this is stuck in the 30s...
Let's not talk about Amadeus any more as I kind of get physically angry
Network = up 2
anything Eastwood = Unforgiven up 30! Nobody talks about that film any more though. And Million Dollar Baby wasn't on the list at all. They went boxing-crazy on this list, what with Rocky and Raging Bull's crazy rises.
"Things that will probably fall in the rankings: The Graduate (boohoo), Dances with Wolves, Giant, Tootsie (waaaah), The Sound of Music, The African Queen (this is the same case as The Graduate - ranked incredibly high, but nobody talks about it!)"
Dances with Wolves and Giant, both of which were fairly high last time, are now off the list. Tootsie fell 7 spots - not nearly as much as I was expecting. The Sound of Music went up 15 =/ but The African Queen fell 48. The Graduate fell 10 spots, to #17, and I saw that coming and I think I'm the only one that's sad about it.
So, uh, I did okay on that part. I guess.
YAY!!!!
• Like I said, it's honestly not a bad list. Like, it's not cringingly embarassing. Far from it. The old one wasn't either, though.This is gonna be a longy, folks. Reactions to my original thoughts from before the list was revealed, too. Let's do that first, from this post.
"1996: Forrest Gump was #71. Pulp Fiction, #95. Ewww"
Now Forrest Gump is #76 and Pulp Fiction is #94. I'm still displeased.
"Also, the, for lack of a better term, stupid fuckers said Amadeus could be replaced with 'better movies.'"
...apparently such as Sophie's Choice. And Titanic. And The Sixth Sense. And In the Heat of the Night. Though I'm fans of the last three, and I'm soooo glad In the Heat of the Night is on there instead of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, they cannot measure up, in any way, shape, or form, to Amadeus. Oh, and Yankee Doodle Dandy is apparently better too. Bullshit.
"I would cry of happiness if Lost in Translation or Eternal Sunshine made it onto the list, but I doubt either of them will. Still, my third or so favorite movie on there, American Beauty, will make it onto the list, and quite high, I'm hoping."
I was right about Translation and Sunshine, but everyone saw that coming. I'm kind of shocked that American Beauty wasn't there. Even by the time they got to the top 20, I was like "yeah, it wouldn't be unreasonable for it to be here."
"Saving Private Ryan will be on the list, and quite high, because they are so wet for Spielberg"
At least I was right about this one
"Titanic will be the highest debut."
Or not.
"At least one of the Lord of the Rings movies will be on there"
Yay
"Things that will probably do better: Goodfellas, Schindler's List (there's no way it's getting ranked below The Graduate now), Pulp Fiction, Annie Hall, The Godfather Part II, Amadeus better go up in the rankings you assholes, Network because it's become more than just a great movie, it's become bizarrely prophetic, anything Eastwood because since 1996, he's gone from being Legendary Actor, Okay Director with One Really Really Good Movie to The Greatest Director Of Our Time (And By That, We Mean Ever). Though if Unforgiven drops off the list totally and Million Dollar Baby is on it fairly high up, I won't be surprised."
Goodfellas = a whole 2 spaces higher
Schindler's List = a whole space higher
Pulp Fiction = a whole space higher
Annie Hall = fell 4 spots :(
The Godfather Part II = the same... it's just weird that The Godfather gets the BEST MOVIE EVER (next to Citizen Kane) hosannahs and this is stuck in the 30s...
Let's not talk about Amadeus any more as I kind of get physically angry
Network = up 2
anything Eastwood = Unforgiven up 30! Nobody talks about that film any more though. And Million Dollar Baby wasn't on the list at all. They went boxing-crazy on this list, what with Rocky and Raging Bull's crazy rises.
"Things that will probably fall in the rankings: The Graduate (boohoo), Dances with Wolves, Giant, Tootsie (waaaah), The Sound of Music, The African Queen (this is the same case as The Graduate - ranked incredibly high, but nobody talks about it!)"
Dances with Wolves and Giant, both of which were fairly high last time, are now off the list. Tootsie fell 7 spots - not nearly as much as I was expecting. The Sound of Music went up 15 =/ but The African Queen fell 48. The Graduate fell 10 spots, to #17, and I saw that coming and I think I'm the only one that's sad about it.
So, uh, I did okay on that part. I guess.
YAY!!!!
• Vertigo up fifty-two spaces to #8, and it's above Psycho!!! Amazing!
• Raging Bull up 20 spots - in the top 5! When the list got to Gone with the Wind at #6 I was like "Fuck. I guess Raging Bull is off the list too. I hate the AFI." I'm thrilled it was so high, it totally deserves it. The 80s were indeed a shitty time for movies overall. But the three best movies of the 80s - Amadeus, Raging Bull, and AFI's #96 :D - are among the best movies ever.
• Do the Right Thing!!!! Y'all know I'm a Crash fan. But I was like "if Crash is on this list and Do the Right Thing is not, there's something wrong with the world." It should be higher, but whatever.
• Bladerunner!!!!
• SHAWSHANK!!!!!!!!!
• All the President's Men!
• I don't love In the Heat of the Night, but it's a much, much, much better movie than Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, so yay
• Singin' in the Rain in single digits :D
• To Kill a Mockingbird up 9 spots!
• Cabaret debuts at #72. I'm not its biggest fan, but hey...I'll support pretty much any musical that's not The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady or Oliver! or...come to think of it, all the '60s Best Picture winners that were musicals weren't very good (West Side Story is good, but ludicrously overrated). But anyway. I love musicals! More musicals on the AFI list please please thank you! Moulin Rouge! next time please!
• Rocky up 21, but still under Taxi Driver. The former gets a lot of flack, but it's still a great film. Though, no, it didn't deserve Best Picture, and that's reflected.
• The African Queen down 48!
• The Apartment up 13! (It should still be higher.)
• Uh, well, at least Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas did better, right...?
• Any sort of increase for The Godfather or its sequel makes me full of joy. Not that it's going to go up again, because let's face it, Citizen Kane will be #1 for all eternity.
• The great and deserved debuts of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Nashville, and let me stop lying to myself, Titanic.
BOOO!!!!
• Here's where I quote one of my favorite cheesetastic 80s songs: Amadeus Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus Amadeus... oh oh oh AMADEUS!
• The Manchurian Candidate =/
• Rebel Without a Cause, The Third Man, Fantasia, Fargo, Close Encounters of the Third Kind...
• Yankee Doodle Dandy is still on the list. Hell, it even went up.
• AFI really needs to kick out the members who are actually dead, then maybe Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas will actually get on there.
• Obviously, movies that aren't on there and never were to begin with. Just going from the list of 400... I know tons of people are thrilled that American Beauty didn't actually make it, but I'm not. Star Wars is on there, but not The Empire Strikes Back. Airplane! Blue Velvet. Boogie Nights. Carrie. The Conversation. Days of Heaven. Dog Day Afternoon?!?!?!? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Harold and Maude. The Hustler. The King of Comedy. Kramer vs Kramer. MANHATTAN. NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. The Producers. Among many others.
• Sophie's Choice? What does anyone say whenever you bring up Sophie's Choice... "oh my God, Meryl Streep is amazing!!!" She is, but does anyone ever say anything else, including what AFI said on the show? No. You know why not? It's kind of a bad movie otherwise. And the AFI is saying it's better than, from the 80s alone, Bladerunner, Amadeus, and Do the Right Thing, among many others I could mention that aren't on the list but are notably better than Sophie's Choice.
• I like The Sixth Sense. I like it a lot. But better than Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas? Hahahahhahahahaha.
• Come to think of it, though, Forrest Gump over those three, as well as many other movies that are on there/could have been included, is horrifying.
• The Wizard of Oz and Sunset Boulevard down 4 =/
• One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest down 13 (do they hate Milos Forman all of a sudden? Is Goya's Ghosts really really terrible and they all got secret screenings?), All About Eve down 12, On the Waterfront down 11, The Graduate down 10, It's a Wonderful Life down 9, Some Like It Hot down 8 :( :( :(
• The French Connection and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid down 23? Ewww... and saddd... :(
• I like Star Wars but it really isn't that good.
Whatever?
• Most of the giant jumps/falls except the ones I mentioned.
• Citizen Kane at #1. It's a great, great movie. I wouldn't have it as my #1, but it will be there forever.
Overall, like I said: It's not an awful list, it's not an amazing list. It's got some bits of brilliance and some forehead-smacking horribleness. And hey - they're accomplished, far more than this silly blogger can say. I have my top 100 from their ballot of 400, which I'll list...eventually, but to rank it would be SO HARD. Oh, and AFI, in 2016 or whenever, please please please put Amadeus back on your list. That's all I ask for. Thanks.
