The New Classics

Of course I have my problems with Entertainment Weekly's list of the Top 100 Movies since 1983 (yes to Shrek? no to Batman Returns?), but any list that has Titanic, Moulin Rouge, Die Hard and Lord of the Rings in its top ten, with American Beauty and Ferris Bueller's Day Off nowhere to be found, is okay in my book.

Speaking of books, though - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at number two? Cold Mountain, of all mediocre things, at number nine and Donna Tartt's The Secret History all the way down at number sixty-nine? EW, how could you?

Comments

In re Books:

They actually included The Da Vinici Code?? And they buried The Corrections at #50, behind Amy Tan?? Absurd.

It's interesting that the movie list is called "the 100 best movies," while the book list is called "the 100 best reads." This implies that the book list rewards pleasure and escapism above all. It also implies that literary merit and pleasurable reading are not one and the same. I suppose that's perfectly reasonable for a magazine like EW; but why not include a few sentences explaining the criteria?

Posted by Francisco | June 23, 2008 6:01 PM

Glad to hear you dislike American Beauty, Ross. It's unreconstructed counter-cultural mythology, and one of the most overrated films in the past couple of decades. I may be center-left on the ideological spectrum, but I believe it's possible to be a straight-laced suburbanite without falling into the meathooks of some neurosis. The film does not.

Posted by Francisco | June 23, 2008 6:09 PM

Wow Ross, you have terrible taste. Please stay away from Hollywood. I bet you like Vin Diesel movies too.

Posted by freddiemac | June 23, 2008 6:15 PM

Good Lord! All your taste is in your mouth.

Posted by Miande | June 23, 2008 6:27 PM

His taste is suspect. Other than loving LOTR and hating American Beauty, what a weak list.

Ross, aren't you the guy that called Thunder Road the best rock song ever last week? It's not even the best song on its album (or at Russert's funeral).

Posted by Matt | June 23, 2008 6:34 PM

Oof. Moulin Rouge yes, but American Beauty no? Yikes.

Posted by Sebastian | June 23, 2008 6:37 PM

Yes freddiemac, Ross had better steer clear of Hollywood, I'm sure he has a screenplay about blogging ready to go, starring Vin Diesel, of course.

"I live for this!"

Posted by Ferrell | June 23, 2008 6:45 PM

Disliking Ferris Bueller is the death knell for any credibility you've ever have. That's not just unAmerican, it's subhuman.

Posted by Freddie | June 23, 2008 8:02 PM

Disliking Ferris Bueller is the death knell for any credibility you've ever have. That's not just unAmerican, it's subhuman.

Seconded

Posted by Abe Froman, The Sausage King of Chicago | June 23, 2008 8:50 PM

The fact that the movies list couldn't find a single slot for the MM ouvre is appalling. No Heat, the Insider, or Collateral? C'mon, tell me that anyone reading this would prefer Out of Africa to any of those three movies.

Posted by seannyboy | June 23, 2008 8:58 PM

Bueller? Bueller? If it's good enough for Dan Quayle, it's good enough for me. I definitely second the desire for an explanation of their methodology.
Oh, and Gladiator is a terrible movie, except for its fight choreography. "Wouldn't it be cool if some awesome bad-ass beat the life out of some creepy pompous perv in front of a giant crowd?" You could watch Gladiator, or an old professional wrestling match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Golddust. Or Jake the Snake and "Ravishing" Rick Rude.

Posted by Gyrd | June 23, 2008 9:00 PM

Ferris Bueller deserves to be here more than Blair Witch. BW deserves to be on the 10 worst list. It was gawdawful. Gladiator didn't deserve the Oscar, but still kicks butt.

Heat, The Insider, Braveheart, Usual Suspects, Shawshank, Groundhog Day, Last Crusade, Stand by Me and wosrt of all A Christmas Story!!!! How can you miss Ralphie!

I too am happily amazed to see American Beauty and Munich nowhere to be seen.

Posted by Mark B | June 23, 2008 9:21 PM

Both of those lists are sad.

Posted by Reality Man | June 23, 2008 9:45 PM

Disliking Ferris Bueller is the death knell for any credibility you've ever have. That's not just unAmerican, it's subhuman.

Seconded

Thirded

Posted by Ed Rooney | June 23, 2008 9:54 PM

The movie list does seem far from perfect, but it's the book list which is just depressing. I have a difficult time seeing that list come close to stacking up against any other quarter century from 1775 to 1983.

Posted by gabriel | June 23, 2008 9:54 PM

Goblet of Fire was the best Harry Potter book, at least.

Posted by m | June 23, 2008 11:30 PM

Excluding "Groundhog Day" was felonious.

Posted by Dante | June 23, 2008 11:47 PM

Aw, c'mon. "Ferris Bueller" was awesome.

Francisco: Wait...you mean "American Beauty" wasn't a parody of pretentious lefty grandstanding?

And "Blair Witch" was good fun. It's not the movie's fault that it was hyped waaaaaay beyond what the movie was: a clever little spooky movie that a couple of guys made over a weekend or two.

Posted by Cranston | June 24, 2008 12:59 AM

Agree on "Groundhog Day", but it's even more surprising to me that they don't list "The Shawshank Redemption." It's not as inventive, uses some cliches, but mostly it was one of the great films of the 1990s and recognized as such by the AFI.

"Disliking Ferris Bueller is the death knell for any credibility you've ever have. That's not just unAmerican, it's subhuman."

Oh grow up. People have a right to dislike all kinds of movies others like. I'm mixed to negative on Bueller myself. It's largely just a bunch of young twerps being young and twerpish with annoying music thrown it at the end. It's redeemed some by a few minor characters and occasionally the twerps do have good points.

Posted by Thomas R | June 24, 2008 1:01 AM

The fact that "The DaVinci Code" is on the book list is frightening. I dare anyone to read the first paragraph with open eyes and put it anywhere near an honest awards list.

Posted by Ezekiel | June 24, 2008 1:37 AM

Who put this list together - the ghost of Sydney Lumet? It's stuffed with over-rated and derivative work like "Hannah and Her Sisters," "When Harry Met Sally," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "The Sixth Sense," and missing true classics like:

After Hours
Babe: Pig In the City
The Big Lebowski
Brazil
Election
Europa, Europa
Fanny and Alexander
Groundhog Day
Jean de Florette
The Princess Bride
Ran
Spirited Away
The Straight Story
Tampopo
Vanya on 42nd Street

On the other hand, at least it didn't list "The Shawshank Redemption," the single most overrated movie of all time.

Posted by Noah Millman | June 24, 2008 8:50 AM

It is strange to see so many people dislike American Beauty. I must be because it glorifies marijuana, because it was a well crafted film. It had excellent acting, direction, and masterful cinematography. Of course conservatives can't see the forest from the trees, so I shouldn't be surprised by it.

Posted by freddiemac | June 24, 2008 9:14 AM

M,

Goblet of Fire was the best Harry Potter book, at least.

Goblet was Rowling's first effort at whatever kind of novel-length/youth-fiction/composite she ended up creating; it was all right as a book, but it wasn't nearly as tight or compelling The Half-Blood Prince, which is the best of the seven books (a close second goes to The Prisoner of Azkaban).

Noah,

After Hours
Babe: Pig In the City
The Big Lebowski
Brazil
Election
Europa, Europa
Fanny and Alexander
Groundhog Day
Jean de Florette
The Princess Bride
Ran
Spirited Away
The Straight Story
Tampopo
Vanya on 42nd Street

A fine list; in general, I'm willing to give Sydney Lumet a little more credit than most, but you acknowledge the cinematic masterpiece that is Babe, so all is forgiven.

Posted by Russell Arben Fox | June 24, 2008 9:24 AM

Batman Returns is the bomb!

Posted by Will | June 24, 2008 9:32 AM

If you are looking at EW for reading lists, well, there is your first problem right there.

Posted by wph | June 24, 2008 10:11 AM

Disliking Ferris Bueller is the death knell for any credibility you've ever have. That's not just unAmerican, it's subhuman.

Fourthed.

What, is this just the resentment of a goody two-shoes who wants guys like Ferris to be punished severely? Or do you have some sort of substantive critique of the movie?

Posted by Save Ferris | June 24, 2008 10:27 AM

Forget Ferris Bueller for a second, Ross just admitted thinking Titanic and Moulin Rouge were great movies.

These cinematic tastes put him right in line with my cousin, a 15 year old girl who dresses like a prostitute and has the IQ of a bag of pretzels.

Ross, I think it might be time you have your estrogen levels checked.

Posted by Jeff | June 24, 2008 10:37 AM

Good call on Bueller, Ross.

Any chance we would get to see your Top 100 (or 50 or 25) from 1983 onward?

Posted by WayWeDo | June 24, 2008 10:45 AM

I'm right there with you on American Beauty, Ross. There's not anything approaching single real character in that movie, they're all just caricatures: the materialistic wife; the middle age man who really just wants to feel alive; the angry, repressed homosexual, etc., etc. It’s a terribly shallow movie that got so much attention because it played to peoples’ worst nightmare of middle class materialism and presented itself as profound. Just because a scene is crafted to resemble a cathartic moment does not make it a cathartic moment. Blah.

Posted by T-web | June 24, 2008 10:56 AM

Other thoughts:
1)"Casino Royale" was more than solid, but # 19?
2) When is a broader revisionist line of thinking going to develop concerning "The Breakfast Club?" Why does that movie seem to be untouchable? Talk about cliched characters. Did everyone in the 80s really hate their parents?
3) "Lion King" but no "Beauty and the Beast?" WTF?
4) And am I just not seeing "JFK?"

Posted by Dante | June 24, 2008 11:25 AM

The biggest WTF is no Princess Bride. I do not understand how anyone can think there are 100 movies in the last 25 years better than Princess Bride.

The Departed and Sideways definitely don't belong on there. Big Lebowski might be an aquired taste, as is Brazil, but they should still be there. I definitely agree that Ran belongs, but not clear if they are including foreign-language movies.

I'm glad to see other commenters liked Election!

I liked Moulin Rouge! And I'd remove Titanic entirely and replace with Romeo+Juliet or What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Glad to see Michael Clayton on the list; I saw it a few weekends ago and thought it was great.

But I'm surprised no one is commenting on Pulp Fiction at number 1. Way, way, overrated if you ask me. I'd put Goodfellas as number 1 for sure.

Posted by weichi | June 24, 2008 11:47 AM

Why are they mixing fiction and non-fiction? Seems hard to judge the two against each other to me.

I've only read 8 from their list (don't read much recent fiction) but I would put Goblet of Fire way down (and I too thought Azkaban was the best). The two novels from the period that I would want to add would be All The Names by Jose Saramago and A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. Oh, and Toni Morrison Jazz.

I'm glad to see Maus on the list.

Posted by weichi | June 24, 2008 12:00 PM

Dante,

I haven't seen Breakfast Club in a while, but I recall that while the characters *are* all cliched, they aren't caricatures; they are treated as human beings. I think it does capture the feeling of being that age.

Speaking of which, where is Say Anything??? I always thought that movie captured the feeling of being "in love" as a teenager in America better than anything else I've ever seen. Way, way, way better than Jerry Maguire.

Posted by weichi | June 24, 2008 12:08 PM

Re: Pulp Fiction: agreed, thouigh I wouldn't put "Goodfellas" at #1 I don't think.

Re: Foreign-language films: "The Lives of Others" is in German, as is most of "Wings of Desire", and "All About My Mother" is in Spanish. The list just has an enormous blind spot called, "Japan."

Posted by Noah Millman | June 24, 2008 12:28 PM

Say Anything was a classic indeed. As was -- let's hear it for John Cusack -- The Sure Thing, which belongs here.

Pulp Fiction IMO was a good not great film. I’ll go to my grave believing Reservoir Dogs was Tarantino’s true masterpiece.

Because I’m a sucker for a certain brand of schlock, I demand a recount on behalf of A Few Good Men and Dead Poets Society (which, IIRC, Ross hates).

Some obscure but deserving offerings:

The Crying Game
A Simple Plan
Six Degrees of Separation
Big Night
A Soldier’s Story
In The Bedroom
Night Falls on Manhattan (long live Lumet!)

I despiseth The Piano and Pretty Woman.

Posted by Bart Acocella | June 24, 2008 1:40 PM

A fine list; in general, I'm willing to give Sydney Lumet a little more credit than most, but you acknowledge the cinematic masterpiece that is Babe, so all is forgiven.

I can't agree enough about Babe - Pig in the City. Simply one of the underrated classics. Every-time my gf still sees a cute kitten, she still trumps out the "I'm still hungry".

Posted by Derrick | June 24, 2008 1:46 PM

When is a broader revisionist line of thinking going to develop concerning "The Breakfast Club?" Why does that movie seem to be untouchable? Talk about cliched characters. Did everyone in the 80s really hate their parents?

Yes, I recall not being terribly fond of it even when I was 16 and in the throes of teen angst.

But I think that critique applies to Ferris Bueller as well. It’s just the screwball, funloving version of the same adolescent rebellion theme. If that general genre hadn’t met its quota, I’ll take Sixteen Candles and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Posted by Bart Acocella | June 24, 2008 1:49 PM

"The Sure Thing" was very good, but top 100 of the past 25 years?

"Fast Times at Ridgemont High," on the other hand, is a true classic. But it's from 1982.

Hey, what about "Back to School"?

Re: "Reservoir Dogs": how was it better than "The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three"?

Re: the rest of Bart's list: "Big Night" should probably be in the top 100. "A Simple Plan" was also excellent, though probably doesn't make the cut. It is, ultimately, a very simple movie. And we have it in part to blame for the continued existence of Billy Bob Thornton.

I haven't seen "In the Bedroom" or "A Soldier's Story". "Six Degrees of Separation" did have Stockard Channing and was based on a wonderful play, but Will Smith did not work in the role and the play didn't translate well to the screen.

The directors of the other movies on his list either are now or one day will be gnashing their teeth in either or both of the second and tenth Bolgias of the eighth circle of the inferno.

Posted by Noah Millman | June 24, 2008 4:09 PM

Noah, thanks for the catch on Fast Times...

I was all set to raise hell at the exclusion of Tootsie which IMHO is one of the 10 best movies of any era. But it too was '82.

Taking of Pelham One Two Three is superb. Is it better than Reservoir Dogs? Dunno, but Reservoir Dogs is in a different stratosphere than Pulp Fiction (and I realize that's a minority opinion a la Yglesias preferring the NBA to college hoops).

Whatcha got against Billy Bob? Hilarious in Primary Colors and virtuoso in Sling Blade, which I could make a case for breaking the 100.

Back to School? I guess I feel about Rodney Dangerfield the way you do about Billy Bob Thornton.

Not sure it cracks the 100, but anyone love The Paper as I do?

Posted by Bart Acocella | June 24, 2008 5:10 PM

Blue Velvet is a great movie, but it's not #4, and it shouldn't be placed on any list before Mulholland Dr. Which, I see, didn't even make the cut...

Whoa, hold everything. Is that...Speed? At #40? They put Speed on that list? Really???

Posted by Immoralist | June 24, 2008 6:08 PM

I don't know if Ross reads the comments, but if you do, I'd really love to hear your defense of Titanic. There are so many things wrong with it I don't know where to start, but perhaps the funniest is how absurdly ahead of her time Winslet's character is supposed to be - not only does she get off this awful line:

Do you know of Dr. Freud, Mr. Ismay? His ideas of the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you,

but she also has a Degas, Monet's 'Waterlilies,' AND Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' hanging in her bedroom. Not only is Rose one of the couple hundred people in the world in 1912 who knew Picasso would be big, she has such great taste that she's managed to pick out what would become his and Monet's most famous works. What's even more ridiculous is that both of these paintings are hanging in museums today, but since Rose is supposed to be this genius proto-feminist, the screenwriters just said what the hell and put the most famous painting of the 20th century on the boat.

Posted by Asher | June 24, 2008 7:41 PM

"but since Rose is supposed to be this genius proto-feminist, the screenwriters just said what the hell and put the most famous painting of the 20th century on the boat."

Maybe they are supposed to be reproductions? I haven't seen the movie since it came out and somehow overlooked this detail even at the time, but it they were supposed to be the originals, that is incredibly stupid.

I thought Freud was already well-known by 1912, but I could be wrong.

Posted by James Kabala | June 24, 2008 9:38 PM

Out of curiosity, I looked up Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' - painted in 1907, first exhibited in 1916. Heh.

Also, I'm gratefull that Crash is nowhere on the list either (but I'd add both Good Will Hunting and As Good as It Gets)

Posted by Brian | June 25, 2008 12:34 AM

I think he was well-known by 1912 - gave his first American lectures in 1909, in fact - but it still puts her in a pretty elite group. Though not nearly as insane as her toting around the 20th century equivalent of the Mona Lisa in her luggage compartment.

Posted by Asher | June 25, 2008 2:07 AM

"but any list that has Titanic, Moulin Rouge, Die Hard and Lord of the Rings in its top ten, with American Beauty and Ferris Bueller's Day Off nowhere to be found, is okay in my book."

Titanic better than American Beauty? You conservatives are in desperate need of taste and artistic sensbility, among a great deal of many other things!

Posted by Sergio Méndez | June 25, 2008 9:39 AM

About Ferris Bueller: It does condone bad behavior, but with so many movies today that condone much worse behavior (e.g., the Ocean's movies and their blase treatment of grand theft), I wouldn't hold that against it. It is only intermittently funny, however.

Posted by James Kabala | June 25, 2008 11:42 AM

Gore Vidal's Lincoln doesn't make that list, but Scott Turow does? Ick.

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