The British Film Institute updates their Top 50 Greatest Movies

[Ren 77]

It is the age. We are getting older...and softer.

God I hope you guys don't.

[Quintus 6,499]

Back to the Future is a masterpiece.

It's an well made, thrilling and funny film. But not a masterpiece.

Guess what: I disagree.

BTTF is a masterpiece in exactly the same way ET is. On some days I even prefer it.

[indy4 160]

I've probably said this before, but I think BTTF is the closest thing to a perfect film. It's not my favorite, nor do I think it's the best, but you get the sense that everything has a purpose, everything fits together like clockwork, it has just the right amount of action, humor, sex, violence, etc.

[Ren 77]

I've probably said this before, but I think BTTF is the closest thing to a perfect film. It's not my favorite, nor do I think it's the best, but you get the sense that everything has a purpose, everything fits together like clockwork, it has just the right amount of action, humor, sex, violence, etc.

I agree.

[Quintus 6,499]

I've probably said this before, but I think BTTF is the closest thing to a perfect film. It's not my favorite, nor do I think it's the best, but you get the sense that everything has a purpose, everything fits together like clockwork, it has just the right amount of action, humor, sex, violence, etc.

It's because you're that rare breed - an objective thinker. I can stand back from 2001: A Space Odyssey and appreciate its mastery in direction, its vast scope and almost flawless execution and just be completely riveted by how accomplished a film it truly is (and love it for it). Is it in my top twenty favourites ever? Hell no; it's far too earnest and intentionally tumescent for that.

[Ren 77]

damn there you go again

[A24 5,156]

I hate boxing,

I don't care for boxing either. Rocky isn't about the boxing. It's about the characters and their struggle.

[Sandor 918]

I hate boxing,

I don't care for boxing either. Rocky isn't about the boxing. It's about the characters and their struggle.

Exactly. I love the original Rocky and found the last film in the series, Rocky Balboa (2006) to be surprisingly endearing as well.

Notice how Star Wars is also not on this list. It used to be different, meaning, its power is severely diminishing. Sooner or later it won't be on anyone's list anymore.

Alex, it's just not very popular to vote for Star Wars these days. The memory of the prequels is still too fresh. But believe me, the power of the original Star Wars and its place in film history have not diminished and its time will come again.

It's cool nowadays to vote for Blade Runner, The Dark Knight, Pulp Fiction and appearently Back To The Future.

One day, it will be 'cool' again to vote for The Empire Strikes Back.

Not that I care really. It's just the way of things.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

The thing with Pulp Fiction is that it deserves to be up there.

As for sports films, I hate them, and I hate baseball, but I loved Moneyball.

[Sandor 918]

The thing with Pulp Fiction is that it deserves to be up there.

Sure. But I could seriously count at least 200 pictures that 'deserve' to be up there. It's a great medium and it has produced many truly great works. And yes, that includes the original Rocky, which - and Alex was completely right about this - IS NOT A SPORTS FILM.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,391]

As for sports films, I hate them, and I hate baseball, but I loved Moneyball.

Rocky is not really a sports film. It has pretty much the same story as The Dark Knight Rises.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

I've never seen it so I wouldn't know. I was speaking in general terms.

[BloodBoal 8,711]

[Quintus 6,499]

The thing with Pulp Fiction is that it deserves to be up there.

Sure. But I could seriously count at least 200 pictures that 'deserve' to be up there. It's a great medium and it has produced many truly great works. And yes, that includes the original Rocky, which - and Alex was completely right about this - IS NOT A SPORTS FILM.

Of course it is, amongst other things. Same as Rudy.

[hornist 1,261]

Star Wars saga is not a space fantasy. It is a miscellaneous story of growing up in difficult circumstances with

many arduous relationships. It just happens to take place in space. Yeah.

[Quintus 6,499]

Lol

[Sandor 918]

Bad comparison. Rocky is as much a 'sports film' as Star Wars is 'science fiction'. That's how people label Star Wars often; science fiction. In reality, science fiction does not rightfully define Star Wars. 'Space fantasy' is pretty accurate I think, hornist.

[Wojo 2,458]

Jaws is a sports movie. It's about three grown men with a passion for fishing.

Dismiss fishing as a sanctioned sport and Babe Winkelman will fillet you in your sleep.

[Xander Harris 9,677]

I like Rudy and The Natural. Also, Space Jam.

[hornist 1,261]

Well it was meant to be bad comparison. I just don't buy Rocky not to be a sports film.

[Sandor 918]

Well it was meant to be bad comparison. I just don't buy Rocky not to be a sports film.

Films like Rocky, Raging Bull, 127 Hours, Jerry Maguire or Field Of Dreams are not sports films. Just because sport plays an essential part in the plot, doesn't make them sports films.

[Quintus 6,499]

I don't put Rocky in with those movies. Rocky and Jerry Maguire are different genres entirely.

[Wojo 2,458]

Well it was meant to be bad comparison. I just don't buy Rocky not to be a sports film.

Films like Rocky, Raging Bull, 127 Hours, Jerry Maguire or Field Of Dreams are not sports films. Just because sport plays an essential part in the plot, doesn't make them sports films.

Then what the hell would you consider to be a sports film?

I taped the Flyers losing a playoff game 6-0 to be eliminated one year. Would you call that a sports film? How about if I bought a DVD package of an entire World Series or a run to the Super Bowl?

[JoeinAR 1,957]

they are sports films, that's part of their charm, but like so many movies, they are more than one genre films.

[A24 5,156]

Then what the hell would you consider to be a sports film?

I wouldn't know. I'm sure they exist but I avoid them.

Rocky is a drama film about a boxer, just like The Wrestler is a drama about a wrestler. Raging Bull is another example. It's not about the sports but about the characters, the drama (self-destruction, rage, violence, ...) The sports itself doesn't matter.

Alex

[Quintus 6,499]

Maybe the sport itself actually is an important element, to like minded sports men and women.

[Wojo 2,458]

Rocky is as much a 'sports film' as Star Wars is 'science fiction'. That's how people label Star Wars often; science fiction. In reality, science fiction does not rightfully define Star Wars. 'Space fantasy' is pretty accurate I think, hornist.

That's really the nice thing about genres. They are never one-size-fits-all and so many movies can be described as various genres.

Take Predator. Is Predator science fiction because it involves an alien who slaughters a team of commandos? Or is it action because so many big guns and explosions are featured, and so many people die spectacularly violent deaths?

For the longest time, science fiction and fantasy were the same genre, and have only split off in recent decades because our real science has gotten so good while our fantasy remains rooted in the firmly impossible. Or at least, pure fantasy makes no attempt to explain its impossible stuff, while science fiction makes it seem plausible even if it is just as unbelievable.

So Star Wars does have magical light swords and a magical unexplainable force and secretive knights in shining armor and vast castles and ghosts and "monsters," all alongside more traditional sci-fi elements like spaceships, faster than light travel, a fully populated galaxy, sentient aliens, multiple languages, thousands of years of history, and laser blasters. It's no more right to call it fantasy than science fiction, and if restricting it to "space fantasy" makes you happy, go for it.

[A24 5,156]

Maybe the sport itself actually is an important element, to like minded sports men and women.

I doubt it. Anyone who knows a thing or two about boxing would probably laugh with the boxing in Rocky.

[JoeinAR 1,957]

Maybe the sport itself actually is an important element, to like minded sports men and women.

of course it is.

sports offers so much drama.

the Sandlot isn't a baseball movie, it's a comedy about growing up. right....,

field of dreams isn't a baseball movie it's a statement on American Farm economics

Raging Bull isn't about boxing, it's about a Scorsese's experimenting in black and white.

[Quintus 6,499]

Maybe the sport itself actually is an important element, to like minded sports men and women.

I doubt it. Anyone who knows a thing or two about boxing would probably laugh with the boxing in Rocky.

You're talking technicalities. That's not what I meant. The spirit of boxing is all over Rocky. Ambition is universal, but some people might relate to things very specific to boxing when enjoying Rocky.

Rudy is a perfect example of the human condition married with sport. That movie is all about ambition as it is all about American Football.

[A24 5,156]

Well, to me and I guess many others, boxing isn't what Rocky is about, neither the spirit of boxing, but rather the spirit of life. The boxing is interchangeable. The drama stays the same. The boxing is only used as a setting and as a means for a way out, as a solution to a problem. The same goes for Raging Bull, whether De Niro is a boxer or a stand up comedian, it doesn't matter, it's all about the characters, the drama and the themes. Those will always remain the same. That's why you don't need to be a fan of sports to fully enjoy those films. In fact, I think it helps if you are not a fan. Fans of the sports do like to makes a fuzz about technicalities.

Alex

[Quintus 6,499]

I agree with you about Rocky btw, I'm merely suggesting that for some of its admirers the movie is very much a boxing movie and indeed a story firmly in the sports genre.

[JoeinAR 1,957]

No, Rocky isn't about boxing, thank God because all those boxing sequence sure are great shitty.

LOL at the idea that Rocky isn't about boxing....

of course it's about a journey and a way of life(but not boxing, which it isn't despite Rocky saying it's all he knows), and the struggle ot overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Now Rocky isn't about winning, it's about surviving.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,391]

It's about going the distance. Doing what a man's gotta do!

[Ren 77]

Cue the final countdown

[Wojo 2,458]

Hit the one in the middle!

Oh wait, that was a sequel.

[A24 5,156]

The full list (250 movies) is published now:

http://www.darkhoriz...d-top-250-films

http://explore.bfi.o...s/2012/critics/

http://collider.com/...n-times/189501/

Star Wars is 171.

No Schindler's List or Jaws or Raiders.

Alex

[Brónach 1,330]

Of the top 20, I've only seen 6 so far and 4 of these would be among my favuorite films. So I'm not complaining much. I prefer not to look at the rest of the list.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

I don't understand the love that The Searchers gets. Leone wipes the floor with all American westerns.

[Quintus 6,499]

ET is on there.

And so is... Wall-E.

Hmm.

[Xander Harris 9,677]

I don't understand the love that The Searchers gets.

John Wayne's character is more interesting than any of Leone's. Every shot is a masterpiece. Leone's movies are overlong.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Scratch that, reverse it.

[hornist 1,261]

Neverseen The Searchers but quite sure it ain't my top list film as any of Leone's films. Never understood the reverence of his films.

Under the mediocre in my book.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Leone? Mediocre?!

[Brónach 1,330]

????

[hornist 1,261]

Yes. Never been able to watch through any those praised spaghetti westerns. Any of them. Once upon a time in America is ok.

il brutto, il cattivo

[A24 5,156]

And what a Spaghetti western it is!

[Wojo 2,458]

Scratch that, reverse it.

Strike that, reverse it.