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AFI's and BFI's greatest films - How many have you seen?


filmmusic

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Since I love film lists with best films etc., I thought to start this thread.

I was wondering how many films you've seen from each list, and generally thought to start a discussion on this..

Here is AFI's:

http://www.afi.com/100years/downloads.aspx

(the 100 winning movies pdf - which you can also mark - from AFI's 100 YEARS...100 MOVIES - 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (2007))

and here's BFI's:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time

AFI: I have watched 79 out of 100 so far.

I was happy that I found some gems that I wouldn't watch otherwise due to the genre that didn't interest me (eg. Rocky, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The French Connection) .

From the ones I've seen i thought that the worst was Chinatown (I don't know but i couldn't get it - I mean, i couldn't get the greatness, and I barely made it to the end of the film) and Duck Soup (maybe it's that I don't like comedies so much? maybe it's that i watched it with Greek subtitles and much of the constant game with the english words was lost in translation? I don't know).

Haven't seen some silents, also I'd like to see Dr. Strangelove because I love Kubrick, but i don't know, it seems a bit silly to me, like a parody or something.

Anyway, i want to finish watching all in the list soon and I think it's a great starting point for anyone who wants to expand his/her horizons in film, since they offer a diversity of American films in all the genres.

I wish Dances with wolves was included there (instead of some other westerns) but everyone i guess will have his personal favourites that would like to be included.

BFI: I have watched only 13 out of 50, and from these 2 only are foreign (In the mood for love, Journey to Italy). The others are American ones.

It seems I'm more of a Hollywood fan, but I'm planning to see more foreign films from that list, to see what it's all about..

I don't know why I have put it off for so long, maybe it's the language(s) that I don't know...

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Haven't counted it up but just by skimming through I've seen about half.

from both lists?

If yes, then do you think BFI's list is a good starting point for those that haven't seen many foreign films?

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Seen all of them, with the exception of DUCK SOUP.

from both lists??? :eek:

You don't say!!

By the way, I'm really curious to see that Mulholland Dr.

It's the only post-2000 film that made it to the 50 best films in BFI, which seems very intriguing!

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On 1/25/2014 at 6:38 PM, Mr. Shark said:

Seen all of them

 

Wow...that's some diligent film viewing.

 

On 1/25/2014 at 6:38 PM, Mr. Shark said:

with the exception of DUCK SOUP.

 

You haven't watched Duck Soup, you ne'er-do-well?!

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...yes, Dr. Strangelove is silly/parody. It's also brilliant. You should see it if you are really a Kubrick fan. Or if you're not.

Unfortunately I'm not a fan at all of silly/parodies.. :(

Well, i hope I can get to it, in spite of this..

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Any list which features Citizen Kane in the first few spots already starts losing me. (i.e., I found it dull, and possibly the most overrated film ever made)

Also, I noticed this description against The Searchers:

Do the fluctuations in popularity of John Ford’s intimate revenge epic – no appearance in either critics’ or directors’ top tens in 2002, but fifth in the 1992 critics’ poll – reflect the shifts in popularity of the western? It could be a case of this being a western for people who don’t much care for them, but I suspect it’s more to do with John Ford’s stock having risen higher than ever this past decade and the citing of his influence in the unlikeliest of places in recent cinema

Trends should have nothing to do with a film's 'greatest' ranking. By all means change your opinion of the film over time, but it shouldn't be because it's now cool to like it.

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Trends should have nothing to do with a film's 'greatest' ranking. By all means change your opinion of the film over time, but it shouldn't be because it's now cool to like it.

And yet over time tastes chance. Younger generations are invited to contribute to these lists, them having grown up in a different era, with a different sensibility.

Is Warship Potemkin still prominent on these lists, it was always in the top 5 when I was growing up, together with Citizen Kane.

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Then you can only define something as 'the best' if your sample size essentially includes everyone who has a qualified opinion, and that's impossible to define. Hence, why I generally hate these lists.

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By the way, I'm really curious to see that Mulholland Dr.

It's the only post-2000 film that made it to the 50 best films in BFI, which seems very intriguing!

Well, it one of my favorite films, if that helps.
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Then you can only define something as 'the best' if your sample size essentially includes everyone who has a qualified opinion, and that's impossible to define. Hence, why I generally hate these lists.

Even if the list is made up of a demographic that includes an equal amount of participants from different generations it still wont solve the issue of changing perception.

Most films are essentially time capsules, very much representative of the era and culture they were made in. The visual style, the acting, the script, editing all date a film to a certain time and place, irrespective of the time and place the movie is set in. Which is why a film noir that takes place in the 1950's looks and feels completely different then a film noir set in the 1950's, but made in the mid 90's (L.A. Confidential).

Each generation appraises films differently because they grew up with a set of different films, not available to those of the previous generation. And they grow up in a society with different moral, different politics, and all of this affects the way they look at a film made decades ago. This is nearly impossible to prevent.

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some give greatest to films unworthy because of the current time, but great films stand the test of time itself.

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By the way, I'm really curious to see that Mulholland Dr.

It's the only post-2000 film that made it to the 50 best films in BFI, which seems very intriguing!

Well, it one of my favorite films, if that helps.

One of the greatest masturbations scenes ever.

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11 Bfi, most I wouldn't ever want to see

Why? Not being snarky or anthing, just curious.

they don't appeal to me, that's not a criticism of their quality

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I looked first 33 of the AFI's and have to say I do not like any of the top 5 movies.

Star Wars and It's a Wonderful Life so high is ridiculous. Maybe entertaining movies but definitely not very good ones.

wrong, they are beyond excellent.

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it's as beautiful as a film as it always was, but so many of the posters here are soulless or emotionally bankrupt or just cowardice with their feelings. On Star Trek they are called Vulcans.

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AFI - 45

BFI - 11

it's as beautiful as a film as it always was, but so many of the posters here are soulless or emotionally bankrupt or just cowardice with their feelings. On Star Trek they are called Vulcans.

I agree. I watched this with a bunch of uni students a few years ago and the majority of them thought Eraserhead was the better picture, which we watched a week later.

Maybe they'd like IAWL better if it had a Zimmer score?

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it's as beautiful as a film as it always was, but so many of the posters here are soulless or emotionally bankrupt or just cowardice with their feelings. On Star Trek they are called Vulcans.

It is illogical! ILLOGICAL! ILLOGICAL!!!

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I love IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. I was referring to STAR WARS, which isn't even the best of its trilogy.

I was replying to Stefan, but I disagree about Star Wars, it's my personal favorite, film and score.

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I love IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. I was referring to STAR WARS, which isn't even the best of its trilogy.

I was replying to Stefan, but I disagree about Star Wars, it's my personal favorite, film and score.

I agree. Empire is great but SW really makes you feel good.

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verrry true. I can still feel the joy wrap around me the very first time during the Throne Room sequence when you realize that R-2 is okay.

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Nah! Its false! There is no way R2 could have survived that, he should have died. A sacrifice for Luke using The Force.

Its even worse then the cloying happy ending of Gravity. Dr Ryan Stone should have died screaming while she burned up in the atmosphere!

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it's as beautiful as a film as it always was, but so many of the posters here are soulless or emotionally bankrupt or just cowardice with their feelings. On Star Trek they are called Vulcans.

I'm more emotional than any other here, I even cried while reading this heavy stuff... It just a bad film, angels..yeah. I do like SW though, not a great film(the music is brilliant). Empire is superb. .

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bad film, well somebody is dead inside.

the classic is a bad film.....you're making a joke.

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Well, sorry to mock your beloved film and it seem to be very sacred for you(and most of the americans) so

I'll let it alone.

the classic is a bad film.....you're making a joke.

It's possible, I know many films that are considered classics but are definitely not very good films.

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