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Ebert is a quintessential American reviewer, reflecting to a large degree the American taste and the American level of sophistication in regards to the movies.So my question would be this: instead of spending already too much time on his opinions, why don't we try to find out what do the serious movie critics around the world say about their "Ten Best" or whatever?
I'll be honest - if I were looking for a goof film recommendation, I would never even bother with a publication like Sight and Sound or other such.
Maybe Patrick could provide some references? He is THERE, after all.
Follow Ups:
I would make an other kind of a list, as an example :Chaplin : Modern Times
The Great Dictactor ( who from parts of it are genius..others only melomadramatic )
Orsons Welles : Rosebud ( I prefer this name )
The Magificent Ambersons
The The touch of Devils ( who only in parts are the essence par exellence du Film Noir )So the idea is to name the BEST directors with the BEST they ever made, as mode and taste vary you will be with this system always in a reasonnable frame...and not strangling yourself.
It is just more reasonnable, in the whole accptance of this word.
As I was at some friends feast...With a lot of Bourgogne....
I must honestly ( like always) say that I really donīt care for a list*, made from some ignorant half cooked brain , beside that it is a changing matter with a " cadre " that moves....
One US mag that have good critics is TPV.
And of course " les Cahiers du cinema " who is history !
I would made MY list, but without intellectual pretention, only for the FUN factor...The site is under construction, but keep an eye on it....
Careful what you ask for Victor, you might be surprised by the world's critics.Sight&Sound 2002 Critic's Poll of Ten Greatest Films of All Time:
1. Citizen Kane (Welles) 46 votes
2. Vertigo (Hitchcock) 41
3. Rules of the Game (Renoir) 30
4. The Godfather I&II (Coppola) 23
5. Tokyo Story (Ozu) 22
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick) 21
7. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein), Sunrise (Murnau) 19
9. 8 1/2 (Fellini) 18
10. Singin' in the Rain (Donen, Kelly) 17Just for comparison's sake: Same Poll in 1992
1. Citizen Kane
2. Rules of the Game
3. Tokyo Story
4. Vertigo
5. The Searchers
6. L'Atalante, Battleship Potemkin, Passion of Joan of Arc, Pather Panchali
10. 2001: A Space OdysseyNotes: Rules of the Game has been in the top three since 1962, although it has never held the number one position. It was ranked tenth in 1952, so it's been on the poll for 50 years. (It's been my number one since the first time I saw it.) Battleship Potemkin has also been on the list for 50 years, with its highest ranking obtained in 1972 (third). Citizen Kane did not appear on the 1952 poll, but has held the number one slot since 1962, forty years, a record unlikely to be surpassed. Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc (another Harmonia fave) has been in the top ten three times, in 1952, 1972, and 1992.
L'Atalante's last appearance was in 1962, and Carne's only appearance was with La Jour se leve in 1952 (maybe it's time for Carne and Vigo revivals). Seven Samurai's only ranking was in 1982, when it was third. Bergman's only films to make the top ten were Wild Stawberries and Persona, both in 1972. Also in 1972, with the groundswell of Wellesiana fueled by Pauline Kael and others, Magnificent Ambersons was tied for number 8 with Keaton's The General, giving Welles two top ten positions. The only other director to achieve double ranking was Sergei Eisenstein, who tied himself in 1962 for sixth position with Potemkin and Ivan the Terrible, which also shared sixth with DeSica's Bicycle Thieves. (Coppola's Godfather epics I&II are considered a single entity.)
This year's poll is the first since 1952 with fewer than two Italian films in the top ten.
Chaplin last appeared in the poll in 1952, the year I was born, when City Lights and the Gold Rush tied for second (Bycicle Thieves was number one). He is the only British director besides Hitchcock and Lean to appear in any of the polls since 1952 - and of course, both Chaplin's and Hitchcock's top ten films were American productions. No British produced *and* helmed film since Lean's Brief Encounter, in 1952, has made the list since.
I've already said my piece on Ebert - he's a middlebrow, but much less dangerous than some. And I think it is perfectly OK to engage with a popcorn movie for pure pleasure. You just don't want to do it all the time.
"They are like buttholes: everybody has one and some of them stink."The opinion of any critic is just that - opinion. However, when most of them agree, that must mean something.
I've seen many movies in my half-century. Have I seen every movie ever made or even most of them? Of course not - not even close. Does that mean that I can't judge the opinion of critics and make my own opinions? Of course not. It's the old circular logic routine.....something akin to a Monty Python skit.
Peeking at the lists I see one constant and that is "Citizen Kane" at number 1. I agree with that assessment but I reserve the right to change my mind at any time. Of the several thousand movies I have seen, "Citizen Kane" is the best - or at least I think it is.
But that's my opinion and you know what is said about opinions.......
Some very interesting observations there, and I saw their lists on their site. The problem I am having is with the composite nature of these lists - 145 critics and 108 directors. It does have some merit, but I think more interesting would be to see the individual lists. For instance, the list of the French critics, the Italian ones.None of their lists is too flawed in my heavily biased view, BTW, I agree with 40 to 50% of their picks, so I think they have done their homework :-))))))))))))
our free weekly, cultural and independants newpapers: Hour, Voir and Mirror. I thing much of these reviewver are in their late 20s, the generation-x of one of the most comospolitan city in the world, who are more open to the world and want to eat something else than a Big Mac. Independants films have a strong presence in these news newpapers.
If you want to take at look.www.hour.ca
www.montrealmirror.com
Victor---Looking over Ebert's list of 100 films I started thinking that he just doesn't "get" John Ford at all. He lists "The Grapes of Wrath", which any respectable older critic would, and "The Searchers", which any baby-boomer critic must. But in a lifetime of watching Ford movies (my Father loved Ford pictures and took me to the pictures) I'm thinking he did much better work than those pictures, as good as they are.I think Ford was really expressing himself much more in pictures like "Young Mr. Lincoln", "The Sun Shines Bright", "The Last Hurrah", "The Informer", "Man Who Shot LIberty Valance" and in his real masterpiece "Rio Grande".
I think Ebert is just taking the safe, conventional view on Ford and isn't really effected by his pictures at all.
And I didn't see any Walter Hill pictures. Rewatching "Wild Bill" yesterday got me to thinking about Hill and the common things about his movies; laconic characters living in a tough, supermasculine world. Guy has something going, had he directed in the late 40s we'd be going on about what a genius he was.
Believe it or not, there are actually "two" Eberts.I get disillusioned with the weekly ratings Ebert give movies, but then I picked up his 100 best films book and was quite taken back by how different it feels. However, in there he admits that what he writes for his weekly audience is quite a bit different (in terms of standards) for what he writes in a book like this. Commercial sellout? Perhaps for his American-based newspaper, yes.
So...that doesn't mean you have to automatically like Ebert again, but I think there are two sides to him, one of which genuinely appreciates great filmmaking.
Doug Schneider
Interesting because I've always eschewed his books because of his newspaper and TV reviews. Will have tio give them a look. I did enjoy his review of feardotcom, though.
.
:o)
We all are our own worst evemies... or was it enema's?
"pineapples," Victor, think "pineapples."[sorry, couldn't resist.]
RB making his presence known here too.Ever wondered what kind of movies he likes?
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