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Re: I have long felt

I do not know what a "truly great film" is. Certainly, "Wizard of Oz", "Citizen Kane", and "Casablanca" would qualify. But that was not the point of this post. It was that there are fewer good films are being made today than in past years. Those "great" films of yesteryear were the exception, not the rule. Hollywood did not make that many great films in the thirties, forties, and fifties. So, if the film industry is not making that many great films today, and they did not make that many "truly great" films in the thirties, forties, and fifties, then there has been no change. Which was my original point.

But let's take it a step further. I looked up films made in 2002, a year I picked because I saw most of the films released that year (I am still working on 2003). Among the very good/great films in 2002, in rough alphabetical order: Adaptation (which nobody saw), Black Hawk Down, Gosford Park, Harry Potter, Lovely and Amazing (which anyone who does not watch foreign films, albeit British, missed), Monster's Ball (with Halley Berry's superlative performance), Moonlight Mile, Signs, The Fast Runner (in the Inuktilut language of the Artic, filmed on location in the Artic. The scene of the Eskimo running naked, through the ice and snow, falling in freezing water, is alone worth watching the film. And something that Hollywood would never have attempted forty years ago), The Grey Zone, The Man from Elysian Fields (with an incredible performance from Mick Jagger), Antwone Fisher (with the most emotional reunion scene I have ever seen in film), About Schmidt, Chicago, Insomia/One Hour Photo (which proves that Robin Williams is a very good dramatic actor), Rabbit Proof Fence (another story that Hollywood would never have attempted forty years ago), and Read My Lips (a very good foreign thriller, which again, went unnoticed by anyone unwilling to make any effort).

The point is that there are very good and great films made every year. Some are hard to find, but are worth seeking out - if you love film. Now try to name as many very good/great films from 1939, 1947, 1948, etc. Maybe tougher than you think.


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