Thursday, October 11, 2012

Movie Madness

Lists are fun! They provoke discussion and thought (often in that order). The AV Club recently compiled their list of the Top 50 films of the 1990's. The thing that surprises me most about this list is just how good it is: I have relatively few quibbles with items on there or ones that were omitted. It isn't perfect, of course, but much closer to perfect than most such lists.

It also made me realize that I'm WAY more familiar with the 90's than I am with movies from the past decade. Partly that's because I rarely go to the movies these days; partly it's because movies that have been around for longer have presented more viewing opportunities. I probably saw most of these movies in college or shortly thereafter, but I'm gradually catching up on old movies thanks to DVDs and online streaming.

I don't have the energy or knowledge to compile my own top 50, but here's my crack at a top 15. This is mostly defined by how much I enjoyed movies, not necessarily their importance or objective quality. Rankings are very tentative.

15. Dark City
14. Last of the Mohicans
13. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
12. Fight Club
11. Hamlet (Kenneth Brannagh, not Mel Gibson)
10. Silence of the Lambs
9. Groundhog Day
8. Pulp Fiction
7. The Big Lebowski
6. The Matrix
5. Fargo
4. Princess Mononoke
3. Office Space
2. Run Lola Run
1. 12 Monkeys

Several of these didn't make the AV Club's list, or even their "Orphans, Outliers, and Personal Favorites" list. I can understand some of the omissions, but the absence of "Run Lola Run" absolutely astonishes.

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