munchin

About 4 1/2 years ago, I constructed a list of my top 100 films of all time and shared it with you all. It's something I like to do as a fun, little project every couple of years, but I haven't updated my list here since that original one. I thought about doing them an avatar series again, because that was super fun, but I figured it would just be a letdown in the end, because my top 2 films didn't budge at all. And I couldn't wait 100 days

Here is my list as it stands halfway through 2012. There were some interesting changes.

My original list: http://talkabouttennis.com/forum/blog.php?b=86


The highest ranking new entry is none other than Christopher Nolan's noir masterpiece The Dark Knight. Anyone wanna guess what film I'm looking forward to this summer? Interestingly, not all of the new entries are films that were newly released or that I'd seen for the first time. Some I'd seen many, many times and on a recent viewing, it really struck me how much I adored them and always had (e.g. - Boyz N the Hood, The Matrix, Terminator 2, Taxi Driver, etc.). I'm not sure why so many of the new entries seem to clump together like that, though. I didn't notice as I was compiling it.

Lots of things took nosedives upon recent viewings. The Shawshank Redemption fell the most spots while still maintaining a spot on the list, falling from #17 to #89. It's a wonderful film, but the last 2 times I saw it, it didn't really hit me on an emotional level the same way it had for years. With that stripped away, it meant a bit less to me. An American in Paris fell 67 spots to #98 because the last time I saw it, I was horrified at what a stalker-ish jackass Gene Kelly's character is.

I think the biggest positive jump was The Princess Bride, a film I want to watch basically every single day. It jumped almost 50 spots into the top 15.

Of course, many films fell off the list completely. Some, just because I hadn't seen them in so long that they've faded from my memory and been superseded by more recent discoveries and they may return on repeat viewings (e.g. Sophie's Choice, City of God, Oldboy, Malcolm X). So there is a bit of a recency bias at work, I suspect. Others fell off because I revisited them and I simply didn't like them as much as I used to (A Hard Day's Night, Crash, Spiderman 2, Mister Roberts, Duck Soup. What can you do? The biggest tumble off the list was The Third Man, from #34 alllll the way to oblivion. It belongs in the former category. I know I love that film but I haven't seen it in maybe 7 years and I need to revisit it to remind myself why it belongs here. A Hard Day's Night was #35 and likewise fell all the way off, but that was because I watched it a couple years ago and found it pretty tedious. Completely opposite reaction from the first 3 or 4 times I'd seen it. It was a little disillusioning.

And there are a few films from last year that I think have a place on the list but I need to re-watch to be sure.

Enjoy!