Another "Top 100 Movie" List

... but this one is different. There's some surprises, at least, I'll say that. For instance, Citizen Kane isn't on it, but Point Break made #97. Oddly enough, if you had pushed me to tell the truth, with a gun to my face, I would've also ranked Point Break above Citizen Kane. All the defense I've ever heard of Citizen Kane had to do with its technical merits - the use of different depths with the camera to tell the story, or whatever. All things that personally left me a bit cold. The story was ambitious, I'm sure, but it wasn't a story that personally resonated with me for whatever that's worth. Point Break on the other hand is a movie that if turning the channel, I see that it's starting? Well, let's just say it's a serious question as to whether I'm going to possibly find something else on that could be more enjoyable than to watch it again.

Pulp Fiction and The Matrix better both be high on this, that's all I'm saying. Rear Window too. Update: Yep, here's the first two, sort of in the middle of the pack, which I can live with. Seriously entertaining list so far. It's kind of the counter-list, I think - the one that I bet is probably more reflective of a broader set of preferences. Update Deux: And Rear Window coming in around 38. Nice. Jaws at 36, too. I like that this list doesn't poo-poo on the blockbuster. People so often want to make a successful film a mark of its failure, critically, which always drives me mad. I think the reason to poo-poo on popularity is really rooted in the idolatry of personal elitism, rather than careful thought. Update Treble: Yes! There Will Be Blood at 2. This is the greatest list ever. I saw There Will Be Blood recently, and loved it. Did I fully understand it? No, I didn't. I understood enough to know I needed to see it two more times. PTA's movies are more like James Joyce's Dubliners than they are to most movies, and like Joyce, I almost always have to watch them a lot.