Time Magazine's 100 Greatest Films of All Time

 

The 400 Blows (1959): I don't think French New Wave is really my thing.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972): I thought this was good at points, but at other points I couldn't even tell what was happening.

Baby Face (1933): I'm sure this was good for its time, but I just didn't find it compelling.

Band of Outsiders (1964):  The goal of this film seemed to be breaking as many conventions as possible, which means it was novel, but that doesn't make it good.

Brazil (1985):  And here I thought that Mad Max: Fury Road was the peak of making everything bizarre for its own sake.  Occasionally funny, but mostly just a spectacle.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935): Technically well made and with solid performances, not bad for its time.

Charade (1963): Ugh. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.  A double feature of insufferable jerks.

Children of Paradise (1945): So very long with so little content.

Chungking Express (1994):  This didn't translate culturally very well for me.

City of God (2002): Pretty good.

Closely Watched Trains (1966):  Another movie lost in translation.

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936): Not really much of a story here.

Day For Night (1973): I can't recall enjoying a movie that was about making a movie.

Detour (1945): I found both the leads obnoxious.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972): Ridiculously weird.  Basically a series of dreams rich people are having.

Farewell My Concubine (1993): Interesting, but also weird.

The Fly (1986): Too stupid some of the time, too gross much of the time, too much Goldblum pretty much all the time.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966):  I was really surprised to realize that this didn't come up on any of the lists I've already done.  I can only speak as someone who actively avoids Western movies, but I thought this was considered the GOAT, or close to it.  It didn't crack AFI's list of 10 best Westerns and no nomination for best picture.  Like pretty much all Westerns, I found it long and boring.

A Hard Day's Night (1964):  I imagine I'd enjoy this if  I cared about the Beatles at all.

Ikiru (1952):  Kind of cute in concept, but a lot that's difficult for me to grasp culturally.

In a Lonely Place (1950): I'm not a big fan of Bogart or Noir.

Kandahar (2001): An interesting look at a very different culture.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949): I didn't really see the humor here.

The Legend of Drunken Master (1994): Meh.

Leolo (1992): Too weird and gross for me.

Man With the Movie Camera (1929):  Insanely boring.

Metropolis (1927): Visually interesting, but not much else to be said in its favor.

Miller's Crossing (1990): A gangster movie of fairly high quality.  One thing I've learned from my lists is that John Turturro used to be an legitimate actor before he got caught up in the Transformers franchise.

Mouchette (1967): A very sad, very French film.  I might have just said the same thing twice.

Mon Oncle D'Amerique (1980): There's nothing quite like a French film that tells three boring stories solely to illustrate the theories of a neurobiologist.

Nayakan (1987): Basically an Indian Godfather.  I didn't find it that great.

Olympia (1938): Who needs a story when you can have a Nazi propaganda film about the Olympics?

Once Upon a Time In the West (1968): This is so long.  On the other hand, there was only about ninety minutes of boring silence, so I don't know what they could have cut.

Out of the Past (1947): Film noir just doesn't do it for me.

Persona (1966):  Think about that horrible horrible tunnel from the original Willy Wonka movie.  The one that had no place in a children's film.  Now picture it stretched out to an hour and a half to be a movie of its own.  And it's in Swedish.

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985): My god this is stupid.  Jeff Daniels plays a character in a film who takes a liking to an abused housewife who comes to multiple showings, so he steps out of the film and runs away with her.  The rest of the characters in the still-running film congregate to discuss him leaving.  Meanwhile, the studio tells the actor who played the character that he'll be finished if he doesn't fix this.  Somehow it only gets worse from there.

Pyaasa (1957): I can't say I enjoyed this.

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955):  A tortured and extremely cynical look at relationships.

Talk To Her (2002): Incredibly contrived and generally unpleasant.

Tokyo Story (1953):  Apparently this is considered by many to be the greatest film ever made.  I found it really boring.

A Touch of Zen (1971):  Apparently all a clumsy oaf needs to do is sleep with a woman and  he'll become a competent soldier and brilliant tactician.

Ugetsu (1953):  This is almost entirely Japanese people doing weird and horrible things in turns.

Ulysses' Gaze (1995): I think I've mentioned before that I can't recall enjoying a movie about making a movie.  Imagine how much more boring I find a pretentious filmmaker going around lecturing other people about lost film reels he's trying to find.

Umberto D (1952): Mostly just depressing.

Wings of Desire (1987): Boring and ponderous.

Yojimbo (1961): Meh.

Completed February 21, 2021