Holadem

Does your top 10/20 accurately reflect your movie tastes?

This is not a poll.

Just off the top of my head, a rough sample of movies I love that would probably end up in my top 20 if I ever compiled one.

100% certain
LOTR (#1 no question. The rest is in no particular order).
SPR
Magnolia
Braveheart
LA Confidential
The Shawshank Redemption
T2
Aliens
Apollo 13

Probably...
Vertigo
Trois Couleurs: Bleu or Rouge, probably both
Seven Samurai
Traffic
Fight Club
Unbreakable
American Beauty
One of more of the Indiana Jones
BTTF
Casablanca


These are movies that have deeply touched me one way or the other, movies I have an emotional attachement to. Those I can watch over and over... That said, at least 12 movies off this list are less than 10 years old. Which in the eyes of your average movie buff is a red flag as to the tastes of the list's author. Not is matters much, but it's a little unsettling that my list of favorites should not reflect the fact that I actively seek out and enjoy independent, older and/or foreign movies (heck, I AM a foreigner...), and have an avid interest in film history. Consequently, while I wouldn't give these up for the world, I feel they do not accurately reflect my interest in movies.

Does that make any sense? Is anyone in the same situation?

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Holadem

Adam_S

I completely understand. I've carefuly constructed my top twenty to create the best balance between my favorite movies to watch, my favorite directors and some films that just floored me on many levels (Grand Illusion, Godfather). The tradeoff is a handful of films that I watch more often and perhaps enjoy more (than some of the films on the list) don't make the top twenty cut. Films like Magnolia, Lord of the Rings (actually that title will go in the top five once the trilogy is complete ) Star Wars, Return of the Jedi, Indiana Jones, ET, a bunch of classic disney films etc.

Adam

top 20 films
2008 film list
My DVDs; S&S List 62...212 AFI lists: - DONE!

george kaplan

Well my top 20 sums up my taste pretty well, although not as well as my top 100.

"Movies should be like amusement parks. People should go to them to have fun." - Billy Wilder

"Subtitles good. Hollywood bad." - Tarzan, Sight & Sound 2012 voter.

"My films are not slices of life, they are pieces of cake." - Alfred Hitchcock

"My great humility is just one of the many reasons that I am vastly superior to everyone else." - Ramrod Clerk

OcieB

personally, i think my top20 is very rounded; and reflects my taste in film very good.

S&S Greatest Films Club: 60 viewed. Last Viewed: L\'Avventura(B+)
in no particular order: my top 20
my DVD collection
\"\'Gentleman, you can\'t fight in here, this is the War Room!\'\" - Dr. Strangelove
\"\'You ever been in love, Mac?\' \'No, I\'ve been a bartender all my life\'\" - My Darling Clementine
\"\'If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone.\" - The Godfather: Part II

Holadem

Yep, well rounded is the term I was looking for. OK! Time to retoll the list to best reflect my viewing habits and tastes - which is what it seems most do, rather than simply dump their personal intimate favorites. Should be fun

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Holadem

Lew Crippen

I don’t have a top 20 (or a formal top 100), but if I did I agree with George. No doubt that a top 250 would be most accurate.

The problem with any very limited list, is all of the things that you have to leave out.

¡Time is not my master!

Brook K

I love making these sorts of lists, but Lew's right, the more movie's I see, the harder it gets to put them together. I have a top 10, but never tried a top 20. A top 20 would be easier, but I try to build my lists around selecting one film per director to make them more well-rounded and I have a heck of a time picking only one film from certain directors. (Joan of Arc or Ordet?)

My list includes a few movies I've only seen 1 time. I would say that still reflects my taste but if we're referring to movies you love to watch over and over or pull out on any given Saturday night, I guess my list wouldn't qualify since they're movies I'm still waiting on an adequate DVD release before purchasing.

Yes, Captain Hammer's here, hair blowing in the breeze. The day needs my saving expertise! - Captain Hammer, Corporate Tool

2002 Sight & Sound Challenge: 314 Last Watched: An Autumn Afternoon

Last 10 Films Watched:
Mon Oncle Antoine - B / Late Autumn - A-
Paranoid Park - B / An Autumn Afternoon - A
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - B / Run, Fatboy, Run - B
Get Smart - C- / Rendition - B-
Springtime in a Small Town - B+ / Evan Almighty - C

DVD BEAVER My Collection

Arman

Like Brook, I love making lists (& showing off mine) .

"Does your top 10/20 accurately reflect your movie tastes?"

Yes and no.

By looking at my Top 20 list, you could tell that I love (& have bias for) classic foreign & 'perennial greatest' films made by some great directors (mostly pre-70s Italian & French films). But then it would seem like I have no love for Hitchcock (if I would extend it to Top 100, there is no doubt Hitchcock will have the most films in it). Like Lew & Brook said, the more movies you see, it is getting harder & harder to make just a Top 10 or 20.

My Top 20 (I can't resist ) -
1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
2. Baisers volés (1968)
3. À bout de souffle (1960)
4. Smultronstället (1957)
5. Belle de jour (1967)
6. Ladri di biciclette (1948)
7. Blowup (1966)
8. Grande illusion, La (1937)
9. Magnificent Ambersons, The (1942)
10. Enfants du paradis, Les (1945)
11. Remains of the Day, The (1993)
12. Atalante, L' (1934)
13. Avventura, L' (1960)
14. Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
15. City Lights (1931)
16. Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960)
17. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
18. Umberto D (1952)
19. Madadayo (1993)
20. Touch of Evil (1958)

JohnRice

I'm basically opposed to making list habitually, but decided to do a Top 20 for ymdb.com out of curiosity. The one thing I can say Holadem, is that even though I own at least 10 of the movies you listed, Magnolia is the only one that even has a prayer of reaching my Top 20. So, I like a lot of the ones you listed, just not that much.

I know my list shows that I am fond of more modern movies, though it does have movies dating back to 1927. I think there are only 3 or 4 before 1980. It does have a pretty wide variety in some ways, and I think it reflects my general taste in movies, except it doesn't show how much I like fun and campy stuff. I think The Messenger, one of HTF's most slammed movies, is an absolute blast and rather brilliant to boot. I'm not going to include it in my Top 20, though. :p)

They flutter behind you, your possible pasts.
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.

Matt Stone

When constructing my list for YMDB, I decided to go the route of selecting films that match my personal taste. There are many films that I can easily aknowledge has having great importants to film-making, etc...but didn't include them on my list due to the fact that I don't enjoy watching them over and over. For example, I would say Grand Illusion is an amazing masterpiece, and on film-making merit I would rate it above most of the films in my list...but it's not a film that I pop in that often.

1. Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
2. L.A. Confidential (1997)
3. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
4. Godfather, The (1972)
5. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)
6. Star Wars (1977)
7. Pulp Fiction (1994)
8. Halloween (1978)
9. Goodfellas (1990)
10. Jaws (1975)
11. Do the Right Thing (1989)
12. Fargo (1996)
13. High Noon (1952)
14. Fight Club (1999)
15. Blue Velvet (1986)
16. Rushmore (1998)
17. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
18. Magnolia (1999)
19. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
20. Donnie Darko (2001)