Entertainment Weekly 100 New Classics (1 Viewer)

[Robin_B]

I did a search and didn't come up with anything on this.

The New Classics: Movies | EW 1000: Movies | Movies | The EW 1000 | Entertainment Weekly

They've come up with a list a list of the 100 best movies of the last 25 years. So I'm looking to see where they put the best movie of the last 25 years, Se7en, on this list. Surely it's at number one I thought. No. Top 10?. No. Top 50? no. It's not even on the friggin' list. Who are these morons that make up these lists?

 

[MatthewA]

Entertainment Weekly is probably the worst publication since the days of Johannes Gutenberg.

 

[Kevin Grey]

Shawshank Redemption was the most notable omission to me.

 

[Lenny Rakes]

This list lost all credibility with the Matrix being listed at #12. This movie should not even be on the list.

 

[Brent M]

Um, The Matrix is a helluva lot more deserving than some of the other jokes on that list. Bottom line: this list, any list for that matter, is a waste because there will always be notable omissions and choices.

 

[TravisR]

Exactly. I always try to look at any list (whether it's the AFI lists, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, a random website or anything else) as a list of things that are good and I should check but I never put more stock in them than that because no list will ever be perfect.

 

[TonyD]

the only way to respond to these lists is to offfer your own.

it might take me awhile to figure out my own 100.

i sure wouldnt put blair witch on there

 

[DaveF]

This is one of my favorite issues of EW and I'm keeping it for future reference. While not a perfect set of lists, of movies, books, music, theater -- as if there could be such a thing -- I find it a helpful reference. There's a lot of movies I've not seen, books unread, music unlistened, and games never played, that I am reminded of and can perhaps revisit.

An imperfect list isn't a worthless list, for me anyway. And as EW is a pop-culture magazine, so the best of the past 25 years seems right in line with what the EW writers are best and most knowledgeable at.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I was actually surprised at the content of the list. Of course there was the inclusion of some absolute tripe (IMO) and only a handful of foreign language films—and one can quibble about placement. But the inclusion of movies like In the Mood for Love both pleased and surprised me.

I’d not use this as my guide, but all-in-all, not too bad a list.

 

[george kaplan]

Not the worst list they could have made, but far too many questionable inclusions and horrible omissions for me to take it seriously.

Like Lew, I looked for something surprisingly good on the list (e.g., Zelig, Roxanne, The Killer, Purple Rose of Cairo, The Commitments, Leon, Scrooged, Lone Star, The President's Last Bang, That Thing You Do, Dark City, Sliding Doors, Hard Boiled, The Dinner Game etc.) but only found surprisingly horrible ommisions (e.g., Planes, Trains & Automobiles, A Christmas Story, The Princess Bride, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Apollo 13, Se7en, Heat, Eyes Wide Shut, Kill Bill, etc.)

 

[george kaplan]

double post

 

[JohnRice]

I love lists, and threads. like this. Without them I wouldn't know that Se7en is the best movie of the last 25 years, and similar facts.

A few (pleasantly) surprising inclusions, such as Hannah and Her Sisters, Wings of Desire, Eternal Sunshine and Far from Heaven, to name a few. am genuinely surprised to see both Shawshank and Braveheart excluded. Not from my personal tastes, but because if you polled a lot of "regular" people, those two movies together would probably take a majority of #1 spots.

 

[Edwin-S]

The Naked Gun?
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut??
The Talented Mr. Ripley???

Those are some of what they consider the top 100 "New Classics" of the last 25 years? :rolleyes

No Country for Old Men ranked lower than The Naked Gun? Ha!Ha! They're Killing me. NCfOM is nowhere near a favorite film, but to rank it well below a shit stupid Leslie Nielsen spoof comedy is grand comedy in itself. I find it amusing that TheNaked Gun is on there while much better films, like the ones mentioned in G. Kaplan's post, are omitted.

This list must also make European and other foreign filmmakers very happy, as well.


Good one.

 

[DaveF]

I can't see how The Naked Gun can be discarded as just a stupid L. Nielsen movie. After Airplane, isn't this *the* Leslie Nielsen comedy? At the time, The Naked Gun was a fantastic movie. It revived the comedy of Airplane!, and subsequently inspired derivative comedies, good and bad, that continue today.

Maybe it doesn't play well today? Better on a Most Important list?

As for No Country -- I've not gotten to see it yet, so I intend to. No doubt it's a good movie. But is it really classic? Will it be remembered the way Naked Gun is in 20 years?

Similar to the negative comment about The Matrix -- a movie that obviously is a watershed in recent movie history -- these perspectives on the list leave me both baffled and intrigued about the views that emerge from such lists

George Kaplan's comments: You're right, it's unfortunate that especially Roger Rabbit is missing from the list. So I'll ask, what you would replace to make room for Rabbit, etc.?

The biggest omission I see is Big Trouble in Little China. Definitely a "classic" for me.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Off the top of my head:
•Titanic, though I recognize that this is a minority opinion and that technically it is very deserving.
•Die Hard
•Edward Scissorhands
•Spider-Man 2, all OK, but don’t make the classic test.
•The Sixth Sense
•Speed, so bad one could fall asleep during what is supposed to be an exciting and exhilarating ride—that is, even assuming that you can get past the premise.
•Clueless, funny enough, but not a classic.
•Gladiator, mindless, not very good CGI.

I could go on, but I’ve run out of patience. There are a lot of movies on the list that are very good and that I enjoyed—but that does not mean that they are classics. No doubt (in my mind) Ghostbusters for example, is a classic and I think that it would be hard for even advocates to argue that Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is much more than light summer entertainment, enjoyable though it may be.

True enough that Titanic will meet most viewers’ (especially the young, teen-age girl population) idea of a classic, so I’d not really object to its inclusion—but it would not be on my top 100 list of the last 25 years.

 

[DaveF]

I'm surprised to see Die Hard (among others) considered non-classic. Die Hard was a big deal when it came out. It's a critical movie in my youth and stands above the action-movie detritus of the past 25 years. It brought a new form of action movie to the big screen; it's still beloved (nostagically) by my peers; it brought Bruce Willis to the big screen. And lead to three sequels. But I've not rewatched it in 15+ years and don't have any strong desire to do so.


So is there an important difference between "influential" and "classic"? Does "classic" mean "re-watchable"? Would you have different lists for such things?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Yes, it's true - only teen girls liked Titanic. That's why it earned rave reviews and won so many Oscars... :rolleyes

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Die Hard is unquestionably a classic. For one, it was - and still is - a great action flick, and it was insanely influential. Not sure how anyone could think it DOESN'T belong on a list of the best movies of the last 25 years. You'd have a better argument against Speed since it's a Die Hard clone...

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm having some problems with Lew's last post too. Without question, Die Hard, Titanic, The Sixth Sense and probably Gladiator will be remembered as classic films from this era of filmmaking. Also, some arguments can be made of some other titles, but these four titles I can't question at all.





Crawdaddy

 

[Steve Christou]

According to the OED a "classic" is something that is judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of it's kind, which kinda rules out Clueless and South Park.

Die Hard is definitely IMO an outstanding example of the modern action movie, if not the best ever. I'm not a huge fan but Titanic was a critically acclaimed, award winning and massively popular disaster epic, which will stand the test of time, despite the sneers from snooty naysayers.

I would say the two most obvious omissions from that list are Se7en and The Shawshank Redemption, we Brits in particular have gone gaga over Shawshank and it was voted 3rd greatest film of all time in one recent poll here.

Wait, was Toy Story the only 'Disney' included? No Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast? The first Toy Story was an instant classic and remains my favorite Pixar animation.