IGN Film Force Top 25's (1 Viewer)

[ZacharyTait]

Updated the first post with a link to Music Movies.

 

[Rich Romero]

The music list is actually pretty damn good.

 

[Adam_S]

yeah of the ones they've done it's probably the least bad. I've given up on people realizing the greatness that is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers--one of the funniest films ever made and one of the more perfect musicals ever made, the only downside is that budget forced them to shoot on a set.

I like where they placed Almost Famous.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

Regarding Stop Making Sense:


If memory serves (and it rarely does these days), the film is ONLY the stage show and that interview between Byrne and himself is a DVD extra.

Great concert film though. This and The Last Waltz are my two favourites.

A solid list for the most part. I think it doesn't recognize many of the older musicals and certainly leaves out some of my faves (the above mentioned The Last Waltz and Woodstock to name couple), but I've found all their lists so far to be essentially "Here's 25 really good movies within this genre". The thrillers one had 25 really good choices and left off about 100 others that could've made the list.

If the list makes you think about watching or re-watching some of the films they mention, then it's been successful if you ask me...

 

[george kaplan]

As with most of these lists, has about 50% great musicals, and 50% films that shouldn't be on such a list. Yes, but this list doesn't do that, it just makes me roll my eyes over some of the choices. I think this might be the worst list in the group so far.

This is Spinal Tap #1?!? Almost Famous, O Brother, Saturday Night Fever, South Park, High Fidelity and Purple Rain, but no Top Hat, Jailhouse Rock, Meet Me in St. Louis, etc?

5 out of the 25 greatest musicals of all-time released in 1999-2001? But only 1 in the 1950s? Only 1 in the 1930s? None in the 1940s? Sorry, but I can't buy that the 3 years from 1999-2001 were a greater period for musicals than the 3 decades of the 30s, 40s and 50s combined.

Two films by John Travolta and two with George Clooney, but only 1 with Judy Garland, and only 1 with Gene Kelly?

Films with such musical luminaries as John Turturro, Jason Lee, Bruno Kirby, John Cusack, and Ewan McGregor, but none with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Michael Crawford, etc.

Like I said, they list some great musicals, but there are just to many laughable entries/omissions for me to ever give this list any serious consideration.

 

[TheLongshot]

Except that it isn't a MUSICALS list, but music movies. Looks like the list was aimed more at my generation more than anything else. (Tho, if so, it is a bit odd having "The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg" in the list, since I didn't even know about the film until recently.)

Personally, I think it is a solid list for what it is, but I wouldn't agree with the order.

Jason

 

[Steve Y]

These lists are not surprising. IGN's front office, young male readership, and bottom line all demand worship at the altar of "bad-ass". They want to make a list that will mostly provoke a "f*** yeah" in their readership, not leave them scratching their heads.

The "standard" classics made their way onto these lists as a direct result of the DVD age, which has made older and foreign films cool by turning them into a collector's (as well as a visual) art. Even fanboys watch them now. But now we see the same six or seven movies on every list, OVER and OVER again.

When The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is described as the "least familiar" film on the music list, you know you're swimming with collectors and not necessarily true film buffs.

I know this will be weird to write after posting the above, but apart from the bad voice casting, I sort of enjoyed Final Fantasy: TSW. Some of the visuals were pretty great.

 

[george kaplan]

Yeah, but even so, there are better non-musical music films than the ones listed - Monterey Pop, The Commitments, Fantasia, The Kids are Alright, The Rutles: All You Need is Cash (much better music, and much funnier than Spinal Tap), at least IMO.

 

[Kevin Lamb]

I agree that some of those lists are pretty laughable. But I imagine most people would comprise a list of choices that would be laughable to others.

Its pretty hard not to qualify a list of "greatest/top/best movies" anyway. What's "great"? Most influential? Had the biggest impact on your life? Highest rewatch value? The one that gives you the most emotional response? The one that gives you the most positive emotional response? The most thought provoking?

I think the greatest movies are those that are the most inspiring and "awesome" in the literal sense (filling me with awe.) The story of a newspaper tycoon or mafia family will never engage me like the story of Jesus' crucifixion or a fairy tale about a Hobbit's journey to Mordor or a Jedi being tempted by the Dark Side.

A list of top movies reveals more about the person making the list than the quality of the films on it.

 

[Adam_S]

It's a generational thing, their/my generation values Grease more than "An American in Paris," "Purple Rain" more than "Yankee Doodle Dandy". I've yet to be really blown away by a thirties musical the way I have been by the 50s musicals. The Astaire Rogers films are wonderful, but extraordinarily formulaic, they're mainly worth rewatching for the dance numbers and chemistry. Wizard of Oz and Snow White are probably the best of the thirties musicals. Meet me in St. louis is probably the best of the forties musicals, but few others from that decade have penetrated the film consciousness, even on DVD, the way Singin in the Rain has. They have a very good top five, hell their top ten is very good, but I would expect their best of list to reflect their tastes and consciousness. If we start demanding that all lists acknowledge certain canon, all lists will suddenly get very boring or very big. So far their only really ridiculous list is the animation one, and many recent animated films (from Pixar and early nineties Disney and Shrek) really are good enough to contend in a greatest animated film list, the problem was the ultra-limited appeal titles that snuck onto the list. the other lists are perfectly acceptable in my mind. They show a limited knowledge of world and historically great cinema, but that's better than no knowledge at all!



To recap their music list is:
Spinal Tap
Hard Day's Night
Blues Brothers
Wizard of Oz
Sound of Music
Yellow Submarine
Grease
Singin in the Rain
Almost Famous
Gimme Shelter
O Brother Where Art Thou
Moulin Rouge
Saturday Night Fever
South Park
Fiddler on the Roof
High Fidelity
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Stop Making Sense
West Side Story
Music Man
Pink Floyd: the Wall
My Fair Lady
Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Producers
Purple Rain

 

[John Kilduff]

GRATUITOUS SELF-PROMOTION TIME!

As a writer for the 80s Movies Rewind, I've reviewed 3 of the movies from IGN's list of the 25 greatest music movies.

If you want to read them, here are the links:

-"Pink Floyd: The Wall"

-"Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense"

-"This Is Spinal Tap"

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

As some of my earlier reviews, they're more like plot summaries. Still, I hope you enjoy reading them.

 

[ZacharyTait]

Updated the list in the 1st post with a link to Horror.

 

[george kaplan]

All I need to know about that horror list is that Psycho is...not on the list at all! Sorry, my grade for a top 25 horror list without Psycho on it anywhere is F.

 

[Ruz-El]

I disagree with George, Psycho was never scary to me, and is more psychologicaly suspensful than all out horror. I know I'm getting killed for saying it, but that's my opinion. Don't get me wrong though, I LIKE the movie, it's just not a horror film to me, it's more along the lines of films like "Silence Of The Lambs", psychological character dramas with horror elements.

I don't mind the list, like the others it's full of the usual suspects that a list like this should have. I wont get into the ordering either, as that's more or less subjective. My only complaint is "Gremlins", like "Psycho" doesn't belong on a horror list.

 

[george kaplan]

Well I don't find most horror films to be 'scary', and if that's your definition, then, for me at least, that would eliminate most of those films anyway. You don't have a problem with Bride of Frankenstein being on the list, but can you honestly say that BoF scares you when you watch it. I enjoy it, but it's definitely not scary to me.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

As a horror fan, I can tell you that MANY fans of the genre don't consider PSYCHO a "horror film". Personally, I do. Yet it is also a Psychological Drama. I think some films can fit into varied categories.

 

[Ruz-El]

Good point George! Admittedly, most horror films don't scare me. I would count BOF as a horror movie for one really good reason: MONSTERS!

I know, Anthony Perkins is just as much of a monster as Frankensteins monster, but the different lies, for me in the portrayal. "Psycho" does have many "horror" trappings, the shower scene and Martin Balsams trip down the stairs are 2 very good ones. I think the difference lies in that these events are a backdrop to understand the true magnitude of madness of the character. In a horror film, this would be reversed: the madness of a character is an excuse for the attacks, or the monster running wild causing havoc. The point of a horror movie is to have a "monster" causing havoc and terror. "Psycho" is an exploration into that monster, and hence more of a suspense drama to me.

Now, if I watched "Psycho" this month, I would still put it on my "Horror Challenge list" (to pad the numbers, like others are doing ), but I wouldn't discount a top 25 list because it was absent, as that film is more of a grey area for me. Now if you substituted "Nail Gun Massacre" with "Psycho" as your reason for discounting that list, I'd think you were crazy, because "Nail Gun Massacre" sucks, but I could understand it, as that would be a legitament horror movie.

Out of the few Hitchcocks I've seen (a problem I'm going to rectify this month with the viewings of Warners Signiture collection and Universals Masterpiece collection) I'd say only "The Birds" is a horror film, as the whole point of that film, to my memory, is to have birds attacking a town, with other things happening. So that works in my "COMMUNITY"+"MONSTER ATTACK"="HORROR MOVIE" equation.

Am I making any sense? Probably not, but that's my opinion (pretty flimsy, I know. For the benifit of the membership I'll gladly attempt to qualify any film based on my simple equation and oversized gut feelings ). I know, it's a really thin line, but it is a line to me, and I can't by any meens say George is wrong.

 

[Adam_S]

If that's true its as good an explanatio as any as to why I don't care for 'most' horror but love films like the Exorcist, Psycho, Rosemary's Baby, Sixth Sense etc.

I prefer dread based horror myself, and the placement of people into extraordinary circumstances to reveal truths about what it means to be human. I prefer it done without offputting gore that detracts from my emotional connection to the characters. If I want gore, it'd better be funny, and gore is never scary by itself.

 

[Ruz-El]

With the exception of Psycho, all the films you listed fall into the monster category. Demon possesion = monster attack, seeing ghosts (ghosts are monsters), being haunted by occult forces = monsters attacking. If you removed the horror elements, the devil aspect from "Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby", and dropped the ghosts from "sixth Sense", you would have no movie. If you remove all the murders from "Psycho", I'm thinking the murders are the main horror aspect of the film, you would still have an interesting charcter study of a deranged man. Therefore, out of the titles you listed, all are horror movies except "Psycho".

As an aside, I don't really consider "Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer" to be much of a horror film either, for the same reasons as "Psycho". It too is more of a suspense drama. I just thought I'd throw that in there, so you know I'm not just being a prick about a certain film you like. Again, I LIKE "Psycho", it made me a Hitchcock fan.

Again, it's a razor thin line. I haven't seen "Psycho" in years, but plan to watch it later this month, maybe I'll change my mind and declare it the greatest horror film ever made.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I almost quit reading after I saw their pick for #22. Gimme a break, number 22!!!!

The only good thing on the list is the fact that they left PSYCHO off since it isn't a horror movie.

I don't think THE SHINING is the greatest horror film but I wouldn't argue anyone who puts it at #1.