Top 100 Movies: The Meme, And I Ain't A Waitin' For A Tag!

1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
66. NETWORK (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
69. SHANE (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. BEN-HUR (1959)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976)
79. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
82. GIANT (1956)
83. PLATOON (1986)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
89. PATTON (1970)
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
93. THE APARTMENT (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
101. THE CAINE MUTINY (1954)
102. METROPOLIS (1927)
103. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959)

Joe's Additions:
104. Being There (1978)
105. Captain Blood (1935)
106. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
My Additions:
107. Clerks (1994)
108. Toy Story (1995)
109. Young Frankenstein (1974)

Like Joe, I've only bolded the films I've seen in their entirety.

Slacking Off

Looks like most of us slacked off on last month's movie, Northfork. My copy is still sitting at home, unwatched. Sorry, Looney. Been one of those months. I still intend to watch it ASAP, and will contribute to the discussion thread below once I do.

It's time, however, for someone to name a new movie. Who wants to be up? First one to post, "Me! Me!" in the comments gets to choose this month's movie. Name your choice here in a new post on June 1.

"You can urge her in one direction"*

*Name that movie!

So it's a lot of pressure picking the first movie. Cause what if I pick something lots of peeps hate, and then they're all, well that was dumb, and the whole thing crashes before it gets off the ground? On the other hand, I cannot possibly pick something everyone will like, and even if I could, that doesn't make for a very lively discussion, does it?

"You know that awesome part with the helicopter?"
"Yeah, that part was awesome!"
"Yeah, that's what I thought! Awesome!"

So I'll be going with my own opinion and the movie I think will make for the best discussion. But if you'd like to apply a little peer pressure between now and when I pick one next week, here're some of the movies I'm considering:

Best in Show (Theme: improv, when done well, is the funniest kind of funny)
The Royal Tennenbaums (Theme: dark comedy's thin line between hee and ew, plus this is my fave comedy)
Fight Club (Theme: I wish I could write this snappy)
Equilibrium (Theme: just as excellent writing can happen in genre fiction, excellent acting can happen in genre film)
The Quiet Man (Theme: John Wayne so totally is not useless! And comedies that stand up even after the content is dated)
Charade (Theme: no theme really, I just always get this confused with every other Audrey Hepburn movie and wouldn't mind watching it again)
O Brother Where Art Thou (Theme: how some things based on the Odyssey, like this movie, can be great, while others, like Cold Mountain, suck)
Rebecca (Theme: you don't need a theme when you've got Olivier)
Elizabeth (Theme: how important is technique versus story? Can excellent acting and gorgeous shots make up for gaping internal logic failures?)

And Jen Shall be the First Freak to Pick a Film

Okay, here's my proposed structurel:

New films are named on the first day of the month. The designated Filminati member will create a post with the name of the film, as well as any things you want the rest of us to think about and/or watch for while viewing. So Jen, on (or before, since you're the first) March 31, you post your movie choice.

Discussions about the film begin on the last day of the month. Whoever chose the movie creates a new post on the last day of the month to start up and lead the conversation in comments. So Jen, you do that on April 30.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to do a film-related post to spark conversation, by all means do it! Except for when the conversation about the month's movie is rolling along at a good pace, of course. Perhaps the first week of each month should be left to the official movie, but once things die down there, let's fill the space.

If you see any serious flaws in this plan, please don't hesitate to point them out to me. No, not flaws in me, flaws in the plan.

So the big question is, who wants to do next month? First one to say, "Me! Me! Oh, please pick me!" in the comment to this post goes next.

"Life isn't like in the movies. Life... is much harder."

That's a quote from one of my favorite movies, Cinema Paradiso, and I thought it fitting to be the title of the first post here at the Film Freaks Film Club blog! We're still hashing out details, seeing how I just came up with the idea today, but the gist is right up there under the blog title: We pick films. We watch films. We talk about films. We're that cool.

On a regular basis (I propose monthly?) one member will be the designated film chooser. The film is posted here (on the first of the month?) and we have a certain amount of time to watch it (again, perhaps a month?). Then we talk about the film here, in the comments, with the discussion being led by the designated film chooser.

Cool, huh?

Right now we're doing a sort of "open enrollment," so if you want to be a member let me know by posting a comment here, or by posting a comment on my other blog, Boiled Dinner.

I'm going to say that for the open enrollment, you have to either have participated in Movie Madness, or I have to know you.

If I don't know you, let's just say you have to participate in one round as a watcher/commentor before you're able to be a contributor. Sound fair? I'm just anticipating this becoming the most popular thing ever in blog history, so I want to be able to weed out the looneys. Oh, sorry Looney! I mean the crazies.

This is going to be too fun.

Oh, one more thing, I say that for the labels, we put the genre of the movie (unless it's a general post, then we can put, um, General).