Weekly Discussion: The 21st Century's 100 Greatest Films [via BBC] • Page 5

tell us why high fidelity isn't a humongous turd

 

Bro

 

It is top three.

 

I've seen 28 of those films.

Mad Max doesn't deserve to be anywhere on this list. I mean, if you throw that in, where is Pacific Rim?

Mad Max was pure spectacle; please prove me otherwise on this because in the two viewings I've had, all I took away from this was "man, this is badass and must have been hard to film."

I'm happy to see the PTA stuff on there but I agree with others who said that Royal should have been higher than Budapest.

I've never seen Mulholland Drive but it's one that I've been meaning to get to; I was a sucker for Ryan Phillipe around this time.

 

I hope Fiennes is in more of PTA's stuff, he was a great addition.

 

wut

 

No it is not.

 

Unsure how anything else can be PTA's worst film when Hard Eight exists.

 

PDL is also leagues better than Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Inherent Vice. As good as those are, theyre less than essential imo. I'd argue PDL is among the absolute best of the genre.

 

No one really tries to say it was anything more than that. That was the charm.

 

PDL is my favourite of his and every one I've seen has been fantastic.

 

A lot of people consider it to be the best movie of the year...which is downright hilarious. It was the coolest thing to look at, for sure, but that's it.

 

It was one of the best movies of the year

 

It did not make my top twenty, but it is probably the best action film of the century. It was a perfect corrective to the superhero and Michael Bay excesses of the earlier years.

 

Oh yea, it was for sure a fun movie to look at. But then again I could have left it on mute and had the same experience.

 

I mean, if you feel that way, obviously I can't convince you otherwise.

 

Ive definitely been convinced before

 

wrong anderson?

 

It's statements like these where you realize people don't understand movies. Movies are a VISUAL medium. Saying a movie is "pure spectacle" is not nor will it ever be a valid criticism. Mad Max: Fury Road is the purest form of cinema. It throws out anything that could bog down its straightforward(but not stupid) story and characters, while being as thematically and emotionally engaging as any movie of its kind has ever been.

Fury Road is one of cinema's purest examples. If someone were to ask me "what's a movie?", I'd answer by handing them a blu-ray of Fury Road. It's better than your favorite movies because its more of a movie than your favorite movies are. Dialogue and intricate plots have their place in cinema. But the idea that movies can't exist as credible works of art without them is ridiculous.

 

The issue over putting something like Fury Road near the top of the list is at the heart of how film differentiates itself as an art form. You could never replicate the things that Fury Road does in a play or a book, and it is closer to a video game or a ride in that regard. That is not a compliment or insult, but a unique way in which cinema can be used. While the other agreed-upon classics would certainly lose a lot by being transcribed to the page or the stage, the fundamental things people take from those films (theme, plot, characters) could mostly stay intact. What makes Fury Road so important is that it has come at a time where the big-budget action film has taken over so much of the film industry that they are trying to make genres within their own genre. You have the comedies, the "ultra dark" gritty ones, the ones with a heavier romance, but ultimately it all distracts from what those films were meant to be in the first place. It becomes laughable when people hold up The Dark Knight as a commentary on warrantless wiretapping or actors going into "method" to play a clown because it is taking something that is supposed to be escapist way too seriously. We learn that Joe is bad, Furiousa betrayed him, and Max is a wanderer through about five minutes of dialogue or flashbacks, and it is all we need to know.

Now, is it "great" compared to something as profoundly moving as In the Mood for Love, Yi Yi, or The Tree of Life? That becomes a much more difficult call. I would be more likely to look up a scene from Fury Road during downtime at work or rewatch it on a plane, but it does not change my perspective of the world or society the way other films have.

 

Really? You'd use Fury Road as your first example of what a movie is to someone who doesn't know?

Fury Road is nothing more than a practical effects reel, with a bit of clunky dialogue and nonsensical plot thrown in; it's sole purpose was to blanket the audience with visuals and sound. If that's your thing, fine, and I can appreciate it on a certain level; probably the same way I look at the Saw movies in the horror genre.

 

Fury Road was the most engaged I've been in a theater in a long, long time.

 

I didn't see it in theaters, which may be a big reason why I didn't see the appeal.

Tom Hardy could have been any actor, same for Theron. I have nothing against those actors but they didn't bring anything to the table and nothing to continue the franchise.

 

Mad Max is perfectly serviceable. In the top 20 films of the last 16 years? Yeah that's hilarious but we've already made note that this list is silly right down to its title.

 

Yea that's true, I'll stop shitting on it now.