Month: September 2020

A Top 100 Films of All-Time

It is time once again for a Top 100 Films of All-Time list. As I’ve done for the last few years, the first ten spots on the list comprise a hypothetical Sight & Sound-style ballot. We had an on-going project related to this on The George Sanders Show, that is now based at Seattle Screen Scene. This top ten is presented here in chronological order. The remaining 90 films were randomly selected from a consideration set of 402 films, which excluded films that made my Top Tens in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

  1. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
  2. Mughal-e-azam (K. Asif, 1960)
  3. Yearning (Naruse Mikio, 1964)
  4. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Bill Melendez, 1966)
  5. Night of the Living Dead (George Romero, 1968)
  6. The Terrorizers (Edward Yang, 1986)
  7. Om Shanti Om (Farrah Khan, 2007)
  8. Dusty Stacks of Mom (Jodie Mack, 2013)
  9. The Midnight After (Fruit Chan, 2014)
  10. Liz and the Blue Bird (Yamada Naoko, 2018)



  11. Steamboat Bill, Jr (Charles Resiner, 1928)
  12. Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
  13. Miller’s Crossing (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1990)
  14. The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, 1925)
  15. Safety Last! (Sam Taylor & Fred C. Newmeyer, 1923)
  16. Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
  17. Dirty Ho (Lau Kar-leung, 1979)
  18. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
  19. The Last Waltz (Martin Scorsese, 1978)
  20. The Day He Arrives (Hong Sangsoo, 2011)



  21. Awaara (Raj Kapoor, 1951)
  22. Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)
  23. Romancing in Thin Air (Johnnie To, 2012)
  24. 7 Women (John Ford, 1966)
  25. Sparrow (Johnnie To, 2008)
  26. Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936)
  27. Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks, 1939)
  28. The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
  29. The Dawn Patrol (Howard Hawks, 1930)
  30. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)



  31. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
  32. Little Women (Greta Gerwig, 2019)
  33. Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950
  34. The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962)
  35. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent 1974)
  36. The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood, 1976)
  37. The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman, 1983)
  38. School on Fire (Ringo Lam, 1988)
  39. Japanese Girls at the Harbor (Hiroshi Shimizu, 1933)
  40. A Matter of Life and Death (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1946)



  41. Histoire(s) du cinèma (Jean-Luc Godard, 1998)
  42. Welcome to LA (Alan Rudolph, 1976)
  43. Choose Me (Alan Rudolph, 1984)
  44. Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981)
  45. My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
  46. Heaven’s Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)
  47. Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
  48. Fantasia (Ben Sharpsteen, et al, 1940)
  49. The Pan-American Exposition By Night (Edwin S. Porter, 1901)
  50. Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)



  51. L’Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
  52. Sans soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)
  53. Sátántangó (Béla Tarr, 1994)
  54. All that Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)
  55. New Rose Hotel (Abel Ferrara, 1998)
  56. Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman, 2016)
  57. Hanagatami (Obayashi Nobuhiko, 2017)
  58. Les amants du pont-neuf (Leos Carax, 1991)
  59. The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, 1972)
  60. Dawson City: Frozen Time (Bill Morrison, 2016)



  61. Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan, 1997)
  62. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2005)
  63. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
  64. La danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (Frederick Wiseman, 2009)
  65. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
  66. Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Seidelman, 1985)
  67. How Green was My Valley (John Ford, 1941)
  68. Mahjong (Edward Yang, 1996)
  69. Pauline at the Beach (Eric Rohmer, 1983)
  70. Kid Auto Races at Venice (Henry Lehrman, 1914)



  71. Legend of the Mountain (King Hu, 1979)
  72. Maison du bonheur (Sofia Bohdanowicz, 2017)
  73. The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
  74. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai, 2002)
  75. Holiday (George Cukor, 1938)
  76. Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1974)
  77. Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)
  78. Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
  79. The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)
  80. It Felt Like a Kiss (Adam Curtis, 2009)



  81. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, 2004)
  82. Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
  83. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939)
  84. Xiao Wu (Jia Zhangke, 1998)
  85. The History of the Seattle Mariners (Jon Bois, 2020)
  86. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006)
  87. The Immigrant (Charles Chaplin, 1917)
  88. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992)
  89. Paterson (Jim Jarmusch, 2016)
  90. All that Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955)



  91. Throw Down (Johnnie To, 2004)
  92. The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, 2013)
  93. Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993)
  94. Die Nibelungen (Fritz Lang, 1924)
  95. Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, 1997)
  96. The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, 1995)
  97. Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles, 1955)
  98. Design for Living (Ernst Lubitsch, 1933)
  99. Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas, 1996)
  100. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)

This Week in Rankings

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Over the last couple of months I haven’t done much of anything. Mostly I’ve just been trying to enjoy watching movies without having to write about them. I did my annual best of the year so far lists, and I also reviewed Special Actors for InReview as part of their Japan Cuts coverage, but otherwise, I haven’t had anything published yet. Expect to see something in the next few days though.

If you like what I do here or at Seattle Screen Scene, The Chinese Cinema, or anywhere else, please consider donating at my kofi page. Every little bit helps.

These are the movies I’ve watched or rewatched over the last few weeks, and where they place on my year-by-year rankings.

The Maltese Falcon (John Huston) – 5, 1941
Klute (Alan J. Pakula) – 8, 1971
Night Moves (Arthur Penn) – 11, 1975
Superman (Richard Donner) – 12, 1978
Game of Death (Robert Clouse) – 18, 1978
Superman II (Richard Lester) – 36, 1980

In Our Time (Tao Te-chen, Edward Yang, Ko I-chen, & Chang Yi) – 18, 1982
Growing Up (Chen Kunhou) – 24, 1983
The Sandwich Man (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Zeng Zhuangxiang, & Wan Jen) – 29, 1983
Wheels on Meals (Sammo Hung) – 2, 1984
The Time to Live and the Time to Die (Hou Hsiao-hsien) – 2, 1985
Taipei Story (Edward Yang) – 5, 1985

The Terrorizers (Edward Yang) – 2, 1986
Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao-hsien) – 17, 1986
Where’s Officer Tuba? (Philip Chan & Ricky Lau) – 62, 1986
A Chinese Ghost Story (Ching Siu-tung) – 14, 1987
Iron Angels (Teresa Woo) – 49, 1987
The Haunted Cop Shop (Jeffrey Lau) – 64, 1987

On the Run (Alfred Cheung) – 20, 1988
I Love Maria (David Chung) – 68, 1988
The Iceman Cometh (Clarence Fok) – 43, 1989
The Blonde Fury (Mang Hoi) – 54, 1989
Presumed Innocent (Alan J. Pakula) – 19, 1990

A Chinese Ghost Story II (Ching Siu-tung) – 49, 1990
Sex and Zen (Michael Mak) – 62, 1991
A Chinese Ghost Story III (Ching Siu-tung) – 73, 1991
The Player (Robert Altman) – 19, 1992
My Cousin Vinny (Jonathan Lynn) – 38, 1992

The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood) – 9, 1995
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (John McTiernan) – 29, 1995
Snake Eyes (Brian De Palma) – 17, 1998
Twilight (Robert Benton) – 43, 1998
Jackie Chan: My Stunts (Jackie Chan) – 57, 1999

Our Time, Our Story (Hsiao Chu-chen) – 21, 2002
New Blood (Soi Cheang) – 26, 2002
Hammersmith Odeon, London ’75 (Derek Burbidge) – 15, 2005
Wings for Wheels (Thom Zimny) – 20, 2005
Dream Home (Pang Ho-cheung) – 19, 2010
The Promise (Thom Zimny) – 59, 2010

World of Ursula K. Le Guin (Arwen Curry) – 119, 2018
Special Actors (Ueda Shinichirou) – 93, 2019
Greyhound (Aaron Schneider) – 5, 2020
Hamilton (Thomas Kail) – 9, 2020
Palm Springs (Max Barbakow) – 10, 2020