The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I am working on a personal list of 100 great movies.

I'm hesitant to call it "greatest" because I know it's an impossible task.  I'm trying to weigh extra heavy on movies that mattered to me, so it's going to skew heavy towards my personal interests and for how it influenced me at various times in my life.  I'm trying to shy away for "it was good for its time" and instead focus on things that have personal staying-power.

And as you know, I watch LOTS of really old movies.  Most of the time, they are unrecommendable to today's audiences.  There are so many advances in technique and technology both that these old films just don't hold up.  For an average viewer, they are too slow paced or they were famous because they pushed a social boundary that we are now well past so they lose their punch.

When watching really old films, I'm usually trying to pick up a nugget: a cool shot that had never been done before, a theme that hadn't been explored much, a leap in technology, something that spoke to the time it was made, etc.  But it's a history lesson and usually these films aren't very entertaining.

One in a while, though, I will watch a movie that I think truly is a jump from the stuff that came before.  I'm often wowed by Hitchcock.  There's something about the way that the dude crafts a story that makes me nervous.  He's really good at building tension.  He chooses what to show or not show and often puts you in the shoes of his characters.

Recently, I saw All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and I couldn't believe how much of a jump it was.  Sure, it's old.  But it's a modern movie.  It's got a story that you can follow, it's got themes that are clear, it's violent and gory, it's got good action, the shots are creative and it's just impressive all the way around.  I imagine that was just next-level film-making for 1930.  Most stuff from that era is barely watchable.

I also feel that way about Psycho and the original Planet of the Apes....maybe Bridge Over the River Kwai.  But there aren't many.

Do you have any old classics that hold up to modern filmmaking?

The  Wizard of  Oz.

I thought 2001: A space Odyssey was ground breaking in a lot of ways and it still holds up today in my opinion. Some parts are a bit preachy, but overall the movie is great. I didn't understand it the first time I saw it, think I was about 8 years old, but saw it again years later and was blown away.

modern times

High Noon
12 Angry Men
The Cowboys (still my fave John Wayne movie)
Logan's Run (Soylent Green is people!)
The Wizard of Oz

peter fonda's 12 angry men
patton with george c scott
They adapted James Clavell's Shogun into a tv movie / miniseries in 1980 that i thought was exceptionally good (7.8 on imdb)

Also you can't go wrong with the good the bad and the ugly, iconic for a whole bunch of scenes and in no little part for the amazing soundtrack

Actually looks like shogun the TV movie got a 7.8
shogun the mini series got a 8.1
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080274/?ref_=tt_sims_tt_i_1

looks like the same actors .. maybe they just turned the mini series and truncated stuff for use in the movie.

edit - This two-hour feature was edited down from the original 10-hour miniseries (see separate IMDB entry).

i was right

That's 2 different movies. I haven't seen Soylent Green in a very long time, I can't even remember it now. Logan's Run in my opinion doesn't really hold up as a good movie today, it's pretty dated, however you made me think of 2 other movies that I think do hold up well and that's Forbidden Planet and Invasion of the body snatchers (1978). Both are creepy sci-fi movies where the special effects are not laughable.

Good call on The Wizard of Oz.  That movie is also good even by today's standards.

E.T.
The Big Lebowski
Poltergeist
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Jaws
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Godfather (1 and 2)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

You're right....Logan's Run and Soylent Green are different movies. My bad...

I would put both on my list though. I liked them both.  ;D