JCC Amph The JCC's Top 100 Films of All Time Part II: Street Fighter Boogaloo (Now Complete)

maybe I’ll actually watch Duck Soup now

 

Am I the only one who hasn't even heard of Bicycle Thieves?

 

I'm surprised Hollywood hasn't re-made it with Nic Cage and Angelina Jolie.

 

Safety Last is fantastic and completely bonkers in retrospect.

I wouldn't have seen it if not for film school..not one I expect the general public to know honestly.

 

I do love Night at the Opera as well. I give the mirror scene in Duck Soup a lot of love, but the progressively more and more crowded stateroom scene in Night at the Opera is probably the Brothers' second funniest scene. That scene is just hilarious.

I am a defender of the second movie in particular. It, in what is quite a feat, manages to lean harder into the silliness specifically by leaning harder into the philosophy.. It is a much funnier movie than the first one and I will go to my grave arguing that it was intentionally funny, not funny because it was bad. That pie orgasm is such a funny scene and the multiple Smiths fight is clearly at least partially intended as a joke. The highway fight works on its own terms though. And that architect scene at the end is . . . off the charts goofy. I find the second one deeply entertaining. Not a masterpiece and would get nowhere near my personal top 100 (or even 200), but really entertaining.

HARD disagree. I think it's the best performance in the movie. He has the best character arc and I think he does a great job showing Schultz moving from a man who is philosophically opposed to slavery because it's just a little distasteful to a man who is so horrified and enraged by what he has seen that he's willing to die. But is also still not a hero. Even when he does the full flip to sacrificing his own life, he's not a hero.

I mean, it's the oldest argument in the world, but it's not always about an actor disappearing into a role; sometimes it's about an actor still using elements of the personality he or she often uses but getting at profound emotional truth. Waltz' meltdown at the table with DiCaprio is extraordinary acting.

It was surprisingly well known at the time and for quite a while after. It was parodied on The Carol Burnett Show! I do kind of regret the title change from The Bicycle Thief to Bicycle Thieves. The latter is more accurate to the original Italian title, but the original (ironically technically incorrect) translation has more power, I think. The accurate translation kind of gives the game away honestly.

 

95. Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut (2006)
Directed by: Ridley Scott
24 Points, 3 Votes
Voter comments: A career full of acclaimed films...why this one? The scope. A journey between worlds and religions, while exploring the deeper journey within oneself. Clearly curtailed by editing to make a profitable action film in initial release, the extended director’s cut provides depth to all sides, and raises the stakes for an epic conclusion. This film has been referred to as “Gladiator meets Lord of the Rings”, usually in a mocking derision of mashing the 2 spectacles together. Ridley takes that spectacle and brings gravitas, history, and humanity to it. ~Jedimarine

"What is Jerusalem worth?"

"Nothing...everything."

Definitely my pick for Scott's best historical epic, and while I wish he had gotten to cast Paul Betanny in the lead role as he originally intended, I think Bloom's performance in this is better than some people give him credit for.





94. Witness (1985)
Directed by: Peter Weir
25 Points, 2 Votes
Voter Comments: For me, the luminous quality of the cinematography, the evocative soundtrack, and the wonderful performance of the young Lukas Haas elevate this beyond just a well-made thriller. (My decades-long deep crush on Harrison Ford doesn't hurt either, lol) ~Pensiva

Didn't have this on my list, but this is a really strong pick. A first-rate drama with excellent work from everyone both in front of and behind the camera.





93. Mary Poppins (1964)
Directed by: Robert Stevenson
25 points, 2 Votes
Voter comments: Practically perfect in every way. ~Dagobahsystem

Haven't seen this one since I was a kid, so I don't have much of an opinion.





92. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
25 Points, 2 Votes
Voter comments: None submitted

Watched this when I was a teen and basically thought that the boot camp section was pretty good, but the Vietnam section was less so. Really need to give it another watch at some point.




91. The Thin Man (1934)
Directed by: W.S. Van Dyke
25 Points, 3 Votes
Voter comments: The chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy is fantastic, and I love good dialogue. This movie always makes me smile. ~Soitscometothis

There has never been a better screen couple than William Powell and Myrna Loy. Uproariously hilarious mystery hijinks and insanely great chemistry make this a pure delight.~Havac

"Well, can't you tell us anything about the case?"

"Yes, it's putting me way behind in my drinking."

Nick and Nora Charles are pretty much peak Couple Goals.

 

Lack of love story. Also wanted a love story the brothers weren’t directly involved in.

Another problem, a lot of jokes in Duck Soup the brothers had been using on the radio. Audiences at large didn’t know the earlier Marx Brothers movies were screen adaptations of their stage plays - or that the Marx Brothers tested future movie material at their live shows and on radio appearances, which meant the material was not totally ‘new’ there either.

But the Marx brothers had entered a new level of fame which meant a wider audience for any radio appearance. And Chico and Groucho had a very funny weekly radio show ‘Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel’ that ran for 26 episodes from December 1932 to May 1933. Many jokes from the radio show were reused in Duck Soup. Because of this Duck Soup got bad word of mouth as a retread of old jokes and material people already knew from radio. In the fast changing movie world is 1933 that was enough to make Duck Soup flop and temporarily end the Marx Brothers’ movie career.

Thalberg understood how important testing new material was for the Brothers’ success. That’s why new material for A Night at the Opera had a months long live touring period built into the production timeline. The Marx Brothers could try the comedy in front of live audiences to perfect it without spoiling it for the wider movie audience.

 

Witness would definitely be in my personal top 100 list. I never liked Mary Poppins as a child or seeing it again as an adult. That's 9 of the bottom 10 I like.

 

Try The Zero Theorem.

 

Hm, I can't say I ever cared much about Witness. Maybe I should give it another try.

 

Crazy the amount of work that Director’s Cut label is doing, of necessity. I really like Kingdom of Heaven and I still don’t think I’ve ever seen the theatrical cut.

I think the war portions of Full Metal Jacket are a bit underrated, even if it isn’t Kubrick’s strongest material. It suffers from better portrayals of urban combat existing and that sort of general American reluctance to think about what the **** actually happened in Vietnam. He nearly gets there with the reveal of the sniper’s identity. Nearly.

I should watch The Thin Man but haven’t, it’s probably my bag, baby.

 

Kingdom of Heaven.

Does any movie benefit and improve more from a director’s cut than Kingdom of Heaven? It goes from being roughly equivalent to Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood as a theatrical cut to arguably a better movie than Gladiator in the Directors Cut.

It’s my understanding the shorter theatrical cut exists because 20th Century Fox panicked the movie would flop and hoped a shorter version having more screenings in a day would mean it would lose less money.

Also this is when Liam Neeson becomes a go to mentor character. He becomes that character in Phantom Menace but I believe this is his first appearance where casting Neeson is shorthand for wise sage leader and mentor. In 2005 alone he is in this, Batman Begins and plays Aslan the Lion in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Mary Poppins - is a delightful movie. I last saw it in 2018. It has a magic few movies find. It set a new standard for Disney live action films and animation. The actors do a phenomenal job selling the animated world and making it believable.

 

I like Kingdom of Heaven, but I wouldn't put it on my own best-of list. I know this sounds terribly whiny but it's bothersome to me how ridiculously historically inaccurate films like that are. That said, I agree that the director's cut is vastly superior to the theatrical one.

Witness is great; I'm not sure it's Weir's best one, but it's certainly a contender.

Mary Poppins is charming, sure, and I can see how it's special to people, but again it's not one I'd put on my own best-of list.

Full Metal Jacket is great, especially the first half with Vincent D'Onofrio and R. Lee Ermy. I agree with @Ramza about the second half. But I think it's only my third favorite Kubrick film after 2001 and Dr Strangelove. I picked 2001 for my Kubrick pick.

I have not seen The Thin Man. I'm curious, so I'll put it on my list.

 

I might be one of the few people that actually quite liked the theatrical cut of KoH but yeah the director's cut elevated it to one of my favourites.

 

I hear you. I just see movies like that as being as fantastic as LotR or any Robin Hood movie but taking place in a fictionalized version of history. So it’s still fantasy.

 

Granted.

But sadly, history itself is often historically inaccurate.

If a film like this (or any historical film for that matter) can generate interest in that history, it can lead to better understanding of the details, even through weaknesses in the film narrative, and at the very least, start conversations on the subject matter.

I like the theatrical. And seeing both, I undertand the choices they made in the theatrical cut, even if I don't agree with them.

The Director's Cut is just so much more involved. Really fleshes out the motivations for each character.

 

I think my favorite example of how ridiculous it can get is Red Cliff, which is nonsense, but most people compare it to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is also nonsense but is believed by so many people that it’s truer than the truth. In conclusion, I enjoy the film Kingdom of Heaven.

 

You forgot #4, be a completely bonkers exploitation film that Bob Guccione injects hardcore erotica into to try and boost ticket sales.

 

So I've seen Kingdom of Heaven but not the directors cut, which I know I should see sometimes.

I've seen all the others..Mary Poppins is the best of the bunch. I watched it last year again and then Mary Poppins Returns, and honestly both are great.

So I'm 10/10 so far, or maybe 9.5/10 since I've not seen that particular cut of Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Of flims 91-100, I've seen 7/10 and would recommend them all.

I've not seen Bicycle Thieves or Kingdom of Heaven. And only a few scenes from The Thin Man, so I won't count it.