In Between Days vol. 7

28 Replies to “In Between Days vol. 7”

1. There are about seven films in that list I have yet to see, the most shameful of which being The Godfather.

   1. Seven of the twenty, or seven of mine?
      (And which seven?)

   2. Seven of Twenty (though more of yours):
      – Birth of a Nation
      – 12 Angry Men
      – Vertigo
      – Cabaret
      – The Godfather
      – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
      – Raging Bull

   3. For what it’s worth, I’d make GODFATHER, VERTIGO, and 12 ANGRY MEN the priority.

2. 20 Best FIlms Ever Made, and only two are foreign? I’m just sayin’.

   (I’m always here to point out Ryan’s faults. Great show, btw.)

   1. And your ten are…?

   2. You know what, you are absolutely right on this one. For some damn reason I only had English language films in my head. Maybe we should do a follow-up episode in a year with ONLY foreign stuff. I’d say “M” and probably “In the Mood for Loe” deserve to be on this list.

   3. After I watch a few more of the French essentials this summer, who knows where my brain will go.

      I was close to including 8 1/2 as well.

      IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE…damn, that’s a good one!

3. The only movie I haven’t seen from that list is Cabaret. I know, sad.

   1. Get on it-
      It’ll blow your mind.

4. I’m with Corey on this one. I agree with your reasons why you both chose your specific movies (it IS a personal list after all), but it’s strongly Hollywood-based. I haven’t seen 12 Angry Men or all of Birth of a Nation (From what I’ve seen of Birth of a Nation, Broken Blossoms is a better Griffith film from 1919 and also horrendously racist). There are films that were hammered into my head because they were the “best” in X, Y, and Z over 4 years in Film Studies.

   Making a top 10 is harder than it looks:

   Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
   Citizen Kane
   Battleship Potemkin
   M
   Peeping Tom
   Cabaret
   The Searchers
   Rashomon
   Inception
   The Passion of Joan of Arc

   Thanks for starting a great discussion with this podcast.

5. Also, The Life of Emile Zola is a pretty good biopic with a great screenplay. Paul Muni is terrific in it. Worth a watch.

   1. I’m sure ZOLA’s worth a watch, and actually do want to see it some day. My only point is that as amazing as it is, it isn’t as large a part of the history of cinema that SNOW WHITE is.

      Your ten fascinates me for many reasons, not the least of which is the bold inclusion of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and INCEPTION (not that I’d argue with either of ’em).

6. I have to applaud you guys doing this, I can never make a list like this. Picking top 10 of the year is hard enough, top ten of all-time is almost impossible. My top 10 today would be different from my top 10 tomorrow. There are just a lot of great movies made in the last 100 years or so. The list you guys made are really solid, can’t really argue with them. The one movie I would put in is Casablanca, a pretty simple story, yet it works masterfully. Sometimes that’s harder to do right?

   Having said that, I am not sure I would put Birth Of A Nation there, yes it’s the first feature film, but there are better films made since and less racist ones too, and 3 hour plus is a lot of hate that I don’t need to see in my lifetime.

   1. CASABLANCA was really hard for me to leave out, especially since the writing in it is so darned good. I think I was subconciously trying to get away from the cliche answers and already had 2001, KANE, and GODFATHER.

      One of these days, I’ll give BOAN a watch just to scratch it off the list.

7. Per Sight & Sound, Ryan’s list is better. He has three in common with their new list, and Andrew has none. 🙂

   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19078948

   (Just kidding; I think both your lists are pretty solid. Still gotta find time to actually listen to the podcast. Argh.)

   1. Geez, and here was me thinking that *you’d* be one of the first to listen and school us in how poor our choices were! (Been a few days though – listened yet?)

      There are a lot on Andrew’s list I was surprised didn’t make the cut – METROPOLIS in particular.

   2. Finally listened this morning; thanks for shaming me…uh, I mean, REMINDING me about it. 🙂

      I would get on you for the “1930s silents” comment, but you already got alerted to that on Twitter, so I won’t bother. I will say, though, that there are plenty of good reasons for the critical shift over to Intolerance from The Birth of a Nation besides the racism in Birth. I’m sure that’s part of it, but I also think Intolerance is a quite a bit better movie. Birth gains a bit in terms of primacy and forging the narrative style of American feature films, but Intolerance definitely holds up better today and is incredibly ambitious in terms of narrative and thematic structure. That’s one of the reasons it wasn’t well-received at the time – it was even further ahead of its time than Birth.

      I’m with Andrew on The Godfather. I’ve seen it two or three times, and I can appreciate what it’s doing, but it mostly bores me. Godfather Part II works much better for me, especially the Vito parts (the Michael parts still bore me, though I do like how the two parts thematically parallel each other).

      In the wake of this, I tried making my own Best list, but it’s freaking hard. Let’s see…

      Sherlock Jr.
      Metropolis
      Modern Times
      Singin’ in the Rain
      Duck Amuck (Yes, I’d probably have Looney Tunes on my list. Deal.)
      Rear Window
      Vertigo
      The 400 Blows
      Bonnie & Clyde
      2001: A Space Odyssey

      Is that 10 already? Damn. And heh, my newest one is the same as Sight & Sound’s. I didn’t do that on purpose.

   3. Not so easy to make these lists, is it?

      One of these days I’ll get around to watching both NATION and INTOLERANCE and then I’ll be able to craft an informed opinion. Until then, I’ll just defer to you.

      One thing that interests me about your list is the fact that you have *a pair* of Hitchcock’s! For you he’s that influential, eh? Not that I’d argue the position, I just find it fascinating.

      Speaking of influential, I’m off to finally watch BREATHLESS for the first time…

   4. Hitchcock is my favorite director of all time. If I had to choose just one of his to put in, it’d be Rear Window (which is my favorite film of all time), but I have something like six Hitchcock films in my own personal Top 100, and two or three more that could easily slip in there. So, yeah. 🙂

      Interestingly enough, the only other director who has even close to that many films in my Top 100 is Jean-Luc Godard. 🙂 It took me a few watches to get into Breathless, but it’s among those top ones now. Hope you enjoy it!

      1. Interests me that you say BREATHLESS took a few watches – I fell pretty hard for it after seeing it last week. I *do* want to give it more watches, but only in that going-back-for-a-second-piece-of-pie sorta way.

         (Mmmmm…pie!)

         So since you’re feeling chatty on the subject, I vote you leave me some feedback on Matineecast 65, since the S&S poll was the feedback question in that episode, and feedback is a wee bit low.

         Help a brother out?

8. I’ve seen all but one of these (Cabaret), which means that the list is brilliant! Seriously, it was cool to hear both of you covering such a variety of movies and not having a consensus. It shows how many classic films are out there. Andrew’s inclusion of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was great to see. What Disney and his animators accomplished with that movie remains incredible today, especially given the constraints.

   2001 is a really interesting case. I caught it on TV a long time ago and didn’t like it, but my opinion changed completely when I saw it on the big screen during an anniversary re-release. It might not make my Top 10, but I can’t argue with Kubrick’s achievements.

   1. I know what you mean about 2001. I’ve had *a lot* of discussions/arguments about it in the last 18 months, and I think what has me on a different side of the fence than most is how I’ve been lucky enough to see it on a big screen.

      That, or I’m just the pretentious ass everyone accuses me of being.

      Do track down CABARET – it has aged wonderfully in 40 years. And thanks for listening sir! I underplayed it on tape, but I was super-excited to be recording this episode face-to-face with someone I’ve only ever spoken with on a Skype connection.

   2. Actually, Cabaret is my List of Shame/Blind Spots series movie for October, so I’ll be checking it out in a few months.

      I can imagine it was exciting to meet him in person. I’ve yet to meet another blogger beyond Skype, so that will be fun at some point.

   3. Well my ballpark tour still hasn’t taken me to the KC/StL doubleheader yet, so when I get around to that stop, I’ll make sure I keep a few hours free in my schedule.

      1. Definitely! I’m a big Cards fan, and John from TDYLF is here too. Busch Stadium is worth seeing, even if it isn’t as great as the first one.

9. Way late to this but just wanted to say well done, great conversation, even learned some things. You guys work well together.

   Inspired to cobble my own Top Ten (in no particular order):

   Passion of Jeanne D’Arc
   The 400 Blows
   Alien
   Seven Samurai
   Dr Strangelove
   Tree of Life
   The Searchers
   Singin in the Rain
   Jaws
   The Bicycle Thief

   1. Thanks for tuning in Rot – better late than never! Gives me a smile to hear about how well I work with someone who I’ve only met face-to-face once (with that once being what you just listened to!).

      Great list you have there – though I haven’t watched Passion yet. Ballsy choice w. TREE OF LIFE!

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