Daniel M's Top 100 - 2014

Not seen The Man Who Fell To Earth, but some really good choices there.

It's a Wonderful Life is a good film, though I'm not a big fan of the ending.

Awesome set, I've seen all but It's a Wonderful Life, and I appreciate all the other four except The Man Who Fell From Earth, which I found weird, just weird not surreal. Actually had a very similar reaction as I did to Under the Skin. I adore Touch of Evil and Elephant Man, T.O.E is by far my favorite Welles film actually. Breathless is my favorite Godard, and from what I've seen the only one I truly like, and honestly doubt there will be any more.

Great picks. I love Breathless but have yet to watch The Man Who Fell From Earth.

And once again you illustrate your impeccable taste with five more excellent films.

It's a Wonderful Life isn't a personal favorite, but it's a great film. James Stewart is up there with Bogart as one of my favorite actors from the classic era, so it's cool to hear that you like him too.

If Breathless isn't your favorite Godard, I'll be curious to see what ranks higher. It's easily my favorite from the director, who tends to make films I either love or loathe, with seemingly very little in between.

Touch of Evil would rank inside my own top 100. Amazing film. It's too bad a lot of people nowadays can't look past the whole Charlton Heston as a Mexican thing.

I wanted to like The Man Who Fell to Earth more than I did. Bowie is one of my favorite musical artists, and his screen presence kept me interested, but despite a few interesting scenes and visual flourishes, I found the film way too long and too meandering. I still enjoyed it, but I had higher expectations. Check out Performance, if you haven't seen it, also directed by Roeg and starring another iconic rock star: Mick Jagger. It was on my 70' list.

You're spot on with your write-up about The Elephant Man. It's not my personal favorite from Lynch, but I might consider it his best. I watched it again a few weeks ago and once again found myself struggling not to cry. The Romeo & Juliet scene gets me every time.

Touch Of Evil, The Elephant Man and The Man Who Fell To Earth?

Honeykid, being positive? What is this? But thank you I thought you might like a couple in this set, I think I recall you saying that Touch of Evil was just on the outskirts of your own top 100, so you must like it a lot.

Ugh. This list is awesome. Not that I'm surprised

Peter Greenaway's experimental film won't be for everyone, but I love his attempt in challenging the formal construction of a film as he creates fascinating images as he mixes the various elements within the frame, focusing - as the title suggests - on numbers and patterns.
The first horror film to appear on my list, and it definitely won't be the last. Like many great horrors, Polanski focusses on suspense and the unseen in order to build up atmosphere and make the ending truly frightening. Fantastic performances by a paranoid Mia Farrow and a slightly insane and very creepy Ruth Gordon make Rosemary's struggle seem all the more terrifying.
Taking aim at Hollywood, the film looks at a fading silent film star, Gloria Swanson, who gives a towering performance as a desperate and intimidating character. Mixed in with usual noir conventions with the story starting with our dead narrator, Wilder pulls no punches in getting his acerbic message across.
"Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money - and a woman - and I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it?"

Unlike Sunset Boulevard, this is pure film noir, focusing on a complex plot to gain money, with a scheming femme fatale at the centre of it all. Fred MacMurray is great as the salesmen who tragically falls into the plot. The film has everything you could ever want from a noir, with another delicious Wilder script. It is very similar to Sunset Boulevard in terms of narrative, starting at the end in order for us to develop more sympathy for the main character that succumbs to something greater than him.

That's an interesting point about The King of Comedy actually, reading Roger Ebert's review and what he writes about it in his book, he feels similarly to you about Taxi Driver, he finds TKOC to be uncomfortable and disturbing, and can't find humor or likability at all in De Niro's character. I have seen Taxi Driver a few times and I do find it very creepy, disturbing and at times unsettling, but on more recent viewings I have found it more funny, and I think it's brilliant how Travis's character is written so seriously.

And nope I haven't seen any other full features by Bunuel, I certainly need to as I think I would enjoy them.

I don't like Airplane.

Despite my mum's telling me every year that I need to watch this for Christmas, and my love for James Stewart, it was not until late last year that I finally got around to watching this film. I twas everything that I expected it to be, one of the greatest feel good happy films I have seen, a real heartful human film that I do not see how anyone can dislike.

A very different noir from the the titles that have already made my list, Touch of Evil is a much more darker 'sleazier' style of film, it's gritty and it's messy in a B film type way, it is about corruption and true evil. Beauitfully shot with deep composition and one of the greatest tracking shots of all time, Orson Welles is brilliant both in front and behind the camera.