For the first time ever, we have a tie in the poll results:
THE RESULTS:
– The Dark Knight Rises: 6 votes
– Moonrise Kingdom: 6 votes
– The Avengers: 4 votes
– The Intouchables: 2 votes
– The Hunger Games: 2 votes
– Beasts of the Southern Wild: 1 vote
– Brave: 1 vote
– Chronicle: 1 vote
– The Grey: 1 vote
– Prometheus: 1 vote
– The Raid: Redemption: 1 vote
– Ted: 1 vote
Wow. Love the diversity this time! So many good films were represented, and this was a pretty tight race throughout. It will be interesting to see how these results compare to the end of the year. The fall/winter lineup is looking pretty stacked, so we might not even see most of these make an appearance. Either way, it has been a fun year and it’s only going to get better.
This Week’s Poll: For the last couple weeks, the film world has been abuzz thanks to the latest results of the Sight and Sound critics’ poll. In a bit of a shocker, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo was selected as the greatest film of all time, finally dethroning the legendary Citizen Kane. My question for you is, what do you consider the better film? Do you agree with this change?
WEEKEND ROUNDUP:
I had a pretty quiet, but active, weekend. I still found time to catch a handful of movies, including a classic matinee in the theater: a new 35mm print screening of The French Connection. Here’s the rundown of what I saw:
Once Brothers: This ESPN 30 for 30 documentary is one of the best I have seen from the series. Really moving story about Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic, former NBA stars and members of the Yugoslavian national team, whose friendship was soured thanks to the war between their home countries of Serbia and Croatia, respectively. Sadly, Petrovic died at age 28 before they could reconcile. Highly recommended. 8/10
O Brother, Where Art Thou?: Part of the 50 Movies Project. Will be writing about it soon.
Singin’ in the Rain: See above. Will save my thoughts for later, but I will say this: my girlfriend loved the hell out of it.
The French Connection: Loved it, and glad I saw it on the big screen. Everyone talks about the big car chase scene, but there’s a lot more to this. Just thrilling from beginning to end, and you can’t go wrong with pairing Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider together. 9/10
A Woman is a Woman: Second Godard film I have seen. Playful and silly, this is a peculiar effort that tries many different techniques. I wasn’t a fan of some of the weird music editing, but for the most part I enjoyed this. 7/10
Actually, I’m kind of surprised that I was able to fit in five movies this weekend. That’s more than I had seen all month. All in all, a good weekend with a lot less work than usual.
How about you guys? What did you see over the weekend? Did you hit the cinema?
I saw a lot of deaths this weekend ha ha, as I watched Assault on Precinct 13 (1976).
I also watched a film with no killiing at all, which was a lot funnier than expected, Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936)
I’m pretty convinced The Dark Knight Rises will be somewhere on my best films of 2012 list.
Oh man, those are two great films right there. Saw both of them for the first time this year, too. Assault on Precinct 13 is a close second for my favorite Carpenter film, and Modern Times is a lot of fun. That’s a good weekend!
So glad DKR didn’t win this one!
5 is a lot to watch in a week let alone a weekend, nice work. We’re debating whether to go to the prometheus/alien double feature that’s showing tonight despite the underwhelming experience of the first screening of prometheus.
Kane by the way. Once in film school I told a tutor I thought it was boring. He never gave me a good grade again. I can see why the backlash against Kane I suppose but really it’s incredible.
You know, I’m still scratching my head as to why so many people are against Citizen Kane these days. That was one of the first B&W films I saw, and it made me realize that hey, some of these classics are pretty damn good. In a way, watching that in film class catapulted me into being such a film lover today. It really is an incredible movie.
I like that two very different movies got equal vote. Glad you love The French Connection. I saw it for the first time recently too and I could see why it’s a classic! I’ll be seeing Singin’ in the Rain on the big screen for the first time next week, can’t wait!
Oh, nice! I think you’ll love Singin’ in the Rain, Ruth. Hope you do a writeup on that one 🙂
Nice round up. Okay, question… I see that 30 for 30 is now available on Netflix. What are your top 5? I’ve seen The Two Escobars… that’s it.
Really looking to check a few of those out!
Great question. I’m still working my way through all 30, and I think I have seen seven so far. Of those, my favorites are Once Brothers, The Two Escobars, Winning Time (about the trash talking between Reggie Miller and Spike Lee, and the Pacers/Knicks rivalry in the 90s) and Without Bias (the tragic story of Len Bias, who died of an overdose two days after being drafted to the NBA).
I haven’t seen a bad one yet, and from the sounds of it most are quite good. If any story catches your eye, I say go for it. 🙂
Nice, thanks for the reccos. Watched Winning Time last night, really enjoyed it.
No problem, man, glad to help. I figured you might get a kick out of Winning Time since you’re a Spike Lee fan. 🙂
I’m going to have to abstain, since I haven’t seen Citizen Kane yet, so I can’t which is better. I will say, though that Vertigo is a fantastic film, and it’s not that surprising to see it take the top spot.
No problem, Morgan. Both are amazing films, and I can’t argue with either being the top choice. Hope you’re able to catch Citizen Kane sometime soon.
A little bit jealous you got to see The French Connection on the big screen. Excellent way to see it! You’re totally right about the pairing of Hackman and Schneider – loved watching the two of them play off each other.
It actually worked out quite well because I remember you, Ruth and a couple others writing about that one recently. Definitely piqued my interest, and the movie was a lot of fun.
Yey for tDKR! In new poll Vertigo for me, I never got the love for Kane.
Ah, really? It’s a tough call for me, as I love both films quite a bit. I think it’s nice to have some change at the top, though.
What!?! No votes for Wanderlust!?!
Haha, not this time. 🙂