SCFZ

City for Conquest (Anatole Litvak, 1940) 8/10 My second Litvak (first was the great Sorry Wrong Number years ago). A very competent directing turn from Litvak as he leads this sentimental tale with grace and confidence. James Cagney is magnificent in his role as a truck driver turned boxer and Ann ...

Incredibly sad about Jonas Mekas. And I am sure so is everyone in Lithuania. I have seen him in person once on one of his visits back to Lithuania. His daughter Oona Mekas has starred in a film The Gambler (2014, not the Mark Wahlberg one) and learned all her lines in Lithuanian. It was a really dec...

For a moment I thought about Manoel de Oliveira, but I'm not sure..

Spielberg's or not, I think Poltergeist is just a bad film. One of the worst horror films of the 80s.

Seen 23:

Munich (one of the best films of the 21st century)
A.I.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jaws
Bridge of Spies

Worst by a mile: War of the Worlds

Maybe I'm overthinking and some of these are not worthy or prolific enough, but anyway, even more names not mentioned yet: Roman Polanski Emir Kusturica Milos Forman Bertrand Tavernier Michael Haneke François Ozon Costa-Gavras Jules Dassin Don Siegel Blake Edwards William Friedkin Spike Lee Sam Peck...

Lesley Manville is a true standout in Another Year. And she upstages not just anyone, but Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen.

Seen 2:

Mr. Turner


But I also loved Another Year. Might watch two more if I find enough time (possibly Career Girls and High Hopes).

Provisional list:

The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin)
You Ought to Be in Pictures (Friz Freleng)
Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock)

Final list: 1. Léon: The Professional (Luc Besson) Bullets Over Broadway (Woody Allen) Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino) Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai) Serial Mom (John Waters) Reality Bites (Ben Stiller) The Mask (Chuck Russell) It Could Happen to You (Andrew Bergman) Blue Chips (William Friedkin)...

more to consider:

Mike Nichols
James Ivory
Atom Egoyan
Frank Lloyd
Delbert Mann
Norman Taurog
Lewis Milestone
Franklin J. Schaffner
Victor Fleming
George Roy Hill
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Bernardo Bertolucci

Watched two 1994 entries, but both won't make it to the final list. Don't Drink the Water (Woody Allen, 1994) 6/10 One of the weakest from Woody for sure, but it still delivers some quality jokes here and there + it stars Julie Kavner. Against the Wall (John Frankenheimer, 1994) 5/10 Frankenheimer's...

Seen 8:

Dead Ringers
A Dangerous Method
A History of Violence
The Fly

Worst: Maps to the Stars (strong contender for the worst film of the 21st century)

Thanks, Kanafani!

Arunas Matelis and Audrius Stonys are two really good documentary filmmakers. It's a shame that their work isn't easily accessible and most likely not available with English subtitles.

Matelis won Directors Guild of America award for Before Flying Back to Earth.

@kanafani , what are those 2 Lithuanian films that made it to SCFZ Highest Rated 1000?

I guess both films are from Sarunas Bartas.

Great stats, Kanafani! I know I tend to go with Hollywood films, but I adore SCFZ as an encyclopedia of world cinema and a great community as a whole. Most of the guidance I get in film exploration (lesser-known US films included) stems from SCFZ and its users. Keep up with whatever ideas for stats ...

Some more suggestions:

Norman Jewison
Henry King
Anatole Litvak

I stand with Rango. One of the best films of the 21st century. Characterization, writing, music and that unique Gore Verbinski touch.

flip wrote: ↑Mon Dec 31, 2018 12:03 pm silga - you can pick the next director if you like!

David Cronenberg

Seen 4:

Carlos
Clouds of Sils Maria

December 2018 10 films In a cinema Re-watch *** The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) 10/10 China Moon (John Bailey, 1994) 5/10 The Enemy Within (Jonathan Darby, 1994) 4/10 Palmetto (Volker Schlöndorff, 1998) 8/10 Final Score (Scott Mann, 2018) 3/10 Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018) 4/10 W...

I like Matchstick Men well enough. Even re-watched it again this year. But I wouldn't call it a top tier Scott film. It has great performances, but the pacing of the film is where its problems lie.

China Moon (John Bailey, 1994) 5/10 Not much to admire in this one. A rather pedestrian neo-noir with tired clichés, missed opportunities and so on. What's likeable is, of course, Benicio del Toro and Madeleine Stowe. Well, to be frank, Stowe is so distractingly beautiful that it makes one forget a...

Other anticipated films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po0vls18Koc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D3_PMP8W4E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOCpXuHQAZQ&t https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0paBosD04mM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBobnheFIA4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WI49OA3BjU https...

Trailer for Jordan Peele's film Us looks interesting. I loved Get Out so looking forward to his new film as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNCmb-4oXJA

What films are you looking forward to in 2019?

More directors not mentioned yet:

Billy Wilder
Fred Zinnemann
Mark Robson
Peter Bogdanovich
George Stevens
Robert Wise
J. Lee Thompson
Tony Richardson
Martin Ritt
Robert Mulligan
Sydney Pollack
Jonathan Demme
Carol Reed
Oliver Stone
David Fincher
Tim Burton
David Mamet
Tony Scott

Top 100: The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin, 1940) Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper, 1942) Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943) The Seventh Victim (Mark Robson, 1943) Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944) The Stranger (Orson Welles, 1946) The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946) Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946...

Hey, @wba , so should we be going with the original list from 1998 or the updated one from 2007?

Not much difference to me though.

There are 3 films that I wouldn't be able to use if we go with 2007, and equally so - 3 films open up for a jump on the list.

Provisional list: 1. Léon: The Professional (Luc Besson) Bullets Over Broadway (Woody Allen) Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino) Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai) Serial Mom (John Waters) Reality Bites (Ben Stiller) The Mask (Chuck Russell) It Could Happen to You (Andrew Bergman) Blue Chips (William Fri...