Rolling Stone declares The Sopranos the greatest TV show

Alright, everyone gather 'round, we have another Top 100 list to fight over.

This time, Rolling Stone put together its list of what it considers the greatest television shows of all time . The top of the list is pretty much what you'd expect – The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Simpsons, et al. – but as with all these similar lists, we liked seeing that rounded out the rest of the top 100. Rolling Stone included game shows, talk shows, animation, and reality TV in addition to scripted series, so they cast a wide net.

Best of all, Rolling Stone didn't intentionally try to get such an eclectic mix. They sent ballots out to a wide range of television industry figures, and the results they got back just happened to be such a jumble. It reflects well on the past, present, and current state of television: even if the Difficult Men genre still gets the most accolades, TV is a unique space where Jeopardy and The Golden Girls can live side-by-side.

BBC critics poll names the top movies of the century

Time for another list of great films as decided by critics! This time, the BBC asked critics to name the best films of this century. David Lynch's Mulholland Drive tops their selections, and it gets more eclectic the deeper you look.

Compared with similar lists about the golden age of Hollywood, BBC's list has an immediately greater range of expression and ideas. Two international films appear in the top five, including one that's animated (Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away). Elsewhere in the top 25 films, you can find documentaries (The Act of Killing), action movies (Mad Max: Fury Road), and off-the-wall experiments (Holy Motors). And again, the large number of international films is unique among other American-centric lists.

We can't complain much about omissions from this list because of the remarkably wide net it casts. Spring Breakers, Before Sunset, and The Turin Horse all land near each other, and that seems like a pretty great microcosm of film.

We have most if all of these films in our collection. Here's ten call numbers for their top ten:

1. Mulholland Drive – HU DVD 382
2. In the Mood for Love – HU DVD 1520
3. There Will Be Blood – HU DVD 4196
4. Spirited Away – HU DVD 586
5. Boyhood – HU DVD 11713
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – HU DVD 1020
7. The Tree of Life – HU DVD 9230
8. Yi Yi: A One and a Two – HU DVD 1114
9. A Separation – HU DVD 10336
10. No Country for Old Men – HU DVD 3982

Entertainment Weekly crowns Citizen Kane, The Wire the greatest

Many organizations – Sight & Sound, the AFI, and IMDb to name a few – have created lists of what they consider the greatest films of all time. Now add Entertainment Weekly to that list. On Sunday, the weekly media magazine published a list of, in the view of its editorial staff, the greatest movies and television shows of all time.

The top choices are no surprise. Citizen Kane and The Wire were voted the best in their respective categories; The Godfather, The Simpsons, Casablanca, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, et al. round out the top ten. But their lists gave a few wild cards too, like the inclusion of the lost 1950 variety hour Your Show of Shows as the tenth best television program. Entertainment Weekly's site also includes an article about how the publication went about choosing their list.

Though EW's website does not produce the lists in full outside their print edition, they're worth seeking out. Though imperfect, Entertainment Weekly's lists are a complete critical assessment of the history of two mediums, stretching from their earliest days to the present.

Time Out New York crowns the greatest New York films

Here's your controversial (if slightly old) link of the day: Time Out New York has compiled a list of the top 100 movies set in New York City. They put together a fairly complete list – but of course, you can dispute the ones at the top. Judging by the comments section, there are some notable omissions. And The Godfather at #41?

Read on for a spoilerful list of their Top 10 with their call numbers in our collection...

2012 Sight & Sound poll: Citizen Kane toppled!

Sight & Sound, the esteemed film magazine that polls critics and other professionals every ten years about the greatest films of all time, has released the results of their 2012 survey. For the first time in 60 years, Citizen Kane is no longer the number one film on the list! Vertigo now takes the top honor, while The Godfather got a surprise snub after Sight & Sound rewrote the ballot rules.

This isn't just some random Internet poll: Sight & Sound's poll is the most significant and respected film survey. It's the reason why Citizen Kane is often considered the de facto greatest film of all time -- a mantle that Vertigo will now have to take up!

Reservoir Dogs - Homage or Stealing?

Quentin Tarantino has always been a derisive filmmaker. However, what few of his fans know is how his love of cinema, back when he was a video store clerk may have made too much of an impression on his future films:

http://current.com/shows/the-rotten-tomatoes-show/92405892_reservoir-dogs-homage-or-stealing.htm

City on Fire vs. Reservoir Dogs (15th Anniversary)

A list of the 100 greatest movie posters...

Very cool stuff.

http://www.tccandler.com/best-posters/greatest-movie-posters/

#3.Pulp Fiction Movie Poster

#2.Chinatown Movie Poster
#1.The Sin of Nora Moran Movie Poster

Classic Movies Not on DVD

We've created a big wiki of classic, cult, guilty pleasure, and otherwise favorite films (700+ titles) that have yet to make it to DVD in the US. Take a look and feel welcome to add titles that we've missed.

Among the titles on this list, here's a sampling of what we have on VHS and are recommended viewing:

African Queen VHS 112
Alsino and the Condor VHS 6216
Antonio das Mortes VHS 568
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez VHS 375
Blue Dahlia VHS 3075
A Brief History of Time VHS 4999
Brighton Rock VHS 6798
Celine and Julie Go Boating VHS 4482
Cul-de-sac VHS 3004
David Holzman's Diary VHS 3584
The Glass Key VHS 4555
Homicide VHS 5092
India Song VHS 3703
Ironweed VHS 1954
Johnny Guitar VHS 5268
Lonely Are the Brave VHS 1630
Ministry of Fear VHS 5226
Paisan VHS 2731
Streetwise VHS 205
Underworld USA VHS 4589

Classics Not On DVD Wiki

TSPDT's "Greatest 1,000 Films" grouped by All-Movie Guide genres

They Shoot Pictures Don't They's "Greatest 1,000 Films" grouped by All-Movie Guide genres, keywords, themes and tones.

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/Top1000Films_AMG%20Breakdown.pdf

Guilty Pleasures - 100 Best Directors Ever lists - this one according to UK film rag Total Film

These are fun to read, mostly for the surprises in the countdown, but ultimately don't mean anything. I know you're curious so I won't spoil it.

link

79th Academy Awards Documentary Short List is Out

It's been a busy semester and the blog has been a little neglected but now that the winter break is approaching there will be more time for updates (I hope). Anyway here's the shortlist of documentaries under consideration for Best Documentary. I'm unfamiliar with a majority of them.

“Blindsight”
“Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?”
“Deliver Us from Evil”
“The Ground Truth”
“An Inconvenient Truth”
“Iraq in Fragments”
“Jesus Camp”
“Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple”
“My Country, My Country”
“Shut Up & Sing”
“Sisters in Law”
“Storm of Emotions”
“The Trials of Darryl Hunt”
“An Unreasonable Man”
“The War Tapes”

link

(Best Documentary Feature/PowerPoint Demonstration nominee An Inconvenient Truth)


update
The full list of Academy Award Nominees is now out.

link

'nother list: This time it's Roger Ebert's 101 Movies you must see before ...

The criterion is different from his list of the greatest films in that he chose titles for their cultural significance. Included are lesser films that nevertheless attained iconic status including Carrie, The Crying Game, Easy Rider, The Exorcist, and Fight Club. Most major directors are represented by no more than a single film, intentionally.

My quibble is that the list still errs on the arty side, disregarding comedies other than older films such as Duck Soup and Some Like It Hot and action films. Excluded films like American Grafitti, Animal House, Rocky, Rambo, and Brian de Palma's Scarface are certainly more widely known and referenced in American and global culture than such art-house darlings as The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeousie and Children of Paradise.

link

“The 50 Greatest Independent Films”

A British film website called Empire Online has a list of what they deem “The 50 Greatest Independent Films” Here it is along with Media Services call numbers for the ones we own.

In countdown order:

50. El Mariachi VHS 2947
49. Run Lola Run DVD 92
48. Cube DVD 78
47. Blood Feast
46. Texas Chainsaw Massacre DVD 352
45. Mad Max (Library owns Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior VHS 3155)
44. Amores Perros DVD 262
43. Shadows DVD 1390
42. Swingers VHS 5429
41. Dead Man’s Shoes
40. The Descent
39. The Passion of the Christ DVD 943
38. Grosse Point Blank
37. Being John Malkovich DVD 91
36. Buffalo ’66
35. THX-1138 DVD 1401
34. The Blair Witch Project DVD 24
33. Shallow Grave - on order
32. Two-Lane Blacktop VHS 5770
31. Pink Flamingos VHS 4638
30. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss’ Song VHS 4318
29. Bad Lieutenant
28. In the Company of Men
27. Dark Star
26. Lost in Translation DVD 741
25. Drugstore Cowboy VHS 3260
24. Happiness VHS 7040
23. Evil Dead (Library owns Evil Dead II – DVD 926)
22. Nosferatu DVD 393
21. Roger and Me DVD 1166
20. Slacker DVD 1347
19. Lone Star DVD 379
18. Withnail and I
17. City of God DVD 849
16. She’s Gotta Have It VDD 111 (laserdisc)
15. Blood Simple VHS 2648
14. Stranger Than Paradise DVD 144
13. Memento DVD 256
12. Eraserhead DVD 1491
11. Bad Taste
10. Mean Streets DVD 1813
9. Sideways DVD 1316
8. The Usual Suspects DVD 1671
7. Sex, Lies, and Videotape DVD 383
6. Night of the Living Dead DVD 600
5. Monty Python’s Life of Brian DVD 970
4. Clerks VHS 4389
3. The Terminator VHS 3416
2. Donnie Darko DVD 381
1. Reservoir Dogs VHS 2915

link

The 1000 greatest films

A site that you will want to browse at least once is They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? if for no other reason than to marvel at their 1000 greatest films project. The list has been compiled by using the lists of over 1,000 individual critics' and filmmakers' top-tens from numerous film polls conducted by many sources such as Sight & Sound, Time Out, Village Voice, and Facets. For those with more contemporary tastes, they've also recently added The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films. A list of 250 titles.