General Discussion : Top 20 movies of the Malick era

[djross]

Terrence Malick's fifth film in 38 years is about to be released, after several years of anticipation. There is already a thread discussing the top 20 movies released since Quentin Tarantino began his feature filmmaking career (in 1992), but I thought it might be interesting to try the same exercise in relation to Malick's career, which began in 1973.

That said, I am immediately going to cheat, and include 21 movies on my list (out of 1868 currently ranked from that period).

Twenty best movies: 1973 - 2011

100. Breaking the Waves
100. Scenes from a Marriage
100. The Thin Red Line
99. Shoah
98. Hitler - ein Film aus Deutschland
97. Blue Velvet
97. The Mirror
97. Taxi Driver
96. Annie Hall
96. Close-Up
96. Irreversible
95. Badlands
95. California Split
95. Husbands and Wives
94. The Century of the Self
94. Days of Heaven
94. Fanny and Alexander
94. Goodfellas
94. The Long Goodbye
94. Raging Bull
94. The Wind Will Carry Us

So, in terms of directors, the multiple inclusions are as follows:

3. Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, Badlands, Days of Heaven)
3. Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull)
2. Ingmar Bergman (Scenes from a Marriage, Fanny and Alexander)
2. Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Husbands and Wives)
2. Abbas Kiarostami (Close-Up, The Wind Will Carry Us)
2. Robert Altman (California Split, The Long Goodbye)

For me, then, despite his small output, three of his four movies make it into the top twenty (or rather, 21) movies of the last 38 years. The upcoming release of The Tree of Life is thus an event about which it is difficult not to have high expectations. Whether the new movie will join this list is another question, to be answered in the next couple of months.

[green man]

neat idea

100 Trust (1990)
100 Three Colors: Red (1994)
99 High Plains Drifter (1973)
98 Im Lauf der Zeit (1976)
98 Lost in Translation (2003)
97 Henry Fool (1997)
97 The Thin Red Line (1998)
96 Three Colors: Blue (1993)
96 Scenes From a Marriage (1973)
95 Dead Man (1995)
95 Wings of Desire (1987)
95 Brand Upon the Brain! (2006)
95 Apocalypse Now (1979)
94 Paper Moon (1973)
94 The Double Life of Veronique (1991)
94 Somewhere (2010)
94 Badlands (1973)
94 Annie Hall (1977)
93 Alice (1988)
93 Husbands and Wives (1992)

wow 1973 is a really awesome year

[FitFortDanga]

Scenes From a Marriage (1973) 100
Time of the Gypsies (1988) 100
Fanny and Alexander (1982) 99
The Hole (1998) 99
Sátántangó (1994) 99
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) 99
A Woman Under the Influence (1974) 99
Apocalypse Now (1979) 98
House (1977) 98
The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000) 98
The Wicker Man (1973) 98
American Movie (1999) 97
Devils on the Doorstep (2000) 97
Eraserhead (1977) 97
Network (1976) 97
The Scent of Green Papaya (1993) 97
Three Colors: Blue (1993) 97
Visage (2009) 97

That's only 18, but there's too many rated 96 to just pick two of them.

[TheDenizen]

Apparently I've never seen a Malick film, though Badlands has been on my wishlist for a while now.

Anyhoo: by pushing back the start date by almost 20 years, my list now includes all kinds of Kung Fu classics from the late 70's/early 80s. I have rated 28 films from this time frame at a perfect 100, so I'll list them all in alphabetical order.

The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)
Aliens (1986)
Blade Runner (1982)
Brazil (1985)
The Bride with White Hair (1993)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Fist of Legend (1994)
Hard Boiled (1992)
Heroes of the East (1979)
Knockabout (1979)
The Legend of Drunken Master (1994)
Léon: The Professional (1994)
The Lord of the Rings: The … (2002)
Mad Monkey Kung Fu (1979)
Magnificent Butcher (1979)
Naked (1993)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
The Protector (2005)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Ran (1985)
RoboCop (1987)
The Shaolin Temple (1982)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
The Terminator (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
The Young Master (1980)

[CoinQuatro]

exactly like my usual list, as there's only one pre-1973 movie in my top 40 anyway...

1. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)
2. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
3. Falkenberg Farewell (Jesper Ganslandt, 2006)
4. Bombay Beach (Alma Har'el, 2011)
5. 21 Grams (Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, 2003)
6. Lost in Translation (Sophia Coppola, 2003)
7. Mauvais Sang (Leos Carax, 1986)
8. Import Export (Ulrich Seidl, 2007)
9. Edvard Munch (Peter Watkins, 1974)
10. The Brown Bunny (Vincent Gallo, 2003)
11. Glue (Alexis Dos Santos, 2006)
12. Un Lac (Philippe Grandrieux, 2008)
13. Mitte Ende August (Sebastian Schipper, 2009)
14. Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001)
15. Irréversible (Gaspar Noé, 2002)
16. Sombre (Philippe Grandrieux, 1998)
17. Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002)
18. Reprise (Joachim Trier, 2006)
19. The Wayward Cloud (Tsai Ming Liang, 2005)
20. Buffalo '66 (Vincent Gallo, 1998)

[jeff_v]

From 3082 rated in that period:

Taxi Driver (1976), 100
Once Upon a Time in America (1984), 100
The Godfather, Part II (1974), 100
Raising Arizona (1987), 100
Chinatown (1974), 99
Blue Velvet (1986), 98
Goodfellas (1990), 98
Mulholland Dr. (2001), 97
Apocalypse Now (1979), 97
The Ballad of Narayama (1983), 97
The Singing Detective (1986), 97
Do the Right Thing (1989), 96
Rushmore (1998), 96
Ran (1985), 96
Au revoir, les enfants (1987), 96
In the Mood for Love (2000), 95
Chungking Express (1994), 95
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), 95
The Straight Story (1999), 95
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), 95
The Thin Blue Line (1988), 95

So David Lynch is the clear winner here (3x). My favorite Malick, Badlands, is a near-miss with a 93 rating.