For the first time since fall 2006, I updated the 100 Favorite Movies feature of Culture Snob. Thirteen movies were added, and 29 went away. Yes, “100 Favorite Movies” for two years listed 116 movies. I could explain and justify this mathematical conflict, but I’ll spare you; just call me an idjit instead.
Two films joined the list in the top 20: No Country for Old Men (Coens, 2007) and Pan’s Labyrinth (Del Toro, 2006).
Two others moved into the top 20: Before the Rain (Manchevski, 1994) and Picnic at Hanging Rock (Weir, 1975). Making room for those four (but still on the list) were American Movie (Smith, 1999), Intacto (Fresnadillo, 2001), JFK (Stone, 1991), and Rushmore (Anderson, 1998).
The dropouts that had previously been rated the highest were in the middle section, the equivalent of spots 41 to 60 now: The French Connection (Friedkin, 1971), One False Move (Franklin, 1991), Toy Story 2 (Lasseter, 1999), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (Coppola, 1988), and Welcome to the Dollhouse (Solondz, 1995). I am still fond of all these movies, but the test for me was whether I could see myself watching them to the exclusion of other things on the list. The answer was “no.” In other words, I’m not as interested in revisiting them.
The other additions: The Brood (Cronenberg, 1979), Clockers (Lee, 1995), Cronos (Del Toro, 1993), The Descent (Marshall, 2005), The Devil’s Backbone (Del Toro, 2001), Eastern Promises (Cronenberg, 2007), The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese, 1988), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Tykwer, 2006), The Prestige (Nolan, 2006), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper, 1974), and Zodiac (Fincher, 2007).
The other subtractions: Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986), Chasing Amy (Smith, 1997), The Cook, the Thief, HIs Wife, and Her Lover (Greenaway, 1990), The Crying Game (Jordan, 1992), Dancer in the Dark (Von Trier, 2000), Dolores Claiborne (Hackford, 1994), The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980), Family Viewing (Egoyan, 1987), Funny Games (Haneke, 1997), Gates of Heaven (Morris, 1978), Happiness (Solondz, 1998), House of Games (Mamet, 1987), Incident at Loch Ness (Penn, 2004), The Incredibles (Bird, 2004), L.A. Story (Jackson, 1991), The Limey (Soderbergh, 1999), The Lion King (Allers and Minkoff, 1994), Lost in Translation (Coppola, 2003), Murderball (Rubin and Shapiro, 2005), Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954), A Simple Plan (Raimi, 1998), Stuart Saves His Family (Ramis, 1994), Suture (McGehee and Siegel, 1993), and Three Colors: Red (Kieslowski, 1994).
Kudos on your inclusion of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” This film always seems to be criticized more and more as it ages. However, its always been one of my favorite horror movies: suspenseful, visceral, and wonderfully edited. Even if I came up with a list of things that make it a “bad” movie, at the very least, it scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it (I think I was 14 at the time). And sometimes, that’s all you want from a horror movie.
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