On a slightly off-topic note : I always hated that the Shawshank poster gave away part of the ending.
The Shawshank Redemption
Pulp Fiction
On a slightly off-topic note : I always hated that the Shawshank poster gave away part of the ending.
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Shawshank is winning?
Give me a break. This might be the only site on the net where Shawshank Redemption is considered a better movie than Pulp Fiction.
Just because you prefer it over Pulp Fiction, doesn't mean you have to vote for it. This thread is not called, "which film do you like better."
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It may as well be.
Earlier in the tourney it seemed like it was "which film have you actually seen?" as the older movies lost out.
Democracy and voting are lovely things, but no amount of votes will convince me that a single one of these films, Pulp Fiction included, is better than Citizen Kane which changed cinema as a whole.
That said, Pulp is, by a wide margin, the best film still in the tournament. I loved Shawshank. It's one of the very small number of adaptations I thought were done well, maybe the exception that proves the rule, but compared to Pulp Fiction, please.
Well Servant, at least the silver lining is that you and I agree about a movie topic.
We agree here Jayson. Citizen Kane was a far better, and more influencial, film than the rest of the entries that I have seen, from a film critic's point of view. I cannot say it is a better film than them all simply because I must weigh the film in it's entirety and that includes the story as well. The story MUST play the largest part in the weighing for me. Also included MUST be how did the film affect the world of cinema and the world in general. (Which is why Empire Starikes Back is a far greater film than Princess Bride, but that's a different thread.) I found neither Pulp Fiction nor Shawshank have really had much impact on the film world beyond the initial furor and thus judged them on their content alone. It was a very tough decision. I had the priviledge of seeing both during a class on film that I took the year they were in Oscar contention. I had to choose one, so I chose the one I enjoyed more. I must say that I wonder if I made the right choice, but I shall stand by it.
Sadly, my favotire film, Seven Samurai did not make it this far. It deserved far better.
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Shawshank is winning.. NOOOO!!!!
(Ok it was good just not as good as Pulp.)
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I agree with much of what you said Sam, except on the limited influence of Pulp Fiction. It's too long a discussion to get into, but I think Pulp had a wide ranging influence on the industry as a whole.
As far as content, I judged them thusly as well.
Same here. I love that film, and like many of the other older films, I find it far superior in many ways to some of the more contemporary films. Besides, talk about influence. Would we even have Wolves of the Calla if we didn't have Seven Samurai?
come on shawshank
Margaret Emmie Mackey Catoe, you are, have been, and always will be my soulmate, and I love you.
Con todo mi corazon, por todo de mis dias. And I always will, in this life and into the next.
August 2, 1947 - September 24, 2010
Yes, I'm still very upset that Citizen Kane didn't go further than it did. I don't even think it made it past the first round or two. I don't really think it's even debatable that from a film making standpoint that film is far above any of the other films in this competition. It's a shame.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
But this really all along hasn't seemed to be which film is technically and artistically the best, but which is my favorite...which is really what a competition of the former usually ends up being about anyway. I've never seen much merit in film, music or literary critique at all. If you like it on a personal level; if it moves you somehow, that is what really matters and what makes it great. Citizen Kane did little for me personally.
It changed the way films were shot. Look at films before and films after. It's influence is undeniable.
I do agree with what Brice said, that this will never be about "best" as much as it will be about "favorite" but on the other hand, I agree with Heather that as long as it's called "best" the argument needs to be made. Also, as a Simpsons fan, I cannot begin to tell you how much of the first few seasons wouldn't even exist if it weren't for Citizen Kane. The number of scenes and ideas lifted from Citizen Kane are far too many to enumerate.
Jayson
And I understand it was never about what film was "best", but I still find it sad that such an amazing film didn't at least make it a bit closer to the end.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
Right back at ya Heather.
I chalk a lot of it up to unfamiliarity with the older films. Obviously not in Brice's case, he's seen it and just doesn't care for it, but in a lot of cases I suspect it just hasn't been seen. I have to think that that's the case with Citizen Kane and Twelve Angry Men and some of the Hitchcock films in this thing because otherwise I'd be sad that people actually think something like The Matrix is a "better" film by any definition of the word.
I saw that film a few years ago and I remember being severely unimpressed, certainly not the best movie of all time. I'll give it another go to see if my mind changes at all.
Citizen Kane?
I have to say that I can honestly get lost just watching a film and looking at the way the shots are constructed, the editing, the lighting, etc.
Maybe if you watch it more from that perspective you could at least appreciate it a bit, even if you didn't really care for the overall story.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
I think it's crucial to consider it in the context of when it was made. I keep bringing up influence, but it's impossible not to. So much of what we take for granted in the way films look now simply wouldn't exist if it weren't for Orson Welles.
If I can make a comparison to music (big surprise there I'm sure), it's like the cinematic equivalent of Bob Dylan's songwriting. Almost everything that has come after Dylan must be viewed according to what he did because he opened the door for it to be done. Prior to Dylan it was simply not the case that popular music was about anything other than love, loss of love or some silly novelty song about a specific dance or something kooky that rhymed nicely. Dylan paved the way for every songwriter that wanted to write songs about something else. Now, not everybody likes Dylan. Not everybody thinks Dylan is the "best" or their "favorite". As much as I love Dylan, I love Tom Waits more. That said, Tom Waits couldn't write the kinds of songs he writes were it not for Bob Dylan. Look at the Beatles catalog before they became aware of Bob Dylan and the Beatles catalog after. The difference is stunning.
Basically, there are many criterion by which we can judge "best" but influence has got to be one of them for me, and I've never heard an argument that Citizen Kane is not the most influential film of all time. Every time you see a ceiling in a shot, thank Orson Welles. It may not sound like much, but think of all the perspective shots that simply wouldn't exist if he didn't show people it could be done.
Maybe Citizen Kane is to me what Blade Runner is to you.
If influence is such a strong factor, than Blade Runner should surely have been in these final rounds, no? There are countless movies that derived from BR and it's Neo-Noir depiction of the future, not to mention the science fiction themes for which it is widely known for.
Like you been mentioned before, different people have different criteria for what makes a movie The Best, and in this case not many people considered CK and it's great cinematography and/or influence a trump card over the more modern techniques and methods found in movies today.
Now, with that said, I am a firm believer that a movie being awesome or totally blowing chunks is relative to your life experiences and where you are emotionally at the time, so it could be that this film might well become a new favorite of mine after initially passing it off as mediocre (I saw it for the first and only time when I was 15) - It wouldn't be the first time it's happened. We'll see.