Cinema Wellman vs. The New York Times
Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host David, and today we’re going to weigh in on a list, and if you’re a regular here at Cinema Wellman, you know how much we LOVE lists!
On July 27th The New York Times released their list of the “100 Best Movies of the 21st Century,” and, since people know I love a good list, especially when it comes to movie lists, both Larry AND Lucas’s father, Steve, made sure I had a copy.
Larry sent his list electronically, while Steve went old school and passed along the actual newspaper to me!
You should have seen the looks I got at work while I was reading it! I’m thinking some of the younger people had never seen one before.
I love all kinds of lists! I love historical lists, musical lists, sports lists, and, of course, movie lists!
An historical list of Civil War battles? Fascinating.
A musical list of best selling albums of all-time? Most excellent!
A sports list of MLB’s all-time RBI leaders? Bring it on, and thank you, Hank Aaron!
A movie list of the “Top 100 Films of the 21st Century?” Preposterous! Ridiculous! A fool’s errand! Impossible to determine, and…
I can’t wait to dissect it.
When I first read through the list I immediately checked to see how many of the 100 I hadn’t seen and that number turned out to be eight.
That number is now zero, which is why we’re here today.
I’m not going to go through all 100 movies, I wouldn’t put you through that although you certainly should seek out this list online to read about all 100 films and make your own list of what you’d like to see. The Times staff did a phenomenal job with their synopses.
What I will be doing is briefly talk about the five movies on this list that I despised along with 10 movies that I was very excited to see make the list.
The Times also conducted a reader’s poll, so the last thing I’ll do is compare the 28 movies the readers chose to the 28 movies the critics chose in a super judgy “Lightning Round” of sorts.
Just like every Festivus, we will begin with the “Airing of Grievances.”
Now you’ve heard me say this a dozen times before, and I’ll say it again; I don’t know anything about movies other than I like to watch them, and I like what I like.
I’d never claim that the movies this cabal of critics came up with were wrong choices in any way.
They have forgotten more about films than I have ever known.
What I can address is the five movies on this list that I personally hated.
Do they belong on this list?
Sure. I guess. Why not?
But the only list these movies make for me are the list of movies I despise.
Here we go.
The Times had it at #44 on its list, and I hated everything about it, Quentin Tarantino’s overblown One Upon a Time…in Hollywood.
What I hated the most about this, other than the fact that it slogs on for close to three hours, is that Tarantino includes factual people as characters and then he changes history.
I wish Sharon Tate wasn’t savagely murdered in 1969, but she was.
I have no interest in a fairy tale featuring this alternate, happy, ending for her.
At #31 on the Times list is a movie I dislike more and more each time I think about it.
Martin Scorsese’s Best Picture winning The Departed.
Reason #1: I think the original film on which this is based, Infernal Affairs is much better. No surprise I’d say that.
Reason #2: It angers me that Scorsese was given what I consider a “Oops Oscar” for Best Director for The Departed when he has at least a dozen other films he could have been honored for.
I hate those “Oops” Oscars. It’s proof that the Academy can’t see genius when it’s right in front of their eyes, and then, when it’s too late and panic sets in, movies like this earn Best Directing Oscars.
Reason #3: The Boston accents. At least I think that’s what I think is being attempted here.
I have lived in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for over 37 years now and people just don’t sound like that around here.
Is there a Boston accent? Absolutely. This just isn’t it.
Next the Times had a film at #20 that I hated all 180 minutes of.
Yes, that’s THREE hours.
Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.
I hated every character in this movie, and that always translates to hating an entire movie in my experience.
Even though he stars in all three of these hated films so far, I can assure you that I like Leonardo DiCaprio.
I actually think he’s a talented actor.
Doesn’t mean I have to like everything he’s in.
Next is the first film NOT starring Leo, but it IS the 2nd Quentin Tarantino film on the list; Inglorious Basterds.
The Times has it at #14 on their list which is close to the amount of days it took me to finally complete screening this film.
The violence and blood are extreme, even for Tarantino, and Brad Pitt’s jaw in this film was so distracting.
It deserved its own credit.
I can’t stand Tarantino, and I honestly don’t think he’s done anything worth watching in 30 years.
One more film to gripe about before we get to the positives, and the Times had it at #10!!
David Fincher’s The Social Network.
Simple reasons here, I hate Mark Zuckerberg, Jesse Eisenberg annoys me, Aaron Sorkin’s writing grates on me, and I’ve never had any use for Facebook.
I try to make light of it, but Facebook has negative triggers for me surrounding my divorce, so there was no way I was ever going to enjoy this movie.
Now to the positives.
There are three films I wanted to mention that I was delighted to see on the list, but, at the same time, they are movies that have garnered their fair share of attention and accolades.
#12 The Zone of Interest won a Best International Feature Film Oscar and a film I’ve spoken about previously on the show. So worth a watch!
At #11 the Times had Mad Max: Fury Road, a favorite of mine (check out the “Chrome Edition” if you can find it), and a film that took home SIX Oscars! Deservedly! No surprise to find this on the list.
Also, no surprise at #9 is the phenomenal Spirited Away.
Miyazaki’s masterpiece won a Best Animated Feature Oscar, and I’ve spoken about it here before as one of my favorites when it comes to animated films.
Now the following 10 films are all films that I love, and they’re being mentioned here because it was validating for me to see that I wasn’t alone in my love for these movies, many independent, many foreign, and not a sequel, reboot, remake, or comic book movie in the lot.
Warmed my heart to see these films included.
#74: The Florida Project: Yes, Willem Dafoe is outstanding when he’s playing disturbing, creepy, villainous characters, but if that’s all you think he can do, you need to see more of his movies.
In this film, Dafoe plays the manager of a roadside motel near Disneyworld in a story about homelessness, poverty, and hope.
The Florida Project is just another example of what an accomplished actor Willem Dafoe is.
#72: Carol: If you’ve tuned in before, you know how much I love Cate Blanchett, and I think Carol is in her Top 3 films, which is saying a lot.
IMDb: “An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman in 1950s New York.”
Rooney Mara is superb as the photographer, and the onscreen chemistry between her and Blanchett crackles.
I think this would be a great double feature with Portrait of a Lady on Fire as both deal with women in love living during times when it was close to impossible for them to be together.
#70: Let the Right One In: Another example in the long list of foreign movies “ruined” by American filmmakers.
What’s creepier than vampires? Kid vampires.
What’s creepier than kid vampires? Swedish kid vampires.
Remade in 2010 as Let Me In, save the effort and just watch the original Swedish film instead.
Not the first time you’ve heard me say that.
And it won’t be the last.
#58: Uncut Gems: Talk about feeling vindicated about a movie! I was delighted to see this Adam Sandler DRAMA make the list.
As you may know, I loathe Adam Sandler’s comedy. I didn’t like him on SNL (and I seem to like everyone on SNL), and I find his comedies to be annoying, sophomoric, and unfunny.
And those idiotic voices make me want to murder innocent people.
Not to mention he likes to work with a director I despise.
That being said, I do enjoy it when he tries to be serious like he does here in Uncut Gems and also in Spaceman (my Halloween costume at work this year!).
This made Cinema Wellman’s Top 10 Gambling Films, so we were very happy to see the Times staff honor it as well.
#54: Pan’s Labyrinth: We love you, Guillermo del Toro!
One of our favorite directors just bankrolled and opened a studio for stop-motion filmmakers, which is tremendous.
Stop-motion is kind of like the “Anti-AI” to me, which is why I love it so much.
IMDb: “In 1944 Spain, a girl is sent to live with her ruthless stepfather. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun. He tells her she’s a princess, but must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks.”
Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark fantasy filled with supernatural beings and one young heroic girl named Ofelia.
This film also inspired one of Louise’s best Halloween costumes on “Bob’s Burgers;” Peter Pan’s Labyrinth.
#48: The Lives of Others: IMDb: “In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself increasingly absorbed by their lives.”
If you’re not familiar with the “Stasi,” they were the East German secret police until 1990 and were one of the world’s most extensive surveillance and secret police organizations.
And, if the Stasi wanted you, the Stasi got you.
This tense thriller explores what happens when the person spying becomes involved with the persons on whom they are spying.
This is an amazing film that shows how terrifying it could be in East Germany if you weren’t 100% in step with the government.
The Lives of Others would be a great double feature with The Conversation.
#47: Almost Famous: “It’s ALL happening!”
IMDb: “A high-school boy in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he joins them on tour.”
I was 38 years old when I saw Almost Famous for the first time, and I sincerely wanted to be 15-year-old William Miller in this movie.
Since I was born in 1962, I’m about five years behind William in Almost Famous, so he’s in high school, and I’m still in elementary school, BUT his music in this film was/is “my music,” which makes this even more personal and more special to me.
Frances McDormand is William’s mom, and she’s brilliant as usual, as is the rest of the cast. Billy Crudup, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk, and Kate Hudson wearing Robert Plant’s hair throughout.
Oh, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is the legendary music writer Lester Bangs.
I want to watch this again just thinking about it.
#43: Oldboy: I found out recently that Quin was planning on watching this and I immediately texted him and told him to go into this totally blind.
Don’t watch a trailer.
Don’t read a thing about it online.
What about the poster, can I look at the poster? No….you’ve seen enough!
This is an extremely brutal crime story with a twist that has to be one of the craziest I have ever seen in any film.
This twist was like getting hit in the head with a nine pound sledgehammer, getting up, only to be hit by a passing train.
#26: Anatomy of a Fall: This is a film I spoke about during this year’s Oscar episode, and whenever I think of this film I always think of The Zone of Interest.
One film is French, the other is from the UK, both won Oscars, and both star Sandra Huller, and I happened to screen both on the very same day. Something that was not done on purpose.
As I watched Anatomy of a Fall I was thinking there was something familiar about the actress, but I couldn’t place her.
Sandra Huller speaks German, French, and English fluently, so she spoke German in The Zone of Interest, and then French in Anatomy of a Fall, and my mind was blown and I became a Sandra Huller fan.
And then I found out that we share a birthday, so even better!
Last on our list of 10 films we were excited to see included on this list is…
#8: Get Out: Horror as a genre is back and in full swing again, and the success of Jordan Peele’s genre bending film is to thank for horror’s return.
IMDb: “A young African American visits his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.”
Peele won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay becoming the first African American to do so, and he followed up Get Out with Us, and Nope, and I’m a fan of all of them.
If you enjoy horror, these films are all must sees.
And finally today we’ll match up the 28 films the readers chose with the 28 the critics chose instead. Here’s where the readers chose some sequels, remakes, etc., so you’ll know where I’ll side on those rulings.
While the readers and critics differing choices don’t exactly line up numerically, I’ll compare them top to bottom here because that made sense to me.
And this will be a true “lightning” round with swift judgements based on my whimsy.
Well, that’s a wrap from here at Cinema Wellman as we settled our minor differences with The New York Times.
As I mentioned earlier, this is an impossible task, and I thank the Times and their staff for tackling it in the first place.
We hope you’re with us next time for an episode titled Forever Amber, which we will explain.
I promise.
Until then, take care.
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