Top 100 Films Wrap Up

The End.

Or something like that. Or not really not at all. It was August 2009 when this list finally got rolling, following several months before that of hemming and hawing over what exactly deserved to make the cut, and here I am, 14 months later, finally putting the finishing touches on this project. A project which was out-dated by September of '09, and would look entirely different if I started from scratch today.

I had finally resolved get to work on the project after graduating from my undergrad at Michigan State. That was the first time I felt I could confidently cobble together 100 films I was passionate enough about to call favorites. I'm relieved that looking back on it no atrocities jump out at me, as I would no doubt recoil in horror at Tristan's favorite films circa 2006 (which was that regrettable period in my life where I knew just enough about movies to think I knew everything, and hell if I wasn't an ass about it too).

But as I said, it's been 14 months, and with so much time passed, I feel it only right to cap off this project with an addendum. Because in that time, I've revisited many films, some which no longer seem worthy of a top 100 (Eraserhead, 8 Women, much as I still love both), others which I was clearly out of my head when I left off (Vertigo, Le Samourai). There's also the directors who I've reconsidered, reassessing my personal preference for their films, however close the call may have been. These days, I'm inclined to rank A Brief Encounter over Doctor Zhivago, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg over The Young Girls of Rochefort, and To Be Or Not To Be over Trouble In Paradise. Finally, there's the new, which are the additions I'm most excited about - essentially the greatest films I've seen over the past few months. This group includes the likes of Dogville, The Red Balloon, The Tales of Hoffmann and Love Me Tonight.

Out with the old and in with the new, then. Here's what I would change, with no guarantee that this won't change again tomorrow.

Out (19)
8 Women
Alien
Being John Malkovich
Belle de Jour
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Clue
Cria Cuervos
Dead Man
Doctor Zhivago
La Dolce Vita
Eraserhead
Masculine Feminine
Onibaba
Peeping Tom
The Remains of the Day
The Silence
There Will Be Blood
Trouble In Paradise
The Young Girls of Rochefort

In (19)
Bad Timing (Nicholas Roeg, 1980)
Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki, 1967)
A Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)
Dogville (Lars Von Trier, 2004)
The Fall (Tarsem Singh, 2008)
Friday Night (Claire Denis, 2002)
Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1982)
Love Me Tonight (Rouben Mamoulian, 1932)
Malpertuis (Harry Kümel, 1972)
The Masque of the Red Death (Roger Corman, 1964)
The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse, 1956)
The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948)
Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955)
Le Samourai (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967)
The Tales of Hoffmann (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1951)
To Be Or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Thin Man, Porco Rosso, Beau Travail and The Double Life of Veronique would come very, very close.

And with that, I'll declaring all this top 100 listing dormant for a while. With so many other films to catch up on, I should have fuel for a whole variety of listing and film review projects that I've already been tossing around in my head. Thanks everyone for bearing with me through this all and I really appreciate all the comments.

Look for my annual horror movie fest to start generating some reviews here. I've got a couple stored up that I'll hopefully bring you tomorrow.