Wednesday, October 10, 2012

THAT WAS WAY HARSH, TAI:  The AV Club's new Fifty Best Films of the 90s List is appropriately canon-respecting, fun-respecting (Out of Sight and Toy Story 2 both in the top ten) and all, and each of us may have some personal gripes (where's South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, The Insider, Malcolm X, or Three Kings?), but then you look at the whole and there's a troubling trend: no Silence of the Lambs. The Piano? in storage. Indeed, zero films by female directors, and not a whole lot of films which come close to passing the Bechdel Test (Heavenly Creatures is the first exception I can find, plus Election and Boogie Nights) or center around the telling of women's stories. My goodness, where's Thelma and Louise?

Some of this, to be sure, is the fault of Hollywood itself, and the films it chooses to make and the directors it chooses to champion. Some of it can be explained by the process by which the list was assembled (through voting, not curating).  But between Amy Heckerling, Jane Campion, Kathryn Bigelow, Allison Anders and (HT: to Watts) Nicole Holofcener, surely more films by and about women could've been slotted into the top 50 without seeming like tokenism -- because they're good films.

33 comments:

  1. The Pathetic Earthling11:19 AM

    The thing about Goodfellas, to me, is that while the scenes themselves are compelling, the film itself never seems to hang together right. Once Henry Hill turns into Ray Liotta, I find the arc of the movie pretty dull. I know Henry Hill isn't exactly the most self-reflective guy, but nothing about Henry Hill the character -- and of course Henry Hill the man -- that seems to change at all over the course of his life. (Yes, it's a mob movie, I know that. But without a plot, I need something).

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  2. isaac_spaceman11:26 AM

    If the list goes to 50 and it doesn't include South Park:BLU, then I don't really need to get too invested in the list, either because the list is wrong or because my opinion doesn't matter.

    When your two examples of movies that pass the Bechdel Test are the one about porn stars and the other one about the high-school kid sleeping with her teacher, you have a Bechdel Test problem. That's not to say that any movies that pass the Bechdel Test should be on the list; it's to say that more movies that pass the Bechdel Test should be made, because if they were, more would make the list.

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  3. Four Coen brothers movies in the top 21 is three Coen brothers movies too many. (Fargo's the only one that should be on the list.)


    Overall, the list is ok, I guess. It's very much a list of Movies That Boys Like, which makes the exclusion of SP:BLU even more surprising. Other notable absences: The Crying Game, Breaking the Waves, Saving Private Ryan, The Player, The Piano, anything by Woody Allen (especially Bullets Over Broadway and Everyone Says I Love You). And I stand by my assertion that Toy Story is better than Toy Story 2.

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  4. victoria12:01 PM

    Being John Malkovich passes too -- at least the dinner scene where Maxine and Lottie meet and the scene at the end with their daughter.

    Agreed, of course, on the point that too few movies that pass the Bechdel Test are made in the first place.

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  5. victoria12:02 PM

    Two more omissions I'd add: Before Sunrise & Run Lola Run.

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  6. There are always going to be films on the list/not on lists like these that I disagree with but overall I find this to be very solid. And I'm really really happy that Dazed and Confused placed so high (pun intended.)

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  7. I got tired of flipping back and forth through pages so I wrote the list up on a single page: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uTAtjUMIqCaPflY2teMOwBfQaSQS4idlqTNQfitEtTk/edit


    And looked at like that, you know what's even more glaring? The only movie that tells the story of a black man or woman is Hoop Dreams. Plenty of Asian representation, but otherwise, a very, very white list.

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  8. Jim Bell9:22 PM

    If there were a like button Isaac_spaceman, I would push it for your comment.

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  9. isaac_spaceman9:39 PM

    I'm not sure where you get your "plenty." There's Raise the Red Lantern and Chun King Express (neither of which I've seen, but based on pictures and titles I'll say they're probably pretty Asian). I guess there's Irma Vep, but does that movie tell the story of an Asian woman or of a French industry? For a continent that's more than half of the world's population, WHAT A POOR SHOWING, ASIANS - PICK UP YOUR GAME.


    And if you give Irma Vep to the Asians, why not give half of Seven and half of Unforgiven to the black men? Or maybe 40% of each?

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  10. Adam B.9:44 PM

    There is -- the first arrow button under each comment.

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  11. Adam B.9:44 PM

    And 20-some percent of Pulp Fiction, between Jules and Marvin.

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  12. isaac_spaceman9:44 PM

    Hadn't thought about it, but to the extent that there is a story in Pulp Fiction with a beginning, middle, and end, instead of just a series of vignettes or action sequences, it is the Jules story. Jules is the only person who grows or changes emotionally over the course of the movie. So yeah, if PF is a movie about anybody, it is a movie about a black man. Though Marvin is just a prop and Marcellus Wallace is more an abstract threat than a character.

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  13. Jim Bell9:45 PM

    I have now voted it up. Thanks Adam!

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  14. Help. Out of Sight at 8? I am really the only one who thought that movie was a total throwaway?

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  15. Adam B.9:45 PM

    There is nothing wrong with a movie solely seeking to entertain by being well-acted, written, and filmed. It is a movie where movie stars get to be movie stars, and are awesome at it.

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  16. Joseph Finn9:45 PM

    Well, that's just wrong. Big Lebowski is easily top 50.


    That said, The Player is a glaring absence.


    And yes, TS2 is better that TS.

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  17. Joseph Finn9:46 PM

    Run Lola Run...would be just off the list for me.

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  18. Joseph Finn9:46 PM

    What?

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  19. Joseph Finn9:46 PM

    I'm going to go all Internet and simply say, this. ^^

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  20. Watts9:46 PM

    "Plenty" was the wrong word to use; you're correct.

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  21. Watts9:46 PM

    Except, Pulp Fiction really is an ensemble piece. Even though I appreciate your argument about the arc of Jules.

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  22. Watts9:47 PM

    Slate weighs in:
    http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/10/10/best_1990s_movies_an_alternate_list.html

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  23. Carrie Rickey9:47 PM

    Some female-directed films one might include: http://www.carrierickey.com/blog/some-glaring-invisibility-on-av-clubs-best-films-of-the-90s/

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  24. Slowlylu9:47 PM

    TPE I couldn't agree more but haven't ever been able to put my finger on what my problem was with the film.

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  25. Adam C.9:47 PM

    SAY WHAT AGAIN!

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  26. The Pathetic Earthling9:50 PM

    I think it's important to be reminded of just what Marcellus Wallace looks like. In case someone asks.

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  27. Very nice to see The Limey and The Sweet Hereafter on there. No South Park is a serious omission. Red is the Kieslowski they choose, not Blue?

    #1 is a bit of a letdown, but what do I know? I'd have LA Confidential, Fargo and Pulp Fiction topping the list.

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  28. Nothing wrong, check. 8th best in a decade? Not on that basis.

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  29. ...and, on my screen, at least, I think we've found a weakness of the disqus commenting system (with respect to commenters going all internet). I have stolen Mr. Finn's endorsement.

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  30. Adam B.9:43 AM

    Well, if you want to get Serious, give Soderbergh credit for the fractured timeline.

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  31. Joseph Finn10:04 AM

    Hell, Tina, I'd go with White if I had to choose one from that trilogy.

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  32. Pretty sure I did.

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  33. Marsha11:21 AM

    I think we've had this discussion before. SP:BLU is 3/4 of a spectacular movie. I laughed my ass off, it is clever and brilliant, but only 3/4 of it. The stuff with Saddam Hussein and Satan bored me to tears and I FF through it every time I watch it. Just dull and not funny.

    You are, of course, completely correct on the Bechdel test comment.

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