Watch the top 250 movies on the Internet Movie Database

I’ve been catching more of the newer films, but there’s been some shuffling of the list since the last time I posted. I also let my Netflix queue languish for about 3 months, but I’ve started churning through stuff again.

“Schindler’s List”, “Up”, and “District 9” are the only films remaining in the Top 40 that I haven’t seen (though I suspect “District 9” will drop out of the stratosphere in the next couple of weeks.)

Nice that I can make progress on this one without actually watching more movies. Something must have dropped off, since “Rocky” has moved up to #250 (and I’ve seen it).

I enjoyed the first part of this one more than the rest . . . it’s a nice homage to silent films in general and Chaplin’s “Modern Times” in particular. The story depressed me, and I didn’t believe the ending.

I’m a little amazed that something this subversive made it to the big screen. But maybe the big corporations have gotten to the point that they know we’re not going to wake up and get the message in any way that impacts their ever-expanding bottom line.

Watched two movies, but only made one point of progress, as the list has been shuffled a bit (though “Iron Man” is still hanging in there, currently at #163).

“The Killing” is not my favorite Stanley Kubrick film. If they got rid of the voice-over narration that untangles the disjointed timeline, this’d play like “Reservoir Dogs” without the torture. (Which would be a moderate improvement.)

“Requiem for a Dream” was about the most depressing thing I’ve ever watched. When it popped to the top of my Netflix queue, I couldn’t remember why I had put it there in the first place. But it’s high enough on the list that it’s not likely to drop off anytime soon.

For about the fifth time in the last year, I watched a movie that I thought was a confusing mess right up until the ending whacked me upside the head and I had to re-evaluate my opinion. Turns out I liked this one quite a lot . . . and it is possibly the darkest movie I’ve ever seen.

I don’t know why I find Robert Downey, Jr. so likable as an actor, but he makes this movie for me. The movie is less interesting while he’s got the Iron Man suit on (though still a “popcorn muncher” of the first water).

I expect this movie will drop out of the top 250, and let back in whatever it had displaced. (My count stays at 142/250.)

Better than “The French Connection” (1971) but nowhere near as well-crafted as “The Godfather” (1972), this was a watchable film with a compelling story. I could have done without the last five minutes, which formed an anti-climactic coda to what had already been a complete story. (I watched the DVD version with 18 minutes of extra footage . . . perhaps this was part of it, which would have been better off left on the cutting room floor.)

I really like the laconic pace . . . a good match for the desert setting. This feels a little like “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”, as far as that goes. Lots of carefully-considered, slowly-spoken dialogue.

And then there’s the huh? ending, with the film just sort of coming to an end without much warning. (Though, in fact, there aren’t a lot of unanswered questions at that point.)

I didn’t really believe the ending, and the characters seemed overly “broad” at times . . . but on reflection (and in conversation with my best belovéd), I did see a lot of truth about addiction in this one. And as a piece of cinematography, I love that the closing shot is an exact reverse of the opening shot, which gives a nice clear signal that the film is done.

We captured this one from Turner Classic Movies, which has the good taste to run terrific old films uncut and uninterrupted. Not only that, but they bookend the movie with interesting commentary by Robert Osborne.

I took this one in 4 separate sittings, since watching movies in the evening at home makes me sleepy. I was almost startled when the end came last night . . . the film resolves a number of plot threads by implication rather than exposition.

Once again, the shifting fortunes of IMDB rankings have changed my total in ways that can’t be entirely explained by my recent viewing.

I think I need to watch more movies that are near the top of the list . . . I keep watching more films, but my count remains stuck at 137.

Klaatu barada nicto!