Revisiting The Composite 251

A little more than five years has passed since I completed this project and, as things tend to do over time, my taste in movies has evolved. I tend to see far less turn-your-brain-off kind of movies and much more of the critically acclaimed fare that sweeps through award season.

To compare movies for this project I originally used a nine point ranking system (for some reason I didn't include 0.5 out of 5 but did include all other half numbers) where a 1 out of 5 was the equivalent of Poor and 5 out of 5 was Exceptional. While there is definitely some merit to ranking things using half points, I find it increasingly difficult, for example, to determine what's a 3.5 out of 5 and what's a 4 out of 5. The line has simply blurred too much.

I want to revisit this project for two reasons. First, to update the movies based on how my tastes have changed in five years. I don't know if much will need to be adjusted, but I'm sure I'll find movies that I think more highly now than I did from 2013-2016 and, conversely, movies I don't think well of any longer. Second, I want to simplify the rankings and go with a straight five point scale where 5 is I Love It, 4 is I Like It, 3 is It's Ok, 2 is I Don't Care For It, and 1 is I Hate It. This may be more difficult to do than I imagine, especially for movies I haven't seen in nine years and don't remember well or at all, but it will be a good exercise for me to do.

I'm not giving myself a deadline to complete the re-rank, but hopefully it'll be done within the next couple of weeks. As always, I appreciate anyone that takes their time to read my posts.

P.S. I hate the title for this blog and have for a long time. I understand why I chose it, because I was combining seven top 100 lists into one to form one composite list of the best movies of all time, but not referencing the word "movies" or "films" or anything like that seems like a poor decision. Oh well.

Movie #4: Casablanca

Movie #: 4
Movie Title: Casablanca
Year Released: 1942

Director: Michael Curtiz
Notable Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid

Short Description: In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #3
IMDB.com: #25
Ranker.com: #17
Lifed.com: #16
Empire.com: #18
FilmCrave.com: #37
FlickChart.com: #13



Date Watched: 12/22/2016

Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)

Rationale: For most other movies I watch, 3 out of 5 is generally a respectable score. For a movie regarded so highly as Casablanca is, 3 out of 5 is unacceptable because I was expecting so much more than just average. Humphrey Bogart is an incredibly dry actor and it's a good thing the supporting cast was more than adequate to pick up the slack. Sure, the few famous movie quotes I recognized like "here's looking at you, kid" brought a smile to my face, but that was the only thing to smile about. I'm glad I've now seen it just so I can say I have.

Movie #88: Batman Begins

Movie #: 88
Movie Title: Batman Begins
Year Released: 2005

Director: Christopher Nolan
Notable Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe

Short Description: After training with his mentor, Batman begins his fight to free crime-ridden Gotham City from the corruption that Scarecrow and the League of Shadows have cast upon it. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: #63
Lifed.com: #85
Empire.com: #81
FilmCrave.com: #49
FlickChart.com: N/A



Date Watched: 7/7/2016

Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)

Rationale: In a world that’s full of superhero movies, you’d be hard pressed to find an origin story that’s more complete and satisfying than Batman Begins. Dark and gritty is a welcome tone compared to the flashy and disgusting Batman movies of the mid to late 1990’s. Christopher Nolan made excellent casting choices with Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as not-yet-Commissioner Gordon, and Liam Neeson as Batman’s foil Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul during the ascension of Neeson’s popularity surge in the 2000’s. While superhero movies may never fall into the realm of realistic, Batman Begins is the closest there is and I wholeheartedly appreciate the grounded feel of it.

Movie #31: The Shining

Movie #: 31
Movie Title: The Shining
Year Released: 1980

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Notable Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd

Short Description: A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #47
Ranker.com: #35
Lifed.com: #49
Empire.com: #52
FilmCrave.com: #28
FlickChart.com: #26



Date Watched: 10/31/2016

Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)
Adjusted Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)

Rationale: The Shining gets a 3.5 out of 5 almost solely based on the outstanding performance of Jack Nicholson. Without his performance as deranged hotel caretaker Jack Torrance it's likely The Shining falls flat on its face because his wife, played by Shelley Duvall, was annoying and their son, played by Danny Lloyd, seemed wooden. Really, there isn't much more that can be said beyond Jack is the man and definitely not a dull boy. On a side note, it was a total and pretty cool coincidence that this happened to be the next movie on my list and I watched it on Halloween night.

Movie #45: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Movie #: 45
Movie Title: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Year Released: 1968

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Notable Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood

Short Description: Humanity finds a mysterious, obviously artificial object buried beneath the Lunar surface and, with the intelligent computer H.A.L. 9000, sets off on a quest. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #15
IMDB.com: #93
Ranker.com: #51
Lifed.com: #82
Empire.com: #16
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: #83



Date Watched: 9/24/2016

Grade: 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal)

Rationale: What the hell did I watch? I literally don't know if I've been more perplexed and frustrated after watching a movie that's considered to be as good as 2001: A Space Odyssey supposedly is. The space scenes with HAL turning against the crew were what I expected the vast majority of the movie to be about since that's the most well know and/or liked part, but they were only a portion of the movie and honestly a bit boring with the lack of emotion in the characters. Easily the most disappointed I've been in a while watching a supposedly well regarded classic movie.

Movie #47: Memento

Movie #: 47
Movie Title: Memento
Year Released: 2000

Director: Christopher Nolan
Notable Cast: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano

Short Description: A man juggles searching for his wife's murderer and keeping his short-term memory loss from being an obstacle. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #33
Ranker.com: #66
Lifed.com: #32
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: #39
FlickChart.com: #72



Date Watched: 9/17/2016

Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)

Rationale: I've believed this for a while, but Memento further confirms my thought that "In Christopher Nolan I trust." The man is nothing but a genius and, along with Steven Spielberg, tops my list of favorite directors. I've seen other movies that start by showing you the end of a story and then jump back in time to show you how the movie gets to that ending in a very linear method. What I don't recall ever seeing is a movie that builds upon the initial flashback with an additional flashback layer that includes more past information. Over and over the building continues through adding more layers until you're finally at the beginning of the story and discover how it all started rather than seeing the ending first and jumping straight to the beginning. Though repetitive at times because each additional layer required a brief retelling of previous layers, it was an amazing way to watch a movie and Nolan delivers as always.