Film Junk’s Top 100

Posted by on January 13th, 2013   Filed under: Features, Lists

As you may know, for the 400th episode of the Film Junk Podcast we accepted the foolhardy challenge of putting together lists of our top 100 movies of all time. A nearly impossible task to be sure, but one that we felt would be an appropriate way to celebrate 400 episodes of obsessing over film. (Reed Farrington could only manage a top 58, but hey, that’s still pretty impressive for him.) We all had slightly differing criteria for our choices, but the general consensus is that these lists lean more toward personal favourites than objective judgments on the 100 best movies ever made. So if you couldn’t make it through the full five-hour podcast, or if you just wanted to cross-examine every last title on our lists, here is the full breakdown. (Reed has also included extensive notes for his top 20, because that’s just the kind of guy he is.) Enjoy!

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  • Indianamcclain

    Was a little surprised to not see Tim Burton’s Batman in Franks top 100.

  • Kasper

    A little sad Big Trouble in Little China isn’t higher on Jay’s list – but it’s awesome to see The Thing rated as high as it is. Confused about the love for Jaws though, but perhaps I’m too young to understand the whole Jaws craze.

  • Bas

    There was a Jaws craze when it was released, but deservedly so. I wasn’t around for the craze but watched it once on tv and many times since and it’s become my favorite movie. It has a timeless quality, the mark of any great movie.

  • Kasper

    #3 I guess I just don’t get the movie, then. I’ve watched it twice and didn’t really think too much of it either time.

  • Flo

    None of you included Beauty Day on their list. Tut-tut :)

  • IchigoNL

    Reed’s list wasn’t too bad! And will definitely check out Apocalypto now!

  • MrHorse

    i imagine this wasmuchj harder than it looks, right?
    i don’t even consider making one yet, i’d probably look at it every day and reposition a fiew, until it represents exactly what i want. but that’s very difficult sometime, movies you like tend to stay in a tight pack ..like hoplites.

    greg’s list i like best. leon and silence of the lambs would be higher on myne.
    jay’s is very good, but..it just doesn’t fit with my sanguine nature.
    sean’s has more 70s, 80s and 90s, it’s ..fresh and all. i dunno about that fargo, tree of life and rushmore, but hey
    franks’s list is more daring and playful, nice.

    not exactly a list yet, these are movies that i consider to be fundamental; a good place to start

    order 1
    Nosferatu
    Citizen Kane
    Psycho
    All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
    Seven Samurai
    Yojimbo
    Kiss Me Deadly
    Les quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows)
    La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game)
    Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)
    La dolce vita
    Du rififi chez les hommes
    8½
    Peeping Tom
    El Topo
    The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
    Faust
    Metropolis
    Sunrise
    Battleship Potemkin
    M
    Greed
    Pandora’s Box
    A Streetcar Named Desire
    Breathless (À bout de souffle)
    Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie
    Dr. Strangelove
    Clockwork Orange
    The Exorcist
    Vertigo

    order 2
    Scarface (1932)
    Dracula (1931)
    The Scarlet Empress
    Les diaboliques
    The Butcher (Le boucher)
    Detour
    Out of the Past
    Sunset Boulevard
    The Magnificent Ambersons
    The Red Shoes
    Knife in the Water
    Stalker
    Solyaris
    Network
    Jules and Jim
    Belle de Jour
    Bob le flambeur
    Pierrot le fou
    Le cercle rouge
    Wild Bunch
    Aguirre: The Wrath of God
    Godfather I & II
    Yakuza Papers films
    Jaws
    Apocalypse Now
    Dog Day Afternoon
    The French Connection
    Alien
    Life of Brian
    Videodrome
    Raging Bull
    Blade Runner
    Terminator
    Die Hard
    Robocop
    Whitnail and I
    Scarface (1982)
    Dracula (1992)
    Silence of the Lambs
    Scent of a Woman
    Goodfellas
    Reservoir Dogs
    Trainspotting
    Lost Highway
    Fight Club
    Matrix
    Oldboy
    Akira
    Ghost in the Shell

    a list w noir films will added in there.
    also in the works a smaller one w comedies, guilty pleasures
    i do have a starter for british crime and the like:
    Brighton Rock
    The Day of the Jackal
    The Ipcress File
    Get Carter
    10 Rillington Place
    The Good Long Friday
    The Hit
    Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
    The General
    Sexy Beast
    Layer Cake
    Dead Man’s Shoes
    Bronson
    Essex Boys
    Rise of the Footsoldier

    & spaghetti westerns, i love’em:
    A Fistfull of Dollars
    For a Fiew Dollars More
    The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
    Il grande silenzio
    Django Kill
    Keoma
    Mannaja
    to name but a fiew

    there’s much work to be done: uk new wave, loach, alan clarke, lindsay anderson, greenaway, roeg, alan parker asoasf
    i’d have to finish this before getting to french and italian films, german/other and asian. horror, need to get into it as well. & after that i’ll carefully read yours again
    ..it won’t get done very soon :D
    tried to be on topic, for now it’s the best i can come up with.
    -

    my number 1?

    Rita, Sue and Bob Too

  • Bas

    Loved episode #400 and the way FJ made listening to 458 movies being ranked so much fun.

    One thing I’d like to add: flickchart had been mentioned in this and previous episodes as not so great. What I like about flickchart is the ranking process itself, pitting two movies against each other and picking the best. The math behind the chart only starts working, I think, once you have ranked a good amount. If you don’t like the process then it is not for you. My list looks about right and I’ve only had to tweak it slightly by re-ranking a few individual titles.

  • http://twitter.com/ndf piggystardust

    Aha, Hero: a look into the etymology of Reed’s original internet handle, Darth Nameless.

  • http://www.catharticentertainment.com/ rus in chicago

    thanks for listing – makes adding to my netflix que much easier…

    never realized Frank was such a homer – all nondoc films from big american studios and within his time period on earth, but he is the only one to give Master and Commander love so he’s good!

  • http://www.filmjunk.com/category/podcasts/cantankerous/ Reed Farrington

    @piggystardust: I didn’t consciously think of Jet Li’s character name in Hero when I came up with Darth Nameless, but now that you point it out…

  • Andrew

    Reed needs a column called “Movies for a Lazy Saturday Afternoon.”

  • La Menthe

    I’m basing this on the top 10-20 rated films:
    I never thought I would say this, but Greg’s list is the best. With the exception of Jay putting 2001 at nr.2 and Playtime at nr. 9, I enjoyed Greg’s list better, simply because the top films aren’t filled with action adventure flicks. The only exception was Raiders, a film which I would also put on my list, as it — aside from being an extremely enjoyable piece of entertainment — has more or less defined every action adventure that has come after it. It’s also no shame, however clichéd, to put Godfather on the list. Both Godfather part I and part II are stunning masterworks worthy of their fame. The fact that neither of them was to be found on Jay’s list of 100 films is ridiculous . The same goes for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly missing on Greg’s list.

  • La Menthe

    In over 100 years of filmmaking, you manage to put Inglourious Basterds, a three year old film — and it’s certainly a superb film — on your nr. 1? Are you fucking kidding me? And don’t get me started on Parenthood on nr. 2 and Pee Wee on nr. 3! Surely you must be trolling, Frank!

  • sansho1

    Greg’s list is also the one I most identify with — probably because we both remember a time when the only movies you had a chance to watch were the ones on your local VHF/UHF channels. Hence, a lot of exposure to Hollywood classics of the ’40s through the ’70s.

    However, I think the single pick I enjoyed most was Reed’s choice of Love and Death, the only Woody Allen pick on anyone’s list. Yeah, Annie Hall is better, but I agree that Love and Death is the funniest movie he ever made.

  • http://movievigilante.blogspot.ca/ Movie Vigilante

    If this was a homework assignment, I’d have to give Reed an incomplete mark for only having 58 films listed.

    Also Reed, you mention in your notes that you would have had Star Trek V in your top ten but you want to be taken seriously as a critic so you only had it in your top twenty. In that case, it should be nowhere near a top 100 list.

    Out of all the Star Trek movies to choose, you pick the worst of the bunch. It’s absolutely horrible. Here’s the correct order.

    #1.Wrath of Khan
    #2.Voyage Home
    #3.Undiscovered Country
    #4.Search for Spock
    #5.Star Trek: The Motion Picture
    #6.Final Frontier

    Note that this is just my list for Star Trek. If I were listing my top 100 movies, I doubt any of these would be on it, let alone the worst of the litter, Star Trek V. Wrath of Khan might squeak in near the end.

    Live long and prosper.

  • http://twitter.com/ndf piggystardust

    ^Yes, I can verify that that is the correct ranking.

  • xCraigx

    Inglorious Bastards got a fair few 1 star reviews in the UK, it’s quite suprising the difference in how QT is perceived over here in comparison to North America.

  • Steve

    Sean, you should add a link to this, and the Best of 2012 lists article, in the Top Features and Lists sidebar section for easy reference.

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