Monday, December 05, 2005

Australia's Favourite Films

This is going to be a very Aussie-centric post folks, apologies to anyone who's reading this and has no idea what I'm talking about. You might find the list of Australia's favourite films interesting, otherwise maybe it's time to go put the kettle on...

My expectations for the Movie Show's special episode My Favourite Film which screened on the ABC last night had been pretty low. I find these sort of 'most favourite' type shows are often just a puff piece of poorly strung together clips and some inane banter. When I saw that ABC tv was asking people to go to their website and vote for their most favourite films I was a little dubious how the end result was going to turn out.

I was pleasantly surprised. The list of films turned out to be very interesting, especially the top 10. Not just the blockbusters and old favourites, but some very interesting films like "Donnie Darko" and some real surprises like "The Princess Bride". It's probably too narrow a demographic and too small a sample size to be a true indicator of Australia's favourite films, but it's still an interesting list.

The show itself was great. Interesting discussions about the films that make up the top 10, with well thought out and varied opinions, and some very funny comments about the films. The film recaps were for the most part very funny, and I especially enjoyed the kids tv characters "The Hooley Dooleys" recapping "Pulp Fiction" and nearly fell off my chair when they had a water ballet troop re-enact a two minute version of "Lord Of The Rings". All in all a very entertaining 90 minutes.

Here's the top 100 as voted, with the films I've seen and enjoyed in bold. Films I don't like are in italics, the rest I either haven't seen or am apathetic about.
1-10
1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Amelie
3. Blade Runner

4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. Donnie Darko
6. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

7. Pulp Fiction
8. The Princess Bride
9. Gone With The Wind
10. Fight Club

11-20
11. The Sound of Music
12. To Kill A Mockingbird
13. 2001: A Space Odyssey
14. Casablanca

15. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
16. American Beauty
17. Doctor Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
18. Monty Python's Life of Brian

19. Lawrence Of Arabia
20. Apocalypse Now

21-30
21. Cinema Paradiso
22. Doctor Zhivago
23. The Matrix
24. The Castle
25. Singin' in the Rain

26. A Clockwork Orange
27. The Blues Brothers
28. Withnail and I

29. Life is Beautiful
30. The Godfather

31-40
31. Moulin Rouge
32. Some Like it Hot

33. Lost in Translation
34. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
35. Local Hero
36. The Third Man
37. Brazil
38. Serenity (Can I get a HELL YEAH!)
39. Breakfast at Tiffany's
40. A Room with a View


41-50
41. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
42. Dead Poets Society

43. Harold and Maude
44. The Big Lebowski
45. The Wizard of Oz
46. Out Of Africa
47. Picnic at Hanging Rock
48. The Usual Suspects
49. Cabaret

50. Forrest Gump

51-60
51. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
52. The Piano
53. Pirates of the Carribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl
54. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

55. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
56. The City of Lost Children
57. The African Queen
58. Love Actually
59. Strictly Ballroom
60. Wings of Desire


61-70
61. Raiders of the Lost Ark
62. Babette's Feast
63. The Fifth Element
64. Spirited Away
65. Alien
66. It's a Wonderful Life

67. Napoleon Dynamite
68. Rear Window
69. Romeo And Juliet
70. Dirty Dancing

71-80
71. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
72. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
73. Trainspotting
74. Muriel's Wedding
75. When Harry Met Sally
76. The Great Escape
77. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
78. Gallipoli

79. Lantana
80. Garden State

81-90
81. Sin City
82. Chariots of Fire
83. The English Patient
84. This is Spinal Tap
85. Chocolat
86. Fargo
87. Look Both Ways
88. Goodfellas
89. Aliens
90. Grease


91-100. 91. All About Eve
92. Citizen Kane
93. Stand By Me
94. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

95. Mulholland Drive
96. Back to the Future
97. High Fidelity
98. The Thin Red Line
99. Being John Malkovich
100. Dead Man

What is surprising, is just how many of these I haven't seen. I must fix that.

15 comments:

Cozalcoatl said...

You haven't seen
'African Queen'????!!!
oh my god.
we can speak no more...

The Other Andrew said...

I've seen part of it, but not the whole thing. I know, shocking. As I said, I'm surprised at how many I haven't seen.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Donnie Darko...

"Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!?!?!"

The Other Andrew said...

Well Duane, of course Donnie Darko is great. Jake Gyllanhaal, I mean... duh.

They had me at Jake Gyllenhaal.

Bodhi said...

I saw the show as well Andrew, and was also pleasently suprised by how much I enjoyed it as a best of genre that, like yourself, I am usually not a big fan of.

I was pleased to see that my two favourite films of Fight Club and American Beauty both rated well in the list. And I particularly ejoyed and the Umbelical Brothers interpretation of Gone with the Wind (which is made even more amusing by the fact that I hate the film).

But what the hell were people thinking with Amelie? That film is a huge steaming pile of merde, and like Judith I just want to beat that stupid vapid women senseless. In fact, I hate all French film, its nothing but a load of cinemagraphic masturbation. The French, such pretentious wankers.

But where is Priscilla Queen of the Desert? Oh ... My .... Brad! Not on the list!! I'M SHOCKED, APPALED AND OUTRAGED!!!

Cozalcoatl said...

I first post which disappeared had me saying.
Good list mostly except
Donnie Darko- well acted, dumb movie.
Maybe thats why it diddn't show up...

The Other Andrew said...

Bodhi, we are not home to "Amelie" hate here. I love that film. Bodhi, so much hate. You hate all French film? Big call my friend. Even my beloved "City Of Lost Children"? "Delicatessen"?

Do you in fact have a cold, dead heart?

*sigh* Mathieu Kassovitz! Merde, but he's hot.

harry said...

HELL YEAH!

[oh, and Bohdi can take his anti-Amelie philistinity elsewhere!]

The Other Andrew said...

Harry is that a HELL YEAH! as to how hot Mathieu Kassovitz is? If so, is there something you're not telling us pet? Just checking.

Bodhi said...

You hate all French film?

Yep, I do hate ALL French film. At least everything that I have bothered to watch thus far, and usually watched now under great reluctance but under insistence of friends. I keep waiting for something good, but its just one gigantic merde-fest thus far ...

And I have quite a warm and snuggly heart, and there is much cinema, indeed even world cinema, that warms my cockles. It just seems when it comes to the French, I have a triple bypass. I honestly do enjoy other things French, so its not them as such; its just their films do not appeal.

Krin said...

Thanks for posting this link I missed the show. Thankfully, it's a good list, the Princess Bride and Serenity are at interesting places. Although I agree that might be a reflection of the demographic. Sad i missed the water ballet

The Other Andrew said...

The water ballet was ace. I mean, how many times do you get to see bows and mace swinging in a regular water ballet?...

Not. Often. Enough.

Anonymous said...

Anyone that doesn't like Donnie Darko should watch it again. It is infinitely better the second time... and Jake is still in it.

The Other Andrew said...

You as so biased Duane... but then I could watch two hours of Jake just standing there, so I'm not one to criticise. :-)

Anonymous said...

Shawshank Redemption.

You have to see this, Andrew. Have to. It swoops. It soars. I laughed. I cried. I cry every time. With joy. I laugh when they laugh. Morgan Freeman narrates when we need to see inside Tim Robbins’ head. And sometimes, from inside his own head. He narrates:

“Get busy living or get busy dying.”

“I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”

I just weep. Oh Andrew. It’s such a good weep.


I have comments on lots of the others that you haven't seen. Bad boy. I'll make notes and hand them to you in person, though.