Best Films of All Time

The British Film Institute's monthly film magazine Sight & Sound puts together a list every ten years of "The 100 Greatest Films of All Time," according to critics. I had never heard of Sight & Sound or even BFI before, but I did follow a few movie critics before I deleted PoYB's Twitter account, and so this past summer, I saw a flurry of posts about various critics publicly debating their personal submissions for the list, due this year, ten years after the last one. I thought I should get in on the fun.

I don't blame BFI for not inviting Puke on Your Birthday to be one of the 900+ critics who are submitting their personal Top Tens to be counted toward the eventual Top 100 list. An ongoing column on this blog at times functions as a weekly public announcement of how ignorant I am about films in general, still, after all this time. I'm probably not the type of person you want mucking up your list. But still! I have opinions! Fuck the British Film Institute for not being aware of some random American dude's blogspot account!

I don't even know if the Sight & Sound list was published yet. I don't see anything online, but apparently it's due this month, so who knows, maybe by the time you read this, you'll have a copy in your hands. It's kind of besides the point. I'm just here to tell you about my favorite movies of all time (right now).

I'll play by the rules. One's submission should be exactly ten films, and they should be unranked. My list before writing this blog post had twelve films, so I'm removing two films that I've only seen once (Brief Encounter and Do the Right Thing). The fact that I liked them so much the first time around that I included them on a potential list of best movies of all time should say enough about those films. Just know that if I ever get around to watching either of them again, there's almost zero chance that they won't bump one of these other films off this list.

Descriptions will be brief, since blogging is tight this semester. Links will be provided if the blog has written about them. And if anyone else wants to submit their own list for publication, I'd be happy to include it on a separate post right here on Puke on Your Birthday (especially because that will afford me a day off from the writing-every-day thing).

Joe's Official Sight & Sound Submission of His Top Ten Greatest Movies of All Time

Another Round

I don't think you necessarily need to "see yourself" in a film in order to love it. But I also don't think that I would've liked Another Round if I wasn't a drinker. It holds the mirror up, and man, let me tell you what I saw...

Dazed and Confused

Yes, it's still my favorite, after all this time. I wonder if there will ever come a time when this is not my favorite movie of all time. It's scary to think about how the years can start to pile up; after a while, the weight of it can change a man. Will this all start to seem silly? Or will this treatise on the freedom of youth hold strong, even as I get exponentially older? We'll find out.

Everybody Wants Some!!

Weird that through the magic of alphabetization, I get to talk about the "spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused" right after I talk about Dazed and Confused. I don't think it's worth comparing the two, because, sequel or no, they have different things to say. Actually, there are some days when I think Everybody Wants Some!! is a better movie than Dazed and Confused, simply because it has more of a philosophical bent to it, and feels more profound because of it. But I would need more than this short blurb to go into all that. I think the main point to be underlined here is that this is not a case of me having two of the same exact type of movie on my list. They are completely separate, and worthy of this list in completely different ways.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

You ever hear the saying that you never realize that you're living the good ol' days until they're over? Well, Ferris Bueller's Day Off supposes that there is one Chicago teen who has learned the secret, who awoke one day to the realization that his here and now was indeed his "good ol' days," and lives his life accordingly. This is more than a story about a fun-loving teen. This is a proclamation that to live your best life, you must constantly force yourself to live in the present moment, for every moment, until there are no more moments left.

The Muppet Movie

This is a great film because it never ends. Think about it: the Muppets want you to believe that movies are magic. To convince you of this fact, they band together and make a movie. The movie they make? This movie. The Muppet Movie. In that movie, the Muppets want you to believe that movies are magic... and so on, forever. But let's also be clear: a movie without an ending could never be great if the infinite journey wasn't so charming and lovable.

Ratatouille

When Anton Ego takes a bite of Remy's ratatouille, he is instantly transported back to his childhood. This makes him feel good. So this is the first thing to know about happiness: the pursuit of happiness is a worthy pursuit, as easy as it is to forget. But then, Anton Ego learns that a rat, like a literal rat who can control a human by sitting on top of the human's head and pulling his hair to control his limbs, is the chef who cooked his meal. He is still happy, because the food was good, but learning of its origins shatters his entire world and everything he knows. This is the second thing to know about happiness: it has the potential to destroy. And yet he accepts the truth anyway. He accepts the fact that a rat is a chef, and he continues to order his favorite meal from his favorite chef. This is the third thing to know about happiness: you need to be strong and courageous to continuously chase after happiness, because pursuing happiness is like handling dynamite. I don't know if any of this makes sense, but I'm trying my best here to process why this ostensible kids' movie has such a strong grip on me, still, after all these years.

Rocky

Emotional manipulation, that's what it is. You got me to care about the outcome of a goddamn boxing match? How? Well, I suppose by not making it about boxing all that much. Note how the final decision is backgrounded for Rocky's frantic yelling for Adrian—sometimes success isn't about winning. Success is about becoming your true self, whatever that looks like. Rocky offers a compelling portrait of what being your "true self" means when you live in the worst version of the best city in the world.

Stand by Me

I guess there's a chance that this list of films will seem juvenile to some, seeing as how many of them feature the exploits of children. But in my view, something interesting happens when you view those exploits through a thick lens of nostalgia and regret. Stand by Me does the work for me by foregrounding the act of nostalgia, as its framework is a grown-up Gordie reflecting upon the most important weekend of his life. It's not so much a memory of childhood, but more a poignant reflection on what memories can do to you as you age.

That Thing You Do!

In a film filled to the brim with fun set pieces, probably the best scene in That Thing You Do!, and probably one of my favorite scenes in any visual media ever, is the scene when "That Thing You Do" is played on the radio for the first time, and the gang goes nuts over it. There is so much joy in that scene—glee over unexpected success, celebration of music, that special bond that is created among peers when something incredible happens. I love this shit. (It's really cool how the actual song, which is played about 300 times throughout the film, never gets old. Maybe that's the true magic here.)

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

I view Willy Wonka as an outlier on this list. I feel like, out of the ten films presented here, this is the only one that earns its inclusion by just being a really fun time. Sure, you could make an argument that the film says something profound about the value of simple goodness, or acts as a warning against excess, or maybe works as an expression of how unwieldy the balance can be between dreams and reality. I don't know, though. None of that rings true. I'm not thinking about such bullshit when I step into that chocolate factory for the first time. I'm instead marveling over the wonders of it all. (Also, interesting litmus test: tell someone that one of your favorite movies of all time is Willy Wonka, and if they respond "Which one?" then you've just learned something really disappointing about that person. As if it's even a question!!! C'mon!!!!)