25 June, 2022
This is the final grouping of 50 to count down the 1000 Greatest Films of the first Century of Film (1912-2011).
The original introduction can be found here. Other parts can be found here.
The films in this portion rate at a 98 down through Modern Times and a 99 after that.
After some other posts, there will be an update that covers the years 2012-2016. Then after some other posts, there will be another update that will cover the years 2017-2021.
9 May, 2022
12 March, 2022
Getting close to the (initial) end of the Top 1000 list. The introduction is here and the rest of the list can be found by going here. Films through Inglourious Basterds (#174) are a 95 which is high ****. The rest are a 96. A 96 is, to me, worthy of a Best Picture win. That means any Oscar winners from that point on, even if they don’t win the Nighthawk, earn no complaints from me. Ironically, one of those films doesn’t even earn a Nighthawk nomination (The Hours) because 2002 is just that tough. There are also a few films that come 5th in their years while the only actual Nighthawk winners in this post are all 95 films. Things are so even across genres and major studios that only one film in this group of 50 is in the Top 5 all-time for its genre or major studio. (more…)
11 May, 2021
20 March, 2021
The ongoing countdown of my Top 1000 films through 2011, covering the first century of film. The film listed below are all 89 (low ****) until The Gunfighter after which they are 90 (low ****). The TSPDT rankings starting with this post are from the 2021 list. The introduction can be found here. (more…)
23 January, 2021
When it came—thirty cents—he pinned it up in his trailer, brass-headed tack in each corner. Below it he drove a nail and on the nail he hung a wire hanger and the two old shirts suspended from it. He stepped back and looked at the ensemble through a few stinging tears. “Jack, I swear—” he said, though Jack had never asked him to swear anything and was himself not the swearing kind.
note: An excellent Top 5 and Top 10. (more…)
17 November, 2020
This is the next batch of 50 in my countdown of the Top 1000 films through 2011 (the first century of film). Down through Last Year at Marienbad, they all earn an 87, which is the highest ***.5, or just short of being a great film. From #829 on to the end of this list they all earn an 88 which is the lowest rating which earns **** (and thus gets called a great film). You should probably look at the introduction first. Your best bet for finding previous groups of 50 is to click here.
20 August, 2020
I should probably start with the obvious: the Golden Globe Awards are a registered trademark of the HFPA (which is also trademarked). I don’t have their permission to write any of this (and I don’t need it) and I don’t own any of the photos. They are also a major part of the film industry, whether anyone likes it or not (and many people don’t for very good reasons). They have been around for a long time and there is a lot that is odd but also some that is very good about them. So I’ve compiled a post of various info, trivia and assorted little tidbits about the awards, organized by category. (more…)
21 May, 2020
Perhaps the first thing to point out about Ang Lee’s Hulk is that it was the fourteenth highest grossing film of 2003 but it had the sixth largest opening weekend of 2003. Hulk earned 47% of its total domestic gross in its opening weekend. Today, that’s not a surprising number and it happens several times each year and several films with far higher opening weekends have had a higher percentage of their total gross come from that number (mostly comic book films and Twilight films). But back in 2003, it was unheard of. Indeed, up until 2009, it continued to be almost entirely unheard of (that was when a film with a higher opening weekend (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) finally broke Hulk’s record). How bizarre was it that Hulk opened so well and then faltered so badly? I haven’t finished my own spreadsheet so I can’t properly do a comparison like this and Box Office Mojo’s new site doesn’t allow for an easy determination for that answer, but before Hulk, no film with an opening weekend over $20 million had ever earned that much of its total gross in its opening weekend. Given its massive opening weekend (the 16th largest ever at the time, larger than any pre-1997 film and larger than any pre-2001 film except Lost World and Phantom Menace), it was expected to do much more. Of the 15 films above it, the next highest percentage was 39.8% and only two films were above 35% (a number, that if Hulk had reached, would have been a domestic gross of $177 mil instead of $132). What all of that says (with interesting statistics) is that lots of people went to see Hulk initially but either they didn’t tell their friends to go see it or they didn’t go back to see it again. And I suppose I can relate to that. Of the 15 higher grossing opening weekends to that point, I saw 10 of them in the theater and six of those I saw multiple times including the other two comic book films on the list, both of them Marvel (relevant in a minute). Hulk had been an interesting film but it wasn’t a compelling film and it didn’t draw me back to the theater like Spider-Man and X2 had. (more…)
21 March, 2020
“I would rather be a ghost, drifting by your side as a condemned soul, than enter heaven without you.” Because the book has never been translated, I have no idea if that brilliant line exists there in any way.
note: A truly fantastic Top 7 though it drops a bit after that. My list continues down below though my #18 (Chocolat) and #19 (All the Pretty Horses) aren’t on that list because they’re reviewed as nominees. (more…)
The penultimate grouping of 50 has films that earn a 97 down through 2001. After that, they are a 98. The intro is 
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