Dracula Presents: The Top 100 Movies of All Time (2015 List)

67. Alien

Year: 1979

Director: Ridley Scott

Writer(s): Dan O'Bannon

Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Country of Origin: USA

Language: English

Running Time: 117 Minutes

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Ridley Scott’s Alien is one of those extremely rare movies that truly feels 100% timeless. By that I mean that if you put the movie in theaters right now pretty much the only thing that would really give away the fact that it’s actually thirty five years old are some of the hair-styles. I can hardly think of another effects-heavy science fiction film that you could say that about and I think that says something about how ahead of its time the movie was. Ridley Scott has always used his fair share of visual effects, but he’s never really been an “effects maestro” in the way that a James Cameron or a Peter Jackson is. Rather, he harkens back to an older tradition of people like Cecil B. DeMille who put together large scale productions from the ground up and really made them stand out on all levels. In the case of Alien that meant constructing elaborately detailed space ship sets, envisioning a wholly unusual alien spacecraft in the middle of a barren planet, and commissioning a distinctive artist (H.R. Giger) to design one of the most iconic creatures in film history.



Even more interestingly, all this work was done in service of what is essentially a slasher horror movie. Most directors would half-ass their assignment when making a film in a disreputable genre like this, but Scott made his monster movie stand out by creating an ominous tone, avoiding stupid clichés, creating a believable cast of characters, and taking the film seriously. There are no throw-away one-liners in Alien and the film never feels compelled to turn into an action/chase movie two thirds of the way in. Instead it entertains its audience through incredibly shocking jolts (like the infamous chest-burster scene) and through moments of abject suspense (like Dallas’ ill-fated attempt to hunt the alien in the airlocks). The film is not unlike Spielberg’s Jaws in that the filmmakers were given pretty much every excuse to settle for mediocrity but instead sought to make something more deeply memorable and ended up with something special to show for their trouble: a movie that was simultaneously an amazing horror film and an expertly realized piece of science fiction. It’s been imitated over and over again, but almost never matched.

This has been an excellent list thus far. Glad to see Unforgiven and City of God getting love. City of God, to me, is the best film of last decade. I agree though that There Will be Blood is right behind it, or maybe even right next to it.

And sweet, Alien. Here's to hoping (being the major fanboy I am) that Blade Runner will be popping up on here as well.

I'll that one another shot in time. I liked it a lot when I watched it this year, but it didn't fully click with me.

Hiroshima Mon Amour is incredible. I like Last Year at Marienbad more, but that movie is a knockout and a real pioneer in a lot of ways.

Terrence Malick is the shit. I don't care if people don't like his movies, the man has a definitive style and his cinematography is so unique and breathtaking. Badlands and Days of Heaven are movies I can't see anyone not liking, even if they don't enjoy Malick's later works.

The New World is my least favorite of his because the narrative is all over the place, but again his visuals are excellent. I'm definitely in the minority for liking To the Wonder (it has like a 42% on RT) but I thought that was good too. I just picked up Badlands, Days of Heaven, and The Thin Red Line on Criterion Blu-Ray. Haven't watched them yet in Blu-Ray, so I'm ready to geek out to that cinematography. There's just something to how Malick moves that camera along that beautiful scenery that's so amazing to watch.

64. Raging Bull

Year: 1980

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writer(s): Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin

Based on: The book "Raging Bull: My Story" by Jake La Motta, Joseph Carter, and Peter Savage

Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Cathy Moriarty, and Johnny Barnes

Studio: United Artists

Country of Origin: USA

Language: English

Running Time: 129 Minutes

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
“Likability” is, generally speaking, a much prized asset in a film protagonist. Perhaps part of what makes Martin Scorsese such an impressive director is his ability to make great movies with protagonists that completely lack likability but even amongst his many films there are few characters quite as unsympathetic as Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. This is of course curious given that so many of Scorsese’s protagonists are out and out killers whereas La Motta is just a self-destructive asshole who brings misery to himself and everyone around him. It is perhaps telling that the film was made at a low point in Scorsese’s life both personally and professionally. His last film bombed, he’d just gone through a second divorce (no small thing for a devout catholic) , and he was just beginning to get over a cocaine addiction. It’s possible that he needed to be in that place of self-loathing to find a way in to a character like this. Fortunately he was backed up by Robert De Niro, who gave a truly bravura performance in the lead, becoming one of the first method actors to impress by intentionally gaining weight for a role. Scorsese’s abilities as a technical filmmaker were also on fire when he made it and the boxing scenes are some of the most intensely shot sequences in cinema complete with some really intense editing by Thelma Schoonmaker.

Well said with Casablanca.

Raging Bull is way too low.

I really ought to watch Raging Bull again.

62. The Leopard

Year: 1963

Director: Luchino Visconti

Writer(s): Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, Luchino Visconti, and Suso Cecchi d'Amico

Based on: "The Leopard" by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Serge Reggiani, Mario Girotti, and Pierre Clementi

Studio: Titanus

Country of Origin: Italy

Language: Italian

Running Time: 185 Minutes

Aspect Ratio: 2.21:1
In 1958 a novel about the Italian Risorgimento written by a man with a vague aristocratic lineage named Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa was published posthumously and quickly became a controversial sensation. Given that the novel had become Italy’s "Gone With the Wind" it was inevitable that it would be the subject of an epic film, but I don’t know that many people expected that it would be made by a leftist veteran of the neorealism movement. In actuality, Luchino Visconti was the perfect man for the job. Though his politics differed dramatically from Tomasi’s, Visconti was also from a noble family and proudly held the title “Count of Lonate Pozzolo.” How does someone maintain a membership in the communist party while also unashamedly living a lavish lifestyle? With very conflicted feelings I suspect, and you can definitely see them coursing through this film about a Sicilian Prince living in changing times as the aristocracy gives way to a unified Italian Kingdom and a certain degree of republicanism. This prince doesn’t fight these changes tooth and nail so much as he sees the writing on the wall and attempts to adjust to the times. Among his many other accomplishments, Visconti was a director of Opera and he brings that same sense of grandeur and opulence to this film with its elaborate sets and sweeping scope.

I've only seen three Marx Brothers films, but Duck Soup has already stood out quite a bit and is unquestionably the best I've seen.