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The A List: The National Society Of Film Critics' 100 Essential Films

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There can never be a definitive list of the 100 greatest movies ever made that satisfies everyone, but this particular list has a lot going for it. Each film is alloted about three pages of commentary that deals with the origins of the film, why critics love it, why it has endeared itself to the general public, what is so significant about it in the context of film history. All the essays are great fun to read before and after watching a particular film. I have made it an ambition to watch as many of these films as are available on VHS and DVD. (I have so far seen about 60+ movies on the list). The list is commendably broad-based, with a fair number of Asian and European films. Yes, the usual suspects are there (Citizen Kane, Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia), but, if for nothing else, I must thank this book for having introduced me, someone who is not a student of film, to films and film-makers I hadn't even heard of before, but who have since established a place in my heart. It was here that I discovered Carl Dreyers' powerful film The Passion of Joan of Arc, and Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story, which is the most sublimely beautiful movie I have ever seen. Surprisingly, the critics have steered clear of being too arcane in their choices; there are nods here to B-movies, Hollywood musicals, Hong Kong martial arts flicks, summer blockbusters, westerns, science fiction. Rather than being a list of the GREATEST (Enter the Dragon! Jailhouse Rock!), this is really a list of the most INFLUENTIAL films across a range of genres. So you will find one or two representatives of German expressionism, Italian neo-realism, French New Wave, Russian montage, film-noir, etc., but you can easily think of many films that, aesthetically, are greater than some of the movies on this list but have not been included because they are not considered as influential. How else can you explain the inclusion of ,say, Close Encounters of the Third Kind but not Apocalypse Now? Perhaps the latter was left out because Coppola already has Godfather on the list. (But Federico Fellini has three of his films included, Spielberg and Kurosawa two each.) I would have liked to see a Jacques Tati film represented, and also one from Indian Bollywood. Overall, if you treat this as a guide that leads you to discover more films that are not on the list, then you will open up before you a wonderful world of films not restricted to just Hollywood.

I love this book. I got it a couple years ago, and it never stays on my shelf. Every few weeks I pull it down to read the essay on a movie I've just seen or to get ideas for another movie to rent. I admire the National Society of Film critics for picking some unusual choices. Some so unusual that it's hard to find the films.
I recommend this book to any film buff, or to anyone that wants to become a film buff. It's a great place to start.

As a self professed film fan, I bought this book browsing though a store's shelves. I am so lucky to have picked it because this book (along with a subscription to Netflix) has brought me hours of mind challenging enjoyment. I can't think of a better way to explore the history of film outisde of a classroom setting.

Good price. Fast shipping. If you have any interest in film history, directors' style, political circumstances at the time of filming- this is a must read. Also many useful comments on films not actually reviewed.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I am not the least bit inspired to venture into theatres to see the formulaic schlock Hollywood is putting out these days. However, I do enjoy interesting films. That's where this little book comes so in handy. This is a terrific guide for exploring innovative and interesting films made around the world from the silent era through the year 1997, the last year in which a film recommended in this book ("L.A. Confidential") is made. There are lots of films you would expect - "2001", "The Graduate", "Frankenstein", "Star Wars" - and some films you might not expect or even have heard of such as "Battleship Potemkin", which is a silent film made in Russia in 1925, controversial in its time for its graphic violence and revolutionary zeal. In some cases, the reviewer makes some unexpected comparisons. For example, in the case of "Frankenstein" the reviewer points out some of the nonsense that is going on in the film, such as nonsensical soliloquies by seemingly irrelevant and over-stereotyped characters and people running upstairs in fear and somehow ending up in the basement. This leads the reviewer to the conclusion that the sequel "Bride of Frankenstein" was a superior film compared to its predecessor.
In the case of each film mentioned, the reviewer discusses what it is about the film that he or she thinks makes it one of the great films of all time and gives insights into what was their own viewing experience. I will have to say the one film absent from the list that surprised me was "Forrest Gump". However, given that no individual is going to completely agree with another individual's "A list" of films, I highly recommend it.

Use this book as a buying-guide reference and feel confident that every film listed herein IS a true classic, in every sense of the word!
Once you've selected a handful or so to watch, go back and re-read the A-list review. In no time at all, you'll become a broader-minded individual and will be one step closer to breaking out of the conformist mentality that today's Hollywood mainsteam wish you to remain in in ignorance. Become one of the enlightened - buy (and read) this book today!

Being a major film fan of all styles & an emerging film critic, this "Best Of" book immediately caught my attention. Such an eclectic collection of films, it makes for riveting reading. Any book of essays regarding great films that includes "Happy Together" is, in my opinion definitely worth a look......Film Fans Rejoice!!!!!!!!!!!

Here we go again. Yes. One more recycling of the obvious, the trite, the usual rounding up of the usual suspects.Jay Carr is a middlebrow reviewer (a lover of mainstream movies who writes for a mass circulation newspaper) and this book is a display of his middlebrow taste and sensibiliy. All of the films are the predictable choices. Even many of the essays are not new, but decades old reprints of pieces that shouldn't have been published in the first place. This book displays no evidence of orginality, has no discoveries, no passion, nothing new. I guess if you are an 18 year old high school student, there might be something for you in this, but if you know the first thing about the top ten, top fifty, and top one hundred lists that have been issued every year for the past half century, you will learn nothing here that you don't already know ten times over. Even Ebert, never known to be a deep thinker, has more new to say, more new thoughts, more new choices, and more passion than this institutional product of an institutional mind.