Best Independent Films at jEDI blogs

Best Independent Films

Published by Jedi April 14th, 2006 in General, Miscellaneous

Supemus tagged me recently and here is the response.

This is based on the Empire’s list of Top 50 Independent films.

It is very difficult to judge a list like this because many of these films were released decades ago. Hence one can’t really compare them with each other or even the movies of the current era. So for example if movies like Evil Dead were landmark horror films and huge hits, today they would be considered very ordinary. In some cases even stupid. If Run Lola Run was a defining film of its genre, today we are overwhelmed with such films. So I will best try to judge them in the context of their periods (wherever I can)

50	El Mariachi	No great shakes – B+
49	Run Lola Run	Thrilling and brilliant – A+
48	Cube	“Could’ve been”. One of those movies where the end spoilt it all. Worth a watch still. A–
47	Blood Feast	Senseless, tasteless gore B–
46	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)	Much better than its recent remake. A-
45	Mad Max	Landmark film of its time. A
44	Amores Perros	Highly overrated B++
43	Shadows	Decent but touch boring. B
42	Swingers	Undoubtedly the best film for people who have suffered a heartbreak A+
41	Dead Man’s Shoes	No big deal.B+
40	The Descent	Pretty good for its genre B+++
39	The Passion of the Christ	Pointless. Still great cinematography B+++
38	Grosse Point Blank	Black comedy. Decent B+++
37	Being John Malkovich	Interesting A—
36	Buffalo ‘66	Different from your usual fare. Pointless but compelling B+++
35	THX-1138	Perhaps marks the birth of George Lucas. Pretty pale though. B–
34	The Blair Witch Project	Most successful low budget film of all time. Instant hit! A
33	Shallow Grave	Quite talked about in its time. Decent. B+
32	Two Lane Blacktop	Immensely boring. C
31	Pink Flamingos	Couldn’t bear to watch all of it C
30	Sweet Sweetback Baadasss	Engaging period drama. B+++
29	Bad Lieutenant	Perhaps Harry Keitel’s best ever performance. Still not that great. B+
28	In the Company of Men	None too special but bold. B
27	Dark Star	Very ordinary. Surprised to see even a mention of it C–
26	Lost in Translation	Offbeat films are not everyone’s cup of tea. Slightly boring though. A
25	Drugstore Cowboy	Pointless and ordinary. Ho Hum! C—
24	Hapiness	N.A.
23	The Evil Dead	B+
22	Nosferatu	Very interesting in its time and still as a classic. A
21	Roger and Me	Good but rough at edges B+++
20	Slacker	N.A. (on my list)
19	Lone Star	Engaging. Perhaps wouldn’t feel the same if I watched it today. A bit slow. B+
18	Withnail And I	N.A.
17	City of God	Gangsta. Excellent A+
16	She’s Gotta Have it	N.A.
15	Blood Simple	Dark but hardly a Coen Brother classic. Still worth a watch for the fans. B
14	Stranger Than Paradise	An average film that wants to be a classic. Uninteresting. C
13	Memento	Great plot. A++
12	Eraserhead	Nonsensical. Another film that I left half way. D
11	Bad Taste	Very silly. Even tasteless. D
10	Mean Streets	Not the greatest mob movie u’ll ever see but compelling nonetheless. B++
9	Sideways	Offbeat. Perhaps too much but good subtle humor B+++
8	The Usual Suspects	Perhaps the most copied film of all time. Great plot. A++
7	Sex, Lies and Videotape	Scandalous. A
6	Night of the Living Dead	Great horror in its time. B++
5	Monty Python’s Life of Brian	British humor. Not everyone’s cup of tea. Even more famous because of the TV series. A
4	Clerks	Witty and crazy. Still only a B
3	The Terminator	I’ll be back. The “first” in so many respects. A++
2	Donnie Darko	Overrated but definitely a must watch. A–
1	Reservoir Dogs	Cult classic. A++

46/50 - Not bad at all!!!

I must say at this point that the list, including the ratings, is a bit disappointing. Nonetheless, there’s only so much you can ask of independent filmmakers.

I must say this tag was a welcome change and I loved it.

jEDI

2 Responses to “Best Independent Films”

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1 Supremus Apr 14th, 2006 at 3:12 pm

46/50???????!!!!

Whoa - thats like a 92% score - whoa! Now I must agree that the jEDI has quite a taste in movies - man, you should be a director. Yeah, the List itself seems rigged, but it was good to read your take :P.

Now I know what DVDs to order from Netflix (evil grin here - and now you know why I tagged you more *evil* grins )

Suyog
2 Jedi Apr 15th, 2006 at 1:26 pm

That was an evil plan Supremus.. But I enjoyed executing it.
A welcome break from my “India” posts. I need to get them over with

jedi

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Best Independent Films

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