Returning to Old Rankings

For this week’s article I thought I’d go nostalgic and revisit some old rankings and lists of mine to see what has stuck and what has changed. I wrote these rankings and lists around the age of 14 and looking over them at a glance, I have to say that I don’t really think that six years has changed me much in regards to my film taste. Most of these changes will purely be additions from films that have affected me in the interim. The book I’m referring to for these rankings is a pleasant little stocking filler that I got gifted by an old friend, entitled "Film Listography". I do believe that there is a whole series of these books, ones that I may look into purchasing for other people, as this book gave me much joy as an meticulously retentive film buff who was depressingly single at the time. So as a currently meticulously retentive film buff, once again depressingly single at the time of writing (31/07/2020 – fingers crossed for a change by publication date). I move to return to these lists.

Favourite Comedy Moments

Past me chose: ‘The Rivers of Jordan’ (Airplane!) and ‘Nordberg in the Hospital’ (The Naked Gun)

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Both Z.A.Z. (Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker) films, still hilariously funny and still make me laugh whenever I see them. So these choices remain. A dandy start. Looking at today, I’d probably add Pat Healy lying in There’s Something About Mary or Fletch’s hospital visit in Fletch, or even add in a particular scene from Caddyshack, but I don’t exactly know what I’d pick as one scene.

Top Picks for Documentaries
Past me chose: Senna and Hearts of Darkness

Both excellent choices that I still revisit and find great pleasure in. However, I have to add a new top to this list in Ezra Edelman’s masterpiece O.J: Made in America. A film that's over seven hours in length that I’ve rewatched at least four times. The power and brilliance of this film is just undeniable and it is simply one of the most flawless films - never mind documentaries - of recent memory. I’d probably also add Grey Gardens, Salesman and Stop Making Sense (if we’re counting concert films as documentaries, and I see no reason not to).

Favourite Closing Line
Past me chose: 
1. "Shut up and deal" (The Apartment)
2. "Now Mr Demille, I’m ready for my close-up" (Sunset Boulevard) 
3. "Well, nobody’s perfect" (Some Like It Hot) 
4. "Hey everybody, we’re all gonna get laid!" (Caddyshack)
5. "Now I’m gonna go home and sleep with my wife" (Clue)

Well this has never and will never change for the rest of my life. Three Wilder classics and two 80’s comedy sex-based one-liner gems.

Favourite Animated Films

Past me chose: Monsters Inc., South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut and Beauty and the Beast

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The three animated films that I consider as perfect, each excelling in their chosen genre and two featuring some of the finest movie musical music I’ve ever heard. This has always been a pretty air-tight list of three for me, without a candidate to crack it as of yet. But I hope...I hope, but I doubt it. I do doubt it.

Most Romantic Moments in Film

Past me chose: ‘Shut up and deal’ (The Apartment), ‘New Year’s Eve’ (When Harry met Sally), ‘IKEA’ (500 Days of Summer) and 'the Airport' (Casablanca)

The greatest romantic moments in cinema are earned and these are all desperately earned. From the romantic release and hope following a feature length of disappointment, we get our endings in The Apartment and When Harry Met Sally. Or we find that, after a half hour or so of wondering what’s got Tom feeling so down, we finally get to see the reason the loss of Summer means so much to him in the IKEA scene in 500 Days of Summer. Or finally, after a tale of woe and loss, we realise that there is just no other solution but for us to lose what we love, again, in the ever-affecting end to Casablanca. Four excellent picks, if I don’t say so myself.

Comic Book Adaptations You Give the Thumbs Up

Past me chose: The Dark Knight and Watchmen

Both fine films that I still watch and enjoy to this day. There is obviously no argument about which is better as one of them is one of the greatest action/drama/superhero films of a generation (I speak of The Dark Knight of course), but I have always felt that Watchmen has its fair share of quality that I would like to see acknowledged more often. Also, if we’re talking comic book adaptations rather than super-hero films, I’d add Ghost World, a great little gem.

Films That Make You Cry

Past me chose: Terms of Endearment, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Up in the Air, Titanic, Planes Trains and Automobiles and The Apartment

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These all still achieve their aim of making you cry like a little baby by the final reel, with The Apartment appearing yet again in this article. On a personal note, Marriage Story makes me cry uncontrollably for its scarily accurate representation of personal moments. Ghost made me cry for the first time the day before I wrote this article. I think it’s fair to say that depending on your emotional state, even the most inane films can make you cry. For me, that's happening a lot, but these six choices will always do the trick...I guess that sets them apart.

List Villains You Love to Hate

Past me chose: The Joker, Hannibal Lecter, Daniel Plainview and Max Cady

On the podcast earlier in the year, I declared that I think Hannibal Lecter may just be my favourite character of all time. Across films, literature and TV, I simple adore him in every iteration. The Joker is undeniable in his effectiveness, mainly Nicholson and Ledger it has to be said. Day Lewis as Plainview still terrifies me and shakes me to my core anytime that I watch There Will Be Blood and Max Cady in both versions of Cape Fear is one of the most startling and evil villains ever put on a screen. Four perfect choices that I wouldn’t change or add to. Maybe add Anton Chigurh, if the mood strikes me.

Movies Stars You Can’t Bear to Watch
Past me chose: Adam Sandler

I don’t know who I was trying to impress with this choice, because this isn’t true and really has never been true. I love Sandler and not just in Punch Drunk Love and Uncut Gems - I’m a big fan of Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer. At the time of writing, we are in the midst of the lowest ebb of his career though with Grown Ups and Jack and Jill, so that may have coloured my opinion, but all the same I very much like Sandler and would like to clear his name from this opinion of an earlier Thomas Carruthers. Nowadays, I genuinely can’t stand Lilly James, Lucas Hedges and Emma Watson, who I think do their best to ruin every film they are in. It is the rarest of rarities when these people put in a solid performance and it’s so refreshing when they do.

Screenwriters That Never Let You Down
Past me chose: Charlie Kaufman, Billy Wilder and Aaron Sorkin

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All solid choices that I stand by; however, I would definitely expand the field to include Quentin Tarantino, Woody Allen and William Goldman. As a lifelong fan of all of these writers, I don’t really know where they crept away to when I was writing, but they’re here now. 

Subjects You’d Like To See Made Into A Film 

Past me chose: Freddie Mercury 

I technically got my wish, but I really didn’t. I want the truth on film and I don’t want some pussyfooting farce like the film we got. I thought it tarnished the legend’s memory and was a piece of drivel that I actually think he would be frankly disgusted by. So in a way, this still stands. I want a real film about Mercury, but this is just pipe dreams now. We had our chance and we blew it. Shame.

Monologues That Left An Indelible Mark On You 

Past me chose: ‘Mad as Hell’ (Network) 

There’s not a single person who has heard this monologue that has not had an indelible mark left upon them. If they say it didn’t, then they haven’t seen the film.

Unforgettable Death Scenes 

Past me chose: R.P. McMurphy (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) 

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It’s listed here for the same reasons it’s in the above section on tearjerkers. An unfortunate personal note has led to this one being particularly hard-hitting nowadays. Funny what six years can change. An unfortunately sad ending to the rankings. Maybe the conclusion can be a pick-me-up job...

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And so it seems that not much has changed really as aforementioned in my introduction. So what can be gained from looking back? Sometimes a lot, sometimes very little. I can’t say I’ve changed an awful lot; perhaps in other facets of life, but clearly not my film taste. I often say that you can tell an awful lot about somebody from what their favourite film is. I guess from returning to these choices, people can tell about me that I’m reserved in my ways. Stubborn could be used as a synonym, but reserved is nicer. I am a stubborn man of course in most things. I guess I’ve found that the root of that could be my film taste and I figured that out through a glance back at an old book and a blog post. Certainly a lot cheaper than therapy.

Not necessarily an ending to an article about films, more fitting perhaps as the ending to an autobiography, but it’s the ending we have all the same. Perhaps if I get to the point of autobiography, I’ll recycle it and see if anybody notices. Who knows? The first reader may be a fan of this blog. Funny how things like that sometimes happen. Circle of life, and all that.

-Thomas Carruthers