Apu's Essential Films (March 18th, 2014)
Created by Apu.
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I added this list after I had watched my 5000th feature film, House of Games (1987)
The idea behind it was that if I only had the opportunity to pick 10% of all the feature films I've seen in my life (i.e. 500 films) and put them all together into a personal canon, this would be the end result.
Broadly speaking, these are the 500 films I'd want to have with me on a desert island.
The criterion I've used for the inclusion of films are, for a lack of a better world, personal. For example, I haven't factored in any sense of historical importance a film might or might not have. These 500 films are not necessarily the best films I've seen (although it should be very close to it) but the films that fascinate me the most, the films I find most aesthetically pleasing, films that are important to me nostalgically, and films I basically could re-watch at any given time. In my opinion, all films included in this list possess a certain re-watch-value that films not included might lack.
Omissions, of course, are inevitable. I've made an effort to be exhaustive, and if, for instance, none or only a few films from a certain director/wave/movement/period/genre made it into this list, it's because I don't value it as much as others.
Omissions also apply to many of the films I've seen that, for some reason or another, didn't make it, as well as all (acclaimed) films I haven't yet caught up with. However, it may also be that if a certain film is absent, it's absent because I don't value it as much as those I've included.
Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938) is divided into two parts, hence why there are 501 entries instead of 500.
See also my Essential Short Film list.
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10 new
All About Eve
1950, in 25 top lists Check -
135 new
Father of the Bride
1950, in 4 top lists Check -
137 new
The Flame and the Arrow
1950, in 1 top list Check -
184 new
In a Lonely Place
1950, in 19 top lists Check -
222 new
Los olvidados
1950 — a.k.a. The Young and the Damned, in 25 top lists Check -
334 new
Sunset Blvd.
1950 — a.k.a. Sunset Boulevard, in 35 top lists Check -
361 new
Wagon Master
1950, in 6 top lists Check -
372 new
Where the Sidewalk Ends
1950, in 3 top lists Check -
375 new
Winchester '73
1950, in 7 top lists Check -
426 new
Born Yesterday
1950, in 10 top lists Check -
468 new
Gun Crazy
1950, in 17 top lists Check -
485 new
Les enfants terribles
1950 — a.k.a. The Terrible Children, in 5 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;