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With Netflix and Blockbuster online, you now have no excuse, Treefrog. :yahoo:

I can remember when you used to have to wait long periods before classics or foreign films had revivals -- either you saw them on public television, the late show, or headed to a repertory theatre, assuming you had one nearby. The new accessibility is a Good Thing for the most part, of course, but it changes the experience somewhat.

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I'm addicted to Netflix. I think I've seen more classics in the past few months I've been using it than I have my entire life. I've recently been cutoff from TCM so Netflix has become my main movie source. I know I wouldn't be able to find that kind of selection at my local video rental stores. The one frustrating thing is Netflix doesn't carry movies currently only available on videotape, like Fred and Ginger films (I know! Coming out on dvd soon) and Garbo films (other than Grand Hotel).

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I’ve had that experience, too – Netflix and Blockbuster have a lot of classics, but there are still quite a few titles of interest to buffs that they don’t have. I cancelled both services recently -- wasn't using them often enough, and there are several cable channels, including TCM, that suit my needs.

I love TCM, although sometimes I get a little annoyed with their programming of, say, “Casablanca” seemingly every other day when other titles are shown hardly at all.

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GWTW, there was a film version made fairly recently, starring Robert Downey, Jr., althought I can't imagine they mean that one. Either way it's an odd selection.

I'm seriously peeved that Gone With the Wind is left off the list in favor of some blatantly inferior candidates, BTW.

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I love TCM, although sometimes I get a little annoyed with their programming of, say, “Casablanca”  seemingly every other day when other titles are shown hardly at all.

Is Casablanca in the public domain? If so, it certainly explains TCM's affection for it.

It's a Wonderful Life is, which is why it blankets the airwaves at Christmas time.

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This is a very odd list—flipping through it the only ones I can agree with are Casablanca, Dr. Strangelove, Singin’ in the Rain and Wings of Desire—based only on personal preference. I love each of them and I watch them a few times a year.

There are some excellent movies on this list, including others that are favorites of mine. For example, Day for Night is one of the best movies about movies ever made and features a very young Natalie Baye. Aguirre: the Wrath of God is as good a reflection on obsession and power as has been put on film. The Lady Eve is almost perfect as a screwball and extremely sexy comedy with the indispensable Barbara Stanwyk at the top of her game. Whether they belong on a top 100 of all time is an open question.

There are a some movies on the list that are not the best representatives of their limited genre. Drunken Master II is good but Police Story I and Project A, both of which feature Jackie Chan at his acrobatic best, are better choices. And there are other Hong Kong action movies that are leagues better than anything Chan has done.

Chunking Express is an excellent movie but pales in comparison to the masterpiece In the Mood for Love, also written and directed by Chinese auteur Wong Kar Wai. Talk to Her is excellent but many Almovodar fans (like me) would not select it as his best and others might nominate any of a number of films by Carlos Saura as the best of post-Franco Spain.

Then comes the “what the Hell” part of the list. Purple Rose of Cairo? While I am by no means Woody Allen’s biggest fan, I can think of several of his movies that are preferable. Pulp Fiction could win an award as the most overrated movie of the 1990’s. There are better gangster movies than Miller’s Crossing on the list already. It’s a Wonderful Life needs no further comment.

The usual suspects seem to make just about any list like this: Psycho, Citizen Kane, City Lights. Perhaps they should be considered among the top 100 movies of all time but one can get tired of seeing them on every list anyone ever does.

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Hi, Ed. Long time no hear.

I get the impression that Corliss and Schickel were looking at genres and historical impact as well as aesthetic merit – hence the inclusion of things like “Blade Runner.” (Also at stars – without the presence of Garbo in Camille and Ninotchka, there is no justification whatever for including either picture in such a list. However, Bette Davis didn’t make the cut, although All About Eve would certainly have a place in this company.)

I haven’t cracked the numbers, but the list seems heavily weighted toward contemporary movies.

atm711, I must disagree, respectfully, about Tom Jones. I thought it was a mess, and a sad waste of a perfectly cast Albert Finney. I wouldn’t include “Barry Lyndon” on the list either, though.

I think I could make a case that Psycho is a poor picture. “Famous” doesn’t equal “good.”

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Barry Lyndon is visually beautiful -- but much better viewed if you could tune out the dialogue and keep in the 18th century music.

Talking about visual beauty on film, the recent attention to Suzanne Farrell's revival of Don Quixote made met think of a Russian film that showed in NYC about that time and which may possibly have been a stylistic influence on the 1965 NYCB production. Grigory Kozintsev's 1957 version has much of the pace, pageantry and sentiment of Balanchine's version -- though there's less about the pursuit of Dulcinea and more about the callousness of the ruling class.

And how about the abortive Terry Gilliam Don Q? Lost in La Mancha ((2002), which chronicles the various problems and fiascos surrounding that production, is itself a wonderful film. And Jean Rochefort would have been transcendent as the Don.

Both films are listed for sale on various internet sites.

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