Entertainment Weekly just put out it's "new classics" addition. The mag lists classic tv shows, movies, books, stage productions and records from the past 25 years.
The #1 movie was Pulp Fiction.
I couldn't find Braveheart on the list anywhere.
For my money, Pulp Fiction is a nice piece of entertainment but Braveheart is a masterpiece.
Everyone has their own idea of what "Classic" means. To me, it doesn't simply mean "favorite". I think that in order to be considered a classic, it needs to do more than simply be a great, groundbreaking work of art. For me there are two more criteria that a movie, in particular, needs to fill to be considered a classic.
It must stand the test of time.
It must speak for itself.
While watching StarWars on dvd a few years back with Josie, I never once had to say "see, this is cool because no one had ever tried to do that in a movie before." Nope, I didn't have to say a word and the movie made her head spin right around on her neck.
Citizen Cane, on the other hand, while a very well made movie, doesn't stand the test of time. I watched it a couple of years ago with Zack. He had no idea that it was based on a real person and didn't care 'cuz who the heck is William Randolf Hearst, anyway? Without a tutorial on the groundbreaking new ways to light and shoot scenes that Wells came up with, it's just another old black and white film. And kind of a dull one at that.
I know most movie buffs consider Citizen Cane one of the greatest movies ever made but I disagree. I'll buy that it's an extremely important movie but it doesn't make the cut in my classic movie list.
A classic is not always appreciated in it's own time. It's A Wonderful Life was a box office flop. No one knew back in 1939 that The Wizard of Oz would look just as good in seventy years as it did then.
Gone With the Wind, Singin' in the Rain, Lawrence of Arabia, A Man for All Seasons and The Sting need no explanations. From thirty to seventy years old, these movies will take your breath away today just as they did when they were first released.
25 years ago was 1983. A lot of really good movies have been made since then. Every once in a while you see a movie in which every scene is perfect. Driving Miss Daisy was one such movie when it won for best picture back in '89. I watched it again last winter and it was just boring. Not a classic. Glory, which the academy ignored that same year, I've watched a dozen times and it blows me away every single time. Classic.
Here are some movies from the last 25 years that I consider classics;
The Sandlot
A Christmas Story
The Princess Bride
Tombstone
Roxanne
Die Hard
Jurassic Park
The Passion of the Christ
Groundhog Day
Office Space
I could probably think up a lot more but I have to go watch Hellboy now, to see if I liked it well enough to go see the second one when it comes out.
