Favorite older films watched during 2014






Watched for the first time in 2014. All rated 4.5/5 (9 out of 10) on letterboxd. In case you're wondering, I'm excluding films from the 2010s, and I'm not including rewatches or short films.

Upon reflection, I changed some scores from 8/10 to 9/10. So in a few cases, the scores are wrong in the reviews I link to. In random order:





Das Boot (1981) (director's cut) (Wolfgang Petersen) (review)






Stop Making Sense (1984) (Jonathan Demme) (mini-review)







The Hill (1965) (Sidney Lumet) (mini-review)







The Holy Mountain (1973) (Alejandro Jodorowsky) (mini-review) (notes from A Story of Film)







4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) (Cristian Mungiu) (mini-review)






Malcolm X (1992) (Spike Lee) (review)







The Firemen’s Ball (1967) (Milos Forman) (review)






Strangers on a Train (1951) (Alfred Hitchcock) (mini-review)







The Circus (1928) (Charles Chaplin) (mini-review)







Christiane F. (1981) (Uli Edel) (mini-review)






Come and See (1985) (Elem Klimov) (review)







Wake in Fright (1971) (Ted Kotcheff) (mini-review)






The Princess Bride (1987) (Rob Reiner) (mini-review)






Duck Soup (1933) (Leo McCarey) (review)





A Night at The Opera (1935) (Sam Wood, Edmund Goulding) (mini-review)





Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (Robert Zemeckis) (mini-review)





Bottle Rocket (1996) (Wes Anderson) (mini-review)






Insomnia (2002) (Christopher Nolan) (mini-review)





La Cérémonie (1995) (Claude Chabrol)





Seen any of these? Agree or disagree? Which films did you give a 9/10 or 10/10 score in 2014? Thoughts are welcome in the comments

18 comments:

  1. Good list! I've only seen The Princess Bride (so many times!), Strangers on a Train (love it!), and Malcolm X (excellent!)

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    1. @Irene McKenna: Thanks, happy you are a fan of those films as well !

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  2. I dug The Holy Mountain. It was awesome. I wanna do more Jodorowsky next year. Actually, I mentioned him in my blog plans for 2015 yesterday. I will totally do more of his work. He's fantastic.

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    1. @thevoid99: Jodorowsky's work is candy for the eyes, hope you enjoy his other films. I commented on post today, good luck with your projects for 2015

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  3. Nice list, but there are a lot of movies in that list I have not watched yet!

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    1. @Nostra: Thanks! Of the ones you are interested in, I hope you get to see them soon

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  4. Some excellent movies, here. Glad you got to see the underappreciated "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days." It's an amazing film. "Malcolm X" happens to be one of my all time faves.

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    1. @Wendell Ottley: Thanks, and those are indeed two great films. I need to check out others from the Romanian new wave(short films too), and from Spike Lee.

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  5. So many great movies here! 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days crippled me...such a powerful and heartbreaking film. The Fireman's Ball is a great little underseen gem, and Das Boot is brilliant.

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    1. @Fisti: Great films, each for different reasons! I saw a bunch of Czech New Wave films during a short space of time earlier in the year, and Fireman’s Ball was my favorite of them.

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  6. Big agreements on Das Boot, The Princess Bride and Stop Making Sense. On the other end of the spectrum I just saw The Holy Mountain a week or so ago and I'm afraid I can't agree on that one. I was left with the impression that Jodorowsky felt he had been too subtle and understated with El Topo so he decided to go all out on this one.

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    1. @Chip Lary: Glad we agree on those ones! Holy Mountain is not for everyone. I read your letterboxd review, agree J went all out, and a very unique experience, but I don’t see it as a joke. Asking him to cut back on his ideas and style would be a sin I think. His films do have allegorical meaning, if you check notes I linked to above. Jodorowsky’s not just being controversial for the sake of shock value.

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  7. Nice list! I would have to go over my list of films this year, but I know that two of your selections would be up there for me: Wake In Fright, and 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Both of those left a huge impact on me.

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    1. Eric @ The Warning Sign: I had a running letterboxd list I updated throughout the year with all my 9/10 and 10/10 films, so that made it easier to compile this list.
      Indeed, 4 Months and Wake in Fright linger in the mind for a long time.

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  8. Wow, based on this list, you had a great viewing year. The Hill is such an overlooked gem from Lumet’s filmography. And Malcolm X… acting doesn’t really get better than that.

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    1. @Alex Withrow: Indeed, great films! Agree with what you say about The Hill and Malcolm X

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  9. Wonderful list! I'm a big fan of Das Boot, Insomnia, Come and See, Malcolm X, and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Also, I just watched The Firemen's Ball, and it was terrific.

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    1. @Josh: Thank you! Fireman’s Ball holds up well, even though it’s from the late 60s.

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