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| The movie, Hsia nu (A Touch of Zen), directed
by Mr. King Hu was selected for the Festival de Cannes in France in
1975, and won the Grand Technical Prize.
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A list of the greatest films of all time without "North by Northwest?"
No "Annie Hall," "Bicycle Thief" or "Apocalypse Now"? Take a deep breath
and relax. This is supposed to be fun.
The movie critics for Time
magazine, Richard Schickel and Richard Corliss, have compiled an unranked
list of the 100 greatest films. It was posted Sunday on www.Time.com. Included are traditionally
acclaimed flicks like
"Lawrence of Arabia," "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane," as well as more
atypical choices like "Finding
Nemo," "Star Wars" and the 2002 Brazilian gang story, "City of God."
Disagree? Schickel says that's the idea.
"100 lists are fun to discuss, fun to argue over," Schickel told The
Associated Press. "I don't think anybody should say, `That's it, that's
the final 100! No disputing this for the rest of eternity !' You know, stuff changes.
Life changes. You change."
That perspective is even more difficult for contemporary movies, says
the critic who has also produced many documentaries and led the acclaimed
reconstruction of Samuel Fuller's 1980 war pic, "The Big Red One." Recent
films on the list include Pedro Almodovar's "Talk to Her," the "Lord of
the Rings" trilogy and, of course, "Pulp Fiction."
Schickel acknowledges some regret for a few older reviews of his — like
not trumpeting "Bonnie and Clyde" more or failing to immediately recognize
"Chinatown" as "close to a perfect movie." All the original reviews from
Time will be linked on the subscription Web site — but perusing old write-ups can be a cringing
experience for a critic.
Though it was before Schickel's time, the original 1942 review of
"Casablanca," for example, read, "Nothing short of an invasion could add
much to `Casablanca.'"
"If you're involved with movies, they are a living organism in your
memory," Schickel says. "It's like some creature in a sci-fi movie that
keeps shape-shifting."
The most popular director turned out to be Martin Scorsese, who has
three films on the list. Scorsese's frequent actor of choice, Robert De
Niro, leads actors with five.
Since Schickel and Corliss also have divergent tastes, much of the finalized list
is one of compromise.
"Most 100 lists are the product of a single sensibility and this is a
compromised list because his sensibility and mine, I think, agreed between
40 percent and 50 percent of the time ... and then it gets to a wrangle."
In Monday's issue of the magazine, the two critics also name the best
film from each decade since Time began: "Metropolis" (1927), "Dodsworth"
(1936), "Citizen Kane" (1941), "Ikiru" (1952), "Persona" (1966),
"Chinatown" (1974), "Decalogue" (1988), "Pulp Fiction" (1994) and "Talk to
Her" (2002).
But Schickel still says to reserve any great reverence for the result
of their toil.
"In a way this is supposed to be fun. ... The notion that any kind of
movie reviewing or movie commentary is an opinion handed down from on high
by somebody in judicial robes is nonsensical. They're all kind of first
opinions and depends on, I don't know, what you ate for breakfast that
morning."
(CRI) | 
Updated: 2005-05-23 15:27
