It’s safe to say that people have an obsession with lists, and this is certainly true of cinephiles. Putting things in order, counting down a ranking, and trying to create the definitive best-of list are admirable, if futile, pursuits. After all, lists are wonderfully clean and efficient. The Playlist is no different; in addition to our end of the year best-of lists, last year we ran a series of Best Of The Decade So Far (comedy, animated film, sci-fi). So it’s never a surprise when someone takes a stab at the gold: the best films of all time. The question then becomes "how much do we agree?"
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The latest rundown as such comes from Cinefix, with “Our 50 Favorite Movies Of All Time.” The keyword of this new list is “favorite,” which has mercifully replaced “best” or “greatest” and makes the business of a subjective ranking a lot easier to swallow for pragmatists who are wont to call out of the inherent bias of such an endeavor. Nonetheless, Cinefix’s list is a solid collection of 50 very fine films that includes Hollywood classics, international epics, modern hits and indie darlings. But for each of the more idiosyncratic choices, there is a traditional pick —“Citizen Kane,” “The Godfather,” “Seven Samurai,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Chinatown.” If those selections make the list seem obvious, the likes of “Synecdoche New York,” “The Tree Of Life,” and Tarsem Singh’s “The Fall” make it quite a bit more novel.
Check out Cinefix’s “Our 50 Favorite Movies Of All Time” below. Think they missed anything essential? Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.