My first Sight & Sound poll

A few months back, I came across an article from Roger Ebert about the highly anticipated 2012 Sight & Sound poll and the difficulties he had creating his ballot. Having never heard of the S&S poll, I began to do some investigating on the internet. Pretty quickly I discovered, this was kind of a big deal. Voted upon by the top critics in the world every 10 years, the S&S poll was the creme de la creme of movie lists.

As my search online continued, I found more and more reverent articles dedicated to the S&S poll, from both real voters and wannabes. Each author gave their personal ballot, with explanations for each selection and subsequent omission. Some picked strictly what they thought the 10 Greatest films were, regardless of personal favorites. While others unashamedly admitted to selecting films that might not otherwise have gotten voted on.

Reading these articles, I asked myself, how hard could it be to pick 10 great movies? But, when my initial list of candidates grew to 31, questions like, "do I choose favorites that have touched me personally? Or do I vote for films that have been canonized long before my birth?" tormented me. Slowly and painfully, I began to whittle down my list. When I finally had 10 I could live with, I then knew why so many voters struggled to make their final decisions.

After months of anticipation and a special online order from England, I received my September 2012 issue of Sight & Sound magazine in the mail today. Gently flipping through the pages and reading each voter's ballot and comments, I felt like I was being let in on a special secret. How was it I had never heard of this poll before?  And, while I don't agree with every selection, I do apprecriate what it took for each voter to come to their final decisions.

Oh, and incase you might have been curious which films I picked for my fake ballot, here's the list.

-Almost Famous (The Director's Cut) (Crowe)
-Before Sunset (Linklater)
-The Godfather (Coppola)
-The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
-The Grapes of Wrath (Ford)
-It's a Wonderful Life (Capra)
-Pulp Fiction (Tarantino)
-The Third Man (Reed)
-12 Angry Men (Lumet)
-Wizard of Oz (Fleming)

Honorable Mentions:
-Boogie Nights
-Days of Heaven
-(500) Days of Summer
-Manhattan
-Singin' in the Rain

Thank you Mr. Ebert

Currently I am "working" at the front desk of the Lon Morris College library.  I say "working" because really I'm sitting on my ass watching movies on my portable dvd player with one headphone on.  This has been the story for many nights this semester; getting paid to watch movies while I make sure the library doesn't burn down.  This evening's double feature involves two films, The Graduate & Cool Hand Luke, each of which has an impeccable reputation of greatness.  This however, puzzled me the first time I watched them, especially when it came to The Graduate.  So tonight my plan was to view each a second time with the hopes that I would identify whatever it was I missed the first time.

About half way through my second bewildered viewing of The Graduate, I decided to visit Roger Ebert's website to see if he had any insightful words that might better explain to me what I was missing.  As I searched for The Graduate, I came across two reviews.  One was from December 26, 1967 in which Ebert gave the film 4 stars and heaped the usual praise for the film.  The other however was from March 28, 1997 and it told a different story.  This review, gave only 3 stars and said these words that helped put everything into perspective for me.

"Great movies remain themselves over the generations; they retain a serene sense of their own identity. Lesser movies are captives of their time. They get dated and lose their original focus and power. ``The Graduate'' (I can see clearly now) is a lesser movie." Ebert, 1997

It was so refreshing to finally find a movie critic that had the courage to stand up and say, upon further review, this movie has not aged well and is no longer worthy of Great Movie status that is being bestowed upon it.  Thank you Mr. Ebert, I just wish more critics and historians would show the same back bone and re-evaluate more of the so-called Great Movies.