LISTS REBORN: YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG!

My favorite CHUD list alongside the essentials and the underrated gems.

This list was a definite high point in the career of CHUD.

Glad to see this list come back. It is fantastically written, and I think the rebuttals add a lot to it.

Nominee for #25:
'the Fast and the Furious'

For #25 I'd nominate a latter-day Ridley Scott film like Black Hawk Down or Gladiator but that's just me.

This was a really great one, and features one of my favorite quotes about Scarface ever, courtesy of D. Faraci:

"The reality is that no matter what DePalma thinks he intended, Scarface isn't a cautionary tale about gangsters any more than Into the Wild is a cautionary tale about camping."

I greatly enjoy the Lebowski debate between Beaks, Dellamorte and Russ Fischer. I started on the Beaks/Dellamorte side of the fence, but repeat viewings have only made that film better for me.

#25 Nomination:

Synecdoche, New York

Why? It's misunderstood.

How do you misunderstand a film that's impossible to understand? I don't know. But this film is gaining traction with many a serious cinephile, and the more I hear about it the more I feel like people love it for the wrong reasons. Maybe it's just that it's a current favorite movie of the entire campus of my little liberal arts university, but I'm hearing about this movie incessantly as of late, and it's usually praised for one of two reasons:

Reason #1: The Maebe Funke response. "Deep is good! People are going to say 'what the hell just happened?' and I'd better say I like it because nobody wants to seem stupid!" It's an adoring response based solely on the fact that it's Charlie Kaufman pur jus and so unquestioning adoration is what it deserves. This reasoning will send the fan of the film into a long monologue about Charlie Kaufman and not the film itself. It also denies any flaws in the film, calling them intentional or ignoring them completely. As wonderful as the film may be, and as ingenious as it is, there are certain narrative ideas and concepts that don't completely work. And that's ok. It doesn't make it any less of a brilliant film. When you tackle so many subjects from so many directions not every single thing is going to work, but that shagginess is one of the things that makes the film work so well. So denying its flaws is, in fact, denying its excellence.

Reason #2: Artistic inspiration. Instead of talking about the film, or talking about Charlie Kaufman, the fan of the film will talk about themselves and their own art. How the film has inspired them to do this or that and become a better artist. First of all, I most likely don't care about whatever new artistic venture you're embarking on (unless it involves me) and second, I don't think Kaufman ever intended to care about it, either. (Let alone inspire it) Is not one of the major themes of the film the difficulty of creating when one tries to force "creation?" And what really marks this as misunderstanding is that much of the art-in-embryo projects I hear about that are "inspired by" the film in fact sound like dwarfed imitations of the film and its ideas.

I feel a large part of understanding this film is allowing yourself as the viewer to stand back and say, "I don't understand it all." And with both of these reasonings the viewer is attempting to force meaning upon the film as a whole. In trying to understand it, the film is misunderstood.

This list is what got me on board the CHUD train.

One of the best features this site has had along with Deserve More Love (That's the one with A Midnight Clear right? Saw that film because of the list) and Bad For Us Worse For Them

Love this list. So many of the arguments hit me right in the sweet spot.

#25 Boondock Saints.

Boondocks gets so much deserved vitriol on this site that I don't think a spot will actually be wasted on it. I hope so at least.

Synechdoche hasn't been seen by enough people for them to "have it all wrong!" It wasn't the "a fan of this annoyed me one time!" list.

I can't believe all the positive feedback. This list was the height of Devin's epic douchebaggery, and the only thing ever written on this site that made me consider never reading the site again. I'm so glad nothing like it was ever written again here and I hope nothing like it ever will be. There are more shitty movies on the "sacred cows" list than on this one.

It insults some of my favourite movies - "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "Star Trek: First Contact", and "Scarface", plus what I'd consider some of the most objectively great movies of all time like "Schindler's List" and "The Silence of the Lambs". How ridiculous. It's the epitome of baiting, Internet movie blogger snobbery. That whole "nitpicking the hell out of great popular stuff" approach to feel cool and superior. CHUD should be better than this shit.

I didn't like Devin's entries either, but I never really cared for Devin in the first place. Shitty movies on the Sacred Cow list? First Contact is one of your favorites? What?

There were plenty of entries on this list that were at least interesting even if I disagree with quite a few. I hated T2's place in this list but in retrospect it does belong. I'll always love the movie but the morals are beaten over the audiences head. It is still fantastic entertainment, however.

Thanks for putting all of these together for easy access! Loved this list.

Nomination for #25:

MISUNDERSTOOD:
FULL METAL JACKET

WHY:
Too many people stop giving a shit after the death of R. Lee Ermey.
The film is far better than that and the desensitization of man gets overlooked.

[edit] Here is a quick write-up on my nomination. While I like Full Metal Jacket in it's entirety, I dislike that many people who know the movie only care about the first act. This is in line with the "Asshole, you love this film for all the wrong reasons" perception as I see it.

My Logline: A bunch of young men are drafted into the Viet-Nam war. While at boot camp, one of them is subject to extreme physical and verbal abuse. Brainwashing and murder ensues. A large number of the audience will quote this film until the day they die.

It's legacy: It's one of the all time most well known and well received war films in American culture.

Why It's Nominated: Talk to any military member, active duty or retired. If they don't spout off R. Lee Ermey quotes at the sheer mention of Full Metal Jacket, it is highly likely they are or were considered inferior by their peers. Go to an American military training facility. See the copycats. It's offensive.

A Moment of Piss: The pants around the ankles thumb sucking march. It's funny if you like immorality. A human being is reduced to shit.

These Ain't Chopped Liver Alternatives: Saving Private Ryan, Barry Lyndon, Paths of Glory, Jacob's Ladder

I feel like I've asked this before when the list made its debut, but is there anywhere I can read the Phantom Menace review Kevin Smith did for CHUD? Andre refers to it in his entry for Clerks.