Empire's Top 500 Films Issue (Nov. 2008) on the Stands

Empire magazine's poll is (finally!) on the stands in the U.S. I was tempted to just go to the website, but I held out. The list is really interesting... I was pretty surprised (there are at least a dozen films on it I've never even heard of!). I've been looking it over endlessly. I won't reveal #1 (it's not La Dolce Vita-- this is just 1 of the 100 covers issued by Empire [and the one I picked up]), but here are some thoughts (look at the magazine first, though or here's the link).

Empire's first poll was in 1996, and of the 100 films on that list, eleven didn't make the 500, 12 years later: Thelma and Louise (#29), Dead Poet's Society (#34), The Piano (#48), Witness (#54), A Few Good Men (#66), Dangerous Liaisons (#61), Jean de Florette (#72), Ghost (#75), A Room with a View (#88), Dr. Zhivago (#92), and Highlander (#100).

Of the films that made it, the most surprisingly highest ranked for me is Andrei Rublev (at #36, it's the highest ranked foreign language film). [I own Rublev on DVD, and its surely great, but still a surprise.] Was also shocked that, for a British publication, Lawrence of Arabia clocked in at #57 (maybe everyone thought the other guy would put it on their list).

FIlms I was surprised did not make the top 100 of the 500: Touch of Evil, The Silence of the Lambs, Pan's Labyrinth, The Wizard of Oz, It's a Wonderful Life, Forrest Gump, The Terminator, The Sixth Sense, The Seventh Seal, and All About Eve.

Films I was most surprised didn't make the top 500 at all: The General, Metropolis, Swing Time, Grand Illusion, Children of Paradise, The Lavender Hill Mob, High Noon, Shane, The African Queen, West Side Story, The Birds, Belle de Jour, Amarcord, Swingers, Y Tu Mama Tambien.

Oscar's Best Pictures did OK: nearly half of them made the list (and just about all from 1990s Dances With Wolves to present).

Directors score-card: Spielberg (11, way out in front), Scorsese (8), and Hitchcock and Kubrick (7). Considering their comparative outputs, Kubrick did best.

Empire Magazine Movie Poll 2008

Every other year Empire magazine has polled their readers on the greatest movies of all-time. The 2004 and 2006 polls appeared in the March issue of these years and in my May 10 blog entry I commented on the delay of the 2008 poll, promising to keep an eye out— and I have. At long last, the 2008 poll is under way— this time the magazine is choosing the 500 Greatest Movies of All-Time.

Voting closes on September 5 (and apparently you can change your picks if you relog back in). There is a separate login for this poll so you don't have to have a regular Empire magazine user name.

Link to the poll.

I won't reveal my choices, but I will say I skewed contemporary, because in my opinion, a movie poll that's done specifically every-other-year should lean "last decade"— so I went five pre-1998, five 1998-and-onward (with these five ranked at the top).

EMPIRE'S (ORIGINAL) TOP TEN 1996:
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. Star Wars (1977)
3. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
4. Raging Bull (1980)
5. Schindler's List (1993)
6. The Godfather (1972)
7. Aliens (1986)
8. North By Northwest (1959)
9. Jaws (1975)
10. Casablanca (1942)

EMPIRE'S (MOST RECENT) TOP TEN, 2006:
1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
2. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
3. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
4. Star Wars (1977)
5. The Godfather (1972)
6. Pulp Fiction (1994)
7. LOTR: The Return of the King (2003)
8. Fight Club (1999)
9. Goodfellas (1990)
10. The Matrix (1999)

Holding Pattern for Empire Magazine '08 All-Time Movie Poll

Empire Magazine what's going on?

Empire has polled its readers five times over the last dozen years for their top films of all-time issue. The schedule seemed on track for an every-other-March re-polling. But alas, we're way past that mark for '08 and no poll. What's the deal Empire?





These are the five issues with the all-time polls:

January 1996: 100 Greatest Films Ever Made
October 1999: Your 100 Greatest Movies Ever!
November 2001: Ultimate Movie Poll
March 2004: 100 Greatest Movies of All-Time
March 2006: 201 Greatest Movies of All-Time (pictured cover)