What is there to say about a list that would posit that there are only two hundred and twenty three films in history that have been better than Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith?
For the first time in six years, Empire Magazine has created a list of greatest films chosen entirely by their readership, and for what must theoretically be a bunch of people interested in general film news… Okay, I’ll just say it: Empire Magazine readers, look at your lives. Look at your choices. Take the top 10, for example:
10. Inception
9. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
8. Jaws
7. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
6. Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope
5. Pulp Fiction
4. The Shawshank Redemption
3. The Dark Knight
2. The Godfather
1. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
Now, I’m not here to say that genre film can’t be great film, but this list has The Dark Knight Rises on it, a movie which not even I have watched more than once, and I am wearing Batman shoes. It also ranks Kick-Ass higher than The Bridge on the River Kwai, and The Hunger Games higher than Catching Fire, which I’m pretty sure is an arrangement that was disproved by peer-reviewed science during the Enlightenment period.
If there is a bright and interesting side to the list, however, it’s the successful mainstreaming of geek interests. With only The Godfather and Shawshank Redemption standing out from those ten as a film without any whiff of science fiction or cult status, it’s clear that folks are touched by films with these elements, and find great meaning in them. And what else, if not that, is the purpose of good film?
You can find the entire list at Empire Online, right here.
(via The Mirror.)
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