The best American film of the last 25 years?

I'm going with Paris, Texas unless it's disqualified for having a German director. If so, give my vote to Unforgiven.

JE: I sure wouldn't quibble with either of those. Now, tell Andy!

Not easy.

Fiction: Goodfellas or Fargo or Requiem for a Dream

Nonfiction: Koyaanisqatsi or Fog of War

Fast, Cheap & Out of Control is right up there for my favorite American non-fiction film of the last 25 years, along with The Fog of War and Hoop Dreams.

I'd have to go with Pulp Fiction. Visually and dramatically inventive, the film also established the next great film artist and this generation's Godard. Films that I wouldn't argue against if someone brought them up: Schindler's List, Fargo, or Do the Right Thing.

I would argue that Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World is the most accomplished masterpiece of the 21st century so far and of the past quarter-century. It so perfectly represents the end of a time where the '90s were over but this generation had yet to hope to define itself. And it still hasn't, and Ghost World works perfectly as a representation of it. If I had to pick runners-up, I'd likely say Donnie Darko, Fight Club, Reservoir Dogs (a thousand times better than Pulp Fiction, although I love that as well), Slacker, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a film everybody really ought to see right now.

I too would go with Pulp Fiction. It's interconnected vignettes, various homages, themes of redemption, and (of course) brilliant dialog made its first viewing one of the most exhilerating experiences of my life and started my love affair with film as an art.

In terms of nonfiction, I'd probably go with The Thin Blue Line (unless Grizzly Man counts as American). Errol Morris does documentaries exactly as they should be done, with slight nudges of editing in editing to sell his point: the opposite of Michael Moore's bludgeoning over the head with message.

I submitted [i]The Last Temptation of Christ[/i] as my knowingly unorthodox choice. Close behind were [i]GoodFellas[/i], [i]Do the Right Thing[/i], [i]E.T.[/i], [i]25th Hour[/i], [i]Lost in Translation[/i], [i]Before Sunset[/i], [i]The Thin Red Line[/i], [i]Crash[/i] (Cronenberg's - NOT that thing by Haggis), and probably about 20 others that I haven't seen yet. :D Seriously, my vote should be weighted at about .5; I'm embarassingly behind.

Now I know there's something wrong with my monitor/browser (as my friends have been telling me for months). That picture is so small and indistinct I can't even tell what movie it's from!

My pick: Dead Man (Jarmusch). Though I'm tempted to pick "Eyes Wide Shut" only because "The Shining" just misses the cut.

Documentary: Heck, Fast Cheap and Out of Control sounds good to me. But I'm going to go with "Touching the Void" just because Errol Morris gets enough (well-deserved) press.

Hmmm....the first difficulty: so when is it "an American fiction film"? If the Director is American? The cast? The producer? If it's shot in America?

Well, if it isn't disqualified for any of the above reasons my choice is easy: "Once upon a time in America"

(at least it has "America" in the title! ;-)

Amadeus. Without a single doubt.

Is Trandsformers: The Movie American, or Japanese?

It came out 27 years ago, but my vote would go to "Apocalypse Now." If I had to keep it within 25 years, then "Pulp Fiction."

Out Of Sight. The most underrated perfect film. In fact, I think I'll watch it right now.
By the way, can anyone explain why The Shawshank Redemption is considered one of the best films ever made. I think its a better-than-average TV-movie at best.

Yup, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control is right up there for me.

For fiction, I hold with Lynch: I might say Blue Velvet...but you know, The Straight Story is just a fine piece of 'almost' pure cinema.

Although it's a relatively recent movie (can one truly assess a movie's long-term greatness after only 5 years?), David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" has a power like few other movies.

Under the nonfiction category, I'd give the edge to Berlinger/Sinofsky's "Paradise Lost" over anything Errol Morris ever did: it's a superbly crafted documentary, and the twist halfway thru the movie is something Hitchcock would have been proud of.

I'd have to go the greatest scfi-fi movie I've ever seen in Alex Proyas' "Dark City". Although Proyas is Australian so maybe that doesn't count. If not then I'd say either Tim Robbins' "Dead Man Walking", Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", or Scorsese's "Goodfellas". Non-fiction I'd go with "Hoop Dreams" or "Touching the Void".

"High Fidelity," with Jack Black and John Cusack. Nuff said.

For fiction, I have to go with Bergman's Fanny and Alexander or David Gordon Green's All the Real Girls.

As for non-fiction, The Fog of War and Hoop Dreams are the two that really kept me coming back for more. McNamara's face has so much to it that the movie could have been just close ups of him staring at the camera, nevermind the talking.

Oh hell, I forgot the whole "American" thing. Definitely All the Real Girls then.

As I wrote on Andy Horbal's blog, I would vote for Tom Tykwer's Heaven, except that it has no chance of winning (and probably doesn't count as American), so I joined your bandwagon and went with my second choice of Miller's Crossing.

As for non-fiction, I would vote for Baraka. That's one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen.

Goodfellas. That rare film where the first viewing, while enjoyable, is the least enjoyable viewing you'll ever have: It literally gets better, deeper, richer, more interesting, and more complex each time you take it in.

I do admire the other commenter for suggesting 25th Hour. In all this talk about United 93 and WTC and other 9/11-related movies, everyone seems to forget the first -- and best -- movie about 9/11 came out years ago. Spike Lee's strongest.

This has got me wondering, what is the nationality of film? I know certain awards and festivals cook up complicated financing rules, but that hardly seems relevent to the piece itself. Someone mentioned Cronenberg's Crash, a film with a Canadian writer/director, Canadian and American actors, Canadian locations and based on a novel written by a Brit. How about Dead Ringers, then? According to IMDb it is a Canadian/US film, but it is written and directed by a Canadian, starring Canadians and Brits, filmed and set in Toronto, while the (tenuous) factual basis is an American case. Is the director the determinant factor (is the director the same entity as the film)? Is the setting the nationality--the place and characters explored by the film? What, then, is the nationality of Schindler's List, or is it a film still in search of a country?

On the simpler side of the question, Bringing Out the Dead deserves a nomination.

Noramlly whenever someone asks me this question my mind goes immediately to Steven Spielberg's masterpiece Schindler's List, cinematic high art if ever I saw it.

Hey all you people: make sure you e-mail me (horbal.andrew@gmail.com) or stop by poll headquarters if you want these votes to count.

Honestly, this isn't a plug. I just have no way of knowing if you've voted already or not...

Not a big fan of Miller's Crossing -- its cynicism is too slick and contrived for my taste, and its best scene, the one you've quoted to the right, is lifted from Le Cercle Rouge.

I'll limit myself to the past ten years:

Fiction: United 93, The Straight Story, Lost in Translation. Runner-up: Catch Me If You Can.

Docu: Paper Clips

David K: Because a better-than-average TV movie most easily reaches (and impresses upon) the most people, taste notwithstanding. It's not a great film in the slightest.

I forgot about Cronenberg's Crash being Canadian. Whoops.

Jim, did you happen to see the movie I picked in Andy's survey?

Miller's Crossing is a movie that I simply cannot stop watching once I start, whether it be from the opening fanfare of the 20th Century Fox logo or somewhere mid-"Danny Boy." I've seen it probably over 15 times since its release, and it never fails to floor me with its formalism, its energy and its haunted, mysterious elegiac tone. This is no gangster-movie pastiche or parody-- there's a fountain of real feeling and head-spinning complexity within the world of Miller's Crossing. Excellent choice!

JE: Dennis, sometimes I think we must have been friends in another life! It's uncanny...

All these posts, and no mention of SAFE w/ Julianne Moore???

It's funny - I've often thought about this question. IMO the "best movies of all time" lists usually suffer from antiquitatem syndrome - weighing older movies higher simply because they're old. What if you're limited to only the last 25 years?

For me it would be between Goodfellas, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Silence of the Lambs.

Nick makes a good point. I am an ardent supporter of current/recent films, I'll hold the 90s up against any decade for quality filmmaking (too early to tell about the '00s yet.)

However, I think that the best fiction films aren't being made in the U.S. or even Europe today, but rather in Iran, Southeast Asia, etc. Of course, the same point is argued (quite eloquently) in "Movie Mutations," ed. by Adrian Martin and Jonathan Rosenbaum.

I would also add that I think most of the best American films of the past 25 years have been documentaries. In fact, I'd say we're in a golden age for American documentary.

That doesn't mean I don't think there are any great Amer. fiction films from the 80s and 90s - there are plenty. But I bet if I put my Top 100 list of the past 25 years together, Amer. fiction films would be a distinct minority. Wild guess, maybe 25 or so.

-chris

Fiction film is easy: L.A. Confidential. Non-fiction? That's much harder but my top three choices are Freedom on My Mind, Capturing the Friedmans, or Dark Days.

I can't possibly care whether a movie is American or Dutch or Iranian. Few movies today are entirely from one country or another, anyways. So I'll just ignore the rule and vote for the movie I think is better than any other of the past 25 years, Elem Klimov's Come and See.

Hooray for Justin Francis for picking Amadeus. It's probably the best movie of the last 35 years. (But wait, Amadeus isn't fiction. Oh well, who cares?

Hey Robert--Amadeus IS a fiction film. It's not a documentary. Want to guess what I stuck up my butt today?

To Humdinger:
When I said it wasn't fiction I meant that it was based on someone who was real. That's what I thought Jim meant. And I don't know what stuck up your butt but I'd like to know what crawled up there and died.

"Fargo" narrowly beats out "Do the Right Thing" and "Goodfellas." The same is true for "Hoop Dreams" over "The Fog of War" and "Paradise Lost."

But c'mon, there's gotta be room for "The Big Lebowski" somewhere!

Definitely "Do the Right Thing", "Crimes and Misdemeanors", "Schindler's List", "Pulp Fiction", "American Splendor", "Million Dollar Baby", "Boogie Nights", "The Truman Show", "Goodfellas", "Brokeback Mountain" (if it counts, considering Ang Lee's nationality), "Far From Heaven", and "Sideways" rank high. But my vote goes to the Coen brother's "Fargo" which is easily my favorite film and the crowning acheivement of American cinema in the 1990s. "Fargo" is #1.

As for non-fiction films that would be "Hoop Dreams" tied with "Crumb" and a special nod to "Roger & Me" and "The Fog of War."

I have to decide between BLUE VELVET and THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING and SCHINDLER'S LIST and THE SWEET HEREAFTER and a few others? No way!

However, I will answer David K's question about why SHAWSHANK is considered one of the best films ever: I HAVEN'T A CLUE. But I agree with you that it isn't.

Crap! I forgot E.T.: THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL was within the specified time frame. Well, I don't know if it's the *best* American film of the past 25 years, but it's my favorite.

And a recent film that's quickly risen on my favorites list is THE BEST OF YOUTH, which was made for Italian TV but released in U.S. theaters last year.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, by far.

Lost in Translation or Rushmore.

1. The Pianist (if considered American)
1. Brokeback Mountain
3. Goodfellas
4. The Last Emperor
5. Do the Right Thing

3/5 "foreign" directors