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Snake5555555555 posted...

and to Metalmind for posting his write-ups which I always enjoyed reading and which glad he made the effort for.

No, thank you! I'm glad you appreciated my write-ups, even though it was shitty of me to slack on watching the full list and properly participating. I certainly enjoyed not just following a Gauntlet crew ranking, but actually contributing to some extent this time around. Here's my final two write-ups, and an overall ranking and tiering of all the movies I've seen from this list:

Seven

The movie that quite deservedly brought David Fincher to fame as a director starts with a first half high on set-up, in the form of the detective work necessary for Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitts contrasting cops to deduce the killers identity and motives. Both put up consistently compelling performances as dramatic variations on an odd-couple gambit practically as old as cinema itself. At times, this first half drags a bit; however, the extra time devoted to character development and paying attention to details (all the way down to the use of weather to set a tone) ultimately only enhances the impact of its gut punch of a climax. Here, the tension simmering through the whole movie finally boils over as the killer, played by Kevin Spacey as if he was born to play the role, goads Pitts character into committing one simple but devastating action. In fact, this ending viscerally angered me in real life, but not directly at the movie; to put it simply, I want to believe that the world we live in is better than Seven declares it is. Ultimately, however, the fact that it eschews a cop-out Hollywood ending for reflecting the reality of our world is what gives me such tremendous respect for the whole movie as a work of art.

6. Silence of the Lambs

Foster was perfect for the role. The vulnerability she brought to the part was a big part of what made the film so resonant. Nathan Rabin

This write-up will be perhaps overly focused on what I felt were the movies many flaws, so I wanted to get this out of the way first. Foster really was perfect for the role of Clarice Starling for exactly the key reason Rabin pointed out, which plays a big role in making Silence of the Lambs effective as a woman-in-jeopardy thriller.

Sadly, I must report that the movie as a whole did not resonate with me. Its laden with scattershot storytelling and characters that attempt to substitute mysteriousness for actually being compelling. Both of these flaws come to a head with Hannibal Lecter, who, quite frankly, is substantially less interesting as a character than the movie seems to think he is. This especially drags down Lecters escape sequence, which had some compelling individual moments, but mostly felt like an exercise in waiting for the plot to return. A great performance could have done for Lecter what Silences directing and writing couldnt; unfortunately, while by no means lacking, Anthony Hopkinss acting never reached that level for me. The movies old-fashioned tone and pretensions of important seriousness also help ensure that its scares dont work. I must admit, though, that the viewing experience was somewhat physically uncomfortable for me, in a way that left me unsure whether or not it was being caused by the movie itself.

To reiterate one last time, I do not dispute that Silence of the Lambs is a good movie; however, in my opinion, it does not deserve its pedestal as a true classic.
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