Hah! Good ol' Barrow Downs, I'd almost forgot the inevitable rancor which follows the Movie discussions around like a small, yapping dog.
Not going to argue the points about the 'Downs having a rather large contingent who despise the movies. It most definitely has that.
My intent with posting this wasn't to really make a judgment call on whether or not LotR deserves to be on that list (it's number 1 in my book) but rather to share a tidbit I discovered in my morning mail. Well, afternoon mail, really. My comments about the dubiousness of the distinction stemmed more from having read the entire magazine and found many of the lists oddly chosen. I had the most beef with the music list, but then, I cannot remember ever agreeing with EW on that front.
To be fair, this list isn't so much about "best" as "classic" -- in the sense of cultural impact and popularity. Films that will define this era in the memory of the future (in the EW staff's estimation). So films you might find juvenile in their appeal (like Star Wars, though being pre 1983, is a movie for a different list) are going to trump some better quality films.
For instance:
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Can anyone explain to me how the Disney epic Toy Story *snickers* is better than Akira Kurosawa's epic Ran? I'd like to hear the argument.
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Oh my head.
Why would you even compare the two? Apples ≠ Oranges.
Toy Story changed the way family/children's movies are made and put Pixar on the map as one of the foremost animation studios. I have not seen Ran personally, but from what I know about it, it's not a children's movie. So why would you even attempt to compare then on any other level than how they've impacted their respective genres and/or how visible they are in mass culture?
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And in the books list they didn't even mention the LoTR series, HP was on there, but no LoTR. And come on everyone knows Tolkien was a much better writer.
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That's because LotR was not published in the last 25 years.
At any rate, I do think that all points about whether the Jackson succeeded in not desecrating the books aside, LotR IS indeed one of the most important fantasy
movies ever made.