Entertainment Weekly calls LOTR Trilogy second best movie of the past 25 years

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

The link for the music list is now working for me. Wow...

I think reading Entertainment Weekly would give me very high blood pressure. It is, as Mothoron suggests, designed to include some picks that will appease certain demographics. Even allowing for this ridiculous limit, was it necessary to include Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera?

I read it using advice from Diamond and Lush, considering cultural impact or whatnot. The music list totally fails, even taking into account impact over quality, so the credibility of the film list is to me suspect.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

The link for the music list is now working for me. Wow...

I think reading Entertainment Weekly would give me very high blood pressure. It is, as Mothoron suggests, designed to include some picks that will appease certain demographics. Even allowing for this ridiculous limit, was it necessary to include Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera?

I read it using advice from Diamond and Lush, considering cultural impact or whatnot. The music list totally fails, even taking into account impact over quality, so the credibility of the film list is to me suspect.

I hadn't looked at the 25 New Music Classics previously. Now I wish I hadn't. But I am surprised no one complained that The Lord of the Rings Soundtrack was left off!

If this is what they consider a profoundly and 'culturally-impacting' music list (as opposed to actual great music, which it aint), then Western Civilization is further down the road to exctintion than I surmised (anyone know what time it is on the D-Day clock?).

Be that as it may, I am wondering how they could even list a superb album like Paul Simon's Graceland alongside a Beyonce album, or Cat Power next to Lauryn Hill's Miseducation (to be honest, I've never even heard of Cat Power-- although I recognize everything else on the list -- so much for culturally-impacting)? Does anyone really consider any Mariah Carey album having cultural or musical importance? Perhaps I'm becoming more like my parents (ie., old) in regards to distaste for certain genres of music, but was there a necessity to have Kayne West as a top 5 choice? *shrugs*

Here's a few albums they left off from the last 25 years. I considered these as superlative albums in their respective genres (even though I may not like said genre), as well as having an impact culturally and among musicians. You tell me if EW is off-base:

So by Peter Gabriel -- A sublime album, and, more importantly, the videos of Sledgehammer and Big Time were technically and thematically far advanced of any others on MTV for the time, and made music videos an art form. In Your Eyes and Don't Give Up are gems.

If I Should Fall From Grace With God by The Pogues -- This album defies labels. It is an amalgam of Gaelic folk, Spanish, Middle-eastern, jazz and punk influences. Aside from having some of the best drunken bar ballads available anywhere (and the Pogues obviously influenced other bands, The Dropkick Murphys and The Young Dubliners are but two), the haunting Fairytale of New York, The Broad Majestic Shannon and Lullaby of London counter the fiery, whiskey-soaked fever of other songs on the album.

Joshua Tree or War by U2 -- Why EW chose Achtung Baby as more relevant than Joshua Tree or War is beyond me.

Master of Puppets by Metallica -- I am not a big Metallica fan, but I do know that my thrash guitarist friends and head-bobbing metal junkies consider this as perhaps the greatest heavy-metal album ever made (I prefer Black Sabbath personally, but that's an argument for 1970's bands). The video game Guitar Hero is played by millions and millions of folks and is a cultural phenomenon, with Metallica featured prominently.

Ten by Pearl Jam -- Along with Nirvana, Pearl Jam codified the Grunge sound (from what I recall, either one was a Curt Cobain or Eddie Vedder acolyte), and Grunge (with Pearl Jam as the anti-establishment, anti-rock star poster child) was a radio mainstay for much of the 90's. The video of Jeremy is considered by many to be one of the defining music videos of all time (and MTV certainly played it to death).

It Takes a Whole Nation to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy -- Ummm...Kayne West? Please meet the the real rap deal. Public Enemy's downright scary album influenced nearly every other rapper (including media darling Kayne).

Freedom by Neil Young -- A brilliant reinterpretation of his classic album Rust Never Sleeps. Incendiary guitar work and incendiary political statements (Crime in the City and Rockin' in the Free World -- used by Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11), mingled with lush acoustic ballads to make an intriguing album.

The Bends by Radiohead -- I just like it better than the one EW chose.
*shrugs*

Raising Hell by Run DMC -- Again, I am not at all a rap fan, but wouldn't it make sense to have had this album as culturally impacting, seeing as it was the first great crossover hit?

You know, I could go on and on, adding such albums as Murmur by REM, The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails, The Division Bell by Pink Floyd, Tracy Chapman by Tracy Chapman (take that, Amy Winehouse!), Rhythm Nation 1814 by Janet Jackson (Beyonce who?), Undertow by Tool, Grace by Jeff Buckley, or BloodSugarSexMagic by The Redhot Chili Peppers, each as having a profound impact on music and society, and far better than most of the choices in that top 25.

Bah! I've drank too much coffee again!

P.S. And this, I suppose, is just a roundabout way of saying I question the precarious judgment of EW in choosing its top 25 movies (whether LotR was on the list or not); in fact, I would have argued just as vehemently for LotR if had not been put on the list, and given the odd choices EW made, I'm surprised they managed to sit through the entire film without fidgeting.

[alatar]

Not sure that this is the right thread, but it was announced that US President Barack Obama presented British Prime Minister Gordon Brown with a gift of "25 classic American films," as can be read here. Obviously missing from the list is LotR, and so apologies to PM Brown.

"I went all the way to Washington DC and all I got were some DVDs?!?"

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by alatar

Not sure that this is the right thread, but it was announced that US President Barack Obama presented British Prime Minister Gordon Brown with a gift of "25 classic American films," as can be read here. Obviously missing from the list is LotR, and so apologies to PM Brown.

"I went all the way to Washington DC and all I got were some DVDs?!?"

Now would seem a good time to define "classic Amercian films" with the emphasis on American. We might even develop a good discussion on what constitutes cultural citizenship for Tolkien, who was English (some may say, Old English) but whose books appear to transcend tribal/cultural divides. But let's keep this to the films now.

Let's see now.

LotR was filmed entirely in New Zealand, right? Where was the post-production work done?

Is Peter Jackson an American? Are the writers of LotR film Americans? And the Producers, the Cinematographers, the--well, everybody who goes into participating in and producing the films. Heck, even the coffee and sandwich caterers and the janitorial staff, because everyone plays a part in producing the final work. And were the teachers of these participants Americans? Were their parents American? And did clearly American works influence their aesthetic/artistic development?

Is New Line an American company? How about Time Warner and MGM?

How many of the actors in the trilogy films are Yanks? How many Brits or Kiwis or Auzs? Or Other European States?

How do the Awards community categorise LotR? How does the media? How does the European media as distinguished from the American media?

I could carry on, but I think my point is clear as mud. Or tax returns definitions.

[alatar]

Hmmm. I saw the movies in America, I bought the DVDs in America, I'm an American, ergo...

Isn't there a Latin phrase for that?

All of those items you note, Bb, surely are interesting, but don't impact on my beliefs in the slightest.

[Mister Underhill]

As they say, follow the money.

New Line is an American company, they paid for the movies, no money no movies... you see where this is going.

[Kent2010]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

If this is what they consider a profoundly and 'culturally-impacting' music list (as opposed to actual great music, which it aint), then Western Civilization is further down the road to exctintion than I surmised (anyone know what time it is on the D-Day clock?).

You tear apart the article for being completely subjective, and having no rhyme or reason, yet want to use it as a marker where society is heading? You can hardly tell where society is going based on some pop EW list.

I know 5 friends who do not like Billy Joel, the rest love his music and even less who do not like Bob Dylan. Amy Winehouse doesn't sound bad, she's just a major crack addict. Although I still have no idea how she's impacted music, no matter what "list" says she will not be remembered for her music. The young generation isn't screwed, I think the older ones just forget the past.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Kent2010

You can hardly tell where society is going based on some pop EW list.

I can't? Oh. Never mind then.

[Kent2010]

Just saying you can't tell what we like based on a list in a magazine. Did you know Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" is still an extremely popular and relevant song? As you questioned the ways in which this magazine judged impactful movies, music, I'm questioning your use of it to judge whether society is going down the toilet or not.

I hope I'm not coming off as rude, because I don't mean to. I'm new to this whole forum thing and I probably mistook what was meant. It just bothers me when people say we are ruining culture because we happen to like different things than older generations. And felt you needed to know the EW list is anything but representative. Shawshank Redemption and Lawrence of Arabia are still watched and loved by my generation. Fads and brand names come and go, many classics are simply irreplacable. Casablanca, ehh

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Kent2010

I hope I'm not coming off as rude, because I don't mean to. I'm new to this whole forum thing and I probably mistook what was meant.

Nope, there was no mistaking what was meant. Unfortunately, your ire is misplaced. Please see below.

Originally Posted by Kent2010

It just bothers me when people say we are ruining culture because we happen to like different things than older generations. And felt you needed to know the EW list is anything but representative. Shawshank Redemption and Lawrence of Arabia are still watched and loved by my generation. Fads and brand names come and go, many classics are simply irreplacable. Casablanca, ehh

First, I have no idea what 'generation' you are, and I'm quite sure you don't know my 'generation'. Frankly, I don't care. Second, I was not denigrating any generation specifically, I was mocking EW's dim staff and their ill-advised and poorly researched lists. Third, whether or not you choose to believe it, society is going to Hades in a handbasket: the world is going to end in 2012 according to the Mayan calendar, Lindsey Lohan wants to be considered a serious actress, and someone is paying Michael Jackson $1 million a show to perform again. The signs are there for anyone to see, and if any generation is responsible for riding the downward spiral to impending doom, it is the generation currently holding political power.

But on the bright side, The Hobbit movies might be released before the Mayan calendar runs out. Hopefully I'll get to see the first one, in any case. The second movie, which may contain wholly derivative material invented by the filmmaker, I will consign to the flames at world's end.

[Kent2010]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Nope, there was no mistaking what was meant. Unfortunately, your ire is misplaced.

It was that was my mistake. I thought that from your criticisms of the article (and those who wrote it), and then talking about society going up in flames, you were saying young people (myself included) were causing it because we are the age who like most of the things on the lists. Which is why I felt the need to point out, yes much of the current music and movies we do like, but we still listen and love some of the classics. My bad.