Empire's 50 greatest Indie films...

[BlackFlagg 0]

http://www.empireonline.com/features/50gre...ndent/50-41.asp

[2GOLD 0]

Buffalo 66? Give me a fucking break, that movie doesn't deserve to be in the top 100. And don't give me that Gallo is a genuis, he's a moron who shouldn't be allowed to make another one of his "I need to jerk myself off" films. Cause that's all this movie is, almost two hours of Gallo giving himself a hand job. Soundtrack is fine but the rest of the movie is overrated garbage.

 

The Descent?? It's cute but no way is it one of the top 50 Indie films, maybe top 150 but even then you're stretching. Bunch of Wendigos chase women around a cave in the final 30 minutes while the first hour is just like watching the Discovery channel. Not a bad movie but top 50? Hardly.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

The list for those that don't wanna click on it:

 

50. El Mariachi

49. Run Lola Run

48. Cube

47. Blood Feast

46. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

45. Mad Max

44. Amores Perros

43. Shadows

42. Swingers

41. Dead Man's Shoes

40. The Descent

39. The Passion of The Christ

38. Grosse Point Blank

37. Being John Malkovich

36. Buffalo '66

35. THX-1138

34. The Blair Witch Project

33. Shallow Grave

32. Two Lane Blacktop

31. Pink Flamingos

30. Sweet Sweetback's Badassssssssssss Song

29. Bad Lieutenant

28. In the Company of Men

27. Dark Star

26. Lost in Translation

25. Drugstore Cowboy

24. Happiness

23. The Evil Dead ((DESERVES TO BE MUCH HIGHER))

22. Nosferatu

21. Roger And Me

20. Slacker

19. Lone Star

18. Withnail And I

17. City of God

16. She's Gotta Have It

15. Blood Simple

14. Stranger Than Paradise

13. Memento

12. Eraserhead

11. Bad Taste

10. Mean Streets

9. Sideways

8. The Usual Suspects

7. Sex, Lies, and Videotape

6. Night of the Living Dead

5. Monty Python's Life of Brian

4. Clerks

3. The Terminator ((THIS WAS AN INDIE FILM?! SINCE FUCKING WHEN?!))

2. Donnie Darko

1. Reservoir Dogs

 

 

 

...so nevermind that bullshit choice of Donnie Darko in the top 10, much less the top 20, but...a few of these I don't even think counts as indie films. Nosferatu was made before a lot of the film studios were even that big, so how can it count as indie? And Sideways just came out...what? Last year? How can it be so impactful and good that it's already worthy of being in the top 10? Bad Taste over Evil Dead irks me since there would've been no Bad Taste if not for Evil Dead, but Night of the Living Dead in the top 10 with Clerks makes me happy.

[luke-o 0]

Very happy with Clerks being in the top 5, but since when was the Terminator an Indie movie?...

 

Oh, and Evil Dead should have been MUCH higher.

 

And uhhh, Pink Flamingos *shudders*

[Youth N Asia 0]

I really like 7 of the top 10. But I put Memento above them all

[Annabelle 0]

i think, no i am sure, i enjoyed mean streets the most.

[starvenger 0]

...so nevermind that bullshit choice of Donnie Darko in the top 10, much less the top 20, but...a few of these I don't even think counts as indie films. Nosferatu was made before a lot of the film studios were even that big, so how can it count as indie? And Sideways just came out...what? Last year? How can it be so impactful and good that it's already worthy of being in the top 10? Bad Taste over Evil Dead irks me since there would've been no Bad Taste if not for Evil Dead, but Night of the Living Dead in the top 10 with Clerks makes me happy.

Which pretty much brings up the question - what is the criteria for being an indie film?

[cabbageboy 0]

I think The Terminator was in fact a film done by Hemdale, which I don't guess is considered a major studio. It's hard to exactly know what is an indie film. I seem to recall Sideways being some branch of Fox...is this really indie? I thought Lost in Translation was some branch of Universal?

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Sideways at #9 cracks me up, as does Donnie Darko at #2.

[Dangerous A 0]

City of God and Swingers need to be ranked higher.

[Ravenbomb 0]

No Requiem for a Dream? Pfft

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I think The Terminator was in fact a film done by Hemdale, which I don't guess is considered a major studio. It's hard to exactly know what is an indie film. I seem to recall Sideways being some branch of Fox...is this really indie? I thought Lost in Translation was some branch of Universal?

 

Might also be because Cameron wrote and directed (i think it was the second or third time in his at that time short career he had done so) and the film had a fairly low budget (at least, lower than what you would expect).

[starvenger 0]

I think The Terminator was in fact a film done by Hemdale, which I don't guess is considered a major studio. It's hard to exactly know what is an indie film. I seem to recall Sideways being some branch of Fox...is this really indie? I thought Lost in Translation was some branch of Universal?

Film studios can distribute films, even if they have no hand in the making of it, a la Star Wars.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I know Carolco (or however you spell it) had a huge hand in the first two Terminators...but I'm pretty sure it wasn't an indie film. Just like I wouldn't consider anything by Kevin Smith post-Amy to be an indie film.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I would have City of God in the Top 10.

 

Amazing movie.

[luke-o 0]

Just like I wouldn't consider anything by Kevin Smith post-Amy to be an indie film.

 

Mallrats wasnt really an indie film either, it was a big budget production ($8 million) thats was funded by Universal.

 

Clerks and Amy, i'll give you those are both were made for under $1 million.

 

But still, Pink Flamigos *shudders*

 

[Mole 0]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is was too low.

[CBright7831 0]

I didn't know Terminator was an independent film.

[Red Baron 0]

I'm surprised that Resivoir Dogs was number one.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Quote of the thread thus far is "Terminator is an indie film?"

[Special K 0]

I'm sorry, Bad Taste is only a mediocre movie, but it's pretty much uninventive. It's like an episode of Miami Vice with a puke-eatting scene. I know this statement seems ridiculous, but there's a boring-ass shootout that takes half of the movie! Evil Dead is SO much better. So is Braindead. I LOVE Braindead. Bad Taste? Eh.

 

I'll admit to having a giant erection for Donnie Darko, but come on.

 

Also: Bad Leiutenant is not a very good movie. Fucked up? Yes. But not good.

 

El Mariachi should kill a lot of these, for being a really good film on zero budget.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Vincent Gallo over Jesus. That's fucking indie.

[SpikeFayeJettEdBebop 0]

I haven't seen quite a bit of them, but I would certainly agree that City of God should be ranked a lot higher. It's an absolutley amazing movie.

[Downhome 0]

I haven't seen quite a bit of them, but I would certainly agree that City of God should be ranked a lot higher. It's an absolutley amazing movie.

 

 

Not to totally change the subject, but here's one for you. Have you ever seen City of Men?

 

From Wikipedia:

 

City of Men (in Portuguese: Cidade dos Homens) is a Brazillian television program from Kátia Lund and Fernando Meirelles, the directors of the film City of God. The mini-series was watched by 35 million viewers in Brazil and were released internationally on DVD shortly after the movie.

 

It is often cited as a 'spin-off' of the film, although the TV show contains none of the characters from the film and is generally a less violent and more light-hearted affair. However, the two do share some common aspects - the directors, some of the actors, and the setting of the Brazillian favela with its background of gangsters and poverty.

 

The program tells the stories of Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha), two best friends who live in a notorious Rio slum, in a community of drug-dealers, hustlers and teenagers struggling to fulfil their dreams.

 

A co-production of Meirelles' (through his studio, O2 Filmes) and Globo TV, the largest TV channel in Brazil, the show is currently in its fourth season, which is aired in the same timeslot as it has been since the beginning: Fridays, at 11 O'clock pm (local Brazilian time: -3 UTC).

 

Each season of the program airs roughly one year after the previous one, and the characters, as it happens with the actors who portray them, are shown to age from one season to the next. As a result, the stories of each season reflect the struggles of poor kids from Rio de Janeiro in the appropriate age group: in Season 1, the characters are about 13 years old, that is, barely out of childhood and into adolescence; in Season 4 (latest to air), they are 17, on the verge of adulthood, and their dilemmas vary accordingly.