KOA's 100 Films, Take Two: An Introduction

Three and a half years ago we embarked on the biggest endeavor this blog had ever seen.  It encompassed seven months, forty-two published posts and ended with a final ranking of my favorite 100 films.  Nothing has even come close to surpassing that list, whether it be based on sheer length, difficulty or importance.

Well, that is until now.

Sequels are incredibly difficult to get right.  For one, they all come with preconceived judgements and comparisons tracing back to the original.  Instead of being their own entity, second acts tend to hover in the lingering shadows of the premier.  In film successful ones are quite rare.  The Godfather Part Two and The Dark Knight are examples of the few exceptions.  More often sequels resemble The Hangover Part II or Major League II in that they use the same formula as their predecessors but with a tired twist on the storyline.

In understanding that premise it is with great caution that we embark on this upcoming journey.

The King of Arguments 100 Favorite Films: Version 2.0

Same idea, same format, different movies.  A revamped look at my 100 favorite movies of all-time. Coming along for the ride is my usual ranker-in-crime, Matt Barnes.  Starting tomorrow we will begin counting down our own separate lists as we try to build off the success our original 100 films list had back in 2011.


The difficulty in making a second version of such a massive list is profound.  How much do you value the previous rankings?  How many new films will make the cut?  Of those new films, where will they enter the countdown?  Is there a shuffling of the top ten?  What will be the previously highly rated film to not even make the second version?

Answers to all of those questions must be considered before the unveiling process can begin.  And those answers take considerable time and reflection.  Tastes change.  Values change.  Rankings change.  Now this may have not been such a massive task if we had stuck to our original plan and revamped this list every two years.  But nonetheless, here we are, for better or for worse.

The first step in making any successful list is to first select the candidates, and the only way to do that is to research and remember.  Research dominated the process back in 2011, as we had to browse movie archives from all the films we had seen in our 26 years of existence and try to separate them into categories: great, good, okay, and bad.  This time around we only had to reflect back on the last couple of years to find films we wanted to add.  The hard part is figuring where those new films go, and which old ones to remove.

But something strange and unexpected happened during the removal process.  Instead of simply removing the bottom 10, or bottom 20 to make room for the newbies, the ones failing to make the cut were scattered, and some ranked in the top-half of my original rankings.  This can mean one of two things.

One, my tastes have altered dramatically in the last couple of years.  Or two - and probably more likely - mistakes were made in the initial batch.

In a perfect world, when a new film enters the vaulted top 100, the first movie to be shown the door would be #100.  That was not the case at all this time around.  Yes, several movies that just made the cut in 2011 will not be found in 2015, but a couple top 50 films were cut with the same ease as the bottom feeders.

Systematics aside, I'm very much looking forward to putting this list together.  There have been lots of great movies in the last couple of years and it has made for a much stronger list overall.  It will also be much more difficult to put together, but the result will be worth the effort - as most things in life tend to be.

Thanks for coming along on the ride with us.  A voice without an ear falls silent.

Peace be the journey.