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American Cinematographer Poll, Best Shot Films of 1998 - 2008

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M Hawkins

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So American Cinematographer have just opened a poll for Best Shot Films of 1998 - 2008.

The "best of lists" on Reduser always make for very interesting reading, so I thought I'd try and get another one going.

To kick things off, my provisional list.

In the Mood for Love (Christopher Doyle)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Roger Deakins)

Road to Perdition (Conrad Hall)

Russian Ark (Tilman Büttner)

Silent Light (Alexis Zabe)

The New World (Emmanuel Lubezki)

Hunger (Sean Bobbitt)

Oldboy (Chung-hoon Chung )

No Country for Old Men (Roger Deakins)

Innocence (Benoît Debie)

Luckily the poll is open until March 31st, as I know some of my choices are bound to change.

Matthew.
 
I posted a best of the decade list somewhere before, I guess I should dust it off and add 1998 & 1999 movies to it. Though that's going to really knock off some post-1999 movies from my list, those were two great years for cinematography. "Snow Falling on Cedars" and "The Thin Red Line" were in that period, not to mention "Sleepy Hollow".
 
David Mullen ASC said:
not to mention "Sleepy Hollow".
Click to expand...

Good call, I thought that film was ok narratively speaking but the set design and cinematography are amazing.

It's hard to say that anything Kubrick has done has been overlooked, however, I rarely hear anyone mention the cinematography in "Eyes Wide Shut". IMO that is probably the most beautifully lit and shot film I've seen over the time period in question.
 
I tossed in:

1. The Thin Red Line
2. The New World
3. In The Mood for Love
4. Baraka
5. Road to Perdition
6. 2046
7. The Fountain
8. Eyes Wide Shut
9. No Country for Old Men
10. Lust, Caution
 
Definitely, Snow Falling on Cedars should be on the list.
 
Here's my list:

The Thin Red Line (1998)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Snow Falling On Cedars (1999)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Amelie (2001)
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2000)
The Road to Perdition (2001)
The New World (2005)
The Assassination of Jesse James (2007)

Originally it was 15 long, then down to 11, I ultimately had to drop "2046", feeling it was sort of represented in a way by "In the Mood for Love". That leave 8 titles from 1998-2001, but only 2 after that.

On another day, I probably would have made room for "Dark Knight" (or "Batman Begins"), "2046", "No Country for Old Men", "Memoirs of a Geisha", "A Very Long Engagement", "The Aviator", a few others.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
Tom, "Baraka" came out in 1992.
Click to expand...

Darnit, in that case, I guess I will go with Babel, maybe. The funny thing about Prieto, though, is that I really feel like he has not even hit his stride yet! Lust and Babel kind of feel like a master just warming up. We'll seen in this new decade! He will have a chance to have a lot of fun with Stone and Wall Street II, coming up pretty soon here. ;)

Shamefully, I still have not seen Sleepy Hollow or Snow Falling On Cedars!

For me, this list really should have been 5 rather than 10. My last five selections I do not feel nearly as strongly about as my first five.
 
Ain't you forgetting one of the most prolific world-class cinematographers of our time?

Eduardo Serra
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0785381/

photo_02.jpg

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

girlwithapearlearringlrg2.jpg

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

Any David Mullen artwork would be my other choice, aside his regular presence among us which can just honor this forum.


The Astronaut Farmer (2006)


The Astronaut Farmer (2006)

It would be totally unfair the absence of their names. There are not so many DPs giving it to us with the unique touch of these two lightmakers. Am I missing someone ;-) or truth for to be told?
 
Being limited to ten titles means that a number of great cinematographers are not represented, not just Eduardo Serra. I could write a long list of all the great cinematographers missing, starting with my personal hero, Vittorio Storaro. But this was around the time he started working on smaller art house movies such as "Tango", "Goya in Bordeaux", "Caravaggio", etc. I was tempted to slip one of those in the list.

The cinematographers of the movies on my list are: John Toll, Larry Smith, Robert Richardson, Emmanual Lubezki (twice), Chris Doyle & Mark Lee Ping-bin, Bruno Dulbonnel, Andrew Lesnie, Conrad Hall, and Roger Deakins

But that leaves off Storaro, Daviau, Kaminski, Pfister, Khondji, Wolski, Savides, Spinotti, Deschanel, Adefarasin, Elswit, Schwartzman, Mathieson, Serra, Dod Mantle, Menges, and on and on...
 
Tom Lowe said:
Shamefully, I still have not seen Sleepy Hollow or Snow Falling On Cedars!
Click to expand...

If you are ashamed then what should I be? Rofl. I need to watch so many more films acclaimed for their cinematography.

I don't even know where to start. Something tells me that 2010 in 70mm might be a good place. Does anyone know of a good website to easily find 70mm showings?
 
The American Cinematheque is one of the few places that occasionally have 70mm screenings. They have two theaters, the Aero and the Egyptian. Both have excellent projection, assuming the print they get is good.

In fact, I'm probably seeing a digital screening of a restored "Superman: The Movie" showing at the Egyptian on Sunday. I just saw an old b&w print of "Fort Apache" at the Aero last night.

http://www.americancinematheque.com/

"Superman" is part of a small series starting tonight:
http://egyptiantheatre.com/archive1999/2010/Egyptian/DigitallyRestored_ET2010.htm
The Egyptian’s state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line projector for full D-cinema presentations will be put to excellent use with our series of digital restorations that includes RAGING BULL, THE GODFATHER, the SUPERMAN films, and a glorious presentation of Sergio Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.


Oh, and it's "2001" that you want to see in 70mm, not "2010"...

Now if I really was a good student of cinema, I'd get off my butt and go to the Andrei Tarkovsky series starting up over at LACMA...
 
Sorry about the typo.

I would also love to see Aliens in 70mm. It's been so long since I last saw that movie. It scared the CRAP out of me when I first saw it. : )

Is Superman: The Movie the one where he spins the world back to turn back time? If so I think that may have been my first movie theater experience.

Tom recommended American Cinematheque a while back. It seems they have some of the best tickets in town with some of the Q&A events they put together and all of those 70mm showings they had last year. Unfortunately it seems they are not doing any 70mm showings through February.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
Being limited to ten titles means that a number of great cinematographers are not represented, not just Eduardo Serra. I could write a long list of all the great cinematographers missing, starting with my personal hero, Vittorio Storaro. But this was around the time he started working on smaller art house movies such as "Tango", "Goya in Bordeaux", "Caravaggio", etc. I was tempted to slip one of those in the list.

The cinematographers of the movies on my list are: John Toll, Larry Smith, Robert Richardson, Emmanual Lubezki (twice), Chris Doyle & Mark Lee Ping-bin, Bruno Dulbonnel, Andrew Lesnie, Conrad Hall, and Roger Deakins

But that leaves off Storaro, Daviau, Kaminski, Pfister, Khondji, Wolski, Savides, Spinotti, Deschanel, Adefarasin, Elswit, Schwartzman, Mathieson, Serra, Dod Mantle, Menges, and on and on...
Click to expand...
Understood. You wouldn't list one of your own work for sure. :-) I just couldn't mention 'Twin Falls Idaho' earlier (I said «any David Mullen» anyway) 'cause the photography styles or approaches there in those two different pieces of work I wished to include with. But if the Vermeer light by Eduardo S. cannot be away of this thread, yours either.

Never a woman's eyes (Hicks) were shot before in the same way.

And one of my favorites ever, not only into the specific period and well behind our meeting through the forums as I have had the chance to reiterate it now as before in my filmschool days.


Twin Falls Idaho (1999)


Twin Falls Idaho (1999)

The room's omnipresent blue tone photography associated to the twin brothers is also a master choice. I don't give a damn if it was shot by a 37 years old DP years before to become ASC or it is arthouse or even if it could be shot with a DSLR :-)

PS: OT BTW, the RED ONE shot 'Manure' would very probably be my choice for the category's academy award related to 2009.
 
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