BY MIKE REYES
Every year, the National Film Registry chooses a selection of 25 films to preserve in their archives for all time. With this year's crop bringing their total library up to 700 films, the latest batch of films deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically" worthy of preservation are quite a selection. Some are well known gems, others are obscure classics, but all will be kept safe for posterity. For your reading pleasure, please enjoy the National Film Registry's Class of 2016!
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
The Atomic Cafe (1982)
Ball of Fire (1941)
The Beau Brummels (1928)
The Birds (1963)
Blackboard Jungle (1955)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
East of Eden (1955)
Funny Girl (1968)
Life of an American Fireman (1903)
The Lion King (1994)
Lost Horizon (1937)
Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
Paris Is Burning (1990)
Point Blank (1967)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Putney Swope (1969)
Rushmore (1998)
Solomon Sir Jones films (1924-28)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
Suzanne, Suzanne (1982)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
A Walk in the Sun (1945)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
The Hollywood Reporter ran the full list, with the official blurbs that the National Film Registry included with their picks explaining their reasoning. With their criteria being the artistic merits mentioned previously, as well as each title being at least 10 years old, every year's choices are interesting to sift through, as the justifications are as interesting as the films themselves. In the case of The Lion King, for example, the entertainment value for children and adults saw that film worthy of inclusion, as well as its top notch voice cast and good old fashioned Disney magic. Meanwhile, Thelma and Louise was included because of two important factors: Ridley Scott's polished storytelling, and the film's landmark themes of friendship and feminism. Special kudos are be in order for Scott, as this film joins Blade Runner and Alien as further entries of his filmography being preserved.
Other highlights from this year's National Film Registry list picks include the oldest and youngest entries into their library (1903's Life of an American Fireman, and 1998's Rushmore), as well as notables like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Funny Girl, and The Birds. As usual, the diverse selection of films not only ensures that no certain genres or eras are being favored, but also that the collection continues to be a proper representation of cinema history. Though in the case of a movie like The Princess Bride, the encapsulation of old school humor and 80's sensibilities makes for one of those features in the collection that is a timeless gem. It is its broad appeal, rather then genre focus, that makes it as popular as it is today, and it is one of the best examples of what the National Film Registry tries to preserve, all in the name of cinema.
not mine.credit and source: CINEMABLEND
Showing posts with label National Film Registry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Film Registry. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2016
National Film Registry picks Thelma & Louise and The Breakfast Club for preservation
Andrew Pulver
14 December 2016
Thelma & Louise, The Breakfast Club and The Birds are among the 25 films selected for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, it has been announced.
Each year the National Film Preservation Board advises congress on which titles should be added to the registry, along with nominations from the public. To qualify, a film must be at least a decade old and be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.
The 1991 thriller Thelma & Louise, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, was considered a landmark in Hollywood’s portrayal of women characters. The Breakfast Club, written and directed by the late John Hughes and released in 1985, is arguably the best-known of the 1980s teen-movie cycle that included Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (both already in the register) and Pretty in Pink.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller The Birds joins a number of the director’s other films on the list, including North by Northwest, Vertigo and Psycho.
Full list of films selected for the National Film Registry
14 December 2016
Thelma & Louise, The Breakfast Club and The Birds are among the 25 films selected for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, it has been announced.
Each year the National Film Preservation Board advises congress on which titles should be added to the registry, along with nominations from the public. To qualify, a film must be at least a decade old and be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.
The 1991 thriller Thelma & Louise, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, was considered a landmark in Hollywood’s portrayal of women characters. The Breakfast Club, written and directed by the late John Hughes and released in 1985, is arguably the best-known of the 1980s teen-movie cycle that included Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (both already in the register) and Pretty in Pink.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller The Birds joins a number of the director’s other films on the list, including North by Northwest, Vertigo and Psycho.
Full list of films selected for the National Film Registry
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916, dir: Stuart Paton)
- The Atomic Cafe (1982, dirs: Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, Pierce Rafferty)
- Ball of Fire (1941, dir: Howard Hawks)
- The Beau Brummels (1928)
- The Birds (1963, dir: Alfred Hitchcock)
- Blackboard Jungle (1955, dir: Richard Brooks)
- The Breakfast Club (1985, dir: John Hughes)
- The Decline of Western Civilization (1981, dir: Penelope Spheeris)
- East of Eden (1955, Elia Kazan)
- Funny Girl (1968, dir: William Wyler)
- Life of an American Fireman (1903, dir: Edwin S Porter)
- The Lion King (1994, dirs: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff)
- Lost Horizon (1937, dir: Frank Capra)
- Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912, dir: DW Griffith)
- Paris Is Burning (1990, dir: Jennie Livingston)
- Point Blank (1967, dir: John Boorman)
- The Princess Bride (1987, dir: Rob Reiner)
- Putney Swope (1969, dir: Robert Downey Sr)
- Rushmore (1998, dir: Wes Anderson)
- Solomon Sir Jones films (1924-28)
- Steamboat Bill Jr (1928, dir: Charles Reisner)
- Suzanne, Suzanne (1982, dir: Camille Billops, James Hatch)
- Thelma & Louise (1991, dir: Ridley Scott)
- A Walk in the Sun (1945, dir: Lewis Milestone)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988, dir: Robert Zemeckis)
not mine.credit and source: THE GUARDIAN
National Film Registry honors ‘Breakfast Club,’ ‘Rushmore’ and other teen angst movies
By Michael O'Sullivan December 14
Whether she likes it or not, director Penelope Spheeris may be forever associated with “Wayne’s World,” her 1992 feature comedy based on a series of “Saturday Night Live” sketches about two high-school metalheads (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey). “I’ve always said, when I’m dead and gone, if there’s anything I could be remembered for, I would want it to be my ‘Decline’ films,” she says, referring to her series of three documentaries on youth subcultures. “That would be the greatest honor.”
Spheeris is now one step closer to that dream.
On Wednesday, the Library of Congress announced that the first film in Spheeris’s “The Decline of Western Civilization” trilogy — a controversial look at the burgeoning Los Angeles punk rock scene — was one of the 25 films selected for inclusion in the 2016 National Film Registry. Reached by phone, Spheeris described herself as “astonished” at the inclusion of her 1981 low-budget film, which she calls “one of the most written-about films of that year,” despite the fact that “no one saw it.”
Including performances by such bands as X, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks and Fear — and featuring slam-dancing mosh pits so rambunctious that Spheeris’s cameraman, Steve Conant, jokingly requested a “shark cage” for his own protection — the film shocked the bourgeoisie, and delighted the counterculture, upon its release. The title of the film, she explains, was meant ironically. By the time “Decline 3” came out, with its sobering look at homeless teenagers known as “gutter punks,” Spheeris says the series had “grown into its name.”
Now numbering 700 films, the registry each year selects titles for their “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance,” typically preserving a copy of each film for posterity at the library’s Packard Campus in Culpeper, Va. Other films honored this year include Rob Reiner’s “The Princess Bride” (1987); Ridley Scott’s “Thelma & Louise” (1991); Disney’s “The Lion King” (1994); a 17-minute gangster film by D.W. Griffith called “The Musketeers of Pig Alley” (1912); and an archive of footage documenting African American life in the 1920s by minister, businessman and amateur filmmaker Solomon Sir Jones. This year’s films, which must be at least 10 years old, were selected by the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, with input from members of the National Film Preservation Board and other Library of Congress film experts. Members of the public are encouraged to nominate their own favorite films.
Decline” is one of a handful of movies on this year’s registry that touch on the themes of teen angst and/or disaffected youth. That’s a coincidence that is completely unintentional, according to the 64-year-old Hayden, whose cinematic taste from her teen years hews closer to the 1965 musical “The Sound of Music.” Other titles from this year’s list that share that spirit of hormonal rebellion include the James Dean vehicle “East of Eden” and the juvenile-delinquency drama “Blackboard Jungle,” both from 1955; John Hughes’s high school detention-set “The Breakfast Club” (1985); and “Rushmore,” a 1998 comedy by Wes Anderson about an adolescent misfit who is in love with his teacher.
Spheeris doesn’t find it odd that thematically related films appear on the list. The youth-in-revolt genre, she says, has an enduring appeal, since adolescence and early adulthood are when we are forming our identities. “You become angry,” she says. “You want to change the world.”
The genre is, however, one that she feels is in dire need of preservation.
“The children of today have access to so much information, via the Web and social media, that it’s confusing,” says the 71-year-old filmmaker, who is at work on her fourth installment in the “Decline” series, about which she won’t reveal any details. “What this access has done is totally eradicate what I’ve always called the ‘underground’: the hippies, the punks, etc. Today, there are no unique and different films coming out of the underground.” In fact, she says, “the underground is aboveground.”
All the more reason, Spheeris says, for the registry. “It’s become a vital reference library for upcoming generations of young people. Today’s kids don’t know who they are.”
Films selected for the 2016 National Film Registry
●Atomic Cafe (1982)
●Ball of Fire (1941)
●The Beau Brummels (1928)
●The Birds (1963)
●Blackboard Jungle (1955)
●The Breakfast Club (1985)
●The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
●East of Eden (1955)
●Funny Girl (1968)
●Life of an American Fireman (1903)
●The Lion King (1994)
●Lost Horizon (1937)
●The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
●Paris Is Burning (1990)
●Point Blank (1967)
●The Princess Bride (1987)
●Putney Swope (1969)
●Rushmore (1998)
●Solomon Sir Jones films (1924-28)
●Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
●Suzanne, Suzanne (1982)
●Thelma & Louise (1991)
●20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
●A Walk in the Sun (1945)
●Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
not mine.credit and source: THE WASHINGTON POST
Whether she likes it or not, director Penelope Spheeris may be forever associated with “Wayne’s World,” her 1992 feature comedy based on a series of “Saturday Night Live” sketches about two high-school metalheads (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey). “I’ve always said, when I’m dead and gone, if there’s anything I could be remembered for, I would want it to be my ‘Decline’ films,” she says, referring to her series of three documentaries on youth subcultures. “That would be the greatest honor.”
Spheeris is now one step closer to that dream.
On Wednesday, the Library of Congress announced that the first film in Spheeris’s “The Decline of Western Civilization” trilogy — a controversial look at the burgeoning Los Angeles punk rock scene — was one of the 25 films selected for inclusion in the 2016 National Film Registry. Reached by phone, Spheeris described herself as “astonished” at the inclusion of her 1981 low-budget film, which she calls “one of the most written-about films of that year,” despite the fact that “no one saw it.”
Including performances by such bands as X, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks and Fear — and featuring slam-dancing mosh pits so rambunctious that Spheeris’s cameraman, Steve Conant, jokingly requested a “shark cage” for his own protection — the film shocked the bourgeoisie, and delighted the counterculture, upon its release. The title of the film, she explains, was meant ironically. By the time “Decline 3” came out, with its sobering look at homeless teenagers known as “gutter punks,” Spheeris says the series had “grown into its name.”
Now numbering 700 films, the registry each year selects titles for their “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance,” typically preserving a copy of each film for posterity at the library’s Packard Campus in Culpeper, Va. Other films honored this year include Rob Reiner’s “The Princess Bride” (1987); Ridley Scott’s “Thelma & Louise” (1991); Disney’s “The Lion King” (1994); a 17-minute gangster film by D.W. Griffith called “The Musketeers of Pig Alley” (1912); and an archive of footage documenting African American life in the 1920s by minister, businessman and amateur filmmaker Solomon Sir Jones. This year’s films, which must be at least 10 years old, were selected by the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, with input from members of the National Film Preservation Board and other Library of Congress film experts. Members of the public are encouraged to nominate their own favorite films.
Decline” is one of a handful of movies on this year’s registry that touch on the themes of teen angst and/or disaffected youth. That’s a coincidence that is completely unintentional, according to the 64-year-old Hayden, whose cinematic taste from her teen years hews closer to the 1965 musical “The Sound of Music.” Other titles from this year’s list that share that spirit of hormonal rebellion include the James Dean vehicle “East of Eden” and the juvenile-delinquency drama “Blackboard Jungle,” both from 1955; John Hughes’s high school detention-set “The Breakfast Club” (1985); and “Rushmore,” a 1998 comedy by Wes Anderson about an adolescent misfit who is in love with his teacher.
Spheeris doesn’t find it odd that thematically related films appear on the list. The youth-in-revolt genre, she says, has an enduring appeal, since adolescence and early adulthood are when we are forming our identities. “You become angry,” she says. “You want to change the world.”
The genre is, however, one that she feels is in dire need of preservation.
“The children of today have access to so much information, via the Web and social media, that it’s confusing,” says the 71-year-old filmmaker, who is at work on her fourth installment in the “Decline” series, about which she won’t reveal any details. “What this access has done is totally eradicate what I’ve always called the ‘underground’: the hippies, the punks, etc. Today, there are no unique and different films coming out of the underground.” In fact, she says, “the underground is aboveground.”
All the more reason, Spheeris says, for the registry. “It’s become a vital reference library for upcoming generations of young people. Today’s kids don’t know who they are.”
Films selected for the 2016 National Film Registry
●Atomic Cafe (1982)
●Ball of Fire (1941)
●The Beau Brummels (1928)
●The Birds (1963)
●Blackboard Jungle (1955)
●The Breakfast Club (1985)
●The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
●East of Eden (1955)
●Funny Girl (1968)
●Life of an American Fireman (1903)
●The Lion King (1994)
●Lost Horizon (1937)
●The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
●Paris Is Burning (1990)
●Point Blank (1967)
●The Princess Bride (1987)
●Putney Swope (1969)
●Rushmore (1998)
●Solomon Sir Jones films (1924-28)
●Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
●Suzanne, Suzanne (1982)
●Thelma & Louise (1991)
●20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
●A Walk in the Sun (1945)
●Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
not mine.credit and source: THE WASHINGTON POST
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