Always felt there was a huge quality drop off between the Velvets and Lou’s solo discography, not that it’s all bad, just never enough to really pull me in. I owe The Blue Mask another listen for sure. I’ve always found John Cale’s solo work richer and more varied, but he doesn’t have 10% of the street cred.,for whatever reason.

Bananas is insanely high on this list, and Blue Jasmine insanely low. I will need to give some thought to how I would rank his movies, but I sense a wide divergence from this ranking.

Wire

I’ve always loved their first three albums, but iTunes finally has their early singles available as MP3’s. Dot Dash is great, Our Swimmer is another one that’s a lot of fun. Thrilled to scoop up those non-LP tracks at long last.

Oliver Stones steals the prize.

I’ve never been a big fan of this one (as if to confirm your point). “To Ramona” is stellar in composition and execution, and who doesn’t like the delightfully barbed “It ain’t me, babe”? On the whole, there’s a rough and ready feeling to the production and performances, undermining what could have been a much more fluid transition between his final proper folk album and his first proper rock album. I’ve always thought of it as little more than a missed opportunity.

For me personally, Ran, Rashoman, and Yojimbo all do a better job of holding my interest, and I think of Ikiru and Stray Dog as having more depth and personal resonance. I’ve never really connected with 7-sam and it might be simply because I saw so many countless derivative works before watching it. Didn’t see it until I was over thirty, by which time the premis seemed very tired.

I can’t stay away from the films I listed. When compared to the list you’ve provided, it pales in significance, but seeing The Godfather just 2 or 3 times in my lifetime is plenty. 2001 in particular has scenes that are agonizing to watch. As if those monkeys aren’t ugly and irritating to begin with, the soundtrack seems determined to match the onscreen action. Seven Samurai could hardly be more important in the history of cinema, but I can think of plenty of Kurosawa films I’d rather sit down to watch today.

I’ve never found a distinct correlation or conversion-rate between importance and enjoyment.

Rather childish to think anyone’s predilections can be defined in a list of ten, but humor me:

Mine are:

#1. “The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford” (2007) by Andrew Dominick
#2. “Crimes & Misdemeanors” (1989) by Woody Allen
#3. “Barry Lyndon” (1975) by Stanley Kubrick
#4. “Monsieur Verdoux” (1947) by Charles Chaplin
#5. “Rushmore” (1998) by Wes Anderson
#6. “Broadcast News” (1987) by James L. Brooks
#7. “Days of Heaven” (1978) by Terrence Malick
#8. “Nights of Cabiria” (1957) by Federico Fellini
#9. “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928) by Carl Theodore Dreyer
#10. “The Bridge on The River Kwai” (1957) by David Lean