The movies you have to see to acquire a wide and generous perspective of the world of cinema , sorted by stage and nationality. But, above all, the films that you have to see to enjoy, since they have been chosen by some well-known cinephiles: the critics of FilmAffinity , the largest database of the seventh art that exists on the internet in Spanish.
They are all in The FilmAffinity Guide: A Brief History of Cinema (Nordic Books, 2021), a volume celebrating the 20 years of the web with analysis of hundreds of films accompanied by dozens of stills and posters. “It is not only a summary of a century and a quarter of cinematography (from its beginnings to the present), but also a precise and rigorous analysis of the evolution of this art ”, they explain from Nordic Books. “A book that is an up-to-date history of world cinema at the same time rigorous, entertaining and didactic”.
FILMAFFINITY: 20 YEARS OF CINEMA
“In the mid-nineties, even before I had the internet at home, I had already created an important home database where I rated movies and compared my affinity with the film critics of other magazines”, he says Paul Kurt , soul of the web and the book, which he coordinates with Daniel Nicholas, website founder, and Daniel Andreas and Miguel Verdu, editors.
“When I discovered the internet, it wasn't too hard to come to the conclusion that if you extended that affinity to any web user, the recommendations would be even better and more precise ”, He remembers.
With that idea in mind, in 2000 traveled to Canada for a year to try to learn as much as I could about the web, from how to make pages to how to do online marketing. “When I came back, I already had in mind the project of a cinema website where to vote and recommend movies”.
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He soon found the programmer Daniel Nicolás, who has been with the team ever since. “We have already 20 years working together at FilmAffinity and we are still the sole owners of the company , essentially focused on being an independent film website at the service of users”, details Kurt.
“DO YOU HAVE A PROFILE IN FILMAFFINITY?”
The FilmAffinity guide celebrates these two decades in which the platform has become the reference site for any Spanish-speaking movie buff . In fact, when talking about the seventh art with a stranger, it is not uncommon to ask: “Do you have a profile on FilmAffinity?” , nor does it bring up the point that scores on the web are always lower than in other reference film databases, such as IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes. Is it that we Spaniards are the most severe critics?
'The wolf of Wall Street'
“More than the fact of being Spanish, I think it has to do with the fact that be european ”, responds to Traveler.es Daniel Andreas. “Although they are quite crude simplifications, American Internet users have been trained as moviegoers mostly with the hollywood movies , which traditionally tend to prioritize entertainment and evasion”.
“On the contrary, European viewers have combined that Hollywood tradition -which they also know- with the European one, whose cinema usually has a certain artistic, critical and/or authorial will. Each cinema generates a different audience: the North American tends to be more benevolent, because the aspirations you have are easier to satisfy. The European, perhaps, has higher expectations and therefore he is more critical with the results. But all these are, I repeat, simplifications”.
THE 24 MOST RELEVANT AMERICAN FILMS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Clarified the eternal doubt, we offer you what was promised: a list of top 24 american movies of what we have been in the 21st century according to those responsible for the volume. This is just a small part of this reference manual full of 'essential' tapes from around the world.
“The films have been chosen according to the personal opinion of the authors , although always trying to take into account their more or less 'objective' importance in the history of cinema , in what can be 'measured'", explains Miguel Verdú to Traveler.es.
'Avatar'
Of course, in the case of the most recent films, those released after 1995, the films are classified as " relevant ”. The reason is given by Verdú himself: “ The passage of time is the most severe judge to assess the importance of something . The new can sometimes dazzle, but over the years, it inevitably looks different. What is 'in' is almost always destined to be 'out of style' later.
For now, these are the Tapes from Hollywood that yes or yes you have to see , and that are duly analyzed in The FilmAffinity Guide . Which one are you going to wear tonight…?
- Before Dawn/Before Sunset/Before Nightfall, Richard Linklater
- Mulholand Drive, David Lynch
- ShrekAndrew Adamson
- Adaptation. The Orchid Thief, Spike Jonce
- Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore
- Lost in TranslationSofia Coppola
- Kill Bill. Volume I / Kill Bill. Volume II, Quentin Tarantino
- Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood
- Forget me!, Michel Gondry
- Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee
- A history of violence, David Cronenberg
- No Country for Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen
- Wells of Ambition, Paul Thomas Anderson
- The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan
- In Hostile Land, Kathryn Bigelow
- AvatarJames Cameron
- WALL-E, Andrew Stanton
- Two lovers, James Gray
- The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
- The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson
- The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese
- Moonlight, Barry Jenkins
- JokerTodd Phillips
- Avengers: Endgame, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo