Continuing… (It's Part 6 in the saga, I fucked up. Sorry.)
So, after a few re-fueling and impromptu cigar-purchasing stops in South and Central America, we wheel up to the deserted jetway at LAX.
“Thought we were going to Elmendorf?” I asked.
“This isn’t it?” the pilot replied, feigning worry.
“No.”, I replied, “Looks like California. Fruits and nuts. All around. What’s going on? One minute we’re off to Texas, then Cali, then Texas again, now we end up here at the California airport of the iconic tower.”
“Yeah, it’s confusing enough haulin’ civilians around. But when we get a call from Virginia, we tend to comply without any questions,” the pilot explains.
“Aw, shit!”, I sort of exclaim, “Rack and Ruin called?”
“Yeah”, the pilot replies, “Figures you’d know these guys. They said they were closer to LAX rather than Texas and had us divert here. In fact, you look over there, see that dark blue Chevy? That’s them; and evidently, your ride.”
I tipped the airman from earlier a couple of cigars as he helped me with my gear off the plane and into the trunk of Rack and Ruin’s plain-Jane blue late modeled Chevy. Had to move the Sidewinder Missiles off to one side, though.
“Most honorable Agents Lack and Luin!” I quipped in my faux-racist greeting. “What the hell, guys? I’ve got to get to Japan and get some newly rigidified digits.”
“Let’s see your hand”, Agent Rack asks. “Nasty.”
“Yeah”, I sigh “And with the medicos in South America and their penchant for plaster, I don’t so much have a left hand as more of an ankylosaur tail.”
“Or Thagomizer”, Agent Ruin tittered. “Anyone gives you grief, and one upside the head should set them right. Or dead.”
“You’re a riot, Ruin.” I replied, “But not entirely incorrect.”
We all agreed that I really didn’t need any extra accouterments to make myself look more dangerous. I mean with my severe haircut, stern beard clip, and perpetual ‘Go fuck yourself’ scowl.
“Yeah”, I replied, stroking the aforementioned beard, “I just can’t get that. I’m such a people person.”
After Agents Rack and Ruin finished drying their eyes from laughing what I thought was en extremis, we finally got down to business.
“So, what’s the skinny, guys”, I asked. “New marching orders?”
“No. Not as such”, Agent Ruin said, still sniggering over my ‘people person’ comment.
I see we’re moving. Agent Rack is just driving casually, like Chewbacca when they were waiting to see if the Empire went for that expensive Bothan code.
“Then, what?” I asked, getting a slight bit piqued.
“Well”, Agent Ruin noted, “When you went to South America, you took some of your artillery collection with, correct?”
“You know I did. You even made some snide comments about my personal choice of sidearms and their ‘excessive’ calibers, if memory serves”, I reiterated.
“And if you are proceeding normally, as you always do, they’re all nestled in the trunk of this very car. All cleaned, quiet, unloaded, and smelling sweetly of Hoppe’s Number 9 and WD 40, correct?” Rack inquired.
“Yes?” I cautiously venture.
“Well, ya’ big dummy, do you think they’re going to let you saunter into Tokyo armed like the Third Fleet?” Agent Ruin chuckled.
“Um…well…I do have a Diplomatic Passport.” I ventured.
“That’s not going to work this time.”, Agent Ruin said, shaking his head. “They’re tighter than Dick’s Hatband about sidearms. Want to bring in your Rigby SXS .500 Nitro Express double rifle? Not a problem. Sidearms, especially in your alien hunting calibers, nope.”
Well, that’s just….*dandy!”, I reply, semi-put out. “Now what the hell am I going to do?”
“Ever think that’s why Ruin and I are here, now?”, Rack asks.
“And here I thought it was just so you could bask in the warm glow of my fucking wonderful personality. Or that you actually cared about me as a real goddamn human”, I joshed.
“Ummm…yeah”, Rack replies, “There’s no way we can answer that without going on some Deadpool list. “
I agreed.
“OK, here’s the deal: you get your sidearms, ammunition, speed loaders, brass knuckles, Asp, laser range finders, Sap, Zeiss scopes, Kukri, Wisconsin Cheese Whittler, Buck folding skinner, Marine K-Bar, those two ultra-illegal Cheburkov Cobra titanium switchblades...”
“Three. Olga the KGB lady sent me one for Geologist’s Day.”
“Ahem. Those three ultra-illegal Cheburkov switchblades, that Wyoming Speedholer, your MASER Time-Distance Computer, garrote, pocket rail gun and whatever else lethal you carry and deposit it in the iron box in the trunk. We’ll ensure that it’s delivered to Esme post-haste. And by post-haste I mean one of our guys will deliver it personally.”
“Well…I suppose”, I conceded, “But best send someone who’s been to the house recently. I don’t know how much bigger Khan has grown since I left on this little fantasy trip. Wouldn’t want a star on the wall in Langley for someone eaten by a mastiff. Want to see a picture….Oh, bother. That’s right. My phone’s at the bottom of fucking Lake Maracaibo.”
“Good point”, Ruin interjects, “Guess we’ll do a little road trip and deliver it ourselves. Best call Esme and let her know what’s going on.”
“I have no objections to your proposals. Please give Esme this when you see her. I had some luck in the Calaveras Casino and if I don’t send her some mad money. Ouch. She’ll never forgive me for not taking her along to Japan.” I asked.
“But I thought Esme hated Japan? Too crowded and too ‘fussy’, I believe was her estimation.” Ruin asked.
“Yes, but once she saw the Ginza, all bets were off. Shopping the likes of which even Allah himself hasn’t seen.” I replied, slowly shaking my head.
“I see”, Ruin said, “Well, since you’re off to Sapporo, perhaps you can do a recon for Esme on the shopping there.”
“Not bad. Not bad at all.”, I smiled, “Now I know why I let you guys hang around with me.”
So, as advertised, I am now standing on the tarmac at LAX, basically feeling naked.
“Can’t I keep just one switchblade?” I moaned to Agent Rack.
“Go ahead, if you’re really keen on donating it to Japanese customs”, he replied.
“Fuckbuckets.” I groused.
“There, there now. That’s the usual Dr. Rocknocker of which we’re all so fond.” Agent Ruin chuckled.
“Remember, you do have that wallet-sized credit card gizmo from the Company. So you’re not entirely ‘naked’. Think of it as an emergency breechcloth.” He smiled.
“I’d like a larger model if you don’t mind. It’s chilly out here.” I joshed.
After Agents Rack and Ruin stripped me metaphorically naked as they de-weaponized me, they handed me a Business Class ticket to Tokyo, and a pass to the Japan Airlines Hospitality Suite and Lounge.
“So sorry you guys can’t hang around and have a few farewell snorts”, I chided, “But you’ve got a bit of a drive, so best be off before the weather turns to shit.”
“Who says we’re driving?” Agent Rack asked as he hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the ready and waiting C-130 cargo plane currently taxiing slowly in our direction.
“Well, in that case”, I smiled even more broadly, “Let’s invite the flight crew to join us. That’ll make the flight home all that much more interesting.”
After near tear-jerking farewell sentimentalities, i.e., “Piss on you”, “Get stuffed” and “Take a fuckin’ hike”; Agents Rack and Ruin, my weapons and the Agency’s plain-Jane Blue Chevy were all nestled snugger than buggers in ruggers in the belly of the thundering C-130.
Now truly on my own, I trudge the hundred thousand or so centisteps to my departure terminal, make a quick recon that my flight’s still slated to go in a generally westward direction, and hightail it to the nearest courtesy desk to ask for a motorized cart to take me and my remaining luggage to the JAL Hospitality Suite.
Hey. I’m old, infirm, and currently among the walking wounded.
Anyone that disagrees risks an Ankylosaur tail club swat or Thagomizer to the skull.
Finally ensconced in the JAL Hospitality Suite, Polo Lounge of course; I was drinking Tokyo Teas (3 oz. vodka, 2 oz. gin, 2 oz. rum, 1 oz. triple sec, 1 oz. Midori, good splash of lime juice, a slight splash of 7-Up (diet, of course), over ice with a lime wheel) with Pabst Blue Ribbon Extra 1844 chasers and Hangar One’s “Fog Point” vodka on the side, hiding from the brutish realities of this foul year of two thousand and twenty-something, Common Era…
I’ve already called Esme and we’ve had a good, long chat. She still managed to give me her shopping list for whenever I find myself bored on the Ginza.
She’ll be shocked when she learns that I’m not going to be in Tokyo long, but have 1st class tickets on the Bullet Train to Sapporo. Still, I’ll probably find myself in Pole Town or the Stellar Place there, trading piles of US greenbacks for locally produced Japanese curios and clothing.
I can hardly wait.
I order another round of drinks, as the wonderful attendants in the Hospitality Suite were bored out of their skulls because of the COVID-induced drop-in customers flying anywhere that requires a hospitality room stay, and I was virtually the only one around. They tried their level best to outdo each other when it comes to Japanese efficiency and friendliness.
After a couple of hours, they ask if I would like something from the grill, as the day chef had “the COVID” and the night chef just arrived. A quick perusal of the menu and I chose a 28-ounce dry-aged Porterhouse and another round of drinks.
I usually don’t like to eat too much before I fly, but JAL tells me the flight is going to be virtually empty, something like <121 pax, all told, so restroom availability shouldn’t be too much of a concern.
Plus, who am I to say no to a free, blue 28-ounce dry-aged Porterhouse?
There was a bit of difficulty conveying to the chef through the intermediaries of the hospitality just how I wanted my steak.
“Blue,” I said.
“Brue?” was the reply.
“Rare. Very, very rare.” I continued.
Look of total bewilderment.
I drag out my Personal Language Pro, speak “Steak, very, very rate” into the infernal gizmo, and hand the contraption to the attendant.
“珍しい、非常に珍しいステーキ?”[ Mezurashī, hijō ni mezurashī sutēki?]
“Raw! Nama!” I say, louder than need be.
They toddle off to find the chef.
“How is it sir, that you would like your steak cooked?” he asks.
“Very rare. Just a minute or two per side. Inside still cold.” I instructed.
All I got for the trouble was a puzzled smile.
“Give me the language gizmo…” I type in a few words…
“お尻を洗い、角をノックオフして、ここから出してください”
[O shiri o arai,-kaku o nokkuofu shite, koko kara dashite kudasai.]
“Wash its ass, knock its horns off, and walk it out here.”
“OH!” as the lightbulb pops. “Rare. Got it! Excellent!” the chef laughs and zips back to the kitchen.
Like I always say, I’m nothing if not the international ambassador of amity and goodwill.
“Crack tubes!”
Dinner was fantastic. I do wish I could have somehow mailed the Porterhouse bone back home for Khan. After that hambone incident, he might even taste it.
Finally on the plane, in an almost empty Business Class, the flight captain informs us that we’re headed to Haneda Airport Tokyo and anyone not headed in that direction better ‘haul ass off’ the flight or forever hold their peace.
Late-night international flights tend to be a bit more wooly than your average Chicago to Omaha gig.
Especially when the flight’s damn near empty and we have the next 12 hours or so to be best friends.
We taxi, turn and head into the wind. I’m doctoring up a couple of dossiers and keeping my personal cabin attendant, Luna since there were two of us in Business and two business flight attendants, busy with her trying to play ‘Stump the Geologist’.
“I’ll bet you never had this before.” She beamed and handed me a tumbler of very dangerous-looking brown liquor.
I cautiously sniff, take a modest gulp, swirl and glug the rest down.
“Ohishi Single Sherry Cask”, I say with a muffled belch. “Light. Fruity. An Englishman’s drink.”
“Oh. You knew. Let me try again.” She smiles beatifically.
“I have no objections to your proposal.” I smile as nicely as this crotchety old Komodo Dragon could.
She returns with another flagon of spirits; it smells of obsidian, leather, and earth.
I just had some of this back in LAX. I take a snort, smile, and shotgun the rest.
“Hibiki Japanese Harmony…lovely stuff.” I smile. “A little light for my jaded palate, but I’d never turn it down if it were free.”
“Oh, you win again. Wait. One more.” She smiles and skitters off to the galley.
She returns with another soupçon of some more dangerous brown liquor.
“Here, try this. It will make you very popular at social gatherings”. She smiles.
Sniff. “Splendid.” Snort. Swirl. Smile. Shotgun.
“Kanosuke New Born, if I’m not mistaken.” I smile back. “Very nice. I really do like this one.”
“You too good at this. One more!” she stands and stomps off defiantly. She returns in a trice and hands me the glass.
“Hmm…brown. Light notes of earth, leather, dating your daughter, and Kentucky…
“Beam Suntory, right?”
“You know them all!” she says, feigning irritation.
“And I thank you. Those were all excellent. Now, anything in the dangerous clear liquor category? I asked.
Luna smiled as I palmed off a 20k yen tip.
“Oh, no sir. Wait until we land.” She demurred, referring to the gratuity; which is know is not de rigueur in the Orient, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“Just in case we never make it to Tokyo”, I laughed, unknowingly presciently.
We both chuckled about that last line as she tried out various sakes and shōchūs and an actual Japanese ‘White Liquor’ (ホワイトリカー), which were all excellent as was the company.
I tell her that I need to get some work done and could she bring me a tall Rocknocker. After explain the origins and construction of the eponymous drink, she brings me one that must tip the scales at 1 or so liters.
She settles down to an empty seat and I get after the work that I need to finish before we land. I’m about ½ way through my drink when it felt as if the plane hit a brick wall. She quivered and quaked and clutched at herself while I made some comments about the pilot’s mental health.
We dropped like a paralyzed falcon, then just as suddenly, felt like it was an express elevator to Angel’s 11. The plane bucked and shimmied, wickedly. Then we slam-danced right and fell a few more stories. It was like we were in a Mixmaster and the owner was trying out every speed.
The emergency lights in the 777-300ER popped on, and the fasten seat belt sign barked loudly so even sleeping travelers could enjoy the show.
Rinse. Spin. Shudder. Repeat.
Finally, the ride smooths out and we hear the captain on the blower.
“This is your captain speaking…ah, we seem to have hit some uncharted turbulence back there.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious”, I muttered.
“Everything’s A-OK. “ he reports.
“That’s good”, I note.
“But…”
“There’s always the but…” I groan.
“…we have a couple of warning lights for which we can’t quite account. So to just be safe and certain, we’re going to divert to Hawaii, get a clean bill of health and resume this flight once we make sure everything here is hunky-dory.”
There were scattered groans and applause. Add them together and divide by two and the average response on the flight was “Meh. Whatever.”
Except for the other guy in Business, with whom I hadn’t shared two words. He began to absolutely lose his shit.
“Oh, man! We’re so screwed! Mechanical malfunction? What does that mean?” he positively fizzed with fear.
The flight attendants tried to calm him down, to no avail. They basically gave up and said they’d report his misgivings to the Captain.
I motioned over to my personal flight attendant, Luna, and asked if I could be of service.
“Oh, Doctor Rock”, she smiled at me, “If you could speak with him. You are so calm, and he is…”
“Losing his bloody mind”, I chuckled as I finished her sentence for her. “Of course, I’ll take a stab at it.”
So, I grab my drink and ease over to my Business Class partner and introduce myself.
“Hey, pal. How’s it going? I’m Dr. Rock, gentleman, scholar, and connoisseur of cigars and things alcoholic. You doing OK?”
He looks at me with an ashen face and his eyes the size of bloodshot dinner plates.
“Yeah. I’m Todd Schotts. I’m flying to Japan for business.” He mumbles
“No surprise there,” I reply calmly and take a slug of my drink.
“But now we’re all going to die. The plane is busted and we’ll crash…” he started off again.
“So, Todd is it? Good. You drink?” I asked.
“Yeah?”, he stammered back.
I asked Luna to make us a fresh batch of my eponymous cocktails.
“OK, Todd, listen up”, I began after the drinks were served, “I have flown literally millions of miles over the last 4 decades. On Aeroflot when it was still the USSR. On TACA (Take A Chance Airways), on Chalk’s in the Caribbean, on Bob’s Verrifast Plane Company in Rhodesia, on regional carriers that don’t even exist anymore. All over the world. Had some bad experiences flying, and me ol’ mugger, this ain’t one of them. This is nothing more than the glitch for this mission.”
I chuckled lightly and complimented Luna on a fantastic drink.
“Yeah…yeah…yeah…but we have to land and check out some lights…” Todd squealed.
“Well now, Todd. It would be rather difficult to do any external assessment while in flight, don’t you agree?” I asked.
“But we’re diverting. We have to land and that adds more risk. We’re going to crash and die!” he was coming more and more unglued.
“I will bet you every cent you have on your person and home bank accounts that that will not happen”, I chuckled.
That took him by surprise. At least it shut him up for a while.
“Look, Todd. This is Boeing’s latest model. They have the most incredible safety record. And if a little clear air turbulence were to be knocking planes out of the sky, don’t you think we’d hear about it as the press went berserk?” I asked.
“But they don’t know what the lights mean! What if one of the engines’s out? How far can we fly on one engine?” Todd stuttered.
Having my fill of a supposedly grown man with inane childlike fears, I calmly replied,
“All the way to the crash site.”
He went white.
“...hope we hit something hard. I don’t want to limp away from this.”
He went limp.
Then I went to my seat and motioned for Luna to prepare a reload.
Of course, 45 minutes later, we land without incident at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Honolulu Hawaii.
We were told to just wait around until they figure out what the problem if any, was.
They had officials waiting at the end of the jetway to check our COVID status and passports before they let us loose in the terminal.
I asked Luna if she knew this airport. She noted that she did.
“Is there a JAL hospitality room here at this airport? I asked.
“Yes, Doctor. It’s the Sakura Lounge. It is located on the third level above The Local, Terminal 2.” She replied.
“Please notify whoever needs to know that that’s where I’ll be for the duration”, I smiled and handed her my business card. “See you soon, I hope.”
“Oh, Dr. Rock”, she replied, “I am sure it is nothing much. We’ll be back in the air within mere hours.”
“Well then”, I smiled, “Guess I’d better get ready to hoof it to the lounge.”
“Oh, Doctor Rock”, she smiled, “No rush. I will call for you a courtesy cart. You are injured, you are Business, you are priority.”
“I love that Asian efficiency.” I smiled back and toddled down the jetway.
At the terminus of the jetway, I show my COVID-clear papers, dates and times of my Anti-Virus vaccine administrations, the letter from Virginia clearing me of all detention, and my red Russian diplomatic passport.
While in the cart, whizzing our way to the JAL lounge, the driver said “Man! You must be some kind of VIP. You were through that welcoming committee in less than two minutes!”
“Me? Nah!”, I chuckled, “Just an old phart of a geologist that they didn’t want to mess with. Not on such a bright, sunny day as this.”
“I see you’re not wearing a mask.” The driver quipped.
“Very observant. There are reasons for that.” I replied.
He careens around a corner and if this were a normal pre-Covid day, I’m certain we’d have killed hundreds. However, the airport, as I’ve come to grow accustomed to, was virtually deserted.
“Yeah? Like what?” he asks.
“Well, Scooter, 1. I have an active and hardworking immune system that I let off the chain every once in a while for exercise. Got to let it know what it’s up against, right? 2. I’ve had all my shots and some that were experimental. They seem to have worked. And 3. I find it difficult to drink and smoke cigars while wearing a mask. However, if you’d prefer, I will mask up. No problem, though it still is optional.”
“Nah, man”, he said, “I was just wondering if you were one of those religious idiots or conspiracy nuts.”
Nope”, I smiled back, “Just another geologist out in the world plying his trade for cash. Y’know, whorin’ around for money.”
He laughs aloud as we skid to a stop right in front of Lounge.
I slip the guy a $20 and ask if he’d listen for the JAL flight I was just on. If we’re going on ahead today, I’d need him to scoot by and putt-putt me back to the plane.
He laughs and pockets the $20 as quick as a mink ruts.
“No worries. I’ll just hang around this area. I hear anything about the flight, I’ll come and let you know.” He grins.
“Good man”, I say, as I hand him my card. “I’m Dr. Rocknocker. Call me Rock”.
“And I’m Kapula Mano, call me Kap” he replies.
“Good man”, I say again, “Hope to see you in a while.”
He grins, floors his electric cart, and peels out at speeds approaching 4.5 MPH.
I wander into the lounge, show my credentials, and am escorted to a post up on Mahogany Ridge.
The bar is very quiet. Besides the bartender, I can’t see anyone else in the darkened and Smooth Jazz-infused drinking emporium.
I order a local drink, a Mai Tai, just for the experience and something a bit different.
It’s served in a goldfish bowl on a stem, bedecked with a slice of lime, a sprig of mint, a stick of sugar cane, a polychromatic orchid, and the obligate paper umbrella.
“Ah. Mai Tai. I will enjoy it.” I said to no one in particular.
One was enough, and I decided to go back to the old standard. Once I explained to the bartender what that was, he made them heroic and enthusiastically.
I’m reading up on a random dossier, making notes in a new file, and puffing away on a Fuentes Onyx double Maduro Churchill cigar.
I hear a slight cough coming from my right, and this here lovely lady, she sat to my immediate starboard and looked at me semi-quizzically.
Not in the mood for shenanigans of any stripe, I give her the obligate Baja Canada nod and tilt of the drink. I return to my dossiers and continue to read and take notes.
“Excuse me!” I hear.
Fearing the worst, either the woman is Karen-oid anti-smoking or a religious fruit-and-nutburger, I slowly turn to face her and reply, somewhat glacially, I have to admit.
“What?”
“That cigar…”
“Here we go…” I mutter, eyes rolling northward.
“Smells exquisite. Could you tell me the brand? My husband would enjoy some like that.” She notes.
Instantly my demeanor switches 180^0.
“Yes, ma’am. It’s an Arturo Fuentes Onyx. Churchill size, or 60 ring x 7” length, double Maduro. Here, take one for your husband. I have an ample supply.” I smile.
“Oh, no. I couldn’t. Could I?” she asks.
“Please. I insist.” I smile the best I could given the circumstances.
“Thank you. You’re too kind…umm…Mr….?”
“Doctor. Doctor Rocknocker. World traveler, oilman, and international ambassador of amity, good drinks, and fine cigars. Call me Rock” I said.
“Oh! A Doctor?” she brightens.
“Yes, of Petroleum Geology and Engineering. Not medicine.” I chuckle.
She chuckles back.
“And I am Hella Aaberg”, as she offers her hand for a quick shake.
“Interesting name, Hella. Scandinavian or Old German heritage?” I ask.
“On my father’s side. He’s Finnish.” She replies.
“But I’ll wager your mother is not Scandinavian, correct?” I ask.
“She was from Truk, an island…”
“In the South Pacific, Micronesia. Was she from Weno city?” I asked.
“Why yes. How could you possibly know that?” she asked.
“Oh, I’ve been there. Great diving amongst the WWII wrecks. I think it’s actually called ‘Chuuk Lagoon’ or something like that now.” I said.
“That’s right! Amazing. Where else have you been?” she asked.
“Anywhere there’s oil, strife, booze, cigars, heavy explosives and typically long distances from whatever most normal people call civilization,” I replied with a chuckle.
Suddenly, I hear a voice booming out behind me.
“Why don’t you save that rapier-like wit for those musky-fuckers back home, Rocko?”
My expression changes. My eyes pop fully wide open.
“Hella?” I asked.
“Yes?”
“May I ask you a favor?”
“You can ask…”
“Thank you. Now, looking over my shoulder, is there a hulking goon of a person, thin up top, paunchy halfway down with the most ridiculously tiny sized shoes you’ve ever seen for a so-called grown man?” I ask.
“Yes. Yes, there is.” She replies.
“I thought so. Many thanks.”
I spin and launch off my barstool and grab Toivo by the hand. He hadn’t seen my left-hand Thagomizer yet.
“Toivo! You old sumbitch. What the flying fennec fox fuck are you, of all people, doing in Hawaii?” I laughed.
“Just keeping an eye on you, Rock!” he laughed equally as loud.
“No, fucking-A, seriously. What the actual fuck? What are you doing in this actual nice place?” I asked.
“Just headed to Tokyo to conduct a bit of service company business. I walked into the lounge and smelled a foul cigar. I figured it can’t be the venerable Dr. Rocknocker. He’s back at some school up north terrorizing geology and engineering grads and undergrads.” Toivo laughed.
“But there I was. Surprise!”, I laughed and pumped his hand.
“What the fuck, Rock. Now what did you do?” he asks, referring to my Ankylosaur tail club left hand.
“Ah, fuck. Long story. Oh, pardon me. Toivo, this is Hella. We were just talking about the South Seas Islands.” I said.
“Planning on running off together?” Toivo laughs, to the amusement of neither party.
“Oh, and this idiot is Toivo, a man with a congenital foot-in-mouth disorder. He’s mostly harmless.” I noted to Hella.
Greetings were shared all around. Hella made some small excuses and said she needed to depart. I gave her another cigar for her husband, shook her hand, and wished her well.
“Here’s my business card. If your husband has any questions, have him drop me a line.” I noted.
Hella smiled beautifully. She said she would. Then she thanked me shook our hands, and like that, there she was, gone.
“Well Toivo, you old bastard. Don't just stand there in the doorway like some lonesome goddamn mouse shit sheepherder, get your ass over here and have a drink.” I motioned over to my perch on Mahogany Ridge.
“Don’t mind if I do”, he says as he deftly winds his way to a seat to my left, snagging a cigar out of my pocket on the way over.
“You might want these”, I say in an exasperated tone, and hand him my gold Dunhill Hobnail lighter and V-cutter gizmo.
He cuts and fires up his heater.
“What you drinkin’, Rock”, he asks.
“Anything with alcohol, as usual. You know that Toiv.” I reply.
“No. I mean right now.” He clarifies.
“Well, I had a Mai Tai. Very nice if you like fruity, flowery drinks. It’s the locals’ favorite.” I reply.
“Sounds good. I’ll have several. And you?” Toivo asks.
“My usual. The bartender is already apprised of the situation.” I reply.
Toivo smiles the smile of one knowing his sobriety is going to be taken out for a swim. Hell, taken out and tossed into the deep end.
Toivo and I sit there, swapping lies, smoking cigars and sipping at our toddies.
Hell, Toivo was slurping them like a sump-pump during an extra-wet summer.
We chattered about family, work, whether or not Tokyo was going to host the Olympics or if the COVID-boogie man scared everyone off.
Toivo, always one afflicted with TB (“Tiny Bladder”) got up to go to the loo for the third time that hour. He left his pocket organizer on the bar and I swear on a stack of Origins of Species, I didn’t touch it.
I reached over to his vacated seat to retrieve my cigar lighter when I looked down and saw in his organizer a tab that reads “Rack & Ruin”.
“Oh. No. Fucking. Way.” I recoiled as I’d just reached out and petted a 6-foot hungover scorpion.
“One of my best friends? Secretly allied with the Agency? No. Not possible.” I drained my drink and called for another.
“No. No. No. It can’t be. No. No fucking way…” as doubt began to dissolve when I thought back to all those times I had just ‘run into’ Toivo.
“But he’s oil patch as well. That could be chalked up to coincidence.” I ruminated quizzically in my brain.
I quickly reflected back on J.M. Darhower: “Yes, you see, there’s no such thing as coincidence. There are no accidents in life. Everything that happens is the result of a calculated move that leads us to where we are.”
She may be the author of the execrable New Adult Sempre series, which Esme likes and I loathe, but she might just be right on this occasion.
Toivo return, lighter in the bladder and good sense. He never even noticed he’d left his organizer out in broad bar light for all to see.
“So, Toivo, when’s your flight?” I ask.
“Oh, man. Was I lucky. The JAL flight to Tokyo from Los Angeles had mechanical trouble and had to divert here. I got a ticket on the plane for that flight, when it continues.
“You mean ‘if it continues’,” I replied.
“Yeah. Yeah. That’s what I meant. Hey! Was that your flight?” he asks innocently. He’s really innocent of fieldcraft.
I decide to have some fun at my old friend’s expense.
“Yep. Hit some CAT (Clear Air Turbulence) and the JAL pilots reported some lighting problem. No apparent ruin to any of the systems. They relay racked their brains to figure it out, but they couldn’t that’s why I here.” I said, waiting for the words to swim upstream in Toivo’s coconut and make some sort of connection.
“Yeah. Double lucky. No problem with the plane and I get to go to Japan early.” Toivo crookedly grins.
“So, no trouble with the plane? Then why haven’t I heard that the flight’s going to resume?” I asked as I pushed a fresh, seriously strong drink to Toivo.
“Oh, must have heard it in the john.” Toivo countered and tried to cover his tracks by taking a huge gulp of his drink and damn near dying coughing.
I pound on Toivo’s back.
“Heimlich time?” I ask.
Toivo signals ‘no’.
“Jesus Christ, Rock. What was that?” he asks.
“Just my usual”, I innocently replied.
“Holy fuck. No wonder you have the reputation of…” Toivo realizes too late that he’s said too much.
“Yeah. They can rack you out. Really ruin a person if they’re not careful.” I reply icily.
“Why, Rock. Whatever do you mean?” Toivo slurred as he realized he’s been caught out.
“The jig is up, you turncoat. You know Agents Rack and Ruin from the agency. Right? You keeping tabs on me for them? You Quisling! You Benedict Arnold!” I almost was on the verge of losing my cool.
“It was nothing. They approached me years ago as I kept being mentioned in your reports. They asked me for some information. One thing leads to another…” Toivo was ready for an Ankylosaur tail club swat to the bean.
“Oh, put your fucking hands down, you asshole.” I smiled and chuckled.
“You’re not mad?” Toivo slurred badly. I had the bartender make him another special drink.
“No, Toivo. Not mad. Just disappointed.” I said, smiling like a Komodo Dragon just finishing up a fortnight-old wildebeest.
Toivo sat there and puzzled and puzzled until his puzzler was sore.
“You’re not going to kill me or anything rude like that?” Toivo asked, half-assedly trying to inject humor into the proceedings.
“Nah. The paperwork’s too ridiculous for me to do another liberation. But, Jesus Fucking Christwagons, Toivo; you could have mentioned it to me. Fuck, I thought we were friends to the end?” I said, dejectedly.
I was really getting through to Toivo. I could tell he was loaded; feeling like shit and massively deplorable.
Great fieldcraft, indeed.
I told him things “are what they are” and that I won’t blow his cover nor his honorarium.
He began to feel better. I often wonder if he was serious about the sanctioning thing.
Then I delivered the strategic missile strike.
“Just remember, Toivo. I wrote your dossier for the Company…”
He swivels to look at me.
“And one for the KGB. Olga says ‘howdy’.” I grin evilly.
Toivo short-circuited at that. Russia is his company’s bread and butter. Now he has the KGB as well as his best buddy looking over his shoulder at every move.
I bought him a few more drinks and continued to needle him about his ’leading a double life’. He was well and truly fuckered when the electric tap-tap driver from before came looking for me to whisk me back to the plane.
Seems it was simply some knocked-out wires on the plane, or slammed bulbs that were generating a false positive, indicating something other than the system that alerts one to something haywire went haywire.
Toivo was pretty much down for the count. I got him sober enough to hand them his ticket and ensure that he was really supposed to be on this flight. Thing was; h e was in Economy, and I was, as always, in Business.
I spoke to Luna, and the plane was going to be even less crowded than previously because some folks could or wouldn’t wait, or didn’t want to go on with the rest of the trip on a ‘damaged’ aircraft, or were just stupid and superstitious.
“Luna, could I pay for the difference between Business and Economy for my less than 100% conscious friend here? He’s had a rough day.” I asked.
“Dr. Rock. Just put him into Business. No one will be the wiser. Luna says so.” As she gave us a grand smile.
“Luna, I owe you. Thanks so much.” I said.
“Now get on board. Your friend looks like he needs all the downtime he can get.”
“Yes, ma’am!” I said and saluted here be best I could which dragging a schnozzled Toivo down the jetway.
I dumped Toivo in a window seat well away from my seat. I know Toivo. He snores like a semi-load of live hogs rocketing downhill locking up the brakes at 88 MPH.
Surprise! There was no one else in Business. Luna looked at me, at Toivo, and gave me a thumbs up.
Whatever I can write to further her career at JAL, she’ll have it before I deplane.
We finally get everyone settled, and with Captain Kangaroo at the helm, we bounced gracelessly off the tarmac, into the warm, tropical Hawaiian air, finally headed for the Land of the Rising Sun.
Toivo was snoring like a chainsaw hitting rusty nails as I worked on the various letters, communiques, and dossiers which needed updating before we reached touchdown. I gave Luna a thick letter with instructions not to open it until we were on the ground and Toivo and I were well off and away into the terminal.
We left Hawaii at 1300 hours, so we should arrive at Tokyo Nareda around 4:00 pm, the previous day. I was so bereft of time and time zones, I couldn’t figure out what time it really was, as judged by my biometric rhythms, so I asked Luna for a stiff drink as I was kicking off my boots and going to attempt to get some kip.
She brought me another liter or so eponymous drink. I was sawing logs by the time I slurped the last swig of that nifty drink.
Suddenly, or later, I have no idea really, some loudmouth drunk asshole from way-the-fuck-back in economy-land toward the ass end of the plane staggered into Business demanding free drinks.
Luna was nothing but civil, and asked him to both shut up and return to his seat. His air cabin hostess, or whatever the fuck they’re calling them these days, will attend to his needs.
“Naw they won’t! They want me to pay for more drinks! I’m broke but I demand more booze! You fucking owe me.” railed the asshole. “I sat at the bar in Hawaii for four hours. Them fuckers charged me an arm and a leg!”
“No, they don’t owe you shit”, I said in a voice that unmistakably loud and clear.
“Fuck you, old man! You stay the fuck out of this!” he bellowed. “Shut up or I’ll do ya’!”
“’Old man’? ‘Do me’? Excuse me. Luna, may I have a word alone with this individual?” I asked sweetly.
Luna shook her head in the affirmative, and I stood up to confront this flagrant asshole.
“Now look, Scooter. You have gone way, way over the fucking line. You are loud. You are abusive. You are obnoxious. And you stink. Plus you insulted a person who is just barely containing his righteous wrath right now. So, I’m giving you one and one only chance to shut up, sit back down before your body spontaneously develops all sort of bruises, contusions, broken bones, and unconsciousness.” I said calmly, evenly, and threateningly.
“What da’ fuck you think you’re going to do…old man?” he screeched, trying to inflate himself into full mammalian threat posture, all 5’ 9” of it.
He didn’t notice Toivo walking up quietly behind him, as Toivo was returning from the head, quiet as a moose.
“Well, Scooter, I am an Air Marshall. Duly appointed, fully trained, and properly pissed off. Right now, I can arrest you, physically detain you, turn this flight around and take you to the Hawaiian police, at your cost for the inconvenience of the entire flight. Or I could arrest you, physically detain you, and turn you over to the Japanese authorities when we land. It’s really your choice. Choose wisely.”
To be continued…⇝

Your 14-minute Tuesday report in 3589 words.

Pashinyan about pre-war negotiations and "avoiding" the war:

The idea that a flexible foreign policy could have avoided this war is being constantly circulated. Those [former officials] who believe in this thesis must answer at least one question: as a result of their "flexible" policy, why was it not possible to avoid the war of 2016, which was preceded by the unprecedented escalation of 2015 and 2014?
The "flexible" policy adopted by Armenia for many years led to the introduction of Russian proposals in January 2016, which proposed the return of 7 territories (5 + 2) without any legal status for Nagorno-Karabakh.
Why did Russia make such an offer? For one simple reason, as a result of Armenia's "flexible" policy, the Madrid process had come to a standstill because Artsakh could receive a Status outside Azerbaijan only with the consent of Azerbaijan.
It was obvious to Russia and everyone else that Azerbaijan would not agree to this, so it was necessary to find ways to break the deadlock.
And, by the way, if certain people claim that Armenia's foreign policy after 2018 was not sufficiently pro-Russian and this was the reason for the war, then why in the conditions of the "sufficiently pro-Russian" policy of 2016 were Russian proposals born and why did the April war take place?
There was only one way to prevent this war: return the regions and forget about Artsakh's legal status. Now, after the war is over and we know the outcome, the number of supporters of [giveaway of 7 regions] is growing. What they forget is that if we gave away the lands to avoid the war, we would have the same situation in Syunik borders. They used to accuse us of "selling lands" [he means the contradictory statements like Nikol sold the lands, and why didn't Nikol sell the lands earlier to avoid the war].
The biggest failure by the supporters of the "flexible policies" is that they spent years trying to avoid a war instead of preparing for it. Our biggest failure is that we weren't able to recover enough embezzled public property in the past 2.5 years to help us better prepare for the war.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039231.html

businesses owned by opposition leaders

What are the known businesses owned by some of the famous people you might have seen in the public square lately?

Vazgen Manukyan

20% share in Lorva Amrots Ltd which plans to operate two hydro-power plants on Dzoraget river. Manukyan purchased the shares in 2011 after being appointed by Serj as the head of the Public Council.
In 2015-2016, he owned 30% shares in Vanavka Group. In 2015-2017 he had 30% shares in Jermakunq Group. These companies extracted and bottled water. At the time, the director of these companies was charged with illegal bottling and causing ֏55 million in damages to the state. The corruption case was sent to the IRS, which terminated the investigation after "not finding a crime". The companies export the products mostly to Russia.
 

Arthur Vanetsyan

Vanetsyan is a poor boy, according to the public declarations database. But if you have time, take a look at the investigative report I covered in Ap29/2020 news, according to which Vanetsyan's family allegedly used offshore firms and owns mining shares. More on that here. Here is a Hetq investigative report.
Vanetsyan's father owns AV Group flower importing business. About a year ago, the police investigated several flower sellers near a stadium. An opposition outlet claimed that the sellers were "beaten and forced" to testify that Vanetsyan's father was running an underground business. This was never properly proven and the opposition's claim that Vanetsyan was about to be charged did not happen. The police confirmed that there was an investigation against several flower sellers. These flower sellers ended up hiring Vanetsyan's co-party-creator Arsen Babayan as a lawyer.
Vanetsyan's father owns 50% shares of A B Export oil import company that began operating in 2017. It was a minor player that quit the market in 2019. Vanetsyan's father also owns 60% of A B Trans transportation company.
In Nov/2019, CivilNet wrote about Arthur Vanetsyan's cousins' possible involvement with Zangezur Copper factory (massive business). The same offshore firm in Cyprus, which purchased Zangezur shares, was tied to Vanetsyan's cousins' another business in the same offshore.
Vanetsyan's cousins also own a Switzerland-based Exoil wholesale cooking oil and shipping company. In 2019 it had a revenue of $148 million (11 billion Rubles). The cousins don't do this business in Armenia.
Per 2019 registration, Arthur Vanetsyan himself owns one apartment, $10,000, and ֏1 million.
Media reported in May/2020 that Vanetsyan's cousin purchased a ֏300 million mansion in Yerevan, which was donated to then-new political party "Hayreniq", co-founded by Arthur Vanetsyan and Arsen Babayan (the guy who is accused of helping HHK to fabricate documents in 2018 to hijack the Constitutional Court by appointing HHK MP Hrayr Tovmasyan as a judge).
Arthur Vanetsyan's mother served as the chief of the personnel-management department in Serj and Pashinyan administrations, before quitting and working as Serj's aide.
Vanetsyan's wife owns Villa Montessori preschool in Yerevan. She also runs the Young Education Center Ltd.
 

ARF Ishkhan Saghatelyan

Pashinyan appointed Saghatelyan as Gegharquniq governor for a brief period after the 2018 revolution, when Pashinyan created a unity-government, represented by all political parties. The honeymoon soon ended and each party went their way.
Saghatelyan owns shares in i-mega Service Ltd. It's a tourism agency founded in 2006. It operates in Armenia, Artsakh, and Georgia.
Saghatelyan founded Navasar company and serves as director. It's owned by his father.
Saghatelyan family owns the Tsovasar hotel complex on Lake Sevan shores. It's 10,000 m² (a hectare?).
As of 2018, Saghatelyan declared ownership of 8 pieces of land, 2 apartments, ֏18.5 million, $45,000, and €15,000.
Saghatelyan's father is the mayor of Gegharquniq's Geghamavan settlement. This municipality had recently sent a letter demanding Pashinyan's resignation.
Saghatelyan used to be a shareholder of Shiman Ltd which is no longer active.
 

BHK leader Gagik "dodi gago" Tsarukyan

BUCKLE UP, KIDS! Overall, Tsarukyan runs 54 companies. Студент, комсомолец, спортсмен, u наконец, он просто красавиц.
His business empire was covered in details here. Textile, gas stations, malls, Multi Group empire, Shangri-La Casino, Ararat Cognac & Wine Factory, BMW official office Euromotors (also Hyundai, Gazel, Niva), Multi Motors, Magas Invest, Multi Wellness, Olimpavan sports complex, Kotayk beer factory, TechnAlyumin door & window factory, Multi Rest House hotel chain, Paravon luxury restaurant, Onira Club, Zvartnot's airport's upper-level service company Avia Service, Farm Adama, Multi Pharm pharmacy, Multi Leon gas stations, Multi Solar solar panels.
He owns shares in Frank Mueller Yerevan watch company, Fortsa, Multi Gold, Multi Diamond jewelry firms, several fish-breeding businesses.
He also runs businesses in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Czechia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia.
Per official declaration, he owns $168 million, €29 million, ֏675 million, 14 pieces of land, 6 houses, 2 public buildings, 1 apartment.
 
Details for BHK MP Mikael Melkumyan and HHK Vahram Baghdasaryan in the link below.
 
https://fip.am/14388
https://hetq.am/hy/article/88755
https://www.reddit.com/armenia/comments/gagkyp/apr292020_wednesday_news_armenia_being_sued_fo?
www.civilnet.am/news/2019/11/01/Զանգեզուրի-պղնձամոլիբդենային-Մաքսիմ-Հակոբյանի-ու-նրա-որդու-փոխարեն-նոր-բաժնետերեր-Ժնևից-և-Աջափնյակից/369792
www.1lurer.am/hy/2020/01/29/Բենզինի-շուկա-Արթուր-Վանեցյանի-հայրը-դուրս-է-եկել-ոլորտից-Միքայել-Մինասյանի-մերձավորը՝-խոշորների-մա/182670

opposition continues the demonstrations

The street demonstrations, organized by the former regime and its allies, continue. They demand Pashinyan's resignation and the appointment of their candidate Vazgen Manukyan as the Prime Minister for the duration of a year, after which they agree to hold new elections.
ARF leader Artsvik Minasyan said they don't plan to discuss snap elections with Pashinyan. "Right now, our only demand is Pashinyan's resignation. We demand SIS to immediately hold every criminal accountable". The demonstrators gathered in front of the SIS building to present the demands.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039316.html

Pashinyan meets leaders of several opposition parties

QP leader Lilith: there is a possibility there will be a meeting between Pashinyan and the three Parliamentary political parties. They could discuss snap elections. The impression is that politicians who demand Pashinyan's resignation do not want snap elections in an attempt to bypass the citizen's right to form a government. Our political team reaffirms the position that none of us is clinging on seats. //
LHK MP Gorgisyan: we cannot hold snap elections now, under this chaotic situation. We will discuss snap elections if Pashinyan discusses his resignation and transfer of power. (LHK wants its leader Marukyan to be elected as Prime Minister by a Parliamentary vote) //
Pashinyan met BHK leader Tsarukyan. The latter is against holding snap elections unless Pashinyan resigns now, and presumably, he wants Vazgen Manukyan appointed as PM.
LHK leader Marukyan also wants Pashinyan to resign now so a new Prime Minister can form a new government cabinet "consisted of experts".
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039261.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039268.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039299.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039322.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039323.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039327.html

felony case: ex-HHK MP charged with armed attack on ex-IRS official

In August of this year, Russia extradited a former HHK MP Alraghatsi Lyovik to Armenia. He was wanted for allegedly burglarizing and shooting at a senior IRS official a decade ago. At the time, his case was "frozen". It was relaunched in 2018. (magic wand)
NSS says: suspect Lyovik, with the help of citizens AK and AN, organized an armed burglary against IRS Chief (?) Avetisyan in 2008.
AK was in the United States. In 2004, he stole $150,000 from jewelry shops in Los Angeles. He got caught but managed to flee to Armenia.
Once in Armenia, AK colluded with policeman AN to organize a similar criminal ring in Armenia.
[MP] Lyovik personally knew AK, and learned about their burglaries. Since Lyovik had bad relations with the IRS chief (victim), he decided to punish the victim by urging AK to burglarize his house. Lyovik revealed the plot to his brother-in-law, who happened to be the victim's personal aide. The latter gave all the personal habits and details about the victim to the burglars.
[read the article for the full story, or wait for a Hollywood movie in theaters near you]
The burglars and organizers are charged with felonies.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/203835 , https://youtu.be/brdozVbwQ6A , https://factor.am/274836.html , https://armtimes.com/hy/article/183522 , https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/203835 ,

Russian Orthodox chapel will be built

... in the Armenian settlement near Nakhijevan where Azerbaijan had earlier shut down a Russian helicopter, which killed and wounded Russian pilots. It'll be on a hill in Yeraskh. Construction starts on January 6th.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039259.html

Russian peacekeepers conducted training

... to stay in shape. A report by WarGonzo's Semyon Pegovn who returned to Artsakh to meet the New Year there.
https://youtu.be/-c1BSTkC-a8

Russia and Turkey comment

Russian MFA: The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh should not be used for the infiltration of foreign mercenaries into the region. Here we have exactly the same position as our Turkish partners.
Turkish MFA: we see that a ceasefire has been established. We hope to establish the joint RU-TR monitoring center soon.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039281.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039282.html

Vitalik Balasanyan will return the lands, kicks junkies, and restrict Facebook

Artsakh President Arayik earlier announced that he will allow his opponents to take jobs in the new coalition government. Kocharyan-ally Vitali Balasanyan became the Security Council chief.
Vitalik: we will return Hadrut and Askeran region with the help of Russian and Armenian military-political efforts. We are in a better situation now to solve territorial issues.
We will soon create border guard forces. It will report to MoD, which will report to the Security Council (his office).
Drugs have no place in Artsakh. Drug users must quit or leave Artsakh now.
We need to return to traditional values of giving women as wives after asking if the man had served in the army.
No public official will be allowed to use Facebook during work.
More: https://youtu.be/DceHyi4AB5g
https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/289056/

search operations are paused / the "welcome to Azerbaijan" sign

Azerbaijan received criticism for refusing to allow search teams to enter the Hadrut region yesterday. They also prevented UNESCO from checking the status of several Armenian cultural sights, after complaining that UNESCO was "biased" against Azerbaijan during the war.
HR Ombudsman: Any untrue information can not be a reason to disrupt the humanitarian process [referring to unconfirmed rumors on social media that Armenians opened fire at Azeris in Hadrut. An unofficial Iranian social media channel claims 3 Azeris were killed but due to an internal fight.]
The Human Rights Ombudsman also criticized the Azeri troops for installing a provocative "welcome to Azerbaijan" sign on part of a road that went under Azeri control near Syunik borders. The Ombudsman says it's meant to intimidate the locals.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039233.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039237.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039244.html , https://factor.am/325511.html

Parliament votes: BHK MP Naira Zohrabyan's chairmanship

Context: BHK MP Naira Zohrabyan referred to the majority of Armenian voters as human trash *(or as she says: impure), and called for the establishment of forced re-education camps so people won't vote for a "wrong party" again. The ruling QP party launched a process to terminate her chairmanship in Parliamentary Human Rights Committee. Read yesterday's thread for more details.*
QP MP Arthur: the law states that the Parliament can appoint and terminate the chairman. The termination of this seat does not require the same procedures as in the case of MPs and Judges. Armenian Constitution states that in Armenia, human beings are of the highest value, and inalienable human dignity is the inseparable basis of their rights and freedoms. MP Zohrabyan's public conduct is against it. //
The law gives the second-largest political party the mandate to appoint the chairman of this particular Committee. BHK, being the second-largest party, said they wouldn't appoint a replacement if Zohrabyan is voted out.
QP MP Arthur: per rules, if BHK refuses to appoint a new candidate, the largest (QP) party will receive the mandate. //
Parliament voted 78-4 to terminate Zohrabyan's chairmanship. BHK and LHK did not vote.
BHK MP Zohrabyan: this termination was a Constitutional crime.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039245.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039264.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039304.html , https://factor.am/325132.html

Parliament votes: registering parties becomes easier / ideology instead of person / financial transparency

The goal of this reform is to have political parties that are more about ideology and less about an individual. The reform will boost internal democracy within parties; it will expand the powers of the Party Assembly.
Parties will be required to add more anonymous voting mechanisms.
The law also requires more financial transparency.
The required membership to register a party is lowered from 800 to 300.
Some of the public funding given to political parties will depend on the % of female members in the administrative boards.
Parliament voted 99-1 to approve it.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039270.html , https://youtu.be/bPuZViCCCxo

Parliament votes: monthly fees towards soldiers' recovery are raised

Most workers pay a monthly 1000 Dram towards the Soldiers' Fund, which takes care of wounded soldiers and families of those who died. The govt found it necessary to raise the fee to cover thousands of new recipients. Here are the new fees and salary brackets:
֏1,500 for < ֏100k/month
֏3,000 for < ֏200k
֏5,500 for < ֏500k
֏8,500 for < ֏1 million
֏15,000 for > ֏1 million
Parliament voted 89-0 to approve it.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039296.html

Parliament votes: ban on public smoking is delayed until 2022

The govt had adopted a law to ban smoking in public cafes and the public display of cigarettes in grocery shops. The ruling party wanted to delay parts of the bill that were set to go into effect in January, citing possible financial issues for businesses caused by the pandemic.
QP MP: the cigarette industry pays $383 million to state coffers.
Healthcare Ministry: it will be a mistake if you delay this bill for the sake of $10 million in tax revenues.
Parliament voted 86-0 to delay the anti-smoking bill until 2022.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039295.html

Parliament votes: no tax on goods donated to Armenia

QP MP: When you donate a charitable product to the Republic of Armenia, you are exempt from customs duties and other tax payments, except for one payment, which we are trying to exempt with this bill as well. //
Parliament voted 80-0 to approve it.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039297.html

how is the Judicial Branch doing?

The Supreme Court protects or punishes judges. It also handles complaints. It's separate from the Constitutional Court.
bad boys
19 complaints against judges were heard, 14 of which were petitioned by Justice Ministry and 4 by Judicial Ethics Board. 10 judges ended up receiving disciplinary penalties, 3 received a warning, 3 were reprimanded, 2 were terminated, 4 were cleared.
the system is overloaded
61 judges are handling 6470 felony cases.
86 judges handle 175,940 civil cases.
24 judges handle 17,390 administrative cases.
The number of Arbitration cases rose from 3100 to 9900.
finances
This year, Supremes appointed 20 new judges. Supreme's budget remained the same this year. They returned ֏607 million in savings back to state coffers.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039249.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039284.html

anti-corruption: SIS busts an IRS agent

SIS says: IRS border inspector took a bribe from a citizen to help him avoid paying Millions of ֏ in import taxes by splitting a large load into smaller pieces, so each piece would fall below the taxable threshold.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039293.html

IRS wants you to file less paperwork

IRS says the latest reforms will help the exporters and simplify the process in which Armenia is used as a transit country for trade. Some tasks can be done online.
More: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039247.html

update: electricity prices

...won't go up for low-income families or those using less than 400 kWh. That's 90% of consumers. The rest will pay 3 Drams more. The rates are presented (6-10¢):
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039285.html

police to guard Lake Sevan against poachers

Police and Nature Ministry have set up additional checkpoints as part of measures against whitefish poaching in Sevan. 24/7 monitoring on all alleys leading to the lake. They will also travel across markets to catch contraband whitefish.
Why? It's the egg-laying season. Fishing is banned for now. The legally-allowed fishing tools were temporarily removed from the lake.
https://youtu.be/8ZyRGpEazMQ
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039339.html

rare Caucasus Leopard is spotted by cameras again

https://youtu.be/2nidC5QJaIg

"only 10% of villagers should do agriculture"

...the rest should have access to other jobs. There is an opportunity now because many businesses operate remotely. Call Center workers don't have to visit an office. Businesses would rather pay less to hire a rural remote worker than more to hire someone in a Yerevan office.
The High Tech Ministry has an ongoing program to teach IT to 5,000 citizens. We must help workers to expand their skillset. We're working on a program to allow a worker to quit the job, not worry about the food on the table, and have enough time for education and learning new skills.
The villagers should ideally lease their smaller lands to large agricultural producers," said Economy Minister Qerobyan.
Full interview: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039319.html

State regulators bust another price-fixing ring: fruit mafia

Yesterday, the Economic Competition Committee busted the egg industry's alleged price-fixing and anti-competitive practices. Today they say a similar collision was observed in the orange, mandarin, kiwi, lemon industry.
The companies Best Fruits, Art-Fruits, and Promout were slapped with a ֏39 million in penalties for colluding to raise the prices for the products that had an increased demand during the pandemic period.
http://www.competition.am/.../resources/Vo370_17_12_2020.pdf
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039269.html

Lenovo slapped for "anti-competitive practice"

The Economic Competition Committee heard a petition filed by Oazis Computer company against Lenovo. The latter was issued a warning for anti-competitive behavior.
Public Regulator: "Lenovo" company had the ability to influence the process of importing Lenovo computers to Armenia from non-EAEU trade bloc countries. "Lenovo" took steps to reduce the import of Lenovo computers from non-EAEU states, by discriminating against Oazis Computer importer. Lenovo is given a month to correct the issue and fix the requirement and standards related paperwork.
(Facebook next?)
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039333.html

Artsakh will also increase childbirth benefits

First child: ֏300k instead of ֏100k
Second child: ֏300k instead of ֏200k
(or ֏500k if one parent is disabled)
As for monthly child care subsidy payments, it goes from ֏15k to ֏27k until the child turns 2.
https://factor.am/325487.html

year wrap-up: births in capital Yerevan

girls 2019: 10173
girls 2020: 10489
boys 2019: 11251
boys 2020: 11430
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039278.html

year wrap-up: tax revenues

2018: ֏1.257 trillion
2019: ֏1.458 trillion
2020: ֏1.379 trillion
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/203846

COVID stats

+2483 tested. +348 infected. +22 deaths. +1267 healed. 13881 active.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039240.html

chess news

Levon Aronyan has advanced to the Airthings Masters quarter-finals where he will play against Hikaru Nakamura. He is 1pt behind the leaders. The winner receives a $60,000 prize.
https://www.chess.com/news/view/airthings-masters-chess-day-4
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039228.html

French city of Valence to name a street

... after Artsakh capital Stenapakert. It already had Ijevan Park, Armenia Street, and Yerevan Street. Stepanakert Street will be located in a newly built district. There will be Toros Street as well.
https://youtu.be/EuQV5bt4Ytc
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/203833

Italian city of di Lovere has officially recognized the Artsakh Republic

https://www.facebook.com/HayastaniDespanutyun/posts/3499573803472410
https://factor.am/325379.html

Kapan Medical Center has a new CT scanner

... thanks to generous diasporan donors like you. The first one was installed during the war in Goris city.
https://factor.am/325090.html

Artsakh children receive New Years' gifts

Focus on Children Now charity organization distributed gifts to hundreds of Artsakh kids residing in Gegharquniq province. Backpacks, clothing, items of basic necessity, money, and postcards written by kids living in the United States.
https://www.focusonchildrennow.org/
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039302.html

Himnadram donates to refugee families

700 Artsakh families continue to live in 40 settlements of Gegharquniq province. The All Armenia Fund (HimnaDram.org) has provided food and household items to 241 families ahead of New Year.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1039313.html

daily life in Syunik bordering villages Shurnukh and Vorotan

https://youtu.be/E1UJd4NtLLs
https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/12/29/Շուռնուխ-Որոտան․-կյանքը-անկոչ-հարևանների-հետ/414772

donations for Artsakh & recovering soldiers

www.1000plus.am (recovering soldiers & their families)
www.HimnaDram.org (for Artsakh & Armenia)
www.ArmeniaFund.org (U.S. tax-deductible)

archive of older posts

Armeniapedia's archive of my daily news threads:
http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Daily_Anti-Corruption_Reports

disclaimer

All the accused are considered innocent unless proven guilty in the court of law, even if they "sound" guilty.

In 2015, I created a list titled, “Top10ner’s 1001 'Greatest' Movies of All Time” and many of you seemed to enjoy it and still use it today so I thought it was about time that I updated it..
The original 2015 thread can be found here as well as the initial update for those curious about the algorithm.
Basically I started off by gathering ratings from IMDB (UseCritic Average), Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer, Critic Average) & (Audience Score, User Average), Metacritic (Critic Average, User Average) and Letterboxd (User Average). Each site’s average rating was then weighted so that no site’s ratings were favoured above the rest. The next step was to make sure that each film was treated equally. Rather than eliminating films that had little votes, I opted to alter these films score by carefully deducting points depending on how many people have seen it, and therefore voted on it.
I then finally put the list through a final adjustment, where I applied aspects such as critical reception (# of official lists movie is in), audience reception and overall likability/popularity. These figures were determined using sources such as iCheckmovies, Letterboxd and TSPDT?.
I've created the following lists for both Letterboxd and iCheckMovies, as well as a Google spreadsheet where you can check out the full list and search for particular films easier.
Letterboxd - 2020 Edition: Top10ner’s 1001 ‘Greatest’ Movies of All Time
IMDb - 2020 Edition: Top10ner’s 1001 ‘Greatest’ Movies of All Time
iCheckMovies - 2020 Edition: Top10ner’s 1001 ‘Greatest’ Movies of All Time
Google Spreadsheet - 2020 Edition: Top10ner’s 1001 ‘Greatest’ Movies of All Time
ANYWAY, here is the 1001 ‘Greatest’ Movies of All Time. Enjoy! (NOTE: Could only include the first 750 movies due character limit)

RANK	TITLE	YEAR	DIRECTOR
1	The Godfather	1972	Francis Ford Coppola
2	The Godfather: Part II	1974	Francis Ford Coppola
3	Seven Samurai	1954	Akira Kurosawa
4	Pulp Fiction	1994	Quentin Tarantino
5	12 Angry Men	1957	Sidney Lumet
6	Spirited Away	2001	Hayao Miyazaki
7	Schindler's List	1993	Steven Spielberg
8	Casablanca	1942	Michael Curtiz
9	Psycho	1960	Alfred Hitchcock
10	Goodfellas	1990	Martin Scorsese
11	Lawrence of Arabia	1962	David Lean
12	The Good, the Bad and the Ugly	1966	Sergio Leone
13	Singin' in the Rain	1952	Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly
14	City Lights	1931	Charlie Chaplin
15	Sunset Boulevard	1950	Billy Wilder
16	Apocalypse Now	1979	Francis Ford Coppola
17	The Shawshank Redemption	1994	Frank Darabont
18	Rear Window	1954	Alfred Hitchcock
19	Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back	1980	Irvin Kershner
20	2001: A Space Odyssey	1968	Stanley Kubrick
21	Citizen Kane	1941	Orson Welles
22	M	1931	Fritz Lang
23	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	1975	Miloš Forman
24	Vertigo	1958	Alfred Hitchcock
25	The Dark Knight	2008	Christopher Nolan
26	The Silence of the Lambs	1991	Jonathan Demme
27	Modern Times	1936	Charles Chaplin
28	Star Wars - A New Hope	1977	George Lucas
29	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb	1964	Stanley Kubrick
30	Come and See	1985	Elem Klimov
31	Bicycle Thieves	1948	Vittorio De Sica
32	Tokyo Story	1953	Yasujirō Ozu
33	It's a Wonderful Life	1946	Frank Capra
34	Rashomon	1950	Akira Kurosawa
35	Once Upon a Time in the West	1968	Sergio Leone
36	Taxi Driver	1976	Martin Scorsese
37	Ikiru	1952	Akira Kurosawa
38	Metropolis	1927	Fritz Lang
39	The Passion of Joan of Arc	1928	Carl Theodor Dreyer
40	Alien	1979	Ridley Scott
41	The Third Man	1949	Carol Reed
42	All About Eve	1950	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
43	Fanny and Alexander	1982	Ingmar Bergman
44	Chinatown	1974	Roman Polanski
45	City of God	2002	Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund
46	Double Indemnity	1944	Billy Wilder
47	Paths of Glory	1957	Stanley Kubrick
48	Raiders of the Lost Ark	1981	Steven Spielberg
49	Andrei Rublev	1966	Andrei Tarkovsky
50	The Apartment	1960	Billy Wilder
51	Harakiri	1962	Masaki Kobayashi
52	Parasite	2019	Bong Joon-ho
53	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	2001	Peter Jackson
54	The 400 Blows	1959	François Truffaut
55	Stalker	1979	Andrei Tarkovsky
56	Some Like It Hot	1959	Billy Wilder
57	Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans	1927	F.W. Murnau
58	Pan's Labyrinth	2006	Guillermo del Toro
59	Ran	1985	Akira Kurosawa
60	Sherlock, Jr.	1924	Buster Keaton
61	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	2003	Peter Jackson
62	The Night of the Hunter	1955	Charles Laughton
63	A Separation	2011	Asghar Farhadi
64	Grave of the Fireflies	1988	Isao Takahata
65	North by Northwest	1959	Alfred Hitchcock
66	Persona	1966	Ingmar Bergman
67	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	2004	Michel Gondry
68	Back to the Future	1985	Robert Zemeckis
69	The Battle of Algiers	1966	Gillo Pontecorvo
70	Toy Story	1995	John Lasseter
71	Raging Bull	1980	Martin Scorsese
72	8½ (Eight and a Half)	1963	Federico Fellini
73	Saving Private Ryan	1998	Steven Spielberg
74	On the Waterfront	1954	Elia Kazan
75	The Shining	1980	Stanley Kubrick
76	Three Colors: Red	1994	Krzysztof Kieślowski
77	The Great Dictator	1940	Charles Chaplin
78	The Wizard of Oz	1939	Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Mervyn…
79	The Wages of Fear	1953	Henri-Georges Clouzot
80	In the Mood for Love	2000	Wong Kar-wai
81	Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse	2018	Rodney Rothman, Peter Ramsey…
82	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre	1948	John Huston
83	The Seventh Seal	1957	Ingmar Bergman
84	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	2002	Peter Jackson
85	The Red Shoes	1948	Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
86	The General	1926	Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton
87	The Gold Rush	1925	Charles Chaplin
88	Touch of Evil	1958	Orson Welles
89	WALL-E	2008	Andrew Stanton
90	Aliens	1986	James Cameron
91	Wild Strawberries	1957	Ingmar Bergman
92	Paris Texas	1984	Wim Wenders
93	A Clockwork Orange	1971	Stanley Kubrick
94	La Grande Illusion	1937	Jean Renoir
95	There Will Be Blood	2007	Paul Thomas Anderson
96	Amadeus	1984	Miloš Forman
97	Annie Hall	1977	Woody Allen
98	Whiplash	2014	Damien Chazelle
99	Pather Panchali	1955	Satyajit Ray
100	Cinema Paradiso	1988	Giuseppe Tornatore
101	It Happened One Night	1934	Frank Capra
102	The Bridge on the River Kwai	1957	David Lean
103	The Lives of Others	2006	Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
104	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	1991	James Cameron
105	Blade Runner	1982	Ridley Scott
106	Yojimbo	1961	Akira Kurosawa
107	Ugetsu	1953	Kenji Mizoguchi
108	Reservoir Dogs	1992	Quentin Tarantino
109	Memento	2000	Christopher Nolan
110	Princess Mononoke	1997	Hayao Miyazaki
111	Mad Max: Fury Road	2015	George Miller
112	The Pianist	2002	Roman Polanski
113	Wings of Desire	1987	Wim Wenders
114	The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari	1920	Robert Wiene
115	The Best Years of Our Lives	1946	William Wyler
116	Inception	2010	Christopher Nolan
117	Monty Python and the Holy Grail	1975	Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones
118	Fargo	1996	Joel & Ethan Coen
119	La Dolce Vita	1960	Federico Fellini
120	Oldboy	2003	Chan-wook Park
121	Nights of Cabiria	1957	Federico Fellini
122	Toy Story 3	2010	Lee Unkrich
123	Children of Paradise	1945	Marcel Carné
124	Gone with the Wind	1939	Victor Fleming,George Cukor...
125	Jaws	1975	Steven Spielberg
126	Das Boot	1981	Wolfgang Petersen
127	High and Low	1963	Akira Kurosawa
128	The Mirror	1975	Andrei Tarkovsky
129	L.A. Confidential	1997	Curtis Hanson
130	Unforgiven	1992	Clint Eastwood
131	Amelie	2001	Jean-Pierre Jeunet
132	My Neighbor Totoro	1988	Hayao Miyazaki
133	Barry Lyndon	1975	Stanley Kubrick
134	Le Samouraï	1967	Jean-Pierre Melville
135	Ordet	1955	Carl Theodor Dreyer
136	To Be or Not to Be	1942	Ernst Lubitsch
137	No Country for Old Men	2007	Joel & Ethan Coen
138	Solaris	1972	Andrei Tarkovsky
139	Coco	2017	Lee Unkrich
140	Your Name.	2016	Makoto Shinkai
141	Fight Club	1999	David Fincher
142	The Maltese Falcon	1941	John Huston
143	The Kid	1921	Charles Chaplin
144	Woman in the Dunes	1964	Hiroshi Teshigahara
145	Se7en	1995	David Fincher
146	Do the Right Thing	1989	Spike Lee
147	The Rules of the Game	1939	Jean Renoir
148	Aguirre: The Wrath of God	1972	Werner Herzog
149	The Grapes of Wrath	1940	John Ford
150	La Haine	1995	Mathieu Kassovitz
151	Once Upon a Time in America	1984	Sergio Leone
152	Throne of Blood	1957	Akira Kurosawa
153	Notorious	1946	Alfred Hitchcock
154	Badlands	1973	Terrence Malick
155	A Man Escaped	1956	Robert Bresson
156	Cool Hand Luke	1967	Stuart Rosenberg
157	Rosemary's Baby	1968	Roman Polanski
158	Before Sunrise	1995	Richard Linklater
159	The Lion King	1994	Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff
160	Before Sunset	2004	Richard Linklater
161	Rebecca	1940	Alfred Hitchcock
162	La strada	1954	Federico Fellini
163	Duck Soup	1933	Leo McCarey
164	The Deer Hunter	1978	Michael Cimino
165	Sansho the Bailiff	1954	Kenji Mizoguchi
166	The Philadelphia Story	1940	George Cukor
167	The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance	1962	John Ford
168	Die Hard	1988	John McTiernan
169	Brazil	1985	Terry Gilliam
170	Sweet Smell of Success	1957	Alexander Mackendrick
171	The Departed	2006	Martin Scorsese
172	Three Colors: Blue	1993	Krzysztof Kieślowski
173	The Last Picture Show	1971	Peter Bogdanovich
174	Rome, Open City	1945	Roberto Rossellini
175	Up	2009	Pete Docter & Bob Peterson
176	The Princess Bride	1987	Rob Reiner
177	Breathless	1960	Jean-Luc Godard
178	Dog Day Afternoon	1975	Sidney Lumet
179	Kind Hearts and Coronets	1949	Robert Hamer
180	To Kill a Mockingbird	1962	Robert Mulligan
181	Chungking Express	1994	Wong Kar-wai
182	The Conversation	1974	Francis Ford Coppola
183	Rio Bravo	1959	Howard Hawks
184	Full Metal Jacket	1987	Stanley Kubrick
185	The Handmaiden	2016	Chan-wook Park
186	A Matter of Life and Death	1946	Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
187	A Woman Under the Influence	1974	John Cassavetes
188	All the President's Men	1976	Alan J. Pakula
189	Portrait of a Lady on Fire	2019	Céline Sciamma
190	The Matrix	1999	Lilly & Lana Wachowski
191	12 Years a Slave	2013	Steve McQueen
192	Brief Encounter	1945	David Lean
193	Shoplifters	2018	Hirokazu Kore-eda
194	American Beauty	1999	Sam Mendes
195	His Girl Friday	1940	Howard Hawks
196	The Usual Suspects	1995	Bryan Singer
197	The Graduate	1967	Mike Nichols
198	Jurassic Park	1993	Steven Spielberg
199	Memories of Murder	2003	Bong Joon-ho
200	King Kong	1933	Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack
201	Inside Out	2015	Pete Docter
202	Yi yi	2000	Edward Yang
203	Raise the Red Lantern	1991	Zhang Yimou
204	Rififi	1955	Jules Dassin
205	Blue Velvet	1986	David Lynch
206	Army of Shadows	1969	Jean-Pierre Melville
207	This Is Spinal Tap	1984	Rob Reiner
208	The Wild Bunch	1969	Sam Peckinpah
209	Witness for the Prosecution	1957	Billy Wilder
210	Battleship Potemkin	1925	Sergei M. Eisenstein
211	Strangers on a Train	1951	Alfred Hitchcock
212	The Searchers	1956	John Ford
213	The Big Lebowski	1998	Joel & Ethan Coen
214	Nosferatu	1922	F.W. Murnau
215	Network	1976	Sidney Lumet
216	The Hustler	1961	Robert Rossen
217	The Exterminating Angel	1962	Luis Buñuel
218	Days of Heaven	1978	Terrence Malick
219	Finding Nemo	2003	Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
220	Heat	1995	Michael Mann
221	The Great Escape	1963	John Sturges
222	A Streetcar Named Desire	1951	Elia Kazan
223	Diabolique	1955	Henri-Georges Clouzot
224	The Sting	1973	George Roy Hill
225	Night of the Living Dead	1968	George A. Romero
226	The Thing	1982	John Carpenter
227	Mulholland Drive	2001	David Lynch
228	The Conformist	1970	Bernardo Bertolucci
229	The Grand Budapest Hotel	2014	Wes Anderson
230	A Brighter Summer Day	1991	Edward Yang
231	Monty Python's Life of Brian	1979	Terry Jones
232	Umberto D.	1952	Vittorio De Sica
233	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	1966	Mike Nichols
234	Stagecoach	1939	John Ford
235	Beauty and the Beast	1991	Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise
236	The Big Sleep	1946	Howard Hawks
237	Inglourious Basterds	2009	Quentin Tarantino
238	Viridiana	1961	Luis Buñuel
239	Incendies	2010	Denis Villeneuve
240	The Terminator	1984	James Cameron
241	Bride of Frankenstein	1935	James Whale
242	Sullivan's Travels	1941	Preston Sturges
243	Playtime	1967	Jacques Tati
244	Ivan's Childhood	1962	Andrei Tarkovsky
245	Life Is Beautiful	1997	Roberto Benigni
246	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	1969	George Roy Hill
247	Manhattan	1979	Woody Allen
248	Trainspotting	1996	Danny Boyle
249	All Quiet on the Western Front	1930	Lewis Milestone
250	The Young and the Damned	1950	Luis Buñuel
251	The Elephant Man	1980	David Lynch
252	All About My Mother	1999	Pedro Almodóvar
253	Le Trou	1960	Jacques Becker
254	The Leopard	1963	Luchino Visconti
255	Laura	1944	Otto Preminger
256	Shadow of a Doubt	1943	Alfred Hitchcock
257	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	1939	Frank Capra
258	Hiroshima Mon Amour	1959	Alain Resnais
259	Bringing Up Baby	1938	Howard Hawks
260	Out of the Past	1947	Jacques Tourneur
261	Anatomy of a Murder	1959	Otto Preminger
262	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	2000	Ang Lee
263	L'avventura	1960	Michelangelo Antonioni
264	Beauty and the Beast	1946	Jean Cocteau
265	The Hunt	2012	Thomas Vinterberg
266	Forrest Gump	1994	Robert Zemeckis
267	Ace in the Hole	1951	Billy Wilder
268	Late Spring	1949	Yasujirō Ozu
269	The Celebration	1998	Thomas Vinterberg
270	Au Revoir Les Enfants	1987	Louis Malle
271	Spotlight	2015	Tom McCarthy
272	Roman Holiday	1953	William Wyler
273	Amour	2012	Michael Haneke
274	Ali: Fear Eats the Soul	1974	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
275	Paddington 2	2017	Paul King
276	The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp	1943	Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
277	The French Connection	1971	William Friedkin
278	The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie	1972	Luis Buñuel
279	High Noon	1952	Fred Zinnemann
280	Akira	1988	Katsuhiro Otomo
281	4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days	2007	Cristian Mungiu
282	Ben-Hur	1959	William Wyler
283	Let the Right One In	2008	Tomas Alfredson
284	Nashville	1975	Robert Altman
285	Room	2015	Lenny Abrahamson
286	The Adventures of Robin Hood	1938	Michael Curtiz & William Keighley
287	Jules and Jim	1962	François Truffaut
288	Good Will Hunting	1997	Gus Van Sant
289	Young Frankenstein	1974	Mel Brooks
290	White Heat	1949	Raoul Walsh
291	Short Term 12	2013	Destin Cretton
292	The Killing	1956	Stanley Kubrick
293	In a Lonely Place	1950	Nicholas Ray
294	Frankenstein	1931	James Whale
295	Secrets & Lies	1996	Mike Leigh
296	Django Unchained	2012	Quentin Tarantino
297	Call Me by Your Name	2017	Luca Guadagnino
298	Magnolia	1999	Paul Thomas Anderson
299	Being There	1979	Hal Ashby
300	The Manchurian Candidate	1962	John Frankenheimer
301	Paper Moon	1973	Peter Bogdanovich
302	The Shop Around the Corner	1940	Ernst Lubitsch
303	Halloween	1978	John Carpenter
304	The World of Apu	1959	Satyajit Ray
305	Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring	2003	Kim Ki-duk
306	L'Atalante	1934	Jean Vigo
307	The Iron Giant	1999	Brad Bird
308	The Exorcist	1973	William Friedkin
309	Amores Perros	2000	Alejandro González Iñárritu
310	Central Station	1998	Walter Salles
311	Bonnie and Clyde	1967	Arthur Penn
312	Persepolis	2007	Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi
313	The Best of Youth	2003	Marco Tullio Giordana
314	The Spirit of the Beehive	1973	Víctor Erice
315	Z	1969	Costa-Gavras
316	Underground	1995	Emir Kusturica
317	The Killer	1989	John Woo
318	Kes	1969	Ken Loach
319	Moonlight	2016	Barry Jenkins
320	Howl's Moving Castle	2004	Hayao Miyazaki
321	Her	2013	Spike Jonze
322	Requiem for a Dream	2000	Darren Aronofsky
323	The Truman Show	1998	Peter Weir
324	The Incredibles	2004	Brad Bird
325	Cries and Whispers	1972	Ingmar Bergman
326	Stand by Me	1986	Rob Reiner
327	Before Midnight	2013	Richard Linklater
328	Groundhog Day	1993	Harold Ramis
329	Little Women	2019	Greta Gerwig
330	The Social Network	2010	David Fincher
331	The Right Stuff	1983	Philip Kaufman
332	Get Out	2017	Jordan Peele
333	It's Such a Beautiful Day	2012	Don Hertzfeldt
334	Boogie Nights	1997	Paul Thomas Anderson
335	Fantasia	1940	Samuel Armstrong, James Algar...
336	Black Narcissus	1947	Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
337	Midnight Cowboy	1969	John Schlesinger
338	Children of Men	2006	Alfonso Cuarón
339	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	1982	Steven Spielberg
340	Toy Story 2	1999	John Lasseter
341	Leon: The Professional	1994	Luc Besson
342	Cabaret	1972	Bob Fosse
343	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	2007	Julian Schnabel
344	Ratatouille	2007	Brad Bird
345	The Cranes Are Flying	1957	Mikhail Kalatozov
346	Day for Night	1973	François Truffaut
347	Withnail & I	1987	Bruce Robinson
348	Safety Last!	1923	Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor
349	The Umbrellas of Cherbourg	1964	Jacques Demy
350	Shaun of the Dead	2004	Edgar Wright
351	Song of the Sea	2014	Tomm Moore
352	Scarface	1983	Brian De Palma
353	Harold and Maude	1971	Hal Ashby
354	Platoon	1986	Oliver Stone
355	The Nightmare Before Christmas	1993	Henry Selick
356	Close Encounters of the Third Kind	1977	Steven Spielberg
357	Talk to Her	2002	Pedro Almodóvar
358	Wild Tales	2014	Damián Szifrón
359	Close-Up	1990	Abbas Kiarostami
360	Time of the Gypsies	1988	Emir Kusturica
361	Mary and Max	2009	Adam Elliot
362	The Return	2003	Andrey Zvyagintsev
363	Logan	2017	James Mangold
364	For a Few Dollars More	1965	Sergio Leone
365	A Prophet	2009	Jacques Audiard
366	La La Land	2016	Damien Chazelle
367	The Sound of Music	1965	Robert Wise
368	The King of Comedy	1982	Martin Scorsese
369	The Big Heat	1953	Fritz Lang
370	In the Heat of the Night	1967	Norman Jewison
371	Amarcord	1973	Federico Fellini
372	A Night at the Opera	1935	Sam Wood
373	Repulsion	1965	Roman Polanski
374	Freaks	1932	Tod Browning
375	Au Hasard Balthazar	1966	Robert Bresson
376	Downfall	2004	Oliver Hirschbiegel
377	Lost in Translation	2003	Sofia Coppola
378	Belle de Jour	1967	Luis Buñuel
379	What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?	1962	Robert Aldrich
380	The Circus	1928	Charles Chaplin
381	How to Train Your Dragon	2010	Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois
382	Crimes and Misdemeanors	1989	Woody Allen
383	Breaking the Waves	1996	Lars von Trier
384	Brokeback Mountain	2005	Ang Lee
385	Steamboat Bill, Jr.	1928	Buster Keaton & Charles Reisner
386	Werckmeister Harmonies	2000	Béla Tarr & Ágnes Hranitzky
387	Greed	1924	Erich von Stroheim
388	Roma	2018	Alfonso Cuarón
389	Make Way for Tomorrow	1937	Leo McCarey
390	The Lady Eve	1941	Preston Sturges
391	The Straight Story	1999	David Lynch
392	Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion	1997	Kazuya Tsurumaki & Hideaki Anno
393	Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	1989	Steven Spielberg
394	Peeping Tom	1960	Michael Powell
395	The Secret in Their Eyes	2009	Juan José Campanella
396	Cleo from 5 to 7	1962	Agnès Varda
397	Aladdin	1992	Ron Clements & John Musker
398	Rocco and His Brothers	1960	Luchino Visconti
399	Hannah and Her Sisters	1986	Woody Allen
400	My Darling Clementine	1946	John Ford
401	Avengers: Endgame	2019	Joe & Anthony Russo
402	Infernal Affairs	2002	Alan Mak & Andrew Lau
403	Patton	1970	Franklin J. Schaffner
404	Mary Poppins	1964	Robert Stevenson
405	Monsters, Inc.	2001	Pete Docter
406	Hunt for the Wilderpeople	2016	Taika Waititi
407	Children of Heaven	1997	Majid Majidi
408	Last Year at Marienbad	1961	Alain Resnais
409	Sanjuro	1962	Akira Kurosawa
410	1917	2019	Sam Mendes
411	Avengers: Infinity War	2018	Joe & Anthony Russo
412	The Tale of the Princess Kaguya	2013	Isao Takahata
413	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	2017	Martin McDonagh
414	Through a Glass Darkly	1961	Ingmar Bergman
415	The Thin Man	1934	W.S. Van Dyke
416	American History X	1998	Tony Kaye
417	Knives Out	2019	Rian Johnson
418	Orpheus	1950	Jean Cocteau
419	Evil Dead II	1987	Sam Raimi
420	Airplane!	1980	Jim Abrahams, Jerry & David Zucker
421	Red River	1948	Howard Hawks & Arthur Rosson
422	Rope	1948	Alfred Hitchcock
423	Y tu mamá también	2001	Alfonso Cuarón
424	Million Dollar Baby	2004	Clint Eastwood
425	Pickpocket	1959	Robert Bresson
426	Being John Malkovich	1999	Spike Jonze
427	The Cameraman	1928	Buster Keaton & Edward Sedgwick
428	Satantango	1994	Béla Tarr
429	Hard Boiled	1992	John Woo
430	Naked	1993	Mike Leigh
431	The Double Life of Veronique	1991	Krzysztof Kieślowski
432	Arrival	2016	Denis Villeneuve
433	Rushmore	1998	Wes Anderson
434	Sing Street	2016	John Carney
435	Rebel Without a Cause	1955	Nicholas Ray
436	The Lady Vanishes	1938	Alfred Hitchcock
437	The Last Laugh	1924	F.W. Murnau
438	The Green Mile	1999	Frank Darabont
439	Vivre Sa Vie	1962	Jean-Luc Godard
440	Spartacus	1960	Stanley Kubrick
441	A Hard Day's Night	1964	Richard Lester
442	Autumn Sonata	1978	Ingmar Bergman
443	Ghostbusters	1984	Ivan Reitman
444	The Hidden Fortress	1958	Akira Kurosawa
445	Capernaum	2018	Nadine Labaki
446	Mommy	2014	Xavier Dolan
447	Le Cercle Rouge	1970	Jean-Pierre Melville
448	Down by Law	1986	Jim Jarmusch
449	Stalag 17	1953	Billy Wilder
450	Boyhood	2014	Richard Linklater
451	Trouble in Paradise	1932	Ernst Lubitsch
452	Judgment at Nuremberg	1961	Stanley Kramer
453	Casino	1995	Martin Scorsese
454	McCabe & Mrs. Miller	1971	Robert Altman
455	The Prestige	2006	Christopher Nolan
456	The Irishman	2019	Martin Scorsese
457	Blade Runner 2049	2017	Denis Villeneuve
458	Faust	1926	F.W. Murnau
459	Marriage Story	2019	Noah Baumbach
460	Fireworks	1997	Takeshi Kitano
461	Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi	1983	Richard Marquand
462	Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind	1984	Hayao Miyazaki
463	Goldfinger	1964	Guy Hamilton
464	Gangs of Wasseypur	2012	Anurag Kashyap
465	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	1937	David Hand
466	Invasion of the Body Snatchers	1956	Don Siegel
467	Top Hat	1935	Mark Sandrich
468	The King's Speech	2010	Tom Hooper
469	Farewell My Concubine	1993	Chen Kaige
470	The Breakfast Club	1985	John Hughes
471	Wolf Children	2012	Mamoru Hosoda
472	The Sixth Sense	1999	M. Night Shyamalan
473	Boyz n the Hood	1991	John Singleton
474	In the Name of the Father	1993	Jim Sheridan
475	Gladiator	2000	Ridley Scott
476	The Phantom Carriage	1921	Victor Sjöström
477	Dead Poets Society	1989	Peter Weir
478	What We Do in the Shadows	2014	Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi
479	The Birds	1963	Alfred Hitchcock
480	Moonrise Kingdom	2012	Wes Anderson
481	A Fistful of Dollars	1964	Sergio Leone
482	Kill Bill: Vol. 1	2003	Quentin Tarantino
483	Manchester by the Sea	2016	Kenneth Lonergan
484	Who Framed Roger Rabbit	1988	Robert Zemeckis
485	Almost Famous	2000	Cameron Crowe
486	Lady Bird	2017	Greta Gerwig
487	To Have and Have Not	1944	Howard Hawks
488	Kiki's Delivery Service	1989	Hayao Miyazaki
489	Kill Bill: Vol. 2	2004	Quentin Tarantino
490	Eyes Without a Face	1960	Georges Franju
491	Blazing Saddles	1974	Mel Brooks
492	The Sacrifice	1986	Andrei Tarkovsky
493	The 39 Steps	1935	Alfred Hitchcock
494	Donnie Darko	2001	Richard Kelly
495	Gone Girl	2014	David Fincher
496	Eraserhead	1977	David Lynch
497	Hero	2002	Zhang Yimou
498	Ghost in the Shell	1995	Mamoru Oshii
499	Miller's Crossing	1990	Joel & Ethan Coen
500	Meet Me in St. Louis	1944	Vincente Minnelli
501	Great Expectations	1946	David Lean
502	Contempt	1963	Jean-Luc Godard
503	Scarface	1932	Howard Hawks
504	Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles	1975	Chantal Akerman
505	My Left Foot	1989	Jim Sheridan
506	The Long Goodbye	1973	Robert Altman
507	Zootopia	2016	Byron Howard
508	Catch Me If You Can	2002	Steven Spielberg
509	Fitzcarraldo	1982	Werner Herzog
510	West Side Story	1961	Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise
511	All That Jazz	1979	Bob Fosse
512	Castle in the Sky	1986	Hayao Miyazaki
513	Kagemusha	1980	Akira Kurosawa
514	The Wolf of Wall Street	2013	Martin Scorsese
515	My Fair Lady	1964	George Cukor
516	Dunkirk	2017	Christopher Nolan
517	Guardians of the Galaxy	2014	James Gunn
518	The Lost Weekend	1945	Billy Wilder
519	The Intouchables	2011	Eric Toledano & Olivier Nakache
520	Nightcrawler	2014	Dan Gilroy
521	Short Cuts	1993	Robert Altman
522	A Silent Voice	2016	Naoko Yamada
523	The Innocents	1961	Jack Clayton
524	Nostalgia	1983	Andrei Tarkovsky
525	Mean Streets	1973	Martin Scorsese
526	Rocky	1976	John G. Avildsen
527	I Am Cuba	1964	Mikhail Kalatozov
528	3-Iron	2004	Kim Ki-duk
529	Dirty Harry	1971	Don Siegel
530	Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior	1981	George Miller
531	The Crowd	1928	King Vidor
532	The Triplets of Belleville	2003	Sylvain Chomet
533	Black Swan	2010	Darren Aronofsky
534	Mon Oncle	1958	Jacques Tati
535	The Piano	1993	Jane Campion
536	Ed Wood	1994	Tim Burton
537	Head-On	2004	Fatih Akin
538	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	2004	Alfonso Cuarón
539	The Insider	1999	Michael Mann
540	Forbidden Games	1952	René Clément
541	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2	2011	David Yates
542	When Harry Met Sally...	1989	Rob Reiner
543	The Wrestler	2008	Darren Aronofsky
544	The Player	1992	Robert Altman
545	Inside Llewyn Davis	2013	Joel & Ethan Coen
546	Blow-Up	1966	Michelangelo Antonioni
547	The Remains of the Day	1993	James Ivory
548	The Man Who Would Be King	1975	John Huston
549	The Florida Project	2017	Sean Baker
550	Napoleon	1927	Abel Gance
551	Suspiria	1977	Dario Argento
552	Drive	2011	Nicolas Winding Refn
553	The Producers	1967	Mel Brooks
554	That Obscure Object of Desire	1977	Luis Buñuel
555	The Outlaw Josey Wales	1976	Clint Eastwood
556	Klaus	2019	Sergio Pablos
557	The African Queen	1951	John Huston
558	Ninotchka	1939	Ernst Lubitsch
559	Slumdog Millionaire	2008	Danny Boyle
560	My Man Godfrey	1936	Gregory La Cava
561	Dangal	2016	Nitesh Tiwari
562	Blood Simple.	1984	Joel & Ethan Coen
563	Interstellar	2014	Christopher Nolan
564	About Elly	2009	Asghar Farhadi
565	Hot Fuzz	2007	Edgar Wright
566	Johnny Guitar	1954	Nicholas Ray
567	Planet of the Apes	1968	Franklin J. Schaffner
568	The Quiet Man	1952	John Ford
569	Fantastic Mr. Fox	2009	Wes Anderson
570	Casino Royale	2006	Martin Campbell
571	Monsieur Hulot's Holiday	1953	Jacques Tati
572	Adaptation.	2002	Spike Jonze
573	American Graffiti	1973	George Lucas
574	Barton Fink	1991	Joel & Ethan Coen
575	Tampopo	1985	Juzo Itami
576	Little Miss Sunshine	2006	Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
577	Edward Scissorhands	1990	Tim Burton
578	The Earrings of Madame de…	1953	Max Ophüls
579	Arsenic and Old Lace	1944	Frank Capra
580	Doctor Zhivago	1965	David Lean
581	The Virgin Spring	1960	Ingmar Bergman
582	Jean de Florette	1986	Claude Berri
583	Zodiac	2007	David Fincher
584	Aparajito	1956	Satyajit Ray
585	The Asphalt Jungle	1950	John Huston
586	Ex Machina	2014	Alex Garland
587	The Favourite	2018	Yorgos Lanthimos
588	The Royal Tenenbaums	2001	Wes Anderson
589	The Twilight Samurai	2002	Yôji Yamada
590	Pierrot le Fou	1965	Jean-Luc Godard
591	The Day the Earth Stood Still	1951	Robert Wise
592	Enter the Dragon	1973	Robert Clouse
593	Batman Begins	2005	Christopher Nolan
594	Hell or High Water	2016	David Mackenzie
595	Dersu Uzala	1975	Akira Kurosawa
596	Letter from an Unknown Woman	1948	Max Ophüls
597	Sleuth	1972	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
598	Whisper of the Heart	1995	Yoshifumi Kondô
599	Nobody Knows	2004	Hirokazu Koreeda
600	Glengarry Glen Ross	1992	James Foley
601	Dogville	2003	Lars von Trier
602	Nine Queens	2000	Fabián Bielinsky
603	The Sweet Hereafter	1997	Atom Egoyan
604	Dazed and Confused	1993	Richard Linklater
605	True Romance	1993	Tony Scott
606	The Great Beauty	2013	Paolo Sorrentino
607	Band of Outsiders	1964	Jean-Luc Godard
608	Eighth Grade	2018	Bo Burnham
609	The Killing Fields	1984	Roland Joffé
610	Once	2007	John Carney
611	The Artist	2011	Michel Hazanavicius
612	Sling Blade	1996	Billy Bob Thornton
613	Ferris Bueller's Day Off	1986	John Hughes
614	Dial M for Murder	1954	Alfred Hitchcock
615	The Farewell	2019	Lulu Wang
616	Limelight	1952	Charles Chaplin
617	Charade	1963	Stanley Donen
618	Prisoners	2013	Denis Villeneuve
619	Mildred Pierce	1945	Michael Curtiz
620	Kubo and the Two Strings	2016	Travis Knight
621	Winter Sleep	2014	Nuri Bilge Ceylan
622	Hedwig and the Angry Inch	2001	John Cameron Mitchell
623	Kiss Me Deadly	1955	Robert Aldrich
624	Pride	2014	Matthew Warchus
625	After Hours	1985	Martin Scorsese
626	East of Eden	1955	Elia Kazan
627	Mission: Impossible - Fallout	2018	Christopher McQuarrie
628	The Mother and the Whore	1973	Jean Eustache
629	Perfect Blue	1997	Satoshi Kon
630	The Blues Brothers	1980	John Landis
631	Elevator to the Gallows	1958	Louis Malle
632	Pain and Glory	2019	Pedro Almodóvar
633	The Fugitive	1993	Andrew Davis
634	The Vanishing	1988	George Sluizer
635	Hidden Figures	2016	Theodore Melfi
636	JFK	1991	Oliver Stone
637	Dancer in the Dark	2000	Lars von Trier
638	Don't Look Now	1973	Nicolas Roeg
639	Dallas Buyers Club	2013	Jean-Marc Vallée
640	Hotel Rwanda	2004	Terry George
641	Sense and Sensibility	1995	Ang Lee
642	The Avengers	2012	Joss Whedon
643	Vampyr	1932	Carl Theodor Dreyer
644	Twelve Monkeys	1995	Terry Gilliam
645	Rain Man	1988	Barry Levinson
646	Pinocchio	1940	Hamilton Luske & Ben Sharpsteen
647	The White Ribbon	2009	Michael Haneke
648	Zelig	1983	Woody Allen
649	The Magnificent Ambersons	1942	Orson Welles & Fred Fleck
650	Stranger Than Paradise	1984	Jim Jarmusch
651	Picnic at Hanging Rock	1975	Peter Weir
652	3 Idiots	2009	Rajkumar Hirani
653	Phantom Thread	2017	Paul Thomas Anderson
654	The Last Emperor	1987	Bernardo Bertolucci
655	Birdman	2014	Alejandro González Iñárritu
656	Day of Wrath	1943	Carl Theodor Dreyer
657	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre	1974	Tobe Hooper
658	Deliverance	1972	John Boorman
659	Gandhi	1982	Richard Attenborough
660	Warrior	2011	Gavin O'Connor
661	In Bruges	2008	Martin McDonagh
662	C.R.A.Z.Y.	2005	Jean-Marc Vallée
663	To Live	1994	Zhang Yimou
664	The Fly	1986	David Cronenberg
665	The Lego Movie	2014	Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
666	Volver	2006	Pedro Almodóvar
667	The Thin Red Line	1998	Terrence Malick
668	Our Hospitality	1923	John G. Blystone & Buster Keaton
669	La Notte	1961	Michelangelo Antonioni
670	The Holy Mountain	1973	Alejandro Jodorowsky
671	Malcolm X	1992	Spike Lee
672	The Dark Knight Rises	2012	Christopher Nolan
673	The Purple Rose of Cairo	1985	Woody Allen
674	Isle of Dogs	2018	Wes Anderson
675	The Lion in Winter	1968	Anthony Harvey
676	A Short Film About Killing	1988	Krzysztof Kieślowski
677	Black Cat, White Cat	1998	Emir Kusturica
678	Mother	2009	Bong Joon-ho
679	Snatch.	2000	Guy Ritchie
680	If....	1968	Lindsay Anderson
681	Toy Story 4	2019	John Lasseter
682	Godzilla	1954	Ishirô Honda
683	A Short Film About Love	1988	Krzysztof Kieślowski
684	Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages	1916	D.W. Griffith
685	Carol	2015	Todd Haynes
686	Letters from Iwo Jima	2006	Clint Eastwood
687	Fiddler on the Roof	1971	Norman Jewison
688	Moon	2009	Duncan Jones
689	L'Eclisse	1962	Michelangelo Antonioni
690	Serpico	1973	Sidney Lumet
691	Porco Rosso	1992	Hayao Miyazaki
692	The Heiress	1949	William Wyler
693	Winter Light	1963	Ingmar Bergman
694	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	1958	Richard Brooks
695	Elite Squad: The Enemy Within	2010	José Padilha
696	Deep Red	1975	Dario Argento
697	The Ox-Bow Incident	1942	William A. Wellman
698	Pride & Prejudice	2005	Joe Wright
699	The Blue Angel	1930	Josef von Sternberg
700	Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown	1988	Pedro Almodóvar
701	Three Colors: White	1994	Krzysztof Kieślowski
702	The Ladykillers	1955	Alexander Mackendrick
703	Breakfast at Tiffany's	1961	Blake Edwards
704	Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India	2001	Ashutosh Gowariker
705	Baby Driver	2017	Edgar Wright
706	Iron Man	2008	Jon Favreau
707	Kramer vs. Kramer	1979	Robert Benton
708	The Martian	2015	Ridley Scott
709	The Bourne Ultimatum	2007	Paul Greengrass
710	Thor: Ragnarok	2017	Taika Waititi
711	Burning	2018	Lee Chang-dong
712	The Wind Rises	2013	Hayao Miyazaki
713	Jojo Rabbit	2019	Taika Waititi
714	Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2	2013	Jay Oliva
715	Cache (Hidden)	2005	Michael Haneke
716	Delicatessen	1991	Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro
717	Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory	1971	Mel Stuart
718	Shrek	2001	Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson
719	A Christmas Story	1983	Bob Clark
720	The Life of Oharu	1952	Kenji Mizoguchi
721	Pandora's Box	1929	G.W. Pabst
722	Five Easy Pieces	1970	Bob Rafelson
723	Thelma & Louise	1991	Ridley Scott
724	Andhadhun	2018	Sriram Raghavan
725	The Big Sick	2017	Michael Showalter
726	Gilda	1946	Charles Vidor
727	Creed	2015	Ryan Coogler
728	Blue Is the Warmest Color	2013	Abdellatif Kechiche
729	RoboCop	1987	Paul Verhoeven
730	Shane	1953	George Stevens
731	A Face in the Crowd	1957	Elia Kazan
732	Moana	2016	Ron Clements & John Musker
733	Argo	2012	Ben Affleck
734	Gravity	2013	Alfonso Cuarón
735	BlacKkKlansman	2018	Spike Lee
736	I Am a Fugitive from the Chain Gang	1932	Mervyn LeRoy
737	The Magnificent Seven	1960	John Sturges
738	Run Lola Run	1998	Tom Tykwer
739	A Star Is Born	1954	George Cukor
740	Mystic River	2003	Clint Eastwood
741	Brooklyn	2015	John Crowley
742	The Ten Commandments	1956	Cecil B. DeMille
743	Miracle on 34th Street	1947	George Seaton
744	Into the Wild	2007	Sean Penn
745	This Is England	2006	Shane Meadows
746	Love and Death	1975	Woody Allen
747	Mustang	2015	Deniz Gamze Ergüven
748	Departures	2008	Yojiro Takita
749	Star Trek	2009	J.J. Abrams
750	Selma	2014	Ava DuVernay

Please let me know if there are any glaring omissions, mistakes, or possible bias, as well as any other feedback that you have that could improve the list. Thank you.
Extra Lists:
500 ‘Greatest’ Movies of the 21st Century
CRITIC EDITION: Top10ner’s 1000 ‘Greatest’ Films of All Time
AUDIENCE EDITION: Top10ner’s 1000 ‘Greatest’ Movies of All Time