Friday, February 6

My top 10 movies

Guess I'll have to retaliate.
Caveat: This list is of course subject to mood swings, day of the month and other obscure factors.
I.e. it changes, to reflect that I'll order them Alphabetically rather than from #1 to #10.

As Good as it Gets:
Melvin Udall: How can you diagnose someone with an obsessive compulsive disorder, then act like I have some choice about barging in here?

I always like Jack Nicholson, even though he can't act. He's just himself in every movie. The man can't help it there's so many facets to his personality, can he?
Seriously, must see movie. It's fun, it's tragic, it's endearing and it has Helen Hunt in a soaked t-shirt.

Bladerunner:
Batty: I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die.

The perfect movie companion to Alien(s).
Even though the themes are completely different, I've always felt that the two worlds portrayed in these movies have compatible backgrounds. It's believable that the Synthetics from Alien act like the Replicants in Bladerunner. Since the movies and their tech are close together in time, it's perfectly feasible to see Bladerunner and the first two Alien(s) movies in a single weekend. That'll be a good weekend.

Boondock Saints:
Television. Television is the explanation for this - you see this in bad television. Little assault guys creeping through the vents, coming in through the ceiling - that James Bond shit never happens in real life! Professionals don't do that!

I just love the characters and the Irish accents in this movie. Especially William Defoe's flaming gay FBI man is brilliant. The way they hackle violence in movies is fun to.

The Far Pavilions:

Got to have a costume drama (or two) in here. As well as a 'view of the Orient', so let's combine them. I could have picked Lawrence of Arabia, but this movie has romance and sex in it and while Lawrence has Peter O'Toole in it I'm of the wrong gender to fully appreciate that. Besides, both movies have Omar Sharif in it. (placement is by 'F' of Far)

Meet Joe Black:
Susan Parrish: Do you love making love to me?
Joe Black: Yes
Susan Parrish: More than peanut butter?
Joe Black: Yes. Much more.

Funny thing, though I honestly think this is one of my top 10 movies, it's one I haven't watched all that many times. it is a bit slow and takes a long time. Regardless, everyone should have seen it in its entirety at least once. And so I have.

Labyritnh:
Sarah: That's not fair!
Jareth: You say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is?

Jim Henson died too soon and he didn't get the recognition he deserved. Labyrinth is the best movie in its genre. Jennifer and David are sublime! How many movies are there that you can see once every six months and discover something new in, for 20 years?

Serenity:
Dr. Simon Tam: [to River] If there's any fighting, drop to the floor or run away.
[pause; regarding the rest of the crew]
Dr. Simon Tam: It's okay to leave them to die.

The movie that puts closure to the series Firefly, which is probably the best of many great shows cancelled prematurely by FOX network. I love this series and the movie primarily because of all the anti-hero, dirty fighting, cute engineer tropes it has. It also has the witty conversations so long absent from SciFi since Han Solo offered to arrange a Wookiee kissing for Prinses Leia. I know of no other show/movie that goes so fast from dramatic to action to comedy without missing a single beat, ever. Ok, maybe the mule chase has a few 'problems', the good bits like the swerve, break, accelerate make up for the corny bits.

Spirited Away...:

... or Chihiro's Journey as I know it.
Loved the dreamy quality of the story, loved the visuals, hate that I can't find the children's book about the miller from which I recognize the 'recognize your beloved in the guise of an animal; scene, pigs in this case comes from. I read it a a child and I can't for the life of me, find it now.

Star Wars, the original Trilogy:
Not sure why I'm saying original trilogy here. It's not like there were any incredibly bad, unnessecarily time-line breaking prequels made by a middle aged, midlife-crisis, sloppy director with a talent for finding talented people to do his work for him but being upstaged by Joss Whedon in every actually creative field that has him crying himself to sleep every night. No sirreee no such abominations exist in my version of reality. As a result I can't link the title anywhere, lest you be befuddled and confounded by false references to such abominations that are really only a figment of your imagination.

Yes, there are only nine movies mentioned.
Number ten is the floating movie, the one that keeps switching from moment to moment.
At one moment it's Blues Brothers, the next it's the Sound of Music, only to be replaced the next moment by Chocolate, squeezing in just ahead of Tank Girl e.t.c.



Even with only 9 movies, I notice a couple of trends here myself.
Either it's the fantastical, Sci-Fi and exotic places on earth which are all visually captivating or (witty) dialogue that makes me like a movie. That makes sense to me. I'd not watch a movie for the story, maybe a series with an overarching storyline, but not a movie. Good dialogue can also be found in books, but there's a difference in rythm. Witty repartee needs a live audience. No. Live action? Well, it needs to be said out loud.

1 comment:

  1. I have never seen, or even heard of, The Boondock Saints and The Far Pavilions. Both look like very worthwhile though.

    Never sat through any of the StarWars movies, but you already knew my opinion at that :)

    I was only slightly amuzed by 'As Good As It Gets'. Sorry.

    The other 5 movies are indeed great movies. Movies I should add to my collection (the ones that are not there yet ;>)

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