With the Oscars coming out next week I thought I'd spend a few minutes thinking about my top 10 movies of all time.1. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
2. Slumdog Millionare
3. The Matrix
4. The Big Blue
5. American Werewolf in London
6. Highlander
7. Transporter
8. Napoleon Dynamite
9. Dumb and Dumber
10. Scarface
(1) The Passion of Joan of Arc is absolutely amazing. I came across it one morning (I'm talking 4am) when I couldn't sleep and it was on some random channel. They opened the film by explaining that it had been salvaged and later "rediscovered" in storage after surviving a fire. As a result there are portions of it missing but despite this it is truly a powerful and amazing film.
(2) The Slumdog Millionare has been getting a lot of buzz and I hate that. I like to feel ownership of movies and when everyone's raving then it just can't be my discovery. I saw the previews awhile ago and thought that it looked like a good movie, it started getting a lot of attention, as a result I didn't want to see it so much, and only because there was not really anything else playing at the time I decided what the heck. So, I saw it and loved it. I loved the main character, his relationship with his brother, his enduring love for a young girl into adulthood, and above all else, his honesty. I found similarities between it and The Kite Runner movie. I should say that I really loved the book, The Kite Runner but thought the movie was okay. I think of that movie in discussing this one because I loved the relationships in the story and how strong they are from an early time in their life into adulthood. I also loved this movie because I know exactly where in the movie I almost cried, exactly the point where I did cry, and that I was happy in the end. That is the formula for a perfect movie.
(3) The Matrix is one of the psuedo-intellectual films that some people can really over-intellectualize. I'm sure there are philosophy classes centered around the Matrix on college campuses throughout the US. However, I just loved the style found throughout the film. Having had short hair when I first saw this movie I totally identified with the strong and beautiful female character that falls in love with Nemo ;) It had fantastic special effects and was a great story - our reality is an illusion while our illusions are our reality - how cool is that?
(4) This is one of my absolute favorite films based on location. The Greek Islands are gorgeous, the main character is gorgeous, and Enzo is adorable. Despite the fact that Rosanna Arquette was annoying and a terrible actress I loved this movie for it's cineamotography and it's soundtrack. It's also about a misunderstood character who just doesn't quite fit into the world around him but who is able to find his place in the universe in the end.
(5) American Werewolf in London is the very first movie I went to as a teenager, lied about what movie I was going to, and got away with it! The movie is a comedy/horror film with great special effects for the time (1981). It was showing up at the Tri-Cinema and I remember feeling like a terrible liar when I told my dad all about the movie I didn't see. If you haven't seen this film I would encourage you to give it a try. The humor only accentuates the fact that it's a great horror film.
(6) Highlander is a movie I saw at the Lincoln Theater in Mt. Vernon. Christopher Lambert starred in this strange movie the same year I graduated from high school. I think I enjoyed this one so much because I went to see it without a clue what it was about and was totally impressed with a great story. You don't meet a 16th century immortal living in present day New York everyday.
(7) One of my all time guilty pleasures are the Transporter movies with the first one being the best. A great looking guy, driving a great looking car, going incredibly fast, doing incredibly impossible stunts - LOVE IT! Give me a smart-aleck, non-conforming, brutally honest, and butt kicking main character who fights injustice and I will give you my heart!
(8) Napoleon gets one of the top ten spots because it totally caught me by surprise. The boys and I sat down to watch this movie during Christmas break in 2004. We had no clue what it was about and I think we rewound the beginning bus scene like three times because we couldn't believe we were seeing what we were seeing. Was this guy for real? We laughed so hard...
(9) This movie is so dumb and that is the beauty of it's appeal. I actually could not stand this movie the first time I saw it. But I have two boys who loved it and they watched it over and over and after about the 17th time I finally started to enjoy it with them. It is one that we can now watch over and over and laugh as much as we did the first time or in my case the 17th time.
(10) Scarface with Al Pacino when he was in his prime is hard to beat.
Honorable Mentions
300
Repo Man
Breakfast Club
The Snowman
Hamlet (Mel Gibson)
The Punisher
Space Jam :)
Gladiator
This is Spinal Tap (only because I thought it was a real documentary when I first saw it)
Fast and the Furious
The Virgin Springs
Bottle Rocket
Streetwise
To Live and Die in LA (great soundtrack)
The Usual Suspects
All Jane Austen movies including The Jane Austen Book Club
