Today we continue my countdown of my top ten favorite movies.
Read the first installment of the series if you haven't already.
On to the countdown!
7. Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
This is starting to look like a "Top Ten Most Underrated Films" list. That won't continue the whole way, but for now... Where the Wild Things Are.
Because it was based on one of the most well-known children's books ever, people logically assumed that this was a children's movie. The marketing did little to contradict these assumptions.
It's not a children's movie.
It's a movie about children.
No movie I've ever seen captures the mind of a child like this one. Every scene past the first few could be straight out of a dream or the imagination of a kid. Weird things happen with no explanation. The characters behave in ways that seem ridiculous, but in exactly the way a child would expect them to. At times it's absolute unrestrained fun.
Most of the time though, it's bleak as hell.
This movie is bleak, spirit-crushing, and depressing in all the best possible ways.
It's a movie about a child on the cusp of no longer being a child, and he's realizing that. He's realizing that his actions have consequences. He's realizing that things rarely turn out the way we plan them (but maybe not as bad as we think).
Instead of simply being re-creations of the wild-eyed goofy critters in the book, the Wild Things are beautifully humanized. They have emotions, problems, opinions, physical pain, etc. Their facial expressions are especially well done. For a giant monster to be made as expressive as these were is amazing. Contrasted with their size and strength (illustrated by them smashing the shit out of pretty much everything), their sadness becomes even more powerful.
As kids we were all confused and unhappy at one point or another, and this movie makes me remember exactly how that felt.
6. The Dark Knight (2008)
I'd like to just put the whole Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy here but if I must narrow it down to one, this is the best of the lot.
Batman's always been my favorite superhero, so in the interest of full disclosure--I'm biased. Favorite movies, says the title.
These were the first superhero movies to be "realistic." I use that word very loosely as they're still preposterous (as is pretty much every single other movie ever made), but less so than most superhero movies. There are no aliens, no magic powers, no one turning themselves into electricity or stopping time.
Not only does this lessen the "Jesus Christ this is stupid" factor that dampens most comic book superhero films like a urine-soaked rag atop a bouquet of otherwise fragrant roses, it helps allow the human element to be showcased, which is what makes this series special.
Bruce Wayne has everything, but doesn't want it. He doesn't know what he wants, really. He pretty much hates his life.
He has a select few people and things worth living for and he has to fight for them--and sometimes deal with having them taken away.
Unlike most folks, I don't give Heath Ledger extra credit for dying
after this movie. His performance is excellent, but not as
super-duper-ohmygod-legendary as people decided it was because he died. The
fact that he was unable to reprise the role actually helps in that the
enigma of his character remains intact. We never do find out "how [he]
got these scars."
No other comic book film comes close to having a human story that makes us care as much as this one. The Spider-Man movies make a commendable effort, but it doesn't really extend much further than Tobey Maguire or James Garfield whingeing about how their spider-hobby takes up time that could be better spent banging Kirsten Dunst/Emma Stone.
5. Gangs of New York (2002)
Daniel Day-Lewis is pretty much the best actor ever. He's one of the few actors where I'll watch any movie simply because they're in it.
There's really not much else to say about this one. It's just a damned good movie. Leonardo DiCaprio's character's inner conflicts are played out wonderfully; just when you think the movie isn't paying attention to itself you realize it's been brewing in his head for some time. Cameron Diaz (and to a lesser degree, her character) is unnecessary, but that's a minor complaint.
While you're at it, check out the bonus feature on the DVD about the real gangs from this time period that the movie was based upon. Pretty interesting stuff.
4. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Before we start here, there is--to quote Karl Pilkington--an elephant in the room.
It seems that no one can discuss this movie without bitching about Mickey Rooney's ridiculous and "offensive" portrayal of an Asian.
I'm only mentioning it here to emphasize that I'm not going to mention it.
It was acceptable then. It was a different time. No one's doing it now. Stop your goddamned whining. It's just a movie. Jesus.
Moving along...
I'm not sure why I like this movie so much. The humor is heavy-handed and goofy, and it's pretty much a chick flick.
There's probably some sentimental value attached to it because of who I first watched it with, but this is just a hard movie not to like. Audrey Hepburn's performance--in this film as in her others--brings an honesty and believability to her character. Suspension of disbelief is never a problem when watching her.
It's also one of those movies that is, quite simply, fun. It's enjoyable to watch even when it's not well-executed. In this regard, it's sort of the anti-Citizen Kane. If you turned this in at your film school you'd probably get a C, but your teacher would beg you to let him keep a copy.
Next time around it's the top three.
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| "I'm terrible" |
You know, I didn't really like Citizen Kane.
It's widely considered to be the best movie ever, and if someone followed step-by-step instructions on how to make a good movie,
Citizen Kane could be the result.
The problem is, it sucks.
It's boring. The dialog is cheesy. The acting is downright embarrassing at
times.
In sixth grade science class, we had to make a diorama of a certain era of
the Earth's existence. I was assigned the Precambrian era (No, I'm not going to tell you what that means; kato vittu Googlesta).
I made a total piece of junk.
While this wasn't the easiest time period to turn into a
3D model, I inexcusably half-assed it. However, when my teacher went
down the list of what our diorama needed to have, I had every single item that
was required.
I didn't just get an A, I got 100 freaking percent.
One of my other teachers pulled me aside later to ask me why the hell I made
such a shitball. She knew I could do better, as did I.
We could go into the lessons learned from this but the important thing here is
that Citizen Kane is that diorama. Every critic ever has given Orson Welles
100% on the assignment but sorry, Orson; your movie's junk. Rosebud
indeed. Bleh.
In light of my obvious deviation from the norm when it comes to movie enjoyment
and combined with the fact that I am (as you well know) always right, I've decided
to share with you my top ten favorite movies. I didn't say best movies,
mind you, as I realize some of these aren't "great" in the technical/film school/by-the-book sense.
These will be in reverse order because it's stupid and anticlimactic to start a top ten list with
#1 (yet I still see people doing it...).
I suppose I should also mention that this list might be different if you ask me
in a few years' time as everything but the top three move up and down and on and off
the list as time passes.
I'll try to go easy on the spoilers, but you should probably just watch all of
these first.
So, without further delay...
#10 - The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
This one could easily climb higher (err... lower? Closer to #1, I mean).
I've only
just recently re-watched it and damn do I like this movie. I'll be
honest and admit that the only reason I watched this was because I had watched
the 1934 version and the only reason I had watched that version was
because of V for Vendetta. Sue me.
I haven't read the book yet (stop throwing things; I'll read it someday I
swear), so I can't compare the film to the book. I can, however, compare
this to the 1934 version and I really like the changes they made for
this one. For the sake of avoiding spoilers I won't go into detail, but let's
just say there's more action, a more sensible plot progression, and more
character development.
This movie makes me want to go have a sword fight.
#9 - The 13th Warrior (1999)
This movie single-handedly made me say "favorite" rather than
"best" in the title.
The embarrassing miscasting of Antonio Banderas as an Arab as well as a few
other film-school faux pas factors that I don't give a crap about led to this
being considered "not good" by most critics.
Screw them. They know nothing.
This movie has Vikings for god's sake, but unlike most movies with
Vikings it doesn't go out of its way to remind you of that fact. I don't recall
ever hearing the word "Vikings," in fact. Characters don't shout
"By Odin's beard!" every five seconds or mutter about Thor when
it rains.
In addition to pleasing my inner Vikingophile, the film brings the source
material (Michael Crichton's novel Eaters of the Dead) to life in a way
the book couldn't. Though it was by no means a "long" book, it lacked
intensity and would have been a better read as a short story or novella. The
movie cuts the crap and gets down to business.
With the exception of Banderas, it's populated by relatively obscure actors.
This sounds like a bad thing but ends up being a boon in that it lacks the HEY
EVERYONE LOOK AT THIS ONE GUY RIGHT HERE factor that could have completely
derailed it. The unknown cast does a fine job, and did I mention that
there are Vikings?
#8 - The Bride of Frankenstein
(1935)
I've always had a soft spot for old horror flicks. I was probably 5 or 6
years old when I saw House of Frankenstein and I've been in love since.
House, however, is probably the worst of the Universal Frankenstein series.
The 1931 original is good, but it's the sequel that stands out.
When watching these old black-and-white horror movies, you sort of have to
switch into a different mode. Appreciating films from this era isn't the same
as films from today. Things were different, obviously.
Bride is one that takes less mode-switching than most.
It isn't devoid of the common cheeseball stuff that plagues this
era--characters regularly deliver soliloquys to the sky instead of speaking to
the person standing next to them, for example--but the faults are far
outweighed by the audience's ability to identify with Karloff's creature.
I
always root for the monsters in horror movies, and for once the script agrees
with me.
Stay tuned for the rest of the list...
The English language is complicated.
Too complicated, some might say.
The good news is that I'm here to make it simpler. How? By adding words to it.
You might think that would make it more difficult, but this word is already contained within other English words; we just never use it in its basic form.
This new word is "gress."
It's a verb meaning to go, to move, to proceed, etc.
Here are a few English words based off of it that you've probably already incorporated into your vocabulary:
Progress -- to gress forward
Regress -- to gress again
Digress -- to gress in two directions
Ingress -- to gress inward
Egress -- to gress electronically
Gresshopper -- those little bugs who gress around in the backyard
Congress -- a gressing of convicts
I encourage you all to gress out into the world and help bring this word into common usage.
"Selfie" is the dictionary, for God's sake. We can make this happen.
My word processor has already stopped putting squiggly red lines under "gress."
Now that's what I call progress.
