All Time Favorites
Hi Everyone,
I'll ask a question, partly to wake up this blog a bit, and partly because I think a new discussion topic would be fun. I'll ask another one of my personal preference questions: what is your favorite movie of all time? Simply naming a film isn't good enough. Tell us why it makes you feel like you can walk on water, and or why it makes every other movie look shameful.
I'll ask a question, partly to wake up this blog a bit, and partly because I think a new discussion topic would be fun. I'll ask another one of my personal preference questions: what is your favorite movie of all time? Simply naming a film isn't good enough. Tell us why it makes you feel like you can walk on water, and or why it makes every other movie look shameful.
posted by Wicked Little Critta at 4:19 PM
13 Comments:
For me, it's gotta be Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It's smart, it's funny, it's real, it's visually arresting, it's emotionally gripping, it's psychologically astute.
And on a personal level, I can very much relate to Jim Carrey's character Joel Barrish (hence the pic). And I've known/dated a number of girls who are quite similar to Kate Winslet's character Clementine. So that might have something to do with my adoration.
as can be predicted by anyone who knows me, my favorite film is Almost Famous. that film connects with me on a deep level, and speaks to a part of myself i like very much. it captures the essence of a time and place very vividly and accurately, and views its time period through the lens that i best understand: popular music. i imagine Cameron Crowe and i, if we ever met, would have gobs to talk about. as is evidenced by Almost Famous, we are cut from the same cloth.
to quote the movie, "you don't choose the music you like; it chooses you." the movie understands this, as i do, and that's why i love it.
I have two answers and the winner depends on my mood.
Blade Runner is a film that makes me think whenever I watch it, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy is just so well made with such great characters (and such a great story) it has to be a winner.
Having given you a "shoot from the waist" quick answer, I would like to emphasize that in general there is no such thing as a "best film ever" in my mind. It's all very subjective and highly dependent on the parameters you use to judge a film.
For example, I think Terminator 2 is highly entertaining. Does that make it better than a high quality film that is on the cunny side of things, like Eternal Sunshine? When in a certain mood yes, in others no. I think I should stop now before adding porn to the equation.
I agree, there probably is no "best movie ever." However, subjectively speaking there can be.
For me, I have to say that my number one is Amelie.
It's funny, clever, with great characters and beautiful creativity. I also love the story. Why aren't there more movies out there about people who want to just help others in simple ways?
Finally, the character of Amelie is captivating and endearing.
My favorite parts: When the characters are being introduced, and the cat is said to enjoy children's stories.
When Amelie's father keeps getting pictures of his gnome traveling the world.
When Nino tells Amelie he knows that the mystery girl is her, and she just shrugs and walks away, only to later melt into a puddle.
I think another important thing I love about Amelie is that it delights in the small things, e.g. skipping rocks, cracking creme brulee, getting your picture taken at a photo booth, a childhood memory of the day at recess when you won all the marbles. The stuff of life. :)
I also agree that Eternal Sunshine is wonderful movie. It's my number 3. My favorite things about that movie are similar to what I liked about Amelie: a creatively done film that deals with everyday stuff (not getting your memory erased, but the annoying stuff about relationships).
Never saw Blade Runner, and it's hard to argue with LOTR. Almost Famous is probably the one I have the most trouble understanding, but that's probably because I'm not really a music person. :)
Just ONE? Uh, I'm going to have to give this some serious thought.....
maybe i'll give Amelie a third chance... what you said, WLC, about it taking pleasure in the simple things of life, is very salient to me. i don't know why it didn't resonate with me the first two times, but it might have been that i was trying to see the movie through someone else's eyes (yours, to be exact). i need to watch the movie and judge it on its own merits, and only think about the movie as it applies to me.
After careful thought, there is one movie that towers above everything else to me: Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West. It is Leone's best film, better than even his infamous Man With No Name Trilogy with Cliint Eastwood. It is arguably the best Western ever made, and though acclaimed (#19 on the IMDB Top 250 of All Time), it's pretty underrated. It is a flawless film, beautifully shot, with Ennio Morricone's best score. It manages to be dark and bright, optimistic and cynical all at once. The intertwining story of a widow with a secret (Claudio Cardinale), a bandit with a heart of gold (Jason Robards Jr), a mysterious harmonica playing gunfighter (Charles Bronson), and a sadistic villain named Frank (Henry Fonda, in a role that takes the mold he formed with films like The Ox-Bow Incidnet and My Darling Clementine, and smashing it to powder), OUATITW is not only the definitive spaghetti western, but the definite FILM, period, to me.
For a couple of days now I keep thinking about YRF's fine choice. Personally, I prefer Good/Bad/Ugly (I have a soft spot for Eastwood), but I can definitely see where Mr Racist is coming from.
I definitely should revisit the pair. Three or so years ago both films were restored and released on DVD, and the result is excellent on a big screen. We were lucky enough to watch the restored GBU on a huge screen at the cinema; those triple duel scenes at the end are just amazingly good!
It was a hard, HARD choice, but West slightly edges out Ugly. The casts are comparable (though Bronson is cool, he's nowhere near as cool as Clint Eastwood), West is a little stranger, a little bigger, and a bit more majestic. But having said that, there's not a lot wrong (if anything) with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Mine is, "We Were Soldiers". A movie about Vietnam War famous battle. The reason i like it is because they haven't shown the vietnames as villains and gave them a bit of respect(though not much).
Secondly, it gave us a perspective on the the horrors of battles.
i haven't seen We Were Soldiers, Khan, but i imagine that the theme of it was done with precision and grace in many other movies, like Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now, and Platoon. in light of the existence of these more prominent (though not necessarily better) films, your choice of We Were Soldiers seems a little odd. have you seen those other films? and if so, what is it about We Were Soldiers that brings it above them for you?
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