15. Apocalypse Now (1979) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
This is not so much a film as it is an experience. A visual nightmare of what human nature must endure to survive. I've never been or claim to know what combat is like, but this is what I imagine it would be. The story here is simple, but its the journey into madness that makes this a classic. I got the opportunity to see this on the big screen and after it is over you are literally spent emotionally. You feel like just sitting there watching the tide roll in for a while. Its one of the greatest big screen experiences I have ever had.
(NOTE: I prefer the theatrical cut to the director's cut which is way too long and the extra scenes add nothing to the experience of the film.)
14. Network (1976) Directed by Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet is one of the greatest directors still working today. Network is a very prophetic film of what has happened to TV networks in current times. It predicts big mergers and most of all reality television being the end of us all! Having put in some time at a network, I can appreciate the film more than ever. I've seen some of these things with my own eyes. Peter Finch is amazing here as is Faye Dunaway. This is a great example of how power corrupts all the way down the line.
13. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Directed Tobe Hooper
I must have seen this film 100 times since high school. At first I found the film scary and repulsive. Then I saw it as a comedy of epic proportions. I could quote every line and use them in everyday conversation. But really this movie is scary because I have encountered these odd types in the Texas country side. This could happen to you then and can happen to you now. It is raw and feels very real. Not too many films have felt this real to me. It smells bad too.
12. Cinema Paradiso (1988) Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
This film is not just purely for film geeks. It will make you cry at the end. If you really love film and all it provides for you in an escapist way, then this film will really touch you. The film reminds me of my relationship with my Dad and how he introduced me to film and photography and how that passion carries over from generation to generation. And a truly remarkable score by the great Ennio Morricone.
11. Manhunter (1986) Directed by Michael Mann
This film haunts me. I can recall images from it like a Kubrick film. It's not so much the story that is bad ass, but the way its told with Mann's cold empty white photographic images that burn into your brain. It does have a Miami Vice-esque feel to it at times, but it never relishes in bad TV dialog or plot. A prequel to Silence of the Lambs, but to me a far superior film. Later remade as the horrendous Red Dragon to cash in on Silence $. And as with Vice the 80's music and score is a perfect fit.
10. The Wild Bunch (1969) Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Again one of those great big screen experiences. This film is about what happens in life when you are outdated in your occupation. In this case its about what do cowboys do when there is no need for cowboys anymore? Robbery, Drinking, and fight for whatever cause pays for the next drink or hooker. It is a film that looks like a western and bloody action film yet at the same time asks a lot of interesting questions if you read between the lines. Great shootouts under a master craftsman in prime form. (even if he was drunk most of the time...)
9. Boogie Nights (1997) Directed by P.T. Anderson
I've probably seen this film more than any other film in recent memory. It really resonates to me for some reason. And it really has nothing to do with the porn element, rather the characters I love more than anything. It is in essence not so much a loose version of porn superstar John Holmes life, but a fascinating character study of all these broken people thrown together in this porn universe when porn was very mainstream in the 70's and 80's. Not only are the characters fascinating to me they seem like people you know, and for all there faults you can't help but adore every single one of them to the end. In the end the film is about family, no matter how crazy it is, it's important. Marky Mark will never top this performance. If you would have told me back in the early 90's that a film with Marky Mark would be in my top 10 movies I would have told you to F off. That's the greatness of PT Anderson. If you came up to me at any point in the day and said hey you wanna watch Boogie Nights. I'm there 24/7. This film also contains some nudity...
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Directed by Stanley Kubrick
I saw this on a little 13 inch black and white TV I had in my room in Middle School. The next day in class, it was all I could think or talk about. Most of the kids could care less. My Dad even talked about it constantly, and I ignored it for a while. Then it found me. It is captivating in a dream like state. It demands you watch it and absorb it into your conscience. Kubrick working from the novel by Arthur Clark is thinking really big here about concepts that none of us really understand, but have a need inside to know. This film is not so much sci-fi at all but it questions who we are, where we come from and are we alone. This goes beyond film.
7. Goodfellas (1990) Directed by Martin Scorsese
"You really are a funny guy" "Go home and get your fucking shine box" "a little bit" "I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers" "This guy's saying, what you want from me" "No, I thought you said I'm OK Spider" "You little prick ya" "I did my time, I want what I gotta get" "We're not animali" "Salute Tommy"
Need I say more?
6. Blade Runner (1982) Directed by Ridley Scott
The first and only good sci-fi noir in my opinion. Philip K. Dick is difficult literary stuff to translate at times, and this may not be totally faithful to its source story, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" but it takes you into this world that we all fear might one day happen. A bleak future of pollution and robots taking over. Will humans be relevant in a world of cloning and robots. What is our worth? The movie to me is also about memories. For humans our memories are what separates us from machines. They are what keep us together. And to one day discover that all your memories are only a computer program can only lead to madness and rage. Beyond that the movie is breathtaking in its design and visual wickedness. The model work and special effects look as good as modern day CGI. It's a film that has eternal themes and concerns. And each year into the future makes its predictions more and more real.
5. Chungking Express (1994) Directed by Wong Kar-wei
In college I was obsessed with director Wong Kar-wei. I still am in fact. This film is like fast food art film to me. It was made during a break in production on a bigger film, Ashes of Time. The crew was getting paid to do nothing, so they knocked off this little romantic comedy on the fly. It's raw and full of rough edges and visual energy that at the time I had never experienced much like it except for maybe some French New Wave. Like Boogie Nights the characters here seem real and honest. It has this odd graphic novel colored with scratch colored pencils. It's loose, crazy, exciting, romantic, and just made me want to make films. It's a blast. I would also recommend it's sequel of sorts, Fallen Angel made a few years later.
4. Fletch (1985) Directed by Michael Ritchie
I'm sure I may get some flack for this one, but this movie is something I am obsessed with. You see after seeing Fletch for the first time in 85, I wanted to be Fletch. I wanted to go around writing newspaper articles and insulting people all day. The later would probably get your ass kicked daily, but its fun to dream. I have this movie memorized. I think it succeeds as not just a decent mystery but a great comedy. True hardcore Fletch novel fans have good reason to criticize it, and I guess if I had read the novels before the movie I may not be writing this, but Chevy Chase is Fletch to me. He never topped this performance. The comedy was oddly believable in the real world that director Richie kept Fletch grounded in. It was at times oddly uncomfortable, which made it all the more funny. Cracking one liners, solving mysteries and making love to the hottest women. Fletch Rules. Charge it to the Underhills... This is the lone comedy on this list by the way. Raising Arizona is right there too and Office Space.
3. Dawn of the Dead (1978) Directed by George A. Romero
To quote number 15 on this list, "the horror, the horror". This is the greatest horror movie ever made. It has it all. Horror, comedy, social commentary to spare, zombies, gore of the highest order, and most of all it's thoughtful. A sequel to "Night of the Living Dead" where the Zombies have now taken over most cities, four people hold up in a shopping mall. They fend off all other post human shoppers trying to get into the mall. Social statement? You betcha. Did I get that at 15? Nope. Did I care? Nope. It just goes to show you how the great movies have layers upon layers that unveil themselves throughout each viewing. This is why this film is so high up on da list here. And like Goodfellas and Boogie Nights, I love these characters. I want to go zombie hunting with Peter, Roger, Flyboy, and Francine. As a kid I loved the aspect that you could have an entire shopping mall to yourself and do whatever whenever you wanted. That was a dream come true. But as I got older and my credit card statements got scarier and scarier, I started to feel like the Zombies trying to get into the doors from the outside. Such a great analogy there. And how true it is today. The recent remake failed to get that at all. Thats why it was fun but empty. Not the case with this one. Sure its silly at times, but it wins you over somehow. Whenver I see it, I automatically transport myself back to my room watching it over and over again on the 13 inch color tv this time. Plus the movie has the best tagline too.... "When there is no more room in Hell, the Dead will walk the Earth"
"They must be destroyed on sight!"
2. Seconds (1966) Directed by John Frankenheimer
This movie has control of my mind. I think about it every day. I'm not kidding. The ideas in it consume me. I outline and write ideas for films and almost all of them come back to this freaking film. It owns me. It's about a middle aged banker who has a sexless marriage, a boring job and life overall. He is essentially over. He gets a call from an old friend he assumes is dead, and tells him that he can help him start a new life and end his current one. After much debate he decides to do it. He gets a new face, a new lady, and new friends, and a new life doing what he likes to do. Then one day at a party he breaks down and realizes he made the choices he did for a reason and that the person he is now is not really him at all. However the company that changed him will not allow him to return to his normal life. He tries to but is eventually caught and recycled for spare parts. This film is not without some problems. It really has no second act. But I don't really care. It's themes and imagery are what I am drawn to. Its really a morality tale I suppose. I'm still fascinated by it for some reason. John Frankenheimer is one of my all time favorite directors, and this is not one of his most well know films like Manchurian Candidate, but I feel it is his best by far. Jimmy Howe's black and white photography is amazing. The framing of his shots are in your face and intimate as hell. I could go on about this movie all day. If I start watching it I go nuts. I get all sorts of ideas and shit running around in my head. It's almost too much for me. Can we say Stendhal Syndrome?
1. Taxi Driver (1976) Directed by Martin Scorsese
Kind of hard to write about this one. I'm finding that with Seconds, Dawn and now Taxi, my mind is just flashing through images right and left. I watched this one day in high school when I was home sick. It came on and I had heard the name but never seen it. I was transfixed through the whole thing. I related to DeNiro's Travis. He may have been nuts, but at times you felt like he was simply misinformed. He got some wires crossed, but had good intentions like everyone does. He is not a hero, but by the oddness of life he becomes one. For me the film is about the madness of being alone. The fear that you have no control over life outside. Some people deal with it, and some snap. Travis snaps in a bad way. But more interesting to me is that Scorsese and writer genius Paul Shrader don't give you much if any backstory on Travis. He just is, and just needs. Life rejects him. So he decides to make a big statement to be heard. He has something to say but no outlet for it. This sets up a bloody end, only to have it flipped on its ear and makes you question the validity of someone like Travis. Maybe not for long, but it does make you pause for a second. And I love the ending of not knowing where old Travis is off to. What will he do next. Is he done? Where is he now? I still think about where and what Travis might be doing right now. I have a secret fantasy that someday Scorsese will do a sequel and show what the older Travis is up to. It may suck and be a totally bad idea and ruin the original film, but it still interests me. Scorsese is in raw form here. Everything clicks into place. You watch his Departed movie and think this is too slick, where is the cab, where is Travis, lets put the camera on the hood and get back to real biznazz. The score by the Bernard Herrman was his last. He died before the film came out, and is one of the most haunting scores ever. I sill love Scorsese as one of the most talented directors making movies today. I just want the old 1:85 street Marty back. DeNiro made mohawks cool.
Other films to mention that I watch a lot in no particular order:
Citizen Kane
Buffalo 66
Manchurian Candidate
Raising Arizona
The Killer (John Woo)
Oldboy
Highlander
Videodrome
Superman:The Movie
Suspiria
Evil Dead 2
Ju Dou
Office Space
Naked Lunch
Lost Highway
King of Comedy
Near Dark
Jackie Chan's Police Story
2 comments:
What NO Star Wars? I thought I knew you. I mean Empire...how could you? I just don't know you anymore!!!!
HHhhMMMMMMMmmmm. I zee zere iss no
mention of Dr Strangelove, ja? Vee vill haf to take zis under consideration. so.
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