In the midst of all this global chaos, I feel it's as good a time as any to reflect on "John" and tell you what movies really mean to me. I can think of no better exercise than to put forward a top-ten list of my favorite movies of all time... At this present moment. There is no way I could rank these #1 - #10, nor could I rationalize why some films made the list in lieu of others ("1917" just last year, for instance, is one of the most stunning films I have ever seen, and I think about it often). Maybe I'll remake this list in a couple years and see what's on top. Some I have rewatched in the past few weeks. Some I haven't seen in years. All are still vivid in my mind. All are unique. Here we go (in alphabetical order):
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1969)
In theaters, I don't know if I've seen any other movie as frequently (odd, considering it's 50 years old). The mystery and spectacle of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece is in its absolute coldness and gradual progression. Scenes slowly march along. We wonder if there's even a plot? Still, there is not a moment out of place. There's not a moment of levity (as far as I can remember). 2001 stands apart as a movie so wholly supported by its technical achievements, it's stunning visuals, and it's ambiguous ending. With each new viewing I find another aspect to marvel at. I know just as many people would find it unwatchable. HAL 9000 is certainly one of the most cold villains in movie history. The soundtrack of accompanying Richard Strauss waltzes is virtually at the point of parody now. Nevertheless, Kubrick has created something that stands the test of time, and even now, it's an enthralling piece of cinema.
AMADEUS (1984)
Amadeus was what I often said my favorite movie was throughout high school and college. It certainly has everything going for it. Milos Foreman (of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" fame) has an implausible and zany comedy drama here: a fictional retelling of a feud between composers Salieri and Mozart ("Wolfgang... Amadeus Mozart"). How much is fictional? I would assume the majority, right down to a plethora of American accents and modern vocabulary. Still, the film strikes at something so pure - the envious nature of jealousy, the battle between man and God, creation, and destruction... The film rightly won Best Picture in 1985, and it's so clear why. The film's finale is an extended sequence of Mozart in bed dictating music to an eager (and destructive) Salieri. It's one of my all-time favorite scenes in any movie. There's no action, there's no clever dialogue... It's two men, diametrically opposed, working together to create something above each of them. It's a faultless movie.
AMELIE (2001)
If I had to pick a movie of these ten that I would say is #1, I might think it's this 2001 romantic comedy / fairy tale / visual poem. I don't think I've yet seen a movie so luxurious to look at and absolutely marvelous to watch on a sad lonely night. It's a cinematic dream - a collection of "how did they film that?" shots that encompass the life of a young French woman on her search for love and an ambition to fix the lives of those around her. It's so funny, it's romantic, and full of an array of music and sound. How fitting, then, that the film's climax - a kiss - occurs in virtual silence (all the while a bored cat watches from across the room). When I think of movie magic, AMELIE is what comes to mind.
FANTASIA (1940)
Weird right? While the rest of the world has been jumping on the Disney+ bandwagon, seeing the latest Frozen movie, talking about their excitement over the remake of Mulan and Lion King (gag), Fantasia has always stood apart for me as a singular vision of art and creativity from a studio that so clearly prides itself on commercialism and traditional structure. I've seen the movie countless times. Maybe the first time I saw it, I was thrilled by the moving colors and lack of plot. Now, seeing it for the enth-time, I marvel at the visual language of the structure, the music composition, the increasingly-complex stories, and the haunting ending that certainly does not have the "Disney" satisfaction. How marvelous that a film studio had the audacity to create something so singular in a time when filmmaking was still in its relative prime (Gone With The Wind has just been released the previous year). A movie doesn't have to have a plot to work on an emotional level. Likewise, it does not need major Hollywood stars to act out what emotions we should feel. In that sense, Fantasia is a movie so singular that I can't think of anything in film memory that even comes close to its ambition.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (1966)
It was my dad that got me into Westerns, but I hadn't really considered the difference between the traditional works by the likes of John Ford to the more edgy "spaghetti westerns" until years later. Still, I find Sergio Leone's epic the most accessible (and the most comic). What is ultimately a simple story of a search for buried gold becomes something so much more grand in scale by the simple addition of powerhouse actors like Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach. The soundtrack is something everyone knows, even if they haven't seen the movie (I guarantee it). Ennio Morricone's score is cinematic in a way no other composer has yet achieved. The film's conclusion at Sad Hill Cemetery is one of the all-time greatest showdowns in film history. Hell, it's the best. It's an overall masterpiece of setting, tone, and character.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007)
Many might say Joel & Ethan Coen's best film is 1996's "Fargo," but their Best Picture-winning thriller from 2007 is absolutely one of the all time best movies I've ever seen. I first saw it in theaters with my dad and we both had tepid responses to the quiet, slow pace and depressing ending. Each consecutive viewing has confirmed in me that this is one of the greatest movies ever made. An air-tight story of three men (Josh Brolin as the "hero," Javier Bardem as evil incarnate, and Tommy Lee Jones as the old sheriff) who never share a scene together and each of whom face a climax that they never expected. Based on the Cormac McCarthy novel (and I read it), the Coen-esque humor finds a place here in an otherwise graphic and heady drama that weaves in and out of the "cat and mouse" genre. Tommy Lee Jones is especially good as the film's moral center. I promise, there is not a flaw to be found.
ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980)
I'm sure many people haven't seen this movie, and instead might know it as 'the film that beat Raging Bull for Best Picture.' I promise, this is a special movie. It's Robert Redford's debut as a director, and what a stunning debut it is. It's a family drama about a mother, father, and son dealing with the death of a family member told in stunning realism. Mary Tyler Moore's icy mother is a highlight, one of my all-time favorite performances on film (she sadly lost an Oscar to, well, let's not go there). Redford finds a clever way to employ flashbacks to add shading to his characters, and our hero named Conrad (the son - Timothy Hutton- in an Oscar-winning performance) finds solace in a newly-found psychiatrist. It's one of the saddest movies I've ever seen, and the final scene between father and son always finds a new way to rip my heart in two. I can't encourage enough people to see this movie.
PARASITE (2019)
I know the movie is less than a year old, but I've seen it possibly 7 or 8 times now, and I can't think of a better description than "air tight." Director Bong Joon-Ho made objectively the best movie of 2019. It's a black comedy, it's a thriller, has elements of horror, is utterly heartbreaking, and endlessly watchable. How thrilled I was to see it become the first foreign film to win Best Picture, all the more exciting for knowing that the film will stand the test of time. It's a satire on the conditions of wealth inequality in the world today, but as a straight family drama it functions just as well. In 10 years, I know I will still vividly remember the first time I sat down and watched this movie.
THE PIANO (1993)
Director Jane Campion managed to touch a nerve in her immensely beautiful film about a mute woman moving to New Zealand to become the new bride of a cold land-owner. Her only instrument of emotion is her piano, carried in stow alongside her clothes, and ultimately claimed by a converted Native man (Harvey Keitel) who bargains for her to win back the instrument through sexual favors. The movie is absolutely jaw-dropping from a technical level, but the slow romance that builds between the mute Ada (Holly Hunter) and Keitel is something that continues to challenge me and strike such an interest at the same time. Anna Paquin as the mischievious daughter of Ada is another highlight. The film is also so fascinating for its themes of colonialism and feminism. If nothing else, the film's score is my all-time favorite album of music in movie history.
ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)
I've see Rosemary's Baby many times in the past but never thought of it as "an all-time favorite" until fairly recently. Roman Polanski's big Hollywood breakthrough is a taught achievement in building suspense and near-flawless dialogue. It's a horror movie that builds so slow that oftentimes I forget what happens next and still sit in virtual suspense as I worry what will happen next. Credit for Polanski, a controversial figure today but clearly a master of the craft, and Mia Farrow, one of the most tortured performances on film and certainly the basis for many modern horror tropes. The film is meticulously paced and not a scene is out of place. I'd say it's a film I can always go to with a bowl of popcorn and a blanket and find immense comfort in getting lost in, but that sounds weird, doesn't it?
