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Ten Movies
Sep. 23rd, 2003 12:35 pmTaken from Pigeon, who took it from Silverthoughts, who took it from...
1. FIGHT CLUB
Yes, yes, what a surprise. What can I say about this film that I haven't said before? It's clever, subversive, shocking... it's amazing that such an innovative and thoughtful movie was produced through a big Hollywood studio such as Fox. If you're one of the two people left in the world who hasn't seen it, then do.
2. AMELIE
Okay, it's all twee and fluffy, but I *adore* this movie. It's a feelgood French production, chronicling the trials of a waitress who decides to do good deeds for everyone else, but neglecting her own love for a photograph-obsessed sex-shop worker.
Full of quaint asides and gorgeous cinematography, it's nigh impossible to dislike this film.
3. DONNIE DARKO
Fresh, innovative, strange, thoughtful, Gothic, well-acted, beautifully shot-- and written and directed by a 26-year-old. One of those cases where you can't help but compare Wonderkid to yourself. Bah.
4. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
For some inexplicable reason, I got roped into helping my brother analyse films from the Weimar era for his dissertation. They were all classics, that scored themselves on my memory-- M, Metropolis, Nosferatu-- but this film just stuck with me.
There are intelligent and wry comparisions between the German powers of that time and the characters in the asylum, but this film is most notable, and most celebrated, for its haunting Expressionist sets, where the trees are elongated and menacing, and the Sonambulist wanders through a set that looks like a Munch painting. It's inspired countless "tributes", from the Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Otherside" video to the music pieces in otherwise rank movie adaptation "Queen of the Damned".
5. AKIRA
Because it's the granddaddy of quality anime, that's why.
6. RUN, LOLA, RUN
This modern-day German film tells of a girl who has to raise 10,000DM in under an hour, or her wannabe gangster boyfriend will die. Three different stories show three different outcomes... derivative, maybe, but the kick-ass soundtrack also gets your adrenaline rushing as you follow Lola on her quest.
7. TRAINSPOTTING
Just to banish all those images of cute, twee England from your mind. Well, that and it's a bloody good film.
8. LA HAINE
An *excellent* French film detailing the lives of a group of friends who live in the decrepit Paris suburbs, in a life of violence, crime and encounters with the police. Racial tension rides high; the beauty and affluence of inner Paris is juxtaposed against the threatening aesthetic of the suburbs, and the film rushes towards its inevitable dark conclusion.
9. PULP FICTION
I know that this already tops a good few thousand other best film lists, and everyone knows about it, but I really like it, so *eh* ^-^
10. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
*Chuckle* Well, I wanted something light-hearted to round off the list. And for once in an American movie, the Brits are the heroes. Well, the enemies as well, but that's okay. Huzzah and all that.
1. FIGHT CLUB
Yes, yes, what a surprise. What can I say about this film that I haven't said before? It's clever, subversive, shocking... it's amazing that such an innovative and thoughtful movie was produced through a big Hollywood studio such as Fox. If you're one of the two people left in the world who hasn't seen it, then do.
2. AMELIE
Okay, it's all twee and fluffy, but I *adore* this movie. It's a feelgood French production, chronicling the trials of a waitress who decides to do good deeds for everyone else, but neglecting her own love for a photograph-obsessed sex-shop worker.
Full of quaint asides and gorgeous cinematography, it's nigh impossible to dislike this film.
3. DONNIE DARKO
Fresh, innovative, strange, thoughtful, Gothic, well-acted, beautifully shot-- and written and directed by a 26-year-old. One of those cases where you can't help but compare Wonderkid to yourself. Bah.
4. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
For some inexplicable reason, I got roped into helping my brother analyse films from the Weimar era for his dissertation. They were all classics, that scored themselves on my memory-- M, Metropolis, Nosferatu-- but this film just stuck with me.
There are intelligent and wry comparisions between the German powers of that time and the characters in the asylum, but this film is most notable, and most celebrated, for its haunting Expressionist sets, where the trees are elongated and menacing, and the Sonambulist wanders through a set that looks like a Munch painting. It's inspired countless "tributes", from the Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Otherside" video to the music pieces in otherwise rank movie adaptation "Queen of the Damned".
5. AKIRA
Because it's the granddaddy of quality anime, that's why.
6. RUN, LOLA, RUN
This modern-day German film tells of a girl who has to raise 10,000DM in under an hour, or her wannabe gangster boyfriend will die. Three different stories show three different outcomes... derivative, maybe, but the kick-ass soundtrack also gets your adrenaline rushing as you follow Lola on her quest.
7. TRAINSPOTTING
Just to banish all those images of cute, twee England from your mind. Well, that and it's a bloody good film.
8. LA HAINE
An *excellent* French film detailing the lives of a group of friends who live in the decrepit Paris suburbs, in a life of violence, crime and encounters with the police. Racial tension rides high; the beauty and affluence of inner Paris is juxtaposed against the threatening aesthetic of the suburbs, and the film rushes towards its inevitable dark conclusion.
9. PULP FICTION
I know that this already tops a good few thousand other best film lists, and everyone knows about it, but I really like it, so *eh* ^-^
10. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
*Chuckle* Well, I wanted something light-hearted to round off the list. And for once in an American movie, the Brits are the heroes. Well, the enemies as well, but that's okay. Huzzah and all that.
