Favorite movies
I am a movie freak, just love them. My first job was in a movie theater, a dream job for me, as I got to watch movies over and over and over again and figure out how they worked, what went into them.
Can't list them all, couldn't possibly, and that would be boring. First movie that rocked my world was when I was nine. My parents took me to Cabaret, Bob Fosse's movie version of the broadway play. Okay, my parents are on the spectrum, so they didn't think it was weird to take a little kid to a movie like that. And thank goodness. I was in love.
My mom didn't really get the clue about me being a little kid and soon after began introducing me to Bergman movies, Fellini, and once even to a science fiction double feature of Clockwork Orange and A Boy and His Dog. I was just "off" enough to feel privileged to witness all this.
In college, I stumbled onto Citizen Cane and Casablanca. Heaven.
Lately, I've really enjoyed movies I've seen with the kids. No I'm not as unhinged as my mom was about R rated films for my kids, not yet anyway. They have seen Little Miss Sunshine and adored it. OMG, reminded me of my own family. We also enjoyed Coraline, Spirited Away (wow!), Ponyo, Up, and Avatar, to name just a few.
Personally, I love the Coen brothers, just about anything they've done. Great films. Fargo's my favorite.
As a hard core film geek, my tastes run all over the map, from classic Hollywood to art film. Among my favorites (in no particular order):
-TOUCH OF EVIL - "Citizen Kane" my be Welles' most important film, but I stand by TOUCH OF EVIL as his best. A grim tragedy of a film noir (and generally considered the last "real" noir), the film is worth watching even for the legendary opening tracking shot.
-CHUNG KING EXPRESS - Wong Kar Wai's best film, telling two semi-connected love stories (sort of) that inform one another, while also functioning as a meditative look at a country in change. I dare you watch it and tell you don't like it. Dare ;)
-NORTH BY NORTHWEST - If it weren't for VERTIGO, this would be the best film Hitchcock ever made: a fun spy romp that manages to have some weight to it. Plus, nobody is cooler than Cary Grant.
-VIDEODROME - Cronenberg's best film...and most messed up. Marshal McLuhan, James Woods, body horror, Toronto, and social satire all blended together. Long live the new flesh!
-SHAUN OF THE DEAD - Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are the best team in modern film comedy. The structure, attention to detail, and emotional complexity in their work is fantastic.
-DR. STRANGELOVE - funniest film ever made, and Kubrick's best work.
-GHOSTBUSTERS - ok, I'll admit to it: it is my all time favorite film. It's a high concept comedy that also manages to be endlessly witty, pack a mean satirical kick AND succeed as a horror and science fiction film at the same time.
-LOST HIGHWAY - David Lynch. Need I say more?
-MANHUNTER - For me, personally, this was the film that was the Rossetta stone for understanding film and how to examine its various elements. Ask me about this at your own risk: you will likely recieve a five hour lecture about its endless brilliance.