My Favorite Movies

Jeff Bridges is The Dude, and it's hard to imagine anyone in the role. Someone else would've come off as just a pot-smoking hippie with some funny lines.

Roger Deakins, the cinematographer, is a craftsman of unsurpassed skill and an artist with an amazing capacity to transform the mundane (like um, bowling) into something truly beautiful to behold.

The plot is an afterthought and is more about the journey than the destination.

Even if you don't know what it all means, even if it's ultimately puzzling and unexplainable, there is a feeling, an emotional response that persists. There is a strange logic to this film. A logic of death, of evolution, of birth. This is the strangest kind of logic that must be felt and seen, instead of pondered.

A visual-sound experience rather than a narrative or story, a film that is more about conveying a very specific and powerful mood and atmosphere. A feeling that we are ultimately alone.

Still blown away by Star Wars in '77, later around 1980, I was a kid staying over my tio and tia's for the summer. This is back when I had that one relative who had cable. It was late at night, everyone was asleep except for my cousin and I who were about the same age. Alien was about to play on HBO, and because our parents wouldn't take us to see it, made us want to watch it even more.
We were so spooked by the slow, creepy atmosphere and the suspense building up, but not a clue as to what was coming. It's dark, dank atmosphere really made me feel like this is what travelling in space might be like. Dirty, oily, grumpy workers and constant repairs. When the famous chestbursting scene played we were speechless and in complete awe. As scared as children could be, we watched the newly hatched alien run off the table and immediately turned and high-fived each other. We quietly celebrated what we had just experienced. To see this film with no preconceptions really had an everlasting effect. I couldn't imagine what seeing any of the sequels or knowing what was going to happen beforehand would be like. From Ridley Scott's dark vision to H.R. Giger's design and even having an new kind of hero, this film will continue to stay in my top favorites.

If Star Wars is The Beatles, Alien is The Rolling Stones.

Unlike any war film I've seen before. The story involves a rite-of-passage of a young Byelorussian villager who is drafted into the army to fight the Nazis during WWII.

This film not only shows the horrors of war, but throws you right in the middle of it, showing the receiving end of the Nazi's raid that spread to over 600 villages being burned. An unrelenting, waking nightmare with sounds and visuals unmatched by any other war film.

In this world, creepiness and perversions aren't disorders, they're a presence below the surface of Anytown, U.S.A. Too much effort can be wasted in the attempt to interpret instead of just experiencing another world that is so strange and dream-like, it feels true.

The life of organized crime is portrayed as it is, unglamorous and bloody, led by virtues of loyalty and vengeance. At the center is a story of family, living thru hardships as any other does. With a powerful script, wonderful cast, an unforgettable score by Nino Rota and all elements surrounded by a rich atmosphere, this is not only the best gangster film ever, but one of the best American films ever made.

But why am I telling you? You've seen it. We all have. And that's how you know it's great.

Even tho the story is somewhat of a poor man's Yojimbo, it was highly entertaining. What was to become Suzuki's tradmarked style begins to take root in this early film. Fun soundtrack, cool characters and even better camerawork make this one of my new favorites.

An eerie score by Angelo Badalamenti and great cinematography in a film that could be endlessly interpreted. Just when one may have the puzzle figured out, Lynch throws in a puzzle piece that is just slightly out of shape and negates any theories you may have had. Also, includes Richard Pryor and Jack Nance's final screen performances.

Lost Highway uses a technique that other films have used before, which is beginning with an end and ending with a beginning. However, Lost Highway is not a loop, it's a Mobius strip, turning itself inside out before coming back to the beginning.

On another level than homogenized japanese horror films, Cure is an involving crime drama and a moody thriller about serial killings committed through the power of suggestion. The lack of music during key scenes of violence is a bit unsettling as is the use of ambient sound during other scenes which add to the infectious, hypnotic theme.

It's far too subtle for the die-hard horror crowd and too unconventional and violent for the art house crowd. Unclouded by narrative reassurance for morality themes such as good guy/bad guy found in Seven or Silence of the Lambs. If you enjoy deep, dark, traumatic, thoughtful psychological drama at its most heavy, tense and serious, Cure is for you.

Lately, it's rare that I walk out of a movie theater smiling and with the influx of summer blockbusters with bloated budgets and overpaid actors, it's doubtful I'll see another film during the next few months like the down to earth, VERY fun and sweet story of two young boys, outcasts in their school, who become friends and decide to make a sequel to 1982's First Blood in time to enter a short film contest.

From the director of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy comes a highly original comic adventure, complete with pop rocks and soft drinks and an 80's soundtrack. It has some very innovative visuals that don't deter the film from the story being told. The passion and dedication of the two boys should remind us of why we fell in love with movies as kids in the first place.

Not everyone will embrace it, but for me it's the best road film ever made. Some are going to find this film very dull and wonder what there is to admire and respect about it. Others are going to discover all sorts of things that are not actually present in the film itself, but are thoughts and reactions from it.

Ever wonder what a zen film might be like? This might be it. It's definitely an art film, but it's not stuffy or trying to express some sort of exaggerated importance in the least.

So much has been written about this now classic film that it's impossible to imagine any new insight, so I'll just share what I enjoy about it. Utilizing a single claustrophobic setting for most of running time, NOLTD has a documentary like quality that gives it a horrifying sense of realism comparable to Orson Welles' infamous WAR OF THE WORLDS broadcast. Regarded as the grandfather of the modern zombie film, NOLTD transformed the zombie from the human afflicted by a voodoo trance into the flesh eating undead.

It looks so perfect that it makes me wonder why black and white isn't used much for horror any more. When directors copy Night of the Living Dead they copy the zombies and the arguments, rather than things worth copying like cinematography and theme. Many horror movies exist solely to scare the audience. Night of the Living Dead differs because it uses horror to make interesting social commentary.

After Life is without doubt one of my new favorite Japanese films ever made and always a pleasure to see Susumu Terajima in anything. Simplistic in its execution, it is a moving experience that dwells not with death but in its' examination and, more importantly, a celebration of life.

It is very difficult to pin-point just what it is about After Life that is so great, but I loved the attention to detail that Kore'eda invests in each character, in each memory and within the often heartbreaking events that the characters have lived through. After Life is a film that urges you to reflect upon your life, the good and the bad, the happy and the sad. If you could only pick one memory for eternity, which would it be?

One of the craftiest films in the history of cinema, Elevator to the Gallows marked the start of the French New Wave.

This film is just cool, not only visually but in the sound department. The legendary score was composed by none other than Miles Davis. The sound of his trumpet dancing around Jeanne Moreau in the dark Parisian night provided the perfect ambience as she wanders, searching for her accomplice.

Imamura's timeless film is a profile of a vicious sociopath which digs into the soul of (or lack thereof) its' central character and post-war Japan. Based on the story of a real-life criminal, Vengeance is Mine details the 78-day long killing-spree undertaken by Iwao Enokizu, who doesn't seek revenge from one particular person as you'd expect out of a genre picture. In fact, the film is driven by the ways he's hurt throughout his life, and the counterintuitive ways he seeks revenge. Vengeance is Mine explores the roots of Iwao's murderous tendencies. It leaves exact causes vague, but explores a drive that leads him down the path to repeated murder.

Imamura's affection for Japan's criminals, outcasts, minority groups comes through with style and energy coupled with darkest humor and context, and is an obvious inspiration for contemporary filmmakers, including former apprentice Takashi Miike.

A rather quiet film, The Twilight Samurai is a gentle, insightful, beautiful piece about a widower who works as a dull accountant for a war lord. And, oh yes, he happens to be a hell of a good swordsman when necessary. He reluctantly fights and only seeks to do exactly enough to halt the attacks.


All that might seem to be code words for dull, but Twilight Samurai is a fascinating, unique and thought provoking glimpse into the life of a low-ranking Samurai. Highly recommended for any fan of samurai films.

Such a fantastic movie and one of my top favorites. Peter Lorre, all popping eyes, baby face and chubby little hands, is repulsively fascinating as the twisted, pathetic psychopath, dropping hints about the erotic nature of his fixation. The 1931 film directed by Fritz Lang is about more than law and order. It blurs the definitions of both and questions whether the law can keep us truly safe in the context of the rising Nazi party. The elaborate steps through which good guys and bad guys (you are left to decide which is which) must keep watch for the man who has already killed 8 children are very engaging.

M is essential viewing for those interested in the early development of sound. Long before the sophisticated soundscapes so popular in the mainstream, Lang discovered that a movie's atmosphere could be achieved by subtleties, and few films since have achieved the blending of sound and image to this degree. It's also Lang's first "talkie" feature and complete without score. No music, which adds to the dark, gritty atmosphere falling right in between the German Expressionistic Era and Noir Along the lines of technical achievement, M stands as the blueprint for forensics displayed in feature films and television to this day. Only time will tell if Silence Of The Lambs will be as strong of a film when it's 78 years old.