23. May 2008 by admin.

Okay, if you read any of my DVD reviews, you’ve got to wonder how well or badly my tastes might be aligned with yours.

The only way to get a better sense for that–other than by watching some of the movies I recommend and finding out whether

or not you like them–is to see a list of what I consider great films and see if any of them resonate as much with you.

So, here are my favorite films. If you haven’t seen some of them, they might be worth checking out.

I must stress that these are not in any kind of order.  I have seen thousands ((I don’t exaggerate) of movies in my life,

and I couldn’t begin to prioritize my favorite films.  It’s hard enough to list them at all.

1. "2001: A Space Odyssey".  Kubrick, one of my two favorite directors (the  other is Sidney Lumet), directed this.  It’s the

only film I’ve ever seen that truly and completely takes you on an alpha-omega journey.  Plus, if you’ve ever read "The Sentinel", the short

story by Arthur C. Clarke that ‘2001′ is based on (keep in mind, Clarke didn’t write the novel version of "2001: A Space Odyssey"

until after he and Kubrick had written the script for the movie), and you compare it to how the movie was ultimately visualized,

it’s a stunning evolution. 

The film has one of the best edits of all time–after the ape throws the bone up in the air and it comes down and changes into a

space shuttle taking people from Earth to an orbiting satellite, all set to the music of Strauss. There’s not much I can say about

2001 that Pauline Kael or others haven’t said much better.

2.  "Network".  This film, directed by Sidney Lumet, and with a script written by Paddy Chayefsky (one of the all-time great screenwriters), is brilliant from beginning to end.  Starring in the film are William Holden (his last and maybe best performance), Robert Duvall, Faye Dunaway (certainly her best performance for which she won Best Actress), Beatrice Straight (who won an Oscar for a five minute performance), and Peter Finch (who won the Best Actor award posthumously) as the mad (and I don’t mean lost-his-temper mad) news anchor Howard Beale. 

To say that this movie presciently captured the advent of reality television, the eventual conversion of network news to entertainment a la Fox Broadcasting, the centralization of mass media into ownership by a handful of major conglomerates is to capture only part of the film’s mastery.

Here are few scenes that make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I see them–they’re that good: 1) when William Holden tells his wife of 20+ years that he’s leaving her for his co-worker, Faye Dunaway–it looks and sounds like a real event and is shatteringly emotional; 2) when Holden breaks up with his girlfriend, Faye Dunaway–a great soliloquoy by Holden, which easily could have backfired if it hadn’t been so well acted, scripted and directed; 3) when network executives are sitting down with terrorists and CAA agents in a house in LA, negotiating rights for a reality TV series (keep in mind this was in 1976, fully 25 years or so before reality TV really hit), and having an argument over residuals; 4) Ned Beatty as the network executive explaining the new world order to the crazy anchorman [this is only an extract]:

There are no nations. There are no peoples.
There are no Russians. There are no Arabs.
There are no Third Worlds. There is no West.
There is only one holistic system of systems!
One vast and immense, interwoven, interacting, multi-variant, multinational dominion of dollars!

This is a great film.  Watch it if you haven’t seen it.

3.  "Pulp Fiction": This is a film that polarizes people like almost no other that I know of.  There are the people (like me) who love it and there are other people who can’t stand it.  I don’t know of anyone who has mild feelings about it.  Now, I’m not saying that the film is brilliant from beginning to end or that there aren’t parts that could be edited, because there are.  Nor am I saying that all the performances are great–Bruce Willis’ girlfriend in the film really annoys me.  However, the parts that are great more than make up for the parts that aren’t, and the out-of-order narrative really works and makes several points on a meta-level which are fairly profound.  This, like 2001, was a film that changed the rules for films that followed it, and yet has never been duplicated or exceeded in what it excelled at.

4. "Lion In Winter": Two of the best actors to ever live, Katherine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole give two amazing performances in a great film.  Katherine as Eleanor of Acquitaine, and O’Toole as King Henry II, with a young Anthony Hopkins playing Henry’s son.  This isn’t a film with lots of action; but, if you want to see two actors at the top of their games with a script that does them justice, see this film.

5. "Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense": This film unlike any other or live performance I’ve seen made me sad that I would never be a major live performer on stage in front of lots of people, because it captured–for me–the joy of coming together with other people to be more than a group of individuals.  The film is considered one of the best concert films ever done.  It was directed by Jonathan Demme. 

The film captures the Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense tour. It starts out with the lead singer and songwriter, David Byrne alone on stage with a boombox and guitar, and each song adds another performer and another piece of stage equipment, until, finally, the whole group is assembled for ‘Slippery People’.

There are some groups I’ve seen in concert films whose music I loved more than Talking Heads, but I’ve not seen a better capturing of a musical performance on film.

6. "Full Metal Jacket": Another Kubrick film. The first 2/3 of this film are especially amazing.  The first segment in basic training camp, is so good it’s hypnotic.  I have rarely seen more communicated by the camera to the viewer without dialog than is done here (2001 may be one example that accomplishes the feat better.  The marine sergeant in the film was an actual former marine sergeant in the military.  He went on to act in other films.

7. "Fight Club": A great script, perfect for the first 30 minutes especially.  A plot that never gets dull or ceases to surprise.  A great group of actors–certainly Brad Pitt’s and Helena Bonham Carter’s best roles, and one of Ed Norton’s best, not to mention a great supporting cast–Meatloaf, Jared Leto, etc.  Finally, a great direction job by David Fincher–much better than "Se7en".  What else needs to be said?

8.  "Pink Panther" films:  one of the greatest comedians to act in films, Peter Sellers, playing a character, Chief Inspector Jacques Closeau,  that he and Blake Edwards tailor made to show off Sellers’ talents.  There are some parts of these films that I cannot see (no matter how many times I’ve seen them) without laughing hard–"Do you have a license for your monkey", "Butler: That was a priceless Steinway!  Closeau: Not anymore.", the scene where Closeau has disguised himself as a sea captain and has an inflatable parrot on his shoulder that has sprung a leak; he has to keep inflating it by pumping his arm against his side–I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it, etc.

9.  "Paper Moon": The greatest film by Peter Bogdanovich filmed in beautiful black and white, and starring 3 great actors (at least great in this movie): Ryan O’Neal, who deserved a Best Actor award for this part, Tatum O’Neal, who deserved and received a best actress award for her role (she was the youngest actor ever to get an academy award), and Madeline Kahn, who also played memorable parts in such Mel Brooks films as "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein".  Incredible cinematography that convinced you you were in the Great Depression watching events as they unfolded.

10.  "Unforgiven": Maybe the best western that has ever been done.  People may argue and say that some of Sergio Leone’s films were better or John Huston’s films with John Wayne were better.  It’s a tough call, but I think that Eastwood really nailed not only the spirit of Westeerns but the whole American ethos with this film. 

    There’s one scene, where he talks about killing someone:  "When you kill a man, you rob him of everything that he has, and everything he’s ever gonna have."  That’s a great line and not just a great line: it’s a statement about America’s martial spirit.  The shot of William Munny, Eastwood’s character, as he says this line is searing and unforgettable. 

I think it’s the greatest film of its genre, and certainly the best film directed by Eastwood.

11. "Dr. Strangelove": I don’t have to say much about this one–another Kubrick film and one of the greatest political satires/comedies ever created.

I will do another list sometime soon to finish off my top films.  This should give you some idea of how to calibrate your preferences relative to mine, though.

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23. May 2008 by admin.

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23. May 2008 by admin.

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23. May 2008 by admin.

This is a great article from Rolling Stone magazine (one of the few really good magazines for commentary on American Politics that doesn’t just rely on White House press releases) about the man who the Pentagon turns to to market wars to the American people. Please read this article when you get a chance.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8798997/the_man_who_sold_the_war

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