deyegoroe
Oct 6th, 2006, 05:04 AM
in some ways this is tougher than the music list for me, as movies are my first love. anyway, here we go, my desert island ten movies in no particular order:
1. bernardo bertolucci - THE CONFORMIST (IL CONFORMISTA)
many of the movie brats like scorsese, schrader and coppola point to this movie and when i first saw it it was beyond expectations - and that's a rarity in my experience when something comes so heavily sold. i've seen it over 20 times - easily. it's my favorite feature and is just as satisfying today if not more. fascism, plato, psycho-sexual dynamics, and more, all on display. and what a cast! PLUS cinematography by storaro and design by scarfiotti. never has the fascist aesthetic looked so good.
2. bruce brown - ON ANY SUNDAY
no, this bears zero relation to any stupid football movie made by a studio. this is about sports though, specifically, motorcycle racing, in all of its manifestations: flat track, motocross, desert, hill climbing, drag racers, trials... and in one insane segment, ice racing! the movie is made with such love and reverence it is mesmerizing, at least to me. although it's decades old, it stands as a really great film, despite the technology of motorcycle racing having advanced far beyond. watch the segment where malcolm smith performs his trials stunts. the total control, the artistry, it's something else.
3. sam raimi - EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN
this flick reaches hysterical and yet lyrical peaks that few films do. it is so inventive that upon its release it eclipsed anything that had come before in the genre. i must have seen it 6 times in theaters and countless others on video. raimi's since moved on to the big time, but this is by far his most original and best work.
4. george stevens - A PLACE IN THE SUN
so the gals won't think i'm all about testosterone, here's one, albeit anything but light and romantic. instead, it's hyper-romantic and tragic. mike nichols has said that this is one of the greatest american films, and i agree. fantastic in every way, from the motifs to superb performances all around. and Liz at 19 is so beautiful it's unfair.
5. sam peckinpah - THE WILD BUNCH
back to testosterone. but despite it's macho rep, this movie is very poetic - it's really an elegy to a time passing by its participants. it's also about loyalty - "if you can't side with a man then you're like some animal!"
what a cast, what a director. i've seen this one over thirty times.
6. hitchcock - VERTIGO
scorsese has said something to the effect that VERTIGO is amazing because it's a studio film but is so personal. while i agee, i think that no one else could have made this masterpiece. there are moments in this movie that transcend and enter into surreality - like the long sequences when scotty is tailing madeleine. i've seen all manner of cinema - experimental, foreign, art for art's sake, dada, surrealist - and nothing matches the mood and tenor of VERTIGO. it's a singular achievement.
7. kenji misumi - LONE WOLF AND CUB
ok, i'm cheating as this isn't one movie - this is the classic series straight from japan, and i cite misumi because he made at least 3 or 4 of them. i love these so much it really hurts that darren aronofsky is slated to make a movie to be released in a year or so based upon the comics. <rolls eyes> everyone here no doubt knows reams about this legendary series so anything i say is just superfluous. and wasn't daigoro perfect??? HONORABLE MENTION: the zatoichi series; star shintaro katsu and Lone Wolf star tomisaburo wakayama were brothers...
8. mel stuart - WILLIE WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
not the remake - NO! 'nuff said. ebert has said that this movie is a work of pure imagination - i agree, every bit as much as say lynch's ERASERHEAD. just not as obvious. oh, it was financed by quaker oats!
9. scorsese - NEW YORK, NEW YORK
i can hear it now: WHAT?!? NY NY over RAGING BULL and TAXI DRIVER??? well, i think RAGING BULL and TD are two of the greatest features, period, NY NY goes to the island with me. scorned by critics and public alike, this is the greatest valentine to hollywood by an artist - ever. it's a love letter to a bygone era - the golden age epitomized by MGM in the 40's. the sets by legend Boris Leven (who also worked on THE KING OF COMEDY) aren't realistic. watch the scene where deniro proposes to minelli and you'll know what i mean. make sure and see the unedited version with the "Happy Endings" sequence - it's fantastic moviemaking on evey level and in itself a valentine to hollywood and dreams. at the end of this film i always feel as if i've been on a journey and really lived through something...
10. bunuel - THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE
bunuel was 77 when he made this, his masterpiece. it is a film at once political, poetic, psycho-sexual, and a surrealist masterpiece. the ending where mathieu and conchita look at the woman darning the bloody lace mantilla would make no sense if you read it as a piece of literature. and yet, as bunuel himself has said, it's strangely moving. that's the power of cinema, when in the right hands, it has the ability to take the mundane and transcend it. it also introduced the world to carole bouquet, a beauty if ever there was one.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
sidney lumet - NETWORK
great cast, great director, great writer. still as powerful today...
capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
yeah, i'm a sucka for it. listen, i'm an atheist and this film gets me, it's that good. i'm really tempted to bump something from the ten and put this in. suffice to say that whenever it's on i watch it. spielberg's personal favorite film.
park's OLDBOY
i've seen his other films in the vengeance trilogy and honestly wasn't impressed, but his juices really got going on this one. one of the best features i've seen in the past couple of years.
yang li's BLINDSHAFT
wow - i saw this at a black film fest that had the forward thinking to include an asian film, and was blown away. small, quiet and superbly acted, this movie puts to shame big bloated hollywood fare by cruise, hanks, sandler, kutcher and the rest of the bozos who get paid a gazillion.
jamie uys's ANIMALS ARE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
fantastic. he's much more famous for his THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY but AABP is better. if there are kids in your family show this to them - you'll get a kick out of it too.
kubrick's BARRY LYNDON
rarely has a movie looked as beautiful. if i neglect this master's other more noted works it's because this movie is for me a bit more accesible - this is desert island after all. the candlelit scenes were lit by only the candles in the scene and were shot with custom made zeiss lenses.
george romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD
i've seen this at least 12 times and each one is a kick. as much a commentary on consumption as a horror flick. classic.
john huston - WISEBLOOD
brad dourif has since sunk into obscurity but he's super as is harry dean stanton in this o'conner tale of the church of jesus christ wthout christ.
john huston - FAT CITY
great cast; stacy keach, whatever happened to that guy? susan tyrell steals the show, and jeff bridges is young and not fat yet.
john huston - THE AFRICAN QUEEN
somehow this movie works. really well. and i don't particularly like bogie or hepburn.
mike nichols - WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
the first film that showed me that movies weren't pure escapist fare, that they could be "something else."
depalma - SCARFACE
'nuff said
coppola - THE GODFATHER
'nuff said
leone - ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
stunning film, and henry fonda's best work.
leone - THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
'nuff said
polanski - CHINATOWN
'nuff said
woody allen - ANNIE HALL
really funny. insightful. truthful. so many great jokes. like when he pulls marshall mcluhan (it was riginally supposed to be bunuel!) out from behind a placard to support his point...
woody allen - LOVE AND DEATH
shall we say pistols at dawn?
well we can say it but i don't know what it means...
pretty vintage woody.
peckinpah's JUNIOR BONNER
"bloody sam" had a soft side, and JB shows it in rare form. beautiful acting by mcqueen and seasoned pros preston, lupino and ben johnson. it has a melancholy, elegiac quality to it that's rare in movies.
walter hill - HARD TIMES
i show this movie to folks and of course they've never heard of it; it's old, and was a B film. bronson's existential loner, chaney, drifts into the picture, then out, forever branding the memories of james coburn and strother martin. it's superb. terribly under-rated.
mel brooks - BLAZING SADDLES
wow, a black sherrif? count basie playing in the desert???
any heckerling - FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH
before cameron crowe became cameron crowe, he penned this, one of the most honest movies about teens. yeah it's funny, but it's also directed with a real eye. heckerling would move on to the big time, but this is still her best work. crowe's as well. sean penn IS spicolli...
1. bernardo bertolucci - THE CONFORMIST (IL CONFORMISTA)
many of the movie brats like scorsese, schrader and coppola point to this movie and when i first saw it it was beyond expectations - and that's a rarity in my experience when something comes so heavily sold. i've seen it over 20 times - easily. it's my favorite feature and is just as satisfying today if not more. fascism, plato, psycho-sexual dynamics, and more, all on display. and what a cast! PLUS cinematography by storaro and design by scarfiotti. never has the fascist aesthetic looked so good.
2. bruce brown - ON ANY SUNDAY
no, this bears zero relation to any stupid football movie made by a studio. this is about sports though, specifically, motorcycle racing, in all of its manifestations: flat track, motocross, desert, hill climbing, drag racers, trials... and in one insane segment, ice racing! the movie is made with such love and reverence it is mesmerizing, at least to me. although it's decades old, it stands as a really great film, despite the technology of motorcycle racing having advanced far beyond. watch the segment where malcolm smith performs his trials stunts. the total control, the artistry, it's something else.
3. sam raimi - EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN
this flick reaches hysterical and yet lyrical peaks that few films do. it is so inventive that upon its release it eclipsed anything that had come before in the genre. i must have seen it 6 times in theaters and countless others on video. raimi's since moved on to the big time, but this is by far his most original and best work.
4. george stevens - A PLACE IN THE SUN
so the gals won't think i'm all about testosterone, here's one, albeit anything but light and romantic. instead, it's hyper-romantic and tragic. mike nichols has said that this is one of the greatest american films, and i agree. fantastic in every way, from the motifs to superb performances all around. and Liz at 19 is so beautiful it's unfair.
5. sam peckinpah - THE WILD BUNCH
back to testosterone. but despite it's macho rep, this movie is very poetic - it's really an elegy to a time passing by its participants. it's also about loyalty - "if you can't side with a man then you're like some animal!"
what a cast, what a director. i've seen this one over thirty times.
6. hitchcock - VERTIGO
scorsese has said something to the effect that VERTIGO is amazing because it's a studio film but is so personal. while i agee, i think that no one else could have made this masterpiece. there are moments in this movie that transcend and enter into surreality - like the long sequences when scotty is tailing madeleine. i've seen all manner of cinema - experimental, foreign, art for art's sake, dada, surrealist - and nothing matches the mood and tenor of VERTIGO. it's a singular achievement.
7. kenji misumi - LONE WOLF AND CUB
ok, i'm cheating as this isn't one movie - this is the classic series straight from japan, and i cite misumi because he made at least 3 or 4 of them. i love these so much it really hurts that darren aronofsky is slated to make a movie to be released in a year or so based upon the comics. <rolls eyes> everyone here no doubt knows reams about this legendary series so anything i say is just superfluous. and wasn't daigoro perfect??? HONORABLE MENTION: the zatoichi series; star shintaro katsu and Lone Wolf star tomisaburo wakayama were brothers...
8. mel stuart - WILLIE WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
not the remake - NO! 'nuff said. ebert has said that this movie is a work of pure imagination - i agree, every bit as much as say lynch's ERASERHEAD. just not as obvious. oh, it was financed by quaker oats!
9. scorsese - NEW YORK, NEW YORK
i can hear it now: WHAT?!? NY NY over RAGING BULL and TAXI DRIVER??? well, i think RAGING BULL and TD are two of the greatest features, period, NY NY goes to the island with me. scorned by critics and public alike, this is the greatest valentine to hollywood by an artist - ever. it's a love letter to a bygone era - the golden age epitomized by MGM in the 40's. the sets by legend Boris Leven (who also worked on THE KING OF COMEDY) aren't realistic. watch the scene where deniro proposes to minelli and you'll know what i mean. make sure and see the unedited version with the "Happy Endings" sequence - it's fantastic moviemaking on evey level and in itself a valentine to hollywood and dreams. at the end of this film i always feel as if i've been on a journey and really lived through something...
10. bunuel - THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE
bunuel was 77 when he made this, his masterpiece. it is a film at once political, poetic, psycho-sexual, and a surrealist masterpiece. the ending where mathieu and conchita look at the woman darning the bloody lace mantilla would make no sense if you read it as a piece of literature. and yet, as bunuel himself has said, it's strangely moving. that's the power of cinema, when in the right hands, it has the ability to take the mundane and transcend it. it also introduced the world to carole bouquet, a beauty if ever there was one.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
sidney lumet - NETWORK
great cast, great director, great writer. still as powerful today...
capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
yeah, i'm a sucka for it. listen, i'm an atheist and this film gets me, it's that good. i'm really tempted to bump something from the ten and put this in. suffice to say that whenever it's on i watch it. spielberg's personal favorite film.
park's OLDBOY
i've seen his other films in the vengeance trilogy and honestly wasn't impressed, but his juices really got going on this one. one of the best features i've seen in the past couple of years.
yang li's BLINDSHAFT
wow - i saw this at a black film fest that had the forward thinking to include an asian film, and was blown away. small, quiet and superbly acted, this movie puts to shame big bloated hollywood fare by cruise, hanks, sandler, kutcher and the rest of the bozos who get paid a gazillion.
jamie uys's ANIMALS ARE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
fantastic. he's much more famous for his THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY but AABP is better. if there are kids in your family show this to them - you'll get a kick out of it too.
kubrick's BARRY LYNDON
rarely has a movie looked as beautiful. if i neglect this master's other more noted works it's because this movie is for me a bit more accesible - this is desert island after all. the candlelit scenes were lit by only the candles in the scene and were shot with custom made zeiss lenses.
george romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD
i've seen this at least 12 times and each one is a kick. as much a commentary on consumption as a horror flick. classic.
john huston - WISEBLOOD
brad dourif has since sunk into obscurity but he's super as is harry dean stanton in this o'conner tale of the church of jesus christ wthout christ.
john huston - FAT CITY
great cast; stacy keach, whatever happened to that guy? susan tyrell steals the show, and jeff bridges is young and not fat yet.
john huston - THE AFRICAN QUEEN
somehow this movie works. really well. and i don't particularly like bogie or hepburn.
mike nichols - WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
the first film that showed me that movies weren't pure escapist fare, that they could be "something else."
depalma - SCARFACE
'nuff said
coppola - THE GODFATHER
'nuff said
leone - ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
stunning film, and henry fonda's best work.
leone - THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
'nuff said
polanski - CHINATOWN
'nuff said
woody allen - ANNIE HALL
really funny. insightful. truthful. so many great jokes. like when he pulls marshall mcluhan (it was riginally supposed to be bunuel!) out from behind a placard to support his point...
woody allen - LOVE AND DEATH
shall we say pistols at dawn?
well we can say it but i don't know what it means...
pretty vintage woody.
peckinpah's JUNIOR BONNER
"bloody sam" had a soft side, and JB shows it in rare form. beautiful acting by mcqueen and seasoned pros preston, lupino and ben johnson. it has a melancholy, elegiac quality to it that's rare in movies.
walter hill - HARD TIMES
i show this movie to folks and of course they've never heard of it; it's old, and was a B film. bronson's existential loner, chaney, drifts into the picture, then out, forever branding the memories of james coburn and strother martin. it's superb. terribly under-rated.
mel brooks - BLAZING SADDLES
wow, a black sherrif? count basie playing in the desert???
any heckerling - FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH
before cameron crowe became cameron crowe, he penned this, one of the most honest movies about teens. yeah it's funny, but it's also directed with a real eye. heckerling would move on to the big time, but this is still her best work. crowe's as well. sean penn IS spicolli...