Movies I Have Loved by Ari Young

January 13, 2012 by ariellecyan | 4 Comments

I’ve decided to write a blog about movies, the one medium I might love more than (or equal to) literature. I know, how blasphemous of me, right? Well I grew up glued to the tv screen, when I wasn’t outside playing, devouring any and all movies. In high school, my best friend and I spent a few summers spending many hours at the movie store picking out the best, weirdest, and most terrible looking movies possible. Sometimes we would find the worst possible looking horror movies, play them with the volume down, and do all the characters lines. Yes, we had no boyfriends. That much is obvious.

Later in life, I decided I needed to watch every movie on American Film Institute’s top 100 movies of all time list. Thus far, I think I’ve only seen about 60 movies on the list, but it introduced an entirely new world of cinema to me, introducing me to amazing actors like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, William Holden, Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, and wonderful actresses like Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Gloria Swanson, Bette Davis, etc. There are so many great gems from the “Hays Code” era of cinema that it’d be hard to figure out which ones are worth watching, thus this list was a great guide for me.

In more recent years I’ve branched out into “indie films,” renting those random movies at the store that I’ve never heard of, often starring an entire cast of D-list actors. Sometimes these movies are surprisingly amazing, and I have fallen in love with a few, and sometimes they are terrible and I immediately regret my decision and waste of $2.

Either way, movies are an adventure. If we only watched what Hollywood crammed down our throats, I think we’d be all the dumber for it. There are so many amazing talented filmmakers out there, who, for budget problems or lack of production value, are incapable of getting their movies seen by a wider audience, and that saddens me. I like to give the underdogs a try.

Granted, though film buff I may be (in some people’s eyes,) I am no match for a real master. I may have seen a lot more movies than the average person, but I have a few friends that could easily beat the pants off of me at Scene-it. Just a few though.

Anyway, for better or for worse, this movie blog is going somewhere. I’d love to share with you my top twenty movies of all time: some are old, some are new, some are relatively unknown, and some are huge. Also I would love to hear feedback, arguments, and responses with my readers outlining their favorite movies. I could talk movies all day if you let me. But here goes, in no particular order, my top 20.

1. Once (2006)

“Once” is a very cute little love story. It is the story of a street musician and a flower girl who meet in Dublin and decide to make some music together. It is simple, so simple the characters have no names, but there is an added dash of realism that makes the story even more touching and sympathetic. Since I first watched this movie in 2008, I have watched it probably twenty times or more. The music is equally as beautiful, and the film even won an Oscar for Best Song. Take that Disney. Since the movie was made (for very, very cheap,) the two main characters have gone on to create a band called The Swell Season and have toured all over U.S. and Europe.

2. Before Sunrise/Before Sunset (1995 & 2004)

I know, I’m cheating putting two movies in one spot, but these movies are sequels and counterparts and they work so damn well as a mini-marathon for the hopeless romantic in you. Another indie movie set in Europe about two beautiful people falling in love over a short period of time. I’m such a girl. This movie is different though, there’s no Hollywood bravado and dramatic romantic gestures. There is just a great script involving some of the best/most realistic dialogue I’ve ever heard in a movie, and two very interesting, supremely well-rounded characters that you can’t help but fall in love with. These movies hold a very special place in my heart. Don’t worry, they aren’t just chick flicks, I know several males that love them too.

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

I know, right? Now you’re thinking to yourself “what a damn girly girl, don’t you watch anything other than uber-romantic movies?” I promise you, I do. I’ll get to them! But seriously, this movie goes beyond romance film and into seriously skewed territory. Written wonderfully by Charlie Kaufman, the crazy man behind several other awesome mindfuck movies, this film dissects the inner workings of a relationship, and what really does happen after the “happily ever after.” It is, at times heart wrenching, uplifting, and certain lines and songs always give me goosebumps. It also reminded us that yes, Jim Carrey can act, and can be likable!

4. City Lights (1931)

Another street person in love with a flower girl, but this one is different! This one is #4 on AFI’s top 100 list, and for a very good reason: it is absolutely hilarious, beautiful, touching, and makes me cry every damn time. Charlie Chaplin plays his most famous character “The Tramp,” a hapless goofy bum who gets into mishaps, and this time he falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. There is a lot more to it, but I don’t want to ruin it, because you really need to watch it, now.

5. Heat (1995)

All you really need to know about this movie is that it’s fucking badass, and stars Al Pacino AND Robert De Niro before they both started making shitty movies. One’s a good guy, one’s a bad guy, shit gets real, banks get robbed, your balls grow a little larger for having watched it.

6. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Hunter S. Thompson is one of my favorite writers, for many reasons: we both love booze and finding ourselves in ridiculous scenarios. Granted, I don’t do drugs or shoot things, but let’s face it, he did enough of both of those in his lifetime for the rest of us. While “Fear and Loathing” was never my favorite book of his (that would be “The Rum Diary,”) it was still fascinating to watch Johnny Depp absolutely transform himself into the stark raving madman Thompson could so often be. That Depp didn’t win Best Actor that year is a travesty. The movie is chockfull of Thompson’s signature one-liners as well as one of my favorite chunks in literature:

“Strange memories on this nervous night in Las Vegas. Five years later? Six? It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era — the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run . . . but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant. . . .

History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of “history” it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time — and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened.

My central memory of that time seems to hang on one or five or maybe forty nights — or very early mornings — when I left the Fillmore half-crazy and, instead of going home, aimed the big 650 Lightning across the Bay Bridge at a hundred miles an hour wearing L. L. Bean shorts and a Butte sheepherder’s jacket . . . booming through the Treasure Island tunnel at the lights of Oakland and Berkeley and Richmond, not quite sure which turn-off to take when I got to the other end (always stalling at the toll-gate, too twisted to find neutral while I fumbled for change) . . . but being absolutely certain that no matter which way I went I would come to a place where people were just as high and wild as I was: No doubt at all about that. . . .

There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda. . . . You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. . . .

And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . .

So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.”

That shit gives me goosebumps. Damn my lack of being alive during the sixties. Anyway…

7. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Hello men, you know you cried during this movie. Just admit it, it’s alright. This is one of about 3 movies men are allowed to cry during, without feeling like a wuss. The last 5 minutes of the film… gets me every. single. time. This is one of those films that, once I start watching, it’s hard to tear my eyes away. Maybe it comes from having a father obsessed with World War II, but I absolutely LOVE war movies. The bizarre spectacle of humans scrambling on a muddy battlefield fascinates me like few other things. I know, I’m morbid. Anyway, Saving Private Ryan was understandably nominated for Best Picture Oscar, but the fact that it didn’t win is a crime against man. F you “Shakespeare in Love.” Paltrow ain’t got nothin’ on Hanks.

8. Goodfellas (1990)

Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci: Mobsters. If that doesn’t entice you, you have no heart. It’s the story of a guy trying to make it as a mobster, killing people, awesome music, double-crossing… good ole-fashioned fun. I STILL can’t hear the ending of “Layla” without thinking of that one scene. You know the scene.

9. Zodiac (2007)

I love David Fincher dearly. He is one of the greatest working directors in Hollywood, in my opinion. His movies are imbued with a dark tone that is so definitively Fincher. It was hard for me to pick my favorite Fincher film for the very reason that most of his movies are amazing. I’ve always had a weird fascination with crime, serial killers, detectives, the whole shebang. There’s a small part of me that wants to be a detective or forensic investigator, but I’m kind of lazy so I probably won’t. I get my vicarious crime-solving kicks by reading crime non-fiction and watching movies in the genre. This is one movie I have had many spirited discussions about, many people found it overlong and boring, while I found it to be totally captivating and intriguing. The story concerns the Zodiac Killer who was murdering people in San Francisco in the 1960′s and 1970s. The movie is a fascinating character study about the people assigned to track him down, including one detective who basically devoted his life to the case. Not only is the movie filled with brilliant acting, but the director has so masterfully recreated 1970s San Francisco that you feel like you’ve stepped back in time for the entirety of the movie. I love it.

**Honorable mention: Dirty Harry: In this 1971 film, Clint Eastwood is Detective Harry Callahan, working in San Francisco and tracking down the “Scorpio Killer.” It is more than loosely based on the Zodiac Killer, and is full of Clint Eastwood badassery.

10. From Dusk till Dawn (1996)

Hands down, this is my favorite movie to show to someone who has never seen it. If you’ve seen it, you know why. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and don’t look up the plot synopsis, just come on over, I’ll make popcorn and we’ll watch it! Also, hands down, greatest George Clooney role ever. As the tattooed bank robber Seth Gecko, he’s never been sexier. His perverted brother Richard is played by Quentin Tarantino with disconcerting ease. The pair cause mayhem throughout Texas, then head to Mexico, hostages in tow. They head to a strip club, a rendezvous point for cash exchange, and then all hell breaks loose. I won’t say anything further, I refuse to spoil even a 16 year old movie. All you need to know is that the movie stars George, Quentin, Harvey Keitel, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, and Tom Savini. Also it has some of the most quotable lines in movie history. Also, Tom Savini’s character is named Sex Machine. C’mon, that’s awesome!

11. No Country for Old Men (2007)

The Coen Brothers are awesome. I had probably the hardest time choosing just one Coen Bros movie, after all they made “The Big Lebowski,” “Fargo,” “O Brother Where Art Thou,” “Hudsucker Proxy,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “Raising Arizona,” “Blood Simple,” “Burn After Reading,” and other movies I haven’t seen. Everything I’ve seen by them has been pretty damn awesome. Like Fincher, you can almost always recognize a Coen Bros movie as quintessentially “them,” but unlike Fincher, their movies are all drastically different. Generally they have the basic theme of “crime & criminals,” but they range from ultra-quirky to ultra-serious. “No Country for Old Men” is one of their most serious movies. It is one of the most perfect examples of a great film, all quiet subtlety and agonizingly drawn out scenes that put you more on the edge of your seat than the most harrowing of action films. Javier Bardem embodies a perfect killing machine, a well-spoken sociopath with a horrible haircut and no remorse. We fear him, because it seems possible that he exists, and he WILL find you. This movie works because it keeps you guessing, even after it’s over. You may watch it multiple times and still be unsure exactly how it ended. It’s brilliant.

12. Dial M for Murder (1954)

Ah, Hitchcock. Another director with a huge resume of mostly great films. I had a hard time narrowing this one down, but when it came down to it, I had to choose the most clever of his films (that I’ve seen.) “Dial M for Murder” is the story of a husband attempting to have his wife murdered and the resulting fall-out and unraveling of his plot. It’s very clever and well-written.

13. Casablanca (1942)

If you haven’t seen it, that’s just silly, but here’s a quick plot summary: Rick and Ilsa used to be a couple, he now runs a bar in Casablanca, Morocco. She shows up with her new man and old flames burn hot. Also it takes place against the backdrop of World War II. It’s just a beautiful acted and shot film, it makes your heart feel feelings, and it shows Humphrey Bogart, a hyper-masculine mobster looking dude as a soft-hearted super romantic. It made me fall in love with him. Also, Ingrid Bergman was one of the most beautiful women ever to live. It’s unfair really. When Rick and Ilsa first see each other again at Rick’s Place, it’s pure movie magic.

14. SLC Punk (1998)

The scene: SLC, 1980s, the people: two punk rockers, the awesome cast: Matthew Lillard, Devon Sawa, Til Schweiger (hottest German ever,) Jason Segel,  James Duval (a hot D-list actor,) and Summer Phoenix. The movie is basically about 2 best friends hanging out, partying, doing drugs, contemplating life, falling in love, partying more, fighting with rednecks, etc. It’s a movie that holds a special place in my heart, due to my near weekly viewings/hair-dying parties in high school. It may not be as awesome if I were to watch it for the first time at this age, but I will always love it.

15. Pulp Fiction (1994)

Ah, the movie that revived John Travolta’s career, started mass Tarantino worship, and gave birth to about 100 extremely quotable lines. What else can I say about “Pulp Fiction?” We’ve all seen it. For many years it was my #1 movie, but it has been cast aside by changing tastes. I’ll always love it though. “Zed’s dead, baby.”

16. A Very Long Engagement (2004)

My first and only foreign entry, a French film starring the utterly adorable Audrey Tatou. Not that I don’t love foreign films, but that’s an entirely other can of worms and I don’t want to change this list into a top 100. Anyway, this movie is based on a beautiful book by the same name, which I read in a Contemporary Lit class, and in which we then watched the film. The book is really special, and the movie does a pretty great adaptation. It would be a far stretch to find any other French actress than Tatou to play the main character Mathilde. The story centers on Mathilde and her search to find out what happened to her fiancee Manech (played by Gaspard Ulliel, young Hannibal Lecter,) during WWI. The movie would best be described as historiographical metafiction, a fictional story based against a real event. It’s a romance, a mystery, and a war movie all wrapped up in one. It is supremely well-crafted and has similar adorable quirks to the more well-known Tatou vehicle “Amelie.”

17. Back to the Future (1985)

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need..roads.” We are all happier, better people for having seen this film. God Bless you Michael J. Fox.

18. Evil Dead (1981)

I knew Bruce Campbell would have to be on this list somewhere, but it took some thinking to narrow it down. In the end, I had to go with the original Campbell/Raimi collaboration, the film that gave birth to an entire wave of over the top horror-comedies. It has a very generic plot: a group of friends go to a cabin in the woods, bad things happen. However this film is executed with such excessive gore, cheesy acting, and youthful exuberance, that it surpasses all other films in the same vein. The film was one of the original cult classics, made on a dime that has gone on to gross millions and gain a huge following in the horror nerd demographic, a group for whom Bruce Campbell is often seen as their leader. There are so many tiny easter eggs in this film, and it’s two sequels, it’s fun to watch them repeatedly and see what you can catch. Fun fact: The car they drive down to the cabin with has been in every Sam Raimi film he has made since it made it’s debut in this film. Likewise, Raimi generally gives Bruce Campbell a bit part in all of his movies. (as have the Coens in several films.)

19. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Such a happy, happy film. This is my go-to “cheer me up” movie when I am feeling down. It is hard to feel down when watching handsome handsome handsome Gene Kelly soft-shoeing his way down a rainy street after a particularly great date. It’s just so frickin’ cute!

20. Crap. I was originally going to go to 25, but there are too many awesome movies left, and I simply cannot narrow it down. So I will just make #20 a multi-way tie between: The General, Royal Tenenbaums, Dawn of the Dead, Wayne’s World, Jaws, French Connection, 12 Angry Men, Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters, Die Hard, The Shining, Alien, Terminator, and Almost Famous. I’m sure I left something out.

That is all, my friends. Feel free to argue with my choices or let me know how offended you are that your favorite film is not on the list.

Arrivederci!

-Ari

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