My Favorite Movies

Hands down, the greatest movie of all time. It has so many layers that you could watch it a thousand times and still get a kick out of it. If you don't like this movie then I don't like you.

This is the single greatest parody of all time. A straight faced comedy that plays like a melodrama, only every line's a cliche and every character's emotionally dysfunctional. Toss in a few Russ Meyer women, some long-winded moralizing, and one of the best WTF moments ever and you've got yourself one amazing piece of cinema.

There is something so very special about this film. Perhaps it's Zulawski's uniques style, perhaps it's the bizarrely perfect performances of both Adjani and Neill, or perhaps it's the giant squid monster. Maybe it's all three and more, I don't know, but one thing is for sure, you can't watch just one Zulawski film and hope to understand where he's coming from. This one alone requires multiple viewings as from what I can tell, Zulawski's films are never about what's on the surface, rather what's bubbling up from the deep and driving his characters completely mad. They're about base emotions and concepts (adultry, oppression, etc) and yet they are portrayed in ways that challenge you to think beyond the typical, beyond what you want to think, beyond the obvious.

Possession is a great film that I'll probably never fully understand but will always think about. It's a masterpiece.

An absolute masterpiece. Peckinpah and Oates...what more could you want? Oh yeah, how bout a real kickass story of love, money, vengeance and violence. Fuckin A man. Plus Kris Kristofferson cameos as a rapist.

Nihilistic, stark and mostly incomprehensible. This is just about one of the greatest little films I've ever accidentally stumbled across. From the gorgeous black and white imagery to the bizarrely jazzy soundtrack; this film is (and I hate myself for using this terminology) a gem.

Edit* After a third viewing, I'm bumpin this up to 5 stars. Not only that, after seeing a few more Wakamatsu films he's certainly become one of my top directors. This has got to be one of the most hypnotically beautiful films I've scene. Everything from the strange poetry like dialogue to the visuals is stunning. I love it.

A slow, yet perfectly paced (and certainly not dull) , film about four people who live on the road. The cast is brilliant, but Warren Oates, as usual, steals it with his portrayal of the wounded G.T.O., just trying to connect with someone, trying not to "go into orbit." Indeed the film itself is almost poetic, and the last few seconds are simultaneously beautiful and shamelessly bleak. Truly brilliant.

This is my first Greenaway and it certainly was one hell of a film.

First things first, the set for this thing is unbelievable. It's like one huge stage. Each section of the stage is a part of this restaurant (dining room, kitchen, back alley and W.C.) and each part has its own color motif which is usually matched by the clothes of those within the room, even as characters walk, storm, or are dragged from room to room their clothes change color. It's technically impressive and visually stunning.

The acting is amazing. Michael Gambon plays Albert Spica, a character that might even surpass Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth on the despicable meter. He beats his wife, humiliates his "friends" and harasses random strangers. Every time he's on the screen his mouth just keeps rambling and rambling with the most horrible, hateful and crassly put insults, jokes, anecdotes and criticisms. He's also the owner of the restaurant.

His wife, Georgina, sits silently by his side, chided by Albert for her not speaking much but verbally abused when she does open her mouth. She's played with class and grace by the exquisite Helen Mirren. Eventually she and an intelligent soft spoken well-read patron of the restaurant named Michael start exchanging glances, and soon their having a passionate affair between courses in the ladies restroom.

I'd hate to spoil the rest of the film, suffice it to say that what follows is a fascinating, dark, disturbing and beautiful take on the revenge genre, with one of the best final scenes and lines I've seen in a while.

The extraordinary power of this film is unlike anything I've ever experienced. It's gut-wrenching, grotesque, and twisted yet still shockingly genuine. Extremely moving, exceedingly powerful; it's a film that avoids the conventions of most WWII cinema and forces you to take a gruesome trip you'll never forget.

Everything about this film is a little off. The dialogue doesn't seem natural, the plot seems to just spread itself out like liquid, and the acting is at times almost too over the top and at others almost too low key. Oddly enough, in the end, this works strangely well; all these elements coming together to form a cinematic experience that is, itself, almost poetic...almost...and that's just fine.

It's amazing how such a generally boring, overdone subject, in the hands of a great director like Cassavetes, can be so hypnotic, sincere, and fascinating. This is a film that just draws you into the lives of these people and it's absolutely captivating. The whole cast is fantastic, but John Marley gives one of the most remarkable and memorable performances I've seen.

Hell if I know what this is about, but who cares when you've got such gorgeous cinematography. Not that the strange, nonlinear plot about rebels, betrayals, and a mystery girl isn't engaging in a befuddling way, but every thing on the screen is so damn beautiful that you hardly need to concern yourself with which character is dead or alive or who or when or what or how. This is pure cinema through and through.

Shuji Terayama uses gorgeous color and imagery to create a dreamlike semi-autobiographical vision of rural Japan. Terayama meshes past and present, fantasy and reality creating for himself a past that is both idealistic and tragic; truth and fiction.
Highlights include a traveling circus featuring an inflatable woman and her unfaithful dwarf husband.

A fantastic film, and one one of Jarmusch's best for sure. It's brilliantly funny, and beautifully shot with a good simple story that doesn't really try to be extraordinarily deep but rather focuses on these three very different characters and how they get along. Tom Waits is the coolest human being alive.

Bizarre, revolting, stunning and psychotic. This film is pure visual brilliance and should be seen by everybody. Jodorowsky has one of the most creative minds in the history of cinema.

So freaking cool. This is a movie where shit just happens, you know, and when shit happens you gotta deal with it. And the characters do deal with it, as they drift in and of a plot that really only serves as a backdrop to Wintergreen's development. Blake and Mitch Ryan give simply great performances, and the direction is superb. The final shot was amazing, it's likely to become one of my favorite endings of all time. Oh...and there's a real kickass motorcycle chase too.

Great....just great. Possibly the best movie that came out in the seventies, was virtually ignored, never had a personal video release prior to the recently available subversive DVD, and is destined to fade back into obscurity as the 90% "not interested" rate clearly shows a continued indiference toward what should be considered a classic.

You really can't go wrong when Nero and Corbucci get together. Throw Tomas Milian and Jack Palance and the mix and you've got a treasure that may just be one of the best spaghetti westerns ever made.

Not to mention that goddamn catchy Morricone theme song.

Bava's best in my opinion. For a film that takes place almost entirely in a car, this was really tense. The acting is excellent, the music is excellent, the plot is fairly original. This is one of the few films that's end has caught me a little off guard, maybe in retrospect it shouldn't have but that it did is still a rather impressive feat.

This is one of the most disturbing, grotesque, bizarre and beautiful things ever committed to celluloid. You may feel like vomiting several times during the film, but if you persevere and fight the urge to close your eyes or hit eject then you're likely to see one of the most strangely gorgeous pieces of cinema of all time. It's an experience you'll never be able to forget whether you want to or not.

Kinji Fukasaku is a genius and this is just him doin his thing. It's got Meiko Kaji in it so that's a plus for me. If you want to get into yakuza movies, this is a great place to start.

This is possibly my favorite eighties movie. Fred Dekker was a master of B-movie horror schlock and this is his masterpiece. For me, it doesn't get much more iconic than Cynthia Cronenberg toting one of the biggest, baddest flamethrowers ever, torching zombies, whilst wearing a prom dress.

This is my favorite of the old classic monster movies. Succeeds on every level has one of the coolest monsters to date. To hell with Dracula, The Wolfman, Frankenstein and The Mummy. The Gillman kicks all their asses.

If you can get past the hardcore porn it's really a pretty damn good little sleaze film. Actually it's one of the coolest revenge flicks of all time. Lindberg is awesome, and I've developed a strange fondness for the unnecessary and grotesque hardcore inserts. Flat out great film so bugger you if ya don't like it. It's definitely become one of my favorites.

Yeah, it's basically porn. But it's well executed porn with a somewhat coherent plot. Hell, it definately influenced Tarantino, and Reiko ike's naked sword fight in the snow was one of the coolest and most bizarre thing's I've ever seen. Sleaze at it's finest.

I haven't seen many concert movies, but of the ones I have seen, this is the best. Martin Scorsese has excellent taste in music, and his love of The Band is clearly evident in how carefully shot and edited this movie is. It's got Dylan, Morrison, Clapton, Muddy Waters. God, it's like the greatest concert of all time.

"Whado I care...I got a growth on my pecker."

I love this film; it gets better each time I watch it. Bruce Campbell is the man and makes a great geriatric Elvis.

Meiko Kaji kicks some serious ass in this one. I don't know of another female actress able of conveying the feirceness Kaji was able to achieve seemingly effortlessly in this roll. One of the best films Kill Bill led me to.

The only zombie vs. shark fight I know of. One of the top five zombie movies of all time, for sure.

Very sick. If you want to dive into the world of underground films, watching this is a great way to get cred. If you have a weak stomach it's also a great way to throw up. There are six on screen animal deaths, the worst of which involves a huge turtle being hacked limb from limb and gutted. There's also an effect that looked so real to so many people that the director hd to prove in court that he didn't actually kill any human beings. Definately worth a watch if you're into this sorta thing.

What's better than a bunch of Japanese highschoolers duking it out in the ultimate island deathmatch? It's a great modern cult film.

The most kickass movie of one of the most kick ass series. Things get epic when super awesome samurai Ogami Itto's gotta fend off like a thousand guys using his fully loaded babycart machine gun.

One of the best chick gang exploitation movies ever. Extremely funny, with dialogue so good you can taste it. I mean, there's an ambush at a roller dome. Come on, you know you want to see it.

It's not really a fast paced movie, as most people seem to think it is. Rather, it's just a fairy tale like series of adventures with an exciting cast of characters. Kowalski doesn't initially really have a good reason to run from the cops, but by the end of it he actually stands for something. It a beautiful film and a perfect example of a fable-like epic.

This was exactly what it was supposed to be, and just about as good as it could've been. I had a great time watching it, and the characters kept me intrigued. The only problem I had was with the how Martino chose to reveal the "twist" if you want to call it that. Other than that it was a great, simple, and extremely enjoyable film. Oh... and Edwidge Fenech ain't exactly hard on the eyes.

This is kind of a sequel to Sex and Fury, but only in that it has the same main character. It's crazier, but for some reason I just didn't like it as much as the first one. I did like, however, the reference they threw in there to Scorpion from the Female Prisoner Scorpion moves. Overall it was really cool, just not as cool as Sex and Fury.

So, this is obviously playing a similar game to Rosemary's Baby. Satanists, paranoia, murder etc... What differentiaties this is it's groovy seventies trippy as hell vibe. Honestly, I was starting to question my sanity by the end of it. Edwige Fenech has to be one of the most beautiful women of all time, and she just so happens to be a great actress as well. It was a great giallo, and overall a really great film. I beg to differ with whoever said this isn't as good as Fulci or Argento. Martino can make you freak out man, he's really good at the psychological games.

This movie is fantastic. It's extremely tense and very well acted. Danny Boyle's direction is spot on, the visuals are amazing, and the plot is interesting. I really don't get what people have against the "third act" as everyone calls it. I thought it was just fine.

It's a cool Fulci Spaghetti Western, but not quite as cool as it should've been given the characters and plot. I don't know why Fulci devoted a half hour of it to random townspeople and Bunny's baby, but he did, and it's stupid and boring. Other than that, and the godawful soundtrack, this film is great. It just needed a bit more Chaco.

Not as cool as Zombi 2, but definately one of the most unique zombie movies. The only one I know of where the zombies can teleport.

Abel Ferrara's best by a mile. The end has our mute heroine taking on an entire halloween party dressed as a nun. Very, very cool.

Terribly awesome sexploitation flick. Dialogue so ingeniously bad, so rottenly good, that you'll just sit there wondering why you're grinning so much. And believe me, Russ Meyer knew exactly what he was doing. It's actually a very smart film once you realize that the camp, excessive double entendres and over the top melodrama is entirely intentional. Very funny, crude and trashy brilliance. Russ Meyer was an absolute genius. This isn't quite as great as Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, but the iconic Tura Satana as Varla makes it hard to consider this anything less than a classic and a masterpiece.

This certainly is a nasty one. It's got three of the most brutal and shocking rape scenes ever put on film and I would not recommend this to anyone for fear that they think me some sort of sick freak after watching it. The whole point of this movie, however, isn't the rape, it's the revenge. Nothings better than seeing some well deserved justice dealt out by one seriously pissed off chick. It's far from being the greatest film of all time, but it certainly not the worst.

Yet another brilliant Fukasaku yakuza movie. From what I've seen so far, you really can't go wrong with a Fukasaku movie. He's quickly risen to the top of my favorite directors list and this is just as top notch as everything else he's done.

Not great, but still a really cool, funny Chiba flick. You gotta love how the bearfight really has almost absolutely nothing to do with the primary plot. "I'll pay this kid's dad's medical bills, but only if you fight this bear." Certainly a must-see for Chiba fans, or any cult cinema fans for that matter.