My Favorite Movies

It's a true shame that David Denby of the New Yorker chose to criticize the depth of Inception as "complicated" simply because it went over his head. Denby's credential as a film critic is severely retarded by his lack to process any amount of plot information more complex than a Highlights magazine. Seriously, go read Denby's review in The New Yorker. It's paragraph and paragraph of how Inception was, basically, too hard for him; therefore, it will be too hard for you. An excerpt:

Now and then, you may discover that the effort to keep up with the multilevel tumult kills your pleasure in the movie. "Inception" is a stunning-looking film that gets lost in fabulous intricacies, a movie devoted to its own workings and to little else.

Denby's greatest accomplishment is failing during the dot-com bubble and writing a book about it. How that makes him an authority on moving pictures is beyond me.

I disagree, with strong conviction, that this film was made for "smart people" or that it is "hard to follow". What I do believe is that for years and years Hollywood has chosen to dumb down its output to make it more marketable, thus lowering everyone's expectations of what a "good movie" is or should be. Christopher Nolan is admirable in this sense; he treats you as a viewer with a brain, and refuses to dumb it down for you, or David Denby.

Nolan finds the perfect blend of drama, action, character, and plot, and does it with a welcome dose of originality (that is, if you believe the oddly similar Uncle Scrooge comic plot to be sheer coincidence-- Google it). The cinematography (close-up of watch going backwards, hallway fight) is classical yet innovative. And the booming score by Hans Zimmer complements the epic nature of the film.

Christopher Nolan is a one-man Pixar: everything he does is gold. See this film as soon as possible, so you can watch it again.

Typical Coen Brothers, if there is such a thing. Lots of randomness, but woven together seamlessly, as if a hippie, a trio of German techno-pop nihilists, a stolen rug, a severed toe and bowling were naturally meant to go together. That's great writing.

Shut the fuck up, Donny.

Great story, realistic violence, and a twist at the end. Amazing cinematography, especially the hallway fight scene. Also, there are some disturbingly raw scenes, like when the main character eats a live squid. I like when filmmakers get brave and put stuff like that in their films. There's a cute girl in it, too, which is a plus, except what happens to her in this movie is just gross.

The revenge B-movie fan's dream film is here. Kill Bill is a well-orchestrated demonstration of Tarantino's uncanny ability to combine everyone else's shit together and make it his own. Plagiarism aside, there was not a single moment in this film that did not entertain me. The cliffhanger was also classic. What keeps me in suspense more than the cliffhanger did is wondering what Tarantino will bite next.

This movie depicts teenagers killing other teenagers, which makes it automatically controversial in nature, but it's the premise and the characters' emotional dilemma that truly make the film intriguing. Any time you put your characters between a rock and a hard place, conflict will arise and characters flourish. That's textbook screenwriting. And what worse situation can you imagine than a class of teenagers forced to slaughter their fellow classmates, some of them close friends, or be killed themselves? Seeing the different impacts this dilemma has on each and every one of these poor kids is pure genius on the part of the director. Excellent story, brutal cinematography, and amazing acting (with a twist of randomness at the end by Beat Takeshi). I just wish they had left it at that and didn't try to milk a sequel out of it.

You may have heard on more than one occasion, on more than one Greatest Movies Ever Made list, that Citizen Kane is king of the mountain. Well, if it's not, it's pretty damn close.

Citizen Kane is a story about the life of a newspaper mogul whose last dying word, "Rosebud", prompts an investigation into its meaning by a group of reporters. This sets off a recollection of his entire tragic life.

Everything in this film is so obviously crafted with meticulous detail. The actors' movements are intertwined with the cinematography and lighting, creating beautifully framed shots from start to finish. The excellent writing and acting itself is allowed to shine through long, single-edit shots, and less integral montage sequences and transitional shots are edited with MTV-like precision. Even the sound is to great effect; used only when necessary.

With all of his Gates-like financial successes and subsequent lavish spending habits, the underlying tragedy of Kane's character makes him relatable; the one thing his money can't buy is the one thing that makes him human. And though the mystery of Rosebud has long since been uncovered and spoiled, the artistry and presentation of the story unfolding before you will keep you fixed.

Believe the hype. Citizen Kane is true art; it is filmmaking at its best.

300 gives the Frank Miller treatment to the Battle of Thermopylae, and it is amazing.

Upon first viewing, you will make the obvious comparison to Gladiator, but not so obvoiusly, you will feel some sort of resemblance to the LOTR trilogy. This is likely due to the epic nature of both, combined with the CG fabrication of just about everything not human. Actually, as a testament to the greatness of LOTR, I expect all epic films from now on to remind you of Middle Earth.

I don't know why they don't just hire comic book artists to do all movie storyboards. They always capture the drama of the moment in every panel, as witnessed in this movie, as well as Sin City. Both films were shot to mirror the visuals of their respective graphic novels, and both turned out visually stunning. The cinematography here is flawless. The acting is superb. The dialogue was dramatic, dynamic and wise-assed, befitting the confident if not arrogant nature of the Spartans.

Critics have whined, as they usually do, that this film was not historically accurate. Frank Miller has said that he didn't make a documentary. Both sides are correct. Remember that ALL historical accounts are subject to interpretation at the hands of its storyteller. Herodotus, the guy who first documented the Battle of Thermopylae, wasn't even THERE. So, right off the bat, the whole thing was open to Herodotus' interpretation. Plus, Herodotus' validity has been in question for a long time. So, who's to say what's accurate? The Battle as we know it is Herodotus' account. 300 is Frank Miller's account. So screw you, critics.

The only thing I didn't like was that they spoke fucking ENGLISH. And not just English, that same English with generic European accent that Hollywood uses in all the European period films. This is seriously my biggest Hollywood pet peeve. BUT... the great dialogue was written with such specific English inflection. Had it not been delivered in English, it would have lost all its punch. So, it had to be English. I guess.

If you can appreciate bloody battles (guys) and hard bodies (ladies), you will enjoy this. If you, however, are a Greek historian purist... this will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this.

This film combines a film noir quality with high-tech futuristic elements and pulls it off amazingly, right down to the whodunnit storyline and the twist. Spielberg tells stories like no one else can. The story takes place in the future but does not fall victim to the futuristic film cliches, such as techno music and crazy clothing. A clear example of this is the use of Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 to score a scene where John Anderton (Cruise) searches a pre-cog's visions using a glove hooked up to a high-tech digital display. It all feels real. The acting is superb, the story is amazing, the cinematography is stunning. I like everything about this movie.

Kamikaze Girls, on the outside, looks like a sugary 120-minute J-Pop music video-- lending to this are the casting of two J-Pop stars (Kyoko Fukada and Anna Tsuchiya) in the lead roles-- but on the inside, this film is much, much more. It is a story of two unlikely friends and their growing relationship with each other.

Fans of Japanese humor and anime are guaranteed to enjoy this. The story is well-written and perfectly balances the off-the-wall humor with genuine emotion and great dramatic scenes. Big props to Fukada and Tsuchiya-- their acting chops put to shame any American pop star acting performances I've ever seen.

Brilliantly quirky comedic AND dramatic acting combines with equally quirky visuals and vivid cinematography reminiscent of Amelie to create a pleasurable viewing experience for all.