My Favorite Movies

Epic masterpiece.

Someone else on Flixster said it better than I ever could:
"Me and You and Everyone We Know" is exactly what an independent film should be. It's artsy but not pretentious, daring but not offensive, and sophisticated yet almost naive in its narrow-minded view of the world.

A massive, sprawling, layered, complex, symbolic, wonderful mess of a movie, and it uses the possibilities of the medium to the last drop.

The Dreamers effortlessly seduced me with its lush aesthetics, its romanticism, the excitement of revolution, the adventure of being on your own in a foreign country, the nostalgic hommage to old movies I've never seen, the air of intellectualism, of knowing it all and engaging in verbal sparring, the abundant nudity and hedonistic eroticism, the perhaps stereotypical Frenchness of it all.
How could I not want to live in their dream world for a while?

Some of the greatest dialogue (and monologues!) I've ever heard in movies and some of the most memorable scenes I've recently seen: Truly masterfully executed.

Who gave Jeff Blitz a list of what I like in a movie? A story about a struggling outcast who refuses to give up, a bunch of quirky, dysfunctional yet lovable characters, humor derived mainly from awkward situations and brilliant comic timing, a fair amount of unexplained randomness at the edges of the plot, unusually eloquent language, an ending that's not sappy or cliched at all but still manages to be uplifting and motivating, the god damn Violent Femmes on the soundtrack: This film has it all.

This is a slow, intimate slice-of-life movie, a kind of mumblecore, hipster version of "Before Sunrise", but with a political edge: Race and the city's gentrification are major topics of conversation between the two African-American leads.

The atmosphere is perfect: The contrast-rich image, desaturated to the point that it's very nearly as black and white as the main character's worldview, the hand camera with its frequent changes of focus, the indie soundtrack (featuring Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Au Revoir Simone and Oh No! Oh My!) and the beautiful pictures of San Francisco reflect and augment the characters' emotions and situation wonderfully.

I loved this, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't just because I've only slept three out of the last thirty or so hours ? but what a perfectly fitting movie to watch in such an insomniac state. Highly recommended.

Felt like reading a mystery novel: no flashy effects or surprise last-minute plot twists, but a solid, well-told story with rich characters, a gorgeous set and clever dialogues. A crime mystery on the surface, a relationship story at its heart, and possibly an allegory to movies in general hidden beneath.

I laughed, I was stunned, I got teary-eyed. Animated or not, family-oriented or not -- this movie is a wonderful way to spend two hours.

Poppy is a 30-year-old who refuses to take life seriously: Always annoyingly cheerful, naively optimistic and trying to please everyone, she finds humor in even the most hostile situation. Happy-Go-Lucky is a character study that explores the friction between her glass-half-full outlook and reality, and the problems and mindsets of people around her. By the end you'll be left wondering how authentic, or at least sustainable, her attitude really is...

An intimate, slow-paced, melancholic movie -- definitely worth watching.

In addition to its cute premise, what really makes this film for me is its eccentric cast of characters. It's delightful and smart in a way reminiscent of Charlie Kaufman's work (Being John Malkovich, Adapation). That the story suffers a bit near the end doesn't dampen the enjoyment.

A largely plotless, biting, surreal comedy. Roy Andersson brilliantly amplifies and thereby exposes the absurdity of social rituals and cliches, making almost every single interaction between the poor depressed souls in his drab, grey cityscape look patently ridiculous.

One of the slickest, most beautifully shot (and especially post-processed) movies I've seen. A solid psychological thriller that will likely be more fun to watch the second time around due to the amount of clever hints toward the twist ending hidden throughout.

A big mashup of recently popular indie movies, but nevertheless a highly enjoyable film: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel do a great job, loads of creative technical ideas keep things interesting and most importantly, the characters and situations are believable and highly relatable.

Old-school sci-fi drama/thriller: Smart plot twists and deep questions about reality and morality in a future that feels believable, told at a slow pace, supported by beautiful visuals, impeccable style and a minimal but effective soundtrack.
Unfortunately none of the elements of this movie manage to come across as very original â?? starting from the imagined space station design, which is pretty much straight from 1968. It's still definitely worth seeing, especially for fans of the genre.

Wonderful premise and style, bizarre conclusion. Leaves too little to the imagination near the end for my tastes, but it's still a must-watch if you appreciate dark, paranoid, mystic/metaphysical Sci-Fi like Pi and One Point Zero.

1975-1982-1999-2009-2012: Fish Story tells the jumbled, decade-spanning story of a hapless band and their mysterious (albeit rocking) song which, neglected in its time, will some day... save the world!
It's a comedy with tasty bits and pieces of punk, sci-fi, martial arts, superheros and armageddon, and apart from an unexpected change of pace two thirds in, it's thoroughly entertaining.

Slick and polished to the extreme, and so over the top that it comes across as a parody of itself at times. The hues hardly stray from cold, bluish grays as cliches about conspiring mega-corporations, brainwashing, doub..triple... quadruple agents, super-valuable data disks and hidden hi-tech bunkers pile up, until they culminate in a horribly cheesy, but somehow well-fitting ending. As highly entertaining as it is meaningless.

There's not a whole lot of dialogue â?? and given the complexity of the topic at hand here, that fact can be quite aggravating: I found myself thinking "God, people, would it kill you to communicate a little more!?" several times. The story strays and wanders a bit and not all of the characters are allowed real depth, but the beautiful cinematography with its cool blue, sweeping beach vistas and Efrón's amazing job in the lead role as fifteen-year-old Alex still make this more than worthwhile.

Cute comedy about childhood creativity, friendship and family. Loved the hand-drawn illustration sequences.

Good biopic that finally turned me onto Joy Division's brilliant music. Very atmospheric, don't expect too much time spent on the plot or character development.

Works great if, like me, you don't know much about the political history of Brazil, Jewish communities and their customs, or the soccer World Cup of 1970. This is the world that young Mauro is apruptly thrust into, and without background knowledge his viewpoint becomes ours as well, as we viscerally experience a summer in São Paulo during tumultuous times.

I might not understand everything and can't eliminate the possibility that the whole thing's just a meaningless send-up, but yet I also can't shake the feeling that there's something brilliant hidden somewhere in the absurdity.

So the basic plot isn't original, big deal. Paprika is still a gorgeous spectacle. Lean back, suspend belief and accept the mindfuck.

Dystopian, dark, gritty and confusing. Great atmosphere and lots of interesting themes, but they still only add up to a mediocre movie.

A very realistic, never sappy or cliche drama about two neurotic, failed struggling intellectual siblings faced with the task of caring for their aging, estranged father while being preoccupied with their own vocational and relationship issues.
While its uncompromising realism at times makes the film border on the mundane, it finds lots of subtle humor in the absurd situations the pair are thrust into, and the dynamic between the likably flawed characters.

More fun to discuss and think about afterwards than to actually watch.

Less serious "Brick" ripoff still manages to shine thanks to lead actor, impeccable noir style and effective soundtrack.

Interestingly cast and beautifully shot, but too quirky for its own good, and with a lazily meandering plot. It picks up near the end though: Everyone's so detached that the first display of actual human emotions about 10 minutes from the end seems like an epic breakthrough, and when the film ended with Animal Collective playing, I was almost ready to forgive its flaws.