Favourite Films
(Safe) – dir. Todd Haynes
Kiss Me Deadly – dir. Robert Aldrich
Just saw this, and it was golden…
Private: Preliminary List of Fav Films
12 Angry Men
A Brighter Summer Day
Akira
Aliens
All the Real Girls
Almost Famous
Amelie
American Beauty
American History X
Amores Perros
Anchorman
As It Is In Heaven
The Assassination of Jess James
Babel
Badlands
My favorite Terrence Malick picture.
Loosely based on the murder spree of Charles Starkweather and girlfriend Caril Anne Fugate in 1957-8, Malick has crafted a poetic story of biblical proportions around his two protagonists Kit and Holly.
Kit (Martin Sheen) strikes up a romance with teenage Holly (Sissy Spacek) in a small quiet South Dakota town in young naivety. When Holly’s father (Warren Oates) tries to separate the two lovebirds Kit guns him down. The couple flee the area and set up an Eden-like existence in the wilderness living off the land. When they are located by rangers Kit guns them down and the couple continue to flee, hitting the road to their subsequent demise.
Narrated from Holly’s somewhat indifferent perspective, the film is one of the first of it’s kind to use an unreliable narrator, thus warping the narrative into a dreamlike mythology. A very cleverly put together film that i highly recommend jumping on board to experience. Look out for the shots that couple animals with each leading character (ie. The gasping fish next to Kit whilst he lies in bed and the dog in the opening shot on the bed with Holly).
Batman Begins
The Bicycle Thief
The Blues Brothers
Boogie Nights
The Bourne Supremacy
Braindead
Brick
Capturing The Friedmans
Children of Men
Chinatown
Chopper
City of God
The City of Lost Children
A Clockwork Orange
The Commitments
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
The Dark Crystal
Dead Man
Dead Poets Society
Death in Brunswick
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Donnie Darko
Elephant
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Fargo
The Coen brothers’ seventh film, and what a vastly different approach to their first half dozen. Echoing Errol Morris’ outstanding documentary The Thin Blue Line and parodying the mundanity and pleasantries of the Minnesotan people’s, Joel and Ethan approach this narrative pulled out of a factual case in a refreshing, entertaining way.
Jerry (William H. Macy) sets up a deal with two thugs (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife and ransom her for a hefty amount of cash that he is unable to obtain from his father-in-law Wade (Harve Presnell) the legal way. When the plan begins to accumulate more collateral as time goes on – innocent bystanders mowed down by the thugs – Jerry’s anxieties heighten and Wade insists on handling the deal himself. Matters are complicated further when Marge (Frances McDormand), a heavily pregnant local detective sniffs out the guilty parties causing Jerry to flee town.
As most Coen pictures are like, the dialogue is intelligently written and humor devilishly dark – making you feel complicit to the criminals when you laugh at the absurdity of their actions/positions. The cast is outstanding and memorable in their portrayals and the suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat (not as suspenseful as No Country but definitely showing the roots of where their expert hand of silent scenes comes from).
Fight Club
Forrest Gump
The Fugitive
Full Metal Jacket
Ghost in the Shell
The Godfather
Goodfellas
Good Will Hunting
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Heavenly Creatures
Hercules Returns (1993)
High Noon
His Girl Friday
The Ice Storm
The Idiots
In Cold Blood
The Incredibles
Iron Giant
Keane
The Killer Inside Me
The King
Knocked Up
Kramer Vs. Kramer
L’Enfant (The child)
LA Confidential
Leaving Las Vegas
Life As A House
Maborosi
Magnolia
The Matrix
The Meaning of Life
Memento
Miller’s Crossing
Mysterious Skin
Napoleon Dynamite
Network
Oldboy
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Pan’s Labrynth
Paris, Texas
The Piano
Philadelphia
Princess Mononoke
Pulp Fiction
Punch Drunk Love
Raging Bull
Rear Window
Requiem For A Dream
Road to Perdition
Roman Holiday
Saving Private Ryan
The Scent of Green Papaya
The Searchers
Seven
The Shawshank Redemption
The Silence of the Lambs
Sin City
The Social Network
Snow Falling on Cedars
Somersault
The Sound of Music
Stand By Me
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
Straw Dogs
Superman Returns
Tarnation
Taxi Driver
There’s Something About Mary
To Be And To Have
Touching the Void
Trainspotting
The Twilight Samurai
Unforgiven
The Usual Suspects
The Vertical Ray of the Sun
The Wedding Singer
The Wizard of Oz
X2: X-Men United
Yi Yi (A One And A Two)
Zoolander
The Apartment (1960)
Classification: PG
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Drama,
Duration: 125mins
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley McLaine
Music: Adolph Deutsch
Language: English
Country: USA
BITE:
The concepts are refreshing, the performances hitting a perfect pitch, and themes still topical to this day.
MEAL:
C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) is trying to work his way to the top of the food chain, differentiating himself from his fellow peers by allowing his bosses to use his apartment for their extra-marital affairs as he toils away back at the office. The situation seems to be working well when Baxter puts two and two together, realising the elevator girl, Fran Kubelik (McLaine), who he has a crush on is one of the girls having an affair. Baxter finds himself in a web of deceit and immorality and tries his utmost to cut himself and Fran free from the ensuing catastrophe.
An absolute gem of cinema. When one is traipsing through the back catalogue of cinema to improve his/her knowledge on the medium, the pictures that stick out in one’s memory are the one’s that are truly innovative and refined stories that most likely will never become dated. They seem to capture the true essence of the human condition and masterfully twist it into a form that is truly entertaining to experience.Films such as His Girl Friday, It’s A Wonderful Life, and The Apartment are all up there in that hall of fame.
Wilder, a true virtuoso in the medium of filmmaking tested the boundaries with this film back in 1960 when there were such rules and conventions enforced in cinema that restricted footage of a man and woman in bed together. He pushed and was rewarded with an academy award for best picture.
EXCERPT:
She hands the deck to Bud.
BUD
Did you hear what I said, Miss Kubelik? I absolutely adore you.
FRAN
(smiling)
Shut up and deal!
Bud begins to deal, never taking his eyes off her. Fran removes her coat, starts picking up her cards and arranging them. Bud, a look of pure joy on his face, deals — and deals — and keeps dealing.
honoured 