| Steve's Top 20 Favorite Movies of All Time | ||
|---|---|---|
My favorite films of all time tend to exhibit:
Honorable mentions:
| ||
20. |  Enchanted (2007)One of the only movies to ever brighten my mood from really bad to really good. I found Amy Adams particularly charming--not just because her character symbolized pure innocence, but because she played the role so convincingly. I particularly enjoyed how her presence enchanted everyone around her (including New York's vermin). Patrick Dempsey played the perfect foil: a rational divorce lawyer with a cynicism toward true love. Even a stubborn cynic like me found their chemistry on the ballroom floor hopelessly romantic. Finally, props to Disney for daring to satirize itself--even though I can't recall any Disney princess ever acting that naive. :) blog, blog | |
19. |  Run Lola Run (1998)A German, fiery-haired woman races to collect the cash needed to save her desperate boyfriend. Her three trials, differentiated by mere seconds, serve to change everyone's lives like a spinning roulette wheel. This movie's electrifying directing, visual energy, and upbeat soundtrack comprise a mandatory audio/visual experience for any moviegoer. | |
18. |  Wicker Park (2004)Masterful suspense/romance/drama plot. If Hitchcock, Shakespeare, and Machiavelli ever collaborated on a movie, I think it'd come out something like this. :) Personally, the movie spoke to me in the following ways: Admittedly, I'm a cynic about love so someone can probably make a counter-argument that the movie exemplifies how wonderful love can be. Probably depends on which character in the movie that you identify the most with. :) Side note: Perhaps watching this American version tainted me, but I did not like the original French version at all. blog | |
17. |  The Matrix
Reloaded (2003)What an incredible sensory experience: like hi-tech performance art. Special effects beyond belief! Breakthrough (albeit mindless) kung-fu action. blog, blog | |
16. |  Spirited Away (2002)Epitomizes Japanese animation with its rich, finely-crafted detail and amusing background hijinks. In my view, Hayao Miyazaki (the director of "Princess Mononoke") created a journey similar to "The Wizard of Oz" and "Alice in Wonderland". But while the girls of those films just casually trivialized the reality around them, Sen (of "Sprited Away") expressed genuine reactions of fascination, depression, and bewilderment. Moreover, her dramatic timing enriched the classic, unspoken moments of the movie, allowing me to gaze and gape at the same curious sights as her. An example: when Sen waited in an elevator with a bipedal elephant creature, the two of them stared at each other sideways for awhile. That just scratched the surface of all the imaginative ideas in this film. blog, blog | |
15. |  The Godfather:
Part II (1974)I've yet to see any prequel-sequel approach the benchmark set by this absorbing film. In my mind, this movie showcased the best of both worlds: the rise of a principled Vito Corleone (big props to Robert De Niro's soft-spoken Italian dialogue) and the deterioration of a shockingly ice-cold Michael Corleone. Pretty gutsy characters, those two. | |
14. |  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
(1982)My favorite "Star Trek" movie of all time for three main reasons: | |
13. |  Ju-On: The
Grudge (2003)The scariest movie that I have ever seen. Filmed by the creators of "Ringu", and similar to "The Ring"--but decisively more terrifying. So much so that I'd prefer that curse over the "Ju-on" one. :) Because at least Samara afforded a seven-day reprieve. Imagine trying to stay sane with wide-eyed ghosts startling you all the time. Even as I left the theater, I could picture their unnerving stares. blog, blog | |
12. |  Shaolin
Soccer (2003)Hilarious beyond belief. Showcases fun applications for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"-type action. Each character excels at a different signature talent. For example, one player kicks the soccer ball so hard that the whirlwind launches all of the opposing players into the net! blog | |
11. |  Les Misérables (2012)My favorite movie musical of all time, best characterized by its profound onscreen suffering, powerhouse performances, and rapturous musical numbers. blog, blog | |
10. |  Zero Dark Thirty (2012)A profoundly suspenseful Kathryn Bigelow film despite my foreknowledge that the decade-long manhunt for Osama bin Laden would succeed. I remember tensely watching the screen inside the ArcLight Hollywood, my hands tented as the two stealth choppers crept in darkness toward the bin Laden compound. No BS about what had to happen because such monumental stakes spoke for themselves. No BS about the CIA analyst who spent her whole career hunting him, as in, a contrived "strong woman" trope or some crisis of conscience about the ethics of torture. Just a brutally honest look at counterterrorism in the post-9/11 age. blog | |
9. |  Pulp Fiction (1994)Even after repeated viewings, I've never grown tired of the witty dialogue and keen observations in "Pulp Fiction", Quentin Tarrantino's second (and in my opinion, greatest) film. The screenplay won a well-deserved Oscar and set the precedent for black-humored musing. My only reservations of the film: slow scenes that I always fast-forward through. These include Christopher Walken's meandering monologue, the taxi driver, Bruce Willis' girlfriend, and the cafe standoff. blog | |
8. |  Toy Story 3 (2010)I practically walked into this third installment as a formality, with no expectation that it could ever top the first two Toy Story films. But not only did it top them, it became my favorite Pixar movie of all-time! The film made me feel like a kid again--from laughing hysterically at "Mr. Tortilla Head" and the daycare roughhousing, to choking up over the garbage inferno and bittersweet goodbye. blog | |
7. |  The Bourne Supremacy (2004)What a difference that a director makes. Whereas "The Bourne Identity" struck me as a shallow popcorn movie, "The Bourne Supremacy" engaged me like a grown-up spy thriller. Paul Greengrass' handheld documentary style made me feel like a part of the movie. Everything felt realistic even when the action seemed totally impossible. I liked this movie slightly better than "The Bourne Ultimatum" because of the thrilling, emotional climax and Bourne's atonement. blog | |
6. |  Memento (2001)In this clever thriller, Guy Pearce works to avenge his wife's murder while struggling to overcome one glaring setback: he periodically loses his memory. To convey the disorientation that he feels, director Christopher Nolan shows all of the scenes in reverse order. So much like the main character, we witness his predicaments for the first time with no knowledge of what transpired beforehand. To complicate matters, everyone in the movie selectively lies in order to exploit his condition. Also--if you pay attention, you can catch flaws in the main character's notetaking regiment. While the premise alone made "Memento" worthwhile, I felt that the main character's attempts to discipline and rationalize his tragic life made the movie that much more meaningful. | |
5. |  Sunshine (2007)I watched this movie six times at the theater, and felt a rush from it each time--a sense of "passion" as these characters vented their convictions, sacrificed their bodies, and "screamed at the sky" in the name of humanity. The music and directing masterfully fueled the emotion. blog, blog, blog | |
4. |  Fearless (1993)Peter Weir intended "Fearless" to be a cross between artsy and Hollywood styles. In my opinion, he accomplished the perfect balance. This movie really spoke to me, from the strawberry (my favorite fruit that I mysteriously lost an allergy to) to my cynicism toward enlightenment. I can analyze this film over and over again. The main character is Max Kline--who, after a traumatic commercial airplane crash, suppresses all of his mortal weaknesses. Exhilarated by a new-found "immortality", Max becomes an inspirational icon to his fellow passengers. However, in order to stay elevated in this state long enough to save a grieving mother from her guilt, Max neglects his family and jeopardizes his own life. So the film climaxes to the pending question: can he himself be saved? In one scene, Max touched on an intriguing point during a theological discussion with Rosie Perez. Why would an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God allow plane crashes (arguably, the most senseless way to die ever) to happen? What if everything happened for no reason instead of some divine plan? A scary thought--but in my mind, makes sense of everything in the universe. Rosie Perez had an interesting retort. A senseless universe would have no "love". In my interpretation, this implies: "what's wrong with embracing a belief--truthful or not--that enriches our life?" Point well taken. Moving and profound, I once regarded "Fearless" as the epitome of Weir's films. | |
3. |  United 93
(2006)Given the sensitivity of the subject matter, I'm glad that director Paul Greengrass avoided any kind of BS like melodrama or movie cliches so as to depict the events of 9/11 in a faithful, realistic way. Instead of action heroes who magically figure everything out, the people in this film (air traffic employees, military personnel, Flight 93 passengers) spent most of their screen time in unadulterated chaos and disarray. Then finally when the finale came (a no holds barred fight to the death) the intensity and emotion made every muscle in my body tighten up. To this day, I'll never forget the sight of passengers and terrorists at each others' throats as their plane spiraled downward. blog, blog, blog | |
2. |  Inception
(2010)"Inception"...a radical notion that lucid dreamers can enter someone's mind and plant an idea deep into their subconscious. Similarly, this movie managed to incept an idea into my head too: that Christopher Nolan created one of the greatest films ever made. I mean, the script alone blew me away. It's like Nolan had "shared dreaming" down to a science; like he had thought of everything; stuff I never would have imagined. Hehe...in what other movie could you see a caper to con a dreamer into giving himself a catharsis, architectures designed to defend against subsconcious projections, or hotel guests floating like cordwood in zero gravity? :) blog, blog, blog, blog, blog | |
1. |  The Truman
Show (1998)I believe Weir outdid himself and blew away all other movies with "The Truman Show". It features a meticulously thought-out world that satirizes our obsession with television. Like a grown-up child trying to escape the protective custody of an overbearing father, I sympathized with Truman's need to live his own life. Yet I also sympathized with Christof, who genuinely strove to protect Truman in an Eden-like utopia. I saw merit in his arguments that the real world represented the "sick" world and that Truman would face the same deceits there. Ultimately, though, I accepted Truman's decision to tackle "real life." In every movie, I watch closely for exceptionally creative plot developments. The above average movie usually features one or two of them. This film sported the most that I've ever seen, e.g., the crew's interviews at the beginning; "natural" blockades that diverted Truman; the whole town cringing from mic feedback; Truman's run from suited actors; Christof's direction of the Truman-Kirk story; the documentary; and the great Christof-to-Truman exchange at the end. blog | |
Guilty pleasure: Mortal Kombat (1995) | ||
