movies for melynda
Dec. 17th, 2003 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rmWhile I was in Texas, Melynda asked me for a list of films she should see, and so here it is. These aren't the greatest films of all time, or even necessarily my favourites, but they are all interesting, worthy of discussion and hold a place in either pop culture or the personal culture of me and mine.
In deference to the amazing MelyndaBubble content warnings and why you should see the films anyway are also included. Also, these categories are the height of weird and arbitrary and exist more out of a desire for cleverness on my part than anything else.
1. Chinatown -- contains a couple of brief violent scenes that are more conceptually distressing than visually so, but this is one of the finest films ever made, back when Jack Nicholson still mattered and the studio system was gasping its last breath. It's an interesting artifact on a number of levels and one of the best constructed scripts ever.
2. The Usual Suspects -- without being a horror movie or gorey, this film still scares the shit out of me every time I see it. Brilliant brilliant writing. If you haven't seen it, see this of everything on this list first.
1. Drumline -- innocuous teen film that's _way_ more fun than it deserves to be, about marching bands
2. Bring It On! -- see above, but this time it's cheerleading
3. Strictly Ballroom -- Baz Luhrmann's romantic comedy about ballroom dancing
4. Best in Show -- because people like dogs
1. Careful He Might Hear You -- a boy's WWII-era childhood viewed through the conventions of horror movie story telling -- it's not that it's gory, it's that the camera angles and music are very melodramatic and inspire a lot of weird edginess. Brilliant and strange film, that has stayed with me since I first saw it nearly two decades ago.
2. Shallow Grave -- an early Danny Boyle film, this movie is more conceptually gorey than visually so. It is also one of the meanest, most wickedly funny films I have ever ever ever seen. If you can stick it out, I'll give you a cookie.
3. Exotica -- one man has a weird relationship with parrot eggs, the other, a weird relationship with a stripper. Oddly, it's all connected. Eerie, stilted little film, that isn't about what you think it is, even when you're watching it. Very much worth seeing.
1. The Man Who Fell to Earth -- it's incoherent and a piece of shit. But it stars David Bowie and it's one of those reference markers I think people should have.
2. Romeo + Juliet -- yup, the Luhrmann one. It's probably his best film, but also the hardest to watch, in that it's assaultive. But to me as a marketing-obsessed person, it fascinates me for its use of media and advertising motiffs, and as a weirdly defining pop-culture moment. Chances are you've seen it, but if not, it's worth a look.
3. Gangs of New York -- the advance hype of this was insane -- it was supposed to reinvent cinema. In retrospect, it all seems a bit ridiculous, and it's a rather flawed film (Leonardo, get some goddamn voice coaching), BUT, it's smart as hell even if it mangles history, and has some great performances. The opening is pretty gorey, but if you can get past that, it's manageable.
4. A.I. -- Spielberg makes Kubricks great dream project... and it's a mess. But one of the most intellectually vital and astoundingly ambitious films you'll ever see. Flawed to hell. Irritating. Often worth throwing a shoe at. Emotionally exhausting. But it's a film that won't leave me and I think everyone should see and think about.
5. Gattaca -- Jude Law in more weird stilted science fiction. It's also the ultimate porn film for the age of AIDS. No gore, lots of loving shots of bodily fluids though. Just trust me.
6. Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension -- everything that was ever wrong with the 80s in a single funny, and odd film. See it just for Jeff Goldblum in the crappy cowboy outfit. No, really.
7. Galaxy Quest -- warm-hearted wickedly funny send up of fandom, featuring Alan Rickman who just keeps moaning, "but I played Lear when I was twenty." Run, don't walk. Or else the rocks will eat you.
8. The Dark Crystal -- when puppets were cool and Slytherins were giant reptile insects. Also, where we learned boys don't have wings.
9. The Last Seduction -- this was one of the first big HBO movie projects and actually wound up having a court battle related to its Oscar-eligibility surrounding it (not ellgible as it aired on HBO before it was in theaters). Brilliant, nasty little film, with one moment that is conceptually grotesque, but isn't visually gorey.
1. 28 Days Later -- honestly, this is one of the goriest, most terrifying films I've ever seen. It's also one of only two films (the other being Gangs of New York) that has anything useful to say about the post-9/11 world, even though it was shot before then. Pure genius, and in my mind, the most important film of the last year.
2. Se7en -- oh yes, it's another distopian future movie (I love this shit, it's a pet fixation), but definitely too gorey for Melinda, and certainly seems like old hat now, but this movie definitely caused a shift in how we felt film could do certain things -- including the opening credits.
1. Moulin Rouge! -- if you haven't seen it, just grimace through the first twenty minutes -- it gets easier and is worth it for the tango scene.
2. Chicago -- a billion times better than it had any right to be.
3. Metropolis -- this is a silent film from 1929, that in the mid-80s Giorgio Moroder put this ridiculous 80s music score too, and tinted parts of it. At the time, it was the most fully restored version of a film that has been partially lost. There is not a better and more complete restoration with the original soundtrack, but even with the 80s cheese there's something visceral and accessible with what Moroder did here. If you can find it, rent it.
4. Velvet Goldmine -- okay, it's not really a musical, but it's all about music, it uses music to tell it's story and it has pretty boys. Can be a bit incoherent if you're not familiar with the glam rock history it references, but one of my personal favourites.
5. Stop Making Sense -- also not a musical, but a great Talking Heads concert film, that was actually originally released in theaters. David Byrne is weird. Their music is good. Etc.
6. South Park -- dude, the guys who write South Park may be really crass, but they also have the best minds for musical theater out there right now, and that _scares_ me.
7. The Piano -- not really a musical, but so entirely about sound and told through sound that it might as well be here. Warning for a naked Harvey Keitel.
1. Zoolander
2. The American President
3. Evolution -- in which David Duchony proves he still can't act, but at least knows better than to attempt to be in a serious film involving heroin addiction (the brilliantly awful Playing God)
4. Electric Dreams -- 80s romantic comedy in which a computer woo's a dweeb's next door neighbor hottie cello player with synthesized music. But then the computer gets drunk, and bad things happen. Soundtrack courtesy of Culture Club.
1. Breaking the Waves (or something of your choice by Lars Von Trier -- he's a brilliant director, but at best, his work tends to irritate me. Warning, always REALLY depressing).
2. The English Patient -- watch it when you're depressed. It's a BRILLIANT film, but can seem tritely overwraught if you're not in the right place for it.
In deference to the amazing MelyndaBubble content warnings and why you should see the films anyway are also included. Also, these categories are the height of weird and arbitrary and exist more out of a desire for cleverness on my part than anything else.
1. Chinatown -- contains a couple of brief violent scenes that are more conceptually distressing than visually so, but this is one of the finest films ever made, back when Jack Nicholson still mattered and the studio system was gasping its last breath. It's an interesting artifact on a number of levels and one of the best constructed scripts ever.
2. The Usual Suspects -- without being a horror movie or gorey, this film still scares the shit out of me every time I see it. Brilliant brilliant writing. If you haven't seen it, see this of everything on this list first.
1. Drumline -- innocuous teen film that's _way_ more fun than it deserves to be, about marching bands
2. Bring It On! -- see above, but this time it's cheerleading
3. Strictly Ballroom -- Baz Luhrmann's romantic comedy about ballroom dancing
4. Best in Show -- because people like dogs
1. Careful He Might Hear You -- a boy's WWII-era childhood viewed through the conventions of horror movie story telling -- it's not that it's gory, it's that the camera angles and music are very melodramatic and inspire a lot of weird edginess. Brilliant and strange film, that has stayed with me since I first saw it nearly two decades ago.
2. Shallow Grave -- an early Danny Boyle film, this movie is more conceptually gorey than visually so. It is also one of the meanest, most wickedly funny films I have ever ever ever seen. If you can stick it out, I'll give you a cookie.
3. Exotica -- one man has a weird relationship with parrot eggs, the other, a weird relationship with a stripper. Oddly, it's all connected. Eerie, stilted little film, that isn't about what you think it is, even when you're watching it. Very much worth seeing.
1. The Man Who Fell to Earth -- it's incoherent and a piece of shit. But it stars David Bowie and it's one of those reference markers I think people should have.
2. Romeo + Juliet -- yup, the Luhrmann one. It's probably his best film, but also the hardest to watch, in that it's assaultive. But to me as a marketing-obsessed person, it fascinates me for its use of media and advertising motiffs, and as a weirdly defining pop-culture moment. Chances are you've seen it, but if not, it's worth a look.
3. Gangs of New York -- the advance hype of this was insane -- it was supposed to reinvent cinema. In retrospect, it all seems a bit ridiculous, and it's a rather flawed film (Leonardo, get some goddamn voice coaching), BUT, it's smart as hell even if it mangles history, and has some great performances. The opening is pretty gorey, but if you can get past that, it's manageable.
4. A.I. -- Spielberg makes Kubricks great dream project... and it's a mess. But one of the most intellectually vital and astoundingly ambitious films you'll ever see. Flawed to hell. Irritating. Often worth throwing a shoe at. Emotionally exhausting. But it's a film that won't leave me and I think everyone should see and think about.
5. Gattaca -- Jude Law in more weird stilted science fiction. It's also the ultimate porn film for the age of AIDS. No gore, lots of loving shots of bodily fluids though. Just trust me.
6. Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension -- everything that was ever wrong with the 80s in a single funny, and odd film. See it just for Jeff Goldblum in the crappy cowboy outfit. No, really.
7. Galaxy Quest -- warm-hearted wickedly funny send up of fandom, featuring Alan Rickman who just keeps moaning, "but I played Lear when I was twenty." Run, don't walk. Or else the rocks will eat you.
8. The Dark Crystal -- when puppets were cool and Slytherins were giant reptile insects. Also, where we learned boys don't have wings.
9. The Last Seduction -- this was one of the first big HBO movie projects and actually wound up having a court battle related to its Oscar-eligibility surrounding it (not ellgible as it aired on HBO before it was in theaters). Brilliant, nasty little film, with one moment that is conceptually grotesque, but isn't visually gorey.
1. 28 Days Later -- honestly, this is one of the goriest, most terrifying films I've ever seen. It's also one of only two films (the other being Gangs of New York) that has anything useful to say about the post-9/11 world, even though it was shot before then. Pure genius, and in my mind, the most important film of the last year.
2. Se7en -- oh yes, it's another distopian future movie (I love this shit, it's a pet fixation), but definitely too gorey for Melinda, and certainly seems like old hat now, but this movie definitely caused a shift in how we felt film could do certain things -- including the opening credits.
1. Moulin Rouge! -- if you haven't seen it, just grimace through the first twenty minutes -- it gets easier and is worth it for the tango scene.
2. Chicago -- a billion times better than it had any right to be.
3. Metropolis -- this is a silent film from 1929, that in the mid-80s Giorgio Moroder put this ridiculous 80s music score too, and tinted parts of it. At the time, it was the most fully restored version of a film that has been partially lost. There is not a better and more complete restoration with the original soundtrack, but even with the 80s cheese there's something visceral and accessible with what Moroder did here. If you can find it, rent it.
4. Velvet Goldmine -- okay, it's not really a musical, but it's all about music, it uses music to tell it's story and it has pretty boys. Can be a bit incoherent if you're not familiar with the glam rock history it references, but one of my personal favourites.
5. Stop Making Sense -- also not a musical, but a great Talking Heads concert film, that was actually originally released in theaters. David Byrne is weird. Their music is good. Etc.
6. South Park -- dude, the guys who write South Park may be really crass, but they also have the best minds for musical theater out there right now, and that _scares_ me.
7. The Piano -- not really a musical, but so entirely about sound and told through sound that it might as well be here. Warning for a naked Harvey Keitel.
1. Zoolander
2. The American President
3. Evolution -- in which David Duchony proves he still can't act, but at least knows better than to attempt to be in a serious film involving heroin addiction (the brilliantly awful Playing God)
4. Electric Dreams -- 80s romantic comedy in which a computer woo's a dweeb's next door neighbor hottie cello player with synthesized music. But then the computer gets drunk, and bad things happen. Soundtrack courtesy of Culture Club.
1. Breaking the Waves (or something of your choice by Lars Von Trier -- he's a brilliant director, but at best, his work tends to irritate me. Warning, always REALLY depressing).
2. The English Patient -- watch it when you're depressed. It's a BRILLIANT film, but can seem tritely overwraught if you're not in the right place for it.
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no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 02:15 pm (UTC)The MelyndaBubble is a great thing, in that it allows me to surprise people occasionally with what slipped by. ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 02:40 pm (UTC)That movie scared me when I was young and I imagine it still would.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 02:43 pm (UTC)Fizgig!
no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 02:57 pm (UTC)They've just reissued the brilliant Brian Froud Dark Crystal design book, that was an impossible to find limited edition for years and years.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 03:07 pm (UTC)The computer comes to life after the lead pours a bottle of champagne in it - as it overloads when trying to download the entire mainframe system from the firm the lead works at. Edgar drunk would be a scary thought.
I have this on VHS. If you can't find it , I'll gladly make a dub.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-17 05:30 pm (UTC)Speaking of South Park, BaseketBall and Orgazmo are also worth a look, although Orgazmo is mostly Trey Parker with a little bit of Matt Stone. Baseketball rocks, though.
Electric Dreams...gawd I thought I'd finally heard the last of that one when my friends Joel & Louis used to watch that one about once a week!
Bring It On was definitely in the 'more fun than it should have been' category!
Galaxy Quest...absolutely run and see! I couldn't believe I missed that one in the theaters.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 07:25 pm (UTC)"You are a complicated man, Dr. Lazarus..."
no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 07:28 pm (UTC)