I Reely, Reely Love You
First, the movies that have engaged me on some deeper level and have contributed (I think) to my development as a person. In a sense, every movie I've ever seen could go on this list, but I wanted to pick out a few that I think are especially worthy of your time. In random order...
1. Lars and the Real Girl, 2. Half Nelson, 3. Reign Over Me, 4. Dancer in the Dark, 5. Off the Map, 6. Les Miserables (Bille Auguste version), 7. Doubt, 8. Simon Birch, 9. Grand Torino, 10. I Heart Huckabees, 11. The Big Kahuna, 12. To End All Wars, 13. The Power of One, 14. Run, Lola, Run, 15. Return to Paradise, 16. The Million Dollar Hotel, 17. The Motorcycle Diaries, 18. In America, 19. Memento, 20. Adaptation, 21. Revolutionary Road, 22. Everything is Illuminated, 23. John Q. 24. As It Is in Heaven, 25. The Straight Story
Second, these are movies that I've loved that are just plain fun, beautiful films. Yeah, they've got meaning and purpose, too... but that's not why I love them.
1. The Princess Bride, 2. The Black Stallion, 3. Mary Poppins, 4. Romeo & Juliet (Baz Luhrmann version), 5. Amelie, 6. Duma, 7. Inception, 8. Nine Queens (by Fabian Bielinsky), 9. Up, 10. The Incredibles, 11. The Lord of the Rings (series), 12. Star Wars (Episodes IV-VI), 13. Wall-E, 14. It's a Wonderful Life, 15. The Court Jester, 16. Juno, 17. Bottle Rocket, 18. Shanghai Noon,
To quote myself from a recent email, " I am convinced that the greatest truths aren't propositions we accept, but realities we intuit through stories (and live, as well, through our own stories)."
Good list Josh ... I also really love movies - yet somehow I am not at all embarrassed to admit it - LOVE good movies. May I be the first to commend you for eschewing all superhero movies with the possible exception of The Incredbles (which was terrific). On your list I particularly loved Lars and the Real Girl. Have you seen any of the following?
ReplyDeleteThe Lives of Others,
Junebug,
Shopgirl,
Sin Nombre,
The Squid and the Whale,
Darjeeling Limited,
Broken Flowers ...
I really enjoyed all of those immensely.
I've seen Darjeeling Limited and Broken Flowers (both good movies, yes), and I own The Lives of Others, also a very good movie.
ReplyDeletedid you know that i saw, lars and the real girl, on its opening night, in the big fancy movie place. just a little jake trivia.
ReplyDeletehave you seen the movie Once?
ReplyDeleteAdaptation is brilliant, and likely the only Nicholas Cage movie I actually like.
(yes I stalk your blog every now and again).
Hi, Melinda. Yep, I have seen "Once." It's a gooder. And it's not stalking if it's a blog :)
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to introduce you to an online forum I really think you'd appreciate. And this is as good an opportunity as any since said forum puts out a list of the Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films (don't worry there's no Left Behind, no propaganda):
ReplyDeletehttp://artsandfaith.com/t100/
I've seen 26.3 of this year's 100. From those, I'd say start with Munyurangabo. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Oh, and along the Lars and the Real Girl lines, check out Ben Rice's debut novella Pobby and Dingan. Lars is one of my all time favorite films and Pobby is one of my all time favorite books for similar reasons.
ps - artsandfaith.com does more than the movie list. There are great discussions all the time, mostly on film and music, but there are decent forums on literature, TV and visual art, even if the latter isn't as frequently frequented.
I think the movie that moved me most, in a huge way was Everything is Illuminated... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404030/ I hope you have seen it and if not, try to someday.
ReplyDeleteAgreed and added, JJ. That is a great one.
ReplyDelete