12 movies
2016-03-27 01:22:18.835068+00 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Copied from a Facebook meme response:
Terrence Masson and Jimbo Hillin are doing tIhe "12 favorite movies" meme, and I got tagged. I'm not sure I can get to 12 (there's a reason I left the film biz, and movies have gotten less important to me since then), but I'll try:
Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight - leading the list, I'll take all 3 as one film. "Before Sunrise" is the best twenty something romance ever put to film, "Before Sunset" the best thirty something film, and "Before Midnight" has uncomfortable laughs and maybe hits too close to home on some things but takes those characters into their forties in a believable insightful way.
Top Secret! - every top movies list needs at least one Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker film. I actually prefer this one to Airplane.
Real Genius - because sometimes ya need a good geek fantasy.
Boyhood - going back serious again, this was two hours of watching kids I knew grow up, in ways that hit me right in the feels in so many ways.
Star Wars (A New Hope) - if you can see it at 9 years old, and not get caught up into deconstructing Campbell's myth structure and comparing that to other theorists. I think that "The Force Awakens" managed to capture some of that same thrilling ride, only at this point we've become used to the special effects, and I'm old enough to start asking questions about the economy of the empire and... it all goes to hell.
Blazing Saddles - Mel Brooks at his prime is a genius, this one's eminently quotable, and it's got some really insightful cultural critique going on.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - okay, yeah, I've got 3 Val Kilmer movies on here. So be it.
Toy Story - I didn't work on it, my Pixar credits are the next two. Because I worked on the tie-in games, including watching clips over and over again while tuning codecs, I have experienced some of the characters to death (Hamm, particularly). However, this was a huge cusp in film, and a great movie. Both an *important* film because of the inflection point in technology, and a fun one.
Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoki) - I have loved various animated films, this one was visually amazing, but also disturbing (in a good way) in a deep visceral sense. It's one of those films where I still have a direct reaction to hearing snippets of the soundtrack, and it has conflicting characters, but not necessarily villains.
The Incredibles - you can take any set of Bond films, any set of superhero films, and this just gets them all.
Princess Bride - yes.
Casablanca - I don't think it's a great film, but it is a decent film from a day when films were slapped out super quickly, and is so useful for examining both the visual and story structure of film.
There's 12. I'm not one for social obligation, so feel free to self-tag.