Mine is Lost Highway. It’s one of the most amazing pieces of media I’ve ever experienced. It’s dark, surreal, and I still don’t know what it’s about for sure. I have my own interpretation, as do many others. Who’s right? We’ll never know. The film is a fucking trip. I highly recommend.
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I saw the tv glow
Required viewing if you are trans or questioning your gender, imo
I’d have to say Baby Driver. Seen it over 20 times. Its our goto movie when we can’t think of anything else
Back to the Future. It’s both an amazing time capsule of the era and somehow also timeless. All the actors absolutely nail it and it’s just super fun to watch. I never get tired of it.
Gotta be The Matrix (1999). It blew my mind with the action when I saw it as a teenager, it continued blowing my mind with the philosophical and existential ideas when I started understanding those as an adult, and now it’s the ultimate comfort watch for me.
The two sequels have a special place in my heart too.
I am still thinking that the Matrix is about Capitalism and bigotry. Once you understand that you don’t have to follow their rules, you have much more freedom.
I actually saw it for the first time when they did the re-release in theatres. I couldn’t believe I had been sleeping on it.
Lord of the Rings. It has all my heart desires. Great shots of nature, camaraderie, action, feels, swords, a message, charge of the Rohirrim… I could go on. It’s a masterpiece.
You may say it’s cheating, that’s three movies - well to that I say the books are also actually one book split into three. They shot all the movies together as well. Besides, I only ever watch them all or not at all so… one big movie as far as I’m concerned.
I can’t decide, but what immediately comes to mind that hasn’t been said is “Everything everywhere all at once” and “Interstellar”.
I saw Interstellar in a theater when it came out. It blew my fucking mind.
“Rubber” - It’s a (french?) movie about a car wheel that suddenly becomes aware of its own existence. It then starts rolling around, and somehow it has the ability to KILL telepathically. It starts small with squirrles or rats exploding, but at some point even the military needs to intervene.
I like trash :)
Soo goofy of a movie
O man, I need to rewatch this. The whole “No Reason” scene with the chairs is burned in my mind. Absolute cinema
(Or lack there of if you will)
Gran Torino
It teaches you that friendship and empathy have nothing to do with race
I have three that all vie for the top-spot at different times:
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is usually my top. I love all the performances, the practical sets, the goofy CGI, and the soundtrack (especially the ending scene with the expert use of “Staralfur” by Sigur Ros). I also grew up with an absentee father and while I never really developed typical “daddy issues” over that, something about this aspect of the plot hits me (same with why I have a fondness for Tron Legacy).
The Beach is also up there. Not a great film, but a favorite. I caught it right around the time I started surfing and developing an itch to see the world. I’ve also read the novel several times (which is quite different from the film). It’s whole commentary on tourism-as-colonialism is brilliant.
Office Space might be the one movie I’ve seen more than any other. While it’s a great comedy, the performances are perfect as is the themes (though the ending is kinda lame and feels like the movie loses steam). I grew up hanging out among cubicles with my mom and every character is someone that I have met.
Gut reaction?
“Big Trouble In Little China.”
I know there are better movies, but this is my favorite. Magic and gangsters, a dimwit hero, cheesy dialog, really good fight scenes, and a really hot actress.
Every time I watch it I feel like I’m 14 again.
My Neighbor Totoro
君の名は。 (your name.). There’s so much to it. The one that comes to mind now is how humbled the writer (Shinkai) was by the west’s reception of his previous film that he insisted upon the soundtrack being done by a band with a bilingual singer, so if you watch the English dub, the music is also in English. I don’t, but I love that detail. (I prefer the Japanese dub with no subtitles, followed closely by the Japanese dub with some really excellent fan subs.) I’ve seen it enough that I no longer need the dialogue translated to fully appreciate it. I know what they’re talking about.
I also love how the trailer doesn’t tell you shit about what it’s about. The trailer is happy letting you think it’s a romantic comedy about teens body swapping. There’s a hard right turn about halfway through that changes the whole thing. And while the whole thing is beautiful and there are some great scenes before that point, that’s where the movie really begins. There’s a line in one of the songs that says “everything before now is prologue.” And that’s true. There’s the story and there’s a bunch of stuff that just sets it up, and the trailer only covers the latter.
Then there’s the multiple timelines…
My son asked me to watch this with him and it was indeed amazing. I teared up a bit at the end (and had a feeling of existential dread for days after),
Alien and Blade Runner, both by Ridley Scott. Arguably set in the same universe.
Absolute stunning set and costume designs and genre defining in there own way.
I watched Alien for the first time last week, and I was blown away. The aesthetics, the camera-work showing massive scales, the way it reveals information (or doesn’t!). Obviously it’s impossible to go into it completely blind, I knew Ripley would be the last survivor, I knew about the chestburster, I knew about the evil corporation, but the twist with the science officer caught me off guard and was amazingly executed.
Somehow it still felt very distinctive and unique, even being so old and influential.
I have never had a single favorite film. I don’t think I could list my top five favorite films of many different genres.
Is it because you have different films that fit different moods, no discernible way to objectively rate them, or some combination of the two?
Oh yeah mood is a huge part of it. It is also because the playing field is not level.
When Harry Met Sally is hilarious, silly and excellent and relies on the charisma of all the actors involved to make it great. There is no way I can level that with The Thing.
Then there is stuff like All The Presidents Men compared to The Man Who Would be King. Hoffman and Redford v Connery and Caine… good luck with that…
Then there is production values and funding.
46 years ago the answer was easy. Star Wars followed very closely by Jaws.
It’s hard to name my favorite with certainty, but one of my favorites is The Incredibles. The world building, the score, the action, the comedy, the relationships. It’s all great.
The stakes are very real too. Syndrome is willing to murder not just superheroes, but kids. When he orders Elasti-Girl’s plane shot down knowing it has her and Bob’s kids on board, you feel every bit of tension as Helen tries to stay calm while doing everything she can to save her kids. The scene is even more believable because the way she uses pilot jargon while speaking through the radio.
And the themes! Each main character’s power is tied to their role. Super strong Bob being weighed down with the crushing burden of mediocrity. Over functioning Helen has to stretch herself to take care of everyone. Super fast Dash has too much energy and resents being contained. Insecure Violet just wants to be invisible to the world. Even baby Jack Jack is just full of possibilities.
Honestly I could go on and on. It’s a movie that’s suitable for kids but has some very grownup themes and relationships. It hits different after you have kids, feeling what the parents are going through on a new level. To me it’s not just a great superhero movie, it’s just a great movie that most people can find something to relate to in.
Please watch all of Brad Bird’s writer-credit movies. All are fun. Only Tomorrowland is… odd.
