Some late day inspiration hit us (relatively of course). We saw that David Fincher wrote up a offhand, semi-spontaneous list of his favorite films which inspired Jeffrey Wells to do the same. So we thought, hell, why not. The Playlist (RP), decided to write up our (my) favorite films pretty quickly. Probably took us about 3-4 minutes, work distractions aside and when at a slight loss we just thought about what stuck out in our DVD collection.
Checking Fincher’s list afterwards, we wish we would have mentioned, “Being There,” (or maybe “Harold & Maude” we totally forgot Hal Ashby), perhaps “Alien,” and ‘Butch Cassidy’ (though give Cameron his due, “Aliens” is amazing too).
On Wells’ list we really like that he included the phenomenal Romanian movie, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and & 2 Days,” and give him big ups for “Paths Of Glory,” “Point Blank” (the Boorman/Marvin version no doubt) and “Blow Up” (though one of our lesser favorite Antonioni films actually). This also reminds us that we were going to put, “A Woman On The Verge Of A Breakdown” and then it escaped us. Must have Cassavetes somewhere.
We’re forgetting a lot more, sure. But that’s the whole point of the spontaneous excercise, it’s impossible to write out all your favorite films because a) there’s too damn many and b) you’re bound to forget something (Peckinpah for example! “After Hours”! “The King Of Comedy”!). If close friends of ours read this they could surely remind us of other film’s we’ve gone on about at length.
Feel free to discuss in the comments what we missed and or should have included (No Kurosawa!?)
Damm, I forgot Delicatessen too.
"Burden Of Dreams"
"Pat Garett & Billy The Kid"
" Amélie"
"Battle Of Algiers"
"Bicycle Thieves"
"In The Mood For Love"
"La Dolce Vita"
"Central Station"
"Talk To Her"
" La Strada "
"Pierrout Le Fou"
"The Man Who Fell To Earth"
"The Dreamers"
"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg"
"Do The Right Thing"
"The Discreet CHarm Of the Bourgieous"
"Jaws"
"Close Encounters"
"Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai"
"Ferris Bueller"
"Weird Science"
"Interiors"
“Days Of Heaven”
“Cache”
“Badlands”
“The Thin Red Line”
I recently tried to make a Top Ten of All-Time because I always find myself saying, “oh, that’s in my top ten,” to probably 50 films! So I actually wanted to get on record my for real top ten. Well needless to say, it’s a hard thing to do. I pretty much spontaneuosly got 5 but then had to process things after that. And I will say almost all of them come from the 90s…hey, its what I grew up with. In fact, Rushmore is the only one I have in common with your lists…its 5 on mine. Along with the likes of LA Confidential, Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, and Silence of the Lambs.
Oh, right. Shawshank I would add to the greater list, and you remind me to add Coen Brothers:
“Barton Fink”
“Miller’s Crossing”
but the best Coen Brothers ever is prolly “Raising Arizona.”
This randomly reminds me that i forgot David Lynch and I would prolly add “Blue Velvet” and “Wild At Heart.”
Obviously this can go on forever. Spike Lee’s “The 25 Hour” I also love. Super underrated.
“Dont Look Back”
“No Direction Home”
“Stardust Memories” (!)
“La Jetee”
“La Samourai”
“Le Circle Rouge”
“Purple Noon”
“Elevator To The Gallows”
“Citizen Kane”
“The Magnificent Ambersons”
“Paris, Texas”
“Back To The Future”
“The Third Man”
“Touch Of Evil”
“The Big Sleep”
“2001”
“Le Mepris” de Jean-Luc Godar
“”Celine et Julie Vont en Bateu” de Jacques Rivette
Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo
Call me crazy but I think “Miller’s Crossing” is better than “Raising Arizona.”
nice. yes.
And to anon above, i own and do like Les Mepris (plus have a gigantic poster from France), but i dunno, don’t completely love it. Though i do completely love George DeLarue’s score. God, who doesn’t love “Camille.'” Such an amazing, amazing song.
And Spencer, wouldn’t call you crazy. Miller’s Crossing is my fave “serious” Coen Brothers film and i did consider it my favorite for a long time, but Raising Arizona – something about it never ceases to make me howl with laughter. God, remember when Nic Cage was THIS good?
“Adaptation.”