et cinema

jack, the cake-baker, boromir and myself have a running 'list of best ... movies' which encompasses various categories. every day, 'studying' at the common room we'll have a time-out and re-visit the list, usually with a new category. actually, now that i think about it, the nearer we encroached upon the exams, the more it became like list-comparison in the common room with time-outs to study. but that's beside the point. what's important is, we had some pretty awesome discourse about movies, and it's always interesting to see what top 5 movies we each had for any given category. so far, we've only had one movie as a consensus in our top 5 movies (consensus here defined as a movie which all of us picked in the top 5), and that's lord of the rings: the two towers for the fantasy category.

anyhow, since the semester has come to an end, and jack is leaving (possibly cake-baker and boromir, too, pending their research placements), i thought this would be an apt time to list the top 10 movies of all time (time... time... time...) from my personal list. unlike the post on music i made some time ago, this list actually had some thought input and isn't spontaneous, spanning weeks of research (lies) and multiple re-modeling of the list (more lies). last night, at jack's farewell party, we sat down and compared our lists, and, sadly, i don't think there was any consensus :/

the rules are simple: you can only list a movie that you've personally watched (hence why some of you might go wtf, why isn't xyz movie in the list. full of fail) and the list is a personal one, so nobody can contend your list. you might want to give it some thought and list yours, just for comparison.

without further ado, the winners are (drumroll):

10. star wars: the empire strikes back
awesome movie, i remember being a kid and watching this on tape multiple times. just rewinding and watching the millennium falcon zipping through the asteroid field in what-was-then state-of-the-art technology. shit just blows your mind. and, btw, just like any true star wars fan, episodes IV, V and VI are the only real episodes. episodes I, II and III are so full of aids and fail, it makes me a sad panda. that and jar-jar binks. i want to rip my ears out every time i hear 'me-sa retarded toad with failed comic value'.

9. jurassic park
this is one of the many steven spielberg movies that defined my childhood. it made t-rex incredibly awesome and velociraptors cunningly scary. i used to pretend that i was a raptor, for months and it goes without saying, i watched, re-watched and re-re-watched the video, which i'm pretty sure is somewhere back home, waiting for me to go find again. that, and the books were good, too. michael crichton, you da man.

8. saving private ryan
steven spielberg + tom hanks = pure win. simple formula. you'll see it again and again. in and on their own, they're already respectively a great director and actor, but when they come together, there's just some magic in the air. and this wouldn't refer to harry potter magic, either. but, about the movie. it's compelling, it's dramatic, it's heartfelt. and shit gets blown up. awww yeah. watch it. it's long but it's totally worth it (that's what she said).

7. v for vendetta
v is one of the most interesting antithetical heroes i've ever seen on screen. a cultured man with appreciation for the arts, philosophy and politics; a kick-ass western-esque ninja (dude, he effin stabs people. in the face); the epitome of forsaken heroes; a selfless mask for the people's unheard voice. v is all of these, and more. but, the movie isn't just about v. natalie portman isn't stellar, but does a well enough job as the enlightened heroine, evey, and stephen rea fits the narrator-third person observer role very effectively, as inspector finch. but what really takes the cake with vendetta is the multitude of philosophical, real-life, arts and thought-provoking events throughout the film, intertwined into a superfluous, linear storyline. watch it for the second time with your thinking caps on and be amazed.

on a side note, hugo weaving plays the role of v (although you never see his face, his voice is a dead giveaway). think of it, agent smith is elrond is megatron is v. how bat-shit awesome is that?

6. donnie darko
literally the dark horse in my list, nobody really saw this coming. i don't think many people even watched the film, to be honest, but if you have, you may agree. if you haven't it's totally worth the watch - screwed with my head for quite some time. as much as i want to elaborate on the film, i think, i won't, so as not to spoil the movie for those who haven't watched and intend to. i highly recommend it (duh). just like how 'a beautiful mind' gives us some insight to autistic schizophrenia, donnie darko has a very interesting take on the darker side of paranoid schizophrenia. it's pretty much open to personal interpretation (as stated by the director), but one thing i found common to most understandings of the film, is the parallel universe / time travel skew on what appears to be a linear film. watch it. frank commands it so.

list will continue in another post, seeing as this is getting out of hand. yeah, still need practice with the 'being concise' thing.