Friends, if you had to make a list of your top 5 movies of all time, what would they be?
If you want to say why, you’re welcome to add that, too.
@mwerickson Without thinking too hard about it: 1) The Conversation, absolutely masterful performance by Gene Hackman, excellent sound design, and I saw it in Paris with my husband in the early aughts. 2) Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control really showed me what experimental documentary could be. 3) Maria Full of Grace with its absolutely perfect ending. 4) Children of Men for delivering sci fi in the exactly right mix of domesticated futures and uncanny change. And 5) The Beat that My Heart Skipped for its quintessential French precision: small-but-big story, magnetic lead.
@ablerism I’ve seen The Conversation and Children of Men (definitely a favorite of mine), but not the other three. I look forward to some new viewing!
@mwerickson Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Red and Blue (two films, but I’ll count them as one because they’re part of a trilogy. I don’t care for White, the third movie.): they’re great humanist films. Casablanca: because, you know, it’s Casablanca. Wonder Boys: Very funny, odd, Michael Douglas is great. Vanya on 42nd Street: Uncle Vanya in an interesting frame, wonderful performances by Wallace Shawn and Brook Smith. Metropolitan: Whit Stillman is the 20th C’s Jane Austen – and there’s a very funny and insightful reference in the movie to Jane Austen.
@JimRain Kieslowski’s Three Colors trilogy is such a classic. I always tried to get my kids to love Casablanca and I didn’t succeed, but I love it. I’ve never seen Wonder Boys, although I’ve heard of it, and Vanya on 42nd Street is new to me. Adding to the list!
@mwerickson it’s one of those movies where you want to have a deep conversation with people when you are done. Lots to ponder and discuss.
It continues to be relevant year after year.
I think it’s the best Terry Gilliam, too.
Brad Pitt is brilliant in it. Bruce Willis is good, too.
@mwerickson Cheating quite a bit here, and reacting to some previous responses:
kurosawa (pick one from 7 samurai, ikiru, redbeard);
ozu (pick one from tokyo story, late spring, early summer);
the conversation (agreeing with @ablerism);
sf/fantasy (pick one from the matrix, children of men);
punch drunk love (the most off-formula rom-com ever made)
@mwerickson Skipping the best-extraordinary-intense-thrilling masterpiece answers and just going off the cuff with movies I’ve loved and love rewatching:
- The Four Feathers (2002)
- Maudie
- Spy Game
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- Sorry for cheating but I can’t decide between Logan Lucky and Matchstick Men for the fifth
@mwerickson Can i play? These are my choices, which might not match the idea of greatness:
The Big Short (such a smart, funny, and insightful explanation of the 2008 crash; acting is amazing)
Way Out West (Laurel and Hardy’s most charming movie, and the only one Stan got to direct)
The Sting (impeccable acting, great screenplay)
The Whale Rider (powerful performance by Keisha Castle-Hughes and a timely description of what a new form of leadership might look like)
Hamlet (the Kenneth Branagh version. If you’ve never “got” Shakespeare, or understood the brouhaha about the play, this version will grip you – runner up: Branagh’s Henry V)
[I also highly recommend the recent PBS Great Performances version of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya starring Toby Jones)
@drwalt Ooh, I hadn’t thought about The Sting. Great movie. With some movies, you can never repeat the experience of seeing it for the first time. This is one, The Matrix is another. I was fooled! and seeing how I’d been fooled was of course a pleasure.
@JohnBrady I worry that some might approach it as a “disability awareness” movie. That might be so, but would only scratch the surface. @ablerism
@JohnBrady Big time. I only teach awareness media to alert students to the explicit message-y nature of it. More time spent seeking out the conditions of art where disability is also present.