Seeing other members that populate these forums that's quite a rarity around here.



I think that name is already taken, but I can be your new Bishop Don Magic Juan.

YAY for LiT

have not seen NLMG

"Among the few possessions he left to his heirs was a set of Encyclopedia Britannica in storage at the Lindbergh Palace Hotel under the names Ari and Uzi Tenenbaum."

5. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - The third and, to date, best feature film by Wes Anderson, my favorite film comedy in general, focuses on the title family of disconsolate misfit geniuses. A whirlwind prologue establishes the family's rise, including the emergence of their three children as, in turn, a prodigious investor, playwright, and tennis player, and subsequent fall over what is described as "two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster." The rest of the film focuses on a reluctant reunion motivated by their nonconformist father's claim of a terminal disease. As expected, Wes Anderson brings a high level of craftsmanship and imagination to the table, populating his careful shot compositions with explosions of color and flourishes of production-design wizardry both large and small. And beneath the high style beats a complicated and humane heart, and I at least do not find it hard to recognize parts of myself in the characters and their various writ-large anxieties and longings. This quality is intensified tenfold by the phenomenal A-list cast Anderson united for the film, each member of the ensemble in top form and perfectly matched with their respective character, including Gene Hackman, his leading-man grandeur and grit put to fabulous use as the family's dashing and hard-living scamp of a patriarch, and Ben Stiller as the most tightly wound of the three adult children. Complemented at every turn by a tremendous arsenal of cuts by, among others, Bob Dylan, the Clash, Elliott Smith, Van Morrison, and, perhaps most suitably, Nico, The Royal Tenenbaums is a refreshing gem set apart by its graceful and, in the end, almost purifying synthesis of the comic, the tragic, the strange, and the sweet.

^That's one of the worst movies ever made.

ew, that film is mediocre

"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner."

4. Heat (1995) - Both as a storyteller and as a stylist, Michael Mann is one of the most gifted and important living American directors. He has released a number of memorable films, a few more conservative, a few more daring and experimental, but I do not believe it is too controversial to declare Heat his masterpiece. Ambitious, majestic, momentous. I am not sure which suitable adjective most aptly describes this three-hour L.A. set crime saga which pits a devoted and fierce detective against a veteran thief who lives by a self-devised code of austere discipline and caution. Swiftly paced, the film uses its extended length to put forth a comprehensive portrayal of both men and their lives, from their procedures and tactics on the job to the way their commitment to their duties stunts their fractured or nonexistent personal lives. The film grabs the viewer by the throat at the start and does not let go, creating electricity and suspense not only through traditional action sequences, such as a spectacular downtown chase and shootout after a heist gone awry, but also through dialogue scenes staged and performed with vigorous precision, including the iconic diner conversation shared by the main characters in which they compare their philosophies and admit to a certain sense of doom encircling them because of the choices they have made (a historic scene which also represents the first time Italian American acting legends Al Pacino and Robert De Niro directly shared the screen). From its acting to its action to its atmosphere to its suspense to the twists and turns of the plot, crime cinema, cinema in general, does not come in a form purer than Heat.

kewlness

"I am the only free man on this train!"

3. Doctor Zhivago (1965) - The arc of an introverted physician and poet's life is shaped by turbulent political and social events out of his control in this David Lean directed romantic and tragic epic set during the First World War and later the Soviet revolution in the early 20th century. The title role is played with melancholy subtlety by Egyptian born actor Omar Sharif, reuniting with Lean after a memorable role in Lawrence of Arabia, and he is paired with one of the most beautiful and talented women in the history of cinema, Julie Christie, as Lara, a blonde nurse with a tortured past who becomes the love of his life. They are lent phenomenal aid by a rich ensemble cast utilized well by Lean, including, but in no way limited to, the charming and delicate Geraldine Chaplin as the wife of Zhivago, a fiery Klaus Kinski as an anarchist prisoner on a train, and the Oscar nominated Tom Courtenay as an idealistic student hardened beyond recognition by the events of the revolution. In portraying the central love triangle, the film considerately portrays the three characters and their shared plight, drawing genuine tears from an audience well aware a situation which satisfies each of their desires is out of the question. No film to my knowledge conveys the calamitous impact the heavy, volatile movements of a nation can have on individuals with more focus and power, and as a visual experience, the film astounds, particularly with its ambitious, snow swept train sequences. After watching it an untold number of times on television and home video, I was very glad to have the chance to see it on a large-format screen in a theatre late last year.

Perhaps Yuri can join you and your rolling-crew bros for b-ball soon.

The third match in those last three picks.

You don't need a new one when you already have an old one.

"See yourself on stage, inside out, tangled garlands in your hair. Of course, you are pleasantly surprised."

2. Velvet Goldmine (1998) - The scene is London in the 1970s, when artists such as David Bowie, Roxy Music, Slade, and T. Rex ruled the charts with their glamorous guitar music and inspired and transfixed the youth of Britain with their arch sexual ambiguity, cocaine fueled energy, and rainbow colored high style. American independent director Todd Haynes, known for provocative films investigating culture and sexual politics, creates with Velvet Goldmine a high-volume pop fantasy which tells the story of this specific time and place by finding its spiritual center and blending fact and fiction. Though his subsequent years have included highs and lows, no one in the late nineties could have watched this film and doubted the star of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, an androgynous, angular, confident, and sensual powerhouse as Brian "Maxwell Demon" Slade, a musician clearly modeled in part on Bowie. The film documents Slade's journey of artistic self-discovery, meteoric rise to Top of the Pops fame, and abrupt abandonment of the movement of which he is a figurehead via an elaborate staged death at a concert. Ewan McGregor co-stars as Curt Wild, a wild-child American singer, and the cast also includes a youthful Christian Bale as a shy journalist whose suburban coming-of-age was defined by the music of Slade and his contemporaries.

Achieving substance through style, this is a singular dream of a film is highlighted by over-the-top visual invention, a flashy cast of characters, a left-field sense of humor (the opening sequence shows a UFO visiting Dublin and leaving a baby on the doorstep of the Wilde family in 1854) intermixed with piercing drama and erotic exuberance, and, of course, ace music. Members of Placebo, Radiohead, Suede, original pioneers Roxy Music, and other bands were enlisted to record new compositions and various covers, and they more than rise to the challenge. I first saw Velvet Goldmine when I was 12/13, and as dramatic as this may sound, it changed my life. Its impact on my taste in film, literature, music, etc. is nearly incalculable.

Hmm

NLMG

Elaborate. Are you praising its inclusion? Are you a fan of it, too?

"England is under threat of invasion, and though we be on the far side of the world, this ship is our home. This ship is England."

1. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) - And so we come to the number-one spot, and my choice is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, a seafaring adventure film and period military drama directed by Peter Weir and nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It is an adaptation of a series of twenty novels and an unfinished manuscript by Englishman Patrick O'Brian, an ongoing literary saga admired both by critics and casual readers and only concluded by the author's death at the age of 85. Weir and his co-writers draw elements from at least three of the novels to craft their screenplay, but this is far from a plot oriented film. A series of tense encounters with a French warship, culminating in an elaborate climactic fight, are signposts which guide the film, but it otherwise concerns itself first and foremost with enveloping audiences within a convincing and realistic portrait of day-to-day life on a ship during the Napoleonic Wars. The result is of enormous interest, and every time I view the film, I am drawn with magnetic force into its tempest of details and personalities, not to mention awed by the spectacular costume and production design and photography.

One ingenious sequence which serves as a case in point finds the ship adrift during a wind free period of drought. The resulting physical torment intensifies the inherent claustrophobia of the living conditions and brings various superstitions and tensions to the fore. The men decide to turn against a single, rather inept midshipman and declare him a "Jonah," the source of the problem. The stigmatization and cruel whispers result in the midshipman's suicide when he leaps overboard with a cannonball in his arms. The frightening and sad episode is an example of how Weir turns the crowded central frigate into a type of microscope through which to consider the best and worst of humanity. The film also wisely zeroes in on the unexpected friendship shared by the captain, a masculine force of nature unto himself, and the ship's surgeon, a persuasive and thoughtful scientist, who bond over their shared love of music and debate the thin line separating the direct demands of the service from the indulgent, vainglorious pursuit of a heroic place in history. The provocative implications of their friendship invite the audience to ponder the importance of balancing dead-ahead courage and brute strength with caution and deductive sagacity during a campaign, military or otherwise, since both men, however divergent, are capable of great and inspirational leadership.

My complete list:



I am very grateful to those who followed along and commented, agreed, disagreed, etc. Cheers.

well, i suspect that'll be the most unique #1 for a long time.

i'll start my list very soon.

Master and Commander was 102 on my preliminary list.

Not a huge fan, but it fits and was better than my guess. Love seeing Heat in the top 5. And I really liked Werewolf! Good job, David.

So inny binny would be up next. I also added a couple people that have mentioned matches and stuff, assuming that they have interest.

100. 8^½
Federico Fellini
1963



crazy circus time.

99. À bout de souffle - Breathless
Jean-Luc Godard
1960



pops and fizzes in its energetic pointlessness.

98. Forbidden Planet
Fred Wilcox
1956



the very, very end is a little shit, but omg analog sound effects. quite bizarre.

97. Le procès - The Trial
Orson Welles
1962



Before the law, there stands a guard.

96. Зеркало - The Mirror
Andrei Tarkovsky
1975



like, the most beautiful memories ever.

The Trial is very solid. A neat choice. There are not too many Kafka adaptations in rotation, and Welles definitely delivers a unique visual experience.

I love Breathless as indicated by its high placement on my list. I am fascinated by Jean Seberg.

Forbidden Planet is fine, but I would rather watch Robinson Crusoe on Mars for a similar kick and vibe.

95. The Birds
Alfred Hitchcock
1963



a great horror atmosphere - and the best of the hitchcock horrors.

94. Alien
Ridley Scott
1979



scared the shit out of me.

93. Planet of the Apes
Franklin Schaffner
1968



has a complete lack of subtlety in everything it deals with, which is how it should be.

92. Chronicle
Josh Trank
2012



a wonderful surprise, packed to the top with kinetic energy.

91. Casablanca
Michael Curtiz
1942



this shouldn't be so enjoyable.

Shaky start but hell yeah on the last five.