The following is inspired by reading Chuck Klosterman's "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs" and is thus pretty narrowly aimed at people born in the 60s, 70s and, yes, maybe even the 80s.
Rent Them (or illegaly download them) Again for the First Time (this list attempts not to include the most obvious, or at least, older classics, ie. Godfathers I & II, When Harry Met Sally...)
1. Wonder Boys
2. Beautiful Girls
3. About a Boy
4. High Fidelity
5. Monsoon Wedding
6. The Cider House Rules
7. Almost Famous
8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. The Silence of the Lambs
10. Groundhog Day (-"You speak French." -[ever so slight Bill Murray pause] "Oui.")
11. True Romance (at least the first half hour - but might just be that it "hits my spot" as my wife puts it)
Movies that you'd think you still love but won't on repeat viewing:
1. Stand By Me (I'm gonna get killed for this, I know)
2. the entire John Hughes oeuvre
3. Die Hard (or is that because I now watch movies with my wife?)
4. Pulp Fiction (but now I'm getting racy, bold, cause I'm inviting scorn, disagreement and hatred)
4. Garden State (I'm cheating cause I hated this movie the first time round; most empty dumb movie that too many people i love, respect, enjoy talking movies with liked or really really liked. for them then, please watch again to see how stupid this movie is, great soundtrack notwithstanding)
Movies no one saw but really should have:
1. Half Nelson (if for Ryan Gosling's performance alone)
2. Once (but with the Oscar win people have/are going to see it)
3. Downfall (the German movie about Hitler and the Nazi regime's last days).
4. Nobody Knows (Japanese title: Dare Mo Shiranai)
5. In the Mood For Love (ok, many saw and repeat seeing; it's already a major art-house classic, but it's an all-time fave and had to get up here somewhere)
Glossy Slick Hollywood Movies that really are their own art form:
1. The Thomas Crown Affair (newer one, with Pierce Brosnan)
2. Top Gun (duh!)
3. Point Break ("You can't just call timeout and stroll along the shore; you have to make a commitment to the surf!")
4. I'm missing tons here. Will add if/when they come to me. Thoughts?
And finally,
The best first half of a Stanley Kubrick movie to truly shock your first year Japanese university students with:
1. Full Metal Jacket
A bicycle ride in the granny basket of my black bicycle with bell and lock, from my current place in Ikeda, Osaka, Japan to your workplace, if you can name the Legendary hotel this 3, 4 year old pic was taken in.
ReplyDelete[this gift is limited to those not married to or ever having stayed and or been recommended to stay at said hotel with or by me]