A list of movies I recommend:
The Bank Dick (1940); directed by Edward F. Cline
Probably one of my favorite comedies of all time. Written by W.C. Fields (under the nom de plume of Mahatma Kane Jeeves), Fields stars as a lackluster husband, misanthropic father, town drunk, and inadvertent hero of a bank robbery. His "heroic" deed results in a job as a bank security guard. When he pesters his daughter's fiance bank teller, Og Oggleby (Fields: Sounds like a bubble in the bathtub), into investing in a "Beefsteak Mine", all hell breaks loose, especially when the bank auditor, J. Pinkerton Snoopington, shows up. During the film, Fields drinks insatiably at the Black Pussycat Cafe, directs a Hollywood film, and ends up in a climatic high speed chase in which he once again captures a bank robber. This film is the epitome of Fields's genius as a writer and actor. He's never been better, and everyone that has disparaged him during the film gets their comeuppance.
Harvey (1950); directed by Henry Koster
My mom visited me in January. She wanted to see my new apartment. She hadn't seen Harvey in many years and since it was in my DVD library, she asked to watch it. It was one of her faves and is on my top 10 list of best films of all time. Why? Because it's the most understated, sublime, and extraordinary comedies ever written and produced for the silver screen. Originally a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Mary Chase, she also wrote the screenplay and it is perfection. Absolutely. Harvey is the story of Elwood P. Dowd (a role that only Jimmy Stewart could ever pull off), friend to all and town drunk who has as a companion an invisible 6'3" tall white rabbit named Harvey. Mayhem insues when his sister, Veta Louise Simmons (Josephine Hull in an Oscar-winning performance), decides to put him away at a sanitarium called Chumley's Rest. Everything seems to fall apart for everyone except Elwood and his pal Harvey, who may be real or not. You decide. I won't go into the details, but every line is spot-on, every scene perfect, each performance the epitome of subdued comedic genius. If I was dying right now I would say, "Play Brahms's Requiem and put on Harvey."
The Dark Crystal (1982); directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz
This film is nostalgic for me because it takes me back to my childhood when Jim Henson was producing movies and TV shows that stretched my imagination and my funny bone. While there are a few moments of laughter in The Dark Crystal, the film is a serious one that transcends the label “Children’s Movie”. Henson and Oz have taken the classic hero’s journey and created a sprawling fantasy about Jen, the last of a group of near extinct creatures who is the only one who can save all existence by bringing a crystal shard back into the balance of the dark crystal in order to save the world from the evil Skekses. It was the first movie that opened me up to ideas of a greater, more universal spirituality – much different than the narrow-minded views of my Baptist upbringing. Upon its release, E.T. overshadowed it, however, in France and Japan the film was the highest-grossing box office release for the year. That aside, I love this film more than E.T.
Raising Arizona (1987); directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
This is one of my favorite comedies from the prolific Coen Brothers – their second directorial feature after Blood Simple. Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter play H.I. and Edwina (“Ed”) McDunnough, respectively, a desperate couple that can’t have children and concoct a plan to help themselves to one child from a set of quintupelets. Everything goes complete awry after this, including a botched hold-up in which H.I. attempts to steal Huggies, resulting in a madcap chase scene perfectly executed by then cameraman Barry Sonnenfeld, who would go onto Adams Family and Men in Black directorial fame. John Goodman, Frances McDormand, and a “Lone Rider of the Apocalypse” add over-the-top comedic flair to this priceless gem of movie that definitely requires repeated viewings.
The Ladykillers (1955); directed by Alexander Mackendrick
Before the Coen Brothers laborious and dull remake of this film (my least favorite in their ouvre), back in the late 1940s and early 50s, a British film company called Ealing Studios produced a successful string of black comedy gems starring Alec Guinness, including Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), and my favorite – The Ladykillers. For those who only know him as the stoic Obi Wan in the Star Wars films, many may be quite surprised by Guinness’ comedic genius, someone who most likely inspired the future work of Peter Sellers, with whom he worked with in The Ladykillers. The Ladykillers is diminutive masterpiece about a daft spinster who spoils the nefarious plot of bankrobbers posing as musicians. One by one they bite the dust in this most delicious of black comedies.
Twister (1996); directed by Jan de Bont
This is simply a big ol’ dumb summer blockbuster. I just can’t help liking this film, which seems ironic, especially after so many of my recommendations for classic cinema masterpieces. I’m a sucker for disaster films and this one is one of my faves. Cliché characters abound: the plucky, but disgruntled divorcee’ scientist (Helen Hunt); the “aw shucks, let me put a side of beef on the grill” silver-haired aunt; the beer-guzzling, Hawaiian-shirt wearing driver (Philip Seymour Hoffman); the butch intern voice of reason; the token “ethnic”; the doppelganger evil scientist who won’t listen to any sound advice (Cary Elwes), thus endangering all those around him. And Bill Paxton! They’re all here! Add fantastic special effects, including flying cows, tumbling farmhouses, and drive-in-movie-screen-munching cyclones. Sprinkle it all with a cheesy “I’ll get revenge on you, tornado, for killing my pa!” backstory and some fantastic surround sound ear assaults and you’ve got the makings of a film in the fantabulous tradition of the bubble gum set. Turn up the volume, pour a drink, and have some mind-numbing fun.
Network (1976); directed by Sidney Lumet
"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Actor Peter Finch rolled those words across his tongue and took home an Academy Award, albeit a posthumous one. I love this film about an anchorman who's fired, loses his mind, and then the ratings-crazed producers put him on the air as an latter-day prophet of people's angst. The film is a biting of a satire on news and the media and people's insatiable desire for sensationalism on the tube, a movie that's even more relevant today then it was over thirty years ago. I especially love it when Ned Beatty, as head of a multi-national company tells Finch that there are no countries, there is no democracy - the world is merely made up of corporations. William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall. It's perfect.
Broadway Danny Rose (1984); directed by Woody Allen
I’ve seen most Allen films, but this one slipped past me, low on the radar, but I don’t know why it isn’t in the pantheon of one of his best films. It’s now in the top five of my all time faves of my nebbish hero. Woody plays the titular character, a washed-up theatrical agent, who represents everyone from blind xylophonists to octogenarian balloon-animal twisters. His one hope for success is a Frank Sinatra wannabe, Lou Connova, who is actually doing pretty well on the club circuit. Woody agrees to bring Lou’s mistress, played by Mia Farrow, to a performance at the Waldorf in the hopes that Milton Berle will sign him up. Mayhem ensues when a mafiaso family believes Woody is Mia’s boyfriend. One can see the definite inspiration of Fellini in this madcap, hilarious gem, shot in glorioius black and white by cinematography vet, Gordon Willis. It also invokes a seamier, dirtier side of New York City that I truly miss after Disney swooped down with Mousketeer wings and homogenized old New York into its current anesthetized incarnation, that of Wonderbread America: processed, bleached flour made into a loaf of bread with no taste or charactuh.
The Haunting (1963); directed by Robert Wise
I feel like we’ve all been numbed and dumbed down by every visceral and cacophonic onslaught that Hollywood has to offer. But…if you can take yourself back to your innocent days, the time when you hadn’t seen beheadings, disembowelments, and people peppered in the face with buckshot, give this film a chance. It’s directed by my renaissance man director Robert Wise, the guy who brought you West Side Story, the first Star Trek film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sound of Music, The Curse of the Cat People. He was able to cross every possible genre of filmmaking with inimitable and, dare I say, box-office success. This ain’t yo sistuh’s haunted house movie. It ain’t the1999 remake in which Luke Wilson gets his head gratuitously lobbed off. This is the black and white scarefest that still gives me the creepy crawlies, the heebie geebies, the goosebumps up and down my gangly arms. I unfortunately watched this movie alone. The last time I watched it I promised myself I wouldn’t do that again, but I did, and there I was: alone, at home, in the dark. There are no CG special effects, no obtuse camera angles that overtly tell you “oh boy, something must be wrong!”, and there are no superstars hamming it up and showing that if it wasn’t for special effects, they’d be seen as they truly are: overpaid hacks. This is the bone-chilling haunted house movie that set the standard for every one since. I don’t want to say anything else about this movie, but if one must know, it’s about a group of paranormal investigators who arrive at a house to conduct paranormal research. I know, it sounds derivative, but this was the original film that all the others was derived from, and nobody’s done it better since. This is what Roger Ebert calls the “bruised forearm movie” because the person sitting next to you will most likely be baring her or his knuckles deeply into your skin.
King Kong (2005); directed by Peter Jackson
I can't help it. I like this movie. It's a thrilling picture with breathtaking scenes of action and beauty, and ones that even bring a little mist to my eyes. The final scene on the Empire State Building is poetic. Yes, it may seem a little strange that a woman loves a big ape, but I can suspend my disbelief and fall under this movie's spell.
Wings of Desire (1987); directed by Wim Wenders
Wenders' film is a transcendent piece of cinema, a sad, yet invigorating and breathtaking vision of post-war and modern Berlin (before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989) as heard through the voices of its inhabitants, and observed by the angels invisible among them. Giving comfort and inspiration to the lonely masses, one angel, played by Bruno Ganz, falls in love with a melancholy trapeze artist and wants to experience the joys of every day life. He gets his wish and he finds out that a purely spiritual state of existence is no life at all. One has to be in the right mood to see this film. Some might think it a bit slow, but if you give it a chance, it opens up like angels' wings and mezmerizes.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993); directed by Henry Selick
Is it a movie for Halloween or Christmas? I say, both! I love this film. The animation by Selick and his team of stop-motion puppeteers created a film that broke new ground and still holds up today.
Peyton Place (1957); directed Mark Robson
Underage drinking, gossip, incest, abortion, suicide, murder – what could be better in a small town in Maine? This is the kitchen sink melodramatic soap opera to end all, and it's truly amazing to see incendiary issues like the above addressed in a film from the 50s. It’s like five years of “General Hospital” in two and a half hours. I love it! And who can resist a pertly puritanical Lana Turner give it up for the school principal? There’s good reason why “Peyton Place” has entered our cultural lexicon.
Revolutionary Road (2008); directed Sam Mendes
This is one of the most gut-wrenching, unsettling, disturbing, gorgeous films that I’ve ever seen. It’s also poetic in its observations of the stale and soul-sucking dream of suburbia that fogs the ambitions and aspirations of people who might have lived their lives differently if they had taken the risks. Kate Winslett’s been getting a lot of press and for good reason – her performance is unabashedly raw – but Leonardo DiCaprio deserves a Best Actor Oscar for his role as the lost husband in a world where everyone believes everything is “going to be okay as long as we don’t talk about it.”
Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control (2003); directed Errol Morris
A documentary that somehow manages to effortlessly interweaves the stories of four obsessive men: a topiary gardener, lion tamer, M.I.T. robot scientist, and a guy fascinated with hairless mole-rats. The lion tamer and the topiary gardener look back at ways of life which are slowly disappearing; the mole-rat specialist and the robot scientist eye the future, envisioning creatures that may someday replace the human race. Quirky, unique, and dazzingly filmed, this is one of my faves from the Morris milieu.
High Anxiety (1978); directed by Mel Brooks
I’m a Brooks fan. I can’t help it. Even at his Borscht-belt worst, I find that his movies come from his heart. So desperately he tries to make me laugh that I have to sigh, shake my head, and truly laugh, because I can’t help it. This film is a homage to, and spoof of, practically every Alfred Hitchcock film. Instead of birds pecking out people’s eyeballs, they crap on Mel; instead of being bludgeoned by a cross-dressing motel manager, Brooks is pummeled with a newspaper by a crazed hotel bellhop (future Oscar-winning director, Barry Levinson). Plot? It doesn’t matter. With Madeleine Kahn, Cloris Leachman, and Harvey Corman rounding out the cast, this is one of those films that remains close to my heart.
The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 (1974); directed by Joseph Sargent
I’m not going to see the remake of this fast-paced, quite humorous, and original thriller. The new one stars Denzel Washington and John Travolta. I like Denzel, but I don’t think I can sit through two hours of the puffy Travolta (someone who every year looks more and more like a drag queen) eating up the scenes like he’s chewing on a pickled pigs foot sandwich. The original starred Walter Matthau as a transit cop who suddenly has to deal with British mercenary, Robert Shaw (Captain Quint from Jaws) and three other cohorts who have taken hostage a subway car full of people for a ransom of $1M. Matthau is perfect as a foul-mouthed, acerbic cop who always seems to have everything under control while the incompetent MTA employees and mayor of NYC run around the city higgledy-piggledly. The film has a great sense of humor on the surface, but underneath is the suspense and hard-hitting action that drew me in unabashedly. When I first saw this film a decade ago in a tiny movie theater in the East Village, and upon recent viewing, I was never sure exactly how the criminals were going to get away with it all. The funniest and most ironic moment comes in the final scene, and all I’m going to say is that it involves a sneeze and that inimitably sly Matthau grin. Don’t go to the multiplex and see the new one, rent the original.
Day of the Locust (1974); directed by John Schlesinger
Day of the Locust (1974); directed by John Schlesinger
I don’t know the exact number of films I’ve seen in my lifetime, but I’d give a rough estimate that it’s in the three thousands. With that in mind, Day of the Locust is the most cynical and devastating film ever made about Hollywood. I’ve read the novel by Nathaniel West, upon which it is based, and the film is true to the book. It’s a harrowing, unsettling movie that will stay with you for weeks. I first saw it at a diminutive movie house on East 11th Street called Cinema Classics. I had no idea what I was in for, but when I left I was shaken, disturbed, to the point that I went home and drank a few glasses of wine to dull the visceral overload. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen, that someone had the audacity and courage to write something like this. The loose narrative follows the story of a young art director who has just arrived in Hollywood. He gets a fast lesson in the hopes and lost dreams of the denizens of has-beens who walk Sunset Strip. It’s a nihilistic nightmare about fame, celebrity, and the price that must be paid for it all. Reading what I’ve written, it doesn’t sound like I’m recommending the film, but I am. It’s an important one, a gorgeous movie filled with a cast of unforgettable characters that unblinkingly presents them and the situations without shame or contempt, but rather just as they are: products of the Hollywood studio system, dashed dreams and all.
Serial Mom (1994); directed by John Waters
I adore Kathleen Turner in this film and think she is absolutely brills as an Ozziet and Harriet-esque wife in the “Leave It To Beaver” house who kills wanton suburban housewives because they where white shoes after Labor Day and refuse to rewind their videotapes, flippantly serving up the proverbial ketchup-encrusted meatloaf after a hard day’s killing spree. She’s Serial Mom and it’s the apogee of her acting career. She couldn’t have played this part in her nascent years because it takes a great actress to pull off what she does here. This is one of Waters’ best films. I laughed through the whole movie.
Since then it seems she’s fallen apart in real life, but I discovered she has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for years, living in excruciating pain. She looks quite different now because of all the medications for her illness, but apparently she's in remission now. She once said that she didn't fight the rumors she was a drunk because Hollywood hires drunks, not people who are sick. I hope to see her return one day to the big screen where she can find her own rebirth and renaissance.
The Queen (2006); directed by Stephen Frears
Although I have qualms as to how the movie was shot - as if in a made-for-HDTV aesthetic - I love this film that shows the royal blood's almost stoic, but sympathetic, reaction to Lady Di's senseless, bloody death. Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II is perfectly cast as a monarch studied in royal tradition who doesn't know how to react to the public outpouring over the inimitable Lady's death, and the cult of her persona.
Although I have qualms as to how the movie was shot - as if in a made-for-HDTV aesthetic - I love this film that shows the royal blood's almost stoic, but sympathetic, reaction to Lady Di's senseless, bloody death. Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II is perfectly cast as a monarch studied in royal tradition who doesn't know how to react to the public outpouring over the inimitable Lady's death, and the cult of her persona.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006); directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
A perfect film. Without a doubt. I just watched this with F. the other night and we laughed throughout the entire movie. The characters are inimitably drawn through stellar performances. Not one wrong note in this film about a completely dysfunctional family embarking on a journey to fulfill a young girl's dream of competing in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest. There are too many fine moments in this little gem to expound upon in a short review, but it's one that will find a place of honor in my DVD library.
Babette’s Feast (1987); directed by Gabriel Axel
An Academy Award-winner, you have to give this film some time. It’s a slow build-up: the story of two puritanical sisters in a sleepy 19th-Century Denmark village who invite into their home a French refugee. Over almost two decades, the French woman, Babette, serves diligently. When she wins the lottery she offers to create a true French dinner with all the bells and whistles. The titular feast is a work of art, for Babette, is a true artist, something the sisters never knew. The ending is sublime, so I don’t want to give it away, but if you do the honor of watching this film, at the end, when Babette says, “An artist is never poor,”, you’ll know that the time you’ve invested in watching this treasure has not been in vain.
Day of the Triffids (1981); directed by Ken Hannam
This BBC series based on the 1951 novel by John Wyndham had me hooked. A man wakes up in a hospital room, his eyes bandaged, but where are the nurses and doctors? When he takes off the gauze he discovers that because of a meteor shower the night before, everyone who saw it has gone blind. Besides that, a strange mobile carnivorous plant that the Russians have developed has been released upon the world and is stalking the people of London. Are the two phenomenons related? The movie is a taut and suspenseful post-apocalyptic tale and, as with all great science fiction that I adore, is a critique of humanity and society that asks the question: what would you do to survive?
Inception (2010); directed by Christopher Nolan
Absolutely brills. Staggering and mind-blowing. I saw this film two times while stranded in Taipei; not that I didn't have anything else to do, but I just couldn't resist the new consciousness-dream-hacking-espionage genre that writer and director Nolan has created. DiCaprio is fantastic as the protagonist who can enter people's dreams and manipulate them into making decisions in their prescient lives. The plot gist: when an energy corporation tycoon offers DiCaprio the chance of amnesty in the US so he can finally see his children after his wife's suspicious death (for which he is a suspect), he accepts the gig: to enter the rival company's president's dreams and make the suggestion that he should dissolve the empire. The supporting cast is superb, the FX are impeccable, the score epic, and the direction inspired. Best film of the year so far.
