Right, so the following is culled and expanded from a few postings I made on my Twitter feed last night in a mad attempt to get some thoughts out before I slept. Writing the majority of it over, like, seven 140 character posts was daunting as all fuck on my qwerty pad on my new phone, but hey, it had to be done, and now I'm going to try and slowly move away from using my Twitter as much, because you know what? Well, actually, Dave doesn't approve, and the guy terrifies me.
So I've settled on my current (current because this kind of thing is always shifting, I'll always find a film that usurps a previous high scorer, that's the nature of these lists) All Time Top Five Favourite Films, and they kind of breakdown like this. I'm well aware that one is a double-header, because I wrote it, but I don't care... these are the kind of things that are allowed when it comes to a personal list. And what are you going to do? Take me to the List Commission?
I thought not.
So, it breaks down like this: High Fidelity, Star Trek (2009), Ghostbusters (1), The Royal Tenenbaums/The Darjeeling Limited (newcomer, joint) and Chasing Amy. Some obvious choices there, obviously if you knew me, but some surprises, I'm sure.
High Fidelity has always, and will always appeal to me on so many levels and the whole narrative just sings (that was an awkward pun, right?), so that's always gonna be No. 1 (with a bullet), and I will ignore any disparaging remarks hurtled in its direction. This is the one book adaptation that takes massive liberties but is still true to the pure spirit of the novel-- that liberty being transplanting the story from London to Chicago-- the only one for me, that is.
I wasn't sure about it before but the sheer blatant enthusiasm that the crew had for Star Trek makes it a gem of a thing, something that is both sentimental and nostalgic whilst striving forward into the future ready for anything. They're no longer beholden to any kind of established continuity like the previous films, something that I think scuttled the success of The Next Generation film series. These characters and concepts are firmly entrenched into my childhood so something that is so "modern" and so "new" and still has that gut punch effect that stinks of pure nostalgia trip? An obvious Top Five entry.
The first Ghostbusters was nigh perfection and the main cast play off each other wonderfully, effortlessly even, I adore it on so many levels. The dialogue, every single line pretty much, is quotable, and Bill Murray just... well, this film made me want to see more of him, and I know that's such a naive and n00bish thing to say, but I don't care. I love the actor, I think he can do anything, and it was this that made me strive to see Lost In Translation (a near miss for the Top Five). This is the root of every single great comedy film of the 90s and beyond, I'm serious, and without it we wouldn't have had some great films. Four [sort of] average guys fighting the forces of evil. What's not to like?
The Wes Anderson double-header is a new development but a welcome one; there's just something about his films that once again connects with me. I didn't really think about it before, but The Royal Tenenbaums is greatness, a perfectly structured story, and sure it can come off as elitist and snobby with how it's shot, and how the characters are written, but I don't care. Wes Anderson's direction in that film was nouveauSOMETHING and I don't know what, he's an auteur for sure, but the fact is... The Darjeeling Limited didn't feel completely like one of his films-- and I'm not saying that's a bad thing... Anderson seems to temper his own eccentricities into a mighty thing, and it flows like nothing else.
And as much as I love Dogma, Chasing Amy is a perfectly small and taut love story that stayed with me from first viewing and that's all that this kind of thing is about, full stop. I'm not even distracted by Ben Affleck, who I find to be a complete and utter moron of an actor in a majority of the stuff I've seen him in. He ascended from Indie Royalty into Hollywood Heartthrob then he vanished, and sure, I've heard his recent films have been great, but this is what *made* him great. The dialogue isn't too heavy, and what other film could have granted us the line "What's a nubian?" Oh my. Oh me.
So yeah, I puffed that up a bit, but that's where I stand right now.
What's your All Time Top Five (for right now)?
No comments:
Post a Comment