Favorite Films

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Netflix makes just about every film easily accessible, which is awesome for wanna-be film buffs like me. I’m obsessed with watching classics, foreign films, art films, biopics, as well as blockbusters. I’ve composed a list of some of my favorite ones. So as of today, these are my top 10 favorite movies, which will probably be completely different next week.

10. The Apartment

Sunset Blvd. is probably Billy Wilder’s most important film, but The Apartment is a great, simple story told very well. The camera work is also top notch.

9. Control

Honestly, I didn’t know much about Joy Division being in my early 20’s. But since seeing this film, JD is in my top 3 on last.fm. The film doesn’t idolize Ian Curtis, but portrays an honest image of the singer. It’s beautifully shot, the actors do a stellar performance of the songs, and the Joy Division story is told flawlessly. My favorite biopic of all time.

8. The King of Kong: A Fistfull of Quarters

There’s a lot of controversy around the integrity of the documentary regarding The King of Kong. Apparently Billy Mitchell isn’t as much as a jerk as the film makes him out to be. However, the story is fantastic. It’s a Rocky for nerds.

7. Goodfellas

The Departed only has a good ending—it’s essentially a Steven Seagal flick glossed up by one of the greatest living directors. Goodfellas has heart, character metamorphoses, golden camerawork—just to name a few qualities. The Oscar for Departed was a pity award.

6. The Shining

Scary, fun, exciting—filmmaking at its best.

5. In Cold Blood

This Truman Capote adaptation might not be as thorough as the novel, but it’s highly detailed-oriented. Robert Blake gives a terrifying performance.

4. Dial M For Murder

Vertigo is Hitchcock’s best film. End of story. However, Dial M For Murder will be one of the most fun and entertaining Hitchcock movies you’ll ever see. Vertigo’s good for the textbooks, Dial M is just a great entertaining movie you can keep on watching.

3. There Will Be Blood

Perfect in every way. It’s long, but never boring. The dialog is short, but never dry. It’s shot in a very simple way, but looks beautiful and different. There are so many layers of meaning in this film—it’s so difficult to think about. It’s very similar to Once Upon a Time in the West, being nuance based, political, and very sharp. It also helps having Jonny Greenwood doing the score.

2. 8 1/2

Italy’s Citizen Kane. Every shot is impeccable. Marcello Mastroianni is fantastic. I consider it superior to Citizen Kane.

1. Helvetica

I have an obsession with typefaces. This movie made my mind spin uncontrollably for many days after I watched it. It made me question everything I knew about typography. World renowned designers give their argument on why Helvetica is perfect or evil. I found the most inspiring part to be the interview of Experimental Jetset, where they explain how they try to get emotion out of a typeface that has none.