Great Dramatic Movies (first incarnation)

I've been watching many movies lately since I've joined Netflix, but I've already seen quite a few. Back in high school I had the bizarre urge to watch every movie on an AFI list, something I didn't succeed at completely. Nonetheless, I saw many great movies. The next summer I continued the quest by developing a classic movie watching circle, which soon degenerated into three or four of us watching movies every day at my friend Adri's house.

Here's my preliminary list of Great Dramatic movies. When I say Dramatic, I mean I'm excluding Comedies and Fun Romps, basically. There's no doubt, however, that there will be more lists of this kind once I see more movies. They are in alphabetical order. Starred movies are extraordinary.

Great Dramatic Movies

• Apocalypse Now: A full cast of some fantastic actors (Martin Sheen as a fucked up guy, Marlon Brando as a fucked up guy, Lawrence Fishburne as a kid, Harrison Ford as an unknown with a stick up his ass, and of course Robert Duvall in his best role ever, even if he's only on screen for, like, twenty minutes out of the four-hour long thing), sly social commentary, and a surrealistic backdrop that includes weird-ass midi music from the 70's makes for a version of Heart of Darkness that I think is better than Heart of Darkness. I prefer the longer Redux version, but it's not for the faint of heart. And, yes, the first three hours are better than the cuh-razy final hour when Brando goes in-fucking-sane, but damn I love Dennis Hopper's character (the cracked out photojournalist) in those scenes to death. PS His character was a clear inspiration for my character in 'Neath the Elms.

• Casablanca*: One of my few "perfect" movies, Casablanca nails it in every way. The dialogue is so tight I want to cry every time I hear it, the acting is, of course, perfect (Bogie, how I love thee), and they even sing Bright College Years in it. Who knew the Nazis went to Yale? ...Oh, and if you haven't seen Casablanca yet, shame on you.

• The Conversation: I just saw this one and reviewed it recently on the Facebook! But if you don't remember or--gasp!--read my Facebook profile regularly, I'll repeat it. This movie was the one no one's heard of that Francis Ford Coppola directed in between The Godfather and Godfather Part II. It's not sprawling like those or Apocalypse Now, but rather is a small, deliberately paced character study (think Rocky) in the guise of a murder mystery/suspense thriller. And it's surreal at times (think Vertigo) as well as postmodern, too (think, I dunno, any postmodern play).
  

• The Godfather*: Another perfect film, this epic (long) movie is never boring. Though, yes, a little violent, the violence happens in artistic spurts, so it's okay! So, let's go through the list of perfects: perfect acting, perfect pacing, perfect...oranges? Okay, really. What's with those oranges? Weirdest leitmotif ever. But back to the summary. If I did have to criticize at all, I'd say a) they should have had more social commentary, like parts of the book, although they do a good job with what they do say, and b) I agree with my parents. That girl in Sicily should learn to talk. Jesus.

• It's a Wonderful Life: People may say it's lame, but they're thinking about their ideal of It's a Wonderful Life, not the actual movie, which cannot be called lame, unless you are a robot. I know I watch everything ironically and am all hating on everything all the time, but this movie gets me every time. It just builds up so well! Okay, I might start crying just thinking about it now...

• Spirited Away: My favorite anime/cartoon/kid's movie ever. It's beautiful, weird, deep, and unintelligible. It was better on the big screen, though, which is sad, 'cause I won't see it that way again, probably. Oh, and for those of you who haven't seen it (shame!), it's about a girl who enters a fantasy world and finds her parents turned into pigs and she has to work in a bathhouse for this witch to try to save them. Yeah.

• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: Already you may suspect that I'm in love with Humphrey Bogart. I sadly haven't seen this film in awhile, but it's very effective... I also think it's based on "The Pardoner's Tale" if I'm remembering properly. Even if it isn't, the plots are fairly similar.

• West Side Story: Basically the only musical I like. No, I'm kidding. I love it. And I like it better than Romeo and Juliet, which is stupid and ugly. Dern kids with their poisons...

Good Dramatic Movies
(Just so you remember, "good" really means "good." "Good" is high, high praise from me.)

• 8 1/2: I have to put this film on my list somewhere to prove I'm a film geek. But I did like it very much, although for everyone's talk about how innovative and surreal it is, it had nothing on my very similar (but not too similar) senior project (which, I must note, I wrote way before I saw it, so there) in terms of screwed-up-ery. Anyway, I was very surprised to find it was funny in parts, having heard it was one of those Italian depressing films, and since it starts with a man suffocating in his car...apparently Fellini (the director/writer) put a note saying "Remember this is a comedy" next to the camera as he filmed it. Not a bad idea...

• 12 Angry Men: Although I don't believe in empiricism only, this ode to being rational in the face of, well, eleven angry men is very compelling. The fact that we saw it the night Carlos was assaulted by a gang of kids on bikes only made it that much more fun.

• Amadeus: Long, funny, and with good music (I wonder why...), Amadeus starred the guy from Animal House (!). How I love that giggle. The directing is fabulous, although maybe it goes on a little too long. The themes are fun--what makes talent, anyway?--but not as complex as they could be for a movie that is so epic.

• Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Honestly, there is no reason to like this movie. It's long, it's overwrought, it's idealistic...in a word, it's Spielberg. But there's this mood of wonder and innocence about this film that I got to admit, Spielberg knows how to capture. Damn him.

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: When I saw this movie for the first time, I had been waiting for awhile for Kaufman to reach his potential. His other movies were creative and really interesting, but they tended to fall apart in the third act after the fun of the premise had run its course. Not so in Eternal Sunshine, which was tightly plotted, funny in an eccentric way, and kind of sad-beautiful. Okay, I saw the ending coming a mile away (ask Christine Hung!), and I thought Kate Winslet was slightly annoying, but it was a nice poem of a movie. Here's a good date movie, people! (Perhaps after you've been dating for awhile, though...)
  

• Field of Dreams: Here's my standard review of Field of Dreams: it makes me love two things I usually dislike: America and baseball. That's pretty impressive, movie!

• The Grapes of Wrath: The book was better (yes, I liked it, damn it! Just 'cause they make you read a book in high school doesn't mean it's bad, grumble grumble :), and the movie left out the awesome last chapter because it was controversial (insert eyeroll). But man, that Henry Fonda speech... classic.

• Lawrence of Arabia: I have to put this here or Carlos will hurt me. But, yeah, you should see it at least once.

• Paths of Glory: If you ever see any movie about war, make it this one. And it's short!

• Psycho: My favorite Hitchcock film (and I like many), Psycho is weirdly plotted and not as scary as you'd expect. Hell, I can watch it, and I'm scared of everything. But it's full of fun symbolism and good dialogue and fun fun fun!

• Raging Bull: Here is the best boxing movie ever, so after this one, you'll never need to see one again. Okay, I admit I didn't see Million Dollar Baby, but chances are very slim it's better than Raging Bull, the bee-yoo-tiful black and white movie chock full of shades of gray (in the characterization sense).

• Ran: Kurosawa's epic retelling of King Lear, my favorite Shakespeare play. And it's in color! And the characters (as in Lear) are CRAZY. But, unlike Lear, samurai swords. And honor.

• Rear Window: I love movies that take place in one room! Does that make me weird?

• Rocky: Yes, Raging Bull is clearly better, but Rocky is not the boxing movie you'd think. It's actually a subtle little character piece that's perceptive and sweet. That's all it's trying to be, and, hell, it gets the job done.

• The Seven Samurai: Kurosawa's masterpiece. It's very long, which is a drawback, but the characters are wonderfully drawn and the directing is, well, masterful.

• Strangers on a Train: Okay, another Hitchcock. This time, weird-ass possibly homosexual psycho killer...on a train! I've had about enough of these motherfuckin' strangers...well, you know.

• To Kill a Mockingbird: The book, again, is better, and maybe, as Carlos says, ahem, Peter O'Toole should have won Best Actor... but Gregory Peck is excellent, and the movie is well done, so suck it.
  

• The Untouchables: I should first state that this movie is a personal favorite of mine. Every time it is on TV, no matter what time it starts, I have to watch the whole thing. This is not an exaggeration; I've started watching at 2 in the morning, and it is by no means a short movie. Is The Untouchables great? Well, no, in that it doesn't really have deep themes or anything like that. But, man, is it a load of fun to watch. Sean Connery, baby!

• Vertigo: I need to see this movie again, as I've only seen it once, but I loved it. It's one of those Hitchcock movies...slow build-up, then complete reversal halfway through... As with all Hitchcock, it's not scary at all, but tense! In-deed.

More to come...

The Great Purpose of the Great List

As you all know, I'm an opinionated person, particularly when it comes to various media. Even my mother has been known to say, "Shana, you hate everything. Why can't you like something once in awhile?"

My mother is exaggerating, if only a little. I do like a lot of things. And some things I like a lot.

Because I hate on so much and because I expose myself to a lot of media instead of "sleeping" or "socializing," people tend to ask me to recommend things to them. Now I'm putting all of my recommendations here in one place for you all to access them at any time. Hurray! Hurray for you!

This Blog is called The Great List, since things I like a lot I often call "great." "Great" is a word that gets thrown around quite often, but as I dislike much in the world, I save the title of "great" for a precious few. Other things I will label "good," a term that carries the connotation of "crap" on many other sites, but by which I really mean "good." Underneath "good," which is also sometimes known as "solid," comes "eh," followed by "crap," followed by "utter crap." A very small number of things I call "perfect," but these generally are just great things that happen also to be personal favorites of mine, too.

I hope you all can use this list to wade through the rivers of crap out there, and if you have any suggestions to me, I'd love to hear them. My netflix queue only has 200 movies on it at the moment :)

Also, if you have suggestions for future Great Lists, I'd love to have them, although I reserve all rights not to respond if I don't know enough about the topic. And if you say "Great Types of Poop" in your comment...well, I'll probably do it, but I'll also call you uncreative behind your back. And you won't like that, 'cause you're insecure.

Heh. Poop.