Zotis' Top 100 Favorite Films

For a long time this movie was just a fond distant memory. I didn't get around to digging it up for many years, but when I did it turned out to be even better than I remembered. It's a touching story about a disabled boy (Edwards), his brother (Savage), and their friend (Lewis) who go on an adventure to California with the goal of winning a huge national video game tournament. There's a lot more to it than that, but you'll just have to watch it to find out. The acting is not impeccable, but with three young child actors as the leads it does surprisingly well.

My first Ozu experience was Tokyo Story. Another giant of a director, his reputation preceded him. I knew right away from the first scene that I was in for a real treat. I could see the masterful technique. I was mesmerised for the entire film. I admit that my first viewing had some boring elements that I struggled to get through. Some elements also seemed a bit flawed. Not all of the acting was impecable. However, the beautiful story and profound life lessons more than compensated. I watched a second time shortly after with the intention of appreciating it more, and already the elments that I had found boring before were not boring at all. I realised there was so much importance to every little thing that happened, and what I first found boring was that I didn't understand how all of those elements were building up to the delivery of the ending. Being introduced to Ozu was also a significant step in my personal growth into the world of film, and this was just last year. 2015 was a very interesting year for me, and I'm so excited for the future. I can't wait for what I'll discover next and how I'll grow as a person. There is one more Ozu film that will appear on this list.

It was during my Kirsten Dunst phase/crush in my early 20's that I first came across this movie. I have a soft spot for coming of age stories, especially with strong attractive female leads. Sadly I had to bump The Virgin Suicides off my top 100, because that's another of Dunst's films that I love. Both films also catered to a phase of depression I went through. Crazy/Beautiful is a crazy and beautiful movie, and Dunst is crazy and beautiful in it. The movie rests heavily on her performance. I don't think she's a character actress. She seems to pretty much play the same character with only minor differences from movie to movie. The same can be said for this movie. What's great about her performance though is strong fundamental acting techniques, well conveyed out of control emotions, and a passionate free spirit.

Michelle Williams is another actress I keep tabs on. I tend to follow a lot of actresses, but not that many male actors... It's pretty obvious why though right? I'm just a sad lonely man who doesn't have a girlfriend. Even when I'm really impressed by male actors and love seeing them in movies, I don't follow their careers and try to watch all their movies. Well, Williams is just another one of my celebrity crushes. I wish I could marry her someday. You know when people ask you, "If you could meet one celebrity who would it be?" I'd be hard pressed to choose from my list of 50 female actresses that I have crushes on, but Michelle Williams would be very close to the top of that list. She is one of the most talented and hard working actresses I've ever seen. Her filmography is way more impressive than most. I also admire how often she appears on screen with little to no make-up on. She is a gorgeous woman. Wendy and Lucy is another one of those movies that relies very heavily on it's lead to carry the movie. For a considerable chunk of the screen time she is the only person in the shot. The story revolves around this young woman traveling with her dog who ends up going through a very hard time. There's a lot of emotion in Williams' performance, and I think she does play a considerably unique character from her other movies.

Ever since I saw this movie Greta Gerwig has been on my radar. I've never had a crush on her, but I still follow her career with keen interest. She usually co-writes her movies, and is in quite a few of Noah Baumbach's works. In this one she plays a clumsy awkward young woman who constantly embarrases herself and struggles to get through life. It's very similiar to most of her roles. She's just very good at doing that particular thing, and it is fairly unique. Part of the reason why I love this movie and admire her as an actress is because I can relate to her characters a lot. Sometimes it's hard to just not make a complete fool of myself. I feel really good when people I know say that they think I'm cool, funny, and smart, but I often feel like a completely stupid dork. Also the movie is shot in black and white, which is awesome.

I haven't seen most of the movies on this list and didn't care at all for V for Vendetta or Kill Bill, but I love Inglourious Basterds and remember liking Payback, though I haven't seen it in awhile.

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I liked "Smashed". One funny quote was when Kate and Charlie were riding bikes:
Charlie: Watch out for the crack!
Kate: Where, what crack?
Charlie: I thought there was crack. Oh, I don't know, you must have smoked it last night.

Yeah, that part was hilarious.

Thumbs up for Tokyo Story, V for Vendetta, and Payback. I'm not much of a fan of the Kill Bill movies but I'm going to watch them again. I still have to see Wendy and Lucy.

Tokyo Story feels weird in company of all these, more or less, contemporary films, but I'm the more content it is there.

Hi. I,m new at this forum. While browsing this forum i really liked #95 & other stuff. Thanks for a nice post.

Thanks Davidreed, and welcome to the forums.

Mr. Minio, I think once you see the rest of my list it won't seem so weird.

Cricket, I hope you like Wendy and Lucy.

About five years ago I discovered the beauty that is the sub-genre of crime films known as Poliziotteschi, A.K.A. Italian Crime Films. And what a gold mine it was. For some reason after barely scratching the surface I haven't revisited the genre in the last four years. The film world is just so massive that sometimes it's hard to keep track of everything I want to explore more. Anyway, this was my second favorite of the genre that I saw during that time. This is where the real Scarface comes from, not the 80's Al Pachino movie. Italian cinema from this era tended to dub everything, even the original language. So at first that took me some getting used to. But once I embraced that aspect I found the movie very easy to enjoy. It's hard to talk specifically about the technical aspects because they aren't fresh in my memory, but Jack Palance is one hell of an actor. Fernando Di Leo's movies were at the forefront of the Italian Crime section of the indie video store I found them in. Perhaps part of the reason I enjoyed them so much at the time was because they were so different from anything else I'd seen. Also it was the style of crime that fascinated me. I always got the feeling that these guys knew a lot about what kind of things actually went on in the criminal underworld.

This was my favorite of the Italian Crime genre. Again it's by Fernando Di Leo, the only director of the genre who's really stood out to me so far. I've seen four of his movies and they were all great. I can't say the same for every Italian Crime movie I've seen. I liked this one just a little more than Rulers of the City because I felt the lead (Moschin) was stronger, and the plot was better. I think the strong plot may have to do with the book it was based on. This was also the first Italian Crime movie I saw, and it had a really strong impact on me. Moschin plays a strong silent type who relies on cunning to survive. I wouldn't say these movies have the kind of technical prowess of the great arthouse directors, but they do have a lot of character.

Obivously you got a rep and this list is going to be awesome! A Top 5 of mine

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One more of your top 10 is going to appear. Can you guess which one?

hmmmmm Requiem For A Dream ??

It's obviously Sinister.

You guys... come on, don't you know me better than that? You're both wrong.