Wizard of Oz: Almost nothing on this earth is better. Was in my top 5 somewhere, I believe. Doesn't waste an inch of space on the screen. Crammed full of delights, and not just the bodies of dwarf suicides. It's everything that movie escapism should be, a thing that instills both wonder and fear in equal measure. As a film, probably has the most indelible images from any movie I've ever watched. Too many to count, although I think the part I looked forward to the most as a child was the Lollipop Guild, who I was never sure if I wanted to hang out with, or I was frightened might eventually mug me of my candy one Halloween, and leave me for dead. It, along with the number 2 movie on my list, should be time capsule movies, the only ones that really matter when the dust of our civilization clears. While I wouldn't change anything, I'l admit that I've grown to find Jack Haley's performance a bit of a clunker. Or a clanker, depending on how willing I am to make Tin Man allusions.
Godfather 2: Better than the original. As someone who often finds the perfection of some films uninspiring, the first film just seems too concerned with getting every detail just right. There are good reasons it shows up in top 5's all through cinema list history, but my hands slip off of it when I try and grab hold. There are no irregularly shaped pieces to get a handle on it. Godfather 2 though is all sprawl, and while it is just as magnificently produced, there is a sloppiness inherent in movies that just stuff itself full of competing plot threads and backstories and side characters. While this also isn't an absolute favorite for me, I find it a much more interesting watch. Plus, it has more John Cazale, which is the secret weapon of any movie he is in.
Back to the Future - A childhood favorite that didn't survive my transition to adulthood (similar to Ghostbusters). I've got nothing against it. Full of great performances, fantastic concept, early example of exciting special effects and introduced me to the pains of deciphering all the fallacies of time travel at an early age. For some reason I just admire it now though, and don't fall under its spell. Maybe I just watched it too much as a kid.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: This was a childhood favorite, instilling in me the hope that one day I could voluntarily commit myself to a nuthouse once I finished school. Inspirational, until I realized it was much harder work to get yourself put away, and so I abandoned those aspirations by the time I was about....25. Nurse Ratched is certainly top 5 villain material, and the reason can be found in how there seems to be debate about this here. Her cruelty is complicated, and these complications are the meat on the bones of how terrible she truly is. Ultimately, even if I understand why people think otherwise, it really shoudn't be up for debate if she is a villain. She definitely is. But she can easily deceive us since heer intentions are likely good. She follows the rules, no matter the appeals of those she is in charge of. Her villainy is born from (as many villains in the real world) her belief in a system that oppresses instead of empathizes. She's 'just following orders'. A conduit for authoritarianism to take root. She's everything we should be frightened of, in the real world, because there are Nurse Ratched's everywhere. And sometimes we still can't tell just how villainous they truly are, because they cloak themselves in supposed good intentions. It also should be noted that Nicholson has never been better. McMurphy is an inspirational character, who is not necessarily acting in the interest of those he helps. A morally complicated character, whose 'heroism' deserves to be recognized at how human it is. And by human, I mean flawed and sometimes self serving. You know, like real life.
Clockwork Orange: This particular Kubrick movie has probably done the most fluctuating as to where I put it in his overall filmography. Currently its near the top, but it's bobbed up and down numerous times. Why? Because I've never watched it and come away with the same feelings twice. Like, Cuckoo, it is a similar jab at the corrosive powers of authority, and how complicated evil sometimes is to determine with complete exactness. My ever fluctuating feelings towards the movie though, are what has likely made it so it will remain near the top from now on, out of respect for how densely confrontational and contradictory its ideas are. For how it makes a crime rampage through a city seem both nauseating and appealing. How it moves and feels like few other films, almost seducing us towards unleashing the violence we keep inside ourselves. It's a movie with legitimately terrifying implications. Also, as a side not, it just so happens I had to contrast this novel with Cuckoo's Nest in highschool. It was one of the only papers I ever got a good mark on, because they were two of the only books I ever read in school that seemed like they had anything at all to say to me. And for this alone, thumbs up. You got me into university Clockwork Orange
One Upon a Time in the West - I've only seen this once all the way through. The scale of it is as epic as that of 2001, yet it takes place in a mound of dust. Since I haven't seen it in so long though, I can't recall much other than the fact that it is the greatest opening in film history (either this or the cold opening of Fuller's Naked Kiss, never under estimate beginning your movie with a point of view beating by a bald hooker). It also is probably my favorite Leone, even though I haven't returned to it in ages.
Last edited by crumbsroom; 01-10-21 at 02:27 PM.
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