A thank you and a short opinion piece

Hello everybody.

I want to thank whoever wrote that wonderful comment on my post a couple of days ago. Your suggestions were so spot on and helpful! Thank you for taking an interest in my work. The revisions should be up soon.

I only have a short piece today, my top 5 favorite films. I've become quite the film buff lately. I never thought I would, but thanks to living so close to an independent video store and movie theater, I'm all about movies now. I'm taking a "Literature and Film" class this semester and I LOVE it. Maybe my academic concentration will be on film...I just adore the combination of narrative, appearance, and sound. Good films really do change your life.

Deciding my favorite films of all time (thus far) is difficult, but I thought it would be fun and challenging to write about. So here it goes...

5. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" Tim Burton (1993)

I wore this VHS tape out when I was a kid. I watched it everyday for two years. No kidding. Being older, I can see why. The animation, the music (composed by Danny Elfman--that's a no brainer!), the story, the characters...it's all impeccable. We need more people with imaginations like Tim Burton's.



4. "Scarface" Howard Hawks/Brian de Palma (1932/1983)

I could not decide between the original and the remake. They're both so brilliant and honestly very similar. The remake is of course more stylistic, but the story remains essentially the same, just adjusted for the times. Hawks is THE Hollywood director that all directors should be compared to. He was prolific and amazing (undoubtedly you've seen a movie of his..."Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "Rio Bravo," "Hatari!," "His Girl Friday" and SO MANY MORE). If you have not seen the original, go do so. If you have not seen the remake, that is a crime. Also, am I the only one who lusts for Al Pacino in this movie? He's just so damn magnetic.




3. "A Clockwork Orange" Stanley Kubrick (1972)

This movie will make you crazy. I suppose it's tame by today's standards, but I still find its moral ambiguity disturbing and intriguing. Alex DeLarge, played by the phenomenal Malcolm McDowell, is the anti-hero to end all anti-heroes. Without this power house performance, Ledger's infamous Joker would not have been the same. And I will never see "Singin' in the Rain," or Beethoven, the same way again.



2. "The Big Lebowski" The Coen Brothers (1998)

Dude, just go watch it. I never get sick of this movie. It's the funniest, quirkiest, loveliest damn thing I've ever seen.



1. "No Direction Home" Martin Scorsese (2005)/"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" Jim Sharman (1975)

You couldn't get more different than these two, yet I couldn't choose between them. I love documentaries, particularly documentaries about music, and Scorsese's documentary on Bob Dylan has got to be the best doc I've ever seen. Period. Informative, intimate, exciting...anything you could ever want from a documentary, particularly from a documentary on such an enigmatic man. And Rocky Horror? THE BEST MUSICAL EVER. I'm sorry, but "The Sound of Music" has nothing on this. Tim Curry is to die for.



No spectacular Rocky clips available online...go see it at an independent movie theater near you! It will probably be showing (if you live in Tucson, every other Saturday at the Loft!)