Last night lying in bed I started thinking about my top 5 favorite movies.Not just the go-tos. You know the ones you can watch over and over and never get sick of. But the ones that just have something more, and it makes you love them.
It must be all this Oscar, SAG, EMMY stuff that keeps showing up in my daily emails from People.com. (Everyone has their guilty pleasure. Mine happens to be looking at what Sophia Vergaros, Helena Bohem Carter, and Jennifer Garner wore on the red carpet. Oh, and those shirtless photos of the current Bachelor don’t hurt either.)
Anywhoooo…
The first three on my list are a slam dunk.
I’m not making the argument that these are the best movies ever. But I love them.
- Charade. After all who doesn’t love Audrey Hepburn, Carey Grant, and Walter Matthau in the only role where he comes on screen and I don’t immediately think of the scene in Dennis the Menace where he has a flaming marshmellow on his head. My Dad and I watched Charade over, and over, and over when I was young. This is quite shocking because there are some scary parts in this movie and I am a giant chicken. It also spurred a very brief stamp collecting phase.
- When Harry Met Sally. If you haven’t seen this movie (and I don’t know how that’s possible if you’ve been in contact with a TV that gets TBS in the last, oh, I don’t know… EVER) stop reading and go watch it. We’ll wait. No, actually we won’t, but the blog isn’t going anywhere. You can read this when you get back. And if you don’t like this movie, get off my blog now. How can you not like Meg and Billy? They are epic.Hey! What are you still doing here? I said get off my blog you Harry-and-Sally-hating-good-for-nothing! Ahhh, that’s better.
- Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s an anime film and it is amazing. It teaches children (and adults) all kinds of wonderful things, such as how to break the curse of a witch. You know, basic survival skills. And before you claim my love for this movie is the result of a mild obsession with Billy Crystal, I’ll have you know I didn’t even know he was the voice of the fire in the English version until I read the credits.
- …
And then I got to 4. And nothing… How can I not have a forth? I wondered? I watch movies all the time (the product of not having cable as a child). So I started going through the standbys;
Gone with the Wind. Amazing! Yes. Top 10. Definitely. Not top 5 though.
The Batman series. So fantastic it makes me want to drive a motorcycle and I hate those things. But not coming in at 4 or 5 for me. Sorry, Christian Bale, Val Kilmer and Michael Keaton.
Dirty Dancing? (of course I want this on a desert island with me, but its more Top 30, than Top 5) The Godfather? (OOOOO OOOO Maybe! Nah. Top 10 material.) Ironman? Miracle of 34th Street? Slumdog Millionaire? (Definitely top 15. For sure.)
Citizen Kane? Nope. Hate that garbage.
Now wait just a minute. And before you start calling me an uncultured swine, let me explain why I think it is garbage. I know it made amazing advancements in cinematography using the deep focus shot and low- angle shots, and shook up story telling techniques by using flashbacks instead of the usual linear storytelling (I live in So-Cal now. You basically learn these things through osmosis). And I know Orson Welles pioneered some special effects using miniatures (Big deal. I did the same thing when I was 8 and shooting home movies using my dolls. What do you want. An Oscar? Oh, you already have one. Well, I disagree with the Academy regularly. So this is no surprise.) And who cares that it took him 6 hours to get into make-up. The Hobbits had the same challenges. I will, however, concede that the advancements he made to soundtracks are much appreciated– particularly the splicing of conversations together to make it sound like the whole town is talking. I do quite like that.
BUT, on the whole, I hated this movie. I hated it more than I hate cauliflower and reality TV (Sorry Kourtney, Khloe, and Kim, our brief rendezvous is over). And I watched this movie when I lived in Japan and was so starved for something in English that I would rush home after work to catch Temptation Island because it was in English! Sorry Citizen Kane, you are boring. You are mumble-y. You lack a real meaty conflict that I could sink my teeth into. I wasn’t invested in you, much like my non-investment in the Avengers. You didn’t even really have plot, and when you kind of start to develop one, you kill off the wife and child so Kaney-boy can stay with his mistress guilt-free. Come on!
So while nearly everyone and their brother argues that Citizen Kane was the most influential movie ever made (and maybe it was), I’ll be over here watching Vertigo; A great movie, that dethroned Kane last year as being the greatest movie of all time. That Alfred knows what he is doing.
So, no Citizen Kane. You are not in my Top 5.
Criggerpalooza! 