Dir - George Lucas/Irvin Kershner/Richard Marquand
In the era that we currently live in, it looks like we shall be bombarded by an annual, (at least), assortment of Star Wars stand-alones, prequels, TV shows, and mediocre, current saga rehashes until the end of time. So with the franchise fatigue fully settled in now, the upside is that the original trilogy stands out as remarkably as ever. For something that was initially inspired in equal parts by old Flash Gordon serials and Akira Kurosawa movies, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi's universally appealing good vs evil themes, still remarkably superb visuals, (George Lucas' later adjustments notwithstanding), alluring world, and iconic characters across the board all make up a hefty part of most movie-goers DNA. Like all of us, I have seen these films an obscene amount of time and I defend the Ewoks in Jedi as much as I do Han shooting first in A New Hope. At least we can all agree on cinema's most iconic plot twist in Empire.
Dir - Werner Herzog
One of the most preeminent and easily THEE most insane director/actor partnerships in all of cinema was that of Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Both of these men were and are real life crazy, (Kinski far more frighteningly so), arguing with each other on set to the point of life-threatening terror. Their five film collaboration kicked-off madly with Aguirre, the Wrath of God. Since viewing uno, I have held this film in the absolute highest possible regard. Few movies of any kind are as spellbinding as this. These German-speaking, Spanish conquistadors and their trek down the Amazon river is astonishing to behold. The subtle score from prog/Krautrock band Popul Vuh plus long moments of deafening silence and of course, Kinski's otherworldly subdued performance and slithering limp make Aguirre a fascinating nightmare that looks and feels more like a barely-moving dream that stays with you for many, many days afterwards.
Dir - Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson's filmmaking career has been above average since the get-go and Magnolia, (the follow-up to the very successful Boogie Nights), is in his own words "the best movie I'll ever make." The ultimate ensemble piece, (eat your heart out Robert Altman), Anderson set out to do "the epic, the all time great San Fernando Valley movie" and he achieved a masterpiece that I fell for immediately. I watched Magnolia for the first time many years ago and watched it again the very next night, miraculous for an over three-hour movie. That is how engrossing this is. Anytime seeing it now and no matter how hard I try to sleep, it races in my head endlessly for days on end. Tom Cruise was never better, but neither was the entire cast here. No film that will ever be made combines drug use, bumbling police work, the drama of live television, cancer, a gay bartender crush, synchronicity, child prodigies, Aimee Mann songs, and biblical weather to the ingenious effect that Magnolia does.
Dir - Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino's emergence on the scene with Reservoir Dogs was enough to take notice of for sure, but his follow up Pulp Fiction was a game-changer across the board; an ultra violent, ultra funny, generation x, neo-noir, non-linear gangster epic that may contain the best script ever written or at the very least, the cleverest. As a technically un-trained, former video store clerk film nerd, (who absorbed every type of B-movie that there was and then spat them back out more effortlessly stylized than anything in their make-up), Tarantino was arguably one of the most exciting American filmmakers since Orson Wells. What ultimately matters though is just how endlessly watchable and furthermore hilarious Pulp Fiction is. Hardly any of Tarantino's movies resemble anything close to "terrible", but none of them also come close to the utter perfection of all of their elements the way that this one does.
Dir - Terry Jones/Terry Gilliam
So here we have the winner for the movie that I have seen more than any other, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This was my introduction to Python, as my cousin and mother both brought Holy Grail to my attention when I was around twelve years old. I proceeded to watch it almost literally every day when I got home from school for a whole year and I will continue the rest of my days quoting it as much if not more than I do The Simpsons seasons 3-9. The film was wrought with budget constraints, (hello coconuts in place of horses), and technical problems, but everything was turned into comic gold by the Pythons writing and staring in scene after scene after seen of untoppable hilarity. In simple terms, this is the funniest movie ever made. My love for Monty Python is at a fanatical level and as brilliant as nearly everything that they attempted ever was, Holy Grail is their holy grail.
Dir - Francis Ford Coppola
The two-part Godfather saga is inescapable not to group/watch together, so all three-hundred and seventy-seven minutes of it belong in a single entry. The first chapter began as a modest adaptation of Mario Puzo's crime novel that Francis Ford Coppola reluctantly took on after a handful of other directors had passed. Yet as the book grew in popularity, Coppola pushed harder and harder for the right casting, making it authentically Italian in every detail, and enforcing the themes of the family code and American capitalism. Playing as one unanimously praised and ludicrously famous scene after the other, The Godfather is a masterwork like no other. Then Part II simply takes everything memorable about the first one and expands upon it, acting as an ambitious and equally rewarding prequel and sequel all at once. Together they represent the world's most absolutely perfect film going experience, as well as the pinnacle of the New Hollywood auteur movement.
Dir - David Lynch
I can honestly say that part of me always wants whatever movie that I check out to be exactly like Lost Highway. Obviously this never happens, but if it did, I may enter a vegetative state where I stare wildly at a TV screen all day, so far sucked into Lynch Land that there can be no return. Kind of like Bill Pullman's Fred Madison. I have willingly gone down Lost Highway more than any other David Lynch film and there are few movies out there that are true experiences in the way that this one is. The first act has a mood that is nearly suffocating and once THAT moment happens in the prison, the gloves are gone, as is reality. As with all of David Lynch at his best, (which this most certainly qualifies as), I find as much enjoyment in having no idea what is going on as I do in researching fan theorizes and running scenes back in my head through the years in a probably futile attempt to decipher just what the hell was transpiring. Yet when I end up even more confused than when I started, even better.
Dir - David Lynch
Try as I might, I simply cannot separate Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr. any further than right next to each other. David Lynch's ninth and to-date penultimate film seemed the culmination of Highway and Twin Peaks before it. It also takes just as dark and just as awe-inspiring of a trip as anything in Lynch's filmography. One of the most unique filmmakers of any era, Lynch thus far seemingly delivered his masterpiece here. The mystery may be more penetrable on first viewing, (compared to some of the director's other work), but the layers are more vast than ever. Most importantly though, it all oozes with the mood and stylized flow that Lynch and only Lynch seems capable of producing. Angelo Badalamenti's reliable score certainly helps, as does the constantly cryptic dialog, numerous funny moments to set you off-balance, and gorgeous, out-of-time cinematography and scenery.
Dir - Stanley Kubrick
All hyperbole aside, one's film-going life can be split into two periods; before seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey and after seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey. One of the most praised, challenging, complex, and easy to dismiss if you are a simpleton movies that will ever be made, Stanley Kubrick's magnum opus follows no conventional film narrative rules and instead portrays the passage of man's destiny and evolution almost completely non-verbally. From a visual perspective alone, 2001 is a watershed work. Decades later, CGI looks like shit compared to the painstakingly crafted, thoroughly researched and collaborated-upon practical effects that Kubrick spent years supervising every aspect of. As breathtaking as every shot of the film looks though, it is the journey that it all takes you on that defines this as the ultimate "trip". I always say that this film is "about everything" and with the amount of control and dedication that Kubrick was able to put into it, few if any other filmmaker's greatest achievements can stand toe-to-toe with it.
Dir - Orson Welles
There is no more predictable of a topper to a "greatest" or "favorite" film list than Citizen Kane. So like a stereotype that continues to exist for a reason, here I am enforcing it. In my defense though, this is wholly justified. Viewed for what it was when it was, Citizen Kane was technically the best movie yet made. Yet watching it over seventy years later, there is not a single frame that does not hold up. Orson Wells, (a child prodigy and stage and radio maverick at twenty-six years of age), had never made a film before and was blessed/cursed with the most creatively lucrative contract from RKO in Hollywood history at the time. He proceeded to take on William Randolph Hurst plus a few others into his composite title character and threw enough cinematic camera, editing, and sound tricks in there to still impress wildly. The best way to introduce yourself to Citizen Kane now is to watch it with as few preconceived "impress me" notions as possible and just enjoy it as a movie. Then immediately afterwards, take yourself to school and study up on just what was so groundbreaking about it. It is a brilliant piece of work and probably the most artistically successful example of a filmmaker wielding total creative control over a project that has ever existed.
