Tag: Movies

Top Ten Movies

Posted by Chris – June 19, 2008

Well, I haven’t done a meme in a while, and Jeff tagged me for this one, so I’ll give it a go.

The rules of the “game” are simple:
1. list your top ten favorite films (in no particular order).
2. if you’re tagged, you’ve got to post and tag 3-5 other people.
3. give a tag back (some link love) to the one who tagged you in your post
4. give a hat tip (HT) to Dan (I have no idea who Dan is, but hey, there ya go).

This is gonna be a challenge for me, because I haven’t watched that many movies lately, and really, how do you go about choosing favorites? Simply by number of times watched? At least you’ll get 10 from me here that I really like. Maybe not the 10 greatest movies I’ve ever seen, but 10 that I’d be happy to sit down and watch again semi-regularly or would recommend to a friend. Oh, and off the top, I’m not gonna say Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, because they’re almost prerequisites for this kind of list, and it seems boring. So, in no particular order…

1. The Princess Bride
An oldie but goodie. Yes, I can quote far too much of it. But to leave it off the list would be, well, inconceivable. And how can you dislike a movie with Andre the Giant?

2. Lost in Translation
Bill Murray. So good. Scarlett Johannson. Amazing. Slow, light on plot, heavy on atmosphere. I loved it.

3. That Thing You Do
So I’m a sucker for a movie about musicians who briefly make the bigtime. Tom Hanks is such a fantastic character in this movie, and yeah, if I’m one of the guys in the film, hands down, I’m the drummer.

4. Fiddler on the Roof
I really need to include a musical on here somewhere, and Fiddler is a great musical. It’s been far too long since I’ve watched this one. But Topol captures Tevye so well, and the songs are classics.

5. Once
OK, so I’m gonna include a second musical on here, and it’s gonna be a film that I’ve only seen, well, once. Low-budget, first-time actors, but the story feels real in a way that very few films seem to manage. I need to buy this one.

6. Apollo 13
Jeff mentioned this one in his list, but I’m gonna include it here, too. Sure, Tom Hanks is great in the starring role, but Ed Harris is the guy that makes the movie for me. And how can I not love a movie where the true heroes are nerdy engineers? Can you build a CO2 scrubber from this random assortment of parts?

7. Heat
Michael Mann at his best, and Pacino and DeNiro to boot. A big crime drama, spread across Southern California, with the atmosphere and expanse that Mann seems to do so well. Oh, and did I mention Pacino and DeNiro?

8. The Matrix
Can we just forget that this is supposedly the beginning of a movie trilogy? This movie works so well by itself – the cyberpunk genre, the stop-action camera work, the ridiculous action scenes… so much fun.

9. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Too many of the old song-and-dance movies were very weakly plotted, with just enough plot to string things together between musical numbers. Mitty isn’t one of those. Yes, it provides ample opportunity for Danny Kaye to mug for the camera, do some hilarious song-and-dance routines (how can you not love Anatole of Paris?), and generally cut up, but they actually belong as part of the plot. Lots of fun.

10. L.A. Confidential
It was harder than I thought coming up with a tenth film, but this one deserves a spot here. A gritty film noir filled with all the elements you could want – dirty cops, femme fatales, Hollywoord in its heyday. Add in Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, and James Cromwell, and you’ve got a great film.

Now, then, who to tag? Rae. CanaDan. Bridget.

Christians and Sin in the Movies

Posted by Chris – April 3, 2008

There’s been a good discussion going on over at The Rabbit Room regarding how Christians should deal with profanity and other sin portrayed in movies.

It started with a thread where Andrew Peterson recommended the movie Once, but warned of “the F-bomb” being used 30 or so times. After that comment thread got interesting, he followed up with a post titled “He Said A Wordy Dird”, where he explored his thoughts on the use of strong language. 46 comments, and good discussion that thread. Finally, Ron Block chimed in with an excellent post summarizing his views on how we approach art.

The discussion in the comment threads has been very good: respectful, thoughtful, and not without controversy. If you haven’t yet checked out the Rabbit Room, go take a look. The topics aren’t always this controversial, but the writing is good and the topics thoughtful.

In belated praise of Once

Posted by Chris – January 28, 2008

It took me a while to get around to it, but last night Becky and I finally sat down to watch Once. I had a hard time finding it at the video store – I think they only stock maybe two copies on DVD. But it was worth the search.

Never heard of Once? It’s a rather obscure Irish film made back in 2006 for something less than $10,000. It’s a story about a guy who writes songs, who meets a girl on the street one day. She, too, is a musician, and over the course of a week they write and record several songs and along the way wrestle with ideas of love, commitment, family, and responsibility. It’s a musical of a sort; you get to hear seven or eight full-length songs sung during the movie, but they’re not in The Sound of Music-style musical narration – rather, they’re acoustic folk/rock songs (think Damien Rice for a comparison) that the pair is writing. And while the film started off obscure, don’t expect it to stay that way. It’s garnered quite an obsessive following due not in the least to the fantastic soundtrack. Oh, and that award from the Sundance film festival and that Oscar nomination won’t hurt it, either.

So why does this film work so well?

First, the actors aren’t experienced actors – the male lead (Glen Hansard of the Irish band The Frames) has only been in one picture before this, and this is the female lead (Marketa Irglova)’s first film. But they are musicians, and in my experience films about musicians that actually star musicians seem to do better. The fact that Hansard and Irglova teamed up to write all the original music for the movie amazes me even more.

Second, the story is real. We can all repeat the cliched chick-flick plot basically in our sleep, right? There’s the guy, and the girl, and her friend, and his friend. There’s the initial meeting, the I-think-I-love-you scene, the crisis where everything looks lost, and then the glowing finale. When you watch Once, forget the cliches. The guy writes songs which he sings on the streetcorner. He moved back in with his dad after his mom died and works at the family business fixing vacuum cleaners. She’s a Czech immigrant who cleans houses, and, without revealing too much, has family entanglements as well. They meet. They interact. They wrestle with their feelings. It feels right.

And the music is so good. The headline song (Falling Slowly) is nominated for an Oscar and certainly should be the favorite. The rest of the soundtrack is nearly equal in quality. The songs will stand by themselves even if you haven’t seen the movie… but watch the movie. It got an R-rating because of the Irish predilection of casually using the F-bomb as an adjective and interjection. Even that, though, is pretty much limited to a couple of scenes. The film as a whole, though, is a beautiful, beautiful work of art. You can have your Hollywood blockbusters. I’ll take this little Irish gem any day.