John Lasseter & Joe Ranft's CARS
I’m not a big fan of automobiles as an art form and I don’t have a nostalgia for their cultural significance (though I can’t argue with their importance) but this movie is a real winner.
Fred Wilcox's “FORBIDDEN PLANET”
When I was a kid, this movie scared me, especially the Id Monster’s attack on the starship’s sleeping crew.
Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS (Kino edition)
This 1927 film contains two of the most spectacular transformational scenes ever committed to film: 1. The giant machine’s transformation into “Moloch” 2. The robot’s transformation into the false Maria
Fritz Lang's THE BIG HEAT
Forget the happy view of post-WWII America as fresh faced kids running around green lawns in mass produced split level suburbs fed by newly minted commuter highways and GI Bill educations. Metropolis director's Fitz Lang's 1953 film The Big Heat is a reminder of a darker time when brave film makers occasionally veered into crime, sex, and darkness, barely skittering around a Film Production Code that enforced moral views that did not include crime, sex, and darkness.
Mamoru Oshii's AVALON
# VERY cool
# incredible visual style
# methodically plotted
# beautifully acted
Shona Auerbach's DEAR FRANKIE
The story sounds like it could be a treacly tear jerker, but it’s not.
J.J. Abrams' MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III
OK, let me put my cards on the table:
1. Sometimes I like big, dumb action movies.
2. I like Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds).
3. I don’t watch Oprah.
That said, I enjoyed Mission Impossible III a great deal. I’d put it right up there with other big, dumb action movies I actually enjoy, films like Independence Day and Armageddon.
Watching this movie about the last days of Hitler in his bunker as the Red Army slowly made its way through bombed-out Berlin, I recognized something -- the actor playing Hitler is Bruno Ganz, who also played the lead guardian angel in Wings of Desire.
Wim Wenders' WINGS OF DESIRE
This is a personal movie. By that I mean that how you react to it is very much dependent on your personality and your outlook on life, plus your willingness to let a story unfold that has less linear direction and story than more declarative, plot-driven films.
Back in the day I despaired of finding movies that my wife and I both enjoy. These days with the ubiquitous nature of DVD and a well performing Netflix “recommendations” system, it’s easier to come up with films that interest us both.
Here’s my current list as of “spuse approved films” as of April 24, 2006:
This is the best "road picture" I've seen in years. What starts out as quirky and off-center ends up as thoughtful, almost elegiac.
David Cronenberg’s "A History of Violence"
This movie convinced me that David Cronenberg (Spider) is one of the best directors working today.
David Cronenberg’s “Spider”
David Cronenberg’s SPIDER is a brilliant, grim, and deliberate observation of a schizophrenic’s attempt to return to society after having been institutionalized since childhood. Society in this case is represented by a halfway-house lorded over by a relentless Lynn Redgrave.
It’s a pleasure to see a movie where stereotypes play a less important role than real relationships.