a reluctant list by John P. Rairdon
Introduction: I’m not one for top lists. I’m not one for saying something was the best but I have from time to time claimed something was better than another thing. This list consists of films that I have watched that I liked. They are the first 15 that came to mind when I thought about the subject. Listed in chronological order.
Fight Club (1999)
Yes, made in 1999 and if you make any bones about it I’ll fight you. This movie was so fucking important that even until 2004 I was still watching it monthly. If anything ever helped a group of kids make their transition through millenniums, this fucking film was the man. It taught us so much and made us care so little and question everything all the while inspiring us to love every moment we had alive. Fearlessness is the message.
3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
Was Kevin Costner’s Roadhouse only cooler with cooler lines, cooler actors, cooler characters, cooler scenes and sexier girls? It had a stupid final resolution and that brings it down a bit but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t fun and all that other stuff I said.
My House in Umbria (2003)
Truth be told, I don’t remember much about this movie except I watched it every day it played on pay-per-view. Something about an old woman and some train wreck survivors. Dame Maggie Smith is old but still very much beautiful and she is all the reason I need to put this movie here in the list.
Bad Santa (2003)
Maybe it didn’t pave the way for inappropriate films but it painted new lines on the highway. At its time, this movie pressed some taboo buttons. Bad Santa shocked the shit out of you ’till you couldn’t walk right for a month. Plus, every step of the way it was hilarious. Absolutely gold. It starred that chick from Gilmore Girls, which was shocking on its own. It also has that musician, Billy Bob so-and-so.
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
A depressing, downer of a film with a very capable cast, young and old alike. The story is crazy in the way things spiral down to despair. Sir Ben Kingsley is a marvel to behold. There is great span of emotions embodied throughout this film’s progression and every one only makes the viewer more concerned. That’s the beauty of this piece. It made me care. I knew I didn’t agree with the way anybody handled anything they did but I was so worried for everyone because they were all doing it wrong.
Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)
I saw Vol. 1 on DVD on a literal small screen. It was fun and gory. Didn’t stop any trains and I doubt I told my family about it but it made me hop into the car when a gang was going to see Vol 2 at the local film joint.
*orgasm*
Now that is storytelling. That is action with feeling. That movie has soul. It is emotional. It’s sad with sad characters. It was hilarious and pure. Scary and heart wrenching. It has that trademark Tarantino dialog. It has brilliant music by Robert Rodriguez. It has David Fucking Carradine as the mother fucking man. Don’t you ever forget it.
I used to work at a grocery store down the road from the moving picture house. I used to get off my late night shift and run (I had no car) straight to theatre and catch the last 40 minutes of the movie. I did that all week.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Do you remember Casablanca? Did you ever notice how very little seemed to happen but everybody had something to say about it? That movie was a a masterpiece of dialogue. I can’t put Casablanca on this list but I can put Kiss Kiss Bang Bang on it. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is not Casablanca. For one it has far more action, but the dialogue is incredible. I’ll admit it uses a narrator and that’s not Casa-class but don’t hold it against it because it does have Val Kilmer as big gay man with dry humour. Kiss Kiss is another spectacular Robert Downey Jr. film and should be seen by everybody who likes awesome things.
Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
Even if Lucky Number Slevin didn’t have the rockstar cast, the compelling characters, the rich interactions between those characters and the great story I would still be here telling you to watch this joint because the set design of this film goes beyond anything I can describe. The wall paper is magic. The glass bricks are colorful and metal fab wall coverings are boss. Lucky for you, Slevin has all that shit and Josh Hartnett.
Shopgirl (2005) and Broken Flowers (2005)
I’ll lump the last 2 in together. Both are mostly sad, awkward films that feature sad, awkward, aging comedians playing sad, awkward characters. Steve Martin wrote and played in Shopgirl along with Claire Danes and is less awkward than Bill Murray who played in Broken Flowers. Both Films have some charming and funny moments but they almost always come from other sources than the comedians who star in them. The supporting casts are what propel these films. No doubt Broken Flowers is better but the character of Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) in Shopgirl is worth the sit through. Likewise Murray’s detective obsessed neighbour (Jeffrey Wright) was rich.
Read any good movies lately?
In the early 2000’s I was exposed to many foreign language films and they were all awesome possum. I’mma hit you with a few because you need to know there’s more out there than Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and comic book adaptations.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
10 years ago this film was un-fucking believable. Out-fucking-rageous. It’s like China was sending a big F U to the Matrix style department.
“You can bend backwards to dodge bullets? Well we can walk on effing trees!”
So many things about this movie is magic but mostly it is the magic that makes this movie. People behave in ways that we can recognize and yet they do things better, farther, longer and easier than you or I could. They lift bigger hammers, they jump wider rivers and they fall down harder. And their flashback sequence lasts 20 minutes. Take that Family Guy.
Lucía y el sexo (Sex and Lucia) (2001)
Hold your breath, there’s lots of sex in this movie, shoot, there’s even a little nip on the official poster. The best part about this movie is the fact that despite all the sex it has a quite good story too boot. It’s a super example of dramatic irony. You know, when characters are doing stuff they think no one else will know about and we know better all along. It’s also fun to see the older depiction of the internet. All the keyboards go “clackity clack”. Fuck man, there are some nice tits in this movie but you will not feel like you watched a porno by the time it’s done.
Cidade de Deus (City of God) (2002)
Caught me off guard. It’s set in a most depressing city and has some incredible twists and turns. I was drawn to every bad decision that these children made. It is always shocking to see films with children behaving more adult than I at times, and not in good ways. With every bit of my North American, first world ignorance I ask with such force “WHERE ARE THESE KIDS’ PARENTS THROUGHOUT ALL THIS?!”
Heaven (2002)
I loved Sam Raimi’s The Gift. I payed attention to the fact that both Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi were in it. So when I heard there was a foreign film with those two together again I was curious to see it. A women attempts to exact revenge on an evil business man. It goes badly wrong and she turns herself in to the authorities. There are those films that once you finish watching you just sit there in silence. Heaven did that to me.
Irréversible (2002)
You will never, never be able to unsee this movie. Maybe now, in the years post 2002 this movie will be less shocking but I will never forget that brilliant, ugly, disgusting piece of perfect art presented in this film.
I hate this movie for the truths it presents. I hate this movie for the amazing techniques it uses to manipulate me. I hate this movie for its satisfying and heart warming ending. I hate this movie for ever having watched it. What I hate most about this movie is that after having seen everything I saw, in the order I was made to see it that I would have done the same fucking thing that I hated to see in the first 10 minutes if it happened to me.
Challenge yourself. Stomach the whole film.
