To date 2005 might be one of my favorite years in cinema. There were many more films I could have included here, but in the end I had to choose the ones that I talk about or pop into my DVD player constantly. It was also a great year because it's the year I graduated college, and got a jobs at Paramount..but on the downside it's the year Christopher blew an ulcer and was hospitalized between those events...so I guess my year had a three act structure.Batman Begins: This is the film that reinvented the DC movie franchise and rescued Batman from the cheese ball films that he was being treated with. Batman Begins made me appreciate Batman and his plight in a way I never had before and brought Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan to the forefront of cinema and I am very happy about that.
Brick: I bought my ticket for Brick, was handed a glossary of the slang used in the film and walked into the theatre completely unaware that I would be seeing one of the most groundbreaking little films of the decade. I walked out of that theatre a different filmmaker than I walked in.
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: If I was forced to narrow this list down, this is one film that could not be taken off. Shane Black created a pitch perfect action/noir/comedy hybrid and it’s such a stunning directorial debut that I want him to try again. Val Kilmer & Robert Downey Jr. are a perfect pairing and I think this film has my favorite narration of any film, ever.
Thank You for Smoking: I once heard Jason Reitman describe this film as a joyful movie about lung cancer. That totally fits. I adore this movie and find myself quoting Jeff Magall all the time and saying: “But it's an easy fix. One line of dialogue. 'Thank God we invented the... you know, whatever device.'” I use this and a line for The Great Muppet Caper to explain things when I direct.
6 comments:
From this point forward I'm going to tell people I "blew an ulcer" to explain what happened to me in 2005. It sort of sounds like I had a tire go out on me on the freeway or something and that's just so much cooler. I'm right there with Megan once again on all these films and as a writer how gets her constant critiques of you know... the stuff we make I'll vouch for how often she uses those two film references to destroy / rebuild my work.
Good choices! I was expecting Batman Begins and Kiss Kiss to disappoint me but they ended up exceeding my expectations.
Make sure you see Spielberg's Munich; I can guarantee that it will shoot to the top of the list.
I love Munich and think it's an amazing film, but it's kind of like Schindler's list where you can't watch it a lot. It didn't make this cut simply because it's not one of those staples that I remember standing out and meaning something personal to me, which was a little more what I meant for this list rather than the lists most people are doing which are much more academic - i could do one of those lists, I just wanted to have more fun with it. :)
Thanks for the comments everyone! I enjoy knowing what you like too!
Odd, now I no longer get notifications when someone comments after me (unless its on delay?). Guess I'll have to keep checking back here then from now on.
Gotcha. That makes more sense. I was looking at your list from 2007 this morning and thinking, "What????" I get it now.
Post a Comment