9. Days of Heaven

Feelings:

Days of Heaven is a quaint tale set amongst an epic backdrop. The film carries itself in a heavy manner yet it deals with love and patience. It is the grown up version of Badlands in my opinion. Terrence Malick figures out what it is that he wants to tell about these types of volatile relationships. He loves to put his male characters in awkward situations. The film is not as funny as Badlands, which contains humor due to the whacky relationship between Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen.

I fell in love with this film, because I find it therapeutic in a weird way. It is bleak and devastating once it comes to an end. However, as it builds it’s tension and you fall deeper into this world you get a feel for the desperation these characters are under. I would have loved some more from Brooke Adams who plays Abby in the film. That might be my only knock against these Terrence Malick films his women characters are daring and irresponsible at a surface level. His films point the finger in their direction as the fall of these men.

My Favorite Scene:

The scene where the fire is raging and they have the showdown. A lot of quiet scenes like the one pictured below as well.

My Favorite Character:

It is definitely Linda. I think she has to carry a lot of the emotional weight and the story is told through her eyes.

8. Boogie Nights

Feelings:

I disliked Boogie Nights the first couple times I saw the film. I thought The Master, There Will Be Blood and Magnolia were superior films. I have only finished Magnolia once and have come close to finishing it multiple times. I just think that film is ridiculously long. It works well and I think it is PTA’s most ambitious movie, but I think it misses the target. I think Boogie Nights is the best movie of all time from a film making perspective and a worthy predecessor of Citizen Kane. However, Phantom Thread is PTA’s most restrained and well paced film in my eyes. It is weird he is all over the place (in a good way), but he continues to grow after all these years of telling stories and making films. (He is also my favorite director)

I came to love Boogie Nights when I had the chance to watch it on the big screen. (Thank you Alamo Drafthouse!) I thought it was an amazing Cautionary Tale. It came together well and the music throughout the film takes it to the next level. Recently during an interview I mentioned Boogie Nights as the best movie of all time. It is! It is not my number one, but it hits every point so well. It even has a character I hate William H. Macy’s character is the fucking worst.

My Favorite Scene:

It is has to be the scene with all the guy’s at Alfred Molina’s home it is such clumsy and dirty scene. These guys suck at stick up they have no idea what they are doing. You can feel the desperation in the air.

My Favorite Character:

I don’t think I have a favorite character in this film. I definitely dislike a lot of the characters, but I think that is fine when creating characters. I don’t agree that you have to garner sympathy with a protagonist. A great sign of a character is that they can make you feel some type of way about them whether it is positive or negative. This film has William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, and Mark Wahlberg who I think are all scummy and fucked. I think Thomas Jane’s character is pretty cool.

5. Blue Valentine

Feelings:

Wow the first time I saw this movie I was in awe. It was during my peak Ryan Gosling fandom. Watching film after film of his this was after I saw Drive. I decided to watch this film and thought fuck is this shit devastating. I was younger the first time I saw this movie so I did not understand Michelle William’s character or give her much a platform. I thought what she did was selfish, but it makes sense people change. They make the decisions that they have to make.

My Favorite Scene:

When they stay at that motel, it is the last resort.

My Favorite Character:

Michelle Williams in this is great she deals with so fucking much.

1. Halloween (1978)

Feelings:

The pacing, soundtrack, characters and malevolence of the antagonist make this the best horror movie of all time. It is usually my favorite film, but I constantly flip between this and Taxi Driver. It is the ultimate film and a lot of it came about due to budgetary constraints and a form of fluid creativity and collaboration removed from ego.

Fuck both of the remakes especially the David Gordon Green one, ew.

My Favorite Scene:

The lead up to Annie’s murder

My Favorite Character:

Michael Myers man!

He is also responsible for some my worst nightmares.