10. Her

Feelings:

It was New Year’s Day of 2014 and the year before I went to the movies Christmas day by myself to see Django Unchained. That was the first time I had gone to the movies by myself. I don’t really love that movie anymore, but I did the same with Her. I thought about the film the whole bus ride home and I instantly loved the movie. I think it is the best film that came out of 2013 and Spike Jonze is taking forever to make a new film. I am attracted to the relationship that they experience it is my favorite romantic film. Since Blue Valentine is a bleak look at a relationship and I guess this is as well. Maybe I just like relationships that end up in the gutter since all good things must come to an end anyway.

“I think anybody who falls in love is a freak. It’s a crazy thing to do. It’s kind of like a form of socially acceptable insanity.”

— Amy

My Favorite Scene:

My favorite scene in this film is probably when they go out on their first date. Their such naivety in the characters . They are getting to know each other and their surroundings. They are optimistic and full of joy as is every relationship at the start.

My Favorite Character:

Theodore is my favorite character this is a great performance by Joaquin he shows us a devastated man, compassionate, open, sensitive, melancholy and understanding all in one.

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.

4. The Deer Hunter

Feelings:

I have a lot of feelings about this film. I think it is a well crafted masterpiece. Cimino gets flak for bringing down a whole studio, but that should not sour the taste of this epic tale. It full of emotions and devastation even though I think Coming Home, does a better job of tackling PTSD. You can feel the weight Robert Deniro carries on his shoulders through the whole film.

My Favorite Scene:

Would probably be when Deniro’s character returns from Vietnam and visits John Savage in the hospital. I also love the camaraderie between the friends and the scenes leading up their deployment.

My Favorite Character:

Would be DeNiro’s char and I don’t know why they gave Walken the Oscar for this role. Fuck Oscars anyway!

3. The Dark Knight

Feelings:

This film series means a lot to me. The Dark Knight Rises is what solidified my want to make films. However, The Dark Knight was an epic experience and the most memorable one I had growing up. I am sure it is similar to a lot of people witnessing Star Wars or any of those lame 80’s films. After watching this film for the first time I came out with my mind blown. I was like what the fuck did I just see??? As time has passed I have grown less fondly of the film as a whole. However, Heath Ledger as the Joker is still my favorite male performance of all time closely followed by Ethan Hawke in First Reformed and Robert Michum in The Night of the Hunter.

My Favorite Scene:

The Final showdown before Batman gets to Joker with the fucking sonar. That scene is amazing!

My Favorite Character:

Every scene with Heath Ledger as the Joker he just controls every scene like I have never seen another actor move. I guess Joaquin Phoenix and Daniel Day Lewis have done it as well, but I thought Heath was up there. He ran circles around Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal,

2. Taxi Driver

Feelings:

I thought it was especially brutal, blunt, horrifying and realistic. It feels like Scorsese heightened the underground world of New York, but at the same time kept a realistic stamp on it. Travis Bickle is just an amalgamation of this rot he spends so much time staring at mirrors. From the pimp to Jodie Foster’s character it is a story of people getting it where they can and even though they roll around in the mud you find sympathy for every. Paul Schrader does a great job of giving us complete characters.

My Favorite Scene:

The first time he takes out Cybil Shepherd. The coffe shop scene not to the pornographic movie.

My Favorite Character:

Travis Bickle!

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.