My Favorite Movies

A listing of some of my favorite films (prior to 2007, when I started the blog).  In no particular order: 

Playing by Heart

1998 – huge ensemble cast – Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Connery, Anthony Edwards, Angelina Jolie (filmed before she was a big star – this is some of her best work, I think), Jay Mohr, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Quaid, Gena Rowlands, Jon Stewart, Madeleine Stowe.  This is one of my favorite movies – it’s all about love – falling in love, staying in love, being redeemed by love; I think it’s well-written and well-acted (especially Jolie & Phillippe) with intertwining storylines.  I love this movie.  Rated R. 

Lantana

2001 – Australian film; Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey.  “…Anthony LaPaglia stars as a cop with an unsteady marriage; when he begins to investigate the disappearance of a noted therapist (Barbara Hershey), he suspects that her marriage to an academic (Geoffrey Rush) was similarly troubled, and he pursues the case as if his own marriage could be redeemed through it.  Every character in Lantana is fully developed, sometimes with astonishing conciseness…”  I LOVE this movie!  Rated R. 

Billy Elliot

2000 – English film starring Jamie Bell.  The authentic British accents and terminology are sometimes hard to follow.  This film is set against the background of the 1984 Miner’s Strike.  Billy is an 11-year old who makes his way out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor.  (His ballet teacher is played by Julie Walters – and she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar).  Billy faces many trials and triumphs as he tries to conquer his family’s repressively set ways.   This is such a special movie – with the best ending ever!  I’ll admit that some of my friends think this movie is “cute” and “sweet”– but I think it’s so much more than that.  Rated PG-13. 

The Third Miracle

1999 – Ed Harris, Anne Heche; directed by polish director Agnieszka Holland.  In this drama, the Vatican sends a cynical priest to verify some miracles, performed by a woman who has been nominated for sainthood. During this investigation, the priest rediscovers his lost faith & passion.  Anne Heche may be really screwed up in her personal life, but she can ACT; Ed Harris is wonderful as the priest.  Rated R. 

The Deep End

2001 – Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic.  “…Vintage film noir gets a confidently stylish upgrade in this subtle domestic thriller, intensified by Tilda Swinton’s acclaimed performance as a mother who risks everything to protect her family.  The film’s gripping plot commences with Margaret (Swinton), a naval officer’s wife and mother of three, disposing of the body of a sleazy club owner, who died in an accident after a confrontation with Margaret’s closeted gay son.  Maternal instinct shifts into high gear when a blackmailer (Goran Visnjic) demands $50,000 to withhold incriminating evidence, and his unspoken feelings provoke an unexpectedly compassionate alliance. Compelling plot twists aside, The Deep End gains much of its impact from the quiet desperation of a family defined by its secrets and rescued by the mysterious motivations of the human heart…”  This movie is GREAT!  Tilda should have been nominated for an Oscar. (She did get a Golden Globe nomination, however.)  Rated R. 

Return to Paradise

1998 – Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoenix, David Conrad.  “  In Malaysia, three young Ameri­cans with little else in common are united in a shared enthusiasm for beer, women, and righteous hashish. Eventually, “Sheriff” (Vince Vaughn) and Tony (David Conrad) head back to New York. Lewis (Joaquin Phoenix), a spacey but good-hearted sort, stays on with the notion of helping save the orangutans. Two years later, a brassy lawyer (Anne Heche) shows up in Manhattan with the news that her client, Lewis, has spent the interim in Penang prison. Arrested for a prankish misdemeanor they all shared in, he’s taking the rap for something worse: the dope stash they left him holding was a fatal few grams over the limit. Unless his fellow Americans return voluntarily to (literally) share the weight, in eight days Lewis will be hanged as a drug trafficker.”  I must admit that I LOVED this movie so much (I saw it by myself) that I MADE Alan and some friends go see it the very next night – and they ALL thought it was “just okay”.  Well, it’s one of those movies that MOVED me.  It’s all about a lost soul and redemption (I love redemption movies).  Rated R. 

Swingers

1996- Written by Jon Favreau; starring Favreau, Vince Vaughn.  “Swingers” is about a loosely knit group of friends who hang out in Hollywood and hope to make it big in the entertainment industry.  This movie is really funny & quirky.  Rated R. 

The Ice Storm

1997 – Directed by Ang Lee; starring Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Sigourney Weaver, Allison Janney.  “It is Thanksgiving, 1973, and the climate is changing, politically and physically. As the Watergate scandal unfolds in the background, the inhabitants of New Canaan, Connecticut begin to slip into an existentialist void, wherein social taboos are shattered on whims and the line between adult authority and juvenile irresponsibility is practically nonexistent. Focusing on two families in particular, the Hoods and the Carvers, “The Ice Storm” chronicles a brief period of rapid moral deterioration, as the characters shatter their social “roles” in pursuit of meaning and satisfaction, within an environment turned inward on itself. As the narrative device of an “Ice Storm” builds up around them, the actions of the characters – including adultery, sexual experimentation, drug use and petty crimes – become increasingly unpredictable and impulsive.  Once the “storm” hits, though, reality sinks in, and the severity of their situation becomes all to apparent in its bitter, and resonating aftermath.”  Rated R.   

Run Lola Run

1998 – German with subtitles; starring Franka Potenta in her “break-out” role.  She’s the chick from “The Bourne Identity” – another good movie.  Lola gets a frantic call from her scared boyfriend.  He’s lost a large amount of gang money and his only chance of staying alive is if Lola can get replacement cash to him in 20 minutes.  How things turn out depends crucially, almost to the second, on how she sets off on this errand.  “Just when you think you’ve figured out the movie, the director introduces a series of brilliant existential twists that boggle the mind.”  This movie is WAY COOL.  Rated R. 

True Romance

1993 – written by Quentin Tarantino; directed by Tony Scott; starring Christian Slater & Patricia Arquette, along with Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt.  “Christian Slater plays Clarence, a comic-book lover who meets a beguiling prostitute named Alabama (Patricia Arquette), confronts her vicious pimp (Gary Oldman), and embarks on a cross-country odyssey with $5 million worth of Mafia cocaine. Mayhem ensues. . .”  Let me warn you that this movie is very violent; let me also warn you that Val Kilmer plays ELVIS, the couple’s guardian angel.  I love this film.  Rated R. 

A Walk on the Moon

1999 – starring Diane Lane, VIGGO MORTENSEN, Live Schreiber and Anna Paquin, directed by Tony Goldwyn.  “Although its tale of marital crisis unfolds a bit too cleanly, A Walk on the Moon offers a gently involving story; the characters are authentic.  Diane Lane plays Pearl Kantrowitz, a devoted housewife on a routine vacation in the Catskills with her TV repairman husband Marty, 14-year-old daughter and rambunctious younger son…”  This was made before Diane Lane became a “big” star and made that horrible over-acted mess “Under the Tuscan Sun”  – I’ll admit I loved her in “Unfaithful.”  Rated R. 

Cookie’s Fortune

1999 – Directed by Robert Altman, starring Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Chris O’Donnell, Charles Dutton, Patricia Neal.  This is a laid-back, quirky, Southern comedy/satire.  The movie takes place over Easter weekend in the small town of Holly Springs, Mississippi.  Glenn Close OVER-ACTS her role as a Southern diva to such a degree that it WORKS!  She’s hilarious.  Rated PG-13. 

Big Night

1996 – Directed by Campbell Scott; starring Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, Minnie Driver, Isabella Rossellini.  A touching, funny movie about two brothers, Italian immigrants, who run an unsuccessful restaurant on the Jersey shore in the 1950s.  You’ll either LOVE this film, or HATE it.  Rated R. 

Secretary

2002 – starring James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal.  “Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a smart, quirky woman in her twenties who returns to her hometown in Florida after a brief stay in a mental hospital. In search of relief from herself and her oppressive childhood environment, she takes a job as a secretary in a local law firm, soon developing an obsessive crush on her older boss, Mr. Grey. Through their increasingly bizarre relationship, Lee follows her deepest longings to the heights of masochism and finally to a place of self-affirmation.”  This movie is very funny and extremely sad at the same time.  Rated R. 

October Sky

1999- Chris Cooper, Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura Dern.  “Based on fact, this is the story of a teenager named Homer Hickam, growing up in the 1950’s in a coal town in West Virginia where a boy’s usual destiny was to ‘end up in the mines.’  But Homer had his eye on the sky and a love for flying rockets…” Great film.  Rated PG. 

You Can Count on Me

2000- starring Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, Mark Ruffalo, Rory Culkin.  My favorite sibling saga.  Very poignant – and funny.  Rated R.  

Here are some other films I love (I just haven’t gotten around to typing a description): 

The Princess Bride

Signs (my favorite M. Night Shyamalan film)

Moulin Rouge

High Fidelity

The Shawshank Redemption

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

The Iron Giant (my favorite animated film)

Y Tu Mama Tambien

Whale Rider

The Station Agent

Flirting with Disaster

Reality Bites

Cold Mountain (excellent adaptation of a great book)

The Last Samurai

The Cooler

Garden State (favorite film of 2004)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The Secret Lives of Dentists

Million Dollar Baby

House of Flying Daggers

Hero

Stage Beauty

Shaun of the Dead (hilarious…..)

Millions

Serenity

Me and You and Everyone We Know

Loggerheads

Junebug

Thumbsucker

The Weather Man

Nine Lives

Little Miss Sunshine