Three Movies that are Movies to Me.
When it comes to picking my favorite anything, I can’t do it. My already indecisive nature makes it almost impossible to stick with any given “favorite” for any given period of time. It has always been this way for me for everything but my favorite color (red). The problem for me lies mostly in taking these decisions very seriously. I feel as though the media I choose as ultimate are huge labels on my name. It almost feels as permanent as a tattoo to me at times. I’m sure some people can relate with this in some way, but you can ask Melody, it comes down to things like choosing my name for a video game lasting 40 minutes. Any “create-your-character” type of game ends up taking me at least an hour or two to complete, as it must be PERFECT. When this daunting subject looked me in the eyes, I knew I would have to take small bites. I decided to split my movie choices up into 3 main food groups! FAVORITE OLDER MOVIE
The reason The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou snatched this kind of “between” title for me is because it is the only movie that always lingers as an option for my favorite films. Other movies come and go, yet Life Aquatic seems to infinitely be placed as at least a runner in the race. As most of Wes Anderson’s movies, The Life Aquatic only fits in the category of “Wes Anderson.” A lot of people take this as a bad thing, but I look at is more of a type cast. If I’m in the mood for an Anderson film, I’m probably not in the mood for anything else. The life aquatic deals with so many crucial items that flare my interests. Broken people hanging on by only each other (the same each other that they usually despise), the attempted rekindling of a lost childhood and fatherhood, exploration of unknown worlds beneath the sea, colorful ocean creatures brought to life with breathtaking claymation, and the kind of humor that leaves me smiling minutes after the fact. I love the costumes, the cast, the set, the story, Jeff Goldblum, the music, and everything else. After writing this, I now feel confident in my choice. Congratulations Steve, you earned it.
FAVORITE ANIMATED MOVIE
This movie category was crucial, as if it wasn’t created, I would have been tempted to fill all three slots with animated films. Akira is my kind of movie. With science and supernatural blended together with splashes of speculative theories of life and the capabilities of human (well, in this case molecular) intelligence, not to mention my insatiable appetite for the post apocalyptic theme, I wanted more upon first view. The movie was good enough for my attaining and devouring all six mangas with absolute delight. The way I knew this was a keeper for my list was my feelings for the movie after reading the comics. Usually, movies take the back seat to the books, as there is not near enough screen time to project every word, but this case is different. The writer and artist for Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo, also wrote and directed the award winning motion picture rendition. Though the movie is quite different, it’s still Otomo, making it wonderful all the same. Cyberpunk! Woo!
FAVORITE NEWER MOVIE
This category was originally intended for Prometheus, as I really wanted a chance to talk about it for a paragraph or two, but then I saw Drive. The mere fact that it took me this long to experience this film kills me, but it’s okay. I LOVED this movie. I had been hearing about it for awhile from various friends, until I realized I was hearing from ALL of them that I needed to watch it. I watched it with Zach and Melody a couple of days ago, and was left with slack jaw. I loved so much how Drive linked our culture to the 80’s in music, directing, and writing. The protagonist is an enigmatic criminal, and even with knowing nothing about him other than the little that is revealed in the movie, I want nothing more than his happiness. Another thing I enjoyed in Drive was the thrill to action ratio. The weight was on the score and the facial expressions to lead the viewer’s heart into high BeatsPM. All I can do is hope for James Sallis’ sequel novel, “Driven,” to be produced as this one.
Well, that was relatively painless, but still very hard. Though these films are now more solidly my “favorites” than any movies before them, they are already in grave danger of shifting at any moment, though I probably won’t write about it when they do. There you have it! My right now favorite, broadly categorized top three favorite movies! Thanks for reading! -James
