As my withdrawal from the cancellation of The Rotten Tomatoes Show slowly weans, I am going to write my Five Favorite Films to lick my wound. This feels like when you make a mixtape for someone who you just broke up with. I completely made that up; do people actually do that? Well, consider this my break up movie compilation:
5. Velvet Goldmine (1998)
During high school, I had an unhealthy obsession with drag queens. Mix that with my pre-teen discovery of punk rock, and you get cross-dressing glam rock. So I naturally gravitated to this fictional film chronicling the disappearance of a former glam rock star. Initially a hot mess of a plot, this is a film that you have to watch several times to understand. The characters are thinly veiled (of course, out of velvet) caricatures of some of my favorite musicians: David Bowie, Marc Bolan from T. Rex, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed. Todd Haynes provides a visual feast with an amazing soundtrack. This movie is so endlessly quotable: e.g. “The world is changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history.” Plus Oscar Wilde – my favorite writer – is apparently an alien left on an Irishman’s doorstep and the forefather of glam rock. Yeah, the film is over-the-top ridiculous, and I love that.
4. Rushmore (1998)
I adore Wes Anderson’s trademark dioramic film style and blatant over-use of the Futura font. And this I believe to be the pinnacle of his current oeuvre. I often run into those who say that Anderson’s films are just all style and charm without any substance. “O. R. they?” Rather, I think his style is the omnipresent filter for expressing feeling with a whimsical sense. His films are told like fairy tales with more probable subject matter. And Max Fischer is one of the greatest characters on film. After all, he saved Latin. What did you ever do?
3. Almost Famous (2000)
Surely, this is Cameron Crowe’s masterpiece. This film has so much heart and is centered in a musical period that I favor. (Led Zeppelin is my favorite band. And yes, I would definitely have been Vic Munoz, the bumbling Zep fan, had I lived at that time.) Penny Lane is such a fascinating character. Yes, she’s morally ambiguous and befriends rock stars because “famous people are just more interesting.” But she truly cares for William Miller and loves Russell Hammond. Oddly, the line that always hits me the hardest is “They don’t even know what it is to be a fan. Y’know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts,” delivered with such conviction by Fairuza Balk as Sapphire. I guess because that’s a good summation of my feelings toward music. And as I grow with my love of music, the character of William has helped as an anchor of sanity and purity in my own experiences of chaos. Obviously, I am very invested in this film; which is because the main characters are so three-dimensional.
2. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
I’m a huge fan of Tim Burton’s earlier work – not so much his recent adaptations of already kooky films. I’m undecided about whether Edward Scissorhands is really better than his other movies; it’s just the best representation for my love of Burton. His trademark style is that of a dark tone varnished with whimsy and decorated with modernized German Expressionism. And when Burton is working with an original story, it never gets old. This film encapsulates the pangs of loneliness in such a heartbreaking yet consoling way. Though Edward has so little to say, he expresses so much. Like he uses his scissorhands to express himself and make connections with others, my main mode of communication used to be through poetry/short stories.
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Preface: Charlie Kaufman is a god. Summary of film: Yes, Kaufman is the best screenwriter. Ever. I share with him an interest in unpacking how the mind works. Somehow he finds a way to make abstract ideas into clear-cut, pleasing visuals. And interweaves them into beautiful and complex, yet understandable stories. Mix that with the masterwork of Michel Gondry’s directing (WITHOUT SPECIAL EFFECTS EDITING!!!) and heartfelt performances by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, you get the best film in existence. I have never been in love, but I empathize deeply with Joel Barish in his struggle against having the memory of his lover erased. I can only hope that I have as great, and less tragic, a love that he had in his earlier memories. (Also, I went through a phase in 8th grade, dressing like Clementine Kruczynski. I have a coat just like the one in the picture above. I still want to dye my hair orange.)
Honorable Mentions (due to my indecisiveness): Citizen Kane, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Truman Show, American Psycho, Annie Hall, A Clockwork Orange, Dead Poets Society, Pulp Fiction, Harold and Maude, Alice in Wonderland (1951), A Streetcar Named Desire, Amelie, Psycho, American Beauty
So, The Rotten Tomatoes Show, this is an open plea for your reconstruction. I leave you with a song from El Topo to mull this over.
Dacron – I would in no way have dreamed that was achievable!
It is a big pleasure to visit your blog and to enjoy your wonderful articles here. I like that very much. I think that you paid much attention for those posts, as all of them make sense and are very useful. Thanks so much for sharing. I can be very good reader & listener. Appreciate your work!
I’m with you on 3 out of 5, especially “Rushmore” and “Eternal Sunshine…”. The performances, the music, and the cinematography are just beautiful, and the stories are pretty damn good too. If you like these types of films, then you should definitely check out some stuff by Krystof Kieslowski (Blue, White, and Red plus The Decalogue) or Patrice Leconte (The Man on the Train or The Girl on the Bridge).
Cheers!
G-LO
Nice. What’s the third film of agreement? Or is it a mystery…film? Coincidentally, I already had “The Girl on the Bridge” in my Netflix queue. But Imma gonna check everything else out too.
Thanks G-LO!
The 3rd film was Almost Famous. Also really good, but not on the level of “Rushmore” and “Eternal Sunshine…”. Speaking of Wes Anderson, have you seen The Fantastic Mr. Fox? Quirky and entertaining.
Peace Yo!
G-LO
Cool. Yeah, “Almost Famous” isn’t as stylistically adept as “Rushmore” or “Eternal.” I guess at this point, I should ask for your other two, haha.
I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t seen “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Which is strange because Wes Anderson is perfectly cut out for animation and I read a lot of reviews about it. I also haven’t seen “Where the Wild Things Are.” *sigh* I’m missing out on all of the quirky children’s book adaptations for adults about animals.
Top 5s are tough since there are so many films that I love and have watched over and over. These days, with two little boys, it’s tough to find the time to watch anything that lasts more than 2 hours. I’ve been way into silly comedies lately, i.e. Office Space, Wedding Crashers, Old School, Swingers, I Love You Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, etc.. They’re short and they hold my attention. I also wind up watching alot of kid movies. Luckily, we’re in the middle of a kid movie renaissance, so Pixar and Ardmann Animation are on quite a bit. How To Train Your Dragon was also very well done.
I hear you. My top 5 has probably changed several times since I wrote this post. I spent about half an hour staring at the about 25 different contenders. I guess these non-parenting years of mine are my prime-opportunity to do some movie-buffin. I love Office Space! I enjoy imitating Bill Lumbergh from time to time. “M’kay?” You should show your kids old school Disney channel movies from the 90s. Don’t Look Under the Bed and Halloweentown are the best. I’m sort of having a general childhood renaissance at the moment.
Rushmore is one of my faves too! Have you seen Election? It’s on my top 5 and reminds me a lot of Rushmore. The two could be interchangeable for me on the top 5 for sure. They’re both rad! Great list!
I haven’t seen Election yet. But I’ve had 3 people beg me to watch the film. I’ve just been amassing obscure foreign films in my Netflix queue lately. Perhaps I should get on that.
I’m glad there’s usually a consensus about the merits of Rushmore whenever I converse about film with others. It’s just one of those films everyone can agree on. I guess we’ve all had a hot-yet-older teacher swept away by a middle-aged friend at some point in our educational lives.
Hey Caitlin,
Cool picks, especially Rushmore! You are forgiven, you are fogiven, you are forgiven. Haha, love that sequence of childish pay-backs. I know, it’s ridiculous that The Rotten Tomatoes Show is reduced to a small segment on Infomania. Ehhh, oh well.
I think my top 5 are (you’ve probably already guessed most of them if you know me as well as I think you do) – Waiting For Guffman, Citizen Kane, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Moonstruck, and Anchorman.
P.S. my cell’s battery is “invalid”…probably for good, so until it’s fixed we can only talk through skype :/ exploding orange. don’t ask.
Well Claire, thank you so much. I know you know that I gots good taste in film. I love how the lyrics of that song (“You are forgiven…”) contrasts with the events of the sequence involving bitter rivalry over Ms. Cross. I would have guessed all of your movies except for Moonstruck.
This post is for sure going to bring TRTS back to Current in its entirety. It’s that persuasive.
How are we to contact each other? I don’t know. Who knows? What?! Should we work out a system until said cell phone is restored? Now I can’t talk about Ugly with you in public…:’( Set a time for Skype? Now I want to know what exploding orange means.
haha, that is so quotable! i’m definitely gonna start answering questions with “i don’t know. who knows? what?”
but yeah, how about this? if we’re both on skype (any night of the week) at 8 your time and 11 my time, then we can chat and/or make fun of bad movies on Netflix. i know, i miss talking about Ugly with you too, hahah.
This is a historic moment for a new catchphrase.
I tried calling you on skype tonight, but it said you were offline. I love how we’re communicating via my blog comments.
yeah, last night i was weirdly busy right at that time. but i’ll definitely be on tonight, I was thinking of going to anime but too much homework :/ still…not enough hw to prevent me from skyping it up with my home girl!~!~!
P.S. i forgot to explain. an orange exploded in my bag getting juice all over my belongings…including my cell. i kind of like not having a cell, but it’s a pain not being able to talk with people…plus not having an alarm to wake you up for 8 am class is more fun than i thought it would be.
Ah, dude! That sucks. Same thing happened to me at Disneyland on Splash Mountain. I accidentally left my purse on the floor of the boat and it got soaked. And then my cell phone wouldn’t work.