My Top 50 Favorite Movies Part 4

Part 4 is here now, bringing you numbers 11-20 on the list of my all-time favorite movies. Hooray!

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#20. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

England's notorious street artist Banksy is just about the only contemporary painter who I give a crap about on any level. In large part, that's because he so thoroughly recognizes the absurdly pretentious train wreck of today's art scene for what it is, and he never fails to cut through the crap. Enter Exit Through the Gift Shop, a maybe-it's-real documentary about street art that centers on the rise of a figure known as Mr. Brainwash. It dissects the hollow, bloated, trend-happy art world with brutal precision, and it does so with a story that may or may not even be true. If it's real, this is one of the most brilliant documentaries I've ever seen. If it's a hoax, then it's equally brilliant and even more elaborate. Imagine having to seriously debate whether or not This is Spinal Tap was fictional. In other words, the simple fact that nobody seems to know for sure speaks volumes about the subject matter all by itself.

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#19. Hero (2002)

A beautiful film about the unification of China, Hero has been criticized for embracing some of the darker aspects of Chinese nationalism. In particular, it seems to condone tactics similar to Mao Tse-tung's. Politics aside, though, the movie itself is stylish, compelling, well-written, and brilliantly shot. It is a Rashomon-style film (more on that in a minute) that really digs into the motivations of its characters. I'm always a fan of any production that can handle multifaceted moral questions with any degree of intelligence and integrity, and in my opinion that's an area where this movie really excels. Not everybody can enjoy wire-fu films, and as with some other entries this is one you have to read. Further, some people just don't deal well with moral ambiguity. For those reasons, I don't recommend this for everybody. If you prefer your villains to be one-dimensional fiends with an overwhelming lust to destroy/conquer the world, then you'll want to stay away. I won't think any less of you; I enjoyed The Avengers too.

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#18. Metropolis (1927)

Silent movies aren't for everybody, but I love the granddaddy of sci-fi films for several reasons. First off, like I just suggested, it was largely responsible for kick-starting the screen life of the entire sci-fi genre. Second, it's one of the greatest dystopian tales ever filmed, and I love me a good dystopia. Third, I've remarked before on my love of retro-futurism (the way people in the past thought the future would look) and Metropolis features some of the coolest and most stunningly-realized examples of this anywhere in the history of film. Fourth, the long hunt to fully reconstruct the original film after it was cut down from its initial screening adds a level of intrigue that is hard for any modern movie to match. Fifth, as I noted previously, silent films tend to have a strangely alien quality that works really well in the right kind of setting, of which this is definitely an example. Sixth and finally, I just think it's a good story with good characters and good execution, and isn't that what any good movie should be? Also, robot boobs.

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#17. El Topo (1970)

I'm not even going to try to explain this one. It's a really weird western, and I do mean REALLY weird, that you'll either fall in love with or walk away from thinking "that was stupid". Obviously for me it was the former.













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#16. Rashomon (1950)

Do you remember when, a long long time ago, I promised to explain the phrase "Rashomon-style film"? Well that day is finally here. Rejoice! Basically, Rashomon is a film that tells the same story several times in several different ways, each version reflecting the biases of the person telling the story. We've all seen that gimmick used in movies of TV shows, and it is referred to as the "Rashomon effect" in honor of the movie that pioneered its use. My youngest brother claims that this is the perfect movie, since it's the only film in which he can't find a single flaw. You have to be willing to accept that being a black-and-white foreign film with subtitles isn't a "flaw" so much as a difference, but if you do that then I'm pretty close to agreeing with him. This is one of the first Akira Kurosawa films I ever saw, and it remains amongst my favorites.



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#15. The Seventh Seal (1957)

Fritz Lang, Akira Kurosawa, and now Ingmar Bergman? This list is starting to look like a pretentious douchebag festival. The truth of the matter is, though, that I love this movie. When I first saw it, I needed to give it some time to settle in my brain, but even then I was pretty sure that it would eventually find its way onto a list like this. It's one of the handful of films I find myself reflecting back on with such stunning regularity that it has become a regular part of my psyche. Serious film-school types will likely deride this as "entry level" Bergman, and I can't really argue with them. That doesn't change the fact that I love it, though.





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#14. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

I am not a person who gets weepy over movies very often. That said, The Passion of Joan of Arc made me cry. It's my absolute favorite silent film, and I've actually seen enough silent films for that statement to mean something. It's shot in an unusual fashion, with much of the film consisting of close-ups of Joan's face throughout the course of her trial and execution. Thus, unlike most films from that era with their exaggerated makeup and live-theater-style body language, the impact of the lead performance was almost entirely focused on her facial expressions. Fortunately, Renée Jeanne Falconetti was up to the task, as she gave what is widely considered to be the greatest acting performance of the silent era. It's an emotionally exhausting movie to watch, as you might imagine, so it requires that the viewer be in a particular mood to sit through it. When that mood strikes, though, this film is absolutely without equal. It's also worth noting that this feels so different from any of its contemporaries that even people who normally don't watch silent films may find themselves able to connect with this truly singular work.

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#13. Fargo (1996)

Okay, you can breathe easy for a minute. The snobby black-and-white foreign films have gone in search of an organic coffeehouse, so we can all dig into some good ol' fashioned American violence until they get back. The Coen Brothers have made several appearances on this list, but of all their movies this is my favorite. The bleak, snow-covered setting gives it it's own flavor. The Frances McDormand as the competent-even-while-pregnant sheriff (with her North Dakota accent that I find endlessly amusing for some reason) gives one of my favorite Oscar-winning performances. There is gore and violence, but it all serves the plot in some way. There are deep moral issues at hand, but there's also a hint of pitch-black humor that keeps those issues from ever feeling too heavy or pretentious. There are plenty of unanswered questions to raise debate, but we also get enough resolution to feel satisfied. It's a well-balanced movie that I enjoy more every time I watch it.


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#12.Team America: World Police (2004)

Oh, hell yeah! Only Trey Parker and Matt Stone could piss this many people off with puppets. Or rather, only they could piss this many people off with puppets while actually making hilarious and astute political commentary. This movie is basically a crash course in human stupidity, spearheaded by the gloriously self-important juggernaut known as American foreign policy. That's not to say that any other countries get off the hook here, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease as they say. I'm not sure how apt that saying is for this situation. Hmmm. Well, maybe . . . no, never mind. I'm sticking with it. Anyway, grease. This movie has a lot of it. Well, it has a lot of grease if by "grease" you mean explosions and puppet sex. Sweet, sweet puppet sex.




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#11.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

I could probably save us all some time by describing this as "like Hero only better." That wouldn't be entirely accurate, though, nor would it be fair. The political message of Hero is absent here, for one thing, and for another thing this movie came first. It's shot in a similarly sweeping style, though, with flying wire-fu action and delicate sword fights that look more like dances than battles. The cinematography is beautiful, the characters are interesting, the story is compelling, and Chow Yun Fat is basically the biggest badass in the universe. Yet again, you have to read this one (I must really love reading) but yet again I think it's more than worth the minimal effort that requires.






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Join me tomorrow for Part 5, where I continue to make weak attempts at humor in an effort to avoid sounding like a snobby prick