From: Sean Patrick Traver
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 04:51:15 EDT
Subject: Re: Top Ten Favorite Films
I read a book a while back where the narrator comments that while his sophisticated and witty friends hold opinions, he makes top ten lists. So, here's mine! I'm going to stay away from things like Raiders and Star Wars and The Godfather, which I love just as much as anyone, and go for some of the choices that might be unique to me. In no particular order we've got:
1) MILLER'S CROSSING: Raising Arizona competes for the spot, as does Barton Fink. If I can cheat and throw in entire bodies of work, I'll just call the Coens my favorite filmmakers ever and move on. I'll watch any of their stuff any time. They don't know how to make a bad movie.
2) ET: Seems like everyone cites either Star Wars or Jaws as the one that made them love movies. I don't remember seeing either on their initial runs, so I'm an ET guy. At the age of nine, I didn't know life could prompt such emotion, much less fiction.
3) UNFORGIVEN: My favorite love story ever. What the fuck, you say? The title-card bookends sum up a truly special love affair more elegantly and movingly than most entire films can hope to. The rest of the movie makes no bones about exactly who William Munney is--his wife must've been someone incredible to change him.
4) SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER: 'Cause it's perfect.
5) AMADEUS: Among a billion other reason to love it, Salieri is a really scary portrait of what I most fear being.
6) SAY ANYTHING: The other end of the spectrum--Lloyd Dobbler is who I'd most like to be. I'm not, but I'd like to be...
7) MRS PARKER & THE VICIOUS CIRCLE: Because I like women who are both adorable and evil. You'd have to be right dead center between Salieri and Lloyd to win her... (Incidentally, JJL's not even being nominated is the biggest sham in Oscar history).
8) TRAINSPOTTING: I really don't know why. It just gets funnier every time I see it. Horrible behavior is a lot of fun. To sneak an extra in, WITHNAIL & I has the same effect. They're my favorite video double-bill.
9) FIELD OF DREAMS: Because the universe should work that way.
10) I'll just put the honorable mentions in this last spot, since any one of them could be rotated in: SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, which speaks for itself; BRAZIL, 'cause how can you not like a movie where a guy goes catatonic and it's a happy ending?; THE GREAT ESCAPE, for pure fun; JOE VS. THE VOLCANO, which is a lot better than people give it credit for; SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, which I didn't include earlier because it hasn't yet stood the test of time, though I think it will; TITANIC, for the same reason; and, finally, any of the better Woody Allen films. I just like him, damnit.
So, there it is: The Desert Island Survival Kit, only $19.95 and exclusively from Opinions-R-Us. Order yours today! It's not the most intellectual grouping, maybe, and not even close to complete, but every one of these is something I really love. ~sean