I am a huge fan of movies and, perhaps counter intuitively, I’ve resisted discussing them on this blog. From the outset I sought to write on subjects about which I was passionate, in lovingly-researched and crafted detail while avoiding personal, “dear diary” material. My relationship with movies is personal, hence the avoision (which really ought to be a word). Deciding to document my top 10 favorite movies of all time is an admission that I may have something worthwhile to say on the subject, and it has been a real exercise to commit to 10.
Looking at the selections together, I am struck by how many may have passed mainstream audiences by. I didn’t make these choices deliberately to eschew the popular (I’m not a hipster, for fuck’s sake). I have a big, rubbery one for Tom Cruise’s action oeuvre, for example. However, I think a lot of modern movies that get budgets and promotion are by and large forgettable pablum based on material cynically homogenized to maximize international box office returns. The kinds of movies that appeal to me get made in spite of the mainstream formula and will likely be watched in 100 years time.
The list, to be released serially, is in no particular order, but the top three or so are particularly dear to me. Some selections are based on directors whose bodies of work are so awesome as to make choosing just one movie impossible, and some selections are based on the merit of the movies alone. All of them sound swell through my kickass subwoofer.
I dedicate this series to my hero Roger Ebert. We did not always agree (you eviscerated or, worse, panned at least three of these movies) but you taught me so much and you wrote like I wish I could write. I would very much like to have known you.