I can't avoid it any longer. "Schindler's List" has made it to the top of my Netflix queue.I don't really want to see such a heavy movie right now, and haven't been in the mood to see this one, but I feel at this point that it is part of the cultural oeuvre, so after a fashion it is time to take my medicine.
I generally have an interest in Holocaust period films. I really got into ragged sobs over "The Pianist". Maybe it is the Spielberg-ness that scares me. He's pretty hit and miss for me.
Anyway, some movies just have to be seen so that one can take part in popular culture. And lord knows I am all about being a pop culture diva.
Other movies that fit into this category, some I like and some not so much. I have seen all of these in the last two years (some certainly not for the first time, some for the last time ever, thank god):
Day of the Jackal
The French Connection
Last Tango in Paris
Life is Beautiful
Fahrenheit 451
A Hard Day's Night
Midnight Cowboy
Deliverance
Slaughterhouse Five
A Clockwork Orange
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Quadrophenia
On the Waterfront
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harold and Maude
American History X
Fight Club
The Wicker Man (1973 version)
Apocalypse Now
What are yours?
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Fight Club. Chuck Palahnuik (who wrote the book) is a twisted, disturbed writer (read his book of stories called "Haunted" for solid proof). How could I NOT like his work?
ReplyDeleteHeavy movie list:
- Requiem for a Dream: holy hell, saw this only once years ago and it still wrecks me when I think about it.
- Schindler's List: saw it once, never again, and John won't watch it at all.
- Little Children: fairly recent movie although the book's been around for a while. Makes you feel all weirded out about your stay-at-home neighbors' secrets.
On a much lighter note, I recently saw the Spanish film "A Perfect Crime (El Crimen Perfecto)" and would HIGHLY recommend it for some entertaining subtitled watching. Would also recommend the very funny French classic, "The Dinner Game (Le Dîner de Cons)"
I love Fight Club, too.
ReplyDeleteNow, Last Tango in Paris, not so much.
Great list! I would add Dances with Wolves and Brokeback Mountain. IMHO they have both left an indelible mark on American society for various reasons.
ReplyDeleteI liked "Dances with wolves" when it first came out, but on repeated later viewing I don't really feel like it held up.
ReplyDelete"Brokeback Mountain"- I'll go with you on that one. Heartbreaking. I got the same feelings watching "Children of Men". I loved the movie, but I am not in a hurry to see it again.
Don't get me wrong - I saw a comic once that showed three people sitting at a table. The caption read, "the only people in America that didn't like Dances with Wolves" and I thought, "hmmm, that one does kind of look like me!" I think it was because I waited until the hype had all but died, but I just didn't get what it was all about when I finally saw it...kind of like Jurassic Park.
ReplyDelete