My Favorite Films (Part 1)

Please refer to http://goo.gl/Oe7tO5, which explains the criteria for this series and don't forget to check out Kyle's blog at www.enterthemovies.blogspot.com for his lists, too!

1. (500) Days of Summer

Year: 2009
Director: Marc Webb

The film starts out with the following disclaimer:

The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living 

or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch.

From it's first moments, (500) Days of Summer had me hooked. With a line like that, you can tell what kind of humor you're in store for. In short, my kind of humor. This film is an unromantic romantic comedy where Boy meets Girl, Boy falls in love with Girl, but Girl doesn't fall in love with Boy. This is very traumatic for the Boy ("Tom"), played wonderfully by Joseph Gordon Levitt, one of his generation's best performers, and seemingly only inconvenient for the Girl (the titular "Summer"), played with an aloof and spacey air by Zooey Deschanel. (500) Days of Summer is told out of chronological order with title cards indicating which day the next scene is from - like "Day 313" or "Day 25". This technique allows the film to jump all around, from when Tom and Summer are just meeting to when they're passionate about each other, to when their relationship is dissolving, and back again. It gives you the sensation of falling in and out of love at random and it works wonderfully, in my opinion. There's a lot of laughs, but also a lot of heart, in (500) Days of Summer, and I think it strikes a perfect balance between the two.

2. 12 Angry Men 

Year: 1957
Director: Sidney Lumet

12 Angry Men has been one of my favorites since I first watched it during a high school speech class. We were shown the film to demonstrate how effective persuasive speaking is done. Henry Fonda's character, known simply as "Juror #8 for almost the entire film, might be the most persuasive speaker in the history of cinema. It's up to him to convince the other eleven jurors that the young man on trial for murder might not have actually committed the crime. Since they're all ready to immediately find him guilty without even discussing the case, he has his work cut out for him. The film is peppered with classic character actors who all deliver career best performances, but the two main draws, for me, are Fonda and Lee J. Cobb, as the cantankerous "Juror #3". They go toe-to-toe and back-and-forth like a couple of veteran boxers and it's just a sight to behold. They play off of each other brilliantly, as do all the cast members. Even though 12 Angry Men is almost entirely set inside the small juror's room, the film never seems small or inconsequential - in fact, since there's a young man's life hanging in the balance, the it feels exactly the opposite. 12 Angry Men is a monumental achievement in film making - a black and white film that managed to capture the attention of a classroom full of 16 year old for 90 minutes and at least one of them for the next seventeen years.

3. Almost Famous

Year: 2000
Director: Cameron Crowe

Whereas 12 Angry Men grabbed me from the first viewing and has never let me go, Almost Famous is a film that I liked when I first saw it, but have grown to love over the years after multiple viewings - especially the director's cut available on DVD titled Untitled. If you like the film and have only seen the theatrical version, do yourself a favor and checkout Untitled - it is well worth your time. There are so many things to love about Almost Famous, but I guess the music would be up towards the top of my list. Cameron Crowe is obsessed with music - often times, he puts together the soundtrack to his films before even writing the script - and his passion comes through to the viewer. Not only are the songs on the soundtrack excellent, but the songs played by the band in the film are great, too. Right up there with the music are the wonderful performances from the whole cast, but especially Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. These talented actors take Crowe's words and create layered, passionate characters, characters who seem like real people. It's a simple story, but it's extremely well told. There's an energy to Almost Famous that propels it from scene to scene until the two or two and a half hours (depending on which version you watch) has flown by.

4. American Splendor

Year: 2003
Director: Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini

I don't think I've ever seen a movie quite like American Splendor. It's the story of Harvey Pekar, a depressed file room clerk who gained some celebrity in the 1980's as a writer of the titular comic book series. American Splendor is not your typical biography, though. It's told in three very distinct fashions - first as a regular film with Paul Giamatti (one of my very favorite actors) as Harvey, then with the real Harvey in a documentary setting, and finally as a moving comic book, with the illustrations come to life. All three of these formats are interwoven to create a dazzling film that shows the struggle of a "regular" guy trying to capture the American dream. Harvey is often times his own worst enemy, but he is also a terrific character - in every sense of the world. Giamatti has given some of the finest performances in the last twenty years and his work here is among his best work. Hope Davis and Judah Friedlander also turn in great performances as Harvey's wife and best friend, respectively. American Splendor is a very funny, but also an emotionally honest and touching, film. If you haven't seen it, I hope you go out and rent it soon.

5. Apollo 13

Year: 1995
Director: Ron Howard

There are few films that can retain their sense of tension from viewing to viewing like Apollo 13 can. I know the astronauts are going to make it home, but that doesn't stop me from sitting on the edge of my seat and holding my breath during parts of this film. That's a testament to Ron Howard's level of skill as a director. He's a man who has directed just as many bad films as good ones in my opinion, but when he's good, he's really good.  Apollo 13 is a drama, but also an adventure film. It's a period piece and a bio-pic, in a way, too. There are moments of comedy and of heartbreaking emotion. It makes me cry in at least two parts, every time I watch it. It combines all of these different genres into one perfect film. At the center of that perfection is the talented cast. In the 90's, Tom Hanks was on a roll. He had won the Academy Award for both Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, but I thought he was just as deserving (if not more so) as Jim Lovell in Apollo 13. He's joined by Kevin Bacon (never better than he is here), Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, and Ed Harris, who is another one of my favorites and completely nails his role of NASA flight coordinator Gene Kranz. The film essentially shifts back and forth between three settings: from the space shuttle to NASA and then to the Lovell's home in Texas, where his wife and family anxiously watch the news footage of the damaged shuttle's experience in space. All three sections are wonderfully done and add up to one of my favorite films of all-time. 

Well, there's part one of this ten part series. I hope to have inspired at least one person to check out one of these films and I hope to read some comments down below. Do you like any of these films? Hate any of them? Let me know, please!

Coming up next week: My Top 10 Favorite Directors.