Absolute Wannabe

This was one of those rare weeks that I got to watch not one, not two, but three movies from the list. If you've looked at the titles, you know that one of these films is not like the other. I'll break it down for you: two of these ( Jaws and Aliens ) are classic blockbusters. The other ( Brick ) is a low-budget teenage caper flick. These movies have nothing in common except for a one-word title. Despite their differences, I loved all these films. Watching and loving all three made me realize just how much my taste has changed and expanded over the course of this project. The fact that I can admire a detective film, a sci-fi classic, and, well, Jaws  says a lot about how much I've learned over the last few months. Jaws has gone down in history as the first blockbuster, but at the end of the day, it's really a classic story of people fearing the unknown and not knowing how to adapt to change. In this case, the unknown is actually pretty dangerous. A great white s...

Today is a milestone for this blog. Not only is it the 25th post in The Film List Project and the 60th post on this site, but it's also my first post about a documentary. It's not uncommon to hear people say that documentaries are boring. That's fair. There are some documentaries that are really, really dull. However, people who think that documentary films are synonymous with boring have really seen the wrong docs. To me, documentaries are one of the coolest forms storytelling. They allow you to see into someone's actual life on a really intimate level. Documentary subjects are doing inspiring, extraordinary things just like people in narrative films, but you get to experience these very real events with them. Docs have a unique vulnerability and intimacy to their storytelling that you can't find anywhere else. Because I watched The Punk Singer , I feel like I understand Kathleen Hanna's career and impact. Watching The Last Waltz  gave me a unique perspec...

Seeing a movie you really connect with is pretty rare, but when it happens, it's incredibly special. It's a story you can hold on to forever, something that will always stay the same no matter how much your life has changed. That's how I feel about the movie I watched this week: 1971's Harold and Maude . I see a lot of movies I can say I loved, that I can say are good, that I can say I got something out of, but this movie is in a league of its own. The movie explores life, death, relationships, and adolescence in both a respectful and unique way. A lot of its success comes from its titular characters. Harold is a young man obsessed with death, while Maude is an old woman who sees the beauty of life. When the two become friends, beautiful things start to happen that nobody around them can fully understand. When I grow up, I want to be Maude. We have a lot in common already: we drive poorly, collect things, love nature, and see beauty in the world through its diff...

Hello, and welcome back to The Film List Project, my poorly named series in which I discuss great films that I watch. It's supposed to be weekly, but life happens occasionally. This is one of those weeks when I've gone in blind. In other words, I go down my list and find the first thing available online. This week, it was the 1949 film Caught. For those of you who haven't seen the movie (and I'm betting you haven't), it's about a woman who achieves her childhood dream by marrying a rich man, only to find out he's less than perfect. His abusive and manipulative behavior forces her to leave, only to be pursued by him until he lures her back. Basically, it's the story of a woman struggling to make her own decisions in a world where certain decisions have already been made for her. Even though it wasn't a commercial success, this film is a success in my heart. Here's why: it takes the idea of a woman looking to marry up and flips it on its...

I'm still trying to figure out what I just watched. Well, I know what I just watched: the 2008 Swedish horror/thriller/drama/romance (if you're into twisted romance) film Let the Right One In . I spent the first 30 minutes of this movie asking why. Why does an adult man follow a little girl around (besides the obvious)? Why is "piggy" this little boy's nickname? Why is this girl wearing white, especially since she's a vampire (more on that later)? Why does this kid not have a tissue in his jacket pocket? The list of "whys" goes on and on, but I'm worried that going on might spoil something for you. Yes, this is a vampire movie. No, this is not Twilight . It's so the opposite of Twilight . Here's why I liked this movie: even thought it's about a vampire, it's really not about a vampire. Stay with me. This movie about vampires is more about human nature, love and curiosity than anything else. More importantly, it's about...

Let's have a conversation about The Conversation . What I thought was going to be a high intensity action movie turned out to be one of the most interesting character pieces I have ever seen. Gene Hackman looks positively ordinary as Harry Caul, a surveillance expert assigned to spy on a seemingly ordinary couple couple. The bad hair, creepy mustache, dated wardrobe, and so many other things about Caul's first appearance in the film make it seem like he's the boring one of this bunch of sleuths. Then, you see this guy's paranoia, and it all starts to make sense. He's the focus of this story, not the people he's working with or the couple whose conversation he listens to. Caul is one of the best in the business, but not without sacrificing some of his sanity. Whether his paranoid nature is caused by his career choice or his career choice was driven by his paranoid nature is something we will never know, but there's no doubt they go hand in hand. His...

Ready? Okay! After a few weeks of writing about some particularly heavy movies, I decided to pick a title off the teen movie section of the list. When I realized that Bring It On was still on the list, I was a little appalled. After all, is it really a day in America if Bring It On hasn't played somewhere on cable? Even though this movie was released in 2000, I consider it an honorary member of the typical '90s teen movie family. Why? Here are just a few of the reasons: 1. One of the decade's most popular blonde actresses in a lead role (Kirsten Dunst) 2. One of the decade's most popular brunette actresses in the edgy, alternative sidekick role (Eliza Dushku) 3. A guy named Jesse with Prince Eric eyebrows playing the book wearing, punk listening, sensitive love interest who says things like, "I made you a tape" (Jesse Bradford) 4. Not-so-subtle product placement (Hey there, Diet Coke!) 5. Not-so-subtle references to now irrelevant pop cu...