The Movie Top 10...

Everyone always asks, what's your top 10 in movies. This is a concise way to spell it out, and I challenge everyone else to find their top 10 and why it's in their list.

1) Princess Mononoke

Many people think that I am extremely weird for having this movie in my top 10. In fact, most Americans don't understand it. Namely, because of the animation stigma. For those of you who don't know what animation stigma is, is simply the concept that animation equals kiddie, for those in the US at least. This is one of the masterpieces of Hayao Miyazaki, a man who is more influential to animation that Walt Disney ever could be. In fact, Princess Mononoke is the crowning achievement in that pursuit. The movie starts out with a tribal prince, who is cursed by a God, and given a mark that will eventually kill him.
The prince, Ashitaka, has to leave his people and seek a way to end the curse in the lands far from his native birth place. Along the way, he sees wars, and see atrocities that humans can befall one another. Eventually, he finds the destined place he was meant to find. There, humans destroy the land for iron. This causes the forest beings and Gods to go to war with man. The great forest spirit governs all nature and is the giver of life and the bringer of death.
Overall, the tale speaks of the ills of man, the nature of Gods and what greed brings. Simply a masterpiece of cinema.

2) Memento

This is Christopher Nolan's first masterpiece, and the first on my list. What so good about it? Memento was shot in bits and pieces, and was a fresh take on film making and the story hadn't been done before. The story is told from the perception of Lenny, a man who can make no short term memories after one fateful night where his wife was raped and killed.
The whole story is shot in bits and pieces, you see the end of the story first, and through the story telling it shows you the whole thing. This is why Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite people in film. He is a storyteller second to none.

3) Ikiru

The word Ikiru in Japanese, means To Live, and nothing is more powerful than the message here. Again, I don't know if it translates well to a American audience, but the whole movie is about life, and how lots of times we waste it.
The story centers around an old bureaucrat who knows that he is dying of cancer. The story follows him as he descends though the grief stages. Then, he decides to turn his life around and do something miraculous. I read once that the main actor in the movie, Takashi Shimura, acts with his body and face better than anyone, and I'd have to agree. I'm usually not a person who cries in movies, but this brings me to tears each time. The end shots of the movie are so beautiful, and Kurosawa is a master of mood. Good for anyone who enjoys foreign cinema.

4) Batman Begins

This is a modern day masterpiece. It relaunched the Batman series with a deep brooding undertone and got rid of the bad taste those last 2 piece of crap Batman movies gave me. Nolan is pretty much the only reason why these movies are so good. He starts of with an origin story and gives Batman an up to date character and toys. He brings Batman to a modern look and also puts the emphasis on his motives and gives him a great back story with Raz Al Gul. There hasn't been a better superhero movie made to date.

5) Stargate

This may surprise some people on why I ranked this movie so high. Simply put, this is just an entertaining movie. It takes ancient Egypt and combines it with Sci Fi elements to create a compelling story. Most Sci-Fi movies take the approach that aliens are discovered, and humans can't compare to their superior technology and gets their asses kicked. However, this puts an Airforce team on an Alien world and they just are using typical human technology, MP5's and Nuclear weapons. Highly entertaining.

6) Snatch

I am a total fan of Guy Ritchie, crime movie films. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is in my top 30. This is an entirely hilarious film. It also has to prove a point that Jason Statham is not good as a leading man, but if you put him in an ensemble cast, and he does rather well. It does have a narration direction on the story, but it seems to work with Richie's style. It's filled with laughs and has enough action/violence to keep it interesting. The main reason is the story though. It's filled with enough colorful characters to always keep you interested in it.

7) Black Hawk Down

This is the first of 2 Ridley Scott movies in my top 10. Black Hawk Down tells the story of special forces in Somalia and has a great cast of characters. Granted the story is no where near the truth of what goes on, it portrays service men as what they are courageous, and determined people. It doesn't portray them as mindless drones that the military would like you to believe. It does a good job showing people that the soldiers are human. It also shows how much of idiots the Legislative branch of our government is. A sentiment that I whole heartedly echo.

8) Blade Runner

Blade Runner is one of my favorite films that has grown on me as I have gotten older. Truth be told, I love all things cyberpunk, and set in the very near future. This Ridley Scott film takes place in a future that doesn't seem all that distant. The story centers around creations of man called, Replicants. Replicants are artificial human beings. These Replicants are given tasks that we humans, don't want to do. Fighting over territory in outer space, hard mining, sex, they do all the jobs we don't want.

When 4 Replicants escape to earth, it's Harrison Ford's turn to hunt them down. Ford plays a reluctant hero. More a private eye, rather than a cop. So, while it's set in the future, the character seems almost Bogartian in a way. As the story unwinds, you find out what it is to be human. Rutger Hauer also delivers one of the most poignant monologues that I have seen. By far, an entertaining story.

9) In Bruges

After watching In Bruges again from the DVD, it's cracked my top 10. Everything about this movie is excellent, and a perfect Terence movie. It's pace is dead on, it jokes about drug use, midgets, and several other topics. It's kind of a crime drama, but also makes it's criminal characters rather real. If I was some sort of assassin or bad guy, it would be spot on how I would act. The movie has enough drama to keep on interested as well.

10) Letters From Iwo Jima

Letters from Iwo Jima is pretty special to me. I just like that an American director got the chance to paint a picture of one of the forgotten moments from the Japanese history. I'm also a WWII history, kind of guy. I also have high regard and respect for Japanese culture. Eastwood does a good job of painting the Japanese just as they were, a determined foe of the Americans, filled with piss and vinegar and having a true warrior spirit.

The picture focuses on a man who was drafted and sent to Iwo Jima to defend it from the Americans. It goes through his journey, and him sending his messages home. The film is also a picture of modern Japanese society, because the film mostly had to be made by using letters and correspondence of other Japanese battles. The Japanese themselves have all but forgot about Iwo Jima, or WWII as a whole. It's not taught much in the public schools and is kind of glossed over. So, this film is maybe something that later on, when their society becomes so much more free, they may enjoy. Japan is still a country mired in social position and much like China now, all about money, and not reflecting on the past.

Well, there you have it. That's my top 10. (I hope you're happy Jimmy.) Boom....Outta here.