The Decablogue

For no reason other than the fact that nearly a month of continuous rain has washed away any inclinations toward creativity, I give you an old reliable standby. It's good to revisit this every so often, just to take stock and evaluate where life is taking me. So here they are (because I know you've been dying to know) — My Ten Favorite Movies:

Number Ten


Lawrence of Arabia
Who said the Top Ten was an inpenetrably exclusive club? Probably me. Well, here's the exception that proves the rule. A year ago (and for that matter, ten years ago) you would've found Aliens in this slot. But this year Ripley is out and El Aurens is in. This may very well be the only movie that you absolutely must see on the big screen. For precisely that reason, it's also the only movie on this list that I don't own (although our Tivo picked it up for us on its very first day on the job — good Tivo, smart Tivo).

Number Nine


Tombstone
Changed my life. That sounds pathetic and geeky when I say it, but the truth is this movie put a bug in my ear that started a small, slow chain reaction, which eventually led to big things. A lot of who I am today has been shaped by that series of falling dominoes for which Tombstone was the first nudge. But that's a whole other post. Tombstone also happens to be a colorfully written and vividly realized retelling of a familiar story — endlessly quotable and rewatchable, and overflowing with memorable performances.

Number Eight


Dr. Strangelove
Brilliant, beautiful satire that masterfully walks a dangerous tightrope. Any edgier, and it would fall into depressingly dark nihilism. Any goofier, and it would tip over into inappropriately morbid slapstick. But Kubrick manages to keep a smile on your face in spite of what you feel in the pit of your stomach. This ‘lighter side of doom’ is probably more entertaining now than it was in 1964 — I can't imagine seeing this right on the heels of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but I'm sure it didn't improve anyone's sleep.

Number Seven


Dazed and Confused
The lives and relationships of these teenagers in 1976 are so convincingly realized that they seem like people I actually know, and rewatching this movie is like getting together with old friends. I myself have no recollection whatsoever of what I actually did on the last day of school my junior year, but it feels perfectly natural to say “Oh yeah, wasn't that was the year Pickford's party got busted? We ended up hauling the kegs out to the moon tower. And wasn't that the time some punk kicked the shit out of Mike?”

Number Six


The General
This film sits in the Top Ten as proxy for all of Keaton's masterpieces. I place The General on top because even if you remove Keaton's brilliant gags, you're still left with a thrilling, sweeping adventure story that can hold its own against anything they put out today. It also drives home just how much special effects dilute visual impact — you can sense the power and weight and realness of these locomotives, which is something CGI will never be able to deliver, because looking real is not being real.

Number Five


The Empire Strikes Back
Just a damn good movie, and easily the strongest in the series, possibly because it reverses the usual plot structure of tragedy/adversity -> long journey -> climactic battle. This one begins with the big battle scene, which sends the heroes on their long journey, only to arrive at a dark, tragic end. This is also the only episode to focus on the individual stories of the characters rather than the “big picture” of a galaxy at war — it brings these larger-than-life heroes and villains down to earth (so to speak).

Number Four


Raiders of the Lost Ark
The greatest adventure story ever to grace the screen — pure entertainment. It's a symphony of action, thrills, scares, comedy, romance, mystery, chases, escapes, spiders and snakes, bruised heroes, and melting Nazis. And the technique behind the film is equally flawless: the sweeping music, the kinetic pacing, the tight editing of action sequences. As many times as I've seen it, I can't think of a single sour note. The film just carries you along, almost effortlessly, right to its hauntingly perfect final scene.

Number Three


The Philadelphia Story
If there was a specific moment when I stopped merely appreciating old movies and started to truly love them, it was probably the first time I saw The Philadelphia Story. This is my warm-blanket movie, one I can watch any time, any place, so long as there's a bottle of champagne handy. The actors tackle this spiraling, outrageous barbfest with total abandon — especially Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart, who are so over-the-top that you can see Cary Grant struggling to keep a straight face.

Number Two


Rio Bravo
Not very much happens in this movie — John Wayne leaves Walter at the jail, walks down the street with Dino, visits Ricky at the saloon, stops at the hotel to flirt with Angie, goes back to check on Walter at the jail, and so on, for pretty much the whole movie. Every now and then there's some gunplay, but mostly the Duke and his cohorts are killing time, nursing hangovers, wondering what will happen next. Sometimes they sing. There's something in the simplicity of it all that makes this one of the best movies of all time.

Number One


Star Wars
Duh.