Due to my new-found loneliness, I have now rediscovered my movie watching touch. In the last 6 days, I have rented 5 movies, watched 3 of them with the plan of watching the other two sometime this coming week. Also, watched 3 movies on the telly so that makes it a total of 6 movies in 6 days. Reminds me of the times in college, when the standard mode of entertainment was movies. Cinema has always fascinated me. My likes in movies are almost wierd. Dulhe Raja was about as good a movie to me as Citizen Kane since it kept me equally engrossed. It definitely was a better movie according to me than Titanic. In fairness though, I should mention that watching Dulhe Raja was fun also coz it was on Cable, so I could avoid the songs. Had I watched in the theatre, it probably would have been a different decision.
This got me thinking, I should publish a list of my favorite movies. To be fair to the movies, the basic criterion was that I should have watched the entire movie at one sitting (no bathroom breaks, no songs forwarded) and the movie should have captured my imagination at the first sitting. In other words, that I have watched number of times and they are part of my all time best lists, but I honestly was not a huge fan of the movie at the first sitting. There are some that I have watched millions of times and loved them each time, including the first time. So here goes:
English:
Pulp Fiction -- Well there's this passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee." I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never gave much thought what it meant. I just thought it was some cold-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker before I popped a cap in his ass. I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. See now I'm thinkin', maybe it means you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9 Milimeter here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. Now I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.
Need I say more? Whoever thought of a line like that deserves the honor at the top of my movie database.
The Shawshank Redemption -- An excellent excellent movie. Can't think of why it never won the best movie Oscar. Beaten by Forrest Gump (not a bad movie, but it was definitely not gripping enough. And turns out I am not the only person to complain. 52%of the world apparently agrees. The flow, the pace, the narration was top notch. Frank Darabont has struggled ever since to create a movie anywhere close. The Green Mile and The Majestic were noble efforts, but let's keep them to that.
The Best Man -- Every time I watch an English movie (or I should phrase it differently, a non-Hindi movie) I look at how it could be made into a Hindi movie. Considering most Hindi movies are borrowed subjects I am surprised how this never made the list. While billed as being loosely based on Republican politicians Richard Nixon and Adlai Stevenson, I couldnt help but think of it being on the lines of Madhavrao Scindia and Sitaram Kesri. I love watching political movies, and honestly I could not find a better one than this one.
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King -- Hey, I am a geek. Of all the geek movies in the world, I liked this one the best. Simply because it all seems to fall in place. Even though you know that Sauron is going to lose, you are engrossed to the screen from the starting credits. There's hardly a point where it drags on (though the end could have been cut a bit, but everything before that compensated it.) For geeky movies, it was run close by the original Matrix but unfortunately the sequels messed it up for that franchise. If you notice, this is the only movie sequel on this list.
The Godfather -- Speaking of sequels, I have not watched Godfather Part II in its entirety. Hence that is not on this list. But the original of the trilogy was easily the better one for me. Kept it engrossing from start to finish, and what can I say?? Been a long time since I saw this one though. About six months. This the movie that irritates the life out of my wife. Coz everytime I am at Blockbuster, I am willing to pick it up!!
The Usual Suspects -- Sanjay Gupta should be shot for copying this movie and then flushing the story down the toilet. I don't mind copying the movie. It is the conversion into Reservoir Dogs is what piqued me no end. Keyzer Soze is the ultimate bad guy to my mind beating even the likes of Darth Vader. Excellent script, excellent cast (even though Steven Baldwin irritates the shit out of me with his smile everytime I see his face).
Dr. Strangelove (Or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb) -- Any movie with a name like that, deserves to be on this list. Peter Sellers movies were generally a bit over my head, but this one was right on the money. The scene where the President in the war room is speaking on the phone to Dmitri Kissoff (that is the Soviet Premier) about the BOMB is probably the most ridiculously funny scene I have seen. The idea that the Commies are polluting the water supply or the "precious bodily fluids" as Gen. Ripper explains to Mandrake is high up there too. But the very fact that somebody could think of a comedy of something as scary as a nuclear bomb is beyond belief. This movie was run close by "Life is Beautiful" in that category. I don't know why this one won. Probably the fact that this was a pointed satire and was made during the very times that the ridiculousness was going on, is where I would say DS(OHILTSWALTB) wins !!! (and also since this is a list for English movies)
Airplane -- Leslie Nielsen should have stopped at his first movie. Slapstick with a straight face. The doyen of the spoof genre, is so good, that it could have been construed as a serious movie if you take the dialogue lines out. Everyone in this movie is just great including the side artists who probably have a line each. Wonderful comedy, excellent movie to watch even without any drinks in you!
Dogma -- This movie came quite a few years before The Da Vinci code was published, but had the same idea. And it had a lot more to be considered sacrilege. At it was. And I loved it. Conventional wisdom is something that we have learned to assume as correct without questioning it. Which is why I love this movie.
Good Will Hunting -- My favorite school-based movie. The fact that the janitor at MIT is smarter than most students there is something every Stanford graduate will love!! And an awesome touching movie.
There.. I'll probably complete a similar set for Hindi / Indian movies .. Till then,
Cheers,
SG
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