A List of Movies for HJ77

HJ77, of Sugar N Spice, asked me to create a list of movies* the other day...

Here they are and why I am listing them:

Goodfellas/My Blue Heaven: Yes, they are both great and they should be watched together. Oh, and they show a much more interesting arc than the Godfather movies.

Blade Runner (The Director's Cut): Harrison Ford is great as Deckard, Sean Young is hot, and Edward James Olmos is creepy, but...Rutger Hauer steals the film with one speech about the nature of memory and identity...plus..."Wake up, time to die."

Alien: Another Ridley Scott film and proud owner of the most shocking scene in cinematic history. Ian Holm's second creepiest film role. His first being the father in Garden State. Which is more terrifying: the xenomorph or Weyland-Yutani?

28 Days Later: Danny Boyle could be on the list another two times (But...maybe not...though both Sunshine and Shallow Grave deserve to be there.) 28 Days Later took the zombie genre and turned it around and did it quickly and cheaply on digital. Oh, and the scenes of deserted London as well as the actions of the "military" in the event of collapse keeps me awake at night.

Shaun of the Dead: Another zombie film that helped redefine the genre. It also helps that it is hilarious. Another case of what happens to the average person when the zombie apocalypse hits, but what happens when the loser who is the hero is also a romantic and sees this as his chance to win his estranged girlfriend back.

Apocalypse Now: The horror. The horror. Yes, it is three and a half hours long. Yes, it is needlessly weird, but...it is visually spectacular and the best movie made about Vietnam that had nothing to do with Vietnam and everything to do with the general ignorance of those who presume power especially when they know nothing about the world they are presuming to rule.

Flash Gordon: Just a man...with a man's courage.

Broken Flowers: An aging Don Juan, a letter, and a journey of discovery with an excellent cast, and a great soundtrack. There is no resolution, which makes it a lot like life.

Tragic Donut: Just because I am an aging hipster jackass in it.

Hard Candy: In 2007, Paige called me at something like three in the morning to tell me that this film was on. I watched it, fell in love with it, and was terrified by it. I want TEA to be on the internet and I fear for it. Ellen Page is better in then than she was in Juno and Sandra Oh delivers an incredible cameo.

(and then there are the ones that I always suggest and love: Casablanca, Lost in Translation, Sideways, Annie Hall, Step Brothers, Batman Begins/The Dark Knight)

*Nope, I am not give you the reason for the creation of the list. Just enjoy the list.