On Top Fives

In which we enter into the world of film, literature and television.  Just maybe not all at once.

For whatever reason when I got up this morning I decided that I would write today about my favorite movies, books and television shows.  I know that it is kind of a copout and not really that creative but that is how it goes.  Maybe I will try to spice things up as I go along.

Movies:

1)  The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - All the other movies on this list will be difficult to determine, both if and where they appear, but not Shawshank.  In high school I loved watching movie (I still do) my friends and I would go to the theater more often than I would like to admit, it didn't seem to matter how good the movie looked we will still go.  And other than a few notable exceptions, I'm looking at you Godzilla, Event Horizon, and Wild Wild West; I found enjoyment in even the dumbest movies¹.  Something about The Shawshank Redemption was different; there was something powerful and beautiful in this movie.  From the moment I first saw it in high school I knew that it would be something that I would never forget.  It's a movie that I know so well, and yet can watch again and again, I even wrote a paper about it in a class in college.  If you haven't seen this movie before do yourself a favor and rent it, or borrow it, or buy it, just find a way to watch it.  Or, if you live in Bloomington call me up, I'm about due to watch it again.

2)  Amistad (1997) - Historical fiction based on the real life slave revolt on Le Amistad, a slaving ship.  It's got great acting from Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman as well as introduced me to Djimon Hounsou, who has the most powerful scene in the movie.  Much like Shawshank this was a movie that, upon seeing it in high school, I knew I had seen something special.

3) Hot Fuzz (2007) - Made by the same guys that did Shaun of the Dead this action comedy is a spoof of the "buddy cop" genre of action movies, but not a spoof in the sense of Scary Movie, or Date Movie, or Stupid Generic Cliché Movie (releasing summer 2010).  Instead Hot Fuzz has an actual story line, clever jokes, and great action.  If you have ever seen Bad Boys (or any Michael Bay movie) you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

4) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - I enjoy all of the Star Wars movies.  Some, though, are better than others.  Here is my order from favorite to least: Empire, A New Hope/Return (tied), Episode III, Episode II, Episode I.  It should be noted that The Empire Strikes Back is leaps and bounds ahead of the others.  Empire has got the heart that the prequels are missing, solid directing, and does not rely on Muppets (with the exception of Yoda).  It creates a real sense of menace in the villains, and has some great character development.  All of this from a science fiction movie, who would have guessed?  P.S. The prequels would have been much better if Lucas had kept his hands off of them.

5) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) - So this is the point in my movie list where things get a little...shifty.  The other four movies are pretty well locked in, but this fifth spot changes more readily.  Anyway, Life Aquatic was directed by Wes Anderson, who is a very quirky filmmaker.  He is always very intentional about the choices that he makes.  This is certainly true about this film.  But the one moment that really stuck out to me was this one:

What really blew me away was the fact that they had built this giant half of a boat so that they could shoot this long continuous shot.  Life Aquatic gets a bad wrap for being a little on the slow side, but if you have the patience there is a lot of beauty to be found in it.

Books:

1) East of Eden (1952) - I first read East of Eden in high school for a Biblical literature class my senior year.  When we were first handed the book it seemed rather daunting, I had always enjoyed reading, but hated being told what to read.  There was something different about this book though.  Right from the very start it grabbed me, and I was hooked.  If you've never read the book it was written by John Steinbeck and follows the lives of two families from Salinas Valley California.  In the midst of this Steinbeck ponders the ideas of natural and learned behavior and whether our parent's mistakes follow us to be our mistakes.  All the while the characters in East of Eden parallel the lives of many Old Testament figures.  It is the best book I've ever read, and if that is not enough of an endorsement then I will let the author speak for himself.  "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years." And, "I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this."

2) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000) - This book is ranked second on my all-time favorite list...but not by much.  The only reason that it does fall to second is simply because I read East of Eden first so it has a longer hold on me.  K&C is the story of two cousins living in New York city just before America enters WWII.  Joe Kavalier is a young Jewish boy who escapes from Germany controlled Prague to live with his family in NYC.  Sammy Clay is Joe's cousin who has huge aspirations but a bought with polio when he was young crippled both his legs and his confidence.  The novel explores themes of escapism, guilt and family through the lens of the boys' aspirations to join in on the comic boom of the early 40's.  This is a beautiful story with absolutely gut-wrenching scenes that almost always bring a tear to my eyes.  I would let you borrow it if you want, but Nick has been reading it for over a year...the jerk².

3) The Road (2006) - I still want to devote a whole post to this book, but I want to write about my reaction to the movie as well as the book.  Since the movie doesn't come out for another week and a half we will just have to wait on that.  I was talking too Carrie a month or so ago when she was trying to come up with books for a book group³, this was one of the first suggestions that I gave.  "I've heard it's too depressing" was her reply (or something to that effect).  I don't agree with this in the slightest.  It is certainly not a happy-go-lucky story of rainbows and puppies, but there is so much hope to be found in this story.  This book is, simply put, a love story between a father and his son.  Don't believe me?  Check out this great interview that the Wall Street Journal did with Cormac McCarthy, the author of The Road, here is a link for your convenience.


To be, let me finish, continued...

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¹Examples of beloved cheesy movies include both The Fifth Element (Bruce Willis at his finest) and Starship Troopers.  These movies embody the very idea idea of super-fun yet ridiculous.
²Just kidding Nick, you aren't a jerk.  At least not for this reason.
³ How's that book study going Care?