Some Favorites

I was initially really anxious/nervous about starting this blog because I didn't know if I could write about movies in any meaningful way. I haven't done a lot of writing on movies. I've loved them and have been interested in them dearly since I first got seriously into them at 13, but I haven't written many reviews or opinions down about them. I've been thinking more about the prospect of writing on movies though, and in the process have become very excited about it. I think it will be fun. I'm eager to try to form my rambling thoughts on movies into somewhat coherent opinions that can be communicated to others. Hopefully I can do so!

Anyway, I just want to briefly mention some of my favorite directors and films. I have my top 10 lists for each year of the 2000s, and I'll try to post those soon.

First of, my favorite director has to be Ingmar Bergman. Wild Strawberries is my absolute favorite movie of all time. It is a beautiful, profound, moving, and poetic masterpiece. Just completely perfect in every way.

As for other directors, I love Fellini, Kubrick, Luis Bunuel, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Terrence Malick, Kurosawa, Woody Allen, Charlie Chaplin, Visconti, Scorsese, Tarkovsky, Hitchcock, Polanski, Billy Wilder...

For more modern fellas, I'm really into David Lynch, Paul Thomas Anderson, Aronofsky, the Coens, Charlie Kaufman, David Fincher, Hanake, von Trier (I know Brandon is not a fan of these last two, but I dig 'em). There's probably a bunch that I'm forgetting, but oh well. That's a decent run down of some filmmakers I respect and admire.

Here are some of my favorite movies:

-The Decalogue (Kieslowski, 1988)

-La Dolce Vita (Fellini, 1960)

-Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975)

-The Phantom of Liberty (Bunuel, 1974)

-Days of Heaven (Malick,1978)

-The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)

-Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen, 1986)

-Ikiru (Kurosawa, 1952)

-The Wages of Fear (Clouzot, 1953)

-Blow-Up (Antonioni, 1966)

-Duck Soup (McCarey, 1933)

-Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)

-It's a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)

-The Gold Rush (Chaplin, 1925)

-All About Eve (Mankiewicz, 1950)

-The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946)

-Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)

-All the President's Men (Pakula, 1976)

-The Hustler (Rossen, 1961)

I don't know why I put all the directors' names and years for these, but it just seemed respectful to do. Haha As if there were another Citizen Kane or Godfather to which I were referring....

Anyway, those are some movies I really like (at least the ones I can think off the top of my head).

I have Never Let Me Go coming on Netflix tomorrow. Maybe that will be my first review. Harry Knowles seems to love it, but we will see. I haven't read the book, but I've read other books by Ishiguro and think he is a tremendous writer. I'm sure the film has absolutely nothing on the book though.