top 5

And the top 5 are:

Donnie Darko – The only film I know which uses its soundtrack to add to the storyline (it introduces the characters through one song – Tears for fears no less – in 3 minutes in a way other films can dedicate ½ the running time to do). It is also a thought provoking intelligent post-modern story told in a classy way.





Hedwig and the angry inch – Think Rocky Horror but with better songs and maybe even a bit more cheek. Now I don’t particularly like musicals, but once you throw in a bit of charactor developement the way this film has, you get an extra dimension that many don't. Chicago goes close (closer if they cast Kylie as the lead) likewise ‘Rio Bravo’ and ‘Moulon Rouge’ (had it been ½ an hour shorter) and even Singing in the rain, but there's still daylight between these and anything else in the genre.




Mullholland Drive – Once you get it, you can’t help but be impressed at David Lynch’s ability to take you to another place – not a flick where you can just switch off from it and just go along for the ride.





Jean de Florette and it's sequel Mannon Des Sources – For their simplicity and ability to take you back to another time and place (however at 4 hours in total, it’s a big investment).



Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind – What a clever way to show how the romance can go out of a relationship with time! The film is a thought provoking (in more ways than one – you have to of seen it) journey to boot.






Notable Mentions include; Waking life, Fight club, Before Sunrise, American history X, Casablanca, Memento, Requiem for a dream, Almost famous and Lawrence of Arabia.

  

  

  

There is no cure for birth and death. Enjoy the interval in between.

pop culture

I wanna start with pop culture, namely film and how we judge their merit.

Don't you just detest two-dimensional Hollywood blockbusters? I do–unless they deviate a great deal from their traditional format. Now take cutting edge movies that push the boundaries of film making, that's a different story (literally)–film making should be an uncensored medium (unlike TV) and a visit to the flicks should not just be entertainment but an informative, eye opening or even a soul-searching experience. Leave the formula driven happy ending fodder to telemovies I say.

When it comes to rewarding the filmmakers, I see some fundamental problems in that presently, the movies which appeal to the lowest common denominator tend to get the kudos. The Academy Awards speak for themselves in this respect with members of the academy–who more often than not have one foot in the grave, given the power to allow a film to go down in history as great. They are a relatively small cross-section of the film-going public, so they lack depth, and the middle of the road films of course, win out–cuz the independent flicks with something to say don’t appeal to this group on a whole.

Now, this is hardly a conducive way to get cutting edge results! And the Golden Globes are far LESS legitimate. To achieve their results, they pretend to be all-inclusive by using the foreign press, a group of 90 or so hand picked ‘journalists’ (read: invited members who all now reside in Hollywood) who can be bought–and often are! and who become no more than puppets to the might of the big studios.

Now there's no point bagging sumthing unless you have an alternative right? So what is it? Simple.. films of each particular flavour that are voted on by people who understand this flavour i.e. if you like and understand Film Noir, YOU vote for the films that fall under that umbrella. Or if you can identify with Chinese gangster flicks, once again, YOU vote for it. This concept has been put into practice online with some websites allowing people to give their own ratings on the film of the day. If the site is well patronised and universally recognised, it can achieve a vast wealth (database) of knowledge. The end result is that people with more than a passing interest in films and also a knowledge of the subject matter of the particular film, are given the power to judge it. When we look at upwards of 10,000 (now knowledgeable) people voting on the film, it irons out individual bias and we get a clearer picture of any films worth. Ans any person can therefore find and watch a Japanese Samurai film that has scored well, with confidence that it is one of the best of it’s type around–power to the people! Furthermore, if that person understands the culture and identifies with its characters, he may be compelled to vote on the film himself!

So in saying that, next I intend to share some of the films I give my vote to.

They must find it difficult, those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority - Gerald Massey