No preludes, just a listing of my favorite movies of all time.
Pulp Fiction: Arguably, this is Tarantino's best movie till date. This movie is a conglomeration of multiple plots which move in broken-narrative fashion, intersecting at multiple points. Seldom do these intersections happen chronologically. But even if they don't, one doesn't find following the movie an impossible task. Brilliant dialogue is a feature eminent in Tarantino's other classic, Reservoir Dogs. This movie has plenty of it, sarcastic, mellow, witty, subtly erotic and subtly vulgar at the same time. Exhilarating and relentless in its pace, screenplay and direction, this film discusses everything from rebirth to potbellies, foot massages to the filthiness of pork and pigs in general. Pulp Fiction remains a landmark movie in the annals of movie-making not just for its brilliance, but for the way it redefined and rejuvenated screenplay, narrative styles and scriptwriting.
The Shawshank Redemption, based on Stephen King's novella, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, deals with the life of Andrew Dufresne, convicted of murder of his wife and illicit lover, within the walls of Shawshank prison. This is definitely one of the great book adaptations of all time; in which Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman give performances of a lifetime in this movie, which has an underlying theme of hope, symbolized effectively in powerful music and characters which stick indelibly to your mind, years after you have watched it. What's absolutely brilliant about the movie is that, by using a languorous pace, the director makes you a part of the prison. It helps you realize how tough the real world feels after you are institutionalized and how simple pleasures, things one overlooks in real life, feel fresh and linger on within the walls of confinement. The movie never, not even for a moment, feels overtly depressing or oppressive, and the actors stay within themselves; in other words, they are humans, not super-heroes. You get fonder of certain films with repeated viewings; this is just one of those.
A movie which a lot of people would find tough to like is A Hard Day's Night. I love it. I find it incredible, that in spite of the reckless manner in which it was shot, it still is watchable and not in a mess. This is one of the most honest films about rock and roll and its growth in the heart of Beatlemania. The film moves ahead in a mock-documentary style, it is the best attempt at defining Beatlemaniaas it was, and proves an insightful look into the life of four rock and roll artists, who were, despite all the fame and love, prisoners to it. It chronicles a time when defiance of authority was passé, when enjoying the money you earned was considered smart and not frowned upon, and when music was as much about enjoying as it was about playing. As Timesays in its review of the 100 great movies of all time, "A Hard Day's Night is not just a movie; it's an answer to a maiden's prayer."
The Godfather: No, they don't make gangster movies like this anymore. In spite of being dark and depressing, this movie impresses because it maintains grandeur and deep nobility in the midst of all the killing and gloominess. It IS the definitive Mafia film. Incidentally, the sequel to this Godfather IIwas probably the only sequel in the history of the academy awards to win an Oscar for Best picture, until The Lord of the Rings came along with its sequel. The film had a powerful impact on the sensibilities of the audience, and presented the Mafia in a way which had not been seen before in cinematic history. I'm going to make him an offer he can't refusehas frequently been voted as the second most memorable line in film-history.
Oscar Schindler, prior to the war, was a scheming playboy in the Third Reich. Post-war, he was a total failure. Schindler's Listbased in Kenneally's novel Schindler's Ark, traces the life of Oscar Schindler through the ruins of World War II and the rise and fall of the Third Reich. More like a documentary in the black-and-white oeuvre, this film analyzes Schindler's failings, his desperate love for money and women, and follows his career during the war as he suffers a change of heart, and is afflicted with grace and humanity, and makes his factory a place for shelter, for abetting Jews from their pain and misery. Laced with grim foreboding, scathing in its portrayal and depiction of Nazi fascism and cruelty, the movie is a bland, unprovocative account of the holocaust and its atrocities, seen through an unforgiving eye.
A dark and stormy night, raindrops splattering on a mottled windshield. The girl is guilty and is running away from her manager. She's stolen some money from him. She stops at the Bates Motel. The pit stop turns out to be fatal. Secluded houses, strange fixations, schizophrenia, guilt, and anxiety, nobody did it better than Hitchcock. Psychois not the greatest horror movie to come out of Hollywood, but it's one of the most stylish movies that Hitchcock ever made. All through the movie, one cannot but be impressed with his grandeur, his formal style, the elegance in the screenplay and the effectiveness of the music. Guilt, obsession, greed and anxiety are Hitchcock's favorite themes, and Psycho is the movie arguably has the best portrayal of it all.
Forrest Gumphas frequently been labeled by several critics as a populist entertainer. The story of the small town, mentally deficient boy who grows up to be a millionaire, is pretty much like a fairy tale. However, Forrest Gump is a classic in its own right. It's painted the grimmest and arguably the most honest picture of 60's America, a time when the youth was unsure of itself, a time of drugs, sex and rock and roll. I love this movie for a lot of things: I love it for its absolutely amazing hand-picked soundtrack, and I love it for Tom Hanks' powerful performance as the mentally challenged Forrest. But most of all, I love it for the scene in which Forrest dances with Jeannie to the strains of Sweet Home Alabama.
Taxi Driver, arguably Scorcese's most powerful movie till date, is depressing-realism at its best. The journey of a taxi-driving gun-wielding psycho, paints the very common and oft-seen American picture, a portrait which apparently all Americans are running away from. The twist in which the psycho becomes a hero of the media, is interesting and disturbing at the same time, and makes us wonder profoundly about the world that we live in, and the people we are surrounded by. Definitely one of the all-time greats.
Finally, a final last-word on probably the best horror-movie I have ever seen. The Shining, starring Nicholson, is not Kubrick's best; in fact, it's probably far from it. But, the slow progression of a family man into insanity driven by loneliness and a dearth of ideas, and the brilliant portrayal of a raving wife with nowhere to go, is done in a fashion which only Kubrick could. The Shining is not only about horror, it's about brilliant cinematic technique, it's about complex relationships and delves deeper into the mind of a madman than any movie ever has.
