Do I have to pick just one?

This week, my Cleveland buddy asked for my top 10 list for movies. Immediately I freak out, what are my top 10 favorites? UGH. I have very few all time favs, mostly my favs right now but do I just have to pick ten? I had this dilemma in Improv class a few months back when we played a game (the particulars of which are of no consequence to most of you) but it began with a simple question:..



What's your favorite movie?



Right, you are laughing aren't you? Those of you that know me, recognize that this is no simple question as I watch what would be considered an obscene amount of movies (being unable to sleep certainly helps). My immediate answer was a standard, of course, kind of answer, "The Wizard of Oz". I mean, it has everything, witches, kick ass shoes, flying monkeys and midgets, what's not to love? I have watched that movie every year since the beginning of time as I know it. While many girls got caught up in tales with princes and happily ever after, I loved the terror, the unexpected and the fantasy that unfolds over a story that, at first, seems to be about shoes. As an adult, discovering the books "Wicked" and "Son of a Witch" made the world even more real and distant. I feel more at home with the strange and magical than any traditional story (I mean come on, I am a girl with "Zombie Survival Guide" by my bed just in case I find myself unexpectedly awaken by a throng of pissed off undead). My parents tell me I watch "weird" movies, I think there is a big pot/kettle tale in there, but, I digress. It's been a while since I have done a favorites blog...today, a list for you (in no particular order to my liking) to add to your Netflix list...enjoy!



1. Juno - Saw this and thought it was clever and interesting/Jason Bateman is hot and a little creepy here


2. Stardust - a beautiful love story that straddles two worlds/I am a bit biased as the hero is named Tristan


3. Across The Universe - I always respected the Beatles place in history but this movie made me a true friend/where the group was essentially a three cord max, the rearrangement and spectacular music put behind the lyrics highlights their beauty


4. Sweeny Todd - I do enjoy an unusual movie and musicals so combined, this is golden/Johnny Depp is so haunting as a singer, I bought the soundtrack. Since this is the "musical catagory" I am also submitting for your approval Mamma Mia! I took the girls yesterday...UNBELIEVABLE! Everyone in the theater was singing and dancing by the end...pure magic.


5. Reservoir Dogs - I am an obsessive Tarantino fan…this is my favorite/Michael Madsen's dance is one of the best and most horrific scenes in any movie I have ever seen


6. The Air I Breathe - A series of shorts linked together by over lapping character in a study on emotion. So sad and sweet at the same time, complicated and so beautiful when they bring it together in the end.


7. Pan's Labyrinth - miraculous imagery, this movie make me think for DAYS afterwards. I will also add here my other Del Toro fav, The Orphange...OMG. Would you loosers PLEASE go watch this movie so I can talk with someone about the ending?


8. 28 Days Later - I am a big movie monster fan, this is one of my most favorites (and a close tie with Bubba Ho-tep)


9. Children of Men - There is so much I could say about this movie and none of it would capture a moment of this end of the world portrait/I admit I wept for several minutes as the warring factions heard the cry of the baby..powerful


10. A Very Long Engagement - This movie is one of the reasons I adore foreign films…American movies tend to like to wrap things up in tidy little bows at the end and I find French films are much more true to life. It is romantic and beautiful and quite unlike anything I have seen sense (I added this to my queue after I fell in love with the male lead in Hannibal Rising…this guy is AMAZING)


11. Shooter - A great guy flick with a smoking hot lead//having known more than one military type, this I would chalk up as more realistic than others I have seen where former soldier saves the world. Loved the story line.


12. An Inconvenient Truth - This should be mandatory for everyone on the planet, period.


13. The Last King of Scotland - remarkable movie about an interesting time in the world, for anyone that remembers the clips on the news, it brings them to life


14. Becoming Jane - any Jane Austen reader should check this out…it explains EVERYTHING


15. Alien vs. Predator - two of the best movie monsters EVER-what's not to love?


16. The Fifth Element - It was with this movie I fell in love with Chris Tucker…lol


17. Much Ado About Nothing (Branagh/Thompson version) - I love all the movies they did together but this one was when you could tell they were very deeply in love/hands down one of my favs of all time



18. Romeo and Juliet (Baz Luhrmann version) - this movie makes me drunk every time I watch it…as a sensory person, I get so caught up in the words, music, costumes, and love that I barely notice when the movie ends…"a curse on both your houses" is my favorite scene in this movie…remarkable!



19. Eddie Izzard: Dress To Kill - if you don't know Eddie, you should (check him out with Minnie Driver on FX's The Riches) he has many specials on disc, but this is the best and it all leads to the end, a scene in French, that is to die for!



20. The Italian Job - I love all the Ocean's movies but this one is an Ocean's movie with a bit more…oh yeah, notice two Marky Mark movies on the list…lol





Grab your Junior Mints and have fun!