Monday, September 26, 2011

Top50 Movies as of 2011

Finally my top 50 movies, although it's actually a top 48 because I kept two spots open in wait of watching Inception and Black Swan but haven't gotten around to it, and I have a feeling I've forgotten something. I also made a top9 because they set themselves so dramatically apart from the others, at least in my heart, that they clearly rank above the others. The other 39 are divided in rough genres to make it a little more manageable to read, but aside from the top9 being above the others (and roughly ranked against each other, I realize), there's no internal ranking. I guess I'll write some silly comments like you guys did ;)

I also want to point out that I didn't read your lists until now, because I didn't want to get last-minute infections from you that would ruin it :P the point was to share new things not echo each others, so that's how it is anyway. 

TOP 9
The Big Blue - I cannot empathize enough the emotions this movie gave me. Fucking dangerous.
Leon  The love-at-first-sight meeting with Luc Besson and Jean Reno.
Oldboy The whole movie is a bloody wonder, but that moment near the end hit me so damned hard.  
Wall-E  Nicking in together with the Lion King, an instant classic that hits all the right notes.
The Lion King   In a sense my first meeting with concepts like honor, but most of all because I love Simba and Scar equally, which taught me so much.
District 9  The best political movies are those that never feel like one.
Batman: The Dark Knight We were all dancing around after leaving the cinema, so you know why.
Adam's Apples  Absurd, human and beautiful, a hidden Danish treasure ^^
Boondock Saints  If the stylish main characters don't win you over, the violence will :D

 ANIMATED
How to train your Dragon - I also want a black beautiful cat-dragon! Gimme!
Ratatouille - Not sure why tbh but I love it.
FF7 Advent Children - Yes, actually, not just as a fan, but the visuals, the music, the composition, is great.

DRAMA / ROMANCE
Love Actually - In all honesty, basically the only romance movie you'll ever need.
Le Fabuleaux destin de Amelie du Montmartre - Had to write the whole title, because it feels just like the movie, ridiculous and perfect.
About Adam - Would love some opinions on this. It amused me greatly though.
Hard Candy - Surprised me at the time, and also of course star performance from Ellen Page.
The Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare! Amazing performance by Al Pacino as the Jew.

The King and the Clown / The King's Man - Korean historic drama, difficult but intriguing.
Postman to Heaven / Heaven's Postman - Fantastic visuals and charming story lifted this from just fan love of the actor to love of the movie itself.
Whale Rider - A slow but fierce story of a Maori girl fighting to fulfill her destiny despite her gender and the times around her.
Definitely Maybe - Charmed me despite going in with low expectations.
Ballad of Jack and Rose - I would never see it again, but it slowly, light as a breath, crept under your skin while watching.

Efter Bryllupet / After the Wedding - Touching and twisting.
Les amants du Point Neuf - One of those great movies you see only once because it hurts too much to watch.
Forrest Gump - Overwhelmingly cute and one of those happy success stories that doesn't make you barf.
The Fall - Because the act of telling a story can also be a story, and change the one who tells it.
Crash Worth every award it's gotten.  

HORROR
Cloverfield - Came into it not knowing anything, which was good. Got the proper surprise effect ;)

ACTION / THRILLER / SOMETHING
Kingdom of Heaven - Something about that whole honor and a man's gotta do crap that always works for me. Also Jeremy Irons and a cool king in a mask.
Once upon a time in Mexico - Like Boondock, it's an elegant mix of violence, style and humor.
Memento - Something of a token spot; yes it's good, yes it's innovative, we all heard it the first time.
V for Vendetta - Managing to keep decently close to the comic, while not feeling terribly much like one.

Inglorious Bastards - Not because of Brad Pitt, whom I hate in this movie, but because the script is fuckin' awesome.
Iron Man - Somewhat the same motivation as V for Vendetta; and R.D.Junior is ofc Stark. IRL. Really.
Pitch Black - Fantastic stylish sci-fi horror/action with a treasured absence of silly space-ships.
No Country for Old Men - This movie has balls.

300 - Love the visuals, even if I think they're already a little dated so you can "see the bluescreen".
The Good The Bad The Weird - Korean action movie with a lot of cool action and even a little plot.
Lock, Stock and 2 smoking barrels - Better than Snatch, IMO, in that it has more shooting ;)
History of Violence  - Aside from the Hollywood touches that dirties it at times, it's a cute murderous story.

COMEDY
Easy A - The clever teen movie. Ooooh, was that a flying pig?
The Hangover - Hangs on just at my level of stupid humor.
Zombieland - Is so amusing it's criminal. Was that the second Emma Stone comedy? Look at that.
I'm A Cyborg but it's OK - Oldboy-director goes "I'ma do some random insane romance-comedy now", and it's just as great!

 SOMETHING ELSE
Ink - Like picked out of the head of me or someone I know, a whole fantastic world to share for an hour and a half.
Cube - Also never to see again, it really messed with my head.
Pan's Labyrinth - Scary in so many ways.
Hero - See it, if for nothing else than just for the colors.

HONORARY MENTIONS
Snatch Got kicked off this list by Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels.
11.14 Sort of the forgotten Crash, it's perhaps not quite as good, but definitely worth watching.
Stardust I do prefer it to Princess Bride, because that one totally falls off the wagon halfway through.
Batman Begins Kicked, ofc, by The Dark Knight.
Pirets of the Carribbean:At world's end - If any of them were to make it, it would be this.
Funny Girl I don't really do old movies, so this is the exception.
Happy Feet We all know what it's like to have a rythm in our bodies that we can't let out, don't we?
Memoirs of a Geisha My mind and I had a conversation. It went; "put it on", "nah", "why not?", "dunno".
Lucky Number Sl3vin The further I get on this commenting, the more I start doubting what should on the list and not. Damnit.
Se7en This is not on for the same reason as I felt obligated to put Memento on; it's good, everyone knows it, old news, boring.
The TouristWas a pleasant surprise all things considered, I think. Pleasant and surprising enough to get mentioned.
Avatar Well, the graphics are fantastic. The story is a word-by-word ripoff from Pocahontas or every other Romeo and Juliet. Bah.
Silent Hill The only other horror movie that's been to my liking. Pyramid-head! Run! Waaaah!

Okay before I run away, I want to make some little overview notes. It's obvious from the list, I think, that I favor strange and violent movies, preferably visually impressive, and that I've watched a lot of Korean and Danish movies these last few years. Also I have flashes of terrible taste. Definitely Maybe? Well, I stand by my list. There's not a single Swedish movie, interestingly. I was considering the Millenium-series, but in comparison with the books they just pale out into a mushy gray mass that I can't even review fairly, despite Noomi Rapace rockin' her boots off.

The movies that are on all three lists are these (correct me if I'm wrong):
The Lion King
Wall-E
The Dark Knight 
which I would say is fair enough. If anyone else would like to contribute a list of their own, fret not, there is still time! ^^

Now then. AAAAAHHHHH! 

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The end of a story

So my computer died and stuff so that top movie list will come around later. Right now what I want to tell you is that I finished that awesome thing I was writing. Finishing a story is always equal parts excitement and great pain, because yay it's finished, but boo it's finished :P Same as when a good movie or game finishes but bigger.

Anyway I'm not posting it here for all the world to see because it needs proofreading and opinions and revisions and all that cool stuff, and also because it's more important to me than the other stuff up on this site. So I know you're all a busy lot with your own lives to keep together, but if anyone would feel like taking the important task to polish it, I'd be very happy. It's 80 pages, in English, and I have both just mechanical proofreading of spelling and grammar in mind as well as opinions on the content and the way I present it. Harsh opinions if need be, because I really, really want this one to be good and I will take any kinds of abusive reviews if it can help me get there.

It also needs a title. So if you want to read it just to help me put a title on it, then that would also be an option.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Crazy yelling Asian girls.

Mucking about on the computer on bed, with the window open so Loki can come and go as he wants. The way the window opens, you can't see my bed from outside, and I can't see out. So I hear the sound of Loki jumping into the windowsill, and the silhouette of his head looking inside. Odd, Loki usually jumps straight in.
"Oh hai," I say, sticking my head forward prepared to cuddle.
The cat turns and looks right at me, very calmly, and the light reflects in its eyes that way it does in cat eyes so they shine. And I realize, it's not Loki - in fact it's a cat identical to my grandmother's cat that died a few months back. With those demon eyes staring at me from about two decimeters away my brain goes "GHOST! INTRUDER! DANGER!", and I get a rush similar to if a stranger would stick their head into my room with a pocket knife.
"OUT!" I yell like a crazy woman at the poor cat, that looks at me with normal eyes now since it's turned away from the light. I fly out of bed, but neither the yelling nor the action fazes it. If it had eyebrows, one would slowly go up and the other down.
By now I've realized it's not a ghost, and it's not there to bite my face off because I took pictures of it a day before it died. Just a new cat I haven't seen around, that's oddly unafraid of crazy yelling Asian girls in nightgowns. So I stand in the middle of the room, and the cat sits on my windowsill, and we probably feel equally stupid.
It shouldn't sit there anyway, inside is Loki's territory that I should protect. So I shoo it a little. It looks gravely offended and turns around and leaves.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Watch it. Just shut up and do it.

King of Games

The movie list will be around soon. I just had to make a small observation of life with Loki:

Cat + strong mint-smelling cooling paste = D: -> XP -> T.T
I put some on my foot (since I kicked a table, how intelligent and graceful) and now he's walking in big circles around me.  Also all the rain makes him really cuddly. Surprisingly, he's not too keen on going outside in the wet, and seems to think that sleeping on top of me at all times increases the chances of the rain stopping.

I'm playing Yu-Gi-Oh again! One of the older NDS versions. I have a feeling I will play it in periods forever :P It's so much fun! Card games are logic and crazy all in one neat organized package of total control over the lack of control xD. Probabilities, you see. Those gnarly bastards. What I like about it, is that there's cards for virtually anything, even ridiculously stupid things, so that you can build giant complex insane strategies that have a probability of one in a million to actually ever come into play, but it doesn't matter because you had so much fun coming up with it! And also you can just throw together a deck based on some basic principle, like, healing yourself, or tossing out the cards in your opponent's hand, and it usually works if you just want to play right now. Pokemon is fun but too simple to do those crazy fun things, and Magic: The Gathering never really hit the spot. My spot, I mean. Tapping things is for tap dancers anyway. Posh and poncy people*.

*opinions expressed in this post is in no way representative of the real life opinions towards tap dancers, by anyone, and particularly not me.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Setting the Stage

I've been working on a top50 movies imo list. It's impossible. It's like some kind of quantum-time-space-mechanics behind liking things, because I look at movie A and movie B and rate movie A higher, then look at movie C and think it's better than A but worse than B.

To make it at all possible I decided that it's only a top50 in the sense that those on the list are better than those not on the list. I'm not saying these are the movies with the best story ever, or the best screenplay, or the best music score, but rather those that stuck with me, no matter if it was because it was thought-provoking or immensely entertaining, or whatever.

So in essence, one could say I'm making a list of the 50 movies I am most likely to recommend to any given person on any given day.

Now, feel free to make your own lists! Top 10 or top 100, or whatever. Like always I'm making this list because I'd really like to have your lists :D Setting the example and hoping for everyone to follow! :P I need a little while longer though, I have like 15 movies competing for the last 5 spots on my list, and it's bloody difficult! It should come around sometime next week.