Monday, October 13, 2008

Tony's List For Mom

Emailed to Mom on Tuesday, October 7 2008

So! Obviously I've been sitting on this idea for a while now. Here are the ten movies I've selected for you. There's lots of swearing, gory stuff and other weird stuff spread out quite nicely throughout the ten of them. Some of these I feel like you are going to see on the list and immediately say how much you hate. Be fair. No backing down. Despite what is on the surface (one in particular I know you're not going to look forward to) they are all here for a reason, whether that reason be artistic merit or for you to have some insight into a younger generation's need to hide a message under a lot of dick jokes. So, here is your assignment with a little introduction for each. Watch them in no particular order.

-Akira: This was the first Japanese cartoon animated under the traditional American method. That is, all the dialogue and sounds were recorded first and then the animation was done to match. No Spritles or Chim Chims here. The plot's a little weird and it won't make sense 100% after one watching, but the animation is beautiful. This, along with stuff like The Matrix, is an example of a sci-fi sub-genre called Cyber Punk.
-This is Spinal Tap: This is THE mockumentary. Unlike more recent stuff (Best in Show, Mighty Wind) you never EVER see the actors. They become this absurd band and the music is so good that people thought that this was all a serious movie.
-Jackie Brown: This is the only adult movie Quentin Tarantino ever made. It has all his staples--violence, 60s/70s heavy soundtrack and it all drips with cool--but it's not as comic booky as Pulp Fiction.
-The Thing: Directed by the guy who did Halloween, this is one of my favorite horror films. The effects are disgustingly beautiful and after a dozen or more viewings I still can't remember whose a good guy and whose a bad guy.
-South Park: This is the one I think you'll dread the most but trust me. behind all the gross jokes and vile humor is one of the best musical films of the last twenty years. It also marked the moment that South Park stopped being gross for gross' sake and became gross as a means of social commentary.
-Fight Club: This is very much a generational thing. Tanked at the box office, made shitloads on video and every 16 year old boy (including yours) loved it. A bit of a stretch, but still much more to it than guys beating the shit out of each other for the hell of it.
-Election: Reese Witherspoon before she was Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick as the kind of teacher Ferris Bueller would have walked all over. Extremely quirky.
-A Very Long Engagement: A French romantic film set during WWI. It plays like a book reads.
-King of Kong: A documentary about a middle-aged failure trying to finally show that he's the best at something in life--Donkey Kong.
-Chasing Amy: Kevin Smith hit his peak around the same time Tarantino did. Both were very in your face voices, though Smith is much more blunt about it. He was a sort of poster boy for Generation X--a slacker/nerd who did good by writing the way he talked and bout what he knew. I picked this one because unlike Clerks (his first movie) this one had real actors and is much easier to sit through as a result.
-American Splendor: This is the biopic/adaptation of a book by the same name about an independent comicbook writer who wrote about the things that drove him nuts about everyday life. This is the antithesis of every other comic book movie ever made.

So there you have it. Let me know if, under some weird circumstance, you have seen any of these. Enjoy! Remember: NO BACKING OUT!

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