FREE HOT SECTS — or — 10 movies i really like. Aug 17 '01 (Updated Aug 20 '01)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Movies 1776 From $8 Alias - The Complete Fifth Season From $20 The Bottom Line Sensational Invitations cheapen ones soul, but tend to bolster ones Epinions Account. It's utterly Shameless, and Unforgivable. These lists are so inane. Why do I write one of my own? Better question: Why do I always read them? I guess I’m always looking out for flicks that are good, because, so many are just so lame. Even really good movies will often suffer from a few plot/situational problems. But I’m no critic—I just know what I like. Hereto is a compilation of 10 of my favorite “watching” movies. 1.) Farewell, My Concubine, 1993. Dir: Chang Kaige. Starring Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, and Gong Li. This film depicts the lifelong friendship between two members of the Peking Opera. Epic in it’s scope, the movie opens as a mother slices the “extra finger” off a child in the hopes of getting him accepted into an opera training school. The young boy is taken in, and forced to deny his masculinity as he is prepared to specialize in female operatic roles ( ”…I am by nature a girl, not a boy…" ). “Prepared” has a real special meaning here in that many of his exercises are actually nasty little torture rituals (mind power, we’re guessing). We follow the young boy and his friend from their first meeting in the 1930s, through the insurgence of the Communist Party, and on to the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s. Farewell, My Concubine explores gender roles, artistry, and politics in a thoroughly engaging package. The cinematography is simply breathtaking and the storyline nothing less than captivating. An import from Hong Kong, the subtitled version is preferred so that one does not lose the subtlety, emotion, and therefore, impact, of each character. 2.) Antonia’s Line, 1995. Dir: Marleen Gorris. Starring Willeke van Ammelrooy. The film opens with the waking of an elderly woman who realizes that this will be the last day of her life. The subsequent flashback sequences tell us the history of her womanhood, which is nearly void of any male influence. van Ammelrooy depicts Antonia throughout her next 50 years as she seeks to establish the ultimate emancipation from a male driven society. Occasionally labeled as a one-sided feminist male-bashing rant, I find it quite refreshing to see the story of Antonia’s lineage and the influence of her path. Taking the 1996 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this offering from Belgium (Dutch language), once again, is best experienced when dialogue is heard in its native tongue. 3.) The Ten Commandments, 1956. Dir: Cecil B. DeMille. Stars Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, and Anne Baxter. What can be said for the biblical epic? Moses, our hero, leads his people from the bondage beseeched on them by the tyrannically evil, obelisk building Ramses (who is also, gasp, Moses’ half bother). As the story goes, we follow Moses from his birth, to the edge of the throne, to the desert, to the harem, to the mountain, back to pharaoh, back to his people, into the lamb blood soaked safehouse, out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and back into desert for 40 years of wandering; ah yes, Moses and his groovy adventures. Eschewing any premise of acting skill, it’s 3 ½ hours nary rest a moment as we’re propelled through annuls of Moses (careful there). Eminently quotable, and of redeeming quality, this film depicts bible history with all the flash and zeal Hollywood could muster. A long time Easter Special on the ABC Television Network, I can’t even remember how many times I’ve seen this movie—always, mind you, always, all the way through. 4.) Schindler’s List, 1993. Dir: Steven Spielberg. Stars Liam Neeson , Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes. A vignette of the Hitler-induced Holocaust and one man’s effort at humanity. Based primarily on fact, we bear witness to the genocidal persecution of Jews during World War II. Little else need be said. Masterfully scoped and exquisitely rendered in black & white, Schindler’s List is worth every one of it’s seven Academy Awards. Admittedly, this is the one of the only films that makes me cry—not during the movie so much as at the end, when all the “current” Schindler Jews are walking past (his) headstone. 5.) Little Big Man, 1970. Dir: Arthur Penn. Stars Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, and Chief Dan George. Yet another epic expressed through flashback, this one follows the exploits of one Jack Crabb over the better part of his 121 years. From his adoption by the Cheyenne, to would-be gunfighter, to snake oil salesman, the western expansion serves as a palate for his constant reinvention. Hoffman’s always handled innocence well (save his Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo role in Midnight Cowboy), and this traipse through the wild frontier provides ample opportunity for experimentation. This had to be one of the earliest films to portray Indians as “human beings”, and the white men as the truer savage. The characters are all full of life, and if they all don’t strike you as completely believable, you’ll at least imagine that it would be great if you could. Case in point: Old Lodge Skins: Don't worry my son, you will be back with us, I dreamed it last night. I saw you with your wives. Little Big Man: Wives, Grandfather? Old Lodge Skins: Yes, there were three... or four, it was hard to tell. It was very dark in your teepee and they were under buffalo rugs as you crawled among them. Anyway, it was a great copulation. 6.) The Sting, 1973. Dir: George Roy Hill. Stars Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw and Eileen Brennan. Depression-era shyster’s team-up with major con men to insight “the big score”. Excellent casting, a riveting story, and meticulously staged scenes are packaged around silent movie “screen boards” and ragtime piano—a very solid package. Why this one rarely gets mentioned, I’ll never know. 7.) Alice’s Restaurant, 1969. Dir: Arthur Penn. Stars Arlo Guthrie, Pat Quinn, Slim Pickens and James Broderick. This movie depicts the tribulations of a group of 60’s era flower children and their run-ins with the Establishment. Exhumed from the Guthrie song of the same name, the film reaches out to not only to the loose lifestyle, but also towards some of its potential ramifications. I used to listen to that song all the time when I was a kid and it was probably a full 10 years before I saw the actual movie. The stories surrounding their groovy Thanksgiving Dinner really contains much of the essence of the subject holiday—so much so, that I hereby propose that Alice’s Restaurant be deemed for standard rotation viewing for this next cornucopian holiday, and every Thanksgiving thereafter, or, until deemed fit by Officer Obie. Who wouldn’t be interested in giving up their football so they can witness the nature of free love, hippie-ism, the generation gap, how morality can keep you out of the army (father raper), and even just to see the onscreen appearances of Pete Seegar and Lee Hays. 8.) Evil Dead II, Dead by Dawn, 1987. Dir: Sam Raimi . Stars Bruce Campbell, and Sarah Berry. The retelling of the original Evil Dead, this time under the guise of near self-parody, we follow our hero, Ash, as he battles wits with demonic corpses and animated amputated limbs alike, in a quest to “close the rift” that accidentally opened between his and the Nether(‘s)world. Disturbingly funny at times, this psychologically twisted gore flick begs for the addition of truck-loads of cornmeal to help sop-up the bayous of blood which incessantly seep and splatter the confines of this back-woods cabin death scene. Like a mash of cheese, beans and garlic, this movie tends to “stick with you” well after the inaugural carambole. That is, of course, if your left with any ribs on which it can congeal. 9.) Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, 1982. Dir: Carl Reiner. Stars Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, as well as Humphrey Bogart, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Edward Arnold, Barbara Stanwyck, Ingrid Bergman, Veronica Lake, Bette Davis, Lana Turner and Joan Crawford . A spoof of 1940’s film noir, replete with an ace detective, a voluptuous client, a ransom note, and a series of clues that even King Tut would find cryptic. The gag transmigrates through the use of vintage film clips that are spliced and edited to such a fashion, that when intertwined with the fresh footage, becomes a rather kinematical, if not ramshackle, storytelling modus. I’m getting tired, let’s move on. 10.) Blazing Saddles, 1974. Dir: Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, and others. This coup de gras of cinematic spoofery, tells the tale of a black lawman who’s been freshly appointed to police an ambiguous western outpost turned outlaw haven. With his ex-sharp shooter, neo-alcoholic/deputy in tow, Sheriff Bart sets out to dethrone the villainous and pillaging Heady Lamar (that’s Hedley) from his debaucherous tirade over the inept populace of Rock Ridge. Ultimately tasteless, this Mel Brooks classic parades a wealth of bigotry that has room for everyone (except the Irish) to get their opportunity for lambaste. Gag-o-rama. Also appearing: Amadeus (1984) American Graffiti (1973) Brazil (1985) Doctor Zhivago (1965) Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000) To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) Thank you for the opportunity to place this within the Lexicon Epindiom, and I’ll graciously welcome any and all commentary, additions, deletions, corrections, re-jections, se-lections, and/or de-tections.

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