Day 21: Your favorite action movie.
My Choice: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
This one was fairly easy. Terminator 2 is one of those perfect movies. Not really, but it's about as close as you can get in something written by James Cameron. The characters (especially that kid) say some really cheesy things, but it doesn't matter. Let's count the reasons why. You've got Arnold running walking around, breaking hands, wearing sunglasses, and just being an all around hardass. You've got one of the saddest endings in an action movie. You've got the atomic bomb scene, pictured above. And you've got the T-1000, one of the coolest characters in film history. That CGI still looks great, 20 years later. If you don't like Terminator 2, you need to get your pulse checked.
Day 22: Your favorite documentary.
My Choice: Grizzly Man (2005)
This one was a bit closer (Dear Zachary is another beautiful documentary), but Grizzly Man wins out simply for being the only documentary that I've gone out of my way to watch more than once. Grizzly is not only informative and interesting, but it's also entertaining, a very hard combination to do right in documentaries. I felt sympathy for Treadwell's plight as well as his mission, and at the same time I questioned the decisions he made. It's a touching story with some great video from his actual treks in Alaska, and it's well worth a watch, even for people who hate documentaries.
Day 23: Your favorite animated movie.
My Choice: Bambi (1942)
Bambi always has been and always will be my favorite animated movie. We owned it when I was a child and I watched it countless times. It never lost its emotional impact, even as an adult. In fact, as an adult I can appreciate it even more because of its technical feats. For example, the Disney guys created this sense of depth by using three different color plates placed at different distances from the camera. Even without the technical side of the film, though, it's one of the greatest films of all time. Lots of people have made fun of me over the years for how much I love Bambi, but for my money, it doesn't get any better than this.
Day 24: A movie you wish you could live in.
My Choice: Jurassic Park (1993)
As a child I was obsessed with two movies. The first of these was Jurassic Park. After I saw it, I became completely obsessed with dinosaurs for a year or two. My bedsheets were dinosaurs, my toys were dinosaurs, my coloring books were dinosaurs. Hell, back then I probably could've told you the Latin names of a lot of the dinosaurs. That's the main reason I'd want to live in Jurassic Park: because, more than any other movie, it defined my childhood. Also, dinosaurs are badass.
Day 25: The funniest movie you've ever seen.
My Choice: Anchorman (2004)
Again, it comes down to replay value. I lost track of how many times I've seen Anchorman about 4 years back, and the reason it's the funniest movie I've ever seen is because, even after all of those watches, it's still funny. Almost every joke in the movie works, from the gang trying to woo Veronica to the Funky Town animation to the News Crew gangfight. The greatest part of Anchorman, though, has to be Brick. He steals every scene he's in with his oblivious attitude. It may not be my favorite comedy of all time, but it's definitely the funniest.
Day 26: A movie that you love but everyone else hates.
My Choice: Cloverfield (2008)
I copped out a bit with this choice. I don't actually love Cloverfield. It's a good, original movie with some great sequences, but it's definitely a flawed movie. And I also don't really know anybody who actively hates it. I just honestly couldn't think of a movie I truly love that people hate, and I remember when Cloverfield first came out, there was a fairly strong backlash against it because of its handheld style and handling of the alien. I never understood the negative reviews then, and I don't now. It's a very good monster flick.
Day 27: A movie you wish you had seen in theaters.
My Choice: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
To be honest, I'd never even heard of the books before the first movie came out. Give me a break, I was 14. And when I saw the trailers, it reminded me a lot of what my brother had been telling me about his Harry Potter books, and since he liked Potter I had to hate it. Therefore, I wrote off Fellowship until it came out on video. Of course, I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and subsequently saw the other two in theaters. Because of this, I feel like I missed a crucial experience by not seeing Fellowship in theaters. There's just something about seeing your favorite movies on the big screen that amplifies the awesomeness to a grand scale.
Day 28: Your favorite movie from your favorite director.
My Choice: Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957)
Actually, 2001: A Space Odyssey is my favorite movie from Mr. Kubrick. However, I've already used 2001 for a different entry, so I went with another of my favorites from him. Paths of Glory is one of his lesser-known films, which is a shame, because it's also one of his greatest. An anti-war film before the genre existed, Paths was actually banned for a while in France because of its negative depiction of French soldiers. It may be a bit dated in its presentation, but it is still one of my favorite movies of all time. Then again, I could say that about a lot of Kubrick's filmography (Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, and A Clockwork Orange, for instance).
Day 29: A movie from your childhood.
My Choice: Puppet Master (1989)
Puppet Master is not a great movie by any definition. The bad guys are stupid, the good guys are killer puppets, and the movie is filled to the brim with cheesy 80's dialogue and hairstyles. The only reason I love this movie is because it was that one movie from my childhood that none of my friends had ever even heard of, let alone seen. I shared it with no one but my brother, although I've told a few people about it more recently. Even rewatching it as an adult, I was entertained simply by the memories it brought back. I really can't seriously recommend this movie to anyone who didn't see it as a kid, but then again, that's the point of this entry.
Day 30: Your favorite movie of all time.
My Choice: There Will Be Blood (2007)
I'm gonna cheat here a little bit. Anybody reading this will already know my feelings on There Will Be Blood, and to be fair, it's not really my favorite movie. It's one of ten or fifteen (we'll see how many I come up with) that make up my favorite movies of all time. Therefore, I'm gonna end this blog with a list of those other favorites of mine, for anyone interested. I'll keep it to one movie per director, too. In alphabetical order.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Bambi (1942)
Goodfellas (1990)
Grizzly Man (2005)
Life is Beautiful (1998)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Unforgiven (1992)
WALL-E (2008)
The Wrestler (2008)
Hope you enjoyed it!
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