The 30 Day Movie Challenge is a picture-based project, so all of these will be accompanied by the same pictures I've posted on Facebook. And... here we go.
Day 1: The best movie you saw in the last year.
My Choice: Adaptation (2002)
I was surprised by how few options I had to choose from for day 1. To find my favorite, I went to Rotten Tomatoes and sifted through all of my 10/10 ratings, looking for any I'd rated within the past 365 days. I only found five or six, including United 93, Black Swan, and Children of Men. In the end, I went with Adaptation because of how wonderfully original it was. It's a story based on writer Charlie Kaufman's attempt to adapt a novel written about flowers of all things into a film. The meta-film elements are mindblowing and Nic Cage's performance as a pair of twins is amazing. And don't forget that great "how did I get here" scene. It's just an objectively amazing film.
Day 2: Your favorite foreign film.
My Choice: Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
This was the easiest of my choices so far. Pan's Labyrinth is one of my favorite films of all time. I love the story, about a girl who creates a fantastical escape from her life during the Spanish Civil War. I love the effects, from the faun to the fairies to the Pale Man. I even love that it is in Spanish, because I think it is one of the most beautiful languages. It is, in short, a flawless movie, and one that I'll never tire of rewatching.
Day 3: Your favorite horror movie.
My Choice: The Thing (1982)
I'm not big on horror films in general, and I'm definitely not big on 1980s cinema, but I absolutely love The Thing. It evokes feelings of isolation and claustrophobia that has been imitated by many horror films that followed it. Kurt Russell plays himself like he always did, but this is one of those times that it worked. And don't even get me started on the effects. Sure, they're dated if you try to scale them based on our 2011 CGI-based standards, but even if you think they are dated, they are still very creepy. Just watching that dog's face peel back like a banana is almost enough for me to have put The Thing here.
Day 4: A movie that makes you sad.
My Choice: Toy Story 3 (2010)
I'm not sure if any movie has ever made me more sad than those two heartbreaking scenes at the end of Toy Story 3. You know the ones I mean: the one from my screenshot and the final scene. I got teary-eyed multiple times during both of these scenes and anyone who didn't is a robot. It wasn't just the halfhearted feeling that the toys might not get out alive for once, either. Toy Story 3 captured the essence of people like me who grew up with Woody and Buzz and are now at that age where toys aren't for us anymore. It's hard to capture that feeling of reminiscence, especially in a cartoon about toys, but Toy Story 3 did it.
Day 5: Your favorite love story in a movie.
My Choice: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Eternal Sunshine plays to us romantics who want to believe that true love is this deep psychological bond between two people that you can't deny just because you had a bad day. After the couple in Sunshine erase their memories, they end up falling back in love again. It's very sweet to me. This isn't even mentioning the fun ride through Barish's memories, from childhood to when he first meets Clementine. This is another of my favorite films of all time, and no matter how many times I see it, I always get emotional during that final memory they share.
Day 6: Your favorite made-for-TV movie.
My Choice: The Langoliers (1995)
I can't say that I'm well-versed in made-for-TV movies, but I'd say that 90% of those I've seen were Stephen King adaptations. There's It, Rose Red, and of course The Stand, but for my money I'll always prefer The Langoliers. It's not a better film than the others I've mentioned; if anything, it's the worst of the four. It just reminds me of my childhood, because me and my brother would watch this movie every time it came on TV. The actual langoliers themselves were pretty scary to me as a child, even though they look very silly in retrospect. Honestly, I wouldn't even really recommend this movie to anybody (it's 3 hours long, for one thing), but I'll always love it for my own reasons.
Day 7: Your favorite plot twist or ending in a movie.
My Choice: Mulholland Drive (2001)
Yeah, I kind of cheated on this one. Technically, the ending of Mulholland Drive is a twist, but then again, the entire movie is a twist. It's one of the weirdest, most disjointed films I've ever seen, and trying to put everything together in your mind is half of the entertainment of the film. What makes this ending so great to me is that right before it happened, I thought I had finally figured out the story and was getting comfortable just watching it unfold. But then the twist happened, and everything I thought I had figured out suddenly made no sense again. It sounds a bit frustrating, but I loved it.
Day 8: A movie that you've seen countless times.
My Choice: A Christmas Story (1983)
Anyone my age who grew up in the United States has probably seen A Christmas Story at least once. Most people, including me, see it multiple times every year on Christmas. The TV channel TBS is to blame for this, as they host a 24 hour marathon of the movie. My family is also to blame, because they think since it is a Christmas movie, we need to watch it every Christmas. Don't get me wrong: I do enjoy A Christmas Story and watching it every once in a while would be fine, but seeing it everywhere I go during Christmas is a little draining.
Day 9: A movie that reminds you of someone.
My Choice: 500 Days of Summer (2009)
I originally saw 500 Days of Summer during a tough stretch of my life, and I felt an immediately strong connection to the story. It seemed to be a mirror image of my entire relationship with my only long-term girlfriend, from the great beginnings to the retrospectively bad endings. Every time I watch this movie, I am reminded of that ex-girlfriend, which makes it a little hard to watch. 500 Days of Summer is a great movie regardless of my emotional connection to it, though, which is why it's my favorite movie of the entire year of 2009.
Day 10: A movie that makes you happy.
My Choice: Elf (2003)
The only reason I've ever even seen Elf is because I was on a date with this girl and she really wanted to see it. To me it looked pretty childish; I was also in that teen angst stage of life where anything cute (like Christmas) was lame. Whatever the excuse was, I should get in touch with that girl and thank her for dragging me to such an amazing and hilarious movie. Elf works not only as a Christmas movie, but as a comedy in general. During that tough phase of my life I talked about earlier, I would watch this movie daily to cheer myself up, and it usually worked. Few movies can make me smile like Elf can.
Parts II and III coming soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment