Top ten movies

In the spirit of Rob (John Cusack) in High Fidelity, here are my top ten movies

1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
2. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
3. Lord of the Rings (all three)
4. Before Sunset
5. Unforgiven
6. The Treasure of Sierra Madre
7. Shawshank Redemption
8. White
9. On Golden Pond
10. Full Metal Jacket
11. Special mettion: Dogville

1. Wonderful lines for Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. They deliver the lines with all the vitriol and one can possibly summon. Keeps the drama at a high level of tension as they throw intelligent but vicious verbal darts at each other all through the movie.

2. Tennessee Williams' lesser known play again masterfully scripted and acted by Elizabeth Taylor portraying the ambitions, quarrelsome wife and Paul Newman and the drunk, depressed husband living with thoughts of his glory days.

3. For once a film takes a literary masterpiece and converts it into a cinematic masterpiece. The story is told in a manner such that the movie medium can be put to greatest effect. Amazing graphics and fabulous
acting from all the stars. All three parts of the movie were shot simultaneously giving them a sense of continuity that seems to be lacking in a lot of sequels.

4. Before Sunrise with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke was good. But nine years hence they have grown up, the script has grown up and therefore the effect of the movie is much more substantial. They talk about more mundane, but in a way deeper, things. Things that matter to us in our relationships on a daily basis.

5. This is an "unwestern". It is so good because it takes a western movie and turns all its key ingredients inside out. Clint Eastwood is off this peak as a bounty hunter. But the core dynamics of a small town and small groups is handled is an believable (thus accurate?) way unlike most westerns.

6. A young Humphrey Bogart is plays the role of a mirror that reflects all the misplaced self-confidence, then fear and finally, paranoia that comes with money. The transition from a penniless loafer to a paranoid gold digger is a journey that we might all undertake if we find ourselves in his position.

7. A feel good movie that has a certain neatness and surehanded way in which it deals with the dynamics of the relationship between men and the ability of the movie to encourage the view to make a logical leap of faith for the sake of the pleasure of watching the movie.

8. Another Julie Delpy starrer with the engmatic - Monalisa's smile like ending. The story based on a simple premise of a man getting back at his girlfriend is filmed with great precision and sensitivity. The director ties the loose ends in the final movie of the series - Red.

9. Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda make a fabulous pair as they walk down the path to old age and retired life is totally different ways - the woman can still find joy in a forest and the old man needs
a little boy to make him see and feel the joys of his own younger years and get back in touch with daughter played by Jane Fonda. Going by Jane Fonda's recent book, this never happened in real life.

10. Full Metal Jacket is a layered film and present the dilemma of the rational mind. The dilemma in this movie is the Vietnam war. Kubrik essentially highlights the ambivalence that so many of us have with all aspects of life. The absence of clear cut solutions and the shallowness of achievements. The last part of the movie when the protagonist "achieves" his dream is especially poignant.

11. This film is an artistic achievement where the film medium is more like a play or a book forcing the viewer to construct an imagined place and then fill it with the characters and their interactions. The story of human frailtly is superbly the told and terrifically acted by Nicole Kidman - the Katherine Hepburn of our generation.