Apocalypse Now Redux

It’s extremely long. There’re bits that don’t make sense. Marlon Brando is fat. Laurence Fishburne is very young. Martin Sheen was drunk. Dennis Hopper was awesome. Robert Duval says one of the most famous lines in cinema history. Harrison Ford plays a bit part. It was all made with no help with CGI. The helicopters were on loan and occasionally had to go back to a war. The music is amazing. They do nothing most of the film but cruise up a river. It almost didn’t get made. It’s based on a Joseph Conrad short story. And somehow: it is not only the greatest war movie ever made, I would nominate it as the greatest movie ever made.

Into the Wild

I watched this film for the first time with my mother. We were both amazingly engrossed in every second. The cinematography is stunning, the music is stunning, I feel in love with the 10 minutes Kirsten Stewart was on screen (then out of love thanks to every other film she’s done) and the ending is incredible. I loved everything about this film. It finished and I turned to mum, and she said “I can’t understand why anyone would do something like that”. I said “I can completely understand doing something like that”. Yet we both loved the film. It shows how people take their own experiences and relate themselves into movies. Her, as a mother, was watching the story of how a young person decides to completely uproot themselves, and disappear. She was imagining how she would feel as a mother if her son did that. I, being 20 at the time, could completely understand the appeal of disappearing. I can watch Into the WIld over and over again, and had a completely different experience with it (but that’s another story) some years later. Either way, it is stunning.

Clerks

I agonised over this film. I ALMOST included Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels instead. But the films of Kevin Smith defined a large part of my life. Are any of them brilliant? No. They are all flawed. Clerks is not perfect. But I wouldn’t change a single frame. The first time I watched it, I wasn’t 100% on it. I didn’t understand the words that were intercut throughout it. But this is one of the formative films for me that gave me a huge interest in the more experimental, low-budget, indie cinema that I can’t get enough of. After the events of this no-budget little film, the characters of the Quick Stop fracture into the strange Smith-ian world, with only Jay and Silent Bob keeping it together. But then it all comes gloriously back to Clerks 2. It’s very flawed. It has bad moments. But it’s worth it for the ending. I grew up with these characters, and I was very sad to see them go.

Fight Club

Someone once said to me Fight Club is like a bad haircut. Awesome at the time, but when you look back on it, you cringe. I disagree. For reasons similar, I didn’t put Donnie Darko and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on my list, despite many expecting me to. But watch Fight Club again, and it remains as one of the best (if not THE best) film of the 1990s). Norton (one of the best actors of his generation) is brilliant, Pitt is brilliant (and inspiring while at the gym…), but the film goes to Fincher. Everything he touched since Se7en has been stunning. And this is his high watermark.

Taxi Driver

This is one of those films that I can’t say exactly why I like it so much. It’s slow, not much happens until the end. But it is the high-water mark of the Robert De Niro/ Martin Scorsese collaborations. De Niro puts in the (arguably) performance of his career, and a 12 year old Jodie Foster almost matches him. The tension in this film is amazing, you can just sense how crazy he is slowly becoming. I love it, and I think everyone else who has seen it loves it as well. Haven’t watched it? Do yourself a favour.

Almost Famous

Yes, I know I’m not the first to put it on my list. I fell in love with Kate Hudson completely. I’m not sure, but I’d like to think my deep love for this film rubbed off on to Dave and Sarah.

Across the Universe

Again, a repeat. Hey, we’re all friends, right? Surely that means we have things in common. This was very much a “had-to-have-been-there” experience. I had always known the Beatles, wasn’t a huge fan. This film changed me.

Requiem for a Dream

More-so than almost anything about my friendship with my compatriot Drew, strangely, our love for Darren Aronofsky is the thing we have in common. No arguments, we both absolutely 100% love his films. Drew picked The Fountain, and I think we are perhaps two of the only people that are mesmorised by it. But it’s not my favorite. I could easily have put The Wrestler or Black Swan on here. I adore Pi as well, but anyone who has seen it…would never put it in a Top 10. Requiem for a Dream was chosen by me because it truly devastates me. Ever time. I know what happens, but I can’t look away. Jarred Leto and Jennifer Connolly are truly brilliant. If the was just their story, it would be stunning. But throw in the mother (the brilliant Ellen Burstyn, deserving of her Oscar nomination), and the movie goes to another level. Simple as that.

Singin’ in the Rain

This is a curve ball that I don’t think anyone was expecting. But those that know me know that I have a love above film, and that’s music. And not only is this the first musical I remember, it’s the first film, period. We had an old VHS recording that my mother loved to put on all the time. I remember all the songs and half the lines off the top of my head. I still have a soft spot for musicals (the second one I remember is the Sound of Music). I even saw the live production of Singin’ in the Rain when it was at the Adelaide Festival Centre when I was about 12. It was brilliant, as is the movie. The song Make ‘Em Laugh is still one of my favourite scenes ever.

Lost in Translation

I hired Lost in Translation expecting a Bill Murray comedy. It has Bill Murray in it, and it’s funny in parts, but it’s not a normal film, not by a long shot. This is the one film I could put on, no matter how I was feeling, and it would take me to another place. I don’t know why. It’s fitting that I began and ended with a Coppola film (Francis Ford and his daughter Sofia for those playing at home). I think I would always argue Apocalypse Now is the greatest film ever made. This is my favourite.

I hate it when we do this. In all fairness, however, it must be done. I am on the verge of punching somebody in the face next time I hear the  phrase “my favourite film of all time’.

I planned to scrutnise every film I love to the point where each had its own list of pros and cons, and use this information to chronicle my ten favourite films. But for obvious reasons, this snowballed and I developed a headache trying to remember, arrange and perfect a microscopic portion of a virtually endless catalogue. Eventually, I figured that the movies that come straight to mind when I ponder this question are going to rate very highly regardless.

I apologise for not discussing why some of these films make me feel the way they do – they just do. It all got too difficult for me. They affect me in ways that no other films do, and merely being a part of this list is enough explanation as to why I love them. So here it is, after minimal amounts of headbanging and more “oh! but…’ moments that I care to admit: Ten Films Sarah Loves (and will still love for always).

1. Almost Famous

A loose representation of Cameron Crowe’s life – an autobiographical piece, if you will. William finds himself touring with band Stillwater, living their life complete with Band Aids, promiscuous benders and his old-fashioned, overprotective mother begging him to come home. Eh; I could give you a full synopsis of the plot of this incredible piece of amazing film history, or if you haven’t yet seen it, you should STOP READING THIS IMMEDIATELY AND GO AND WATCH IT. GO!!!

2. Moon

How do you think you would cope, with only your own company for three years? With nowhere to go, nothing to do that is not your job? Would you go insane when you meet yourself? Could you handle learning that you are merely a clone? Moon is simply stunning, it floors me. And this has nothing to do with the fact that it was the first film I watched in 1080P.

3. Fight Club

I am my own sheer awe at the brilliance of this film.

4. Garden State

Zach Braff: well, I don’t particularly like him. I love his work, though – I just don’t think I could be bothered befriending him if I ran into him at a bar. Like Scrubs, Garden State is so beautifully executed, it has the optimal amount of emotional drive and uniqueness that makes something able to be noticed. I love the sombre mood this movie delivers, I love Natalie Portman and her giant dog, I really do like the print the bathroom and shirt were made in, and I am fucking amazed by the music! Zach Braff: you are a very talented individual, and thank you for introducing me to The Shins.

5. My Girl

My “My Girl” VHS was taped from TV. The first ten minutes of the video was of footage of a Romanian gymnast that dad couldn’t bear to part with. I watched the film so much that not only did I destroy the cassette, I can vividly remember Nadia Comanecis perfect ten routine when I close my eyes. I could also confidently tell you all about the ads that channel 7 were broadcasting at the time, and that according to those ads, License To Kill was on the following Tuesday evening at 730pm.

6. Lion King

“Everything the light touches, is our kingdom”
Whilst visiting from far north Queensland, my brother Daniel took me to the cinema to watch this, and I am pretty sure that an old family friend bought me the video the following Christmas. That being said, I should mention that this was the other VHS cassette I wore out completely…

7. Candy

If you want to reduce me to tears, sit me in front of Candy. Well executed love stories send me a bit crazy, probably because of a combination of me being a lady and being in a very happy, loving relationship – This film utterly destroys me.

8. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

“Sand is overrated. It’s just lots of little rocks.”

9. Across The Universe

I grew up loving the Beatles, and can say with complete confidence that they are my favourite band of all time. Combine this with a musical love story set in what my mum blissfully reflects on as ‘the best time of her life’ and the astonishing talent of Jim and beauty of Evan, and you have yourself Across the Universe – a utopia in my mind. This may or may not have anything to do with the circumstances surrounding the discovery of this film, but I will happily admit to watching it several times since and thoroughly loving it. The only negative thing I can report is that it turned “Strawberry Fields Forever” into a sad song for me.

10. Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain

I wish that my persona were so enriching that I felt the need change the world for the better, one small step at a  time. Also, Audrey Tautou is gorgeous.

Special mentions to Grease, Vanilla Sky and Eurotrip, three films that were removed at the very end…

There are some drunken ideas that rightfully never come to fruition, like trying to convince Softy that I could jump from my balcony to the neighbours roof  (if I’d tried i’d be dead or at least maimed now) or deciding with your wife that you would start a YouTube channel where she sings popular songs in Golum’s voice (you’d swear it was Serkis when she does, it’s a beautiful thing). This isn’t one of those ideas, this is brilliant. Tom and I were drunk. Proper drunk. We were flicking through my film library looking for something to put on, but the flicking turned to talking and debating the merits of particular films and that, dear readers, evolved into this.

We may possibly be the first people on the internet EVER to comprise top ten lists of films. Brace yourself, this is history in the making.

Also capitalization is Wikipedia’s, not mine, I didn’t include any films I’ve seen only once (despite loving Synecdoche, Total Recall and Bladerunner) or adaptions (Watchmen) because I felt like it wouldn’t be an honest representation (despite Drew cheating… twice), also it helped me minimize my shortlist. Despite my favourite film being #1 there is actually no order to these movies, the order is arbitrary.

1. Life as a House

So many of you think of Hayden Christensen as the whiny bitch that played the third cinematic incarnation of Anakin Skywalker, but before he was thrust into the world of Star Wars, I knew him as the whiny bitch that played George’s son Sam in Life as a House. Life as a House has spent the last 10 years gathering dust, being an unprofitable  film that barely even registers in a torrent search. However you can ask anyone I know and they’ll tell you that Life as a House is my favourite film of all time, it was the discussion of this film that spawned the list making we’re currently undertaking. I could go on about Kevin’s absolutely wonderful portrayal of a man remiss about his life and resigned to death, or about the classic tale of redemption that Sam undertakes but if you haven’t seen it I shan’t bother you with the details. In the film George figuratively tears his father down and freely admits it, it gives me hope about facing my own problems before they conquer my life the way they did his. Maybe it was my father leaving when I was only young, maybe it was wanting a nude Jena Malone in my shower (or Mary Steenburgen  in lingerie for that matter) or maybe it was just that essence of family captured, but I really relate to this film.

2. Almost Famous

Ok, this is embarrassing. I completed my list, got all my photos uploaded, and was ready to post it when I realised that Almost Freaking Famous wasn’t on my GOD DAMN LIST. It is an enormous omission that I tried to explain away in the footnote and couldn’t. The Majestic used to occupy this particular section of this post. I love The Majestic, it is the film that showed me that Jim Carrey could actually act, but Almost Famous is a triumph of feel-good cinema, Kate Hudson’s only notable accomplishment in her career, and quite frankly I couldn’t live with myself it Phillip Seymour Hoffman didn’t have a place in my top ten. From the deflowering of kids to the golden god on LSD Almost Famous never stops rewarding the viewer, Zooey Deschanel is the sister we can all relate to, Fairuza Balk and Anna Paquin are the groupies we wish we had, and despite Jason Lee phoning in another film where he doesn’t even try to act, Frances McDormand takes her relatively small amount of screen real estate and makes herself one of the most memorable characters.

You said we were going to go to Morocco. There is no Morocco. There’s never been a Morocco. There’s not even a Penny Lane.

3. Cube

When I first watched this cult sensation I remember falling in love with the look and feel that, alongside Vinenzo Natali’s amazing film making, was able to make you feel like you were right there in the cube with the other victims. Nicole DeBoer and David Hewlett went on to make careers in my favourite incarnations of the most epic science fiction television franchises, and revisiting Cube now pairs my absolute adoration for the film itself with my love for two Canadian actors who I consider breakout stars of their genre.

4. Wrath of Khan

Those who know me will show no surprise at this amazing movie being on my list, but its inclusion was more torturous than you may think. Even though I will always list this film second any time I am asked about my favourite movies I struggled with it taking up space on the page of my notebook dedicated to this challenge. Perhaps it has been a part of my life so long that it almost feels vestigial, I know I love it, everyone I know knows I love it, it’s almost wasted space on the page, a slot in the list that could have been otherwise filled. However! Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Mother Fucking Montalbán y Merino. Chest bared, Moby Dick allusions abounding, and absolute on screen presence. Just as Silence Of The Lambs was made by a villain who was only on screen for 16 minutes, Wrath of Khan is exactly as the title states, and executed exquisitely.

5. Still Crazy

This is the closest I have gotten to a ‘musical’ in this here list, it has a good half dozen well written and performed rock songs in it but it’s not about that, it’s a commentary on the rock star lifestyle but done with a fantastic British sense of humour. Where Bill Nighy isn’t even the main character of the film, as the bands front man he manages to make it all about him anyway. There is some soul searching, and some sinning, but there is never any redemption mostly just acceptance. I can’t overlook this film because I still remember the timestamp on my VCR display that I had to fast forward (or rewind ) to in order to watch Strange Fruit perform All Over The World.

6. Across the Universe

HA! I forgot about this musical, but it feels wrong to go back and change my Still Crazy rant based on that… Ok! So, what they say about first impressions? They’re dead right. Listen to A Mountain Of One’s collected works or watch Across the Universe and try to compare your opinion with mine, when I first experienced these things (on separate occasions mind you) they were at the time the greatest thing that ever happened in not only my life, but the existence of the universe itself.  The Beatle’s amazing songs couple with Evan’s beauty, Jim’s voice and a range of cameos that make even Bono lovable. Without listing in detail all the songs that I love in this film I will just say; greatest trash can solo. Ever.

7. Gattaca

Of all of these movies Gattaca is one of those films that I am relentlessly telling people that they need to see, science fiction fans or not. Gattaca presents to us such a believable near-future that in the 14 years since its release we are moving closer and closer to it as a reality. There is nothing so far-fetched in Gattaca that I couldn’t imagine my own children growing up in the world presented within. Points are lost for acting, especially Ethan Hawke having the emotional range of a particularly stoic brick, but Jude Law makes me smile in every scene he’s in. I know I’ve told you all plenty of times  ”I love this-or-that-film and you have to see it” but of all of the films on this list, seriously, right this second make a plan to watch Gattaca, rent the VHS from Jon San Video that I thrashed to death or download it off the internet (I think they stop tallying gross profit from films after 14 years) or comment below and I will send you my god damn copy, but do it. DO IT.

8. Moon

Moon. As deceptively simple a film as its own title Moon is fantastically executed. It sacrifices the “big reveal” in favour of explaining the plot directly and eloquently. While films like Inception and The Matrix take a fairly straightforward premise and try to bury it under layer upon layer of exposition to try and make the film makers seem clever, Moon presents a great story that has infinite layers of a rich potential universe waiting right beneath the surface. The director (David Bowie’s spawn no less) has promised to explore this universe in further films but Moon stands on its own, brilliant acting on behalf of Sam Rockwell with an excellent assist by Spacey. I have a feeling this movie will show up in many more of the lists here on Ok, to being with, but I couldn’t omit it from mine.

9. Orange County

When I first saw the posters at my local video store I was expecting a typical stoner-flick, devoid of heart and soul like they all were, but (spoiler alert) I loved it… Every last part of Orange County gives me a happy. The cast is a veritable who’s who list of actors you recognize from somewhere or other, and they all contribute in the best ways possible. Catherine O’Hara absolutely shines as Shaun’s mother Cindy, she is raw and intense, a caricature so well done that it becomes a portrait. John Lithgow and Harold Ramis may only have small parts they make up for it with absolute scale of performance. I wanted to end this entry with a quote from the movie and I got stuck at deciding which one to include, so despite my love for Bronc0′s, and Shaun’s getting of them, I’ll have to close with: “Three people! In the history of literature!”

10. Star Wars

I like telling the story of my love affair with Star Wars, I think it’s a prerequisite for my friends now and even if you read this post I have no doubt that while drunk in the future I will tell you this again. I happened across the Star Wars VHS cassettes for rent at the Bondi Blockbuster, nobody had ever told me about Star Wars before, I had no pre existing positive bias, I didn’t know it was a ‘thing’.  I liked the cover and I rented it, I rented it over, and over, and over again. I decimated those cassettes, the 4:3 and the 16:9 versions both. A New Hope, as it was retroactively titled, is in a word; stunning.

He tasks me! He tasks me, and I shall have him! I’ll chase him round the Moons of Nibia, and round the Antares Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up!

Anyone can tell you that making a top ten of their favourite films is hard. Being told that I’ve got a day to come up with them is harder. But no excuses – these are my favourite top movies, cut down from a list of twenty or so. Some of these movies I have included because I just love watching them so much (and have done – over and over). Some of them are here because I grew up watching them, and they’ve shaped my taste in film ever since. Some are here because I feel they are simply amongst the greatest films ever made and deserve a place.

So unlike my last hasty list of best scenes (which if I repeated would likely turn out completely different), these are not necessarily my favourites just because I like them. These are my top ten, for various reasons. Come back in a few months and the list is likely to change, but procrastination won’t get a list made, will it?

So, in order of “I fucking love this movie” to “This movie is fucking great”, here are my top ten:

1. Jurassic Park

Released in the dinosaur craze in the early 90′s (whether the movie started it or not I’m not sure – I was 6) Jurassic Park is everything a great adventure film should be. For me, it’s the sense of wonder that really sets this movie apart. As I’ve previously mentioned, the first sight of dinosaurs is just staggering, even after the hundred’th time I’ve seen it. It’s a masterful blend of solid acting, excellent use of special effects, and simply stunning music that sets Jurassic Park up as one of my all-time favourite movies. That, and dinosaurs. DINOSAURS.

2. Star Wars

An obvious choice I know, and one that I was unsure about including. While I don’t argue it’s a great film (obviously – I included it), I wasn’t sure whether I should include it in a top-ten. But ultimately, it had to be here, because of how it shaped my love for geekdom. I still remember the first time I watched it – my mother and father grabbed my brother and I, and sat us down in the lounge-room, telling us a movie was about to start that we had to watch. Then, Star Wars. Immediately afterwards, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi followed. Star Wars opened up the possibility of the genre to me, and it will always be important for that.

Many geeks will proclaim that Empire was clearly the best of the six Star Wars films, but I strongly disagree. A New Hope is simply more cohesive, with a greater sense of wonder and adventure, and is the only choice in my mind for best Star Wars film.

3. Lord of the Rings (Trilogy)

It may be technically cheating, but any single of the three Lord of the Rings films simply can’t be judged on its own. Like the books, they are one film, arbitrarily split into three parts. This is part of the reason they are here – Lord of the Rings is one of the only examples of a real trilogy I can think of, with most others really being a film with a two-part sequel.

Lord of the Rings is a staggering epic of film-making, it can’t be denied. The sheer amount of energy, time, money and passion that went into making this film had never been done before, and likely won’t happen again for a very long time. The recreation of the book was faithful in almost every detail (with a few unfortunate omissions) and the sense of scale was extraordinary. It stands as the only high fantasy film ever produced that manages to maintain the wonder and scope of a novel. It’s a masterpiece.

4. Band of Brothers

Why am I including a mini-series in my top-ten movies list? Because fuck you, that’s why. Band of Brothers is awesome. I love war movies – they hit me in that special place men have for historical violence and heroism. Band of Brothers is an epic retelling of the 101 Airborne Division, E Company, during World War II. It follows them from training, through the Normandy landing, the Battle of the Bulge, right through til the end of the war. The film deals with the hardships and loss, as well as the little and large victories these men achieved. You connect with these characters more than any other war film. It’s witty, sometimes funny, and often sorrowful, and it avoids the anti-war undertones that often insults the work of the men who inspire it.

Bookending each episode with interviews by the real men of Easy Company is a masterstroke too, with only the final episode revealing who these people are. The actors do an excellent job of capturing the stories of Easy Company. So yeah, cheating maybe, but Band of Brothers is well-deserving of a place here anyway.

5. The Lion King

So rarely has the opening scene in a movie been so spectacular. The Lion King ushered in a new epic quality to the animated films that would come after (for a time) and it is an absolute classic. The film was brilliantly animated and well-paced, with tremendous performances by the likes of Jeremy Irons and James Earl Jones joined by a great ensemble cast. Disney really let out all of the stops for this film, and it saddens me that even 17 years later, it has yet to be upstaged. The Lion King is emotional and mature, while remaining a family movie. It’s funny and sad, and altogether retains an epic scale.

I include the Lion King because of its formative impact. It was one of the first movies I remember seeing at a cinema, and it was stunning. A special mention must be made for Anastasia though – my favourite animated movie. It was a marvellous film from top to bottom, but I omitted it because I think the Lion King was the greater movie, if not my favourite.

6. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Hilarious and influential on my taste for British humour, Monty Python had to be on this list somewhere. I tossed up between this and Life of Brian, but in the end I think Holy Grail is the better of the two. In typical Monty Python style, it s witty and farcical at the same time, deep and altogether shallow. One of the greatest comedy films ever made, and never loses its shine.

Even though it could be argued that the film is little more than barely stitched-together sketches, it isn’t really important. The movie is hilarious, and is a cornerstone of my family’s film library.

7. Love Actually

I love the idea of this film. A film purely designed to celebrate love in its highs and lows, and everything in between. A stellar cast of almost all of my favourite British actors can’t go wrong. I include this movie because, for me, it does what it set out to do. I feel happy watching it – a sense that there is a greater purpose in the simple things. Very few of the characters seem larger-than-life, and the film manages to make even the mundane aspects of love seem important.

Besides, any film with both Liam Neeson and Alan Rickman in it can’t be bad.

8. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

The Last Crusade is an adventure film with no par. It is epic in scope but maintains integrity. It seems the film-makers were afraid that more than one scene in any individual country would bore the audience, but it manages to string together so many parts with a cohesiveness lost on most adventures. Indiana’s quest to find his father and ultimately the Holy Grail is easily my favourite of the four films.

The movies follows the same template as the last two films, but manages to add a freshness that stands it above them. Replacing the grounded plane from the first (chronologically second) film with a moving tank created an unforgettable action sequence. There is a real sense of adventure to this movie. Also, there’s an airship. And airships are awesome (I thought of including Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow because of this fact – that’s how awesome they are).

9. The 13th Warrior

“I am not a warrior”

“Very soon, you will be”.

This movie is awesome. The action sequences are basic, the night-scenes are too dark, and the ending is disappointing. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. Because this movie is so full of over-the-top awesome Viking dialogue that my conventional rating system for films is crotch-stomped into the ground. The characters are barely developed, but you like them anyway. The plot is just a mannequin to hold up the bad-arse dialogue, but you barely notice. Because this movie is awesome.

It is also one of the very few movies that seems to get better every time I watch it, and I’ve seen it a lot. Antonio Banderas does an excellent job as Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, and the rest of the cast are equally competent in their roles. If you want a movie with a plot, development and a point, watch something else. The 13th Warrior does what it does exceptionally well.

I also noticed the similarities between this movie and Aliens – seriously, watch them both. They’ve got practically the same plot. I include the 13th Warrior over the also-awesome Aliens because this one has awesome Vikings, instead of semi-retarded whining marines. So yeah. That.

10. The Fountain

It may have been serendipity for me, but I was so utterly dragged into this movie the first time I watched it I was speechless. A convoluted mess, with almost no post-marking or exposition to tell you what the fuck was going on, somehow I got a tremendously deep meaning out of it. When a movie affects you on such a fundamental philosophical level, it doesn’t matter if it makes sense.

The Fountain was my first foray into Darren Aronofsky’s films, and I haven’t been disappointed with any of them since. While I think Black Swan could very well be his magnum opus, I include The Fountain on this list. I lucked out, the stars aligned when I first watched it, and it was a perfect movie-watching experience for me, that I had never had before. It was fragile – I felt that if the phone rang while I was watching it, it would ruin the magic – but that just made it more special. I’ve seen it once more since watching it, and it had the same effect on the other person I saw it with then. We ended up talking for hours about the meanings of the film.

Ultimately though, if you were to ask me whether to watch it or not, I would say don’t. I get the distinct impression that you have to be lucky, in the exact right frame of mind, to enjoy this film, and somehow that just makes it even more special.

Another special mention goes to The Fall, for similar reasons. I was dumbstruck by the simplistic beauty to be found in that film, but ultimately, The Fountain gets the spot.

So there you go. My top ten films. There are glaring omissions (First Contact, Pan’s Labyrinth, Moon, Independence Day, and lots more) but when picking a top ten, sometimes you just have to throw a dart at a board and see what sticks. As I said, in a few months it might be different, but for now, this is it.

When I was 15 years old my father told me that I lived with my head in the clouds, and that I would never accomplish anything in the real world if my mind was always in a fantasy one.

Ten years later I know him well enough to realise that he was simply trying to be what could be considered a ‘good father’ and not speaking entirely from the heart. Perhaps it had something to do with his own insecurities, but you’re not here to read about his, you’re here to read about mine…

Cue an artistic scene with the hands on a clock turning in reverse, clouds rolling backwards in the sky, leaves falling back onto the branches of trees, and the pages of a calendar flipping in reverse… I can’t pinpoint the exact moment, or even the age that my love for science fiction began, but I know it was early in my development.

I would never sit down to watch a straight-up action film. The gore, violence and thoughtlessness of it all never sat well with me. Hell, when I was a kid, I’d cover my eyes if there were boobs on screen.

But I would love to watch the Predator films, because despite all the violence I was intrigued by a visitor from another world and the unique way it interacted with our own. So while my older brother was watching Robocop for the action and violence, I, later in life, barely remember the pivotal early scene where Murphy was gunned down in a steel mill (I had to look that up). What I remember most is the technology. Sure, the dystopian future of Detroit may have been policed by Ford Taurus’ painted in chalkboard black, but prop quality aside, the technology of this future was riveting! I would play for hours, imagining that I too could extract a weapon from my cybernetic leg to gun down make-believe villains, and that my own vision was augmented by a futuristic HUD.

My maturation in life was influenced strongly by a few factors, one of them being my darling mother who instilled in me chivalry and a sense of right that has served me incredibly well. Another, being school. Of course, I mean the lack of school – because while I never felt comfortable in that controlled and peer-influenced society, my willing extraction from it allowed me to grow to a different design.

Though most of all, it was Star…

Without breaking into a nerdgasmic debate about the pros and cons of Star Trek and Star Wars, they both had a very different influence on my life.

Star Wars was a phenomenon that took science fiction to a very accessible adventure level and helped it attain mainstream status for lots of people. Yes, it certainly did so for me! Thankfully, due to the Special Edition re-release I was able to see the trilogy in the cinema despite only being born in 1984. It drove home an already large love for the films that progressed on to reading all the Expanded Universe novels available at the time, and, I’ll admit, roleplaying with friends. Star Wars entertained the tastes of anybody who enjoyed a film in which good triumphed over evil, the guy got the girl (perhaps to disturbing results in one case) and everyone lived happily ever after…except the Ewoks.

Star Trek, however, was something different. Through its many iterations, it has spent over 40 years building a rich universe inhabited by as many clichés and stereotypes as you can poke a mek’leth at. Reflecting cultural stereotypes and persecutions, the creators always tried to push the envelope of what was acceptable, and as time passed, more was allowed to be broadcast. Star Trek grew and matured, and I matured with it. In actual fact, science fiction has taught me more about social issues and sexuality than a government approved syllabus could ever bestow.

These beginnings have created in me a tendency to prefer anything that has a laser in it rather than a gun, a deep thought piece about the tragedy of loneliness but set on the moon, or a terrifying thriller aboard a space craft. It would appear to be the perfect formula for a stereotypical science fiction fan, with the collectibles; the costumes; the nerdy friends.

So the insecurities, father issues, and the dark side of it all? Well, dear readers. I am a science fiction fan, I couldn’t end it all succinctly in one neat go…

There’s always a sequel…

I’ve stumbled upon a theory.

This theory is dependent on whether you like, or appreciate, Star Trek (in any of its forms – see ‘The Theory’). This theory (hence known as ‘The Theory’) may or may not sway your opinion on the matter, but I feel it is worth at least a random, inconsequential blog post to parley (another awesome ‘cinematographique’ to put into question) .

Star Trek is an enlightening, intelligent, satirical and inspiring visual stimulus – IF you digest it as it is meant, and as it is delivered by the people involved. Now I am fully aware of the many other blogs, forum posts, magazine articles, full magazines, documentaries, newspaper clippings, and PHD papers that make basically the same point. What I am about to reveal is the way that YOU  can come to appreciate Star Trek.

You = “anyone who is not at the moment, enriched from the Star Trek experience, but who is willing to become interested”;

The theory is very simple, and best enforced through example. Note that this theory has different weighting based upon the Star Trek series in question, in order as follows:

Original Series

The Next Generation

Voyager

Deep Space Nine

My theory is thus: The importance of Star Trek, and its influence upon our culture can be socially, scientifically, spiritually and critically evaluated based upon the actions of key actors outside the realms of the show. If this were a PHD thesis, I would spell it out for you, but as it’s a random blog post you have stumbled across while Google searching ‘the true meaning of star trek’ (don’t actually Google search that, I was lying) I’m simply going to give examples of what I mean (in order of the ‘In order as follows’ bit):

Gene Roddenberry: Star Craft (thanks attributed) – He is one of the only people on the planet, to be directly attributed to influencing the creation of a national sport, bar anecdotes. His work in bringing the world of science fiction into science fact cannot be overstated either.

William Shatner: Spoken Word Poetry – come on, he’s good at it, and he brought it into the public eye; Boston Legal; being a general mockery of himslf also shows people that you can have a laugh in life – even at your own expense.

DeForest Kelly: Come back to this blog when you’ve converted. Truly R.I.P. a great man. A great man who was nothing more than a man struggling with greatness.

Leonard Nimoy: (Narrator) Civilization IV, the latest in a video game series that has spanned the years since the popular inception of personal computer gaming – in 20 years time, even those who don’t know what I’m talking about WILL know what I’m talking about.

George Takei: ‘Heroes’ – in no small part developed the popular  opinion of superheroes (regardless of your opinion of the show in question).

Patrick Stewart: Brilliant stage actor; In the workings to be the replacement for David Attenborough… I think that is enough, but I’ll add ‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’ (Narrator, ‘Emperor’) and ‘American Dad’ (popular adult comedy). Also; he is Patrick Stewart.

Ethan Philips & Armin Shimmerman: They’re in a LOT of movies and television shows. These two actors become recognisable fan favourites once you have digested ‘The Theory’.

Well, there are obviously more. The ultimate point is that each and every person involved in the television phenomena/fight for ultimate liberalism should be considered a Knight of the Order of the Human Race. Each of these people have strived (in the form of a far-out, cheesy soapish television series) to make our world better for each and every person, through the power of Modern Culture. It may seem a little silly, but it’s pretty much guaranteed that one of these people has affected your outlook in some way or another.

I’m not going to hold your hand, but if you are dedicated enough you will see how Star Trek, of all the pointless, base, overlooked, cultish and cheesy entertainment, has and will shape our world in the future. From the fiction of the show spurring scientists to make it so (couldn’t help myself) through to the work of former cheesy television actors influencing indie, and then popular culture, Star Trek has shaped our lives in more ways than any of us could possibly know – whether you like the show or not.

I only hope that the majority of humanity holds half the hopes and dreams portrayed in that most basic of television science fiction.

The more inane (and probably more astute) result of this theory is that the quantity of the recognisable cultural figures derived from a series of Star Trek is proportional to the significance and general awesomeness of the series in question… Actually, you could probably just ignore the bulk of this post and focus on that.

I know what I like. Most people that know me are aware of my strong opinions.

I’ve had countless arguments with fellow Ok, To Begin With… writers over all types of media, be it music, film, tv shows, art, whatever. But we don’t really consider it arguments, but discussions. To a third party it can look like an argument, but in general it’s all in good faith.

One ongoing discussion involves the pillar of Australian dance music that is The Presets. Me? I think they’re dreadful. I don’t see the appeal in a band who so shamelessly copies electro groups such as Daft Punk that were at their creative peak more than ten years ago. As I see it, they were a product of their time. Why would a band want to make average facsimiles of this music now?

Lots of my friends like The Presets. And that’s fair enough. I don’t, yet so many people seem to get offended when I make my opinion known. And it’s not like I don’t back up my opinion, I have my reasons.

A couple of weeks ago, my uncle’s step-mother came round for dinner. During the various conversations that arose over dinner, she asked me what I thought of Shaun Micallef’s current show Talkin’ ’bout Your Generation. Unaware that my uncle was good friends with him at university and his stepmother had taught him, I let my opinion known.

I think the show has a predictable concept, is utterly dreadful, pointless, and unfunny, and made worse by the host. I have never found Micallef slightly funny. Instead of listening to me and saying “fair enough, everyone’s entitled to their opinion”, both my uncle and his stepmother launched into a huge defence of Micallef and his show. But of course, they failed to address the reasons why I don’t like him and his show.

A similar thing happens when I get asked about movies. A common topic at the moment due to Inglorious Basterds, is Quentin Tarantino. When I’ve been asked what I think of his films, I can’t help myself. I could just say “yeah, he’s quite good, I liked Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction”. But instead I give my full opinion: he’s a hugely overrated director who has done absolutely nothing of note since 1994. Reservoir Dogs is stunning, Pulp Fiction is good but I think is idealised by so many due to its structure. Natural Born Killers was potentially a great film if Tarantino directed it himself, but Oliver Stone mangled Tarantino’s script. Everything else he’s done, I think is dreadful (*note: I am yet to see Inglorious Basterds).

Do you like Tarantino films? Great. I’m not going to stop you from watching them or try to change your opinion. All I’m doing is giving MY opinion. What’s so wrong with that?

I’m sorry, I have my opinion. Just please don’t get offended if you ask for it and don’t like it.

Image from Flickr user jontintinjordan

Think of all the classic movies. Or games. Or albums. Now try to picture those pieces of art being advertised. If you are like me, it’s very difficult. There are some texts(note, for the sake of this article, I will be referring to all instances of the medium in the literal “text”) that convey a grand picture – a masterpiece of the human mind and form – that simply cannot be advertised. Trailers won’t do the film justice. Gameplay videos just don’t inspire the gamer. Radio edit singles are a far cry from the richness embodied in the album.

Marketing is slowly devouring the soul of our creativity.

I may have given it away in my first paragraph, but this article is somewhat of a shoutout – and a proof in form – to those texts that surpass the advertising limits and create a mass-market appeal all to their own. Today, we call these texts “cult” – a derogatory term at the best of times – which is a clear indication of our society’s opinion of what the minority KNOW to be great. For instance, in 1977, a film was released to cinemas. It was in the boom summer months, where we generally have one lead film by a production studio, plus a bunch of minor, cheap backups. The film I am talking about is one of those cheap, throwaway backups. It was a film where the entire cast and crew were of the opinion that they were making a joke. It would never go anywhere. It was a flight of fancy by an unskilled screenwriter who, for some reason, managed to score a small budget. That film, in case you hadn’t guessed…

Was Star Wars. Possibly today the most recognised film brand in the Western World, Star Wars was given a measly (even for the time) $8m budget. For argument’s sake, allow me to note a few other similar films: Blues Brothers, Donnie Darko, Clerks, Slacker, Saw… All these films weren’t considered to be friendly to marketing, at least as far as the publishers saw (ed: if there really were an editor, he would punLOL right now). The fact is, the big budget production studios need to make absolutely certain that the money they spend on a film comes back to them.

I hold no grudges. At the end of the day, the job of a publisher is to finance a creative work. When we come to matters of finance, capitalist society dictates that financing something must, in the end, make a return. Which means that, in order to publish a creative work, a publisher needs to be aware of exactly how they are going to recoup their interests. This leads us to the marketers…

I’m not going to pretend marketing companies are evil corporations out to brainwash the public to the “regime” mode of thinking. Marketers simply collate, calculate, predict and report statistical trends in the ‘marketplace’ (that being, us in the majority) that they know will sell. The problem is the human factor. Statistics only prove so much, and only from a scientific standpoint. When it comes to the creative media, anything is up for grabs.

I am a teacher, pioneer and citizen of “Games”, and as such I must approach this article from a game perspective. With a little thought however, I am sure you will make the same links with your own medium of choice. There have been several genres of video game that have become all but extinct – they definitely don’t hold the popularity they once did. Genres like adventure games, space sims and turn-based strategy games were once leading the charge in game sales. Today, they barely make a blip on the charts (with a few notable exceptions). I believe the reason for this is marketing, namely that these genres are very difficult to advertise. Trailers and gameplay videos don’t appear flashy enough, screenshots and posters show graphs and text more often than not, and press releases just haven’t got the forceful impact of say, a first-person shooter. This is certainly not to say that these games are bad. You just need to be playing them to appreciate them. The only games in these genres that tend to do any well nowadays are those rebooting, based on, or continuing a once-popular franchise (Sam & Max, Monkey Island, Civilization, Freelancer, Hearts of Iron and the many independent “rogue-likes”, to name a few). Films show the same trend – the biggest takers of any given chart tend to be movies with big, flashy, exciting trailers. Album sales are more often based on the radio single. A new book only really sells big when someone bases a film on it.

It is this industry that is the cause. Publishers targeting product to the mass market. In the end it all comes back to trying to please all the people all the time. The text just gets “dumbed down”, the effect lost in a thousand compromises designed to make it appeal to more people. I remember the games industry in its relative infancy at the turn of the 90′s. There was no advertising. Games were independent affairs. A game sold through word of mouth. This is where the classics make their mark – not through mass-market themed teasers, but based on the recommendation of the human element. And no, I’m not talking about the critics. They aren’t really people.

As those who subscribe to our RSS, and picked up the somewhat vague post I made recently, may have understood, I’ve decided this blog could do with a bit of a shakeup of the norm. We here at OkToBeginWith have always considered this blog to be a collection of statements about society, popular culture, and the artistic industry.

So I decided I would take a time-out from being the usual pretentious wanker I am in my blog posts, and do a list: My personal favourite top five movie moments.

Fret not; unlike most blog lists, my list is truly my personal list. It has come the time that people should feel unashamed of their opinions. Perhaps you always thought that Aqua’s “Turn Back Time” was a poignant and emotional moment in the group’s artistic story and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” was a highly overrated album. Perhaps you believe Spiderman was a better movie than The Godfather, or that Dan Scott is a better artist than Jackson Pollack. Art is art, and emotional resonance is in the eye of the beholder.

My list is up for debate: it may be that you spark a memory of mine that shunts out one of the film moments on my list. But at the end of the day, popular opinion is not MY opinion, nor should it ever be YOUR opinion. When it comes to art, it truly is up to the individual.

So with no more ado, here is my top five movie moments, off the top of my head (note, I haven’t compiled any list, the points I list here are completely off the top of my head, as they should be – how could your top moments possibly be so if you need to spend hours thinking of them?):

>IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER<

1. Jurassic Park: The scene towards the start of the movie where they are in the jeeps, and first spot the dinosaurs. The camera zooms in on the characters, before showing a wide panning shot of dinosaurs. Sam Neil’s acting is wondrous, the visuals are astounding, and above all, the sound track is simply tremendous.

2. Independence Day: The presidential speech… You know the one. Even though it is charged with USA-specific patriotism, reading between the lines reveals the point of the whole movie – that we are far more than the sum of our parts

3. Starship Troopers: Basically the whole movie, but as a moment, the scene where humans touch down on Klendathu, and we see the media become so enthralled with the spectacle, that the journalists fail to see the danger they are in.

4. Planet of the Apes: “You blew it up! Damn you! God damn you all to hell!” – All the frustration of the individual person released in one explosive moment.

5. Young People Fucking: During act V. Orgasm, “The Best Friends” share a moment. The scene is charged with unspoken words that really resonated with me.

… It honestly has just occurred to me as I read back over this list, that these five parts sum up five different things about the human character (and obviously, mine in particular). The first sums up the wonder of something new, the second reinforces our duty to our fellow Man, the third shows the extremes our society has taken to entertain, the fourth sums up all the frustration of each of us at the stupidity of our species as a whole, and the fifth is possibly the most poignant of all; the final moment of acceptance and bliss we all find when we meet our life partner.

So take away from this what you will. Argue it to high heaven – everyone will feel the need. But at the end of the day, when you make your top 5 movie moments, I urge you to do it without considerable thought, and try to make the list your own. I was tempted for a moment to include instances from The Godfather, The Dark Knight, Forrest Gump, Casablanca, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and many others, but at the end of the day, my top five resonate more truthfully to me. What does your list look like?

It’s probably my responsibility to state from the get go, there are a lot of spoilers in this article. I think it might be a bit difficult to get my point across without some examples, but I’ll try not to spoil anything you may not have seen. But I am going to talk about Terminator 4 and Star Trek XI, so you have been warned.

I like to be surprised. When I watch a film, or TV show, for the first time, the less I know about it the better.  This can be a problem when deciding what new films or shows to watch, but that’s where I’ve developed a system with which I make these decisions. I have a couple of friends whose film opinions I trust enough that if they tell me I should see a film, I will, and no more information is required.

The new Star Trek film is a good example, I knew nothing about it going into the cinema. How did I do that? I avoided every review, every article, and ever blog post about it on the world wide web, any piece of written material that referenced it at all was brushed over quickly and filtered from view. The only thing I knew about the film was that there was time travel in it (due to a spoiler warning at the beginning of a barely related article!) and that was already too much for me. I went in knowing nothing and thoroughly enjoyed everything that happened in the film, because I wasn’t waiting for any particular event or expecting anything to happen! Oh sure, I knew Leonard Nimoy was in it, but that was impossible to avoid! And it didn’t spoil the story anyway, since his character was used in a different way than I had been expected.

Then we come to the malign paradigm shift, as discussed by my fellow blogger Drew just recently, which can be the most pivotal and amazing moment in any film, that really makes or breaks it for you. If you know what that shift is going to be, then where is the awe? Where is the surprise? Despite the fact that I had been shown the trailer to Terminator 4, I clearly completely missed the reveal of Marcus’s big secret. Watching the film I spent every moment up until the moment of shift trying to figure out what was going on, and then when it happened, I was amazed! While everyone else I know who saw the film were expecting it from the beginning. I think that moment really made the film for me.

And a quick example, the first Futurama film. I didn’t figure out who Lars was until it actually happened in the movie. Sure, everyone else who saw it thought that maybe I was a big daft for not figuring it out. But damn it was exciting.

I don’t read the blurb on the back of DVD covers. I don’t read film reviews. And I don’t listen to people talk about things I haven’t seen yet. The same goes for TV shows that I talk to work mates about, if they start telling me the result of the latest Mythbusters episode I haven’t seen, I tell them quite frankly, to shut the hell up.

Maybe it’s not the perfect system for everybody, maybe I’ll see a lot more movies I don’t enjoy because of my limited screening process. But I think the end justifies the means, and that the wonderful experience I enjoy, is worth seeing some bad apples.

The Sixth Sense is just a film about a child psychiatrist, From Dusk til Dawn is just a film about criminals on the run, Synendoche, New York, is about a play.

That’s good enough.