M is for Movies!

So, Kim, over at Machine Ghost posted to her blog a 12-day movie marathon which someone else "tagged" her to do. So, even though no one tagged me, my ex-roommate (and the greatest roommate known to mankind, by the way) and I went to see the AMC Best Picture showcase last year--when AMC theaters show every best picture nominee back to back--I thought this idea was right up my alley. So, in honor of those 12 hours I spent sitting in the dark, I stole it. And just to make it a little bit harder, I'm going to make an effort not to include more than one film starring the same actor. In no particular order...

1. Memoirs of a Geisha
Okay, so Katie can totally tell you I put this movie on every night to put myself to sleep, but it's sooooo good! It's so pretty and the music is so great, there's no not loving it.

2. High Fidelity
Never mind that I am "of a certain age" where I fell deeply in love with John Cusak as Lloyd Dobler...a love that was cemented through his best films...Better Off Dead...Grosse Pointe Blank...Max...Martian Child (which I just saw and love), this is a great movie. His absolute refusal to grow up, his anger and depression at war for his soul, his elitism and his inability to express himself except through music is just so powerful and delicious.

3. Dawn of the Dead
Pick a version; they've both got their merits. I think the original is a little bit slow in the middle, but George A. Romero is a brilliant allegorist (is that a word? is now.) and Tom Savini is an absolute genius both on screen and in the SFX department. But, when the zombies come for us--and you know they're coming--I want Ving Rhames with me (although not Ving Rhames from Day of the Dead).

4. Iron Man
Julian's not in trouble anymore. Robert Downey, Jr. has done a streak of good ones...Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang...A Scanner Darkly...Tropic Thunder (or so I hear)...but he was born to play Tony Stark.

5. Saved!
It's time to get our Christ on! So many people have no sense of humor when it comes to religion. I, on the other hand, feel that if you hold something too sacred (pardon the pun) and don't ever think about it or look at it from a different angle, it loses its meaning. And Jenna Malone is just so brokenhearted over her loss of faith that you can't help but find her hysterically funny and hysterically tragic at the same time.

6. Bride and Prejudice
I love Jane Austen, and I love when Jane Austen is retold really well. And the color is great and the music is so much fun!

7. Shoot 'Em Up
This is a bad movie, it announces itself as a bad movie and it does not apologize for being a bad movie. Do you like puns? Do you like shooting? Do you like Clive Owen? You will like this movie.

8. Dedication
I already wrote about this one once, and Mandy Moore is also in Saved! so it's kind of against the rules, but it's so good!

9. Hotel Rwanda
What were you doing when Kurt Cobain died? Were you using your position as a hotel manager to save Rwandans? No? Well, this guy was. And while the people of Rwanda call him a bourgeois coward who saved a bunch of other bourgeois cowards, this movie is touching and will make you cry and be a little ashamed to be a citizen of the "civilized" world.

10. The Crow
Okay, so it's not a particularly great movie, but it's kind of a defining moment for so many members of a generation. Brandon Lee was poised to truly break out, and his death and all the mystery that surrounds it make the movie bigger than it really should be. And Detroit is worse than it seems in the film. But the soundtrack is amazing.

11. Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ah, a Johnny Depp film. You knew it was coming. What has he been in that he wasn't fabulous? Even Ed Wood, which was so awful, he was great in. And Helena Bonham Carter is amazing. Musicals don't really excite me, but this is great.

12. Reality Bites
Oh, come on. Of course. And I still actually really wish that Winona Ryder would pick Ben Stiller every time I see it. Ethan Hawke looks like he might be a little stinky.