Favorite Films From A to Z
While I’ve been spending a lot of time lately talking about my favorite books and authors who have inspired me, I’m also a big fan of movies and they’ve had as much of an influence on my writing as literature.
Over the past twenty years, I’ve developed an appreciation for a number of writers and directors, including the Coen Brothers (Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski), Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), David O. Russell (Flirting With Disaster, Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees), Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited), and David Fincher (Fight Club, Alien 3, Seven).
There’s more, but I figured that was enough.
As for my favorite films of all time, I did it purely my letter association, picking the first two films that popped into my head for each letter of the alphabet – though I could only come up with one film for Y and no titles for Q. Of course, limiting the list to two per letter caused me to leave out a number of films I really enjoyed, like Adaptation, CQ, Ghostbusters, and Scotland, PA. But I think this is a pretty good representation of the movies that have influenced and inspired me in one way or another:
A – Alien / Almost Famous
B – Being John Malkovich / The Big Lebowski
C – Caddyshack / Close Encounters of the Third Kind
D – Donnie Darko / Diner
E – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind / The Empire Strikes Back
F – Fight Club / Flirting With Disaster
G – The Graduate / Groundhog Day
H – High Anxiety / Halloween
I – I Heart Huckabees / It’s a Wonderful Life
J – Jaws / Jacob’s Ladder
K – Kingpen / Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
L – L.A. Confidential / Lost in Translation
M – The Matrix / Mystery Men
N – Night of the Living Dead / Napoleon Dynamite
O – Ocean’s Eleven / Office Space
P – Pulp Fiction / The Princess Bride
R – Royal Tenenbaums / Raiders of the Lost Ark
S – Star Wars / South Park
T – There’s Something About Mary / Tremors
U – Unbreakable / The Usual Suspects
V – Very Bad Things / V is for Vendetta
W – What Planet Are You From? / When Harry Met Sally
X – The X-Files / X-Men
Y – Young Frankenstein
Z – Zoolander / The Zero Effect
What are some of your favorite films of all time?
Broadway Danny Rose – Broadcast News – Casablanca – Curse of the Golden Flower – Carnival of Souls – District 9 – Dawn of the Dead (1978) – Decline of the American Empire – Godfather 1 & 2 – King of Comedy – Last King of Scotland – Lost in Translation – Night of the Living Dead – Poseidon Adventure – Taxi Driver – Truly Madly Deeply – When Harry Met Sally
Comment by Sunshine — July 31, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
OK – here’s another one -a zombie movie, and while not in the top tier, it should get some kind of prize for most creative use of entrails – Dead Snow – and the icing on the cake is that its a Norwegian Nazi Zombie movie – WOW talk about a niche – its bad – its fun – a completely different take on zombies – if you watch it, count how many times the Norse actors say OKAY – winner gets a prize.
Comment by Sunshine — July 31, 2010 @ 3:19 pm
I put Dead Snow on my Netflix queue, which I can apparently watch streaming. So thanks. And thanks for sharing some of your favorite films!
Comment by admin — July 31, 2010 @ 5:50 pm
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