Adam W. Cummings' TOP 25
A work in progress and always changing, this is my person 25. I certainly recommend all of these movies. The order isn't perfect yet.
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25 titles
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsGiulietta MasinaSandra MiloMario PisuVisions, memories, and mysticism all help a 40-something woman to find the strength to leave her cheating husband.Guiliette degli Spiriti is actually Federico Felini's first color film, a film that became very difficult on his marriage, incredibly underrated and despised by fans of I Vitelloni and 8 1/2, and described by Guilietta Masina as being the most difficult part she ever had to play. I particularly love this film, and truly the only reason it edges out The Seventh Seal is because really, nothing can top Felini in color.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.It probably should be a tie for first, but here it is. The Seventh Seal is a full film, the narrative, the sound, the composition, the acting . . . there is no lose end in this film. If you haven't seen it, see it, it's worth your time, and it will enrich your very being.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Luc GodardYves BeneytonJuliet BertoA day in the life of a Parisian housewife/prostitute, interspersed with musings on the Vietnam War and other contemporary issues.So, if you can get through the first two films, you're doing fine, but here is one of the reasons why I prefer foreign cinema, and some people just can't stand it, well, it's allegory, and if you're not versed in allegory, you'll never notice or appreciate the language that Godard uses to tell a story, a story that is realistic, a story in which people stop to take a dump, or the meter man shows up . . . you know, those things that are conveniently left out of 99% of films and wedges a psychological divide between ourselves and the idealized content we absorb. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her is the story of France as a nation and particularly a modern nation in the late 60's.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsIvana KarbanováJitka CerhováMarie CeskováAfter realizing that all world is spoiled, Marie and Marie are committed to be spoiled themselves. They rip off older men, feast in lavish meals and do all kinds of mischief. But what is all this leading to?Sure, some days Daisies is #1 on the list. It's a wacky film, mildly existentialist, mildly anti-establishment, but all the while interesting, colorful and with a dichotomy that feels strangely psychological in a way that leads to destroy and fix itself. And I do have a crush on the brunette. PS. We need more Vera Chytialova films. Open the vaults, and add the subtitles criterion, or eclipse.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonTony RobertsAlvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages."Don't knock masturbation, it's sex with someone I love." "Black soap, what are you joining a minstrel show?" Yeah, it's the best Woody Allen film, and beyond that, when you watch it with a girlfriend, you know things are over between the two of you, but Diane Keaton and Woody Allen remind you how relationships are bittersweet; They dated for years, which becomes apparent on screen in the comfort and excellence that they both exhibit in their acting.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsAnna KarinaJean-Claude BrialyJean-Paul BelmondoAn exotic dancer is desperate to become a mother and accepts her reluctant boyfriend's suggestion that she be impregnated by his best friend.
- 19641h 35mPG8.3 (520K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsHarriet AnderssonLiv UllmannKari SylwanWhen a woman dying of cancer in early twentieth-century Sweden is visited by her two sisters, long-repressed feelings between the siblings rise to the surface.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsHiroshi KawaguchiHitomi NozoeHideo TakamatsuIn the middle of a fierce commercial competition between three caramel companies, an executive builds up a ditsy teenage girl as a mascot while simultaneously trying to uncover the rival companies' plans.
- DirectorDusan MakavejevStarsCarole LaurePierre ClémentiAnna PrucnalAfter winning the "most virgin" contest, Miss Canada is married to a rich milk tycoon. But she quickly flees the marriage to experience the world around her, full of sweetness and anarchy.Yeah, so if you couldn't figure out 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, don't bother with Sweet Movie. While there are parts of Sweet Movie that are very rich, beautiful , and sometimes disturbing or absurd allegories, there are also parts of the film that I haven't even figured out if they are allegory at all. Still love the communist lovers, the gynacological game show, the American tycoon, all of it.
"The whole world is our country/ it's great to be mad,
it's fun to do nothing/ do things in the nude,
oh it's sweet to be hungry/ finger lickin' good" - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsTom CruiseNicole KidmanTodd FieldA Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.This film would not have made the list after it first came out. I saw it when I was 17, and one of the friends I went with had to buy a ticket to a separate film so he could prove to his parents that we saw something else. Keep in mind that my dad took me to see The People vs. Larry Flynt when I was I was 14 or 15, so it really wasn't the nudity, sure, that was the draw to see Eyes Wide Shut when I was 17, but now it is a very different film to me, a masterful film that operates like the secret society it looks to expose: put Tom and Nicole in front of people and they'll be too distracted to care what is really going on in the shadows.
- DirectorKelly MakinStarsDave FoleyBruce McCullochKevin McDonaldA pharmaceutical scientist creates a pill that makes people remember their happiest memory, and although it's successful, it has unfortunate side effects.There have been many foreign films on this list, but only one Canadian film, and that's the best comedy ever improvised. It sits on the list in the way that a Monty Python film would exist on a lesser man's top 25 film list. I really don't know if I have to explain this one.
- DirectorHal HartleyStarsMartin DonovanPJ HarveyDave SimondsThe end of the millenium has taken on a certain significance in modern day prophecies. What happens if Jesus Christ has second thoughts about the Apocalypse? It is December 31, 1999 and New Year's Eve takes on new meaning when the Devil, Jesus Christ, and Christ's assistant Magdelina discuss and debate the end of the world, the opening of the seven seals, and the essence of being human.I can't put my finger on it, why Hal Hartley's films appeal so much to me. First, it's the selection of narrative, and Book of Life is a very simple, living bible story, but it's rugged, and it has PJ Harvey as Mary Mag, so that's pretty cool. It's also short, the length of one of my plays, and structured in similar way. There are 2 other Hal Hartley films on the list.
- DirectorJûzô ItamiStarsKen WatanabeTsutomu YamazakiNobuko MiyamotoA truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.Sometimes it comes down to how many times I've seen a movie, and sadly, I have only seen Tampopo twice. I don't own it, I can't find a cheap copy that isn't on VHS, but someday, someday, this udon western (Japanese soup cowboy movie) will be part of my collection, and I will watch it many times. It's funny. It's framed by a aristocrat watching the film and making a savory affair of it. It pulls off comedy methods that only the Japanese can do, something I can explain at length somewhere else, but watch Tampopo, and if you have a copy . .. can I borrow it?
- DirectorHal HartleyStarsThomas Jay RyanJames UrbaniakParker PoseyAn introverted garbageman writes his thoughts in a notebook after Henry Fool, writer and ex-con, rents the basement and gives him a notebook and the idea. He writes poetry and Henry helps him along.Good old Hal Hartley
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsGene HackmanGwyneth PaltrowAnjelica HustonThe eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.I saw this film 4 times in the theater, each time, except the first time, I dragged a new group of people to it, and obtained the script from a member of the writer's guild. My adoration for this film is that it seems like a slice of Salinger. Why it's not in the top 10 . . . because I saw it too many times, over-analyzed it and found the weaknesses and the story points that Salinger and Anderson would have seen the beauty in, but when you have to sell a film, you do have to shape it to fit a known genre, and while that is the case, Anderson always managed to do that with much of his soul still intact, that is perhaps the finest accomplishment.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsUma ThurmanDavid CarradineMichael MadsenThe Bride continues her quest of vengeance against her former boss and lover Bill, the reclusive bouncer Budd, and the treacherous, one-eyed Elle.
- DirectorJohn WatersStarsMelanie GriffithStephen DorffAlicia WittAn insane independent film director and his renegade group of teenage filmmakers kidnap an A-list Hollywood actress and force her to star in their underground film.Sadly, I think this might be the only film of the new millenium on the list, and not by much. In forming the list I noticed that I had left out John Waters, and while Pink Flamingoes, Cry Baby, Hairspray, and many of his other films make the top 100, Cecil B. Demented has its place in the top 25, it's a film for cinephiles, by cinephiles and about cinephiles, so how can anyone not love this film? And as much as it is something of a comedy, it seems pretty serious to me.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsLouise BrooksFritz KortnerFrancis LedererThe rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.Yeah, so I'm a sucker for Louise Brooks, what can I say, most people know this about me, but it is a much more complex situation than that. First the is Frank Wedekind plays Erdgiest, or Earth Spirit, and Die Busche der Pandora, and it really is these plays that make this work of cinema so fascinating. Pabst does a great job directing, and doing everything possible to make the story not only work, but really bring it to another level. Strangely, this is the only silent film on my list.
- DirectorAlejandro JodorowskyStarsTamara GarinaSergio KleinerDiana MariscalFando and his partially-paralyzed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar. Based on Jodorowsky's memories of a play by surrealist Fernando Arrabal.
- DirectorWilliam KleinStarsDorothy McGowanJean RochefortSami FreyA model tells a television crew about her dreams of a life with Prince Charming while she is fending off the lecherous advances of a horde of men.Who Are You Polly Magoo is satire very similar to Giants & Toys, only instead of a candy bar company, it takes on the fashion industry of the late 60's. Just like Giants & Toys, Polly Magoo is a snaggle-toothed young model from Kansas, relocated to Europe to be the biggest thing in fashion, with that comes a Prince from a 'small, humorously undefined, European nation, who will sweep her off he feet like she was Grace Kelly. It's shot in a documentary style and references an old French program called Qui est vous . . ? and the title indicated who the bio would focus on. Great movie, great satire.
- DirectorAlejandro JodorowskyStarsAlejandro JodorowskyHoracio SalinasZamira SaundersIn a corrupt, greed-fueled world, a powerful alchemist leads a messianic character and seven materialistic figures to the Holy Mountain, where they hope to achieve enlightenment.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Pierre LéaudChantal GoyaMarlène JobertA romance between young Parisians, shown through a series of vignettes.
- DirectorIvan ReitmanStarsBill MurrayDan AykroydSigourney WeaverThree parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.I had a dream one night that I produced a stage version of Ghostbusters. What was most impressive to me about the dream was A. The stagecraft involved, wonderful scale models that I could do on a decent budget, and B. How much the dialogue of this film is seered into my subconscious. This is one of the films that I can close my eyes, access my inner netflix and just let it role. I keeps the kids in my brain quiet while the adults talk.
- StarsLiv UllmannErland JosephsonBibi AnderssonTen years within the marriage of Marianne and Johan.It says mini-series, and is a mini-series, but it was also cut down to make a film, and it's amazing. Annie Hall is a fun and light, yet realistic look at a relationship, but Scenes From a Marriage, you have to be the third wheel for Johan and Marriane. It feels like you're sitting in the room with them while they tear each other apart, and you can't leave for some reason, (I don't know, maybe one of them is supposed to give you a ride somewhere) but instead, this couple just berates each other throughout the five act structure of marriage and divorce. And while, yes, it is grating, it's like watching your parents fight at times, but by the end, you're just as much invested in their relationship, that you run up to the screen and kiss them in the end. Strongly recommended, and if you're tough enough, or bored enough, go for the mini-series, and if you finish the mini-series, you will be fluent in Swedish.