Yellow Pee-pull!
It’s kinda difficult to rate my top five films for every genre cuz for every good movie I’ve seen there would be five other equally great movies I wouldn’t have seen. So it would be great to find out what I missed and update my ‘Movies to see before I die’ list.
English (Contemporary — Wholesome Entertainment)
Movies with a bit of everything you want from the movies.
1. Vanilla Sky
Yeah, its a remake of the Spanish film Abre Los Ojos. And everyone who seems to have seen the original do say it is much better than this Tom Cruise version.
I am sure it must have been better too. But that does not take away from this brilliant piece of multi-layered storytelling. I’ve heard Mullholland Drive is even better but since I haven’t seen that one yet, this has to be right on top.
It’s a movie I watch to remind me the lessons for life. Sample the lines:
The sweet is never as sweet without the sour.
Every passing moment is a chance to turn it all around.
Great lines, kickass music, super performances, the charisma and chemistry of Cruise, Cruz and Diaz, the whole take on LoveHateDreamsLifeWorkPlayFriendshipSex… that’s what I call wholesome entertainment. My all time favourite.
Well, it certainly might not be as good a movie as Forrest Gump, but I would rate this ahead because we are rating my favourites here. I love this movie because at some level I could see myself in Jerry. And I know many who see themselves in Jerry.
Jerry is what every man wants to be.
Jerry is what every man almost is. Great at friendship, bad at intimacy.
Jerry is what every man could be. You just need to hang your balls out there.
Jerry is about chasing what you’ve always believed in, it is about maintaining what you have, it is about giving, caring, truth, integrity and personal relationships.
Look at the characters Cameron Crowe (Yeah, he’s my all time favourite director, my idol, my hero) has created. Jerry Maguire. Dorothy Boyd. Rod Tidwell. They are sooo real. I can’t trace the actual quote but Cameron came up with it. He said something about what a movie must really be like. You go to a this place, (movie hall) meet a few people, spend a 100 minutes in their world, get a peek into their lives and then come back affected, with memories for life. So much that you want to go back and meet these people again. How I wish I had the actual quote.
But hey, I found another thing he said:
“In the future, everybody is going to be a director. Somebody’s got to live a real life so we have something to make a movie about.”
I guess that’s the essence of a moviemaking. Making it real and yet as vibrant as life can be. So much that you know everything about every character, everything in their world, every little detail.
Jerry’s Mission Statement costs him his job. We know only about 4 lines of the many pages from the movie. But Cameron wanted to make sure he knew what exactly Jerry wrote that night. And he put it all down. The Mission Statement. Read it here.
And sample the lines:
Show-Me-The-Money!
Shut up, you had me at hello!
3. Forrest Gump
Momma always used to say, Life is like a box of chocolates.
I’m sure every movie buff has heard that before from Forrest himself.
What-a-movie!
Robert Zameckis is another favourite of mine. While Cameron’s strength lies in simplicity of what he says to expressing the most complex of things, Robert’s strength lies in his expressions with what he does not say and yet communicates. Robert makes the simplest statements through the most complex stories while Cameron makes complex statements through simple stories. Cameron uses lines, Robert revels in silence. Take Forrest Gump or Castaway for that matter.
4. Shrek
No explanations needed.
Who does not like Shrek?
Again, no explanations needed.
One of the greatest films ever made and the film that made Roberto Benigni a household name.
Post Script
And hey, I’m not going to be rating classics. I haven’t seen too many of them to start rating. What I will rate next is the same category in Hindi and Tamil.
Asta La Vista, Baby!
MADRAS INK. 
Contemporary, Wholesome entertainment?
Actually, “Life is Beautiful” is a kind of misfit in this list. The movie was made recently but it was a story set during WWII. It’s a great movie, none the less.
Hmmm … Ok … Here is my five, not necessarily in that order and I am listing only Hollywood/ European movies.
1. Jerry Maguire
2. Lorenzo’s Oil
3. Patch Adams
4. A Beautiful Mind
5. Forrest Gump
and a bonus 6. Shattered Glass
I wanted to add “Dumb and Dumber” but I am sure we can fit that into some other category. Probably, among the top 5 most intellectually uplifting movies.
Shattered Glass?
Lol!
Guess being journalists, we wud be tempted to include that one! But maybe not under this category. It’s a super movie though. I want to see you rate the classics… and one of these days, I’m gonna raid ur DVD collection!
Yes Maamu,
Shattered Glass was one for our tribe.