"What's your single favorite movie of all time?"
If a working film critic gets asked one question by a reader or curious acquaintance, that's usually the one. (The runner-up is "How do you and the other reviewer at your paper decide who reviews what?" Why anyone would want to know that, I have no idea.) Most critics dread hearing the what's-your-favorite-movie one because, simply,we have no answer. Personally, I love movies so much and have seen so many of them that choosing one as THE best is an impossible task, like choosing which of your kids you love best. I could pick a single much-loved movie just to have an answer, but then the other several hundred or so would be nagging at my shirttails, "pick me, pick me!"
So here's a compromise: My thirty favorite movies. These are not necessarily the greatest, most well-made films of all time (although they're not necessarily not, either). They are, instead, the movies closest to my heart, mind, and moviegoing experience - 30 films I can watch anytime, anywhere, with anyone. They're in alphabetical order only because I do enough ranking of celluloid apples and oranges in my day job.
This list will be filled out with accompanying essays as time allows.
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Aliens
Au Hasard, Balthazar
Babe
Before Sunset
Being John Malkovich
Bringing Up Baby
Celine and Julie Go Boating
Days of Being Wild
Dazed and Confused
The Decalogue
The Godfather
I Know Where I'm Going
I'm Not There
L.A. Confidential
My Neighbor Totoro
Nashville
Notorious
Ohayo
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
The Pianist
Pierrot le Fou
Pulp Fiction
Re-Animator
Rear Window
A Serious Man
The Seven Samurai
Sideways
Splendor in the Grass
The Sweet Smell of Success
Written on the Wind
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