Dale G. Abersold Presents
His Favorite Movies!
I love a good movie. A good film can bring the same feeling as a good book or any good work of art or music. It's just that good movies are rather rare. Since it is easier to make a big noise (Independence Day, Twister, or any number of upcoming disaster movies) than a good movie, Hollywood doesn't seem terribly interested in making good movies anymore. In any case, here are a few good movies, with a sentence or two on why I liked it. These are all films that, if I were paid to be a critic, I would give "four stars" to. These are the A+ movies.
- Local Hero (1983). A beautiful, wistful portrait of a Scottish town, and the American who comes to buy it. Nothing happens like you'd expect it, least of all the ending. Close to perfection.
- JFK (1991). Yes, Stone's conspiracy theories are utterly ridiculous, and his worship of Kennedy is extraordinarily simplistic. This film, however, is one of the most mesmerizing I have ever seen. The first seven minutes (up until we first see Garrison) are hypnotic.
- Raising Arizona (1987). The film that helped establish the film careers of future Oscar-winners Nicholas Cage, Holly Hunter, and Frances McDormand. One of the most constantly hilarious films ever put together. Again, the first 10 minutes of this film could be shown in film school as a perfect example of exposition. Never has surrealism been so much fun as it is here.
- Casablanca (1943). My mother's all-time favorite movie (she would kill me if I didn't mention it here). When you get down to it, the plot of the film is pretty stupid. Add, however, great dialogue, fabulous chemistry (particularly between the leading man and lady), and a sensational cast, possibly the greatest ever put together, and you have a film that will last forever. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Heinreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Dooley Wilson. I can't imagine any of these roles being bettered.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). What does it mean? Does it mean anything? I'm not sure, but the images and music from this film will stay with you forever. Someone once said that film consists of just four things: light, darkness, sound, and silence. No film ever used these four elements more effectively than does 2001.
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Copyright 1997 by Dale G. Abersold