Okay, this one was kind of spur of the moment, so I may have left off some more deserving additions to this list. Basically, these films are love stories, but they're the kind you'd never think of on Valentine's Day or when your with a date.
BRIEF EXPLANATIONS:
10. Pump Up the Volume:
9. Darkman:
8. Zero Effect:
7. The Rules of Attraction:
6. Bound:
5. Fight Club:
4. The Crow:
3. Leaving Las Vegas:
2. Natural Born Killers:
1. True Romance:
Okay thats all, I think I mentioned above these were gonna be brief, but its been awhile since I've written on here and I think I just needed to ramble on about random stuff, so bite me.
Thats it, anything I might have missed let me know. Later.
While this film is mostly about the struggle of the youth to find a voice, or a cause for a voice, in modern society, the underlying theme here is that the main character (Slater) becomes the "voice of our generation" but can't seem to grasp the meaning or signifigance of his words. The meaning comes from the girl (Mathis) who fell in love with the man behind the voice on the radio before she even met him. Its not until boy and girl finally hook up that their purpose becomes clear. Very touching. But not necessarily a romantic movie.
What would this Beast be without his Beauty? Since Sam Raimi's gothic fairy tale/superhero/horror/action film pays tribute to Beauty and the Beast and The Phantom of the Opera and so on, it goes without saying that our mangled hero's sole motivation is to someday be with his love. Revenge and his fulfillment of scientific dreams just kind of go hand in hand down that path towards love. And like all the greatest love stories, it doesn't end quite the way the fairy tales would have you believe. (Damn I love this movie!)
This film is lesser known, but the more I watch it the more I love it. Directed by Jake Kasdan (son of director Lawrence Kasdan, Grand Canyon, The Big Chill) and starring Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller, its the tale of an eccentric private investigator (Pullman) named Darryl Zero, and his assistant to the outside world (Stiller) who take on a case that will change them forever. Without giving anything away, it all revolves around a girl. Darryl Zero is the world's greatest detective mind, he can tell you within 30 seconds of meeting you what you had for dinner last night, where your mother was born, and why you called him there in the first place (or something like that, the movie explains it alot better). Anyway, so when a guy who has everything and everyone figured out begins to fall in love with a potential suspect, how does he keep his world in balance and his mind on track? Thats basically all I can say, but it deserves to be on this list. Go rent it, then you'll see what I mean.
Wow, I love a good fucked up movie in the morning. There's nothing, and I mean nothing, like watching Dawson bang the hell out of Jessica Biel while his internal narrative wonders how he can win back her roomate, the girl he loves. What a realistic take on the screwed up ways in which the youth relate, and how the situations we get ourselves into (although this film is a little more twisted than your everyday situation) in the name of love always backfire and blow their load right in our face. A great date movie, or one to watch with the parental units. (If any devasting event should occur in your life based on the previous comment, be warned now that I was being sarcastic).
Ahhhh... a brilliantly directed (by The Matrix's Wachowski Bros.) film about two lesbians trapped in Scorsese-land, and as a bonus you've got Joe Pantoliano in it. (I love this guy!) I'm not sure if this film is about love, but lust and love are interchangeable in alot of films, so whatever. The girls have a bond, they want out of the mob life, one's stuck in the pocket of the mob, the other's married to it. So, if they scheme together, can lust/love overcome all, so that they may be free. Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon also have great chemistry together (I'm talking about the acting! Jeez, get your heads out of the gutter... and hands where I can see em!).
Like Pump Up the Vomue, this film has a message and a point, and lots of philosophical stuff about modern life, yada yada yada. Everybody knows all that, but its also a really interesting love story. Try going back and watching it, not so you can watch Edward Norton's character develop and evolve and break down, but watch it for the love story between him and Marla. In fact, try to look at everything from her perspective. Its quite tragic what all she endures. And no one will argue the love story element when it comes to the ending. Now thats fucking romantic.
Didn't expect me to put this one on here, did ya? (If I could, I'd find a way to work this onto every single top ten list... hmmm, I'll get started on that now...) Okay, no denying it, the entire film is driven by love. "Love, true love", like the kind in The Princess Bride, won't let the couple's 'dead souls' rest in peace, so it then uses 'the power of love' to set the wrong things right, and reuntite the two lovebirds in the afterlife. Awwwww... and with all its violence and dark imagery, the film maintains the love story aspect throughout the film. Everytime he meets one of his bride-to-be's killers, a flashback will pop up for a sec to remind you of what he lost. I'm getting all teary eyed, so i'll cut this short.
This film is really hard to watch, because its so realistic. What is more romantic than two people, whose lives are shit and have lost all feeling, who then bond together in their collective unhappiness, and find that the bond is just what they needed to carry on, if only for a little bit longer. No fairy-tales here, this is Vegas baby, and its just as gritty and dirty and disturbing as ever. Like I said, a very realistic portrayal of love, hard to stomach at times, but in the end worth the effort (that's a metaphor for relationships, BTW).
Yeah, so its basically Bonnie and Clyde, but I don't remember seeing a man look through the gaping bullet hole in his hand in that movie, or seeing Tommy Lee Jones' head on a spike being carried around by a bunch of jailhouse rioters. So fuck Bonnie, and fuck Clyde, Mickey and Mallory will kick their asses! Mickey and Mallory rule! I'm not saying that killing all those people was good, but if I were a serial killer, I'd want to be just like Mickey and Mallory Knox. Anyway, this is the perfect example of the modern day fairy-tale. The black clad leather demon-knight, who rescues his beautiful but psychologically troubled due to years of repression maiden from her evil kingdom, and then roaming the land in search of new adventures together. And no matter what happens, nothing can take away their love. This film is poetry.
While Natural Born Killers may be the best example of modern fairy tales, this one speaks to me a little more coherently and for some reason I think the message of love comes through better in it. Both films were written by Tarantino, and so both take on the violent, gritty, modern culture version of the fairy tale. But something about Clarence, being a nice guy, doing things, no matter how bad, for the right reasons, for good reasons and with good intentions. It seems to me to fit a hero in a film like this. Its hard to feel sympathy or feel anything sometimes for Mickey in NBK because Mickey gets a little wild (just a little), but Clarence always maintains his cool. Maybe its the divine touch of the KIng that helps him be "so cool," I don't know. Whatever it is, I think that this is one of those rare films that is just as cool to watch as Dogs or Fiction, but it also works as a date movie, (seriously, this time). You want to see Alabama and Clarence make it together, mostly because in the world they live in they may be the last hope for love and good there is.
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