“Favorites” may come and go, even shift like the wind. But they’re fun to compile, make you think things through, and can sometimes reveal a lot. So, a work in progress, as time allows (and winds shift):

last update: 2005-12-09

MOVIES: All (across the board)

• Blade Runner
  A perennial classic. Layered, visionary, a masterful work of art that remains unsurpassed, certainly in SciFi, but also as pure, mindbending � and heartbreaking � storytelling at its best.
• Mulholland Drive
  A modern masterpiece. The culmination of Lynch’s bittersweet fixation on love that hurts, and the most seamless of dreamscapes this amazing filmmaker has woven, to date.
• Magnolia
  PTA’s most involving, personal, and magical work. An intricate weave that holds water, and the most ballsy use of music ever, or since. Incidentally, Tom Cruise’s best performance.
• Lost In Translation
  Aims for so subtle and nebulous a target, I didn’t even know it existed until Sophia hit a perfect bullseye. A masterpiece of moving, lovely understatement, and the role Bill Murray lived his whole life to play.
• Pulp Fiction
  Genre-busting, madcap brilliance. Infinitely watchable, from any point, to finish.
• American Beauty
  Idiosyncratic yet universal; topical yet timeless; terrifying and beautiful. Bravo.
• Casino
  Easily Scorsese’s best. Brilliant and brutal, poetic and jolting. Plus, Devo’s “Satisfaction” cover blaring away during a shoot-em-up sequence always kills me.
• Broadcast News
  Tells a very big story in a very small, personal, and heartfelt way. A (so far) timeless treat, and another reminder that Holly Hunter is just awesome.
• Raising Arizona
  It was either this or Fargo, but Arizona edges out for pure laughs-per-minute. Smart, hysterical, lovely.
• Heavenly Creatures
  Perfection. Hard to believe this gem was created by the man responsible for the gargantua that is LOTR and now Kong.

Three Kings
Grit, transformation and redemption in a “modern,” politicized war. Cool look and feel that actually serves a great story, well told.

• The Hunger
  For telling the overtold Vampire tale with new, sexy, and achingly romantic energy. Plus David Bowie, in his best bigscreen appearance.
• Fearless
  Timeless fable of love, loss, and the terror of admitting we need other people to be complete. Masterful storytelling, plus Isabella Rosselini’s not too hard on the eyes.

MOVIES: Action (’cause different standards apply)

• Collateral + Heat
  Weak finishes are forgivable in these classic tales of bad vs/= good. And Michael Mann sure as hell knows how to stage his gunplay!
• Ronin
  DeNiro, again, wins as ex(?) CIA man on a mercenary mission with a cool ensemble.
• Training Day
  One day, a lifetime of hurt, and the performance that earned Denzel his (well-deserved) Oscar.
• The Matrix
  So influential that by the time the sequels came out, they felt dated, besides sucking so bad they almost spoiled the memory of this groundbreaking jewel.

More later, as time allows…