Ten Movies I'm Most Thankful For: A Thanksgiving Special

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Today's holiday is a time to take pause and think about everything for which we are thankful. As we celebrate with family and friends, I thought I'd take a look and see what films I was most thankful for. While I'm sure I could come up with dozens of films that I love just as much as the ones in the following list, I think these are the ten films I'm most thankful have been made over the years. So while you sit back, eat turkey and watch football, give this list a view. Once again, happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

*****

The 400 Blows
1959
This French film (originally titled Les quatre cents coup) was a bit of an eye-opener for me. I think it's one of those films that everyone needs to see at least once in their lifetime, but it's only going to have an emotional impact if you watch it at just the right time in your life. Fortunately for me, I watched it at exactly the right moment in my life's journey. The story tells of a boy who's looking to find meaning in his own life, and after a series of trials and tribulations, he is able to break away from conformity only to find himself wondering where to turn next. I was in a similar situation when I watched this film, and the boy's inner turmoil reflected my own almost exactly. While it didn't offer any explanation or advice, just seeing my own conflict portrayed so beautifully was enough to leave me in tears.

*****

2001: A Space Odyssey
1968
2001: A Space Odyssey is not a film to be enjoyed. It is a film to be watched and admired and thought about for ages. Every time I watch this film, I always get the urge to spend a month watching the movie over and over again. While I'm sure there's been countless interpretation of Stanley Kubrick's film, we may never know if any of them are actually correct. And I think that's what makes this film so brilliant. You can sit down and watch it a dozen times, and you could easily have a dozen different ideas and interpretations. It's definitely not a film for everyone; if you can't find a way to get into it, it's going to be a long, drawn-out experience for you. But for those of you who are able to see the beauty in the film, you'll realize that it isn't just a movie: it is an experience that should be taken by any true fan of film.

*****

Brokeback Mountain
2005
There's actually a fundamental and personal reason for me to be thankful for Brokeback Mountain, and I think the story will suffice as explanation. I was raised in a strict conservative household, and although I don't remember any overt concessions or statements against the homosexual community, I immediately opposed this film upon its release, claiming it was just a "gay cowboy" movie. I went so far as to cheer against it at that year's Academy Awards despite having not seen the film. It took me three more years to sit down and watch the film, and I found it to be one of the most beautiful romances I have ever seen on-screen. It may not have been the only driving force, but it completely changed my views on love and who should be allowed to love one another. In a way, I have this film to thank for my overall tolerance, and for that, I think we can all be thankful.

*****

The Cove
2009
Much in the way Brokeback Mountain opened my eyes to the world, The Cove did the same in terms of animal cruelty. I had not been much for documentaries until a few years ago, and when I heard about The Cove and its subject matter, I have to admit I was a little hesitant to give it a watch. I knew exactly what I was going to see, and that alone would be enough to keep a lot of people from watching this film. However, I will take the stance right now and say that every person - man, woman and (maybe) child - needs to see The Cove. It needs to be universally known exactly what's happening around the world in terms of animal cruelty, and even though this film only focuses on one specific happening, it talks about how prevalent such cruelty has become around the world. It made me want to rise to action, and the best way I know how to do that is to draw attention to this film's existence.

*****

Gone with the Wind
1939
This is the classic film to top all classic films, and it's also the first film to use "foul" language (although by today's standards, the use of the word "damn" isn't all that shocking). While it blazed that particular trail, it also set the standard in terms of romantic dramas, and I have yet to see a film that surpasses it in its magnitude and sheer force. It's a long film, so there may not be many people who have the patience to sit through it nowadays, but true film aficionados will know this to be one of the greatest films ever to grace the silver screen. Even seventy-two years later, it's still one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen, and it ranks very highly among my favorites.

*****

Happiness
1998
One particular friend is going to scoff at the fact that I've included this film on this list. She claims it's one of the grossest movies she's ever seen, but I can see where she's coming from with her statement. However, the dark comedy and sarcasm in which the subject matter is portrayed is so brilliantly done that I can't begin to hate this film in any regards. The reason I'm thankful for Happiness, however, is it's the first film to show me that there really are no boundaries in the film medium. In a day and age where so much is controlled by the Motion Picture Assocation of America, it's refreshing to see a film that pushes the taboos aside and just lets it all go. (Disclaimer: this film definitely isn't for everyone; it deals with a lot of sexual content that shouldn't be viewed by younger audiences, so be forewarned.)

*****

Jaws
1975
How could I possibly leave my favorite film of all time off this list? You can read my post about the film itself linked above if you want to get all my insight about the film (it's a longer post, just so you know), but at a very basic level, I think everyone has to be thankful for their favorite movie. It's a film I can come back to any day and be able to sit down and watch it in its entirety and be thoroughly entertained. What makes this movie so great for me is that it is so thoroughly entertaining, and it always finds a way to make me re-fall in love with it. It's simple yet so perfectly brilliant in its methods of filmmaking that it's hard not to like. But most importantly, Jaws reminds me that film is supposed to be about entertainment. While I can go on for ages nit-picking films in my reviews, it really comes down to whether or not a movie is entertaining. Jaws will always find a way to keep me engaged, and for that, I am thankful.

*****

No Country for Old Men
2007
When No Country for Old Men was released in 2007, I was living in Santa Cruz, California, and it was playing at my favorite particular theater. I remember the experience vividly: the moment the film ended, I and the eight other people sitting in the theater sat silently through the final credits. The moment the lights returned in the theater, I ran out to buy the original novel in order to understand it. The reason I'm thankful for this film is the fact that it's the movie that made me want to start writing reviews. The amount of thought I put into No Country for Old Men and exactly what it meant spurred me towards this blog, which I ultimately started three years later after I had finished my undergraduate schooling. So, for all of you who enjoy my reviews and this blog in general, you should also thank No Country for Old Men for getting me started down that path.

*****

Psycho
1960
Much in the way I couldn't leave Jaws (my favorite film) off this list, there was no way I could leave Psycho (the best film I've ever seen) off this list either. (To get the whole story behind my viewing of Psycho, check out the link given above because it's a doozy of a story.) Alfred Hitchcock's most iconic film set the tone for the rest of cinematic history. Without this film, who knows where the evolution of movies would have taken us. There are so many movie "firsts" in Psycho that it's a little bit overwhelming. It broke through taboos that filmmakers had refused to break previously. I honestly believe that the face of the cinematic landscape would be drastically different had Hitchcock not released this film back in 1960. Solely based on that, I think there's enough reason to be thankful for this film. The fact that it's also brilliant is just one more plus.

*****

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1937
There's two reasons I'm thankful for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. First, it was the first feature-length animated film ever created. Had the film proven to be terrible, there's a chance that animation might never had made much of an impact on the cinematic landscape. Fortunately, it was met by rave reviews, and only three years later, Pinocchio was released to similar reviews, forever stamping the presence of animated films The second reason I'm thankful for Snow White is that it stamped Walt Disney as a legitimate presence on the feature-film stage. While he'd had success with his short films, the success of Snow White put him at the forefront of animation - a place he, as well as the Disney company, have managed to stay until this day.

Ten Films That Traumatized Me

Anyone who's ever watched a scary movie has sat through a film that thoroughly scared them. That's the basis of the horror genre: to shock and to terrify. However, there's a fine line between being scared and being traumatized. A scare may only last for a moment or for the a film's duration, but trauma can last days, weeks, months or years. Some films have the ability to traumatize an individual, and depending on that individual's willpower, the trauma may even last a lifetime. So for this second day of my "6 Days of Halloween," I've created a list of ten films that have traumatized me in my lifetime. As you'll see, not all of them are necessarily horror films, but the fabric of each type of trauma was terrifying enough to make each movie stick with me for an extended period of time. So without any further delay, here's the ten films that have most traumatized me in my lifetime. I hope you enjoy!

10. Independence Day
1996
Independence Day freaked me out in a couple of ways. It was the first movie I ever remember seeing that gave me the very real sensation that an alien invasion might actually be possible. As an eight-year-old child, I remember walking out of the theater as the sun was setting and thinking that the orange glow was a firestorm heading towards me. I went on to have a nightmare that night about one of the aliens hiding inside a closet in my house. I was never able to open that closet again without seeing that image.

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9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977
To be honest, there was only one scene in Close Encounters that ever truly got to me. I first saw this film when I was a child, and the scene where Barry runs off with the aliens scared the hell outta me. Just before he leaves, everything inside the house starts to shake and rattle and roll, and electrical things come to life. For a youngster, this was quite the terrifying experience, and it's stuck with me ever since.

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8. Old Yeller
1957
Anyone who has seen this film will know exactly why it made this list. Growing up, my family always had golden retrievers, so seeing a film with a Labrador /Mastiff was definitely appealing not only to me but to my entire household. Little did I know what tragedy awaited me at film's end, and I have yet to recover from the emotional scarring. A lot of folks will cite the mother's death in Bambi as one of their most traumatic film moments, but Old Yeller has always gotten to me.

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7. Jurassic Park
1993
Like Independence Day, Jurassic Park was a film from my childhood that found a way to enter the realm of my dreams. The night after seeing the film, five-year-old me had one of the most vivid nightmares of my entire life: it was so realistic that I still remember it as though it occurred yesterday. What started as a seemingly beautiful dream quickly turned terrifying as as velociraptor proceeded to chase me through the jungle, and only my sudden awakening spared me an awful fate. Needless to say, dinosaurs scared me for quite a while after that one.

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6. Child's Play
1988
I actually didn't see this film in its entirety until last Halloween, but the character Chucky has haunted me for years. While channel surfing one childhood days, I stumbled across a movie I had never seen. I watched for a few minutes until I saw a red-headed doll awaken and proceed to stab a woman to death. From that moment on, any mention of the doll caused me to cringe in horror. Now that I've seen the film itself, the trauma has subsided slightly, but there's still something about Chucky that gets to me.

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5. The Birds
1963
Ah, the brilliance of Alfred Hitchcock. While not necessarily one of his best films, The Birds still managed to seep its way into my subconscious. Having seen bits and pieces of the film during my childhood, I slowly grew a bit of fear toward it. The schoolhouse scene was one of the scariest things I had ever seen, and to torture me, my father used to tap against the walls of my room to simulate the pecking noises the birds had made in the film. Once I was able to see the film in its entirety, however, I was able to shake the terror that had haunted me for the better part of my childhood and adolescent life.

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4. Happiness
1998
I know what you're thinking: how could a comedy possibly traumatize an individual? My answer would be, "Surely you've never seen a Todd Solondz film." Happiness is by far one of the most sexualized and disgusting films I've ever seen, and it's easily one of my favorites. The biting sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek attitude creates a terrific atmosphere. The reason it traumatized me, however, was the result of one particular scene. Baker (pictured above) portrays a child molester, and in one scene, we see his attempt to take his son's best friend. After a series of events, I found myself cheering for Baker's character, hoping he would succeed in his endeavor to rape the boy. Once you start cheering for a child molester, you're never really the same. I still feel horribly about it.

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3. A Clockwork Orange
1971
Stanley Kubrick sure knew how to make 'em, and A Clockwork Orange was no exception. Like Happiness, however, this film only needed one scene to push me over the edge. It's a semi-graphic rape scene that occurs near the start of the film, almost setting the tone for the unsettling nature of what the audience is about to witness. The scene's memorability is heightened by the fact that one of the rapists sings "Singin' in the Rain" whilst committing the atrocious act. Since seeing this film, I haven't been able to listen to the original Gene Kelly version without my mind being whisked to this rape scene. Thanks, Kubrick.

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2. Halloween
1978
The slasher film to start all slasher films, Halloween was groundbreaking in what it did and what it meant for the horror genre. It essentially created an invincible beast who terrorized over and over, and the image of Michael Myers has always stuck in my mind. I think it's the fact that he never utters a word that really gets to me. While killers like Freddy Krueger often talk themselves to death, Michael stays silent throughout his reign on-screen, and that white William Shatner mask only adds to the creepiness. This is the boogeyman incarnate, and he'll always get to me.

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1. Psycho
1960
Oh, the trauma to end all trauma. I first saw the shower scene from Psycho as a four-year-old at Universal Studios Hollywood. In one of their special effects stages, they chose to talk about cinematography, and who better to use than Hitchcock himself. And so, they showed the 45-second clip of a mysterious intruder brutally slicing Marion Crane as she attempts to take a shower. The high-pitched screeching of Bernard Herrmann's score, combined with the high-pitched screams from Janet Leigh, make this scene one of the most memorable and instantly recognizable to hit the silver screen. It scared me so much that it took me years to want to take a shower, and to this day, I have issues with shower curtains.

Happy Birthday, Philip Seymour Hoffman!

I know I've been posting a lot of birthday lists in the past few days, but when you've got a string of birthdays close together, it's hard for me to leave any particular individual out. The same goes for today's second birthday boy, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman has been a consistent presence on the Hollywood stage, proving himself to be one of the premiere actors around. His three Academy Award nominations - and one win for 2005's Capote - say enough about his critical success as an actor, but I personally believe he should have received much more praise than that. As proof of my fanaticism with Hoffman's work, I've chosen to give you my top ten roles, rather than my usual top five, for his tribute post. So without any further delay, here's my ten favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman roles. Enjoy!

10. Reverend Veasey
Cold Mountain (2003)

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9. Brandt
The Big Lebowski (1998)


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8. The Count
Pirate Radio (2009)


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7. Freddie Miles
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

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6. Scotty J.
Boogie Nights (1997)


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5. Truman Capote
Capote (2005)

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4. Jacob Elinsky
25th Hour (2002)


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3. Father Brendan Flynn
Doubt (2008)


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2. Lester Bangs
Almost Famous (2000)


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1. Allen
Happiness (1998)


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Awards
1998: Nominee - Best Supporting Actor, Comedy
1999: Nominee - Best Cameo or Brief Appearance
2000: Winner - Best Cameo or Brief Appearance
2002: Nominee - Best Supporting Actor, Drama
2008: Nominee - Best Supporting Actor, Drama
2009: Nominee - Best Voice Acting