My Beloved Movies: Open Outer Doors

Forrest Gump

It’s schlocky. It’s problematic. But I didn’t know that in 1994. I’ve seen it to many times and the soundtrack is amazing. I had to include it.

Get Out

I too would vote for Obama a third time if I could. That means I’m not racist, right? See. I totally get this movie. It’s fucking great. Do I really need to explain it?



Go

My favorite of the Pulp Fiction knock-off era. It’s crazy, well-written, and Timothy Olyphant was a star from the moment he stepped in front of a camera. And who doesn’t want more naked William Fichtner?

The Godfather

I’ve been trying to write the same screenplay for over a decade. One of my many stumbling blocks was when a friend told me I was basically trying to write The Godfather. So great, that’s a challenge I didn’t anticipate.

The Godfather, Part II

There are two types of people, people who think Part II is superior to the original, and people who are wrong. There is not a better moment than “I knew it was you.”

The Grand Budapest Hotel

By far my favorite Wes Anderson. It’s grand and it’s personal. It tells stories in so many different ways. I love swearing, and no one does it better than Ralph Fiennes here. It’s a fun, goofy World War II story that both satirizes and takes that deadly seriously. Utter brilliance.

Gravity

I hate 3D movies. They’re dumb and they make movies look like dioramas. I saw this in 2D the first time and I loved it. So when a friend also wanted to see it, I figured what the hell, and this is why 3D was invented, to define distance the way we define it in life, on the Z-axis. Watch any movie and pay attention to how characters enter and exit space. No other movie moves characters like this. The whole story is about how far apart objects are, and no other movie defines that distance this well. This is how 3D should be used, always.

Groundhog Day

Do I really need to explain why I love this?

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

“You listen to me. You say you don’t want to tell me how to live my life. So what do you think you’ve been doing? You tell me what rights I’ve got or haven’t got, and what I owe to you for what you’ve done for me. Let me tell you something. I owe you nothing! If you carried that bag a million miles, you did what you’re supposed to do! Because you brought me into this world. And from that day you owed me everything you could ever do for me like I will owe my son if I ever have another. But you don’t own me! You can’t tell me when or where I’m out of line, or try to get me to live my life according to your rules. You don’t even know what I am, Dad, you don’t know who I am. You don’t know how I feel, what I think. And if I tried to explain it the rest of your life you will never understand. You are 30 years older than I am. You and your whole lousy generation believes the way it was for you is the way it’s got to be. And not until your whole generation has lain down and died will the dead weight of you be off our backs! You understand, you’ve got to get off my back!”

Hackers

It’s just so good-bad. It is very much what it is and tries so hard to be that. Is it in any way indicative of real life hackers or their subculture? No, not even close. But it’s a damn good movie, and Johnny Lee Miller and a young Angelina Jolie are so good together.

The Hunt for Red October

John McTiernan is such a tight filmmaker. Every line, every frame, not a single wasted. This is the best submarine movie ever made. It’s so technical and so engaging. I don’t even care that Sean Connery is playing it Scottish, Sam Neill is playing it Russian, and Tim Curry is playing it British. Every time I watch it, I find something new. It’s just so dense. Fuck, I love this movie.