SAM GOES LIST CRAZY - Let me digress for a moment before I get to the CinemaScoped 10 films/25 years list... I don’t love Martin Scorsese. I don’t love his movies. There. I said it. I admire him. I recognize and appreciate his influence. But he’s not my favorite. Not by a long shot. There’s something about Scorsese’s films I just don’t enjoy. The urban crime dramas are gritty, sadistically playful, artistically shot and solemn as hell. “Mean Streets,” “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” “Casino,” and “Bringing out the Dead” are all good films (OK, “Bringing out the Dead” is not good, but it fits the type), but none of them give me the emotional or visceral thrill that my favorite films do. And if I fail to mention a film during this discussion, it means I haven’t seen it. Scorsese’s other forays into filmmaking -- those outside of the underbelly-of-America genre (“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Cape Fear,” “Age of Innocence,” “Kundun”) -- have interested me even less. My favorite Scorsese film? “After Hours.” Because it’s fun and funny and loose and improvisational. Is “After Hours” a better film than “Raging Bull?” No. “Raging Bull” -- and “Taxi Driver” and “Goodfellas” -- are masterpieces of cinematography, editing and characterization. But if you asked me to pick a Scorsese film to watch right now, I’d pick “After Hours.” I am not going to make the argument that Scorsese is overrated. I don’t think that’s true. I’m just sharing my opinion. I’m saying it’s OK to love movies and not love Scorsese.

Which brings me to the CinemaScoped list -- a list-by-committee that reveals the faults of such a list. To create a list of the best films of the last 25 years is presumptuous, futile, and impossible. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun. And it’s a great way to start a conversation. I picked on Martin Scorsese at the top of my post because I hate the fact that two of his films are on the CS list. And the fact is I put “Raging Bull” in my own top ten, but more out of reflex than anything else. Putting “Raging Bull” on the list, in my opinion, is an unconscious genuflection to a previous generation of cineastes. Or maybe I’m just bored with the obvious. Here are my three favorite picks on the CS list, all of which appeared on my own list: “Apocalypse Now.” I saw it when I was 15 and it fucked me up. It was chaotic and scary; but it had an emotional logic that -- if I didn’t entirely understand it -- I believed it. I’ve seen it repeatedly since and it still gets me. The film over-extends and implodes; but its desperation is exhilarating. It feels like the last movie ever made. “Hannah and Her Sisters.” OK, so Woody Allen hasn’t made a great movie in a decade and it’s getting harder to remember what everyone loves about this guy. Go rent this movie. Or “Manhattan” or “Crimes and Misdemeanors” or “Husbands and Wives” -- or even “Manhattan Murder Mystery.” Great writing. Great, great acting. Woody Allen is a great observer of human anxiety. He’s funny, honest, and smart. When he’s on, there is just no one better. “Rushmore.” With “Bottle Rocket” (probably my favorite film of all-time) Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson introduced me to something new in film: sincerity of the absurd. “Rushmore” uses the same formula to an even more specific and creative end. (“The Royal Tennenbaums” pushed the formula past the breaking point, and I found the film indulgent; but I have hope for future projects). For my money, I think Anderson and Wilson have the most original voice currently working in American movies. My favorite thing about “Rushmore” is its emotional honesty in the face of absurdity -- and it’s refusal to cheapen itself with cynicism. I also want to comment on the surprising appearance of “Henry V” on the CS list. This is probably the best example of the consequences of making a list by committee. I love “Henry V,” and I think anyone who has seen it can agree that it’s a well-staged and well-acted film -- definitely the best (literal) Shakespeare adaptation of the past 25 years. And what a great script! But not an influential or a landmark film. And it makes the list because Adam, Eric, and I can’t agree on another auteur to recognize: if one of us loves David Lynch or Paul Thomas Anderson or the Farrelly brothers, the other two can’t stand them; or if one of us loves “In the Mood for Love” or “Yi Yi,” the other two haven’t seen it. And so it goes. So no Oliver Stone, no Robert Altman, no Coen brothers, no Terry Gilliam, and no Jim Jarmusch. And what about “Glengarry Glen Ross?” If you’re of a certain age, this film belongs on a list all by itself. I’ve spent more time with this movie, with these characters, than I have with any other movie. It’s about salesmen. Nothing really happens. All they do is talk. Well, this is the kind of dialogue that every screenwriter wishes he could write. Funny, sharp, and destructive. And read by some of the best actors in the land. This film is just a flawless, endlessly-entertaining gem -- particularly for film and theater geeks like myself. Is it a “great” film? No. It’s the best film. Period.

Now. Here’s another list of films -- more along the lines of the type of lists that have appeared in the Feedback Forum. This is a list of my favorite movies of the past 25 years; the films that remind me why I love movies. It’s telling that the bulk of these films are from the mid-to-late 90s: these movies served as my film education. It may also help to think of these as my “desert island” movies.

Bottle Rocket/Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1996-1999)
Mystery Train/Dead Man/Ghost Dog (Jim Jarmusch, 1989-1999)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
Midnight Run (Martin Brest, 1988)
Flirting With Disaster (David O. Russell, 1996)
The Insider (Michael Mann, 1999)
32 Short Films About Glenn Gould (Francois Girard, 1994)
Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson, 2000)
Big Night/The Imposters (Campbell Scott/Stanley Tucci, 1996-1998)
Out of Sight/The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, 1998-1999)
The Matrix (Wachowski Brothers, 1999)
Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley, 1992)
Hannah and Her Sisters/Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen, 1986-1992)

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