Adam's Top Ten List

I started keeping a log of every movie I watched back on May 21st 2004, so every year at this time I make my Top Ten Movies of My Film Watching Year. The list may include any film that I have seen for the first time during my movie watching year; so you won't see films like Eyes Wide Shut or Pulp Fiction, etc. etc. Each year I strive to hit 365 movies watched but always fall short due to too much time spent at work or watching TV. All told, my movie watching total is 279 for the year. In addition to all my movies I have managed to watch the first 2 seasons of HBOs Deadwood, which I can say with confidence is perhaps the best dramatic show I have ever watched...I am a really big fan of westerns though so go figure.

I was a little disappointed, looking at my list, that I hadn't seen more films that truly impressed me. Although I feel the quality of films I saw this year went down a little bit, I was pleased with my number one pick having been so amazing. I always have such a hard time putting my favorite films in order so I apologize if my ranking offend anyone.


1.) Inland Empire - David Lynch

With an almost 100% certainty, I would say this is the best movie I've seen perhaps, since Eyes Wide Shut. As I have said before, I believe this is the best film shot on digital video ever. Read my earlier blog on it and wait for it to come out on DVD if you haven't seen it yet.




2.) Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick

There isn't a whole lot more I can say about his film as I have already posted a blog on it. It's a classic, a real masterpiece, a period drama at its absolute finest.




3.) Lawrence of Arabia - David Lean

To talk about this film and pretend like you are saying something original is stupid so all I'll say is, if you haven't seen it; then do it .




4.) Eraserhead - David Lynch

When I finally sat down to watch Lynch's first film I was expecting to have a difficult time getting through it. Instead, I was fixed on the sureness with which it progressed through the strange landscape of the main characters life. All along there was this strange hum guiding you through everything else. For me, next to Inland Empire, it's his best film.




5.) The New World - Terrence Malick

The New World is at once poetry and art on the big screen. I read one critic say that this film achieves what The Thin Red Line did not due to Malick's over-ambitiousness. The New World does play out on a slightly smaller scale but is told in the same style both cinematically and through the storytelling, as The Thin Red Line. It's absolutely beautiful and shows that you don't have to have a language heavy screenplay to make an amazing film.




6.) Happy Together - Wong Kar Wai

Wong Kar Wai is just awesome. Two lovers from Hong Kong go to Argentina for what was to be a holiday and end up trying to grind out an new existence. It's an amazing and painful relationship movie film by a truly great director.




7.) HurlyBurly - Anthony Drazan

This film is basically a story about drugs, sex, and the movie business. It has a brilliant script and awesome performances from pretty much every cast member, especially Sean Penn, Chazz Palminteri, Garry Shandling, and Kevin Spacey.




8.) Cache - Michael Haneke

Cache is about a family that receive these video tapes and cryptic drawings from someone who is watching them. After dangerously investigating, the father believes someone is trying to take revenge from something from his past that he has tried to keep secret. The films long static shots may seem daring, and to idiots, annoying, but I was totally captivated by them...just waiting for something to happen. With this film Haneke creates a tense film that for me, is a must see.



9.) Miami Vice - Michael Mann

Many people forgot about this film or drastically underrated it either because of its box office performance or the cast, but I real loved it. Mann mixes mostly glamorous bits of the lives of undercover Miami detective with moments of extreme reality. For the two hours I watched the film I desperately wanted to be a cop.




10.) Brick - Rian Johnson

Joseph Gordon Levitt is freakin awesome, in case you didn't know. In this contemporary film-noir he plays a teenage Sherlock Holmes type-dude investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. The filmmakers picked a style and concept and went with it for the entire film and it worked perfectly; creating, what I thought was, an original film.




If you have some time on your hands also check out my honorable mentions: Running Scared(2006), All the Real Girls, Pola X, When the Levees Broke, Grindhouse, Dave Chappelle's Block Party, and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.