We’re doing something a little different around these parts this week. 

One of my mutuals on the social media site formerly/still known as Twitter mentioned recently that she was sad so few people discussed older films with her. Folks would chime in with hot takes over the latest MCU installment or indie darling, but by and large, they seemed to memory hole any movie made more than two years ago.

I get that. Philosopher George Satayana famously wrote, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it,” and we Americans famously respond to that with, “Hold our beer.” We’re dumb when it comes to politics, we’re knuckleheaded when it comes to culture, and we have the attention span of fruit flies when it comes to art.

It got me thinking about my cinematic foundation. I can’t tell you my favorite movies of all time, since it constantly shifts. I can tell you about the movies that changed the way I look at the world and engage with art. They are…

  • Batman – I’m not the world’s biggest Tim Burton fan. He’s an excellent visual stylist that often seems more interested in artistic expression than telling a story. But he took a character best known from a campy 1960s TV show and forced audiences to take him and his world seriously. Having said that, I wouldn’t be upset at this point if future Batman movies got sillier.
  • JFK – Do I believe that President John F. Kennedy was killed by a sprawling conspiracy involving the CIA, the Mob, and possibly Lyndon Johnson? Not so much!* I do believe that our government lies to us. I also believe that, in terms of direction, editing, and performances, Oliver Stone made one of the greatest films in the history of film.
  • Goodfellas – There’s a myth about the Mafia that involves calculating men in thousand dollar suits making Machiavellian decisions. Scorsese’s mob epic lit the myth of The Godfather on fire. He revealed the real Mafia to be mostly gold-plated dipshits, a bunch of idiots with no class, no intelligence, and no ability to plan in the long-term. 
  • The Blues Brothers – No lie, I’ve seen this film over one hundred times. It’s one of the only Saturday Night Live movies worth a damn, and it’s a deeply strange film set at the end of the Disco era that revitalized the careers of musical legends. If you love Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles, or James Brown, thank John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.
  • An American Werewolf in London – Is it a funny horror movie or a scary comedy? Yes. For a minute, John Landis was one of the hottest directors in America.** No wonder, since the laughs and scares hit the mark perfectly here. It’s also got perhaps the greatest werewolf transformation scene, made with zero CGI.
  • The Shining – I first saw Kubrick’s chilly horror film edited on TV, a few years after my mother died. I remember being stunned to see a father trying his best to kill his child. It stuck with me that sometimes, maybe often, the people who love you will hurt you. That’s why it’s dangerous to trust them.
  • The Adventures of Baron Munchausen – Movies are supposed to look and feel a certain way. Terry Gilliam laughs at that concept. Munchausen bombed massively in 1988, costing Columbia Pictures close to $40 million. Gilliam still made a film that’s visually astonishing and thematically daring.
  • Malcolm X – I grew up in Boulder, Colorado, a place not exactly known for its diversity. This was the first Spike Lee film I had seen theatrically. I had no idea what the Black experience was like, and I got the tiniest taste of that. Just as importantly, I learned about a person who changed his life for the better twice, when most people can’t do it once.
  • Predator – Sure, I saw Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. Love ‘em both, and I learned that when Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in a movie, he was an unstoppable force. But what happened when his musculature and weaponry made no difference to his opponent? Arnold having to outthink his physical superior changed what his movies were all about for the better.
  • The Fugitive – I like Harrison Ford. You like Harrison Ford. He’s an excellent actor who doesn’t often stretch himself.*** This film features the best of both worlds. As the running man Dr. Richard Kimble, Ford meshes his iconic action hero persona with a three-dimensional performance. He’s scared, tired, and more than a little desperate. Plus, Tommy Lee Jones is one of the few co-stars impervious to Ford’s Finger of Doom.

Everyone who’s a movie nerd, cinema dork, or film dweeb has these building blocks, and everything they’re into flows from that foundation. What’s your foundation built from?

 

*From the Kennedy assassination to 9/11 truthers to the rise of the Deep State, I think most conspiracies are understandable nonsense. We seek to impose order on an inherently chaotic world. Remind your frightened parents who think that COVID is a Chinese bioweapon that people talk. They can’t help themselves, and that’s why there are so few real conspiracies.

**He made Animal House, The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London back to back. Then during the making of 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie, Landis likely caused the deaths of three actors due to negligence. To learn more about this tragedy and be gobsmacked that people didn’t go to jail, read “Outrageous Conduct” by Stephen Farber and Marc Green. I’m also told that “Fly By Night” by Steven Chain is an excellent account.

***His best roles are in Witness and The Mosquito Coast.

Tim Brennan
Tim has been alarmingly enthusiastic about movies ever since childhood. He grew up in Boulder and, foolishly, left Colorado to study Communications in Washington State. Making matters worse, he moved to Connecticut after meeting his too-good-for-him wife. Drawn by the Rockies and a mild climate, he triumphantly returned and settled down back in Boulder County. He's written numerous screenplays, loves hiking, and embarrassed himself in front of Samuel L. Jackson. True story.  
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