The Good, the Better and the Best

It's strange that we have managed to get this far without making a list of our favourite films. There's a reason for that. We have so many movies that would deserve to be on this list, so in order to cut it down to a reasonable amount for a blog, we have picked our favourites according to genre. Some of the films' genres overlap, because obviously they do. We had to pick genres, otherwise this list would be over a 100 titles. 

A few genres are missing, like western. Because they aren't our thing. If we had to pick, we'd take a western in a modern setting (The Way of the Gun). We actually have one western that we absolutely love, but it's a TV series. Film noirs are also something we're not drawn to. Again, if we had to pick a film noir, it would be a modern one (L.A. Confidential). We've dropped the genre 'thriller' as we don't think it's a separate genre because it's always paired with something else, eg. mystery, horror or action. In addition, it's nearly indistinguishable from horror or mystery. Animated movies are just movies, you can have an animated anything. As you'll be able to see by the end of this list, we're ridiculously mainstream.

1. The Deer Hunter (war)

Anyone who knows us or has followed our blog, probably already knew that this is our other favourite film of all time. We assigned the war genre (it could have been drama as well) to this because we don't generally like war films. War films seem to take place only during the war and focus more on the military and army perspective. And a war is so much more than that. The Deer Hunter is not about the action or heroism in war but about war as a construct and its effect on one's psyche. Since it is Hollywood there's a serious problem with racism when depicting the Vietnamese. Everything else about this movie is on a different plane entirely. It has some of the best acting in film history. What we especially love about this movie is that you have to pay attention during the whole film. Everything is meaningful, no matter how insignificant it seems. This is what we compare other films to. This is the golden standard of film making for us.

1. It's a Wonderful Life (family)

Also, might not be a big surprise this shares the top place. This film is just so life-affirming. If you ever feel like you need to restore your faith in humanity, this is the one to watch. We're pretty sure that we're preaching to the choir here. Who hasn't seen this movie? 

3. The original Star Wars trilogy (adventure)

This might be cheating for some, but c'mon! The one does not exist without the other two. If we were held at gunpoint and forced to choose, it would be The Empire Strikes Back. But we're not. We love all three equally. These have stayed with us since we can't even remember. We love everything about these, even the silly, stupid and dated aspects. They are the perfect adventure films. Unlike most other adventure films these have more than one level. Plus Princess Leia is our first feminist icon.

4. The Apartment (romance)

Oh, the time when romance offered as deep and intricate insights into society, relationships and the human condition as the best of dramas did. When romance hadn't been degraded into something purely frivolous and superficial. We love good romance and we hate it when it's shoved into this narrow box that film executives have created. This is what great romance movies can be. It's so funny but so sad at the same time. The main characters are simply lovable. It's Billy Wilder at his absolute best. Though we like Psycho it does not compare, this definitely deserved the Oscar. We particularly appreciate the subtle anti-corporate message.

5. Princess Mononoke (fantasy)

Another case of sharing because we can't make a decision. We love all of Miyazaki's works but this is hands down our favourite. We love his humanist ideals that are reflected in his films. And Mononoke is no exception. Fantasy has probably always been our most favourite genre, so when you combine Miyazaki's humanism with fantasy, it's inevitable that film should end up on this list. This was something that transferred us to a completely different world. We don't like anime, but this is what it could be at its best. 

5. Beauty and the Beast (musical)

Obviously the animation. The best that Disney has ever produced. Indisputably. Menken's best music, best animation, best story and best characters. The visuals are far and above any other Disney film. This is not a Disney movie, this is A Movie.  This is the only one, THE ONLY ONE, that rivals Miyazaki. Is there anything more to say about it?

7. Eastern Promises (crime)

We felt guilty about liking this film for the longest time (chalk it up to trying to be good Mormons). But goddamn if this movie isn't impressive. This is one of those that we return to time and time again and we like it more each time we watch it. It's dark and twisty, just as we like 'em.  This film is brutal and unforgettable. The Russian melancholy really gets us every time. 

8. Arrival (science fiction)

We never thought we would have a favourite sci-fi movie until we saw this. It's definitely the best film we have seen in the cinema. The science aspect in it is linguistics, a humanist science. Of course we loved it. It's incredibly well-constructed. This is the only movie where we love the plot twist, we normally either dislike them or are indifferent to them. The twist makes the film bittersweet and we love it.

9. The Lady Vanishes (mystery)

Obviously we had to have a Hitchcock on this list. It would've been invalid otherwise. We loved it immediately after seeing it. We really like Agatha Christie's mystery novels and she might as well have written this movie. 

10. On the Waterfront (drama)

It was a tough choice between this and East of Eden. This took the edge by the difference of a hair. This is a classic so it's no surprise that this is on the list. The reason this film touched us is because it's a story of redemption.  We love that it's a working-class story from a working-class perspective.

11. Bringing Up Baby (comedy)

This on the other hand was such an easy choice. The minute we saw it we knew it would remain as our favourite comedy. The slapstick, the verbal quips and the wacky characters! It's a never-ending gagfest where all the gags work. We quote this movie a lot.

 












12. 28 Days Later (horror)

For quite a while this was the only horror film we did like (we have since discovered a few more). This was the first and it hit the hardest. This isn't about how frightening the monsters are but about how scary we as humans could be in this situation. 

13. Aliens (action)

Yes, we think that The Terminator is the best action film, but this is our favourite. Another film that we can't remember not having seen. Awesome and kick-ass female character, terrific action and surprisingly genuine human interaction. What's not to like?

 










The thread connecting most of these films is a character-driven story, often with a humanist undertone. Music is pretty damn important to us as well. Film language and visual storytelling are also things we pay a lot of attention to. 

The Two Turds

We're talking about the extended cuts because those were the filmmakers' vision. And boy oh boy, how we detest this one. More so than the 3rd one (which is not a favourite in our household anyway). We think we've proved that we are capable of analyzing films independent of the book or be at least somewhat objective when it comes to movie adaptations of books we worship. 'Cause the first movie mostly works even separately from the book. This one on the other hand... Even if one was to discard the book entirely, this movie still has some serious structural problems. Not to mention the awful character assassinations. As we've stated previously, there's no use in looking at adaptations separate from the source material. The intention of the filmmakers was to make an adaptation. So excuse our anger.

Pros: Gonna be a real short list. Music, costumes, set designs, locations and most of the actor choices. Some action scenes are entertaining and well-put together. Cinematography is also great. And did we mention music? 'Cause it definitely merits a second shout out. All the external factors that had nothing or little to do with story and characters were good.

Cons: We had to divide this into two parts; our biggest issues are story and characters, the rest would just be nitpicking. Let's start with the story. Anyone who has seen the documentaries knows that they explained the change in the chain of events in the book by some bullshit reasoning that the film's story should be linear (for some reason?). This causes some major trouble for pacing. Goddamn this movie is boring at times.  It starts okay, but the whole middle part is a real drudge to get through. They've added pointless scenes and needless crap that lead nowhere and add nothing to the characters, or at least add nothing good. They've also kept some parts from the book that could have been discarded (like the Dead Marshes). Best example about adding useless stuff - that damn wolf attack scene. What they were clearly trying to do (and they admit to this in the documentaries) is to create conflict and tension artificially. As they say, to "up the ante". There are not many tricks in storytelling we hate more than this one (we'll get to this in greater detail when discussing Faramir). 

In this particular case, linear storytelling is impossible. There's a reason why Tolkien wrote the rest of the story out of sequence after the Fellowship disbanded. By the way, viewers are not stupid - we can pick up on the real sequence of events even if they are told out of order. In the end, we just kept asking "why? why change this? this would've worked just as it was in the book and actually been better cinema-wise." Now it's just out of balance. Additionally, we do not appreciate cheap emotional manipulation tricks (eg. Sam's whole speech at the end of the movie). The movie is riddled with them. 

Moving on to characters. So what the fuck happened to Aragorn? He's an asshole now? (Viggo is still perfect, though). They nullified his growth from the first movie - his character suffers from the invented tension. Because apparently they needed to make him be a total dickbag to Arwen, so that we'll all be like "oh no, whatever will happen to them?", in addition to creating an excruciating love triangle.  This also bleeds into Arwen's character, who is treated abysmally. She's completely infantilized by both Aragorn and her father. She's one of the most ancient and wise beings in that world (if one has read the appendices), here she's a lovelorn teenager who doesn't know her own mind.

Frodo and Sam. This is where it all goes downhill for Frodo. They doubled down on everything that we didn't like about his character in the first film. He's totally passive and none of his actions (which are a few and far between) make any difference. This is also where the Ring porn really kicks off. And that means that Frodo's character is defined by the Ring. In the book, it is a fairly fascinating, gradual and psychological journey for his character. Here,  it's just a simple "Ring is evil, so now Frodo is under its spell". And dear god Sam, what have they done to you?!?! Sure, in the book Sam was very suspicious of Gollum, but NEVER to the point of cruelty or violence.  The wedge they're driving between Sam and Frodo is at its worst in the 3rd movie, so we'll talk more about it then. Outside of Faramir, Sam and Frodo are the primary victims of the forced conflict. Fuck this shit.

That brings us to two literary characters whom we have loved ever since we first read these books, namely Faramir and Éowyn. What they did to both these characters insults us deeply. Let's start off with Faramir. His character introduction was promising (as was Èowyn's) but it was undone in a matter of minutes by everything that followed. As said, Faramir is the biggest victim of this forced conflict/tension bs. For anyone who hasn't read the books, Faramir was supposed to be a peace-loving and gentle soul, someone who preferred a pen and book to a sword and shield. It is said that Faramir and his values were a reflection of Tolkien's own. And since Tolkien had taken part in one of the most destructive wars in history, that's not a difficult connection to make. In the book Faramir is someone who defies toxic masculinity. He goes to war only out of necessity. Yeah, he doesn't have a character arc, but for a character to be relatable and meaningful to the story, an arc is not always required (for minor characters anyway). His purpose in the story is integral for another reason.

Here we present the atrocious and frankly infuriating excuse they gave in the documentaries for the change in his character. Because apparently Faramir needed the exact same arc that his brother had had, in order to create that sweet sweet tension (since evidently there's only one way to create tension) and to keep the Ring eeeevil. Didn't we just see this? Talk about pointless and redundant scenes. The reason Faramir didn't want the Ring was BECAUSE he could see what had happened to Boromir and more importantly, the Ring couldn't offer him anything he wanted. We guess this subtle form of symbolism went over the writers' head. What offends us most is that a character who originally eschewed masculinity's most toxic aspects now embodies them. He's willing to break his promise and torture a pathetic creature in order to gain information. Fuck this shit! 

Now for one of the most influential fictional characters to either of us. We'll write more about Éowyn, especially about her motives and what a badass she is, in the last post - since she isn't really present in the second book so we don't have that much material to go on here. And it shows, because they invented some of the most insulting, stupid and sexist shit that a human mind can conjure up. She's an amazing and truly unconventional character in the books, especially considering the genre and when it was written. Like Faramir with masculinity, Éowyn bucks all the feminine stereotypes. We didn't love her purely because of her badassery, but also because of her personality. She was cold and hard as steel while still having humanity. And it was wonderful to read for once that such a woman isn't automatically a villain or deserving of misery. How often does one see cold and distant male characters who are hailed as complex? Well, here you had a woman who was truly complex while espousing those traits. 

In addition, we were raised in a religion where it was impossible and unheard of for women to be anything else but gentle and nurturing. Women's highest purpose in life was to be a wife and a mother. Even if those are the things that one wants in life, hearing constantly that one's divine duty is to be those things 24/7 can be quite debilitating. So it was pretty insulting for us to see that two female writers managed to turn Èòwyn (written by a man) into a stereotype of a female character. In the books she was never in love with Aragorn but instead of the idea of what his title could give her. If Arwen was a lovelorn teenager, Èowyn is ten times worse. She didn't give a damn what any man thought of her. Here you see her constantly deferring to the men, her gaze is drawn to the men onscreen and her motives and actions are driven by male characters. Èòwyn, probably more than any other character from this story, is personal to us, so yes, we admit that it might affect our judgement somewhat. FUCK.THIS.SHIT.

Also, fuck this scene. Jonna had to leave the room because she was hyperventilating with anger.