Favorite Movies

2023, 7(???). I could make a case for others being #1 but pee wee is just a delight. 2022: Little "deep" message, but tons of fun and still makes me laugh harder than any other movie. Tim Burton's alt-50s kitsch carries the movie along with the writing, the impossible performances (how are B characters this on-point?), and the Elfman soundtrack. I don't feel the clouds parting and saying "THIS IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE", but when in recent memory have I felt this good about a movie?

2022, 12: Even after 2 years away, I still don't feel the same about Ratatouille as before. A conceptually perfect film that coincides with all of my interests. Maybe being more open about my life makes the sneaking around plot less interesting?

2020 review: It's getting harder to keep this at #1. It's incredible, but I've seen it probably 10 times by now. It's my #1 for now, but I can imagine it dropping a few slots.

Old review: Powerful message which is told in a great way. Beautiful environments and a funny script. Was #2 on this list in the year after I saw "Synecdoche, New York", but I adore Ratatouille so much that it couldn't stay down forever. :)

2020, 19: Like Ratatouille, I'd be fine with this dropping some slots. It is fantastic, but some of the magic left me during the rewatch.

Finding Nemo, Forrest Gump, and The Lion King are plausible candidates for the top five at this point.

2015, 19: Wonderful. It is about art, death, love, illness, and time. We see the main character's life at important stages, but to him and to the audience much of his life is unknown. The movie's triumph is its combination of literal facts with metaphorical events in order to describe certain feelings.

The reality of the film is not the reality we experience. It is much weirder, but real enough to be relatable. The differences between the film and the real world initially seem humorous, but as the film deviates further from reality, the implications of its world become clear.

If we were watching through the eyes of a neutral third-party, "Synecdoche, New York" could happen in real life. Although the main character cannot separate his delusions from his life, the film is far more than a series of hallucinations.

I recommend this movie to anyone who is able to enjoy ambiguity in movies. It is from one of the co-writers of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind".

2021, 13(???): #Shawtake: Still a top 5, but I took a few minutes trying to see if I should move it down. I wouldn't change a scene. The warden looking through andy's tunnel, as well as andy smiling in the rain, are beautiful. "Andy Dufrene, who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side" is still one of my favorite quotes.

the most difficult part of rating this movie is how deceptively simple it is. there are like 3 major plot moments and the rest of it is just showing how characters and the prison operate. but the themes it deals with are universal:

• the humanity within us all
• the cruelty of evil systems
• banality of evil
• routines, time, being left behind by society
• getting revenge on evil people

2023, 13

2021, 8. Max rank: 6 (2016)

2023, 28: I spent literally 20+ minutes crying during this movie. Maybe the most realistic characters in cinema.

2023, 26: Visually stunning, excellent message, everyone gave 100%.

2021, 6

2023, 3(?): IRL vibes were off on my rewatch. Every frame of this is gorgeous. 2020: The only movie thus far to be exiled from this list, only to return years later. The Lion King is the sum total of human existence. It dares to imagine, to dream, to find beauty and color in the natural world, to break into song, to have sorrow and grow from it. In my estimation, this is the movie I've seen the most, and it provides a comfort I will probably never grow tired of.

2024, 18: Incredible. I watched it twice over the span of a few days because its story is told so well. View count: 10. A record for movies I first saw as an adult.

2024, 9

2022, 20: 2020 update: I've seen Speed Racer 5 times in 4 years. I saw it 3 times in 13 months. It's such a different, fun, exciting movie that it's hard to stay away. The fact that my opinion hasn't cooled is a strong sign it belongs here, probably even up a few spots. I'm tentatively putting it above The Game and below Primer, but I could see it going up or down about 5 spots. It's been so long since I've seen most of these that I don't know how I feel about them anymore. Former ranking: 18 (2019).

Original: What makes Speed Racer fantastic is its constant ambition. It's one of the most colorful movies I have seen. Speed Racer is encouraging because the high-budget, high-quality special effects are unimportant for its artistic statement. Speed Racer would still blow you away even if it were made in someone's garage. It takes money to have a 3D-rendered racecar leave a radioactive, red light trail. It takes art to decide the car should leave a trail in the first place.

2022, 26: This movie is doing incredibly advanced, interesting things in a seemingly basic plot framework. There are brilliant times they convey Arlo's anxiety and PTSD without spelling it out. This is a movie about anxiety that never uses the word "anxiety". This is one of, if not the high watermark of combining child-level storytelling with adult themes. It's also shockingly dark, with plenty of deaths and threats thereof. They drive home the ruthlessness of the environment as a contrast to Arlo's home. The visuals are still a knockout 6 years later. Not only that, the aesthetics are carrying the visuals. Stylistically, there are tons of sunsets, reflections, lighting through plants, and wide vistas.

2016, 20: Went from 8/10, 9/10, to 10/10 over the course of three viewings. Max rank: 6ish.

2022, 2-3: I cannot place Toy Story within this list. I could make a case for it being better/worse than any one item. I've loved Toy Story my whole life, but on the rewatch I was struck by it. Perfect screenplay, composition, lighting with a strong message that is shown, not told.

A masterpiece and a work of genius.

Act 1 setup Act 2 inversion Act 3 putting together everything from acts 1 and 2

Monsters Inc does this too, where act 3 is just a showoff of what's possible in the rich world.

2022, 27

2023, 25

2023, 7(?). The platonic ideal of a movie. (English dub)

2015 review: Everything is great. But the original script was for 3 hours and it shows. This movie is jam-packed with plot and as such, I can't appreciate it as much as My Neighbor Totoro. I also had Spirited Away on VHS so I've probably seen it at least 20 times. Maybe that's part of it.

2024, 8: Holes was once my favorite book and this film is probably better.

2024, 8? 6? 12 at the latest. Seen it more than almost any movie on here.

Flawless script, execution, characters, visual placement, interplay between scenes and concepts. Tons of in jokes you don't see on watch 1.

This snapshot of 88 is fascinating: Japanese world dominance Women at work Women role in household Terrorism and what it means pre WTC bombing, pre Oklahoma city, pre 9/11 Latin American immigrants Police shootings Argyle and Black culture The technology

2021, 7: Saw this once in theaters and don't remember loving it or even liking it. Too much talking for a 7 year old. Fast forward 19 years. I've seen Patrick (H) Willems' video on it a few times and I just saw Matrix 1 so I could follow the plot. I love all the fights (better than the lobby in 1) and the philosophizing. Worst scene is probably the Merovingian and even he is fun, though creepy. Watch the Final Flight of the Osiris first, it's great.

https://www.polygon.com/2019/6/12/18660107/the-matrix-movies-sequels-video-games-comics-reloaded

2023, 26: Robocop has much more to say, but there's never a dull moment here.

2022, 26: Never seen a movie that looks like this, even The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen from the same director.

2021, 13(???). Peak rating: ~17

2023, 28: Okay maybe this isn't a 10. I was sick while watching. But the mirror work alone adds 4 stars, and the production design adds 3 stars. The last 3 stars are because it's a good movie.

2023, 28

2023, 25

2022, 25: Honorable mention down here. Both times I've watched this I've been near-asleep by halfway through. The second time I watched, I intentionally waited for a day I was super tired. There's a magic dream logic to the movie that I worry would not work well when fully awake. The script sounds beautiful on the ears even when I barely understand it (because it's middle English?). I adore what this movie is going for.

2022, 27: Feels wrong at a 10 but I can find no flaw.