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Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Truly superb except for ONE HUGE FLAW
This, in my mind, is the greatest romantic comedy ever made (short of one flaw discussed below). This is a shining moment in Audrey Hepburn's tremendous career. Holly Golightly is a complex and wonderfully refreshing character who stands out from the usual one dimensional romantic comedy lead. The soundtrack is great, the script is excellent and the supporting roles are entertaining and fun. The final scene in the rain with Paul and Holly holding Cat is masterful and an astonishingly beautiful highlight in movie history.
BUT there's an intensely offensive and deeply upsetting portrayal of a Japanese man by Mickey Rooney in "yellow face" that is unwatchable and irreparably mars the entire movie. I would love to give this movie a 10/10 but unfortunately this is not a perfect movie. The movie reflects a shameful era in Hollywood history. This movie could have been the greatest ever had it not been for that one, disgusting misstep. It's heartbreaking.
Fight Club (1999)
Edgelord ego fuel
I can't stand this movie. In and of itself, it's just a mediocre male power fantasy movie for privileged adolescents who feel misunderstood. However, too many grown men take this movie seriously and fawn over its wholly unremarkable and tedious semi-philosophical implications. In fact, I would recommend using this movie as a metric to avoid obnoxious people before you become too involved with them.
The movie takes nearly two and a half hours to say "work sucks!!! no one pays attention to me at the office!!! everyone around me is a chump!!!" which would be just fine except that the movie is so incredibly misogynistic. The only woman in the movie with any role in the plot is Helena Bonham Carter's character who exists solely as an object of Edward Norton's fantasies. This kind of narrative is entirely unnecessary and at best mind numbingly boring (if not dangerous to an individual's perceptions of women and femininity). The values and glorifications in this movie are toxic and shallow.
Not to mention how utterly unbelievable this whole story is. Why in the world would grown men want to just spend their time fighting each other? Why would a group of guys leaving a bar want to join in a fight that they came across in the street? Why would men who did enjoy fighting make the whole affair into a nihilistic cult? None of that is ever explained; we're meant to take for granted that men would just be interested in fighting for no discernible reason other than they're unhappy with their employment and credit scores.
This movie was made by and for pretentious self involved clowns and an undeniable waste of time.
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Easily my favorite movie
Many will ignore Napoleon Dynamite as an asinine movie packed with obnoxious phrases for your idiotic coworkers to endlessly repeat forever. However, these people are missing the point. Napoleon Dynamite is an honest and painful, yet hilarious examination of small-town American adolescence. The movie portrays the often comical juxtapositions that rural America is experiencing in the twenty-first century.
Kip's endless interest in chatrooms and the internet offers an escape from the droll technologically stunted lifestyle Idaho offers him. Kip is part of a generation that grew up with unlimited access to information through technology, but no outlets for their creativity due to limited real-life resources. Kip's lack of interest in blue collar work and manual labor cut him out to be unsuccessful in a small town in middle America. He turns to strangers on the internet for validation and comfort.
Pedro's campaign for school president reflects the aspirations and barriers that Chicano Americans experience in predominantly white schools. His culture is mocked by Summer in her campaign speech and his prom proposition is rudely declined. If it wasn't for Napoleon, Pedro would be outcast and shunned by his white peers for his accent and attire, an all too real reality for many Americans.
Uncle Rico's get rich quick schemes distract him from his unfulfilled dreams of sports stardom. He personifies Kip's and Napoleon's futures as a maladjusted adult in the middle of a midlife crisis. He's obsessed with time travel to an embarrassingly childish degree and demonstrates a poor understanding of social tact and boundaries. He is in charge of two young men but remains selfish and irresponsible.
Deb makes and sells charms and trinkets to try to pay for college, which is incredibly difficult to afford in America. For her, her escape from Idaho is in education. She also runs a photography studio to help fund this dream. Although she exists partly as an object for Napoleon's affections, she too shows a valuable aspect of small-town life.
Finally, Napoleon is a young man who is awkward yet well meaning with no role models to look up to. His father isn't around, his uncle and older brother are losers, and his grandmother leads a secret life. Napoleon is trustworthy and kind as demonstrated by his loyal friendship to Pedro, but his romantic endeavors are failures due to his tactless advances. His adherence to a purpose is discovered when he finds a dated dance instruction tape at his local thrift store. The dance he learns from this tape is hilarious to the viewer, but within the vacuum of this small town in Idaho, it's truly astonishing. His dance recital as a surprise addition to Pedro's school president campaign is the climax of the movie and it represents his overcoming his awkwardness; he simultaneously wins Pedro's campaign and wins Deb's heart in this moment.
If this movie wasn't so funny, it'd be extremely depressing, which is why it rings so true.
La planète sauvage (1973)
It's all in the soundtrack
I first watched this movie without subtitles (I don't speak French) and simply listened to the soundtrack and watched the animation. A few months later I watched the movie with subtitles and followed the plot. I imagine some will find the plot interesting, and it's a cool story for those who like imaginative sci fi. However, I found that the soundtrack absolutely stole the show and commanded most of my attention. The arrangements are dense, dark and swirling. The animations compliment the music wonderfully and made for a hypnotic, contemplative experience. Check this movie out for the music, and maybe see if the story interests you.