Friday, February 25, 2005

5 Flicks on top of my Cluttered movie Collection

If people didn't already know I am a certified movie fanatic. It doesn't matter the genre, if it looks interesting to me you better believe I will go out of my way to see it. Admittedly, I am somewhat of a movie snob. A snob meaning that I will openly question your I.Q if you hate a movie that I love, and I will openly wonder if your parents were siblings if you love a movie that I hate. Some asshole tendencies are hard to get rid of. There are a stack of DVD's that are in my entertainment center, so I decided to write about the first five that were on the top of stack. Here goes.


Clerks(1994)- Kevin Smith's first movie about the life and times of "Dante Hicks" and "Randal Graves", two 20 something slackers who work as convenience store clerks. This movie is totally hilarious, from situations ranging from Dante's girlfriend saying that she had intercourse with two men only to reveal that she had given oral "pleasure" to 37 men, Dante and Randal closing the store to attend a wake where Randall accidentally knocks the coffin over, and for all you Star Wars fans there is a plethora of references just for you. This movie displays Smiths gift of writing witty dialogue, and everytime I see it I laugh my ass off.

High Fidelity(200)- Starring John Cusack, who plays the owner of a record shop who recently got dumped by his girlfriend. He wanted to see where his relationships went wrong, so he tries to contact every girlfriend he ever had and try to figure out where he went wrong. Sometimes when the main character talks to the camera it can be a disaster, but it works wonderfully here. Jack Black is also in this movie, and personally I think that his role in this flick is his funniest performance he has given by far. This movie hits home for me personally, because through all his troubled relationships you see where he went wrong and I can relate.

Beat Street(1984)- I remember having my mother take me to see this movie and she was so foreign to the Hip Hop culture she probably would have had a better time at a dentist appointment. But being from Virginia, every bit of Hip Hop culture that I could soak in was important. I had cousins from Queens who would call me and relate stories to me about the blossoming Hip Hop scene in NY, and I was always kind of jealous that I didn't have any "..and then we had a street jam in the park" stories. The break-dancing, the culture, the music of beatstreet left me in awe as a kid. To this day, for no reason at all, I will be with some friends and scream "Ramo!! Ramo!!!". Classic.


Fight Club(1999)- Fight Club is my personal barometer to finding out whether a person is a idiot. When I hear people say, "I didn't get that movie" I automatically want to put a dunce cap on them because the flick wasn't difficult to figure out. It was pretty self-explanatory. On the surface, someone would simply say that "Fight Club" was about a bunch of dudes who started beating each others ass in a basement. But if you pay attention, it is a pretty good commentary about materialism and how things you own "end up owning you". David Fincher's directing style is just awesome, and I personally think that Brad Pitt is one of the most underrated actors because of the medias focus on his looks.


Hollywood Shuffle(1987)- Robert Townsends comedic look at Hollywood and the problems that a black actor has with finding a respectable role. This movie is 17 years old, but it is still relevant today since black actors still have the same problems as 1987. From the "Black Acting School" skit where white instructors teach African American actors how to "walk and talk black", too funny. Some scenes are uncomfortable, like when a casting director asks Townsend while he is auditioning to "poke your lips out" and "talk blacker", but art is supposed to provoke thought. One of my favorite movies, hands down. (I would also suggest that you watch "Bamboozled")

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

i've seen all except 'Hollywood Shuffle' & agree that their all great movies. fight club was hella good! and i might have to pull out clerks tonite and watch it again! have you seen momento or next stop wonderland?

ShellyP said...

I'll admit I'm not a movie buff, so I haven't seen 4 of the movies on your list. But I like to think I know a bad movie when I see one.

Fight Club - excellent!

Unknown said...

i am on the floor: "Ramo!! Ramo!!!" OK?! I still watch Beat Street if I happen to catch it on cable. Hollywood Shuffle is also great! (as is Bamboozled, I didn't like it the first time though). Fight Club is AWESOME! I've only seen it once but it really drew me in. I should rent it...

nice selections!

josie said...

i had like beat street. also i had like the i think the name was "breakin'", not too sure. the one with Ozone and turbo.

Anonymous said...

ya, Breakin'! me and my sis went to see that like in sixth grade!

Jdid said...

I'm truly ashamed to say I've only seen one of these movies and thats Beat Street. But on your recommendation I'm going to go check them all out as soon as possible.

peachy said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hasn't seen a lot of these movies. I saw "Clerks", but I don't remember much about it. I also saw "Breakin'", but not sure about "Beat Street".

I just started Netflix, so I'll have to add some of these to my list. I'm not a big movie watcher.

Unknown said...

I love Fight Club. I agree about Brad Pitt being underrated because everyone focuses so much on his looks. I'm a fan of a lot of movies he's in: Legends of the Fall, Interview with the Vampire, A River Runs Through it, etc...he showed great acting ability in them all. I'm also a big fan of Edward Norton though, I remember when I first saw him in Primal Fear...then, I knew I was a fan of his for life. Then I saw American History X and...damn, I love that one!

greggy said...

Critic...the list is nice, I saw Clerks, but sorry, it lost me....Fight Club was the flick to see, nice pick.

Anonymous said...

I fucks with Kevin Smith hard! "Chasing Amy" and "Dogma" are my favorites of his. "Fight Club" is classic, "Beat Street" is undeniable, and "High Fidelity" - I love John Cusack and Jack Black in this movie, so much... Good pix, good flix. Ya got some taste there, Critic.

Unknown said...

I never seen Fightclub, i need to check it out. i know i am behind

Hollywood Shuffle (which i did not know they had on DVD) is a classic and the blueprint! i have not seen it in like 8 years. While in the Navy we always watched it and used the punchlines in our every day lives..

Clerks was the joint. Kevin Smith is the man. have you seen the cartoons ?

Beat Street = wack...
but we realize that for some folks around the world it was the only thing they could watch..

High Fidelity reminds me of self as well. Well Jack Black's character because we are so critical of music.

Anonymous said...

those movies are all top choice!

I own two of them (Clerks and Fight Club), and whenever I catch it, I try to watch Hollywood Shuffle. Beat Street wasn't my favorite of the 5, but it didn't suck. I could watch that again.

Haven't seen High Fidelity in a long time, but I like to think I liked it...

Unknown said...

All good choices. Did you hear Kevin Smith is making a sequel to Clerks?

Anonymous said...

Critic, like your music picks, your movie picks are on point as well. We got the same taste.