30-Day Movies Challenge #1
The best movie you’ve seen in the past year.
The Godfather. Saw it last week for the eighteen thousandth time, and I still can’t get over how perfect that movie is. All the performances are amazing, the script is tight, the tone is spot-on, the cinematography is barely noticeable (in other words, awesome), and despite having all the ingredients of a Citizen Kane (where people just say they like it because it’s a “high-quality” movie, even though they probably have never seen it or didn’t actually enjoy watching it), it’s actually an extremely enjoyable viewing experience, too. Plus I’m a MASSIVE fan of organized crime stories in general and Mario Puzo (the author of The Godfather book that inspired the movie) specifically. So this movie is six out of five stars, in my book.
If I have to narrow it down to movies that were actually released in the last year though, I’d have to say Our Idiot Brother. I haven’t seen a lot of the “good movies” that have come out recently (because I’ve been busy with the 80s), so I can’t really speak to “the best.” However, out of the ones I have seen, Our Idot Brother is my favorite, followed closely by The Secret World of Arrietty (I’m a big fan of the Borrowers and a huge fan of Studio Ghibli) and 50/50. Our Idiot Brother was heartwarming but not tooth-rottingly sweet and the message — that being nice is still a valuable thing to do, even in these modern times — was really cool. Plus Paul Rudd is one of my guilty pleasures. Zooey Deschanel and Rashida Jones, not so guilty, but still very pleasurable. Haha.
