Monday Movies – My Top 500 – 1-5

Top 300 movies was a project I was working on her at lyriquediscorde for quite awhile, and then took a break from. In the time between I’ve added to the list, every so often adding another movie that I’d consider on my lifetime list of favorites. Well, the list has grown to almost 500 (but I’m sure as I add it will get to 500) and I’ve decided to reboot the process, and start over.

As with the last project, there is no particular order to this, which is done for two reasons, 1) so that the five at a time I post each Monday (for Movie Mondays) has some variety, and 2) for my own sanity, as it is very hard to rank movies (and other things) I love.

With each movie I will include a picture, a quote, a video clip or trailer, and a three-sentence review/reason of why its in my favorites list.

Please note, this is a list of personal favorites, and not a comprehensive list of “best” in any cinematic or hierarchy of quality kind of way – it is simply a list of 500 movies I love and enjoy.

This list may include spoilers, so beware. I will do my best to avoid major ones, but no promises.

Monday Movies – My Top 500 – 1-5
(in no particular order)

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Written by Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth
Directed by Michel Gondry

Though I am not putting these movies in any particular order, this one HAD TO BE my #1, as it is my all-time favorite film. All of this, the unconventional love story, the inter-dimensional realities, the notion of loving and losing and forgetting and remembering – and the power of memory, and of love – are all such enormous things to me. Clementine is one of the most relatable fictional characters I have ever come in contact with, I feel her and feel like her in so many ways, both good and bad.

“I can’t see anything that I don’t like about you.” ~ Joel

“But you will! But you will. You know, you will think of things. And I’ll get bored with you and feel trapped because that’s what happens with me.” ~ Clementine

“Okay.” ~ Joel

[pauses] “Okay.” ~ Clementine

2. 28 Days Later… (2002)
Written by Alex Garland
Directed by Danny Boyle

Quite possibly my favorite zombie stories, this movie came out before the influx of zombie stories took over where the vampire’s left off (this is not a sleight, as I LOVE both zombie and vampire tales), and grabbed a hold of me in a way that no other zombie story had before it. I care about these characters, in a huge way, and find myself overwhelmed by sadness and upset at how so many of the humanity acts in this state of “monsters”, and how they are often more the monster, as these four characters shown above find out. The idea of this being a virus (said to have been based on Ebola when the story was written), and the speed of these “zombies” (these are not the shuffling variety) terrified me when I first watched it, and the film still unnerves me (especially the tire scene – see below) when I give it a re-watch, but there is more to this than just scares (though I do like scares), the film also has wit, complex relationships, and a love story, too.

“Oh, great, Valium. Not only will we be able to get to sleep, but if we’re attacked in the middle of the night, we won’t even care.” ~ Jim

Changing the tire

3. Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Written by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Larry Lieber (comic), Don Payne & Robert Rodat (story) & Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely
Directed by Alan Taylor

I have a pretty big love (and fictional crush) on Loki, who gets more of a layered story in this second “Thor” film, but that said, it is Darcy and Jane that I love the most – I would watch a movie about the two of them over and over, and then some. Their intelligence, friendship, character chemistry is great, though not utilized enough in the storytelling. That said, I do love the dynamics between the brothers, Thor and Loki, too – and how their family (especially their father) really set them on a course of polarizing opposition and destruction that has multiple-universe implications – oh, family drama.

“That’s a quantum field generator isn’t it?” ~ Jane Foster

“It’s a soul forge.” ~ Eir

“Does a soul forge transfer molecular energy from one place to another?” ~ Jane Foster

[surprised] “Yes.” ~ Eir

[to Thor, quietly pleased] “Quantum field generator.” ~ Jane Foster

Thor asks for help

4. Valley Girl (1983)
Written by Wayne Crawford & Andrew Lane
Directed by Martha Coolidge

My best friend and I watched this movie obsessively (along with Modern Girls, Sid and Nancy and Dogs in Space) nearly every Saturday night for months on end, so much so that the neighborhood video store (Video Sky) down the street would often just hand them to us as we walked in. I wanted to be Julie, I think, and melt away with Randy (Nicolas Cage). Even now, when I watch the movie, there is a little part of me that still wouldn’t mind melting away with that boy from Hollywood, or at least sharing a soda with him at Du-par’s.

[shouting over the noise just as the music ends] “So, when can I see you again?” ~ Randy

[embarrassed] “Gee, Randy… why don’t you wait until the end of the evening to say these things?” ~ Julie

“It’s how I feel. It’s what I want.” ~ Randy

“I’m here with you now.” ~ Julie

I Melt With You montage

5. My First Mister (2001)
Written by Jill Franklyn
Directed by Christine Lahti

A favorite film of mine that tells a story of a family of choice, brought together through circumstance and connection. I have such a soft spot for this story, and for the bond that ‘J’ and ‘R’ develop, as well as the Los Angeles that we get to see in the background, and through these characters – an Los Angeles I very much recognize. I love stories, cinematic or otherwise, that show unexpected friendships, that illustrate the magic of connection, and that show that family is not just the one you were born into.

“I’d like to propose a toast to all the special ‘f’ words – to friends, family, fate, forgiveness, and forever.” ~ J

What’s everything?