Flipside Movie Emporium

[Michael Scrutchin]

"What really matters is what you like, not what you are like. Books, records, films -- these things matter."

--Rob Gordon (John Cusack), High Fidelity

In the spirit of High Fidelity, I thought I'd start a thread in which we list our top 10 favorites in a few categories (top fives are just far too limiting for me). You can use the same categories I do, or you can skip some of them and/or add your own. Each of my lists is in alphabetical (rather than preferential) order. Here I go.

Favorite Movies

[beltmann]

This is madness, Michael.

I set about designing parameters, but decided I only needed one: These are the works I couldn?t live without, the ones I would grasp for as the ship began to sink. For lists such as these, artistic significance is irrelevant. All that matters is personal significance. Naturally, these alphabetized lists, chosen rapidly on gut instinct rather than deep pondering, are true ?favorites,? not ?bests.?

Favorite Films
Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
La Jet?e (Marker, 1962)
Les Mistons (Truffaut, 1957)
Malcolm X (Lee, 1992)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
Pather Panchali (Ray, 1955)
The Seventh Seal (Bergman, 1957)
Sherlock, Jr. (Keaton, 1924)
Something Wild (Demme, 1986)
Truman Show (Weir, 1998)

Favorite Albums
Beautiful Freak (The Eels, 1996)
The Joshua Tree (U2, 1987)
Laid (James, 1993)
Pet Sounds (Beach Boys, 1966)
The Queen Is Dead (The Smiths, 1986)
Red (Eliza Carthy, 2001)
Revolver (Beatles, 1966)
Selmasongs (Bjork, 2000)
Whatever (Aimee Mann, 1993)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Wilco, 2002)

Favorite Novels
The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)
Fever Pitch (Hornby)
Foe (Coetzee)
Ishmael (Quinn)
The Mayor of Casterbridge (Hardy)
Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne)
A Separate Peace (Knowles)
Shame (Rushdie)
Sons and Lovers (Lawrence)
The Third Man (Greene)

Ask me again tomorrow and it will look entirely different.

Eric

[matt header]

Just for kicks I'll list what comes to the top of my head when I think about the movies, writers, albums, and TV shows (which oh so rarely can be artfully done) that will always have a fond place in my heart. (I can't say for sure that these are the best, or even that they maintain their excellence when I examine them further, but these are the ones that are bright stars in my history of experiencing "the arts"):

Favorite Films

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Capra)
The Bicycle Thief (De Sica)
The Third Man (Reed)
City Lights (Chaplin)
Children of Paradise (Carne)
The Grapes of Wrath (Ford)
Rear Window (Hitchcock)
The General (Keaton)
8 1/2 (Fellini)

Favorite Albums
"Abbey Road," The Beatles
"Homogenic," Bjork
"Deltron 3030," Deltron 3030
"The Return of the Space Cowboy," Jamiroquai
"Quality Control," Jurassic 5
"Carpal Tunnel Syndrome," Kid Koala
"Led Zeppelin IV / Zoso," Led Zeppelin
"A Live One," Phish
"Piper at the Gates of Dawn," Pink Floyd
"The Three E.P.'s," The Beta Band

Favorite Novels / Plays
"The Catcher in the Rye," J.D. Salinger
"A Tale of Two Cities," Charles Dickens
"Bag of Bones," Stephen King
"1984," George Orwell
"Dracula," Bram Stoker
"My Cousin Rachel," Daphne du Maurier
"Macbeth," William Shakespeare
"Death of a Salesman," Arthur Miller
"The Crucible," Arthur Miller
"The Sins of Childhood and Other Stories," Boleslaw Prus

[beltmann]

I almost included Beta Band's Three E.P.s on my list, and if we're including plays (which seems reasonable), I'd definitely add Julius Caesar. No matter how many times I teach it, I love reading through that one. Same for The Crucible.

Eric

[Danny Baldwin]

Film

Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)

The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991)

Tonari no Totoro (Myazaki, 1988)

Forrest Gump (Zemeckis, 1994)

Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)

Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)

Fargo (The Coens, 1996)

Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)

Star Wars (Lucas, 1977)

The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)

Music

Abbey Road (The Beatles, 1969)

Unplugged (Eric Clapton, 1992) [Okay, maybe it's a compilation, but close enough, right? ]

Bridge Over Troubled Waters (Simon and Garfunkel, 1970)

Jagged Little Pill (Alanis Moorsette, 1995)

Who's Next (The Who, Remastered: 1999 Original Release Date: ?)

Hot Space (Queen, 1982)

1984 (Van Halen, 1984)

The Song Remains the Same (Led Zeppelin, 1976)

Thriller (Michael Jackson 8, 1982)

Let it Bleed (The Rolling Stones, 1969)

Books

Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee)

The Hours (Cunningham)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Tolkien)

The Swiss Family Robinson (Wyss)

Carrie (King)

The Green Mile (King)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain)

Holes (Sachar)

The Rules of Attraction (Ellis)

Mostly classics in that area...haven't read much lately...
_________________
Danny Baldwin

View My Reviews

[the night watchman]

Film

Alien (Scott, 1979)

Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)

Raising Arizona (Coen Brothers, 1987)

Eraserhead (Lynch, 1977)

Dead Ringers (Cronenberg, 1988)

The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991)

Princess Mononoke (Myazaki, 1997)

Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)

The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941)

Yojimbo (Kurasawa, 1961)

Music

Dream Sequence Tangerine Dream

The Principle of Moments Robert Plant

Jar of Flies Alice in Chains

Animals Pink Floyd

Anima Tool

Signals Rush

The Real Thing Faith No More

Rage for Order Queensryche

Pontiac Lyle Lovett

Misfits Misfits

Books

The Shining Stephen King

The 37th Mandala Marc Laidlaw

War of the Worlds/Island of Dr. Moreau H.G. Wells

Metropolitan Walter Jon Williams

The Two-Bear Mambo Joe R. Lansdale

Bones of the Moon Jonathan Carrol

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain

The Floating World Cynthia Kadohata

Liege-Killer Christopher Hinz

Bable-17 Samuel R. Delany

Collections

The Dunwich Horror and Others H.P. Lovecraft

The Essential Ellison Harlan Ellison

The Books of Blood, Vols I - VI Clive Barker

By Bizarre Hands Joe R. Lansdale

Waking Nightmares Ramsey Cambell

The Dark Country Dennis Etchison

The Dark Descent David G. Hartwell (ed.)

Year?s Best Fantasy and Horror Vols. I & II Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling (eds.)

The King in Yellow Robert W. Chambers

The Great God Pan Arthur Machen

Skeleton Crew Stephen King

[the night watchman]

11 Albums Not Appearing in My Top 10 List, With No Group Repeats

Oil and Gold Shreikback

Solitude Standing Suzanne Vega

Gold is the Metal Coil

October Rust Type O Negative

Ride the Lightning Metallica

Heart Shaped World Chris Isaak

Workshop of the Telescopes Blue Oyster Cult

Kick INXS

Tails Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories

Security Peter Gabriel

life's too good The Sugarcubes

[AnaG]

Favourite movie

1. The Usual Suspects

2. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

4. Traffic

5. American Beauty

6. Shakespeare in Love

7. Mulan

8. Romeo + Juliet

9. Ever After

10. The Breakfast Club

Favourite albums

1. Nathan, Michael, Shawn, Wanya - Boys II Men

2. White Ladder - David Gray

3. Let Go - Avril Lavigne

4. On How Life Is - Macy Gray

5. Can?t Take Me Home - Pink

Favourite artists

1. 50 Cent

2. Eminem

3. Ja Rule

4. Toni Braxton

5. F4

Favourite novels

1. Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

5. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

6. Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer

7. The Wish List Eoin Colfer

8. Daughter of Fortune - Isabel Allende

9. Chinese Cinderella - Adeline Yen Mah

10. A Walk to Remember - Nicholas Sparks

Most hated movie

Boys Don?t cry (1999)

[matt header]

Boys Don't Cry? Really? May I ask why?

[the night watchman]

I'm curious, too. Methinks AnaG has never watched a Larry Buchanan movie.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[the night watchman]

TV Shows of All-Time

Firefly (I don't care if it didn't last one whole season)

The Twilight Zone

The Simpsons

Futurama

Cowboy Bebop

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The X-Files (at least the first four seasons)

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Saturday Night Live

Mystery Science Theater 3000

I would have included Roseanne in an elventh position, and seriously considered including The George Lopez Show in the tenth. Maybe after one or two more seasons I will.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[Danny Baldwin]

Oh, god, TV? Now we've gotta sort through things that actually completely and entirely leave, even if most of the great shows stay on. I hate most TV these days, but here I go with the classics:

Saturday Night Live (up until I saw some dreadful recent episodes of it about two months ago)

Gilligan's Island

Three's Company

The Late Show with David Letterman

Recently, the only show I really enjoy is Alias.
_________________
Danny Baldwin

View My Reviews

[the night watchman]

<slaps forehead>

I completely forgot about Dave. I'd put it in the SNL slot, but that means bumping out MST3K, so I'll tie SNL and Letterman at 9.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[matt header]

TV shows, huh? Here are my favorites of past and present:

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents"

"The X-Files"

"The Simpsons"

"The Daily Show" (w/ Jon Stewart, NOT w/ Craig Kilborn)

"Late Night w/ Conan O'Brien"

"Cheers"

"The Carol Burnett Show"

"I Love Lucy"

"CSI"

"Monk"

"The Outer Limits"

"Curb Your Enthusiasm"

"Sealab 2021"

"Spongebob Squarepants"

"The Prisoner"

"The Dick van Dyke Show"

I've never seen "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," or "Sex and the City" - and God knows how many other classic TV shows I've missed entirely.

[Danny Baldwin]