In no particular order:
Wall Street (1987). Michael and I watched this classic because we want to see the sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, with Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan. But the original, starring Michael Douglas in his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gekko, is pretty fantastic. Despite dated technology (cell phones the size of shoeboxes) and fashion (Daryl Hannah’s horrible fluffy ‘80s hair and interior décor—faux exposed brick was never chic, honey), Wall Street was a well-paced, intriguing thriller about greed and the American dream gone awry.
Punch-Drunk Love (2002). The only Adam Sandler film in which he seems relatively normal. But only relatively, since his character suffers from acute anxiety and bouts of destructive rage. Directed by P.T. Anderson of Magnolia and There Will Be Blood acclaim, the film is very weird, and at times very loud—with an odd percussion soundtrack that seems to reflect the chaos building in Adam Sandler’s mind. That is, until he meets the lovely Emily Watson. An interesting plot, an innocent love story, and Sandler’s best acting (IMHO) make this film quirky and enjoyable.
I Capture the Castle (2003). I haven’t seen this movie in years, and I’m glad I dug it out of the Netflix archives. And Lord knows I love a good period piece. The film follows one very eccentric family living in a decrepit English castle in the 1930s. It also stars some interesting actors, like the kid from E.T. all grown up (and looking weird as ever), Romola Garai of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and Atonement fame, and Henry Cavill from The Tudors, my number one guilty period piece pleasure. A highly entertaining coming-of-age story set in pre-WWII England, when women bobbed their hair and wore all kinds of fur.
Chinatown (1974). Jack Nicholson leads a spot-on cast in this film noir thriller set in 1930s L.A. (I guess I’ve had a thing for the ‘30s recently.) Lots of intrigue and misdirection, lots of unreliable characters, and lots of danger and cool-looking old guns. Directed by Roman Polanski (before he was forced to leave the U.S. for having sex with a minor), Chinatown revolves around a murder (of course), and the truth becomes murkier as the facts are uncovered. Faye Dunaway plays the sexy recent widow to Nicholson’s private eye—their chemistry, plus a never-saw-that-coming ending, make this a quintessential mystery thriller.
Let the Right One In (2008). I saw a preview for the American film Let Me In, and thought I remembered seeing previews a while back for the exact same movie—so I did some research and discovered that Let the Right One In is a recent Swedish film based on the same novel as Let Me In. Confusing, yes? I’m not sure why they decided to remake this film so soon, especially since the Swedish version is pretty dang incredible. Set in 1980s Stockholm, it follows the budding friendship between Oskar, a 12-year-old boy from a broken home who gets bullied violently at school, and Eli, a vampire. But before you think Twilight, think again. Eli is many centuries old (or at least, the film implies she is) but appears as a 12-year-old girl. It is as if she is trapped in the hormone-riddled mind of a preteen, along with an insatiable thirst for human blood—which she truly abhors. But somehow this sad, lonely boy is able to connect with her on some level, and they begin a very sweet and innocent relationship…even though Eli kills people on a regular basis. It is an odd mix of love story and horror film, but is handled in such an artful way that you don’t really care how weird it is. The title refers to vampire folklore that says a vampire cannot enter a house unless invited. I won’t say more, since I don’t want to give it away, but I would highly recommend this creepy-beautiful film as a darkly sweet look at what constitutes humanity.
