lenny unencumbered

Daily writing prompt

What are your top ten favorite movies?

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I’ve been hooked on movies since I was a little boy, tearing off from school to catch the afternoon movie at the local cinema. Except for the first movie on my list, the others are in no particular order.

1. Life Is Beautiful – because it’s a celebration of life, humanity and a rollercoaster of emotions. Right from my first viewing, I knew I would watch it again and again. More than 20 years later, no other film has moved me in quite the same way, and I doubt any other ever will.
2. House of Flying Daggers – for the celebrated director Zhang Yimou’s truly absurd but beautifully choreographed martial arts fight sequences, and amazing use of colour in his cinematography.
3. John Wick – for the brilliant casting of Keanu Reeves and the truly ridiculous rate at which bullets are unleashed in every direction.
4. Schindler’s List – for Steven Spielberg’s harrowing portrayal of perhaps the worst atrocity in human history.
5. The Big Lebowski – a masterclass in sophisticated comedy by the Coen brothers.
6. Fargo – what can I say? I love Joel and Ethan Coen.
7. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly – there has to be at least one Western on everyone’s film list.
8. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 – because Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino. And a woman kicking serious ass.
9. Alien – because I love science, even if fictional, and it made space alluring and terrifying at the same time. Also, the special effects at the time made Star Wars look positively primitive. And a woman kicking serious ass.
10. Jersey Boys – because I’m a sucker for films about music and musicians.