Top 5 Christmas Movies
12-21-2012
Because I celebrate Christmas, here is my Top 5 list of my favorite movies about the holiday.A Christmas Story
Christmas Vacation
Home Alone
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas
Honorable Mention
A Muppet Christmas Carol
Scrooged
Top 5 Haunted House Movies
10-31-2012
To qualify for this list, a film’s ‘villain’ or antagonist must be the dwelling or location from the film. So, something like Psycho doesn’t qualify, because although the horror elements take place in one primary location – they are perpetrated by a human, not the house, or motel, itself.The Shining
Session 9
Paranormal Activity 3
The Devil’s Backbone
Haunting in Connecticut
Top 5 Traditional Animated Films
10-10-2012
This list is purely for Traditional 2D Animation.Princess Mononoke
Aladdin
Alice in Wonderland
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Ghost in the Shell
Honorable Mention
Lion King
Pinocchio
The Iron Giant
Beavis and Butthead Do America
An American Tail
Dumbo
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
Special Mention for The Land Before Time, written by my screenwriting professor (and one of the best teachers I’ve ever had) at USC Stu Krieger.
Top 10 Movies About Redemption
09-26-2012
To qualify redemption had to be a serious theme. No last minute redemption (Sorry Return of the Jedi). No minor character redemption. And no failed redemption.Unforgiven
A Clockwork Orange
Groundhog Day
Bad Lt.
American History X
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Apartment
The Wrestler
Shawshank Redemption
Scrooged
On the Waterfront
Top 10 Movies That Got Me Into The Movies
09-12-2012
PiThe first film I saw where I was not only blown away – but thought to myself, ‘Hey, I think I can do that.’
Brother’s McMullen
I am a Long Island Irish (and Italian) Catholic boy and can relate to Ed Burns, more so than Aronofsky – who is also a NY’er. Burns grew up in a similar environment as me, and in fact we share common friends (although I’ve never met him). The ability to take an ultra-low budget, financed by donations from family and friends, and turn it into an indie hit spoke volumes to me when I first realized that I wanted to follow a path in film. Brothers and Pi were the two most influential films for me at the onset – which is odd because of their two very different styles. I think I’ve seen each over 50 times now. I found Burns’ film to be tightly edited and shot well, two things you don’t find often in indie films. The subject matter of the film really hit home and I thought each storyline was accessible.
Bottle Rocket
Cost a lot more than the other two, but it was so simple and executed so well. It came at a time when indies were all trying to be Tarantino rip-offs, Wes Anderson breathed some life into the indie landscape – and created an avalanche of rip-offs of his style.
The Godfather
The perfect combination between blockbuster and arthouse masterpiece.
Star Wars
To me, the best blockbuster ever made. How can you not be inspired after seeing this movie?
