TOP GUN (Tony Scott, USA, 1986) 4 V
… and believe me, it’d’ve been lower without climactic dogfight, which at least pulls of the visceral thrills that are all the film even tried for. While I may have known too much about this movie from pop-culture osmosis (this has left me cold for a film as canonized as Chaplin’s THE GOLD RUSH) … I still doubt I’d’ve thought in 1986 that anything in TOP GUN really works.
The action scenes…
This was originally written at my blog here: vjmorton.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/films-of-my-life-1/
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THE BREAKFAST CLUB (John Hughes, USA, 1985, 10)
I watched THE BREAKFAST CLUB at the weekend at the AFI, as part of its John Hughes retro, seeing it for the first time on a theater screen. I acknowledged on my Twitter feed that while I really genuinely do think, in my head of heads and heart of hearts, that THE BREAKFAST CLUB is a great film, worthy of comparison to…
DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD (Kirsten Johnson, USA, 2020) 9
At the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, I saw Kirsten Johnson’s CAMERAPERSON while coincidentally sitting right next to her. As the closing credits rolled, I whispered to her “that was the best film of the festival.” She said “why, thank you” and pressed her cheek against mine. I then immediately left the theater without another word, as I knew going into the film that I’d have to rush to a sports bar…
LEAVE NO TRACE (Granik, USA, 2018, 10, was 9)
This is gonna sound more back-handed than I mean it but a significant part of this film’s greatness is in what it DOESN’T do. There is no war flashback; Foster’s reaction to diegetic helicopter sounds is enough. There is no real father-daughter “confrontation” talk before the last scene, because that isn’t these people. There is no VA-related politicking because people don’t live like issues. There is no elaborate long-term plan. And…
