In order of importance to me:
-------------------------------------
KEOMA
---(1975 Spaghetti Western w. Franco Nero.) *A half breed Apache/Caucasian man returns to his home town in search of himself after the civil war. DEATH, symbolized by a vagabond trash collecting old woman is alway right behind him. He himself is "alone" even when amongst people, can he kill his way to redemption for his sins? Along the way he picks up a woman who's pregnant that the town fears has Leprosey, and the town is run by a band of fuck offs led by a sadistic former General of the Union Army. KEOMA stands for "Principle" and "Truth" the town more or less represents the whimsical attitude of anywhere in the world. One man stands alone, and another refinds himself until the powderkeg blows up to it's finale. It's a haunting western but more so as a "morality tale" with a lot of dead bodies.
Arcadia of my Youth
---(1982) *Animated "Captain Harlock" feature film. Matsumoto's telling of his most famous character's one of many origins. In a devestated 31st Century the world has lost an intergalactic war against the Illmidas Empire, but on Earth is a man... Captain Harlock who isn't a character you're supposed to identify with he's the visage of what a man MIGHT be capable of becoming if one choses to do the bigger thing, the honorable thing. With some compatriots Harlock fights the Empire in his own way even though the very people he fights for on Earth see him as the problem?
AIRPLANE!
---(1982) *Probably the funniest of "Comedies" out there even to this day, and one of the few I actually like. It's preposterousness is the stuff of comedy gold. "Joey... you like movies about Gladiators?"
Casablanca
---(1942) *Timeless classic. Bogart's Rick Blaine represents something anyone can identify with.
Red Dawn
---(1984) *Best "What If?" movie ever made. Truly dissapointing that the U.S.S.R. never did actually invade us after that film. It showed the resolve of a bunch of determined teenagers to take up a cause against their oppressors, and using Guerrilla Warfare, kicked ass!
The Yakuza
---(1975) *Internationally produced by Warner Bros with Toei Film company, this film starring Robert Mitchum and teaming him up with Takakura Ken is a tightly wound tale of "Principle" "Honor" and "Respect". ---After 20 years apart Harry Kilmer returns to Japan for a fellow friend Tanner, who's daugthers are kindnapped by a Yakuza outfit and blackmailing him. Staying true to how the Yakuza once did operate more so than now, Kilmer returns to talk to his old love interest who's brother was a Yakuza himself and Kilmer's fomrer WWII enemy. There's no love between the two, but a "Promise and debt of Honor" was given by KEN. After a lot of events it becomes apparent that Tanner is a piece of shit and the entire Yakuza clan is out to get Ken. Kilmer must decide if he's going to help Ken or let him die. It's the ultimate film about non-gay male comaraderie and how all men should strive to be.
STRAY DOG: Kerberos Panzer Cops
---(1990) *Prequel to Mamoru Oshii's 1987 film The Red Spectacles. While the film's action is mostly in the first eight minutes and the last twenty, it is a DEEP story none the less. ---Toru Inui, a former member of a once needed group of "Anti Crime Heavily Armed Unit" {AVCHAU} Police who rebelled along with his superiors in disbanding when the nation felt they were no longer needed is released from prison. He goes looking for his former commanding officer Koichi Todome {from TRS} whom he feels abandonded him and his comrades selling them out to the new regime that took over Japan. In his quests he learns more than he thought about himself and ultimatley who his master is. Using "Dogs" as symbolism... "Kerberos" is a story of a man seeking for himself and the realization that a Stray Dog is one that never stops fighting... when the chance permits itself and a sweper team comes for Todome {for reasons seen in TRS} it's Inui they face donning the "Protect Gear" armor {See dude in my avatar} and his resolve is violently felt against the Communist regime that sent them!
Fight Club
---(1999) *Those who saw it know why it be on a man's top ten list. Question is how many saw "The Point" of the movie? It's a wake up call to the sleeping fuck off everywhere that the little people are indeed THE POWER. All one has to do is see for the first time this, and change is possible. Be it through politcial voting en masse, worker strikes, or...
Hana-Bi {Fireworks}
---(1997) *My favorite of "Beat" Takeshi Kitano's films. *A retired cop does what he feels he must do for his dying wife, paralleling a story about a friend who's no longer on the force made paralyzed in the line of duty and his ability to cope with his situation... abandoned by his wife and daughter. Both stories interweave one another with Joe Hisashi's hauntingly meloncholied score, ending the only way Kitano films do... in "Death". How the man can mix something so violent and explosive with beautiful artwork and mesmeric scenery is the reason I have always liked this director so much.
Once Upon A Time In The West
---(1968) *The best "Spaghetti Western" of them all. Five different sets of stories expertly brought together in a tale about the last days of the Gunslingers as civilization was coming in.
MERCENARY X99
![[OCEAN]](/forums/data/avatars/m/3/3230.jpg?1616271689){kind=avatar}
