3rd: Everybody Wants Some!! – Richard Linklater (2016)
Richard Linklater achieved perhaps the greatest film ending of all time in Before Sunset and yet I maybe like this one more? “Who’s this fuck” slays me every time. Also, not to get all serious or anything, but my love for this movie is wholly unironic. Truly, I believe this is one of the best, smartest, and most underrated films of the last 20 years and thus why it will remain a permanent fixture in my letterbox’d favorites.
Grade: A
4th: Seven Samurai – Akira Kurosawa (1954)
Sometimes when you go through the “greatest films of all time” lists, the choices can feel fairly academic (and that’s coming from someone who genuinely loves crusty ol’ movies). In any case, I try to strike a balance between appreciating what a film was doing in its time vs. how much did I enjoy it as a silly boy living in 2023 trying to kill a few hours not looking at my phone.
In any case, one does not have to worry about this issue with Seven Samurai. My god! Sometimes films are considered the greatest of all time for a reason. There’s so much going on here, it’d be impossible to capture it all in one meandering letterbox’d review. Still, let me just say that the way Kurosawa frames and stages his compositions would be enough to captivate me for 3.5 hours. Take that and add a sensational story, amazing performances, and a brilliant score…yeah this is one of the greatest movies ever made.
Grade: A
5th: That Day, On the Beach – Edward Yang (1983)
One of the most ambitious debuts I’ve seen. It’s remarkable how much of what’s here ends up in later Yang films! I have no idea if this is unique to Yang, but I’ve finally zeroed in on one of his trademark camera moves. Often in this film (and in his subsequent work) the camera will move through streets, houses, etc. to land in one place where, a split second later, the scene will come into focus. For instance, we’ll move through a classroom and dozens of students to land at a spot in which, a millisecond later, the protagonist will meet us and begin the scene, the camera now fixed on her movement. In a film that’s tangibly about memory, it’s just a brilliant way to frame these flashbacks and identify where our memory starts and stops.
Grade: B+
11th: RRR – S.S. Rajamouli (2022)
Once every four years I take my brother to a movie and it is the greatest movie of all time.
Grade: A
17th: Dog Day Afternoon – Sidney Lumet (1975)
I’d put Pacino’s turn in this film against any performance I’ve seen. Aside from being utterly captivating (and really the main driver in keeping the film moving), Pacino brings a level of humanity, levity, and grace to this character without ever crossing the line into martyrdom. The performance isn’t meant to absolve the character’s sins, but it’s impossible as an audience not to empathize with him.
Grade: B+
19th: Okja – Bong Joon-ho (2017)
Bong Joon-ho is a master and no doubt my own biases are weighing this review down. I tend to be a stickler when it comes to messaging around and depictions of animals and animal cruelty. For me, everything around Okja and Mija’s storyline is phenomenal. I wish that were more of the movie. I struggle when it comes to the cartoonish villainy of Tilda Swinton and co or even the portrayal of the Animal Liberation Front. Just my two cents!
Grade: B
22nd: The Color of Money – Martin Scorsese (1986)
God dang it, now that’s a picture! Tom Cruise refusing to do anything besides action films after 1999 is some darkest timeline shit. He’s literally up against Paul Newman here and is chewing up these scenes. Guess someone just has to make the third installment of this unlikely trilogy where Tom Cruise is the old hat and like Miles Teller is the young hotshot (oh wait they already did that in Top Gun).
Grade: A-
22nd: Babylon – Damien Chazelle (2022)
What the fuck is wrong with people? Is this movie over the top? Are there some swings and misses? Sure! But at least Chazelle is trying to do something besides make a $10 million art film or a $100 million remake of a perfectly fine movie. Look, I’m probably as guilty as anybody, but somewhere along the line, we started judging art about whether or not it was “flawless” as opposed to its ambition. Sometimes mistakes are more interesting than perfection! Also, can’t believe my whole review is about how this isn’t a perfect movie. It’s a very good one! Live with it, folks!
Grade: B+
23rd: Aftersun – Charlotte Wells (2022)
Fuck me. The emotional intelligence to conceive this story let alone depict it with Wells’ sophistication is mind-boggling. I also can’t think of anybody else (past or present) better to play this part than Paul Mescal. Feels like a perfect storm of actor and director meeting at the right time.
Grade: A
25th: The Fabelmans – Stephen Spielberg (2022)
Strangely, like an extremely pleasant film to watch. Maybe that’s the non-child-of-divorce in me? But honestly, kind of a no-brainer that a director most synonymous with creating movie magic is pretty great at depicting the magic of movies. It’s kind of amazing that this didn’t get more love at the Oscars. Seems like the kind of film engineered for that type of audience.
Grade: B+
25th: Silence – Martin Scorsese (2016)
Good goddamn Andrew Garfield. Just love that guy. What a strange, beguiling film for Scorsese. I’m still processing it, to be honest. But I will say, that even two weeks later, this film is sticking with me. Particularly some of the decisions Scorsese makes in the last act of the film. I have a suspicion that I’ll be bumping this up to 4.5 or 5 stars next rewatch. Fuck it, I’m just gonna bump it up now. Good on you, Marty!
Grade: B+
26th: Parasite – Bong Joon-ho (2019)
Stopping by three years later just to say that this film is a miracle. If I had to pick one film that’ll jump up the rankings in the 2032 Sight & Sound it’d be this one.
Grade: A
30th: Secret Sunshine – Lee Chang-dong (2007)
I’m honestly overwhelmed trying to capture the sophistication in this film. It’s one of the strangest movies I’ve ever seen. Frankly, I’m kind of shocked that it was an international hit. I guess I shouldn’t underestimate audiences, but this isn’t a film that really jumps out as being broadly appealing. Ultimately, I think the lesson here is that if you follow your story and resist the urge to box it into a preconceived notion about what it should be, you’ll probably stumble upon something unique and way more interesting.
Grade: A-
31st: Tokyo Story – Yasujirō Ozu (1953)
In an alternate Sopranos universe, Carmella’s movie group watches this and she is finally able to appreciate Aj’s existential crisis, thereby reconciling the generational divide that eludes Ozu’s characters here.
Grade: A-
31st: Decision to Leave – Park Chan-wook (2022)
Still waiting to see the Park Chan-wook film that unlocks it all for me. Clearly, he’s a master of visual filmmaking and composition. I also believe that there’s something I’m missing in the mixed comic/melodramatic tone here or in the story’s many turns. Will post back once it all makes sense.
Grade: B
31st: Spirited Away – Hayao Miyazaki (2001)
This whole film is a masterpiece but goddamn, that final act.
Grade: A
Sam Writes Shit 
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