The Top Ten Movie That Changed My Life

Before I take you through what is surely one of the most self-indulgent lists ever devised by a critic, I think it would be only pertinent to share a little of the person who has picked these movies. After all, a review is only worth its weight when viewed in the context of the man or woman who wrote it. Why would you care if I did or didn't like Transformers unless you had some insight into who it was that was telling you the sub-level of quality it strove for.

Warning:If you have little stomach for nostalgic masturbation, you may skip the following paragraph if you wish.

So a bit about me; I could regale you with the crazy number of DVDs adorning my walls, or that I review movies for a podcast site, shamelessly plugging my efforts on a weekly basis. I could tell you about how I own my own business selling comics in a well to do store in Metrotown Mall and spend most of my day talking about toys, comics and the great unifying force of cinema. As impressive as you might find all of these tawdry facts, the only thing that really should matter is how much I love movies. I'll watch two movies a day, one with my wife and one after she falls asleep. I'll annoy the crap out of friends and family with steady over-analysis of any movie I've recently seen and as sad as it seems, I quietly feed my broad love of genre films of which I can't seem to find peers to share with. Sure, I have friends who love horror flicks and I know a character or two who can wax enthusiastically at a myriad of kung fu movies, but I find people who love blaxploitation, noir, or have a frothing appreciation for the films of Steve McQueen few and far between. How enamored I am with film could possibly be due to my parents, as most things deeply rooted in one's self usually are. Both full time workers, and myself being a latch-key-kid, I would while away the hours from three-thirty to six in front of the TV. Sure, I would go out if there was someone to play with, but being an only child, come rain or shine, I could always rely on the boob tube to be there and take me to other worlds, where the rules of cliched friendships backed by soppy scores and riotous laugh tracks showed me what the moral majority thought we should all aspire to be or not to be. This is starting to sound like the Cable Guy now, right? Well my "babysitter" didn't take my sense of self away from me. This isn't some sad story of an abandoned child, neglected and left to fend for himself in front of a television. Come six-thirty, my parents would be home and dinner would be made and more often than not, we'd repair to the living room to watch a movie. My parents were avid renters and I can still remember our first VCR (also rented) that had the remote still attached via a six foot chord across the room. My father has taught me many valuable things in his lifetime, but one possibly unintended value I gleaned was the enjoyment of movies. After VCRs became the household staple for everyone, my father had already jerry rigged two together and started bootlegging copies of anything that came into our house. Then with the advent of "SuperChannel" the whole process became even easier. We had hundreds of movies. Everything from Hollywood blockbusters like "Ghostbusters" to long forgotten gems like "Crossroads" (and shame on you if you're thinking Britney Spears and not Ralph Machio). By the time highschool rolled around I was skipping school and staying at home to watch movies all day. Sure I got into all the other trouble that teenage boys do at the right ages, but there was always time for a movie. It wasn't until the end of high school and beginning of real life that I started to appreciate movies for all they could offer. I was raised on the action flicks of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Van Damme and comedies of John Candy and Dan Aykroyd and while these movies were surely great and entertaining films, there were other elements of film that I was missing. Key elements that separated me from the sick and deviant cinephile I've now become. The artistry of my father's favorites weren't fully appreciated until later in my life. Blade Runner was a lot of talking and too dark and mature for me to understand. Aliens was a great ride, but the technical achievements in creating the world it did, or the strength in the story and characters were certainly all enjoyed but not yet analyzed and fully understood.

So as I sit back now, admiring my extensive DVD collection, I wondered which are the films that brought me to where I am today? This is the heart of essay. It's not meant to show the world how encyclopedic my knowledge is by referencing little-known movies. Nor is it intended to run down the easily over hyped "best" of anything. These movies can have their flaws and their strengths that may or may not be addressed herein, but what this list covers are the movies seminal films that brought me along my way to appreciating movies the way I do today. Each one stands out in it's own way, teaching me something about the craft of movie making or about myself. There will be movies that most people would think are sorely missed off a list for someone from my generation, such as Star Wars. Who wasn't influenced by this supernova of a film? While it may be on your list, it won't be on mine for the simple fact that Star Wars is a part of who I am. It's a part of the world and is inescapable. I'm not trying to be unique, but for as long as I can remember, there has always been Star Wars. I was too young to remember the first time I saw it and therefore while I'm sure it has shaped me and my appreciation of movies, Star Wars is as the Earth. It was always there and will always be.

On the flip side, I considered putting Phantom Menace or Batman and Robin on the list. Both certainly had their effect on me and I can remember both experiences of watching them for
the first time in the theater and wondering how these things could have come to be. In Batman and Robin I saw for the first time how wrong a film maker could be in their vision. How every decision they made led them down a darker road and how sad it was that it could not be undone. In Phantom Menace I saw the awesome legend of of film hero George Lucas reduced to facts that should have been apparent to anybody. He is just a man. And like anyone else he is capable of mistakes. There was no way a new Star Wars movie could have been disappointing until the credits rolled and I found myself wondering what had just happened. Obviously, these feelings have since occurred time and time again, but those were the first. That's what this list is about, sure, but I want to stay on the positive side and share with you the movies that enriched my life and carried my love of movies to a deeper place than it had been before. So here we go in a roughly chronological order to keep things orderly.

Number One: Batman (1989)

I'm nine and going to the movies for the first time. I had never experienced anything like it before. The grandeur, the scope, the snacks or popcorn and fountain pop. A lobby filled with colorful posters for other movies, but mostly promoting the movie of the year, Batman!

Maybe it was the sugaring sweet snacks or maybe the thrilling dive into deep caverns and trenches that the camera takes in the opening sequence only to pull back and reveal the monolithic bat-symbol, but the whole experience seemed too much and I spent half the movie in the bathroom, being motion sick. But that didn't stop any of the impact coming through.
Here was a real superhero movie! A costume like none I had seen. In fact, a costume that set a standard still followed by superhero movies today. That was the last time anyone took the idea of spandex seriously, if they ever had. The art direction, the score, the darkness and yet still maintaining the ability to communicate with this nine year old boy. The world acknowledged the movie rightly for what it was: a classic and it left it's mark. Sure I didn't dare go back to a movie theater until '92 when the sequel came out, but I also never forgot that feeling of seeing it for the first time.