Just in time for Halloween!! (in no order beyond alphabetical)

El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone)

Donnie Darko

Sixth Sense

Stir of Echoes

The Uninvited

6:58 PM 4 comments

(in order of preference)

Puffins

Squirrel Monkeys

Meerkats

Baboons

Dogs

9:25 AM 0 comments thus far

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

The Citadel

The Fine Arts Museum

The Heroes' Square

Inside the Parliment building

The Zoological and Botanical Gardens

9:27 AM 0 comments thus far

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Amelie - rock-skipping scene

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - the three-way shodown in Sad Hill Cemetary

The Last of the Mohicans - the climactic chase culminating in Chingatchgook's justice

The Matrix - the lobby scene

Snatch - the scene which immediately follows Gorgeous George being knocked out by Mickey in one punch (the music makes one feel the surreality of it all)

Runners up include the finale of Dr. Strangelove and its bastard child, the climax of Metropolis, The Empire Strikes Back's entrance of Darth Vadar to the Imperial March, the screeching plummet of the knife as Norman Bates carves Marion Crane into a Christmas shower-turkey, Ennio Morricone's melding of two themes when Bronson and Fonda finally meet and duel in Once Upon a Time in the West, the Dust Brother's scattered sex-track for Fight Club dream sequence 'tween the CG-distorted Tyler and Marla, Donnie Darko's use of Tears for Fears' "It's a Mad World," Brazil's use of its blissful theme over the film's harshly ironic ending, and The Limey's introduction of Terence Stamp's character with "The Seeker." There are probably more, but I could only remember just so many films in the days ending my trip.

9:46 AM 4 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Apocalypse Now - "Ride of the Valkyries" as the harbinger of Robert Duvall's crowd via loud speakers mounted on his Bell

Casablanca - "You played it for her, you can play it for me! If she can stand it, I can! Play it!"

Clockwork Orange - the despicably ironic use of "Singin' in the Rain"

Resevoir Dogs - clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right; here I am stuck in the middle with your ear

Swing Kids - the pure enrgy accorded nearly every song play is uncanny; the characters feel it and so the audience feels it

9:50 AM 5 comments

(in reverse order of importance)

Lack of creativity

Lack of ambition to better societal standards of living

Lack of informed sense about indoor/outdoor temperature, open windows, and differential temperature shock to the human frame

Lack of automatic cars

Lack of RC cola

10:07 AM 8 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Bogart & Bacall - To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep

Bogart & Bergman - Casablanca

Clooney & Lopez - Out of Sight

Crystal & Ryan - When Harry Met Sally

Lewis (Daniel Day) & Stowe - The Last of the Mohicans

11:36 AM 10 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

"Come Thou Long Expected Jesus"

"O Come O Come Emmanuel"

"O Holy Night"

"What Child Is This"

"White Christmas" - Bing Crosby

10:50 PM 9 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Element 101

Five O'Clock People

Havalina Rail Co. (everything but America)

Joy Electric (esp. We Are the Music Makers)

Plankeye (circa Scott Silletta - 1994-1996)

Sixpence None the Richer (esp. The Fatherless and the Widow)

Starflyer 59 (all of it)

Stavesacre

Switchfoot (New Way to Be Human)

?? [I didn't wanna force the list]

 14 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Asight Unseen (Hollywood Proverbs - 1993)

Children of the Consuming Fire

The Lifesavers (Dream Life - 1983)

The Killing Tree

The Prayer Chain (circa Neverland Sessions - 1992)

Mortal

Saved

Thee Spivies

Steve Taylor

Undercover (circa God Rules - 1983)

 9 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Fiona Apple

Natalie Cole

Ella Fitzgerald

Kristin Korb

Diana Krall

Runner-ups include Etta James, Leigh Nash, Bjork (circa the Sugar Cubes), and I'm almost embarrassed to include Natalie Merchant (but I'll let her stay because I know how much it means to her).

 23 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Emma

Return to Me

Road Home, The

Sliding Doors

When Harry Met Sally

 2 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Ain't Misbehavin'

Cheek to Cheek

Fever

L-O-V-E

Knock Me a Kiss

Our Love Is Here to Stay

Skylark

They Can't Take That Away from Me

The Way You Look Tonight

You Got to My Head

 2 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Amélie

Fight Club

Last of the Mohicans

O Brother Where Art Thou

Once Upon a Time in the West

 12 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Armstrong, Louis

Connick Jr., Harry

Hendricks, John

Korb, Kristin

Martin, Dean

Wignal, Matt

 6 comments

(in no order beyond that which by they occured to me)

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

The Third Man

French Kiss

Much Ado About Nothing

In explanation of the thought process behind these decisions:

The Spy Who came in from the Cold came up because I'm in the midst of writing a review of a movie that is highly reminiscent of the Sixties spy flick. Jin-Roh is the movie I'm reviewing and it features a sewer-tunnel chase that recalls The Third Man. The Orson Wells thriller takes place in Europe, which made me think of French Kiss. Thinking now of Kevin Kline, I naturally thought "Shakespeare" and this in combination with the previously established European foundation brought to mind Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing. And there we are.

 8 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Casablanca

High Fidelity

The Princess Bride

Say Anything...

When Harry Met Sally

What can I say? There have been so many love stories committed to film that to choose "the best" would be a task to daunt the greatest of souls. These were just the top five that have probably either had the greatest influence over my life or best reflected some portion of whom I am as someone who loves or reminds me of some poignant detail that has shaped me into the semi-well-adjusted Dane I am today. I'm sure if properly reminded, other choices might take precedent, but these are them as they exist in my head now.

 7 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

David Fincher

Terry Gilliam

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Akira Kurosawa

Orson Welles

My gosh. This was such an incredibly difficult one to answer. Because I was loathe to give short shrift to some of my other favorites, here are some of the others who make my shortlist. Darren Aronofsky, Luc Besson, Tim Burton, Frank Capra, The Coen Bros., Howard Hawks, Wong Kar-Wai, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Ang Lee, Sergio Leone, Hayao Miyazaki, Alex Proyas, Sam Raimi, Guy Ritchie, Bryan Singer, Steven Soderberg, Steven Spielberg, Tom Tykwer, and Billy Wilder. Now you can see why it was such a difficult decision. (by the way, for those who care, Tom Tykwer is directing a film written by Krzysztof Kieslowski, called Heaven that I think will be released this year)

 3 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Better Off Dead

Breakfast Club

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

10 Things I Hate About You

Trojan War

And yes, it's true. I excluded both Rushmore and Heathers because I didn't think either should be on a list of the Top 5 anything. My apologies to the die hard fans out there.

 5 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Highlander

M*A*S*H

uhm

nah

*sigh*

 7 comments

("... just those single scenes that perfectly capture an idea, are paced spot on, maybe got the music just right, etc.")

Once Upon a Time in the West - The opening scene moves deftly from pallid to piqued to swollen anticipation. Sound (the droning and over powering windmill creak, the buzzing fly, the soft plish-plink of the dripping water, the cracking knuckles) conspires with the harsh cinematic inactivity to build a speechless apprehension for some seven minutes until the train finally arrives. Beautiful. Absomutely beautiful.

Pleasantville - When Tobey Maguire and Marley Shelton come around the corner to Lover's Lane while Etta James trills "At Last" and monochrome comfort is burst in upon by vibrant pink blossoms raining gently into their convertible.

Dark City - Jennifer Connelly is introduced. Sultry. Singing in a jazz club. "Sway" is the song and it throbs with noir passion.

Casablanca - Last goodbyes and misty ambiguity — the final scene of Casablanca is probably the most memorable goodbye ever filmed. And Louis and Rick walking off together into the foggy night. Wundebar!

Titus - The cacophonic opening with the dinette interior decaration is a perfect blend of sound and fury, melting childlike fantasy of battle with the grim nightmare of the tragedy of real war.

And because five isn't enough, a brief mention to the following wonderful scenes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly finale three-way gunfight (talk about suspense!). The Adventures of Baron Munchausen's birth of venus!! Two scenes in Say Anything: the boom box held on high and the Gas-N-Sip boyz with the following summation of "That was a bad idea." Jack Black's version of customer service in High Fidelity: "Do we look like the kind of store that would carry, 'I Just Called To Say I Love You'? Go to the mall." Priceless. The campfire-side scene of youthful anarchy and Simon's death in the original Lord of the Flies is among the most chilling scenes ever filmed. The lobby scene in The Matrix. The reparté betwixt Bogey and Bacall in his rented suite in To Have and Have Not. Jules's fyoorious anger speech early in Pulp Fiction. The "I'll have what she's having scene" in When Harry Met Sally. The train bridge in Stand By Me. The Rube Goldbergish shipwreck in City of Lost Children. The gas station in Zoolander. And Amélie turning to water in her movie. And a host of others!!

 10 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

"Introducing Kristin Korb with the Ray Brown Trio" - Kristin Korb

"Leave Here a Stranger" - Starflyer 59

"Kick" - INXS

"Russian Lullabyes" - Havalina Rail Co.

"When the Pawn..." - Fiona Apple

Wow. This was tough. These are all albums that are entirely self-consistent. And are just chock-full of great songs. Too many albums offer two or three or one great song and a host of trash. These are not them. Some runners-up were Havalina's self-titled debut album, Van Halen's "1984," They Might Be Giants's "Flood," John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things," The Dave Brubek Quartet's "Time Out," Alanis Morisette's "Jagged Little Pill," Oingo Boingo's "Farewell," and Verve's Compact Jazz release of "Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong."

 15 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Die Hard

Fifth Element

Hudson Hawk

Pulp Fiction

12 Monkeys

It's really a good thing I didn't have to place them in order of preference. I really don't think I would have been able to discern between Die Hard and Hudson Hawk for the top position - they both stand at the top of their respective genres.

 15 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Once Upon a Time in the West

Quigley Down Under

The Shootist

Uhm... The Outlaw Josey Wales would have knocked out The Shootist easy as pie except for the fact that it commits egregious sin in allowing Sondra Locke any screentime. At all. Also, I wasn't certain if I'd be allowed to include Yojimbo as a Western of sorts (since it does occur in a fontierish Japan filled with rogues, vagabonds, and bordertown-justice).

 9 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Chocolatwe-Fudge Ice Cream (w/ sugar cone - 31 Flavors)

Hot Fudge Schooner Sundae (Coco's)

Lemon Meringue Pie

Mom's Chocolate Chip Brownies (no nuts)

Mud Pie (mocha - Claim Jumper)

 5 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

"Lazy Days" - Leona Naess

"My Favorite Things" - John Coltrane

"Porcelain" - Moby

"Proportion Thing" - Havalina Rail Co.

"These Foolish Things" - Billy Holiday

 6 comments

(with only one entry per artist - and listed in alphabetical order)

"Girlfriend" - Matthew Sweet

"Never Tear Us Apart" - INXS

"Sunshine of Your Love" - Cream

"Total Depravity" - Havalina Rail Co.

"We Close Our Eyes" - Oingo Boingo (off the live Farewell disk)

 6 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Cactus Cooler

Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi

Mr. Pibb

Ruby Red Squirt

Souix City Sarsaparilla

 8 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Film Critic

Graphic Novelist

Vocalist in a band (preferably jazz or lounge)

Proprietor of a highly selective** video store

Superhero (but sorry, no tights)

* my runner-up Dream Job would be that of President of the United States (although some might consider the fulfillment of this dream to be a nightmare)

** by "selective" I mean that I would only stock films that I deemed worthy for the store (i.e., no film that Julia Roberts has yet made). Ideally, the store would become hip and cater to the cultural elite. And then I would franchise it (hey, I may have particular tastes, but I'm still a capitalist).

 14 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Canute [thanks Jim]

Gangster of 5683

Kenashito

Spooky

The Dane*

* NOTE: That's right. I'll bet you you didn't know that "The Dane" is just a nickname did you?

 10 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Airplane

Better Off Dead

Fletch

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

 19 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Circus Animals

Ginger Snaps (the thinner, the better)

Milanos (Double Chocolate)

Nutter Butters

Oreos (regular of course!)

 3 comments

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Alleluia! Sing to Jesus

Be Thou My Vision

The Church's One Foundation

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

 15 comments