Top Ten

I always love to see what people put on Top Ten lists, and I am always curious if the movies I think are extraordinary are on them. I decided to try and sort through my favorite movies and come up with a Top Ten of movies that hit me real hard.

1) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest:  I think there is a little bit of McMurphy in all of us, and maybe a little bit of Chief as well.

2) Yojimbo: A western that takes place in medieval Japan. One of the best.

3) Waltz with Bashir: An interesting look at war and the soldiers in it, and the State of Israel as well.

4)  The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: It may be 177 minutes, but it never loses your attention, it just gets better and better.

5) Man Bites Dog: a black and white mockumentary about a serial killer... Yes, it's a mockumentary. Yes it's very dark. No, do not watch if you have just eaten. It really is good though.

6) The Maltese Falcon: Humphrey Bogart is awesome, and the story is too.

7) Blade Runner: I'm a huge fan. Visuals are stunning. Story is awesome. Did I mention I'm a huge fan?


8) The Big Lebowski: Another cult favorite, but hilarious all the same. See it for the bowling, and the rug.

9) Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Been a favorite since I was 10 years old, and still silly to this day. The jokes never get old.

10) The Seven Samurai: The best. It's 3 hours long, but it never gets boring. Kurosawa is amazing!

The Endless Summer

  Yes. The Endless Summer. Every surfer's dream vacation and the quintessential surf film, not to mention my favorite surf film before Rob Machado's The Drifter. (which you should also see)

   The Film follows two surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August on a trip around the globe starting in West Africa and ending in, of course, Hawaii. The two are trying to test the idea that with enough money one could in theory follow summer around the world. They also unintentionally introduce surfing to some West African communities and find the best wave located at Point St. Francis, South Africa.

  This movie was groundbreaking. It gave a new breath of life to the once stale and boring travel documentary format of the 1940's and 50's. (not to mention that it has lots and lots of stellar longboarding). The film brought real surfing to the front stage at a time when people only knew about Gidget. What's more, every body in the film just wants to have fun! It seems as though Brown doesn't take the film that seriously. Which is a wonderful thing, because it gives the film a more laid back and loose feeling. It also doesn't seem to be condescending twords the locals of the places the guys visit but rather connects them to us by the shared experience of being in and around the ocean.
 
  The surfing in the film is some of the best of it's kind too. I based all of my own technique in the water off of what I saw in this movie. It's crazy to watch this film and see what those guys did without leashes, thruster set-ups, or wet-suits. I would never surf in Santa Cruz in the dead of winter without my suit!

  All in all, this is a film that I would recommend anybody, surfer or not, to see at least once. I'd give it a 8.5/10.

This is not the first! But this will be the better one!

   This is not the first attempt of mine to do a blog on movies, but it will hopefully be my more successful one. If you would like to see the other blog the address is here, and I hope that you get some good insight as to what this blog will be all about. anyway. I've seen some pretty good movies this summer and I hope to share a few of them with you guys in the next couple of months.

    I usually don't review newer movies, but I think I might try to as we get more into the winter movie season. If you have any suggestions to movies that I should see this winter and review, comment on the blog and give me suggestions.

    I look forward to sharing my opinions with you guys!