Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo host a film review programme on BBC Radio 5 every Friday at 3.00pm.
Last week they asked for people's top 5 movies, and why we chose them.
I replied;
Five?
F-I-V-E??
I have been going to the movies for 70 years, ever since my grandmother tried to shape me into a Christian child by taking me to see The Robe, Demetrious and the Gladiators, The Silver Chalice, Sampson and Delilah and The Ten Commandments. Ironically, 20 years later I was ordained as a priest in the Church of England, but I think One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest told me more about Christology than any of these Biblical epics.
None the less the cinema was, in effect, my first church, where I found an abiding love of the movies. For nearly 40 years I have brought the two churches together as I reviewed, preached, and led courses on movies for clergy and youth leaders, written booklets, and then a blog about them.
So just five favourites?
All I could do to limit my choices was to just look at the top shelf of my alphabetically arranged DVDs and pick these examples from it.
Arrival. I am a ‘hard-science’ fiction fan, but I did not know Ted Chiang’s short stories until I saw this adaptation of one of them. I love the way his aliens had not been learning Soap- Opera American en route to Earth, so our first contact required a human linguist to find out if they intended to help us or eat us - and that woman was played by Amy Adams! I am so happy that the film adaptation does not pass over the science and is beautifully directed, designed and scored. And then at the end this cerebral SF thriller delivers an emotional punch that meant I had to go and watch it again as soon as possible in order to ‘see’ it properly for the first time. Arrival also gave me the well founded – and fulfilled – hope that Denis Villeneuve would do a worthy job on Blade Runner 2049.
The Avengers/Iron Man series. Even more than the immaculate production design, direction, wit and acting I warmly welcome an epic mythology that is not only great fun to watch but also promotes commitment, teamwork, sacrifice and forgiveness. (I am, after all, a Christian Minister!).
Beasts of the Southern Wild. As much as I enjoy the MC Universe’s $150m blockbusters, the fact that Behn Zeilin’s first feature film was made for less than $2 million really gave me pause for thought. I am a great fan of some of the other 2013 Oscar nominated films, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook and especially Zero Dark Thirty, but none of them moved me as much as Beasts – and the way it came into being as a local community effort.
The Big Lebowski. Fortunately the alphabet allows me to include a favourite Coen Brothers’ movie, and one with some of my choicest actors, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Philip Seymour Hoffman and David Thewless. But where oh where was Tilda Swinton? Well, nothings perfect, but this comes close.
Blade Runner/Blade Runner 2049. Back in 1982 I praised Blade Runner in a SF Fanzine review, and was blasted for doing so as Ridley Scott had blasphemed by changing the Holy Word of Secular Saint Philip K Dick - and I even said that the film was not only better than the book, but the best SF movie I had ever seen. ‘What is Life?’ it asks me, and answers ‘Life is precious’. This seminal movie is precious too, in all of its evolving forms. And thank you Ridley and Denis for eventually giving us 2049.
Well that’s just 5 from the top shelf. They are not representative of the whole, 3/5th of these being SF, whereas only ¼ of my favourite 100 movies are.
And if you are nodding in agreement, Revd Doc Mark, you need to know that my all time favourite movie is Terrence Malik’s Tree of Life, which has intrigued, moved and challenged me – and the groups and congregations I have shown it too – over maybe 15 viewings.
Anyway, thanks for the invitation – impossible as it was for me to properly fulfil – and for your splendid prog.
