Meme slut

Patroclus gives me a great excuse to talk about movies, which is much more fun than work, even if I have already laid bare my celluloid loves in previous posts, memes, etc. This is not a proper meme, it's a simple list, which means that (a) I can defend my lack of Proper Blogging with the old "but it's not a real meme!" excuse, and (b) I don't really have much of an excuse for posting this at all.

Like P, I wouldn't get far with the original "best films ever" list, mostly because I haven't actually seen many classic films. So we'll stick with the easy and fun part: my favourite films. Rest assured, most of them won't be sullying any "best ever" lists anyway, so I've pretty much complied with the original instructions without even trying.*

Here we are then. In no particular order, the 10 films I can watch over and over and over:

1) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Gary Oldman has never been as good as he was here. Superb comic timing, brilliantly circuitous logic and smart dialogue, and the cutest Hamlet I've ever seen on screen. But don't worry, this is probably the last "clever" film on the list.

2) Moulin Rouge! Because it's just a great big all-singing, all-dancing Pierre et Gilles fantasy. Sparkly stuff! Fabulous music! Nicole Kidman in amazing outfits! El Tango de Roxanne! What's not to love?

3) The Princess Bride. Do I even have to explain this? I couldn't if I tried, but I will just add: this film brought Beloved and I together. True. Who could wish for a more romantic beginning?**

4) Delicatessen. I love everything about this film. It's stylish and dark and whimsical, all in perfect balance. I wanted to love Amelie, but in the end it was just a little bit too fluffy; it needed darkness. The City of Lost Children was stylish and dark, but more bizarre than whimsical; good in principle, but again, I couldn't quite clasp it to my bosom. Delicatessen, however, is just perfect.

5) Being John Malkovich. John Cusack is always a favourite and this film is tailormade to please me, being chock full of things that are deliciously nonsensical. I mean, half a floor. Genius. (Okay, that's two clever films. Sorry.)

6) Lest you think this list is getting a bit too artsy, I give you: Bring It On. Oh come now, you can't seriously fail to love this, can you? They're so darn cute, and peppy, and bitchy! And the choreographer! And the boy, well, he brings out the cradlesnatcher in me. Oh yes.

7) Can I cheat and stick in the entire oeuvre of Tim Burton? Because I really can't decide. Sorry. If you really want me to narrow it down, we'll make it "the entire oeuvre of Tim Burton with Johnny Depp, but not including Corpse Bride, which hardly featured Johnny at all, what a waste". I also think Lisa Marie made a better muse for him than Helena, but I guess that's his choice.

8) Not that I've got anything against Helena. She was fantastic in Fight Club.

9) And in Room with a View. That kiss... I think I'm allowed one shamelessly soppy film in the list, and this is it.

Oh goodness. Only one slot left to fill. Oh, the pressure. Memento? O Brother where art Thou? Lord of the Rings?

10) Animal House. I'm sorry, I can't help it. It's the dead horse that gets me. The guy measuring the dead horse, then the doorframe, then back to the horse... Absolutely no one I know will watch this with me. But I totally love it.

Edit: Nonono! How could I forget Grease? Sorry, AH, you have to go. Grease is just special. Laugh all you like, but I love that movie.

Postscript: I will watch pretty much anything featuring, by, or in any way associated with: John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, the Coen brothers, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore.

I will have to be forcibly dragged into the cinema to endure: Tom Cruise, Ralph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow.

Now you go.

_____
* The idea is to post a "fave films ever" list that doesn't overlap AT ALL with your "best films ever" list. Kind of a guilty pleasures thing.
** Ok *teknikly* the romantic beginning was a year later, but without the Princess Bride, we never would have met. Honest.