List Five Movies you wish other EoFFers would watch.

[Rez09]

Interestingly, Galaxy Express 999 was one of the first anime I remember seeing, way back when Sci-Fi used to show anime late at night, and it, alongside Green Legend Ran and Iria, kicked off my anime obsession. It's been ages since I've seen the film, but it's pouring outside and I might have to go back and watch it again. Sadly, it is the only film on your list I have seen, though I am familiar with Big Fish and Jacob's Ladder, the former, quite amusingly, being one of my step-father's favorite films.


For my list (and this is more of a list of films I generally recommend to people as opposed to one specifically for people on EoFF):

American Pop



While basically unheard of nowadays, Director Ralph Bakshi was a pioneer in American adult animation during the late 70s and 80s and was responsible for several notable (and sometimes infamous) films during the era; American Pop is not one of these films, and is often completely forgotten. The film follows the lives of four generations of an immigrant family that comes to America and their experiences on the path to success in the music industry, depicting the impact of things along the way on them like the mafia, drug addiction, and both world wars. This multigenerational story and generally somber tone make it one of the most interesting films to come out of its era -- if not any era -- of American animation, and definitely worth a watch.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly



I remember growing up and always seeing this double VHS box for The Ten Commandments in my grandfather's collection and wondering how anyone could sit through such a long film (to which he always replied that I should watch it). I never did. Fast forward, God, twenty years or so and I find myself in nearly the same situation with this film, as I run into people who haven't seen it fairly often and recommend it to them, but no one seems to have the patience for the film. Easily the most famous film on my list of common recommendations, this follows the story of two outlaws and a hitman on the hunt for stolen gold through an American Civil War torn South, all three of whom are generally treacherous and out for themselves. It makes for a fantastic dynamic through the film, as alliances are temporarily formed and broken all the time and it sums up in one of the most iconic showdowns in film history, where no one trusts anyone and everyone has to weigh who to shoot and who is the least likely to shoot them. Easily one of, if not the, most defining Westerns.

Kagemusha



Outside of martial arts films, I never had any particular interest in foreign films while I was growing up, at least not if we discount Godzilla films, but that changed with my introduction to late night anime and my eyes began to drift towards the Land of the Rising Sun for other media as well. Though the options at the time were slim, I did manage to catch several Japanese films on various movie networks over the years, and two in particular -- Seven Samurai and Kagemusha -- have managed to stick with me even now, and Kagemusha is probably the one I recommend the most often. The film takes place during Japan's Sengoku period and is about a nobody thief who is saved from execution and selected to serve as a body double for a local Daimyo, as such a person is likely to draw assassination attempts. However, the Daimyo himself IS indeed killed, and the thief must assume the role of the lord to maintain a face of strength for the clan so other warlords don't take advantage of the situation during such a turbulent period. From this point there are conflicts from without and within the thief must deal with, and the film speaks, perhaps unintentionally, to some interesting ideas when examined as a whole, such redemption in the case of the thief, petty squabbles bringing down mountains, and whether people can and should be defined by their actions more than their station and identity. The film is quite long, and admittedly slow, but Kagemusha is also what I consider the 'best' film I commonly recommend to people.

Godzilla



While I love this series, and giant monster attacks films in general, this is my pick for the best made so far, excepting perhaps King Kong and Jaws if you count those, even all these years later. While most films in the genre end up more silly than anything else, either intentionally or otherwise, the original Godzilla plays everything straight and is all the better for it. This is a REAL monster attacking, people REALLY need to deal with it, and how the HELL do you do that in 1955? Even better, I like that when they do find a way, the person who knows how doesn't WANT to do it, because he fears what his creation becoming weaponized would do, and, coming from Japan ten years after the Atomic Bomb, this is a quite relatable concept. If you haven't seen the film before, give it a watch.


Treasure Planet



Treasure Planet is, interestingly enough, the Disney film I recommend to people the most, despite it being far from what I consider one of the company's best films -- indeed, it is one of the films I am the most on the fence about, due to characters like the mindless robot and Morph needlessly dragging the experience down for no real payoff other than amusing five year olds. For those unfamiliar with the film, it is, quite simply, Treasure Island in space, and as such follows all of the basic cues you'd expect, from the treasure map and Flint's pirate crew, the journey and mutiny, and the resolution with Jim and John, all with Disney's characteristic twists and colorful characters. What is unexpected and probably the most praiseworthy element of the film is the time Disney spent with the father-son relationship between John and Jim, and the transformative effect this has on them, and, perhaps, the ultimate redemption it brings for both characters. If you haven't seen it, and have no particular aversion to Treasure Island, check it out.