If there’s one thing writers love more than telling stories, it’s hearing new ones. While writers do love to read, most of us are also serious movie buffs, as well. A lot of times our writing meetings deteriorate into swapping movie and book suggestions. This week, we asked the Confabulators to share their favorite movie. We hope you’ll discover something new from our recommendations, and that you’ll share with us your favorite movies in the comments section!
This is hard for me because I love movies almost as much as books. I think my favorite might be The Shawshank Redemption. I can’t think of a single thing I would change about that movie. Beautiful, gritty, and narrated by Morgan Freeman. How can you beat that?
The Usual Suspects
I hate this question because it’s hard. I have a hard time claiming anything as a favorite, because it depends on my mood or what’s going on in my life. My Top Five don’t tend to change much, though, so you get five for the price of one: Empire Records, Boondock Saints, I Heart Huckabees, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Labyrinth.
Oh, boy. Today my favorite movie is The Dark Knight because I just watched a supercut of the Joker. (Google it – it’s just the scenes of Heath Ledger speaking on camera and runs about ten minutes.) Tomorrow it may be Inception and the day after it may be something else like The Two Towers. I leave it to the reader to determine what these films may have in common.
My favorite movie is M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable. Not only is it an excellent superhero origin story, it is visually beautiful in its camera shots and use of color. Unbreakable also has a personal connection for me. Samuel L. Jackson’s character Elijah Price has a genetic disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta, a fragile bone disorder. That’s why kids in the neighborhood call him “Mr. Glass.” This is the same disorder I have, although my case is more severe than his. Let’s just say Shyamalan didn’t do great research.
I’m definitely a sucker for movies about writers. I personally own Finding Forrester, Wonder Boys, and Dead Poets Society, and I watch those films over and over again. Sometime I just like to have them on in the background so I can listen to the characters talk while I work on the house or fold laundry. That being said, I also have a soft spot for the cleverly written film. The one that makes me go, “Oh . . . well done. Didn’t see that one coming.” For my money, one of the very best of those is The Usual Suspects. Again, I own this film, but if it’s on TV, I’m definitely giving it a few minutes of my time. It’s also found its way onto my iTunes, so if I’m on a trip and find myself without something good to read, I’m queuing up Verbal Kint and the boys. I always love learning the truth about Keyser Soze.
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