Robyn Sparkles

36. Paris, Je T’aime (2006)

35. Head-On (Fatih Akin, 2004)

Head-On begins with Cahit and Sibel having a meet-cute in the hospital, where they are both staying following suicide attempts, and quickly deciding to get married so Sibel can get out of her parents’ house, which seems like the premise of a horrific indie romcom. It turns out to be much more interesting, though, compelling and odd and quite good.

34. The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Peter Lord & Jeff Newitt, 2012)

Very, very silly - a perfect match for my sense of humor! Recommended for anyone who thinks character names like “Pirate With Gout” and “Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate” are genius and for all fans of pirates disguising themselves as girl scouts.

33. The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg, 1930)

32. Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird, 2011)

This was a pleasant surprise for me. The visuals were quite good for a popcorn action flick - a nice sense of space. And it’s nice to see fights edited in way that makes the action coherent. Plus, Simon Pegg!

31. Paris 36 (Christophe Barratier, 2008)

30. Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)

29. Peggy Sue Got Married (Francis Ford Coppola, 1986)

I have a hard time understanding Francis Ford Coppola’s career. What is the link between this and The Godfather?* Between anything and Jack? It boggles the mind.

Also mind-boggling: Nic Cage’s performance in Peggy Sue Got Married. It’s on the weird-bad side of the axis of Nic Cage performances (which spans from weird-great to weird-awful).

Kathleen Turner has a fantastic voice.

*Rumble Fish, maybe?

28. Monkey Business (Howard Hawks, 1950)

27. Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)

Contempt is a good title for a Godard film because that is more or less the attitude of all his films toward most everything. Godard films always seem to me to be filled with contempt - contempt for the audience, the characters, Hollywood, America. Even things Godard loves, like film itself, are treated with contempt. I suppose that’s why I’ve never connected more with Godard’s films. It’s so different from how I see the world.

Like most of the Godard films I’ve seen, Contempt is fascinating even when it’s unpleasant. It’s beautiful and ugly all at once.

26. The Class (Laurent Cantet, 2008)

One of the more honest depictions of teaching in film.

25. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)

24. Mirror Mirror (Tarsem Singh, 2012)

Beautiful costumes, terrible jokes (it’s a children’s movie, though, so maybe I’m just too old to appreciate the humor).

When the evil queen offered Snow White an apple, my mother whispered “No! Don’t take it!” from her seat in the movie theater.

23. 50/50 (Jonathan Levine, 2011)

An okay movie with some wonderful moments. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Angelica Huston, and Anna Kendrick are all excellent as people trying to deal with cancer, a tragedy they are completely unprepared for. I wish Bryce Dallas Howard’s character had been different, though. She plays a 2-dimensional “bitch girlfriend” type and her cartoonishness is jarring in comparison to the other characters’ layers.

22. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)

I’ve been wanting to see this for a while and I’m so glad it was still in theaters when I got back from being abroad. It managed to live up to my very high expectations. It is a phenomenal film filled with beautifully complex characters. I strongly recommend it.