#24- Three Colors: White

 

The second in the Three Colors trilogy, and the best, in my opinion. Excellent plot, can't wait to find out what happens next. The cinemantography is fantastic, as in the whole trilogy.

#25- City Lights

 

A truly romantic film, without a lot of awful gags. The final scene makes me cry every time.

#26- Saving Private Ryan

 

I have never forgotten the first half hour of this movie. The fear of the situation of being in a rainstorm of bullets, the recognition that essential persons are dead, yet being forced to work anyway-- this could be called the worst job conditions ever. It informs not only this movie, but possibly every war movie ever made. Rarely have I ever been placed into such an intense situation and I feel that I myself experienced it-- as wrong as my feeling is.

#27- City of God

 

Stunning is just not enough to say. This movie is an offense to one's idea of how the world should work. But the fact is, this is more the real world that what we see in the headlines. It is a clear description of why it is that children are at the forefront of war and in drugs. It is a kind of poverty that is more real, but rarely understood.

#28- Paprika

 

This is not a cartoon for kids. Kids just shouldn't see it at all. But it is one of the most intense animations ever, much of it in dream sequences. I was stunned after watching this film.

#29- Blade Runner

 

Both the look and the story of this movie is dark, brooding, with much to think about. An excellent example of an adaptation that goes far beyond the short book. This only has the germ of the story-- the meat of the film is what is painted before us. Excellent sci-fi film noir.

#30- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

 

I love the mixed chronology, the off-kilter love story, the Phillip K. Dick-ish concept. Jim Carey is subdued (which is amazing to see in and of itself. An amazing romantic comedy, but much more than just that.