From Julia (Julie) Garland:

First, I received this from Ms. Garland:

Hey, I just saw you had a place on your site for people to submit their favorite movies. So here's my list, subject to change at any moment:

1. True Romance
2. American Beauty
3. Down By Law
4. Flirting w/ Disaster
5. Freeway
6. Run Lola Run
7. Dazed & Confused
8. The Royal Tennenbaums
9. Amelie
10. The Unbelievable Truth

Hope you're having a happy Monday.

Then, ironically, she did change it at any moment...

Updated movie list below:

Favorites
1. True Romance
2. American Beauty
3. Down By Law
4. Flirting w/ Disaster
5. Freeway
6. Run Lola Run
7. Dazed & Confused
8. The Royal Tennenbaums
9. Amelie
10. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

Others that almost made the list: Snatch, Lock Stock etc., The Unbelievable Truth, American Psycho, Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile.

Least Favorites
Ghoulies
Unbreakable
Runaway Bride
Virgin Suicides and Serendipity (because the endings were more than predictable)

Favorite Directors
1. Jim Jarmusch
2. Wes Anderson
3. Guy Ritchie
4. Hal Hartley

Favorite Actors (female)
1. Jodie Foster
2. Parker Posey
3. Patricia Arquette
4. Reese Witherspoon
5. Franka Potente

Favorite Actors (male)
1. Tom Waits (he's not necessarily a great actor but I'll see any movie he's in, just to see him)
2. Kevin Spacey
3. Guy Pearce
4. Giovanni Ribisi
5. Luke Wilson/Owen Wilson (they count as one because it's only when they act together that I LOVE them)

Least Favorite Actor/Director of ALL TIME!
Kevin Costner

And now -- what you all really want -- MY comments!!

I can see and understand all of this:

Overall compared to everyone else in the country's top ten, this is quite good. There's no shit here.

True Romance -- I haven't seen this in years, but I liked (but not loved) it.
American Beauty -- This is really good.
Down By Law -- Haven't seen!
Flirting w/ Disaster -- This is good, but I don't know if I liked it as much as so many people seemed to.
Freeway -- This is a clever subversive underground cult comedy classic.
Run Lola Run -- This is rather great; exciting filmmaking; visceral.
Dazed & Confused -- Seen this so many times, cult fav. Haven't seen it in a few years though.
The Royal Tenenbaums -- Really great. I want to see this again.
Amelie -- I really liked this. But I didn't love love love it, like so many Americans who were busy congratulating themselves for enjoying a film where they had to read subtitles.
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover -- I saw this upon original release and was bored and didn't get it. Then I saw it again, because I remembered there was a lot of nudity in it. Then I saw it again because I had become a fan of Helen Mirren and remembered that she was nude a lot in this, and wanted to see more.

Others that almost made the list:
Snatch, -- great. highly entertaining.
Lock Stock etc., -- same.
The Unbelievable Truth, -- what is this? hal hartley?
American Psycho, -- I had problems/issues with the book and I don't know about the movie; in a way it was made less in-your-face disgusting, but I'm not sure what to make of it. Was it a dark comedy? Okay, was the book?
Shawshank Redemption, and -- goddammit. Everyone puts this movie on their list. I think it's fine, but HIGHLY overrated.
The Green Mile. -- I have a feeling this is a piece of shit, i haven't seen it. Here's my impression of this movie:

"I'm a three hour sap-fest from the director of Shawshank Redemption."
"I is a dumb cullerd man who is big like a tank and I is good man at heart, but I make mistakes."
"I'm a prison guard or whatever, trying to do what's right. I love my wife."

Least Favorites
Ghoulies -- didn't see.
Unbreakable -- problematic at best.
Runaway Bride -- i cannot see this film, i think pretty woman sucks, this has to suck 10 times worse, right?
Virgin Suicides and Serendipity (because the endings were more than predictable) -- Serendipity has a lot more problems than seeing the ending coming.

BUT, I think you are way off base with Virgin Suicides. The ending wasn't predictable, the film begins with the ending, so it's predictable in that way, but the film is not about what happens at the end. It's about people and their problems communicating and understanding, especially between parents and their kids.

Favorite Directors
1. Jim Jarmusch -- I liked Ghost Dog. I though Dead Man was okay. I don't think I've seen any others.
2. Wes Anderson -- Yeah.
3. Guy Ritchie -- Yeah, but I heard his new film with Madonna is like, the worst film ever made.
4. Hal Hartley -- Not sure I like him, but I haven't given him enough viewing. I liked Amateur, but I love Isabelle Huppert. I don't think I really liked the one recently about a guy and Parker Posey was in it?

Favorite Actors (female)
1. Jodie Foster -- she's alright. i like her more as time goes on.
2. Parker Posey -- i started off loving her, but lately i've been like "what is she doing?"
3. Patricia Arquette -- she's so hot. I really like her too.
4. Reese Witherspoon -- she has a cute personality that comes through in her films. But she's still NO Kirsten Dunst.
5. Franka Potente -- this girl rules. Blow wasn't very good, but she was great in it. it was such a nothing role, that any other actress would have done nothing with, but FP is super! Did you see The Princess + the Warrior yet? Rent it.

Favorite Actors (male)
1. Tom Waits (he's not necessarily a great actor but I'll see any movie he's in, just to see him) -- For a second I thought this said Tom Wopat, from Dukes of Hazzard. Waits, whatever. What about Lee Marvin?
2. Kevin Spacey -- he's so great. he started off so strong. Very good in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), The Ref (1994), Swimming with Sharks (1994), Se7en (1995), The Usual Suspects (1995). Then he started making crap like A Time to Kill (1996), but then he made L.A. Confidential (1997) and gave not only his best performance ever, but one of the greatest film performances of all time! He couldn't make Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) work; no one could have made that book into a movie. The Negotiator is just A Time to Kill again, but Hurlyburly is interesting if flawed, but Spacey is outstanding in it. American Beauty is rad! Pay It Forward is schmaltz, disgusting, shameful garbage. K-Pax is the same except stupider. The Shipping News is more sap, I hear.
3. Guy Pearce -- he's better than I expected him to be.
4. Giovanni Ribisi -- he's very good.
5. Luke Wilson/Owen Wilson (they count as one because it's only when they act together that I LOVE them) -- these two are both great, and can be great without the other one.

Least Favorite Actor/Director of ALL TIME!
Kevin Costner -- who's the most full of himself person ever in the entire world (except for Barbra Striesand)? Yeah, him. He made a few good movies about 10 or 12 years ago, then his head got too big, he had to have surgery to implant some rolled up headshots of himself into his brain. He makes Kevin Costner projects now. He's like Hitler, but not as evil.

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