Ifeel (and this may be morbid) there are certain movies that one should (in my opinion) watch before he or she dies. Now, I'm not talking about epic historical dramas, I'm talking about the unconventional gems. Movies that, while not necessarily small, might be taken for granted when most people think along these lines.
I don't want to recommend ""Shawshank Redemption"" or ""Citizen Kane"" because as great as those movies may be, they're not what I'm talking about. Why should movies that everybody may have already seen be categorized as movies that everyone should see before they die? Doesn't that defeat the purpose? Instead, I want to open eyes and minds with a few movies that aren't as frequented as, say, ""Field of Dreams."" Movies that I believe to be important on a different kind of scale.
Well, first of all, I think that everybody should probably see ""Borat"" before they die. Yeah, I know, it seems like most people have seen it. But that's not actually true. Most people have seen the PREVIEWS or the END while they were wasted at their friend's house, and they think this entitles them to say ""Yeah, I've seen Borat. Duh."" Blasphemy.
This movie is not only to be seen, it is to be owned. It is a staple in the history of comedic film in America. Even your parents will like it. Mine did. My mom didn't even fall asleep, and that says something (I love you, Mom).
Nice. Anyway, the all-hailed sexiness of Sacha Baron Cohen aside, I have two Kevin Spacey films that I think you should see before you die. The first is ""The Usual Suspects,"" and the other I'll get to in a second. Again, I feel that a lot of people think they've seen this movie simply because they've heard about the ending.
Yeah, well, no, because if you haven't seen the movie, then you definitely cannot appreciate the ending. And the ending is the no. 1 reason I think ""The Usual Suspects"" should be seen (at least twice) by everyone before they die.
Before I get to that other K-Space movie (yeah, I made that up), I want to touch on a couple of others. One is ""Equilibrium."" You had to know I'd stick a Christian Bale movie in here somewhere. This one is seriously bad ass.
The only annoying thing about ""Equilibrium"" is that ""The Matrix"" and all of its inferior sequels stole a lot of its thunder in the onslaught of Y2K. ""Equilibrium"" is heavily reminiscent of the Russian dystopian novel ""We"" by Yevgeny Zamyatin (though I'm not sure if that's intentional), and it's probably one of the smartest dystopian future films ever made.
Moving on. Three words: ""Stand by Me."" Yeah, that is all.
Now, I know I've neglected a lot of golden oldies in this column, but I feel that they speak for themselves—like ""Psycho"" and ""Rear Window,"" the latter of which is a genius tale that's recently been revamped into a movie I'm quite excited about, ""Disturbia."" It comes out on Friday.
To end this little parade of movies I think we should all see before we die, I'd like to get back to that other K-Space movie I've been talking about: ""American Beauty."" Why should you see ""American Beauty"" before you die? Because, well, ""American Beauty"" is about death. Death and beauty. A marriage, a childhood, an oppression, a deception—each comes to its own intriguing, beautiful end. This is a movie to be watched, loved, and savored. It is like a feast of all the best conversations ever written. A lot of people have seen this movie, but few have watched it closely. ""American Beauty"" is a cinematic magic trick, and that's why it is the number one movie we all should see before the end. The end.
