There’s a meme on FB asking folks to list their 26 favorite films. Obviously, I complied, but not in the expected way, and obviously too I’d prefer to have the list here.
& so:
- Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
- Miller’s Crossing (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1990)
- The Hunt for Red October (John McTiernan, 1990)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Russo Brothers, 2014)
- It’s A Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
- Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
- True Grit (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2010)
- Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)
- Arrival (Denis Villeneuve, 2016)
- Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014)
- Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)
- Up (Pete Docter, 2009)
- No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
- Ali (Michael Mann, 2001)
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, 2003)
- The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
- Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
- Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975)
- Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, 1980)
- Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton, 1996)
- Henry V (Kenneth Branagh, 1989)
- The Station Agent (Tom McCarthy, 2003)
- Flesh and Bone (Steve Kloves, 1993)
- The Long Kiss Goodnight (Renny Harlin, 1996)
- Birdman (Alejandro Inarritu, 2014)
Of course, that’s just today; on another day, the list might be different.
However, the whole process reminded me of how much I loved Flesh and Bone, and so I thought ot look at Wikipedia. It was directed, as noted, by Steve Kloves, who also wrote it. Oddly, has directed only one other film — but his filmography is still pretty notable.
He wrote and directed The Fabulous Baker Boys in 1989, and then has writing credits on Wonder Boys and then on every Harry Potter film, which presumably kept him busy and fed for a while. There’s also a writing credit on The Amazing Spider-Man, and producer credits on the Fantastic Beasts films.
Then, at the bottom, is his upcoming return to the director’s chair: an adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Tim, though that’s been in dev hell for a while. The book is great, though, and it’d be fun to see this guy direct again.