ChannelTim

Three years today I started this blog and to celebrate the anniversary, I decided to compile a list of my all time favorite films. These are not the films I think are the ten best movies ever made, but rather my personal favorites. These are the movies I have seen countless times and never tire of them. In no particular order, they are:

Film Review: Beauty and the Beast The new live action version of Beauty and the Beast is not very good. The film's best moments come directly from the 1991 animated version, which I once named the  best animated Disney film of all time . It seems so preoccupied with recapturing what made that movie so great that it forgets to make this one unique or different in any way. At every possible chance director Bill Condon has to establish an interesting visual look for the film, he defers to the animated film and copies its look. What is the point of making a live action version of an animated movie only to make it look like its animated? Beauty and the Beast never answers that question, and the result is an uninspired retread of a classic story.

Personal Shopper : Film Review There is no actress working today that is quite like Kristen Stewart. In her first collaboration with French director Olivier Assayas,  Clouds of Sils Maria , Stewart's subtle and causal approach is contrasted with the mannered and theatrical performance style of an older generation, represented by Juliette Binoche's character. But in their second film together, Personal Shopper , Stewart is the only lead. Her haunting and naturalistic performance carries the entire movie, it's all the audience wants to watch even as she seems to be actively trying to blend into the scene. 

Ranking the Films in the Vacation Series I love the Vacation movies. They are a rumination on one man's attempts to create lasting memories for his family, like the ones he remembers from his childhood. What he does not realize is that people tend to romanticize their memories, so any attempts to recreate perfect moments will only end in frustration, heartache, and probably injury. Because we know how Clark's (Chevy Chase) struggles will end, it is funny when the Griswold family's misadventures all reach the same inevitable conclusion. Over the course of five movies, the audience has gotten to know exactly what to expect from their plans, and the fun part is watching the silly, bizarre, or sometimes downright cruel snags in the road.  Here is how I would rank the five films in the series from worst to best: