The following is a list of stuff--movies, books, places, whatever--that I like and/or recommend. Check them out, if one man's opinion amounts to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
Little Miss Sunshine--a critical darling, but for good reason. The ensemble's flawless, one of the best casts since Glengarry Glen Ross, a film which, incidentally, also featured Alan Arkin.
The King of Comedy--maybe DeNiro's best--I know, I know, Raging Bull, but he's cornered the market on angry, New York Italians. Watching him perform bad stand-up comedy in his mother's basement . . . priceless.
Dr. Strangelove--Kubrik has made so many great films, but the dark humor coupled with Peter Sellers' magnificent triumvirate of characters make this one of the best. Sellers-as-President's phone conversation with Russian Premier is an understated masterpiece.
American Splendor--unlike any film you've ever seen, it blends reality and fiction ingeniously; it is a strange world populated by eccentrics and curmudgeons (Judah Friedlander as Toby is a star turn), a misanthropic, irascible lead, jazz and comics. Need I say more?
Star Wars--sixteen years old, sitting in a dark theater . . . an explosion of brass, an impossibly huge Imperial cruiser passing overhead almost close enough to touch, just the right touches of humor and mysticism. A cultural phenomenon.
The Silence of the Lambs--A horror film wins Best Picture? You kidding me? Not with a smart script and Anthony Hopkins as resident puppet master. Chilling, violent and occasionally funny. Every so often, the Academy gets it right.
The Court Jester--Danny Kaye, knights, damsels, jousts, magic spells, a plot that goes round and round like a Mobius strip . . . a master performer at the top of his game. "The chalice from the palace, the vessel with pestle . . ." And so on.
Forbidden Planet--yes, it's really Shakespeare's The Tempest, but if you're going to steal, steal from the best. Production values are dated, sure, but it holds up surprisingly well. Certainly one of the top 5 sci-fi films ever.
The Incredibles--every other film out these days is computer animated, so I had to include one. This is one of the best--smart, funny dialogue, meticulous attention to detail, excitement, action, strong women and the big lugs who love them.
Empire Falls (Richard Russo)--It won the Pulitzer, for good reason. Compelling narrative, dying mill town, mysterious backstory. Russo creates average men and women struggling with average problems against an evocative backdrop. He doles out clues like breadcrumbs leading us down a path of dark secrets and hidden agendas, all the while grounded in the truth of his characters.
Fortress of Solitude (Jonathan Lethem)--a couple of kids growing up in Brooklyn in the '70's, it encompasses race, friendship, family and comic book superheroes. Lethem paints a vivid picture of that quintessential New York epicenter--the "street"--and the universe that spirals around it. The first half is better than the second, but with in the hands of a skilled novelist, even a weaker second half beats The DaVinci Code any day.
The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)--sixteen years old, sitting in a quiet bedroom, falling unawares into one of the richest, most complex worlds ever created in fiction. Swords and wizards, elves, orcs and hobbits, glittering caves and magical forests . . . what sixteen year-old boy craving escape from puberty and the onset of terrifying sexuality wouldn't love this?
The Strand (New York City)--you need to spend an entire day here. Stacked to the rafters with every kind of book you could ever want. It's messy and the space is too small--just the way a good independent bookstore should be.
Book Soup (Los Angeles)--a little oasis in the Hollywood desert of vacuous starlets and slick pitchmen. You'd like to believe that no one in this town really reads books anymore, but the ones who do browse here.
Changing Hands (Tempe, AZ)--a bit New Agey perhaps, with the candles and the dream catchers, but it's the place to be in the greater metropolitan Phoenix area for readings and eclectic titles.
City Lights (San Francisco)--the original home of the beats, anything counterculture and Noam Chomsky, the longtime anti-establishment voice crying in the academic wilderness. San Francisco, by the way, is the indie bookstore capital of the U.S., as far as I can tell. I may be adding more to the list as soon as I explore the city more.