We all have them. Movies that take hold of us in their own peculiar way. So much so that we can watch them multiple times in a month or even week without ever getting bored. I reckon some of this is due to outright nostalgia. Maybe we watched it with a loved one we now miss or maybe we first saw the film when life was just simpler. For me I would say it’s the nostalgia of watching older times. You see, I like to watch the backgrounds of scenes in old movies. People passing and going to unknown destinations, ambient city lights, old advertisements from my childhood. That stuff, to me, is cool. (Especially in the old 80’s 90’s, and even 2000’s films.) There’s a type of sentiment in it all that is comforting. This, added with subtle pacing in a film is peak rewatchability (not a real word), for me. I guess the what really sums up what these movies do for me is create Total Ambient Immersion.
Movies we watch over and over aren’t necessarily our favorite movies. For example: Godzilla (2014) is one of my all-time favorite films, but after a viewing of that movie I don’t want to watch it again for some time. Movies like that are like an adrenaline pump. The whole movie keeps you on a high octane ride and when it’s done you feel exhausted. A great feeling to have from watching a movie? Absolutely. Receiving that feeling over and over? Not so much. Repeats of those types of films, I feel, would begin to make you hate the movie. A movie with repeat value is something I can fall asleep to on the tv nightly that doesn’t demand a whole lot from me, emotionally.
Here is a list of films that I can personally enjoy watching multiple times and can fall asleep to.
- Outrage, Beyond Outrage, and Outrage CODA
At first glance you may be already thinking – this psycho feels nostalgic and warm over gangster shootout movies? Well, yes, but no! These Japanese Yakuza films, made by the great Beat Takeshi, are paced very slow with a lot of build up and character exploration. The violence is sort of strong when it does come up, but there’s so much ambient atmosphere in these films it overshadows it. From great music to amazing visual shots of japan night life and cityscapes, to the long conversations in a minimal restaurant over sake and tea. There’s a real sense of old Japanese culture in these movies that is a pleasant detour from a lot of modern American films. The acting is great and the plot is pretty straightforward through all three movies. For me, the best parts are seeing the yakuza traditions being upheld by the young and the old, even though they exist in such an unsavory underworld full of turmoil and violence. The elder yakuza men in the film really carry the movies. Their slow talking and patient methods to enact their cunning schemes are a pleasant sight to behold. They get their business done in their own time which is key to a lot the slow pacing I so much enjoy in films like these. Each and every character in these movies is great, good or bad. I’ve watched these films more times than I can count and am planning on watching again soon. I rate all three movies as a solid 8/10 and recommend to all.
2. The necessary death of Charlie Countryman
This movie was not rated highly by critics which doesn’t mean much. Audiences generally liked it and so did I. The film is about a boy that loses his mother and decides, on a whim, to fly to the distant town of Bucharest because his mother’s spirit told him to after dying in the hospital. He has no idea what he’s getting into when he arrives in the foreign and strange country. By grim circumstance, he meets a beautiful young violinist whos troubled past with an ex bf causes recurring problems. (A mafia gangster extraordinaire who would rather die then give her up to anyone) It’s a warm story of love and triumph that is not fast paced. When watching you feel like you’re on a slow gliding carpet ride through the streets, alleys, and hostels of Bucharest exploring the enchantment of the city’s architecture as you go. The musical score is whimsy and magical and brings a much needed calm between the turbulent scenes. To me this film perfectly depicts the boyhood fantasy of fighting for a girl you love and saving her from a “villain”. I rate this film a 7/10.
Sidenote: Shia Lebouff does an excellent job in this film. Might be some of his best acting.
3. Ocean’s 11, 12, 13
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen these films. Honestly I can’t, its been so many times. These movies define rewatch! (I know nearly every line)From the outstanding cast of actors, to the various, vividly colorful settings they find themselves in. (Vegas, France, Italy, Spain and even Utah) The superb character writing is what seals the entire deal. This movie is the ultimate film for those days where you want to just “put something on”. The plots are deceptively simple yet funny and filled with an intellectual cunning you rarely see in other films today. Each character has their own unique story and personality unto themselves. The musical scores in all three films are some of the best I’ve heard in all my days of watching movies. Each Ocean film brings a sleek spy-like adventure with the ambience of a French City Cafe in the sunset of a warm summer evening. (I had to try my best description there.) I think what I find most comforting in these movies that provides rewatch value is the audible volume of everything. Nothing ever gets too loud. They are, for the most part, very quite and peaceful film, even though there’s a sophisticated heist being performed. Everything in the movies are designed to be subtle which is perfect for this list. These movies are quite funny and with each rewatch there’s always something new to catch. I recommend all three movies and rate them all as a group: 9/10
Both of these films are special to me. Usually, when I watch a movie, it takes quite a bit to get a good laugh out of me. These do it every time. They are smart films with a sense of humor that is quick witted and sharp. (Similar to Frasier the TV show) Guy Ritchie directs these films and if you know him, you know he knows how to tell a compelling story. These films feel like an adventure from start to finish, from train shootouts, to boxing matches in a grimy London underground arenas, to fancy Winter Mansion Parties in the scaling Alps. Sherlock Holmes as a character is very intelligent, of course, and the movies display that well with much sophisticated dialogue and visual cues that let allow the viewer to feel that they are smart themselves for catching on to it. A nice touch is that his counterparts keep up with him in delightful ways…even sometimes getting the best of old Holmes through witty jokes and overtly simple schemes. The music in the films is both excellent and willfully measured and brings the period of time that they are living in to life with much grandeur.
8/10
Blackmagination 