TCB's (9 Million) Films to Watch Before You Die

#94. Happiness ( 1998 )

An infamous and career-defining film by Todd Solondz about pedophilia, rape, incest, murder, depression, suicide, divorce, loneliness, deceit, suffering and the soul crushing unhappiness of being alive. It's also a comedy! The blackest of black comedies and not for the faint of heart (13 years later and Solondz still has difficulty finding funding for his projects because of the reputation it gave him) but it's one of my favorite films.

There's a hilariously misleading trailer on youtube but the brilliant opening scene probably sums it up best:

[video=youtube;EDEjQp6q_pQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDEjQp6q_pQ[/video]

Phillip Seymour Hoffman

(NSFW!)
 
#96. Mulholland Drive (2001)

My favorite David Lynch movie, Mulholland Drive tells the surreal story of a young actress newly arrived in Hollywood who helps an amnesiac car crash victim unravel her mysterious identity. It wraps most of my favorite things about Lynch's films into a neat and stylish package and if you're new to his movies it's a pretty great introduction. (According to Lynch himself, this is the only film he's made with a completely coherent and logical narrative structure, which may be hard to believe after first seeing it, but there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for the entire film, one which you can figure out for yourself if you're clever enough, or just google if you're me.)

[video=youtube;2i3Lgc2-qLc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i3Lgc2-qLc[/video]

My favorite scene from the film, and maybe one of my favorite scenes in any film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIpkMg9sh6Q

:lol:

I watched "Life During Wartime" the other night, Soldonz's sequel to "Happiness", set 10 years later and with an entirely different cast. Philip Seymour Hoffman's character is instead played by Michael K. Williams, a.k.a. Omar from "The Wire". Yup.
 
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#97. Midnight Run (1988)
Robert De Niro. Charles Grodin. The director of Beverly Hills Cop. Fistophobia.

[video=youtube;_OcChP6FbGk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OcChP6FbGk[/video]
 
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