Another Top 20 Favourite Films - Part 1

This has been a long time coming.

Ages ago I made my Top 20 Favourite Films list, which can be found on my Fantasy Feminist lists here. I have seen and contemplated a lot more films since then, and my knowledge of filmmaking in general has broadened. This year especially, upon extensive and diverse viewings, has made me appreciate just how far we have come in storytelling in the majesty of the visual medium, and how far we have yet to go.

As a result, in order to further show my love of film - specifically, my love of diverse film away from the traditional straight white male power fantasy still being shoved down our throats by Hollywood - I have conducted another fave movie list. Divided into four parts. Consider the entries my Top 40-30 favourite films.

Let's see if you might like these works of passion as well, or if this will be the first time you have ever heard of any of them and may want to check them out. This list is for the curious more than anything.

And, like before, it is all my personal, subjective opinion.

Well, here it is: Another Top 20 Favourite Films.





20. 'Alice in Wonderland' (1951)

Curiouser and curiouser. How funny that my previous favourite films list also started off with an animated Disney classic. But to this day 'Alice in Wonderland' remains a gem of weird and dreamy visuals, beautiful colours, unconventional structured narratives, satirical humour, pretty music, unforgettable and varied and funny characters, and psychedelia. For children. It is very different from Disney's other works, especially at a time when it was all fairy tale princesses getting married at the happily ever after point. No, this film has nothing to do with romance, knights in shining armour slaying a dragon, and good royalty - indeed, nobody royal is a good person here! Alice is just an ordinary young girl in an extraordinary, mind-popping world. It is like 'The Wizard of Oz', but deliberately nonsensical (and it pokes fun at even more nonsensical politics), with a gray morality about everything, and where no one can be called a villain - at least, whatever anyone from Wonderland does they get away with it. In the seeming randomness, this kid's classic is smart, clever, immensely creative, ever so charming, and rapturously funny.

I'm describing a female-led children's cartoon from the fifties.

Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland' - their original take, not Tim Burton's soulless, trite abominations - is one of the best screen adaptations of Lewis Carroll's book, without a doubt. It is the reason why so many youngsters know the saying, "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!". What heart!


19. 'The Lego Batman Movie' (2017)

Yeah, I put this one in by the fact that is a spectacularly fun, hilarious, and surprisingly touching animated comedy from beginning to end. No mean-spiritedness; only joke after joke that keeps on coming - blasting onto the screen, one following another - and they all work on many levels. 'The Lego Batman Movie' is an affectionate parody and celebration of Batman and his legacy since his inception into popular consciousness. Any fan of Batman, whatever version of him they prefer, can enjoy this. I mean, it is titled 'The Lego Batman Movie' - no one should really expect 'The Dark Knight Returns' here. It is perhaps one of the best 'Batman' films ever made, and one of the most insightful and understanding interpretations of the character who is the pop culture icon along with Superman and Wonder Woman. It also includes one of the better versions of Batgirl on screen, effectively wiping the rancid taste of 'Batman: The Killing Joke' from the previous year out of my mouth. (I'll never tire of saying that 'The Killing Joke' is one of the worst films of all time, and neither should anyone else). That alone would make the favourites list. Gotham's mayor is a woman, too. And yey, Harley Quinn! This Lego movie has fun times and passion written all over it, like it was made by kids - smart kids who know what they are doing and what would get a good laugh without offending and resorting to bad taste. Great music too.

DARKNESS, NO PARENTS!


18. 'Frozen' (2013)

Additional Disney, and their biggest success yet. I've criticized 'Frozen' before, but it's only recently that I've come to realise that I absolutely love it, warts and all. It is a great film, regardless of Disney - they really put their all and resources of talent into this sweet snow globe of crystallized girl power. The animation is fantastic - the snow! the ice! the ice palace! Elsa's hair! - the music and songs are instant classics, and the characters are a joy of personality clashes and realistic relationships and motivations. I've already talked about why I love Elsa a billion times, and her sister Anna has grown on me, when before I'd thought she seemed been-there-done-that for "strong female characters" from Disney, and suffers in comparison to Elsa's complex, more original character. 'Frozen' - I don't even mind that it isn't called 'The Snow Queen', as it in fact has extremely little to do with Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale - deconstructs Disney's old traditions, such as love at first sight and marrying at first meeting, and, among other things, it teaches girls that princes are not always what they are cracked up to be. Every one, every heart, is capable of selfishness and horror at the prospect of greed and power. There are two princesses - one becoming a queen early on in the film! How often do you see a Disney princess actually be given the title of queen? - and it is the sisters' bond, not romance, that is the heart that warms the film. 'Frozen' is the first Disney film to show other meanings to the cliched "true love". What an accolade. An original, mainstream fairy tale with a feminist twist. Funny and charming too, imperfect but then, everything is. I still love 'Enchanted' better, but it comes close. Really, millions of other people have already talked to death about the worldwide phenomenon that is 'Frozen', and its simple yet clever themes and symbols. I'll leave off by saying: A Disney animated film, featuring two female leads, and made by a female director and writer, has grossed well over a billion dollars at the box office, and it is Disney's biggest hit ever, and as of my writing, it is the highest-grossing animated film in history.

Who says that movies by women with female leads don't sell?


17. 'The Miseducation of Cameron Post' (2018)

The order of this inclusion might change, since this film isn't out on DVD yet and I've only seen it once. But wow did it have enough of an impact on me at the cinema, a decision to go made on a complete whim, to wish it as one of my favourite movies ever. It is about the reality of conversion therapy, and the disgrace and shame on the human race it is for allowing it to exist. Based on an incredibly long and dense book, 'The Miseducation of Cameron Post' is simple, to-the-point, sad, heartbreaking, yet oddly hopeful. Chloe Grace Moretz plays her best role to date, in my opinion, as the title lead, a gay teen who learns that adults are not always right, that often they have no idea what they are talking about, and that "pray the gay away" is horseshit. Forcing someone to change their sexuality in order to "fit in" and "be normal" is backwards thinking, and very, very dangerous. Teaching people - kids - to hate themselves is abuse, full stop. Tragic that, since 'Cameron Post' is a small Indie film, it may not become one of Moretz's well-known films. Also tragic that it had to be set in the early nineties - shit like this still happens in America today. Conversion therapy is still legal in too many states. That is fucked up. And Americans pride themselves (not in that way) on living in "the land of the free". Right, and North Korea is a haven of democracy. Anyway, the main theme of 'The Miseducation of Cameron Post' is friendship. How refreshing for an LBGTQ story to not feature romance as its main factor. Friendship, support, and genuine love: things that the world desperately needs now. It is not enough to be tolerant; accept and love people for who they are; let them be visible and express themselves. Because everybody is different. Not everyone is like you, and that is a good thing.

Thank you, movie with a queer female director.


16. 'Chicago' (2002)

The only reason this isn't higher on the list is because the Weinsteins are executive producers. That is the only thing I am not proud of about 'Chicago'. Fuck, the film industry is fueled and fouled with toxicity and abuse of power and misogyny, like everything else. But you wouldn't really know it from the film itself. Before I elaborate, I will say that I am in absolutely no way condoning the actions of behind-the-scenes people based on my love for the finished product; far from it, and I would never encourage it. Everybody should face the consequences of their terrible, criminal actions. It's just that in this instance - the only instance - I feel it doesn't destroy my enjoyment of a film. And unfortunately the Weinseins were involved in the making of a lot of Hollywood films for decades, and as far as I know they had little to do with this entry in the grand scheme of things.

With that elephant out of the room, let's begin: 'Chicago' is a musical masterpiece, joining the ranks of 'Singin' in the Rain' as one of the funnest, most passionate and rambunctious musical movies ever made. One of those where you forget you're even watching a film as you're invested in its infectious romp. The songs need no introduction. The many female leads are imperfect, funny, powerful and a joy to watch for different reasons. You never forget their presence. Their impact will leave a lasting shine in your retinas and eardrums. The film is a charming, glitzy, sexy, loud and proud, brilliantly paced and structured wish-fulfillment fantasy for adults. Women to be exact. Expressing themselves and in the end, having the power to themselves and supporting one another instead of being enemies and rivals. I saw a London stage production of 'Chicago' first - I was about twelve or thirteen, I think - and the big budget Hollywood adaptation featuring a stellar cast (everybody is perfectly cast, even if initially you didn't think that any of them could sing) made me love it to the full cup-hold brink. What femme power! Female prison power (yes, this is a star studded women's prison movie with a Hollywood budget!). What gritty, sleazy, shiny, funny and satirical as hell star power!





To be continued in Part 2.