Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Top 5, Bottom 5: Coming-of-Age Movies

Let's get back into blogging with a Top 5, Bottom 5 post! Whooooo! I apparently watched my 100th and 101st coming-of-age movies this year (Albatross and Finding Forrester) so this seems like a good time to write about my favorite and least favorite movies in the genre.

Top 5:
1. Charlie Bartlett (2007, #24). It's been a long time since I rewatched it -- though if I ever get back to my Top 100 project, I'll get around to it -- but I still remember how delightful I found Anton Yelchin and how compelling I found Robert Downey, Jr. And there was a period of time where I recommended it to everyone around me.
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986, #31). I've written about this one before in my list of the happiest movies of all time, and I still think it belongs in that list. There's a tremendous sense of the freedom in this movie, and it always makes me feel better watching it.
3. American Beauty (1999, #34). I always forget about the coming-of-age aspect of this movie, since I think of it as revolving so much around Kevin Spacey's midlife crisis. But it is one of my favorite movies.
4. Donnie Darko (2001, #35). This movie is propelled almost entirely by Jake Gyllenhaal's fascinating performance, but it totally works.
5. Napoleon Dynamite (2004, #71). After several coming-of-age movies stuck together in the 30s of my Flickchart, we jump down several slots to find this weird little film that always makes me laugh.

Caution: Teenagers from Flickr via Wylio
© 2006 CGP Grey, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio
Bottom 5:
5. Hoot (2006, #2329 out of 2374). This movie is terrible. It's unfunny and uninteresting and propaganda trying to masquerade as a story, and I don't have a lot of tolerance for that.
4. Bee Season (2005, #2318). I don't remember much about this one except that I found it extremely disappointing.
3. Anne B. Real (2003, #2276). Well, there could've been a story here, but it got drowned out by ridiculousness.
2. Mean Streets (1973, #2267). This is maybe unfairly ranked so low. I really don't remember it. But I don't think I'll ever care enough to want to watch it again.
1. Tuck Everlasting (2002, #2140). I was a moderate fan of the book but was not so much a fan of this sappy movie.

Top 5 Unseen:
1. City of God (2002, global #201)
2. The Last Picture Show (1971, #223)
3. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984, #227)
4. Come and See (1985, #471)
5. Dazed and Confused (1993, #476)

What are your favorite and least favorite coming-of-age movies? Which of my top unseen ones should I watch first?

1 comment:

  1. Watch Nausicaa first! I'm interested in how you like it!

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