acidwizard | top 5 movies

my top 5 movies of all time

5. Akira (1988)
dir. Katsuhiro Otomo

Screencap from the movie AKIRA that shows a young man in red motorcycle gear. He is sliding on a red motorbike on the highway of a futuristic city at night.

The greatest animated movie of all time to me. It is, in fact, so deeply interwoven into my personality that I couldn’t even tell you if it's good or not. (It is.) Some of the most stunning hand drawn animation ever put to screen (Otomo's love for visual detail is insane), an absolute banger of a soundtrack and Kaneda ist pretty much one of my favourite fictional characters of all time. Kind of more of a “vibes” movie if you haven’t read the manga though. It greatly influenced and ignited my passion and love for the 80s and is probably always gonna be a part of me.

4. Heat (1995)
dir. Michael Mann

Screencap from the movie Heat showing two middle aged men in suits sitting opposite of each other in a restaurant. One of them has his back turned to the camera and we can't see his face.

I can’t even think about this movie too much lest I go insane. Michael Mann at the height of his power, no one shoots a city at night like he does. It doesn’t need to be said that Pacino and De Niro are brilliant in this. (Also shout out to my girl Val Kilmer.) A story about two men at the absolute top of their craft, their obsession with their occupation influencing every aspect of their lifes, two sides of the same coin… oh my god. Also Hanna’s relationship with his step-daughter and her storyline make me bawl every time.

3. Brokeback Mountain (2006)
dir. Ang Lee

Screencap from the movie Bbrokeback Mountain showing two men wearing cowboy hats and ranger gear looking outside of the frame.

This was my first “favourite movie” when I got into movies but I haven’t watched it in some time so this is kind of a number 3 spot pending. Regardless, Heath Ledger delivers pretty much one of the greatest performances of all time. A fucking gut punch of a movie oh my god.

2. The Lost Boys (1986)
dir. Joel Schumacher

Screencap from the movie The Lost Boys of several young men with mullets and 80s hairstyles in extravagant cothing sitting in a cave. They are gathered around one of them who is illuminated by light.

Every time I watch this movie (which is a lot) I can’t believe it exists. You're telling me they made a movie about homoerotic vampires that wear campy rocker fashion... in the 80's?? And they also put a cover of “People Are Strange” by The Doors on the soundtrack?? There’s nothing left to say. I bought the VHS of this in a used record store in New Orleans (my life peaked).

1. The Wrestler (2008)
dir. Darren Aronofsky

Screencap from the Movie The Wrestler showing a middle aged man with long blode hair, tanned skin and green wrestling gear in the middle of a wrestling ring. He is holding his sternum and looking up. His opponent is laying next to him on the mat in the backgrund of the shot.

This is my favourite movie of all time. The first time I saw it was on a plane and I immediately told my family about it during the time it took for us to get to our layover. I actually never watch this movie because it is so special to me and every time I do I am always afraid it's not as good as I remember it to be. (It has yet to disappoint me.)

I think this movie offers a very special and unique story. The Wrestler follows an aging pro wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson, who is past his prime and struggles to cope with it and fitting into society. As well as his attempts to mend his relationship with his daughter.

Wrestling is very unforgiving. Especially wrestling on Randy’s level, territory/independent Wrestling in the 90s and 2000s. You work your shitty day job and spend all your time traveling to and from wrestling shows to bust your ass in front of 300 people for little to no pay. But that is the only thing you got going, the only thing you thrive in and the only thing that makes you feel alive so you keep going. That probably always took priority in Randy’s life, priority over working a steady job, priority over relationships that weren't people in and/or around the business and also his daughter. He sacrificed everything to make it and now he has to realize that he is left with nothing but a broken down body and bills. I do not judge him, I am very very deeply sympathetic.

One of the sillier reasons why I like this movie so much is that Randy is an old dude with bleached blonde hair which makes him literally me. Not really but I see myself in the future as a guy in his 50s still rocking the long hair rockstar-look so it's just really cool to see that that's something that's possible.