I had the opportunity last night to see a preview screening of The Departed at the Gene Siskel Film Center. To quote the woman in front of me: "That was damn good." It was a ripping good yarn that kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time wondering who knows what and will they continue to get away with it. The dialog was incredibly witty providing a Quentin Tarantino feel and the movie had a Chan-wook Park flare. A damn good time was had by all.

Thank you Mr. Scorsese for making the preview screening possible.

I am a big fan of movies -- especially independent and foreign. Nary a week will go by that I wont see a previously unseen movie. I always send a quick email or IM to friends about the movie and if they should see it or not. On more occasions than I can count, people have asked me to post a list of these movies. I've been avoiding doing this out of sheer laziness for quite some time, but after unintentionally seeing the same movie twice, the final shoe has dropped.

What would a movie list be without some ordering or structure? I'm firmly against the starring system used in the industry. It has a tendancy to downplay or misrepresent wonderful movies. For example, how can you use the same "quality" rating system to compare:

• Shrek 2 A recent feature that has everything that one could ask for in animated movie: you laugh, you cry and you spend a good deal of time thinking about what movie is being spoofed.
• The Deer Hunter A chilling tale about life after being a prisoner of war.
• National Lampoon's Vacation A poignant depiction of a family's cross country roadtrip.

Clearly, putting Vacation and Deer Hunter into the same quality category would be a crime against nature. Or even attempting to compare the comedic aspects of Shrek 2 and Vacation would leave one or the other standing in the mud. But when all is said and done, all three movies are a must see.

I will adopt the following structure:

• Must See: Not all of these movies will be "good" movies in the traditional sense (the 60's did some downright painful things in the wardrobe, set and music deparements) but they all have qualities that make them required viewing material.
• Should See: These movies didn't make the cut into the must see list but are still movies with exceptional traits.
• If You Have the Time: If it's a Tuesday night and you have nothing better to do, watch these movies. They are by no means bad.

Movies that I just don't care for will not be present in the list. So how does one distinguish between a movie that has not yet been added and one that is just not on the list (*cough* Lord of the Rings)? You don't. It's just one of those gambles in life.

And so, without further ado, The List.

Must See

• Alexandra's Project
• Auberge espagnole, L' (Pot Luck)
• Delicatessen
• Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (Amélie)
• Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• Judgment at Nuremberg
• Locataire, Le (The Tenant)
• Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)
• Shawshank Redemption, The
• Shi mian mai fu (House of Flying Daggers) Visually stunning
• Spoorloos (The Vanishing)
• Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun (Springtime in a Small Town) Very Kubrick-esque in its deliberate movement and cinematography. Dai Liyan's discovery scene is simply stunning in its subtlety. Unfortunately most viewers miss will it as they leave well before it occurs. This is not for the casual movie goer.

Should See

• À la folie... pas du tout (He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not)
• Business of Strangers, The
• Capote A gripping tale. Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance was sensational.
• Cinderella Man
• Der Untergang (Downfall) Having seen a number of pictures from Hitler's bunker as well as actual footage from the weeks before his death, this was a chilling "re-enactment". For example, there exists actual footage where you see Hitler pinching the cheek of a young solider (just a child) that had just destroyed two tanks. The footage is taken fron behind the child facing Hitler. In Der Untergang the same scene is shown but it is filmed where you can see the face of the child from the front. This should be contrasted from Saving Private Ryan for example where you have fictional characters injected into a reproduction of sorts of an actual event.
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
• Frank's Book
• Good Night, and Good Luck.
• History of Violence, A
• Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion)
• Intolerable Cruelty
• Killing, The An early Kubrick film that forshadows his genius to come.
• LantanaA wonderful wrapping yarn.
• Living in Oblivion
• Man Who Wasn't There, The
• Million Dollar Baby
• Munich
• Napola - Elite für den Führer (Before the Fall) Max Riemelt's performance is stellar.
• Paths of Glory An amazing early Kubrick film.
• Piano, The
• Pumhaeng zero (Conduct Zero)
• Raising Arizona
• Station Agent, The
• Syriana Presents an intricate web of intrigue.
• Szerelemtöl sújtva (Down By Love)
• THX 1138 Leaving aside the actual content of the movie, I personally found it interesting to see many of the ideas and scenes that are associated with Star Wars in their initial seed phase.
• Triplettes de Belleville
• Village, The M. N. Shyamalan proves yet again that he has mastered the art of visual story telling.
• Wong gok hak yau (One Nite in Mongkok) To quote my wife: "It was easier to watch Saving Private Ryan".
• Y Tu Mamá También

If You Have the Time

• Amores perros (Love's a Bitch) An interesting blend of three stories about relationships and love.
• Bad Santa
• Baramnan gajok (A Good Lawyer's Wife)
• Dirty Pretty Things
• Dut hiu yuet yuen (Elixir of Love) One of the aspects that I enjoy most about foreign films is seeing how other cultures view the world. This certainly demonstrated a unique take on love and comedy.
• Hable con ella (Talk to Her)
• Ladykillers, The
• Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity
• Matador, The
• Melvin Goes to Dinner An enjoyable movie with a Shyamalan'esque ending.
• O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Orgazmo
• Pride & Prejudice
• Proof Perhaps the funniest vision challenged driving scene ever.
• Sin City Certainly an enjoyable movie in its ramped up film noir look which is simply fantastic. Each segment stood well on its own but the lack of continuity was confusing. I was expecting a Shyamalan'esque ending which tied it all together and left me amazed from a plot standpoint but instead I was left enjoying individual performances. As with Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow I am tremendously excited with the potential this film shows for future films.
• Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus An interesting trip through the south with music tying it all together.
• Sledge: The Untold Story An hilarious mocumentary.
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow A delightful noir serial-esque piece. The potential that this film brings for future films is exciting.
• 2046 An interesting take on the story of love.

Still need to be categorized

• Maltese Falcon, The
• 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T., The
• Only Angels Have Wings
• War of the Worlds (2005)
• Village, The
• Alleman (The Human Dutch)
• Terminal, The
• Ying xiong (Hero)
• I Heart Huckabees
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
• Hauru no ugoku shir (Howl's Moving Castle)
• Un honnête commerçant
• Killing, The
• After the Sunset
• Bourne Supremacy, The
• Mad Hot Ballroom
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Ocean's Twelve
• Ray
• Finding Neverland
• Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement)
• Crimes and Misdemeanors
• Kinsey
• Aviator, The
• Repulsion
• Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage
• Thank You for Smoking
• Walk the Line
• Munich
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• Da Vinci Code, The
• Goebbels-Experiment, Das (The Goebbels Experiment)
• Brokeback Mountain
• Matador, The
• Pride & Prejudice (2005)
• History of Violence, A
• Transamerica
• Match Point
• Syriana
• Mission: Impossible III
• Daytrippers, The
• Quiet American, The
• Rear Window
• Conversation, The
• High Anxiety
• Vertigo
• Lifeboat
• North by Northwest
• Great Escape, The
• Longest Day, The
• Sting, The
• T-Men Beautifully filmed, nail-biting film noir
• Overlord This is a stunning use of newsreel footage to make the majority of a film
• Ángel exterminador, El (The Exterminating Angel)
• Mildred Pierce
• Inconvenient Truth, An
• Thin Man, The
• Swingers
• Red Shoes, The
• Ciociara, La
• Absence of Malice
• Clean
• Gone with the Wind
• Tom Jones
• Third Man, The
• Life of Brian
• Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
• Little Miss Sunshine National Lampoon's Vacation for the current age
• Two Girls and a Sailor
• Thrill of a Romance

This list is by no means static. I will add to it as time permits. Also, it's possible for movies to change categories.

I recently took the opportunity to see Roman Polanski's The Tenant at the Gene Siskel Film Center. I left the theatre completely speachless (and for those that know me, that's no small feat). For anyone that loves independent or avant-garde films, I would add this one to the list.

The Tenant reminded me at times of Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Delicatessen, another wonderful film. I would love to see a modern indie director, such as Darren Aronofsky, do a remake of The Tenant with a Delicatessen flare. I'm adding "create remake of The Tenant" to the list of things that I should do once I'm rid of these shackels that bind me to my computer.