Been thinking about my favorite movies, and checking my list. Broadening it a bit.

Le corps de mon ennemi, my favorite Verneuil movie. A non-action Belmondo movie about an ex-convict returning to the little town where he grew up, and investigating the circumstances that lead to his public shame and imprisonment. A highly political movie, like all Verneuil, but with an intensely nostalgic tone, childhood flashbacks exploring ambiguities of social class divides and dissolving ideals as the whole story of the main character unfolds touch by touch. Great music with that.

La soupe aux choux, a lovely adaptation of one of René Fallet's greatest novels, about an alien from an ascetic planet discovering the earthly joys of countryside cuisine at the end of two old peasants stranded by modernity. Both hilarious and melancholic, and wrongly reduced to the cheesiness of its farts-based interstellar communication system.

Coup de torchon, Tavernier's intense transposition of Jim Thompson's "Pop. 1280" to the french colonies in Africa. A dim-witted pushover policeman slowly turns into a manipulative megalomaniac, and exerts revenge upon a creepy corrupt town's proeminent figures. Beautiful and cynical, with a perfect cast, and a fittingly disturbing soundtrack.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the ultimate tale of friendship, cheerful denial, and irreductible rebellion against the society of grown-ups. Flawless cast and dialogues.

Cuisine et dépendances, a play by Jaoui and Bacri, about old childhood friends reunited for one evening when one of them has become a famous television star. A deconstruction of relations of powers and status, repressed dreams and bitterness, as the underlying truth of all the protagonists's mutual relationships get revealed by the circumstances. Fantastically dark and well written, like all their plays. Their Un air de famille is almost as good.

Jaws. It's Jaws. Can't get enough of it. It became a cliché, it has been redone and reredone each time more clumsily, but I just adore this tale and its narrative structure.

Life of Brian. Funniest movie ever, and just stuffed with immensely clever social, political, religious commentary. Best of Python movies.

Mad Detective. A crazy detective's method consists in visualizing people's true personalities, beyond what they look like. The way this movie describes us is frighteningly accurate.

Le cave se rebiffe, a loose adaptation of Simonin's novel (gangsters hire a honest artist to print false money), with dialogues by the notorious Michel Audiard, and acting by all the best actors of their generation. Each scene of it is anthologic.

Boulevard du rhum, a very weird film about a prohibition-era rum-running captain who falls in love with a movie star seen on the screen, and accidentally stumbles upon them, making their incompatible universes collide, as well as their own ways to be cunning and naive in their respective fields. Really laid back movie, that feels almost improvised, but heck, quite a twited joyous ride. Features the ever formidable Lino Ventura, and the surprisingly fitting Brigitte Bardot.

Ghostbusters. It's ghostbusters. What can I say. Wit, awesomeness, fantastic actors, fantastic tone, fantastic everything.

Alien. It's Alien. Creepy and bleak and down-to-earth as possible.

Fargo. Could mention many Coen movies, for their brand of almost surrealistic super-realism.

Angel heart. Terrifying devilish descent-to-hell tale into voodoo and satanism (linked because, hey, hollywood trope, but whatever). Alan Parker knows his craft. New Orleans is always a welcome setting.

Galaxy Quest. Top notch respectuous parody of Star Trek and star trek fandom, perfect movies for both those who hate and who love Star Trek.

Abre los ojos. Hard to talk about that one without spoiling the story. Apparently it's about a womanizer being disfigured in an accident, and hoping for plastic surgery to save his conveniently awesome face as he fell in love for real. The story goes a bit beyond that... To gut-wrenching depths.

Don't look now, the ultimate Venice movie. Glorious usage of its geography, in a surreal about a young couple being plagued by apparent glimpses of their recently deceased daughter, amongst other visions. Again, one of the most magnificent movie soundtracks of all times.

Lost highway is David Lynch at his best, as far as I am concerned.

Hotel du Nord, a gangster tries to hide from his past in a hotel where a couple of lovers decided to come to die. Things doesn't go as planned for anyone. A fantastic exemple of the dark poetry of old french cinema.

Le couperet. An unexpectedly recent Costa-Gavras masterpiece about a unemployed family man who decides to exterminate his potential rivals while seeking for a job in today's insanely competitive society. A well done fable on the world we live in, and an accurate exploration of the feeling of powerlessness and espair of long-term unemployment. Costa-Gavras' Z, about the historically real murder of a leftist deputy a little before the greek Colonels' junta, is also worth being mentionned here., but it's been too long I haven't rewatched it.

Bunker Palace Hotel, pure Enki Bilal. The leaders of a crumbling dictatorship have took refuge in a claustrophobic retro-scifi underground luxury shelter, and wait for the arrival of the President -and hopefully news of the revolution having been crushed on the surface- while keeping an eye on the stranded rebel and the unpredictable dissident that have joined them. Those familiar with Bilal's universe will feel at home. Great cast, awesome soundtrack.

Excalibur, the best -and most faithful- interpretation of the arthurian cycle that I've ever seen on the screen.

What about Bob : obnoxious psy vs obnoxious patient, Bill Murray vs Richard Dreyfuss, each second of it is delightful.

Kitchen Stories, a kitchen company sends an ethnographer or sorts to observe objectively, from some sort of tennis referee chair, the actual everyday kitchen usage of some remote village's inhabitant. Without interacting, of course, as this would completely distort the observation. Well, interaction happens. And I consider this weird movie as a nice little fable on outdated ethnographical practices.

Butterfly Kiss, a trashy version of Thelma and Louise (which I should have mentionned too), with a couple of serial killing lesbians, played by Amanda Plummer and Saskia Reeves. One of the few films to have brought me physical tears at the first vision. I should test this a second time.