The H.M.S. ABC Project: C

Of the many letters of the alphabet we've covered thus far, "C" is by far the letter most littered with some of the medium's most influential films. I mean, look at this list of certifiable classics.

Citizen Kane

Casablanca

A Clockwork Orange

Chinatown

Cool Hand Luke

There is no doubting those credentials. But, naturally, they all missed the cut. For me, this came down to a more personal choice. As much as I wanted to choose Closer or The Count of Monte Cristo, alas I could not. The former was too vulgar (fittingly, too many "C words"), the latter just not quite good enough, despite being one of my most watched films (if that makes any sense). This was really a two horse race. Children of Men is a fantastic movie as many of you know, and certainly one of the more amazing movies technically. The degree of difficulty and badassery (yes, a word) of some of the tracking sequences is astounding. Ultimately, the movie is too much like Casablanca (ex-lover comes back to her former man to get papers to transport somebody out of the country....sound familiar?) to win a tight race against your eventual winner.

City of God

This shouldn't be much of a shock for those of you that have been fortunate enough to see this Brazilian classic. Many people I know haven't seen this because "oh it's foreign? I don't do subtitles." Undoubtedly as big an error in judgment as when Myles Brand fired Bob Knight. Fine, go watch Michael Bay take another dump on celluloid. Satisfied?

Michael Bay, just after filming himself take a dump, gets his megaphone out to scream at his crew and make sure they objectify women more appropriately in his next film

City of God is such a tremendous story with great characters that you cannot help but be completely swept up in the story, whether it's told in Portuguese, French, Na'vi, Ebonics, or English. Literally, I have never found someone that didn't love this movie, and that is something I cannot say about many other movies, if any at all. Please, do yourself a favor and watch it, you won't regret it.

That's all from me tonight, be sure to check back tomorrow for Colin's "D" pick, as well as Friday when I return to discuss eeeeeEEEEEE...(Blue?) movies.

(Colin's "C" Pick: City of God - the first unanimous selection by the snobs)