Favourite huh, that's difficult. I lean towards Fear and loathing in Las Vegas. It's about being so intelligent that you can go on an insane trip while still not really harming anyone, and still handle any situation involving the law or other human beings, situations, in such a way that no suspicion ever is attracted to you. I.e. enjoying life to the fullest, while not harming anyone, and still breaking laws that would land you in jail most likely for life, or at least for decades.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120669/A lot of people do write in the comment sections on youtube, that it is one of the movies that should have gotten much more attention than it has.
I've seen Johnny Depp in a few other movies, and i've never liked him much in any other movie than this one. That swaggering/swaying thing he does, is something he does in some other movies, but this is the only one where it fits him. Feels like he, and also Del Toro, was born for this one movie alone.
I've seen it surely over a hundred times, most of those times while drinking and getting pissed drunk. It's that kind of a movie, when you're starting the evening and need a real hopeful movie to get you from zero to 150 in 1.5 hours. Or at least, from zero to 50.
You have to watch it with an open mind though. Criticizing a movie like this, to me, is more towards the technical details and the scenery and staging. Because those, i will agree, should have been spent more money on. But if you look past those things, you will just not notice them. There is a fine line between making something too sparingly and too much, and they could definitely have made a movie like this "too much", i.e. too much scenery, over-detailing things. And it's definitely better that they rather chose to just keep it a little bit simpler (not that it's oversimplified either), because it lets it retain that rural feeling that is essential to upkeep the emotion of fear throughout the movie. Which is a big part of the movie. Del Toro getting these crazy moments that really drives fear into the viewer, he is legitimately crazy and will always keep you on edge, never able to predict his next move. He is the emotional mess, Depp is the rational logical thinker, explaining the inner workings and analysis of every situation.
Some actors does a bit of a lackluster job, but not the main ones.
I also feel that the movie captures a lot of what the 70's, 80's and also the 90's was about. Just crazed fun, nobody giving too much of a shit when partying, (almost) everything is allowed. A vast contrast to past 00's and up to today, where if you laugh a little bit too loud on town, you get sent out for being too drunk. It was not like that back in the day. Today it's like a cancer hospital going to town drunk. This movie contradicts today's society to the fullest extent, and should be watched by every school attendant in the world. It's one of the movies the americans got right. One out of a thousand.
Honorable mention: My name is Bulldozer. It's just worth watching, incredibly funny.
This post was edited by Taurean on Feb 2 2025 08:50pm