aroceu's favorite movies library

Movies are my favorite form of storytelling entertainment as a member of the audience. There's so many ways to enjoy them - by yourself or with others, on a big screen or small - and so many things to take in in a single viewing. I like concise stories, getting punched well enough just once to feel something. This is why I prefer movies to TV shows, because the limitation of the duration of a movie - both in actual runtime as well as its profitability - tends to challenge directors who care to make the most of every element of the medium, and everyone else involved in the process to operate to the best of their ability on the project.

I think every movie on this list is a work of art in some way, if only for what they mean to me. This is a summarization of my taste in movies and stories in general: a comedic, serious, universality of experience, and a message at the heart of the story, or at least joy in its intent to exist. I love stories with a mysterious element because they scratch the itch of my curiosity; and I love to laugh and be a little bit scared. Movies feel like a microcosm of our world - and even moreso, I think, because they happen in front of our eyes in a motion we experience.

When I was a kid, I had a huge preference for animated movies and didn't like watching "real people" movies, but because I was just young and scared of the real world. I preferred watching depictions of non-reality, living in someone else's animated imagination of the world. Spy Kids was what eased me out of this - well, that, and That's So Raven. But feeling myself grow out of being someone who stubbornly didn't want to watch "real people" movies to becoming someone more interested in the less kid-friendly stories that may or may not be based in reality, was a very conscious signal to me that I'd grown up.

And, well. Look at where we are now. But I still love animated movies; and even moreso, I love kids' movies, because I think nailing a story marketed towards kids that I as an adult can enjoy equally as much, with or without my inner kid, is a remarkable feat in and of itself. Even still, I like things that are flawed - that are a little weird, have an off-putting element that can only be attributed to human error, or at least, intrinsic to the relatability of the human experience. That makes these pieces of art more real, I think. I don't try to find movies that I think are the best (even though these are all 5/5 on my Letterboxd); I try to find the movies that I can enjoy over and over again.

TL;DR These are my favorite movies not only because of how much I like them but because of what they mean to me, and what they say about my taste and view on the world (and stories).

• Animation
• Mystery (narrative misdirection)
• Meta/physical/science-related mystery (not necessarily more or less inclined to me in terms of science, but more in that I like standard mystery narratives but I also like meta/physical/science-y mystery just as much as its own genre)
• Fun female characters with distinctive personalities and narrative agency (in a way even if imperfect)
• Homoerotic tension
• Distinctly different and imperfect characters and the complications of communication and maintaining relationships in multiple complex ways
• The agency of kids
• Testing loyalty / betrayal based on situational and characterization context where the perspective makes sense even if it makes the relationship worse. I love a good betrayal in the same way I like undying loyalty. It's about how an incredibly meaningful relationship can be incredibly painful because of how meaningful it is.
• Non-linear narratives as a function of the plot and not just for character or plot execution purposes, surprise flashbacks/reveals included
• Fairy tale / children's classics parodies
• Satire / an element of humor in theme or tone
• Humanist themes / an element of philosophy in messaging

(Basically, it takes itself seriously in ways that do matter but very much doesn't take itself seriously in ways that don't. which, yeah, same.)

• Fun music designed for the movie in a unique world building way (and especially framed through the lens of pop music, which is my favorite music genre)
• Really good and fun storytelling in ways outside of just the actual story and telling, but also in the worldbuilding context where the world plays as much as part of the story as the plot does; and in terms of modern day social relevance as well.
• Magic/superpowers/supernatural elements, or at the very least "not of our world"
• Competition as character and relationship stakes under the guise of being plot stakes.

Romance does not and has never played a factor in how much I like a movie/story. But I do like any romance in all of these movies because they feel relevant to the plot and are executed well and I enjoy the relationship and character dynamic. I just also really like the part of my consumption of any story where the romance happens more in my imagination :)