Desert island DVDs

When I make a list, that's a sure sign that I have nothing else to talk about, but I hope you find something interesting in it anyways, and maybe a flick or two you haven't seen before.

I was introduced to the desert island discs concept while living in England. It usually involved very stuffy people like John Major listing which concertos he couldn't live without, but I'll try to keep this more fun.

Plus, as some may point out, there's little logic to it. For example, none of the movies I listed as the 10 funniest movies made this list. These are just the ones that, as I woke up this morning, I decided I could least live without, in no particular order.

"Almost Famous": The original movie, not the bloated director's cut. Cameron Crowe has made some truly horrendous flicks, but this autobiographical/rock fantasy pic is one I've probably seen 15 times, and it never gets old.

American Splendor": I don't think I had ever heard of Paul Giamatti when I first saw this one, which made it all the more magical. Harvey Pekar is the people's champ, and this flick is just ingeniously structured.

"Yi Yi": This Taiwanese soap opera from Edward Yang, who subsequently seemed to disappear from the face of the earth, has often been called a movie about nothing. But that's kind of the point. In looking at the lives of one very ordinary Taipei family, he finds beauty in the most mundane things.

"Y Tu Mama Tambien": I list this one first in my profile, and it's definitely near the top of any list of my favorite movies. Alfonso Cuaron's road movie about two teenagers and their slightly older temptress (which, for the ladies, brought Gail Garcia Bernal to the world) is just a delight to behold.

"Heavenly Creatures": I know people worship at the altar of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I'm definitely ready for Peter Jackson to take on the Hobbit, but for me this remains his best movie so far. There's never been a better flick about the power (good and bad) of imagination, and it clearly inspired Guillermo Del Toro in the making of Pan's Labyrinth (which I can't wait to see.)

"The Quiet American": This is the version by Phillip Noyce starring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser, paired with "Rabbit-Proof Fence" in 2002 to give Noyce a truly banner year. Caine's performance is tremendous, and Noyce managed to make a bold statement about American foreign policy without contemporizing Graham Greene's Vietnam War novel. (And his next movie will be of Phillip Roth's "American Pastoral." Great novel should lead to great flick.)

"Amelie": Audrey Tautou, who would later just look so dour in posters for "The Da Vinci Code" (which I will never see), was just the definition of adorable in this Jean Pierre Jeunet fairy tale. I know some people who just find this moving annoying, but most of those people just annoy me, so I guess you can call this one a kind of litmus test.

"Ghost World": Whatever happened to Thora Birch? There was "American Beauty" and than this far superior comic book flick from Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes, and than she just seemed to disappear. Come back, Thora. We all need you.

"You Can Count on Me": Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick and especially Mark Ruffalo are all outstanding in this great little Kenneth Lonergan flick about family ties. I'm not sure why, but this one just speaks to me very loudly. Probably because, like Ruffalo's Terry Prescott, I'll probably always be a bit of a fuckup.

"Smoke": A great cast led by Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Harvey Keitel and Harold Perrineau drive this Paul Auster/Wayne Wang collaboration that's all about the power of storytelling. The ending sequence to that Tom Waits tune whose name escapes me right at the moment is worth the price of admission by itself.

So, there you have it. A very contemporary list, I know, but that's just what I like. Please feel free to respond with the 10 movies you couldn't live without.