By: Dove
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To call artist/actor David Banner a cinema buff would be an understatement. When he’s not busy in the studio, on a movie set, working out or playing video games, Banner is undoubtedly partaking in some quality movie time! We asked the industrious Gen-Xer to break down his Top 7 favorite movies of all time, and he definitely had a power-packed list!
Read on as David Banner takes the director’s chair as UrbLife.com‘s Movie Buff!
1. The Breakfast Club
Year: 1985
Directed by: John Hughes
Starring: Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Paul Gleeson
What I liked about it was it showed how we have stereotypes even amongst our own peer groups, our own race. We all have hang-ups in our own subcultures. No matter what level of life we’re on, one common denominator that all people have is pain. Even if you’re rich, somebody that you love is going to die. If you’re rich, they’re certain stresses that come with being successful.
If we could strip down like they all did when they were sitting on the floor, the true way that we feel about ourselves, I think people can find that common thread.
2. Superbad
Year: 2007
Directed by: Greg Mottola
Starring: Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogan, Emma Stone
It’s the story that you tell about yourself only to friends. We’re all scared in high school, no matter how tough we are or how much we puff our chests out. When you’re going through it in high school, it’s not funny at all, but when we all grow up and look back at those times, even some of the scary times like when they were at that party and they didn’t know if they could get out. At the time, those were some of the scariest moments in our lives.
I can remember going to see a girl in the projects and it was only one way in and one way out. When I looked out of the window, it was 12 dudes waiting on me next to my dad’s brand new car. I just put on the meanest face that I had and stepped out and said, “What yall want?!” Then they all walked away. I remember sitting out in the parking lot praying that I got out of the situation.
Now that I’m grown, it’s so funny. I think Superbad, in a lot of cases, showed that. I liked the vulnerable side of the picture and being able to laugh at our own stories.
3. The Matrix
Year: 1999
Directed by: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Gloria Foster, Joe Pantoliano
I think that American society is The Matrix. We all live this story or this life that we know doesn’t exist. We all have credit cards – we’re actually spending money that doesn’t exist. It’s all a lie. If people really knew the truth about America, I think that they would be sick. If we really found out about the wars that we’re fighting, the things that we are doing to other countries, not what other countries are doing to us, I think we’ll realize that we’re all sleeping in a pod.
One of the criticisms that I have about our parents is that they lied to us. They told us that if we worked hard and ate our Wheaties that we would be ok. That’s a lie. It’s about who you know. You can have all A’s and not know the right person and you still won’t get the job. I remember one line in The Matrix that really affected me. The guy said “I know that this steak doesn’t exist, but it tastes so good.” I think that a lot of people know that this is a lie, but it feels good. The Matrix is really important to me.
4. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Year: 2005
Directed by: George Lucas
Starring: Hayden Christiansen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Frank Oz
I personally believe that if you haven’t been tempted or you haven’t really been through hard times, then you can’t really say that you’re a good person. It’s easy to be a good person when everything is going your way. Darth Vader’s story is so similar to my story, and I think about his story to keep me on the right path.
If you really think about evil, evil feels good. Doing wrong feels good. All of the stuff they say we aren’t supposed to do, it feels good. To eat too much food, have a lot of sex, power, it feels good. To be disciplined, to say no, to control yourself, all of those things that lead to enlightenment are hard.
If you really study that story, Darth Vader was doing all of the right things. If you remember the original Star Wars, all of the bad people were actually the good people in the beginning. Then they turned and made the Jedi look like they were evil, so if you really think about it, Darth Vader was just staying down with the people e that were originally good.
Even when he killed, he killed because dude said that if you murder this guy, then your wife would stay alive. He even murdered for love, for his pregnant girlfriend. By the time he figured it out, he had already stepped across the line. He was like, “Damn, well ain’t no going back now.” I think that is important for us to think about that. You can’t know good by not knowing evil.
5. Up
Year: 2009
Directed by: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Starring: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Delroy Lindo, Bob Peterson, John Ratzenberger
Animated feature film
I think that this was way too deep for children. The relationship between him and his wife, just from growing up and the promises that they made, life has a tendency to blur because things happen. That’s why I watch the promises that I make because sometimes, no matter how genuine your intentions, sometimes life has a way of blocking it. You live with those regrets all of your life. Not matter how sweet and good we are, life isn’t promised to anybody.
That movie just reminded me of that. He lived with a promise that he made to someone he loved. It was just crazy that it was in a cartoon.
6. Ninja Scroll
Year: 1993
Directed by: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Starring: Kôichi Yamadera, Emi Shinohara, Toshihiko Seki, Richard Epcar
Japanese Anime feature film
This is the greatest anime movie ever. To a certain extent, anime got me through a section in my life. I used to just come and that was I zoned out. Ninja Scroll was so far ahead of its time; the story, the characters, the subplots. The thing that I always liked about Ninja Jubei, the lead character, is that he’s the man with the sword! He’s so cool; he really didn’t want to fight. He’s like, “No I don’t want to fight, just want to get drinks” or “just want to get where I’m going,” then he pulls out that sword and all hell breaks out!
No matter how many times I watch this movie, it still makes me feel like it did the first time I watched it in college.
7. The Confidant
Year: 2010
Directed by: Alton Glass
Starring: Boris Kodjoe, David Banner, Kenya Moore, Billy Zane, Camila Alves, Bai Ling, Richard Roundtree
I was in this movie. I’m not saying it to promote the movie; I’m saying it because of the script. The guy named Alton Glass is a young record producer and director from Atlanta that wrote the script. As an actor, I read three or four scripts a week. The script was so good that I read it like a novel. It didn’t have the budget that it deserved, but I think for the money that we did have and the fact that we shot the movie in 14 days, it was intriguing.
I hope when I become a multi-billionaire, I want to come back and shoot this movie. I want to take the same story and put white actors in it, then put the movie out and see how people react to it. That’s something that I really want to do.
Follow David Banner on Twitter @TheRealBanner and like him at Facebook.com/DavidBanner
