Saturday, February 06, 2010
Bachelorhood and the films of the '30's....
Thankfully, Jules will be home tonight. Since Wednesday night, I've been living as a bachelor and I have to say I don't like it. Jules has been in Las Vegas, Abbey is in Chicago for a school function and obviously the boys are off at school. It gets pretty lonely hanging out at home as there is only so much television a person can watch. Today I took a few hours to clean the house but I think I'd rather have it messy and filled with people than sitting around in a spotless home with nothing to do.
I'm going to get right into the next 10 movies in my countdown. This is a pretty impressive list but still not good enough to crack the top 30...
#40. Amadeus (1984) - Tale of two very tortured souls; chamber composer Antonio Salieri (wonderfully performed by F. Murray Abraham) and the musical 'wunderkind', Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salieri is severely humbled when he realizes Mozart is composing better music at the age of 6 than he had ever produced in his entire life. At the same time, Mozart's destructive lifestyle further infuriates Salieri as he realizes the boy genius is wasting his incredible talent. Tom Hulce, whose previous role was playing Pinto in Animal House is solid as Mozart but hasn't made a decent performance since. Abraham deservedly took the Oscar for Best Actor and Amadeus won Best Picture.
#39. The Departed (2006) - One thing you can say about Director Martin Scorcese - he gets the best possible performances out of his actors. Every performer shines in this thriller, the 2006 winner for Best Picture. The tale of two cops working undercover - one for the good guys (Leonardo DiCaprio), the other for the bad guys (Matt Damon), the only chink in this movies armor is that the police psychologist (played by Vera Farmiga) has a relationship with both cops which is somewhat hard to believe. And of all the great performances, Mark Wahlberg was the only performer to earn an Oscar nomination. DiCaprio should have been nominated for this movie, not Blood diamond.
#38. Beauty and the Beast (1991) - Disney had a tremendous run of successful animated hits in the late '80's and throughout the 1990's and none was as perfect and downright beautiful as the 'tale as old as time'. With a score and musical numbers as good as any broadway production (which made it no surprise that Disney turned this hit into a broadway musical), Beauty and the Beast became the first animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture and featured one of the most incredible scenes of animation ever produced when Belle and the Beast danced in the ballroom of his mansion.
#37. Breaking Away (1979) - Story of 4 buddies trying to figure out what to do with their lives while growing up in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana. Called 'Cutters' by the college kids who take over their hometown during the school year; Dave, Mike, Cyril and Moochie try to gain acceptance by competing against the college kids in the Little 500, a 100 mile bike race held annually just before the Indy 500. One of those movies where you find yourself cheering in the end, Paul Dooley is tremendous as the frustrated father of one of the 'Cutters'.
#36. Goodfellas (1991) - Another great 'mob' story by Martin Scorcese - this movie follows the criminal exploits of 3 'Goodfellas' brilliantly portrayed by Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci. Pesci won the Oscar for best supporting actor as the flamable and short-tempered Tommy who nearly kills a kid when the young man says he's funny and finishes the job later in the show when the kid finally decides to fight back and tell's Pesci's Tommy to f%$%k off. Big Mistake when Tommy sitting their with a loaded gun. This film was trumped for Best Picture by Kevin Costner's, Dances With Wolves - I'm not sure the right movie won.
#35. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975) - Another film that swept the top 5 Academy Awards, Jack Nicholson delivers the best performance of his career as Randall McMurphy, a man sent to a mental institution to be evaluated and turns it into an opportunity to be as disruptive as possible - afterall; he's nuts. He meets his match in Nurse Ratchett, coldly played by Louise Fletcher, and the two butt heads throughout the movie as McMurphy tries to push every button she has and she refuses to give in to his antics. Fine supporting performances by all the men in the institution; Christopher Lloyd and Danny DeVito are among McMurphy's mentally disturbed new friends.
#34. Unforgiven (1992) - Clint Eastwood shines as retired killer whose coaxed back into the killing business to collect a bounty in exchange for killing a cow hand and his buddy who cut up a prostitute for laughing at the size of his 'manhood'. Filled with lines that have made Eastwood legendary, Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman are also fantastic in what I consider the best western ever made.
#33. Some Like it Hot (1959) - After witnessing the infamous St. Valentines Day Masacre, two musicians (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) don dresses and join a female orchestra to escape from the mob who are trying to 'silence' the witnesses. Marilyn Monroe is along for the ride and her moves continually frustrate our heroes as they have 'the hots' for her but can do nothing about it since she thinks they're women. At the same time, Lemmon is wooed by a dirty, old man wonderfully played by Joe E. Brown. Great comedy by director Billy Wilder.
#32. The Godfather Part II (1974) - It's very rare when a sequel matches the power of an original movie but this winner of the 1974 Oscar for best picture certainly delivers. Containing two story lines, one following Vito Corleone's rise to power upon his arrival in America and the other focused on Michael Coleone after he assumes power following the death of his father, The Godfather Part II jumps back and forth to the different eras as we watch two actors at the top of their game, Robert DeNiro as young Vito and Al Pacino as Michael. We'll talk a little bit more about the Godfather saga a bit later in the countdown.
#31. Dr. Strangelove (or Why I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb) (1964) - Clearly the longest title of any movie in the top 100, Dr. Strangelove is Stanley Kubrick's classic tale of what ensues after the Americans and Russians launch bombs toward each other at the height of the Cold War. Peter Sellers plays several roles including Dr. Strangelove and the President of the United States and Slim Pickens is hysterical as one of the pilots sent toward Russia to deliver his payload. Sometimes you need a movie that helps you laugh at the absurdities of real life and Dr. Strangelove allowed us to do just that.
Only 30 more films to go...there are 3 more best pictures in the next ten and four movies from the 1970's.
I'm going to get right into the next 10 movies in my countdown. This is a pretty impressive list but still not good enough to crack the top 30...
#40. Amadeus (1984) - Tale of two very tortured souls; chamber composer Antonio Salieri (wonderfully performed by F. Murray Abraham) and the musical 'wunderkind', Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salieri is severely humbled when he realizes Mozart is composing better music at the age of 6 than he had ever produced in his entire life. At the same time, Mozart's destructive lifestyle further infuriates Salieri as he realizes the boy genius is wasting his incredible talent. Tom Hulce, whose previous role was playing Pinto in Animal House is solid as Mozart but hasn't made a decent performance since. Abraham deservedly took the Oscar for Best Actor and Amadeus won Best Picture.
#39. The Departed (2006) - One thing you can say about Director Martin Scorcese - he gets the best possible performances out of his actors. Every performer shines in this thriller, the 2006 winner for Best Picture. The tale of two cops working undercover - one for the good guys (Leonardo DiCaprio), the other for the bad guys (Matt Damon), the only chink in this movies armor is that the police psychologist (played by Vera Farmiga) has a relationship with both cops which is somewhat hard to believe. And of all the great performances, Mark Wahlberg was the only performer to earn an Oscar nomination. DiCaprio should have been nominated for this movie, not Blood diamond.
#38. Beauty and the Beast (1991) - Disney had a tremendous run of successful animated hits in the late '80's and throughout the 1990's and none was as perfect and downright beautiful as the 'tale as old as time'. With a score and musical numbers as good as any broadway production (which made it no surprise that Disney turned this hit into a broadway musical), Beauty and the Beast became the first animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture and featured one of the most incredible scenes of animation ever produced when Belle and the Beast danced in the ballroom of his mansion.
#37. Breaking Away (1979) - Story of 4 buddies trying to figure out what to do with their lives while growing up in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana. Called 'Cutters' by the college kids who take over their hometown during the school year; Dave, Mike, Cyril and Moochie try to gain acceptance by competing against the college kids in the Little 500, a 100 mile bike race held annually just before the Indy 500. One of those movies where you find yourself cheering in the end, Paul Dooley is tremendous as the frustrated father of one of the 'Cutters'.
#36. Goodfellas (1991) - Another great 'mob' story by Martin Scorcese - this movie follows the criminal exploits of 3 'Goodfellas' brilliantly portrayed by Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci. Pesci won the Oscar for best supporting actor as the flamable and short-tempered Tommy who nearly kills a kid when the young man says he's funny and finishes the job later in the show when the kid finally decides to fight back and tell's Pesci's Tommy to f%$%k off. Big Mistake when Tommy sitting their with a loaded gun. This film was trumped for Best Picture by Kevin Costner's, Dances With Wolves - I'm not sure the right movie won.
#35. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975) - Another film that swept the top 5 Academy Awards, Jack Nicholson delivers the best performance of his career as Randall McMurphy, a man sent to a mental institution to be evaluated and turns it into an opportunity to be as disruptive as possible - afterall; he's nuts. He meets his match in Nurse Ratchett, coldly played by Louise Fletcher, and the two butt heads throughout the movie as McMurphy tries to push every button she has and she refuses to give in to his antics. Fine supporting performances by all the men in the institution; Christopher Lloyd and Danny DeVito are among McMurphy's mentally disturbed new friends.
#34. Unforgiven (1992) - Clint Eastwood shines as retired killer whose coaxed back into the killing business to collect a bounty in exchange for killing a cow hand and his buddy who cut up a prostitute for laughing at the size of his 'manhood'. Filled with lines that have made Eastwood legendary, Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman are also fantastic in what I consider the best western ever made.
#33. Some Like it Hot (1959) - After witnessing the infamous St. Valentines Day Masacre, two musicians (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) don dresses and join a female orchestra to escape from the mob who are trying to 'silence' the witnesses. Marilyn Monroe is along for the ride and her moves continually frustrate our heroes as they have 'the hots' for her but can do nothing about it since she thinks they're women. At the same time, Lemmon is wooed by a dirty, old man wonderfully played by Joe E. Brown. Great comedy by director Billy Wilder.
#32. The Godfather Part II (1974) - It's very rare when a sequel matches the power of an original movie but this winner of the 1974 Oscar for best picture certainly delivers. Containing two story lines, one following Vito Corleone's rise to power upon his arrival in America and the other focused on Michael Coleone after he assumes power following the death of his father, The Godfather Part II jumps back and forth to the different eras as we watch two actors at the top of their game, Robert DeNiro as young Vito and Al Pacino as Michael. We'll talk a little bit more about the Godfather saga a bit later in the countdown.
#31. Dr. Strangelove (or Why I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb) (1964) - Clearly the longest title of any movie in the top 100, Dr. Strangelove is Stanley Kubrick's classic tale of what ensues after the Americans and Russians launch bombs toward each other at the height of the Cold War. Peter Sellers plays several roles including Dr. Strangelove and the President of the United States and Slim Pickens is hysterical as one of the pilots sent toward Russia to deliver his payload. Sometimes you need a movie that helps you laugh at the absurdities of real life and Dr. Strangelove allowed us to do just that.
Only 30 more films to go...there are 3 more best pictures in the next ten and four movies from the 1970's.
# posted by Vince Hopkins @ 4:11 PM 
