This is going to be hard to do because I love movies. This might actually turn into a top-5 list with about 20 Honorable Mentions.
Here it is:
5. The Royal Tenenbaums. Wes Anderson is a great director and whenever I watch one of his movies it feels like something by Kurt Vonnegut. I like Tenenbaums because of the ultimate redemption of Royal at the end of the movie.
Favorite quote: Royal: "This brush with death has given me a new perspective on things."
Richie: "Dad. You were never dying."
Royal: "But I'm going to live!"
4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Eastwood in the last of his Man With No Name movies. Lee Van Cleef as a great heavy and Eli Wallach upstaging them both with his loathsome and sympathetic portrayal of a dirty, low-down scoundrel. Great direction by Sergio Leone and probably his masterpiece.
Favorite quote: "BLONDIE!!! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A DIRTY SON OF A . . . Aaiieeaaiiee ahhh!!!!"
3. Platoon. Charlie Sheen's best roll. Berenger and Dafoe are both great as rival sergeants with differing veiws on how the war should be fought. The firefight at the climax of the movie is terrifying. Johnny Depp is onscreen for about 3 seconds.
Favorite quote: "Yeah, you's a killa Bunny"
2. The Godfather Part I and II. I know they're two movies but if you watch them together you get a better feel for what's going on and it is a great way to kill an afternoon and an evening. Pacino is amazing in these movies with a very understated performance (compared to Scent of a Woman which is a good flick but damn! Pacino annoys me in that one.) Only watch Part III if you want to see what happens to Michael Corleone. In fairness to Part III. It only sucks because Parts I and II were so great.
Favorite scene: The christening/hit at the end of Part I. Innocence and cold blooded murder. What a contrast.
1. The Empire Strikes Back. This movie was my least favorite of the Star Wars franchise when I was a kid mostly because of the bummer ending, Luke is the son of the most hated man in the Galaxy and the abusive ass cut his hand off. What I like is that Luke feels that he can redeem his father and turn him away from te Dark Side of the Force. I seem to have a thing with the redemption of fathers.
Favorite quote: "Luuuuke. I am your FATHER."
Honorable mentions: Patton, Legally Blonde, The Life Aquatic: with Steve Zissou, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dodgeball, Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later and The Exorcist.
Top-5 books tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I really don't watch very many movies. I've only seen #1 and #5 in your top 5 and only Legally Blonde in your list of honorable mentions. I liked the Royal Tenenbaums a lot- it's my kind of humor. It's been a long time since I saw the Empire Strikes Back. As for Legally Blonde, not so much.
I love Reese Whitherspoon almost to the point that it annoys my wife and she is really cute in Legally Blonde. I watch that movie whenever I stay home sick.
I can't believe that you've never seen The Godfather Trilogy or Patton. Shaun of the Dead is a hoot and I am a huge fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books and I was afraid to see the movie because it was produced after Douglas Adams died.
I've actually seen all 5 here. I struggled some with the Tenenbaums but it could have been the time when I saw it. Need to watch it again.
I must say you need to check out The Right Stuff. The book was great but the movie is amazing fun.
von Braun: I agree with those who say we could launch a pod.
LBJ: A pot?
von Braun: A POD - a, uh, capsule. Now, we would be in full control of zis pod. It vill go up like a cannonball, and come down like, uh, a cannonball, splashing down into ze water, the ocean, vith a parachute to spare the life of the specimen inside.
LBJ: Spaceman?
von Braun: SPE-CI-MEN.
LBJ: Well, what kind of spe-ci-men?
von Braun: A tough one. Responsive to orders. I had in mind a jimp.
LBJ: JIMP? Well what the HELL is a jimp?
von Braun: A jimp. A-a-a jimpanzee, Senator. An ape.
I love that. And you can never go bad with "No bucks. No Buck Rogers."
I've heard that movie is pretty good. I'll have to go find it sometime.
I forgot to mention "Dr. Strangelove" in my Honorable Mentions. Love that movie. Gonna have to watch it again soon.
Post a Comment