Spoiler: Rest of my list 1. The Fighter: B- 2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D 3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B 4. The Green Hornet: B 5. True Grit(1969): C+ 6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A) 7. The Machinist: A- 8. Season of the Witch: B 9. Frozen: A- 10. Due Date: B+ 11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B- 12. Faster: C 13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled) 14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing) 15. The Beautiful Truth: B- 16. Strictly Sexual: C+ 17. DOOM: C 18. Brothers: B+ 19. Men In Black II: B- 20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C- 21. The Soloist: C 22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+ 23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B- 24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled) 25. Legion: B- 26. Battle: LA: B+ 27. Righteous Kill: B 28. Dracula II: Ascension: B- 29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D 30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+ 31. Finding Bliss: C 32. Dracula III: Legacy: B- 33. Tangled: B+ 34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C- 35. Chloe: B 36. Kung Fu Panda: B- 37. Centurion: B 38. The People I've Slept With: C 39. Grown Ups: B- 40. The Conspirator: A- 41. XXX: State of the Union: C+ 42. Fast Five: B+ 43. THOR: A- 44. Priest: D+ 45. The Fourth Kind: B+ 46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B- 47. Turtles Forever: A- 48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+ 49. Easy A: A 50. Inception: B 51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D 52. Freakanomics: C+ 53. Green Lantern: C 54. The American: C- 55. Super 8: A 56. Green Lantern: First Flight: B This animated movie is so much better than the live action movie. For starters it just focuses on the yellow energy and crafting of the yellow ring. It doesn't mess with Parallax, Hammond or any other GL foe. Focus is what this animated movie has in spades over the live action film. I did feel that again, Hal just "seemed to know what to do" and I didn't like the look of Abin Sur, that was just off. They at least nailed the actual summoning scene. How the movie could mess that up amazes me. It's like in every Punisher movie, the easiest origin ever, family shot dead in Central Park and they never fully get it right despite trying to show that in War Zone, but I digress. Went ahead and moved GL:Emerald Knights up the queue but going to give GL material a few weeks rest for the time being.
Spoiler: Movies Seen in 2011 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO Tron Legacy 3D - theater Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand Take Me Home Tonight - free screenin' Sanctum - free screenin' The Green Hornet - free screenin' Green Zone - HBO Fantastic Mr. Fox - HBO True Grit (1969) - AMC Ringu - DVD Black Swan - Alamo Drafthouse (its not just a movie theater) Unknown - free screenin' The Losers - HBO The Sunset Limited - HBO on Demand Starsky & Hutch (2004) - Cinemax Kick-Ass - DVD The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD The Adjustment Bureau - free screenin' Rango - theater Red (2010) - DVD rental Hot Tub Time Machine - DVD rental Harry Brown - DVD Faster - DVD rental Jonah Hex - DVD rental Battle: L.A. - theater The Girl who Played with Fire - DVD The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - DVD rental Leaves of Grass - DVD Whiteout - Cinemax on Demand Sucker Punch - free screenin' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - DVD Paul - theater Source Code - theater Rio - free screenin' The Fighter - DVD rental Invictus - Cinemax Scream 4 - theater Fast Five - midnight screenin' THOR - free screenin' Priest - theater Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - midnight screenin' X-Men: First Class - theater Ramona and Beezus - HBO Shrek Forever After - HBO Super 8 - theater Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO Devil - Cinemax on Demand Green Lantern - theater Watched the M. Night produced Devil yesterday, 'cause I was bored. And it was a dull movie, so it made for a good match. The story is in the trailer - the Devil is in Philadelphia & decides to terrorize folks stuck in an elevator. And its narrated by a Catholic security guard in the buildin'... Went to go see a 2D matinee for Green Lantern this evenin'. It certainly looked pretty, but overall, it was a disappointin' movie, and the bonus scene midway through the credits really pissed me off. Watchin' Down Periscope now, which I've seen before, so I won't be includin' it on the list.
"The King's Speech" (2010) A+ The more I see this film, the more I love it. Just terrific performances from the cast and the direction and writing is top notch. Alexandre Desplat's score is beautiful as well. This film is probably my favorite Helena Bonham Carter role. I think Tom Hooper is able to get the very best from her. It's amazing what she can do when not being directed by her husband.
The Adjustment Bureau (8) Afro Samurai: Resurrection (7) Arashi no Yoru ni (One Stormy Night) (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Alone Again (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Finder (8) Black Swan (9) Broken Blade 3: The Mark of the Assassin's Dagger (9) Broken Blade 4: The Land of Disaster (9) Broken Blade 5: Death's Horizon (9) Cutthroat Island (9) Drive Angry (7) Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (9) Godkiller (6) Green Lantern (8) Hanna (8) I Am Number Four (8) Infernal Affairs (7) Kamui (4) The Garden of Sinners Movie 8: Epilogue (9) Loups=Garous (8) The Mechanic (2011) (9) Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakeening of the Trailblazer (8) Munto: The Movie (6) Musashi Miyamoto (6) Outlander (8) Pirates of the Caribean: On Stranger Tides (9) Priest (5) Source Code (9) Thor (9) Time of Eve (10) Unknown (7) Versus (6) X-Men: First Class (8) Your Highness (3)
Spoiler: The rest of my list 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (A-) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 1944 Howard Hawks film that is mostly known for being the first of four films starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and also for reworking a minor Ernest Hemingway novel into a giant ripoff of Casablanca (ironically, a more faithful adaptation would be made six years later by Michael Curtiz, the director of that film). Also notably, this Hemingway adaptation was penned by William Faulkner, his fellow future Nobel Laureate and rival for the position of greatest American writer of the 20s-50s. It's a perfectly okay film, with Bogart and Bacall's on/off-screen attraction being the main reason to watch it. The story feels rather derivative of a better movie otherwise. It also features an annoying supporting performance from three-time Oscar-winner Walter Brennan.
84. Performance (B-) 85. Star Wars (A) 86. Captain Milkshake (C+) 87. Some Like it Hot (A-) 88. The Hangover (B) 89. The Informant! (A) Performance: This is a bizarre gangster movie that meets up with Mick Jagger and heads down even stranger territory half-way through. The story is pretty simple -- a gangster kills someone and is forced to hide out as a result -- but Nic Roeg's editorial and camera choices make the film a total labyrinth. At times, it's almost an experimental film, but there's always enough of a reminder of the narrative that you don't get completely lost. Star Wars: It's still a classic, well-made space opera. I don't care for most of the changes Lucas has made over the years, though. Captain Milkshake: An interesting anti-Vietnam movie that was produced during the war (1969) but mostly unreleased for thirty years do to assorted legal wranglings. It's well-shot and mostly well-acted, but the politics are awfully on the nose at times -- basically the filmmakers just let a few hippies who are more or less playing themselves rant about the war to a returning soldier who is briefly stateside after a death in the family. The proceedings are more interesting when the film focuses on the returning soldier, who was raised by a hawkish, military family, but has profound misgivings about Vietnam after serving there. Some Like it Hot: This comedy made by Billy Wilder is hilarious and terrific, right down to the last shot and line (from what I've seen, Wilder was so good at nailing the closings of his films). Marilyn Monroe can't act her way through a paper bag, of course, but manages to pull off her character. The only downside is George Raft's cameo as a gangster who orders the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. For reasons I can't explain, I just find his presence on screen to be intolerable. The Hangover: This is a funny, but never transcendent movie. And perhaps it's minor, but every time I watch the scene where Bradley Cooper takes his student's field trip money to go spend at Vegas, I can't help but totally hate the character. Honestly, he's a jerk throughout (and even worse in the awful second film). I'm not crazy about the inept cops, either. I think the movie would be funnier if it was more down to earth, but the cops are so uprooted from reality that it doesn't happen. The Informant!: Here's a comedy, on the other hand, that gets better every time I see it. Damon's voice-over catches me off-guard every time it is heard in the movie. The tangents his character's mind goes off on are just so funny and bizarre that it's hard not to be surprised by the twist that important information has been held back every time I see the movie.
Here's what I can recall seeing thus far this year. I'm sure I'm missing a bunch. (A)sexual (B) Beginners (B+) Black Swan (B-) The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story (B) The Pixar Story (B-) Tales From the Script (B) Walt & El Groupo (B) The Universe of Keith Haring The Bourne Identity Waking Sleeping Beauty (C+) La Ronde (A) Ocean's Eleven (2001) (C) Bob Le Flambeur (A) The Good Thief (B-) The Score (C) X-Men First Class (B) Your Highness (F) (Visual Effects Society Screening) True Grit (A-) Kinsey (B+) Judas Kiss (2011) (C+)
Spoiler: The rest of my list 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (A-) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) The superior follow-up by the same production team that made To Have and Have Not. A lot of the stuff I'd read about this movie beforehand focussed on its confusing plot versus strong characters and atmosphere; the plot isn't really that confusing, for the most part (but then, I had the same reaction to the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, which I followed quite easily despite a lot of people saying they found it very hard), though the conclusion is a bit abrupt. Bogart is as compelling a detective as ever. There's notably a lack of familiar faces among the supporting cast.
I watched RED last night, a fun movie overall and so dam funny to see Helen Mirren using a sniper in snow camo . Great performances by the entire cast and I would love to see a sequel. B grade.
Spoiler: rest of list 1. Alien 3 (assembly cut) - B 2. Let the Right One In - A 3. Inception - B. 4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - B+ 5. Lilo and Stitch - A 6. Despicable Me - B 7. Forbidden Planet - B+ 8. Clerks - B 9. Metropia - C+ 10. Brand Upon the Brain - B 11. Beltesassar Animation Festival 17 - A 12. Buried - B+ 13. How to Train Your Dragon - A 14. Monsters - C+. 15. The Tune (Bill Plympton) - C 16. House (1977) - B 17. Institute Benjamenta - B- 18. The Triplets of Belleville (rewatch) - A 19. Lunacy (Jan Svankmajer, 2005) - B 20. Paradise Lost (1999) - C- 21. Daybreakers - C 22. The Wizard of Oz (rewatch) - A 23. Winnebago Man - A 24. The Social Network - B+ 25. Book of the Dead (2005) - C 26. Megamind - B 27. North By Northwest (1959) - A 28. The Plague Dogs (1982) - B+ 29. Burn After Reading - B 31. The Incredibles (rewatch) - A 32. Fire and Ice (1983) - D 33. Bad Santa - B 34. Twelve Monkeys (rewatch) - A 35. Sweeney Todd - B+ 36. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1 - B 37. Alien IV (Blu-ray) - D 38. American Movie (1999) - B 39. Naked (1993) - B 40. My Neighbor Totoro - B+ 41. Pulp Fiction (Rewatch) - A+ 42. Fight Club (Rewatch) - B+ 43. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams - B 44. Falling Down (Rewatch) - B 45. Crazy Heart - C+ 46. Confessions of a Superhero - B 47. The King's Speech - B+ 48. Pinnochio (Disney, rewatch) - B. An amazing achievement for it's time, but comes across a bit dated now. There's kind of a creepy evangelism underlying the story that always kind of bugged me (still does). 49. Network - A. Maybe even an A+. This movie is great. First of all, I had no idea this was where "I'm mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore" came from. So many memorable scenes in this movie that I had practically seen before due to parody. My favorite scene was probably when the CEO (I forget his name) is proselytizing the gospel of the material continuum - SO true. In context this might be one of the most prescient movies ever produced since so much of it has come to pass (and a great movie besides). Excellent commentary on consumer culture.
90. Inside Job (B+) 91. The Hangover: Part II (C-) Inside Job: A solid documentary that would have received a healthy A if not for the heavy-handed ending and a few other minor quibbles. It manages to make the reasons for the recent financial crisis pretty clear in under two hours, too, which is no easy feet, considering how complicated the whole mess is. The Hangover Part II: My grade is probably being generous. It's exactly the same as the first movie (which I don't love as much as most people seem to), only with fewer jokes and a lot of crude humor (i.e. Ed Helms getting raped by a shemale) that just isn't funny. Bradley Cooper's character is an even bigger asshole. It feels at least 25 minutes too long -- and the film is only 102 minutes! I won't be there for Part III.
I was originally going to post after every five movies with a short comment after each. Then I thought after ten, then after a month. Well the year is half over and I haven't listed any yet, so here is my list without comment: Spoiler: Movies seen in 2011 1 The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) 2 Pride of the Yankees (1942) 3 The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009) 4 Sergeant York (1941) 5 Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) 6 Tokyo no kôrasu [Tokyo Chorus] (1931) 7 Crime and Punishment (1935) 8 The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) 9 Along Came Jones (1945) 10 Repo Men (2010) 11 Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006) TV Movie 12 This is the Night (1932) 13 Cop Out (2010) 14 Umarete Wa Mita Keredo [I Was Born But...] (1932) 15 Every Girl Should Be Married (1948) 16 I'm No Angel (1933) 17 Dekigokoro [Passing Fancy] (1933) 18 Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) 19 Sylvia Scarlett (1935) 20 The Cameraman (1928) 21 Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan [The Ghost of Yotsuya] (1959) 22 Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919) 23 Casino Royale (1967) 24 Spite Marriage (1929) 25 Lost Horizon (1937) 26 Doughboys (1930) 27 Ministry of Fear (1944) 28 In Bruges (2008) 29 Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) 30 Greenberg (2010) 31 Die Büchse der Pandora [Pandora's Box] (1929) 32 Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005) 33 Last Night (1998) 34 The Awful Truth (1937) 35 Grand Prix (1966) 36 Free and Easy (1930) 37 Suna no onna [Woman in the Dunes] (1964) 38 None But the Lonely Heart (1944) 39 Shutter Island (2010) 40 Radio Days (1987) 41 The Toast of New York (1937) 42 Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) 43 Forbidden Planet (1956) 44 Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1932) 45 Jigoku (1960) 46 MacGruber (2010) 47 Only Angels Have Wings (1939) 48 What! No Beer (1933) 49 Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) 50 Metropolis (1927) Restored 51 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 52 I Want to Live! (1958) 53 A Foreign Affair (1948) 54 The Lost Weekend (1945) 55 Captain Blood (1935) 56 Night and Day (1946) 57 Cool Hand Luke (1967) 58 Destination Tokyo (1943) 59 The Defiant Ones (1958) 60 Les Miserables (1998) 61 High Life (2009) 62 W. (2008) 63 Love Me Tonight (1932) 64 For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) 65 Shanghai Express (1932) 66 Suzy (1936) 67 The Graduate (1967) 68 A Cock and Bull Story (2005) 69 Tokyo! (2008) 70 On the Waterfront (1954) 71 The Anderson Tapes (1971) 72 In the Heat of the Night (1967) 73 Get Him to the Greek (2010) 74 Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) 75 Bombshell (1933) 76 Mildred Pierce (1945) 77 State of Play (2009) 78 Oliver Twist (1948) 79 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) 80 Jason and the Argonauts (1963) 81 Eclipse (2010) 82 The Lemon Tree (2008) 83 On the Beach (1959) 84 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) 85 Laila (1929) 86 When Ladies Meet (1941) 87 The Other Guys (2010) 88 Cemetery Junction (2010) 89 Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) 90 Splendor in the Grass (1961) 91 Christmas in Wonderland (2007) 92 The Cove (2009) 93 Death to Smoochy (2002) 94 Ball of Fire (1941) 95 The Wild One (1953) 96 Camille (1921) 97 Bad Lieutenant (1992) 98 Beau Geste (1939) 99 Dog Day Afternoon (1975) 100 The Switch (2010) 101 Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) 102 Salt (2010) 103 Beastie Boys: Fight for Your Right Revisited (2011) 104 Gunless (2010) 105 One Million Years B.C. (1966) 106 The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) 107 An American in Paris (1951) 108 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) 109 The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) 110 American Pie (1999) 111 Scarface (1932) 112 The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) 113 Key Largo (1948) 114 Scarface (1983) 115 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) 116 Kiss Me Deadly (1955) 117 Stolen (2009) 118 Ladri di biciclette [Bicycle Thieves] (1948) 119 All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) 120 Okaasan [Mother] (1952) 121 The Mouse on the Moon (1963) 122 The Kids Are All Right (2010) 123 Ohayô [Good Morning] (1959) 124 Murder, My Sweet (1944) 125 East of Eden (1955) 126 Underground (1941) 127 Pokolenie [A Generation] (1955) 128 The Petrified Forest (1936) 129 Escape in the Desert (1945) 130 The Big Sleep (1946) 131 The Night of the Hunter (1955) 132 The Social Network (2010) 133 Exotica (1994) 134 Kanał (1956) 135 Black Legion (1937) 136 Mýrin [Jar City] (2006) 137 44 Inch Chest (2009) 138 Sahara (1943) 139 La Horde (2009) 140 Twelve O'Clock High (1949) 141 Popiół i diament [Ashes and Diamonds] (1958) 142 The Ghost Writer (2010) 143 Northern Pursuit (1943) 144 The Maiden Heist (2009) 145 Missing (1982) 146 King Kong (1933) 147 Dodsworth (1936) 148 Once Upon a Time (1944) 149 The Pride and the Passion (1957) 150 The Young Philadelphians (1959) 151 The Best Man (1964) 152 The American (2010) 153 The Caine Mutiny (1954) 154 Inception (2010) 155 Kameradschaft (1931) 156 The Damned United (2009) 157 Gojira (1954) 158 How to Die in Oregon (2011) 159 Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942) 160 The Trotsky (2009) 161 Tokyo Joe (1949) 162 Red (2010) 163 Körkarlen [The Phantom Carriage] (1921) 164 Frankenstein (1931) 165 El espíritu de la colmena [The Spirit of the Behive] (1973) 166 The Dawn Patrol (1938) 167 Flammen & Citronen [Flame & Citron] (2008) 168 To Sir, with Love (1967) 169 Alice in Wonderland (2010) 170 Out of the Past (1947) 171 Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) 172 The Scarlet Letter (1926) 173 The Runaways (2010) 174 Until They Sail (1957) 175 Smultronstället [Wild Strawberries] (1957) The most memorable films on my list (in the order I saw them) are: 6 Tokyo no kôrasu [Tokyo Chorus] (1931) 37 Suna no onna [Woman in the Dunes] (1964) 49 Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) 50 Metropolis (1927) Restored 70 On the Waterfront (1954) 84 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) 90 Splendor in the Grass (1961) 118 Ladri di biciclette [Bicycle Thieves] (1948) 145 Missing (1982) 175 Smultronstället [Wild Strawberries] (1957)
Spoiler: Rest of my list 1. The Fighter: B- 2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D 3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B 4. The Green Hornet: B 5. True Grit(1969): C+ 6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A) 7. The Machinist: A- 8. Season of the Witch: B 9. Frozen: A- 10. Due Date: B+ 11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B- 12. Faster: C 13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled) 14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing) 15. The Beautiful Truth: B- 16. Strictly Sexual: C+ 17. DOOM: C 18. Brothers: B+ 19. Men In Black II: B- 20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C- 21. The Soloist: C 22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+ 23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B- 24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled) 25. Legion: B- 26. Battle: LA: B+ 27. Righteous Kill: B 28. Dracula II: Ascension: B- 29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D 30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+ 31. Finding Bliss: C 32. Dracula III: Legacy: B- 33. Tangled: B+ 34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C- 35. Chloe: B 36. Kung Fu Panda: B- 37. Centurion: B 38. The People I've Slept With: C 39. Grown Ups: B- 40. The Conspirator: A- 41. XXX: State of the Union: C+ 42. Fast Five: B+ 43. THOR: A- 44. Priest: D+ 45. The Fourth Kind: B+ 46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B- 47. Turtles Forever: A- 48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+ 49. Easy A: A 50. Inception: B 51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D 52. Freakanomics: C+ 53. Green Lantern: C 54. The American: C- 55. Super 8: A 56. Green Lantern: First Flight: B 57. Transformers: Dark of the Moon: B- Better than the last film but it still has it's problems. I'm going to be seeing it one more time with a separate friend than my first viewing. Perhaps I'll find a few answers to the plot holes.
1. Alice in Wonderland (2010) - C- 2. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - A 3. Black Swan (2010) - A+ 4. The Social Network (2010) - A 5. Cannibal! The Musical (1996) - B 6. Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (2009) - B 7. Winter's Bone (2010) - C+ 8. The Kids are All Right (2010) - A 9. The Lovely Bones (2009) - D 10. 127 Hours (2010) - A 11. Source Code (2011) - B 12. Kick-Ass (2010) - B 13. Thor (2011) - B+ 14. X-Men: First Class (2011) - B 15. Easy A (2010) - B 16. Bridesmaids (2011) - A+ 17. Super 8 (2011) - B+ This movie was a cross between ET and Jurassic Park. For what it was, it did remind me of classic sci fi movies from days gone by and I really enjoyed it. Really liked the kid actors (good chemistry together) and even though the ending felt a little clunky, the end credits did make up for it. Also, it wouldn't be a JJ Abrams film without Lens Flare and there was some in this movie. I tried to not have it detract from what was going on too much, but they were noticable.
Spoiler: The rest of my list 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (A-) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) My first movie in a week or so, as I spent that time watching my Breaking Bad Season 3 DVDs. Kubrick's oddball follow-up to A Clockwork Orange is an adaptation of a rather obscure William Makepeace Thackeray novel. Kubrick is actually a good fit for Thackeray (who was considered second only to Dickens in his lifetime, but whose subsequent reputation is based almost entirely on Vanity Fair), whose worldview was generally caustic and cynical, and lacking emotional investment in his characters. Though while watching the movie, I thought Kubrick might have done better to adapt Vanity Fair, a more significant and interesting work; afterward, I learned that he had in fact considered doing that, but decided it was too long to film (and given that this is three hours, that's saying something). The production design of the film is stellar; those four technical Oscars were well-deserved. Ebert called it one of the most beautiful films ever made, and I could believe that. As a film, it's never dull, but I don't think it ultimately amounts to much either. This is the point, I guess, but, ehh.
Agreed. If you want to see a movie of similar prescience on media demagoguery, you might check out Elia Kazan's 1957 A Face in the Crowd. Conan O'Brien has selected Network as one of his "guest programmer" movies on TCM July 4th. --Justin
Madigan (1968) A-. Three years before revolutionizing the cop movie with Dirty Harry, Don Siegel made this crime picture with long-time tough guy Richard Widmark as the title character, a NYPD detective who likes working the streets and bends the rules if he needs to. As far as I know this is the first of several cop movies to use older-generation actors in somewhat badass roles (McQ, The Yakuza) but somehow I had missed seeing it. The movie takes place over three days as Madigan and his partner, played by Harry Guardino, try to catch a murderer who got the drop on them and escaped with their guns. Aside from being a pretty good manhunt story, the movie makes some fine observations about the police's "caste system." Upright Henry Fonda is the police commissioner who punishes cops who cross the line but is so out of touch with street police work that he doesn't understand the gray areas his cops must work in. Always-affable James Whitmore is Fonda's closest friend, the police chief inspector who may not be quite on the straight-and-narrow. Star Trek alums Michael Dunn, Warren Stevens, Lloyd Haynes and Steve Ihnat also appear. There are some scenes in the characters' personal lives that wear a little thin and could have been tightened up, but for the most part they do make important contributions to the characters. This movie seems to have been a little ahead of its time in using a noir-ish anti-hero as a police detective rather than a private eye and having him at odds with the police bureaucracy; its influence is pretty apparent though the movie itself seems somewhat forgotten.
Updates in Bold: The Adjustment Bureau (8) Afro Samurai: Resurrection (7) Arashi no Yoru ni (One Stormy Night) (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Alone Again (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Finder (8) Babylon 5: Thirdspace (7) Black Swan (9) Broken Blade 3: The Mark of the Assassin's Dagger (9) Broken Blade 4: The Land of Disaster (9) Broken Blade 5: Death's Horizon (9) Cutthroat Island (9) Drive Angry (7) Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (9) Godkiller (6) Green Lantern (8) Hanna (8) I Am Number Four (8) Infernal Affairs (7) Kamui (4) The Garden of Sinners Movie 8: Epilogue (9) Loups=Garous (8) The Mechanic (2011) (9) Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakeening of the Trailblazer (8) Munto: The Movie (6) Musashi Miyamoto (6) Outlander (8) Pirates of the Caribean: On Stranger Tides (9) Priest (5) Source Code (9) Thor (9) Time of Eve (10) Transformers: Dark of the Moon (9) Unknown (7) Versus (6) X-Men: First Class (8) Your Highness (3)
Spoiler: Rest of list 1. Alien 3 (assembly cut) - B 2. Let the Right One In - A 3. Inception - B. 4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - B+ 5. Lilo and Stitch - A 6. Despicable Me - B 7. Forbidden Planet - B+ 8. Clerks - B 9. Metropia - C+ 10. Brand Upon the Brain - B 11. Beltesassar Animation Festival 17 - A 12. Buried - B+ 13. How to Train Your Dragon - A 14. Monsters - C+. 15. The Tune (Bill Plympton) - C 16. House (1977) - B 17. Institute Benjamenta - B- 18. The Triplets of Belleville (rewatch) - A 19. Lunacy (Jan Svankmajer, 2005) - B 20. Paradise Lost (1999) - C- 21. Daybreakers - C 22. The Wizard of Oz (rewatch) - A 23. Winnebago Man - A 24. The Social Network - B+ 25. Book of the Dead (2005) - C 26. Megamind - B 27. North By Northwest (1959) - A 28. The Plague Dogs (1982) - B+ 29. Burn After Reading - B 31. The Incredibles (rewatch) - A 32. Fire and Ice (1983) - D 33. Bad Santa - B 34. Twelve Monkeys (rewatch) - A 35. Sweeney Todd - B+ 36. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1 - B 37. Alien IV (Blu-ray) - D 38. American Movie (1999) - B 39. Naked (1993) - B 40. My Neighbor Totoro - B+ 41. Pulp Fiction (Rewatch) - A+ 42. Fight Club (Rewatch) - B+ 43. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams - B 44. Falling Down (Rewatch) - B 45. Crazy Heart - C+ 46. Confessions of a Superhero - B 47. The King's Speech - B+ 48. Pinnochio (Disney, rewatch) - B 49. Network - A 50. Paprika - B+. Was on a short list of best animated movies of all time that I read recently, so I Netflixed it. It was really very good, though the story was a bit silly and I think doesn't hold up under scrutiny. B story with A+ visuals. A great looking Blu-ray. Similar dream/reality themes as Inception or the Matrix. 51. All The President's Men (1976) - A. Here is another movie that I'd mostly already seen due to the amount of parody that's been done about it. Nearly every important scene in the movie was parodied in The Simpson's "Sideshow Bob Roberts". This is just a really excellent example of the political thriller genre, and the art direction and cinematography are also first rate (I later learned this won an Oscar for these elements, and rightly so).
I watched Fast Five and battle Los Angeles recently, the two movies were awesome and I have no words to describe them.