Top 100 Films: The _4’s

The 4’s contain, by a lucky coincidence, the oldest and newest films on my list. They span a period of 85 years. Every movie but one is in a well defined genre, the other being mostly just a drama. Besides also containing the longest title on my list,  four of the movies are from before I was born.

94. Hanna (2011)

Directed by Joe Wright. Starring Saoirse Ronan and Cate Blanchett

I just missed your heart.

A fever dream of a movie. Hanna is a coming of age tale with a dark side, told like a fairy tale and impeccably directed and acted. It is always moving forward, whether it be plot driven or character based. An early contender for the best film of 2011.

84. All the President’s Men (1976)

Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford

You’re both paranoid. She’s afraid of John Mitchell and you’re afraid of Walter Cronkite.

When a movie about reporters figuring out a story is so compelling you know the movie is great. It takes a lot to get a movie that involves almost no action to feel so stimulating. Of course, the acting helps, as does the direction. There’s a lot of All the President’s Men in Zodiac, and even though I like the latter better, the former is still fantastic.

74. In Bruges (2008)

Directed by Martin McDonagh. Starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson

I’m sorry for calling you an inanimate object. I was upset.

As dark a comedy as you can get, Martin McDonagh’s feature length directorial debut is one of the best first movies of all time. Intricately constructed and immaculately detailed, it’s got a lot going on so it might take a few times to get everything. But that’s just an excuse to watch it over and over and over again. As if you needed one.

64. The General (1926)

Directed by Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton. Starring Buster Keaton and Marion Mack

If you lose this war don’t blame me.

Buster Keaton is known for incredibly complex stunts that intensify as he goes along. Some of the action scenes here are 15 minutes long. There’s a lot to be awed by, but one of the best elements is how Keaton is able to build a character through these actions scenes. By the end of the film you really know who Johnnie Gray is and why he does what he does.

54. The Quiet Man (1952)

Directed by John Ford. Starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara

I have a fearful temper. You might as well know about it now instead of findin’ out about it later. We Danahers are a fightin’ people.

A good old fashioned love story. Full of kisses in the rain and fighting and dragging your wife across the Irish countryside. Almost mythic in how big it plays the emotions, The Quiet Man is a wonderful romantic comedy with great chemistry between Wayne and O’Hara, perhaps the only woman that could match up to Wayne’s powerful presence. If only there was a restored print that was widely available, the current dvd is a muddied mess that does no service to the beauty of Ireland and O’Hara.

44. The Social Network (2010)

Directed by David Fincher. Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield

I like standing next to you, Sean. It makes me look so tough.

When The Social Network hit theaters there was some controversy over whether the movie portrayed the truth of the founding of Facebook. There are exaggerations and outright lies in the movie. Luckily for us, it’s a movie and not a historical document. As a film it is a fascinating study of ambition and the things you lose when you get what you want. It is certainly biased but it is no less of a movie for that.

34. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Directed by Shane Black. Starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer

Wow, I feel sore. I mean physically, not like a guy who’s angry in a movie in the 1950’s.

Delightfully meta and self-aware without being too cute about it. The relationship between Downey and Kilmer is the heart of this film. It makes you remember how awesome Kilmer is. Shane Black knows his buddy cop movies and works with the tropes quite well.

24. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Directed by Andrew Dominik. Starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck

Look at my red hands and my mean face… and I wonder ’bout that man that’s gone so wrong.

One of the half-dozen or so recent westerns that take a more thoughtful track than the typical good guy vs. bad guy idea you see in so many older films of the genre. This movie is about fame and adoration and legend. And it is beautiful. I can’t wait to see what Dominik does next.

14. Sunshine (2007)

Directed by Danny Boyle. Starring Cillian Murphy and Rose Byrne

At the end of time, a moment will come when just man remains. Then the moment will pass. Man will be gone. There will be nothing to show that we were ever here… but stardust.

Sunshine gets a lot of crap for its third act. Allow me to state, here and now and for eternity, there’s nothing wrong with the third act of the film. It’s a different way of explaining the same idea that runs through the rest of the film: what do we do in the face of such power? And the final five minutes are supremely beautiful in both the visuals and the themes they express.

4. Blade Runner (1982)

Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer

Fiery the angels fell. Deep thunder rolled around their shoulders, burning with the fires of Orc.

The future never looked so grimy and gorgeous at the same time. This neo-noir is the best sci-fi movie ever made. It’s not perfect, there’s a romantic subplot that I don’t particularly care about, but that’s small fries when it comes to the sheer brilliance of the rest of the film. It’s telling that Ridley Scott started as an art director because the look of the movie is so singular.

The other parts of the list:

The _0’s section

The _9’s section

The _8’s section

The _7’s section

The _6’s section

The _5’s section

The _4’s section

The _3’s section

The _2’s section

The _1’s section

Top 100 Films: The _8’s

Today brings the films in my top 100 whose spots end in the digit 8! Arbitrary-ocity!

In today’s list we have two films that have two female leads (and one with no women at all), two or three horror films, and one movie by a bad director! And now, the list.

98. In the Loop (2009)

Directed by Armando Iannucci. Starring Tom Hollander and Peter Capaldi

Well, I don’t want to be accused of micro-managing, but I cannot understand why I Heart Huckabees is on a list of DVD’s considered suitable for armed-forces entertainment. That self-indulgent crap is not suitable for combat troops.

The fastest movie since His Girl Friday, In the Loop is a hilarious look at the run-up to a war in the Middle East. Peter Capaldi’s frothy, foul-mouthed string-puller who has lost track of which strings are which is the breakout star of the film, and Tom Hollander plays a guy who seems to have risen to a position that he is horrendously unqualified for. It’s complicated, swift, and one of the best comedies I’ve seen.

88. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Directed by Rob Reiner. Starring Michael McKean and Christopher Guest

As long as there’s you know, sex and drugs, I can do without the rock and roll.

The best of the faux-documentaries I’ve seen, This Is Spinal Tap is widely loved. There are so many great segments, and the frame of a documentaries makes everything even funnier. If you haven’t, check out the DVD commentary track, which sports the guys in character complaining about how poorly the movie makes them look. It’s almost as good as the  regular movie.

78. How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Directed by John Ford. Starring Roddy McDowall and Maureen O’Hara

Huw, I thought when I was a young man that I would conquer the world with truth. I thought I would lead an army greater than Alexander ever dreamed of, not to conquer nations, but to liberate mankind. With truth.

Notorious as the movie that beat Citiczen Kane for the Best Picture Oscar, How Green Was My Valley gets too little credit for being a great movie in its own right. A coming of age movie and a love letter to Wales, it feels like an epic while being a study of this family. It’s also impeccably directed, as you would expect from John Ford.

68. RoboCop (1987)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Starring Peter Weller and Nancy Allen

Let me make something clear to you. He doesn’t have a name. He’s a program. He’s a product.

Much like his other films (Total Recall, Starship Troopers, and even Showgirls) RoboCop is steeped in genre elements and is a darkly comic satire. And let’s throw a little Christ imagery in there, too. Also, lots of blood and stuff.

58. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Directed by George A. Romero. Starring Duane Jones and Judith O’Dea

Now get the hell down in the cellar. You can be the boss down there, but I’m boss up here!

This is, I think, the only film on my list that is directed by a bad director. George A. Romero has continued to go back to his zombie filled universe with diminishing returns. I feel like he almost lucked into this one, working within such limited constraints can sometimes get you a better result than when you have even a little more freedom. Unlike any of the sequels, this movie is terrifying, oddly pretty, and the message is hidden rather than the raison d’être, which is a problem with all of his other movies. But this one is awesome.

48. Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Directed by David Lynch. Starring Naomi Watts and Laura Harring

It’ll be just like in the movies. Pretending to be somebody else.

I feel like I understood this movie less and less as it went along. Then I mostly understood it directly after watching it. And now I have no clue. I do know that it’s a fascinating film to watch, at times funny, strange, scary (the Winkies man still haunts my dreams) and gorgeous. Most of it probably doesn’t happen or something, right? If none of this makes any sense I suppose the writeup will emulate the film.

38. 12 Angry Men (1957)

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb

I don’t believe I have to be loyal to one side or the other. I’m simply asking questions.

12 guys yelling at each other in a room. None of them have names for most of the film, and you can really get to understand the people behind the juror number. Henry Fonda is, as always, an amazing actor, and Sidney Lumet gets a lot out of his single setting. It feels as claustrophobic as it should. And it’s a cool look at the U.S. justice system.

28. 127 Hours (2010)

Directed by Danny Boyle. Starring James Franco and a rock

This rock has been waiting for me my entire life. Its entire life, ever since it was a bit of a meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It’s been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I’ve been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I’ve taken, ever action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface.

That’s a really long quote, so I’ll be brief here. A movie about being alone and the necessity of other people. James Franco’s performance practically is the movie, and although he’s a bit hit and miss in general, he’s truly great here. And Danny Boyle’s camera adds so much to the film, going crazy when Franco’s being frenetic, settling down as his body starts to slow. Check my review.

18. The Exorcist (1973)

Directed by William Friedkin. Starring Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair

You’re telling me that I should take my daughter to a witch doctor? Is that it?

I have a lot of horror on my list and, though there are a few more above this one, I don’t know if any are as objectively terrifying as The Exorcist. Sound design really makes this one tick. And Ellen Burstyn’s performance grounds the film in a mother’s love and fear for her daughter. It’s as real as a horror movie gets.

8. Lucky Star (1929)

Directed by Frank Borzage. Starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell

You’re a cannibal and a dirty, no-good low-down little thief!

Borzage does transcendent romance so well, everybody else might as well give up. The tale of an injured soldier and a lovable scamp, the two must fix each other through the power of their love. When filmed with Borzage’s wonderful, poetic camera you believe that true love will conquer all.

The other parts of the list:

The _0’s section

The _9’s section

The _8’s section

The _7’s section

The _6’s section

The _5’s section

The _4’s section

The _3’s section

The _2’s section

The _1’s section

30 Day Film Challenge: Day 21 – Your Favorite Sci-Fi or Fantasy Film

Day 21 – Your Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film 

Sunshine (2007, Boyle) 

Sunshine isn’t 2001. It isn’t Alien. It’s not Solaris or even Children of Men. It owes a lot to a couple of these films and others (even Event Horizon deserves some credit) but it is a great film in its own right. I saw it in a theater and the intensity of the sun is fully realized both aurally and visually. It’s as visceral a film as I have seen, an aspect of filmmaking that Danny Boyle is particularly good at. In addition to the directorial prowess, Sunshine boasts superb acting by a few of my favorite young-ish actors: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, and Chris Evans all give great, human performances. There’s often a tendency to disregard creating actual characters for sci-fi films because most of them end up dead but there’s a lot in the script to build theses into real people in little lines. Early on there’s a big almost-dinner table scene which serves to build the characters and get all the information we need for the rest of the movie to happen. It’s really well done. And then there’s the last third. Some people hate the final third of this movie. I think it works not only technically but thematically. The entire movie is about the power and near religious nature of something as big as the sun and the third act twist just plays that up to its logical end. And the final five minutes or so are nearly transcendent (much like his latest film, 127 Hours). So, watch it but don’t hate me if you don’t like the ending. You’re the broken one, not the film. 

Notes:

• I don’t like that sci-fi and fantasy are joined in this topic. Maybe I’ll put a bonus pick at the end of this series so you can see why REDACTED is my favorite fantasy film. 
• The sound is key to this film and the score is at once beautiful and dangerous. Like the sun! 
• Trailer!

Movie Review: 127 Hours by Danny Boyle

127 Hours by Danny Boyle

I can see why this film draws comparisons to 2010’s Buried. Each tells the tale of a man trapped in a very confined space and follows them as they deal with their situations and their own mortality. Where Buried focuses more on the plight of the man in the moment (Ryan Reynolds in that film) 127 Hours examines how the man got there and what it will take for him to get out (James Franco in an astounding performance that would likely have won all of the awards this season if it weren’t for that pesky Colin Firth). It is this fundamental difference that makes 127 Hours a compelling and intriguing story told in a fascinating manner.

Most know the story of Aron Ralston. He was a weekend warrior who, while on a climbing/hiking/biking expedition, got trapped between a rock and another, larger rock. He’s stuck there for, well, 127 hours until he realizes that the only way he will live is if he cuts off his own arm. This true story precedes everybody’s moviegoing experience and it looms large over the film. Much like Titanic and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, we know how this film ends. Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Sunshine) knows this and decides to focus instead on everything but that. There’s a point early in the film where Aron tries to cut into his arm with a dull knife. It hardly makes a scratch. Now we know that it will take a heck of a lot of doing to fully de-limb himself and while Ralston tries everything under the sun to escape we know that every second ticks closer to the inevitable unpleasantness. That’s good tension building. That’s good filmmaking.

Of course, that’s not the only good thing that Boyle does. His films have always had a kind of crazy kineticism that ensures the audience won’t get bored or tune out. His films demand your attention and this one is no different. Strangely, though I wished that Buried stuck closer to the coffin which imprisoned its protagonist, I was glad that we got plenty of flashbacks and hallucinations while Ralston was stuck in his gorge. In addition to allowing Boyle to work his movie magic we also got to know Aron a lot better than we might have had we stuck with him through the entirety of the film. We see his family and we see how he keeps them – along with the rest of the world – at arms length. His predicament allows for a lot of self reflection and in a touching and fresh and real scene he apologizes for being a huge jerk. It’s not often that a movie has enough guts to condemn its own hero. Once Ralston realizes that he is the only person that got him into the situation he knows that he’s the only one to get him out of it. And then comes the arm amputation.

The big scene comes at the very end of the film, as you would expect. It’s an intense scene to be sure and, much like Tarantino’s deft use of sound and camera trickery in Reservoir Dogs‘ ear cutting scene, Boyle shows a lot with a little. That’s not to say that there isn’t blood and gore. It’s all there, but Boyle’s energy carries us through and saves us some grossness by cutting or moving away just as the worst bits happen. It’s the Jaws rule, we always imagine worse than they can show us. After Aron sets himself free there is a moment to breathe then the movie rushes back into top gear, this time with the greatest joy and zest for life that only one who has been trapped for more than five days and then escapes truly knows. The final ten or fifteen minutes of this movie are practically perfect in the ride they take the audience on. It’s a true examination of the human spirit, one that understands the ups and downs, the good and the bad, the self-centered and codependent nature of man. It’s a film that, by showing the truly horrible things we must sometimes do, encourages us to be the best we can be.