LAWRENCE OF ARABIA AND PATHS OF GLORY LEAD THE WAY
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA AND PATHS OF GLORY LEAD THE WAY
I have viewed 39 World War One films. This is my rank of the top ten. The list of films will continue to grow and this list can and will change as I continue to add to my number of films I have seen. I have ranked them as my favorite with regard to entertainment and historical value in cinema.
This list is only one man's opinion and nothing more. My top ten from tenth to number one:
10. They Shall Not Grow Old- five stars-2018: One of the best films of the year, it not the best. Peter Jackson's most personal film and ground breaking cinema. It is a must see for any historian, anyone that loves the cinema, and anyone that "cares" about where we have been with regard to the history of the world. Sure, it is a visual look with commentary by those that were on those battlefields and lived the experience and survived. But the kicker. It is in color, it is put on the silver screen as it was, not as we might think it was. Breathtaking photography by the film makers of 1914-1918 enhanced by the film makers of today (Peter Jackson).
9. The Big Parade-five stars-1925: silent film about World War One. Has it's place as one of the most significant war films in history. A must watch for film buffs...highly regarded.
8. Westfront 1918- five stars-1930: a film on WW1 trench warfare from the German side.........recommended....just purchased the blue ray edition (Criterion) Pabst's take is of a lower budget than "All Quiet....."that came out in the same year. A look at the horrors of the Great War without any sentimentality. Compares well with all the great films on this war and nothing is held back. The cursing by the soldiers is surprising for 1930. Pabst shows how he is the better director over MIlestone (AQOTWF) and that says a lot. Use of filmed sound in the movie is a first for the director and historic. "It was particularly pioneering in its early use of sound – it was Pabst's first "talkie" – in that Pabst managed to record live audio during complex tracking shots through the trenches." Highly recommended. (a better film than ALL QUIET? No. But the overall look of the battlefield and the fire fights are true to life (compares to actual film of THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD, " and the cinematography is better.)
7. 1917- five stars-five stars-2019: A clean crisp World War 1 film that displays the cinematic artistry of director Sam Mendes. You get the feelings that that you have viewed something special after seeing a film constructed in a manner that echo's the Great War in a personal manner, filled with set pieces that do not gross out the viewer yet gives one a sense of wonderment and bewilderment that brings one to their knees with emotions through visual sights that stun the senses. May not be the best film of the year but it might just be the best war film in twenty years. After buying the blue ray of the film, I gave it another viewing. Here is that review. For my taste, this movie was the highlight of the films or 2019. It opened in OKC just after the New Year and on my first look, you can read above. I am writing this review on my 2nd viewing in May. I have viewed a bunch of movies and 1917 is one of the finest flicks, not only in the military/war genra, but of the over 4000 that I can remember enough to say something about. Sam Mendes's story, based on his grandfather's remembrance of the Great War, is as close to masterpiece filmmaking as one can get. If there is a flaw in this movie, you find it and tell me about it. I cannot. From the opening scene under the tree to the final scene, under another tree, we get an unrushed yet frantic look at a few hours in the life of a British corporal as he does his work in saving 1600 of his fellow soldiers. Mendes, as we know,,used a continuous camera shot with only a couple of cuts that you cannot recognize without looking. That alone is a taking risks filmmaking that only a master director and cinematographer (Roger Deakins) can pull off with fidelity. And they did. Deakins might be the best at his job in the movie business working today. Mendes has not made a movie for the war gore, all out battle shit that many of those that follow the genre. No he made a film for the ages, one that could be considered an art film that so many hate view. Mendes allows the "thinking man" devour a film of visuals, of settings, of mood. And I might add, emotions. It is not a all out bloddy mess with indiscriminate killings like a Mel Gibson's fine HACKSAW RIDGE. No, Mendes lets the movie flow from one set piece to another. With a fluidity of visuals of what it really might have looked like back in 1917 France we get death as personal, individual for the most part, and still a real emotional experience not grouped with mass killings. The final "over-the-top" scene is also personal as the death displayed is not gross or in fact over-the top. We have some gore as in bodies that are rotting in no-man's land, in a river bloating as corpses do when they start their decomposition, and the ripped flesh and missing limbs of those that are being taken care of in triage. This movie makes you jump at various times and Mendes uses sound and sight to lure you into a suspenseful situation then gives you the shock of a not-so-good thing that is happening. The light show you are given in the French town is visually beautiful, filled with two chases as the gunfire is ever so close in hitting their target. The final scene with the brother and the quiet respectfulness of two soldiers of different rank gives the viewer a peaceful way to come to a conclusion as the soldier takes his place under a tree to pull pictures of him wife and get his emotions under control. 1917 is the best war film since Dunkirk and will be considered one of the best in cinematic history by the critics of film.
6. Sergeant York- five stars-1941: Hollywood all the way but Gary Cooper and director Howard Hawks give us the best biographical film of a real war killer in York who is, in fact, against war. More complex than you might think, the theme of pacifism in this flick is heavy handed but the points made stand on merit. You can fight and kill and still be against war. Deserving of all the honors given.
5. Gallipoli- five stars-1981: Director Weir sets the stage for a visual treat from the lands of Australia to the battle scared cliffs of Gallipoli. As war films go, this one is not all battle, but enough so to get the point that World War One was one bitch of fight where you gave your life for liberty and happiness unless you were of the upper class in the British Empire. The over-the-top ending is stunning as are the cliffs of Gallipoli and how they shaped the battlefield.
4. The African Queen- five stars-1952: The great adventure film of the first World War. John Huston's direction along with Hepburn and Bogart give this flick all anyone would want in entertainment.
3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) five stars: the best film of Eric Maria Remarque’s novel. Historic WW1 battles shot on film. Anti-war and makes you think why countries can get young men to give up their lives to fight and die.
2. Paths of Glory- five stars-1957: A Kubrik Film....with Kirk Douglas as a significant influence in its making. Best WW1 battle action on film...better than even the historic Big Parade and All Quiet on the Western Front. Executions at the end are played out in a troubling way as you have feelings for those being shot. Only one woman in the film, being Kubrick's wife singing a song at the end of the film. Deep and must be studied by people that love film.
1. Lawrence of Arabia- five stars-1962: Not only my greatest/best film on World War One, but the best war/military film of all time, and my third on the list of best films ever made. OK, so you understand that I like this flick. Peter O'Toole leads the way as Sir Lawrence and his performance is totally stunning. Nothing is wrong with this movie and everything is right as of Director David Lean. No other grand film that Lean made comes close to this movie, including "Bridge over the River Kwai." A must see on the silver screen (which I have accomplished three times) this is the real deal.
Added film: should have been in my Top Ten so I have added it as a Top Ten. Shock Troop Original title: Stoßtrupp 1917 Five stars: Cut to the chase. Like WESTFRONT 1918, this trench warfare film of the Great War is all war, filmed by German directors, for a German audience. Let's just forget about the characters and background crap that often is just added filler for such a motion picture. I suggest a viewing along side ALL QUIET......and WESTFRONT and you pick and choose what is great and not so great about each of these films. Absolutely this flick holds it own and you sometimes wonder if you are seeing actual battle film or a recreation. 1934 1h 58m.
My MOVIE Awards for 2021
(New movies I actually viewed)
WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON OSCAR NIGHT 2022
February 25. 2022
Please note: For the seventh straight year, I will give you my choices for the best in movies of the past year. I only include movies that I have actually viewed. Included this year are films that have opened in 2021 but mostly played in the theaters or in platforms such as Netflix, HBO/MAX or Amazon Prime in 2021 as of the pandemic.
Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100+ grossing domestically in 2021. All were viewed at home.
4 Black Widow $183,651,655
7 No Time to Die $160,772,0074,407
10 Free Guy $121,626,598
12 Godzilla vs. Kong $99,597,705
13 Dune $93,404,911
23 The Suicide Squad $55,812,663
29 Tom & Jerry: The Movie $46,318,441
33 Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard $38,014,727
34 Mortal Kombat $37,479,648
36 In the Heights $29,914,684
38 West Side Story $28,169,24
39 The Matrix Resurrections $28,134,634
41 Nobody $27,268,035
51 The King's Man $16,258,724
52 The French Dispatch $15,976,770
55 The Little Things $15,340,534
57 King Richard $14,721,229
60 Malignant $13,351,893
64 The Last Duel $10,853,945
66 Cry Macho $10,183,309
75 Nightmare Alley $6,878,302
76 Those Who Wish Me Dead $6,853,610
77 The Courier $6,613,432
78 Judas and the Black Messiah $5,466,990
88 Reminiscence $3,900,193
89 12 Mighty Orphans $3,689,952
91 Pig $3,186,668
Other movies opened in 2021 that I viewed. Included are films that opened on streaming and/or DVD/Blue Ray
The Serpent Directed by Tom Shankland, Hans Herbots (3 stars)
The White Tiger Directed by Ramin Bahrani (4 1/2 stars
Locked Down Directed by Doug Liman (3 stars)
The Dig Directed by Simon Stone (4 stars)
Coda Directed by Siân Heder (3 1/2 stars)
Palmer Directed by Fisher Stevens (4 1/2 stars)
Cherry Directed by Anthony Russo (4 1/2 stars)
Cosmic Sin Directed by Edward Drake (1 star)
The Vault Directed by Jaume Balaguero (2 1/2 stars)
Coming 2 America Directed by Craig Brewer (1 star)
Death Alley Directed by Nicholas Barton (2 1/2 stars)
The Fallout Directed by Megan Park (2 stars)
Zach Snyder's Justice League Directed by Zach Snyder (2 stars)
The Day Sports Stood Still Directed by Antoine Fuqua (4 stars)
Every Breath You Take Directed by Vaughn Stein (1 and 1/2 stars)
Mare of Easttown Directed by Craig Zobal (series) (4 stars)
The Virtuoso Directed by Nick Stagliano (2 1/2 stars)
Tom Clancy's Without Remorse Directed by Stefano Sollima (2 stars)
American Mobster Retribution (1 star)
The Woman in the Window Directed by Joe Wright (2 stars)
Death in Texas Directed by Scott Windhouser (4 stars)
Hampton's Legion Directed by Christopher Forbes (1/2 star)
Fatherhood Directed by Paul Weitz (3 1/2 stars)
The Tomorrow War Directed by Chris McKay (2 stars)
Die in a Gunfight Directed by Collin Schiffli (2 stars)
Annette Directed by Leos Carax (2 1/2 stars)
Val Directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo (4 1/2 stars)
The Power of the Dog Directed by Jane Campion (5 stars)
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain Directed by Joseph Sharp (5 stars)
Small Engine Repair Directed by John Pollano (2 1/2 stars)
Kate Directed by Cedric Nicholas-Troyan (4 1/2 stars)
Squid Game Directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk (series) (5 star
The Tragady of MacBeth Directed by Joel Co(en (1 1/2 stars)
The American Guest Directed by Bruno Bretto (series) (4 stars)
The Harder They Fall Directed by Jeymus Samuel (3 1/2 stars)
Munich: The Edge of War Directed by Christain Schwochow (4 stars)
Sardar Udham Directed by Shoojit Sircar (4 stars)
Finch Directed by Miguel Sapochnik (2 1/2 stars)
Red Notice Directed by Rawson Marshall Thuber (3 1/2 stars)
tick tick.......Boom Directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (3 1/2 stars)
8-Bit Christmas Directed by Michael Dowse (1 star)
Don't Look Up Directed by Adam McKay (2 stars)
Being the Ricardos Directed by Aaron Sorkin (4 1/2 stars)
MY AWARDS FOR 2021
Best Director: Jane Campion, POWER OF THE DOG
Best Actor: Nicholas Cage, PIG
Best Actress: Nicole Kidman, BEING THE RICARDOS
Best Supporting Actor: Richard Jenkins, NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Best Supporting Actress: Ana De Armas, NO TIME TO DIE
BEST FILM: THE POWER OF THE DOG
Best Film Drama: THE POWER OF THE DOG
Best Film Comedy/Musical: FREE GUY
Best Documentary: VAL
NEW: MY MOST ENJOYABLE FILMS OF THE YEAR IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:
NOBODY; THE LAST DUEL; KING RICHARD; CODA; KATE; THE WHITE TIGER; THE POWER OF THE DOG; NIGHTMARE ALLEY; VAL
Personal Agenda is the Movie Critics Achilles Heel....
Cinema is an art form. Movies that are reviewed by critics that infuse their personal agendas into their look at a film often forget that content does not mean that a film is good or bad as of the personal/political beliefs of said critic. Film is visual expression, good or bad, right or wrong, politically correct or incorrect. To taint a review by the critics agenda does not allow the film to be judged on the merit of what you are actually viewing and the masterfulness of the director that is making the art. Often critics cannot understand in that political agenda it becomes the overriding issue with a film review and needs to be separate the positives/negatives of what is put in the film of question of the individual film. Excellent examples of films that have been trashed as of the critics agenda can be found everywhere. If you follow a critic as of their personal agenda you are being played as of your own agenda and that of the critic in question.
My MOVIE Awards for 2020
(New movies I actually viewed)
April 13, 2021
Please note: For the sixth straight year, I will give you my choices for the best in movies of the past year. I only include movies that I have actually viewed. Included this year are films that have opened in 2020 but mostly played in the theaters or in platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime in 2021 as of the pandemic.
Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2020 (on a 65 inch Panasonic Plasma, the best TV to watch a movie in Blue-ray DVD) My movie grade is also included.
2 1917 $159,227,644 Universal Pictures A (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
8 Little Women $108,101,214 Sony Pictures Entertainment A (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
14 Tenet $57,929,000 Warner Bros A (*****)
16 The Gentlemen $36,471,795 STX Entertainment A (*****) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
19 Parasite $53,369,7491 Neon A (*****) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
21 Uncut Gems $50,023,780 A24 A- (****1/2) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
29 Wonder Woman 1984 $46,108,000 Warner Bros. D- (*1/2)
35 The Way Back $13,590,514 Warner Bros. B- (***)
37 Jojo Rabbit $33,370,909 Fox Searchlight Pictures B+(***1/2) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
39 Ford v Ferrari $117,624,357 Twentieth Century Fox A (*****) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
54 Richard Jewell $22,345,542 Warner Bros A- (****) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
58 News of the World $12,621,890 Universal Pictures A- (****)
76 Joker $335,451,311 Warner Bros A- (****1/2) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
78 Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood $142,502,728 Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE A (*****) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
100 21 Bridges $28,539,757 STX Entertainment B (***1/2) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
120 Midway $56,846,802 Lionsgate C (**1/2) (a 2019 release and awards for that year)
Other movies opened in 2020 that I viewed. Included are films that opened on streaming and/or DVD/Blue Ray
Uppity- 5 stars
Spencer Confidential- 2 and one half stars
We Go In At Dawn- one half star
Grant- 1 star
Eddie- 4 stars
Da Five Bloods- 3 and one half stars
Grayhound- 2 stars
Ghosts War- 3 stars
Emperor- 2 stars
One Night In Bangcok- 1 and one half stars
Run, Hide, Fight 3 stars
The Trial of the Chicago 7- 5 stars
The Bee Gees- 5 stars
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm- 4 stars
The Life Ahead- 3 stars
Mank- 5 stars
The Liberator- 4 stars
Hillbilly Elegy- 3 star
Super Intelligence- one half star
Judas and the Black Messiah- three and one half stars (released in 2021 but elegible for the 2021 Oscars for the 2020 movie awards)
MY AWARDS FOR 2020
Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Tenet
Best Actor: Gary Oldman, Mank
Best Actress: Amy Adams, Hillbilly Elegy
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Supporting Actress: Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Best Film Drama: The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Film Comedy/Musical: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Best Documentary: Bee Gees
From Lawrence of Arabia to Schindler’s List…..My top ten Military/War movies…..
March 13, 2020
Letterboxed has given me a great platform to rank my favorite movies. The first list I will highlight is in the WAR/MILITARY category. (https://letterboxd.com/fwpahlke/list/my-favorite-war-military-films/) I have catalogued 404 films and I know I have viewed more which will be added later as I view newer and even older flicks I have missed. All movies that I have considered have been classified in this WAR/MILITARY genre by critics and Letterboxed.
War/military films that I consider my favorites are not particularly the best critically speaking, just the movies that I will would rank by my own rating system that takes into account quality, my viewability, and importance toward the cinema. Do not fixate on the rankings as they can change after various viewings. And they are just MY personal choices which are just opinions of mine.
Lawrence of Arabia is the finest film in War/Military ever made in my opinion. It is also the third greatest film ever made in my opinion. Citizen Kane and Vertigo are the only films better, again, in my opinion.
My top ten:
War/military films that I consider my favorites are not particularly the best critically speaking, just the movies that I will would rank by my own rating system that takes into account quality, my viewability, and importance toward the cinema. Do not fixate on the rankings as they can change after various viewings. And they are just MY personal choices which are just opinions of mine.
Lawrence of Arabia is the finest film in War/Military ever made in my opinion. It is also the third greatest film ever made in my opinion. Citizen Kane and Vertigo are the only films better, again, in my opinion.
My top ten:
- Lawrence of Arabia: A great film that needs to be viewed on the biggest screen possible in a theater. David Lean’s greatest directorial work. Peter O’Toole’s work here as the Lawrence is one of the best protrails of a historical figure ever put to film He was the best actor of that year and the decade of the 60s. With the use of the best camera’s ever made, Lean’s work is a total masterpiece and is one fo the treasures of film beauty. You can almost see every gain of sand of the desert. His tracking shots in this film are the best ever filmed. A great war film and the historical accuracy is beyond reproach. Having the Delux set from the 50th Anniversary along with the DVD of the 40th, they are my most prized films I own.
- Saving Private Ryan: The most intense and best shot battle sequences ever put on film, Steven Spielburg has made the ultimate in realistic war violence. The deaths of men in battle are personal and not just one bigtime fucking waste of film As you know I hate war porn where the deaths are impersonal and the bodies just stack up indiscriminately. As Mel Gibson can kill ten, fifteen soldiers a minute in his good but overworked films like HACKSAW RIDGE, Spielberg makes every death personal, one way of another. The opening invasion was horrific and the final battle in the town was the ultimate battle ever filmed. Again, another great film that was overlooked by OSCAR as of political agendas.
- The Best Years of Our Lives: Again, a total masterpiece of film making. William Wyler put to the screen the greatest emotional homecoming of men back from war and how they learned to adjust to civilian life. The greatness of this film must have been just too much for those that viewed it when it opened in 1948 of the men and women that actually lived through the years after the war. I cannot imagine. The film is one of my top ten in any film category. A cast that actually overperformed, such as Dana Andrews and the real deal in Harold Russell as a true veteran that lost his hands in the war, this film is still on topic with regard to America and why we send our soldiers to foreign lands to fight for our freedoms. The most “American” film of the decade of the 1940s, the values we hold make this a must for any politician to view yearly.
- Come and See: “A movie that I have only viewed once and will not see again. It creeped into my psyche on that first viewing. The images come to mind on a regular basis. Those images are not good. It is not a film for entertainment. It is horrific and most disturbing.” My complete review on this great flick at (https://fredsportsextra.com/?p=5137)
- Paths of Glory: Stanley Kubrick’s (with the unofficial help of Kirk Douglas) World War One drama has some of the best set pieces in war film. With that, the filming of the trenches, over-the-top, and the tracking of Douglas in those trenches and charge to the anthill is masterful film making. The political overtones of this film are so strong that the French would not allow the viewing of this movie for many years. It is an indictment on the Great War, the French leadership/military, and on humanity itself. Never was a war film more provocative and thanks to Kubrick and Douglas for making this one. I was indoctrinate by this film as a child and by the time I was in high school had viewed it six or seven times. It is a movie that has deep roots in what I love about film and one that is always fresh on each and every viewing.
- Das Boot (the movie, director’s cut): An intense look at a German wolf pack as it makes a run during the war in the Atlantic. Made directly as a motion picture in 1981, Wolfgang Petersons film was turned into a German mini-series in 1985 and from all the footage, the Director’s Cut was produced in 1998 (208 minutes) You cannot go wrong with any version you view. It is an intricate film of sea voyage during warfare with the daily life experiences of a submariner at war. Want realism mixed with claustrophobia in an intense setting, this is your film. The best submarine flick among a group of excellent films that focus on the war under the sea.
- The Battle of Algiers: Shot in documentary form/style, this movie was completely staged by director Gillo Pontecorvo and is one of the greatest films of cinema ever made. It is one of my top ten films any genre, and to view it you cannot imagine this was not a first person documentary filmed by a cameraman. From wiki: For The Battle of Algiers, Pontecorvo and cinematographer Marcello Gatti filmed in black and white and experimented with various techniques to give the film the look of newsreel and documentary film. The effect was so convincing that American releases carried a notice that “not one foot” of newsreel was use. Another film that was not viewed for five years after it premiered in France. Given any film that you might not have viewed, this is one that has to be viewed if you are a serious war/military film buff.
- Full Metal Jacket: Second film by Kubrick on my list, I have talked to Marines that went through boot camp during the Viet Nam War and they all have indicated that the director got it completely correct. This was one of the first movies on Viet Nam that completely overwhelmed me with the dread of being attacked by an unseen foe as when the truck worked it’s way to the gate as the North Viet Nam regulars tried to overrun the military base. The best of many Viet Nam movies and a personal favorite as of those that experienced the war, a war that I thank God I wasn’t drafted to go fight. I would have and probably have been killed. A man needs to know his limitations and I have known mine since a child. Just saying.
- The Thin Red Line (1998) Terrence Malick’s look at Guadalcanal and has become a staple in war/military films. A true “art” film this movie has been called the “finest contemporary war film I’ve seen” by critic Gene Siskil. I agree. It is more than a war film, yet the heart of this film is the thoughts of the many that went through hell on this island. It stands equal in most respects with the other great film of the year, Saving Private Ryan, and out does Speilburgs masterpiece in art direction and screenplay. The realism and acting are second to none with regards to any war/military film Nick Nolte’s greatest performance is also noted.
- Schildler’s List: Spielburg’s 1993 film is another great film that I chose over my number eleven, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. I chose List over the other great films I have viewed as of the work this director went to the trouble to do to show a true to life look at Schindler and what he did to save the many Jews he did. A great film, with things you need to look for on various viewings. Did you get the comedy that the director put into this grim film? It is there if you look.
My MOVIE Awards for 2019
(New movies I actually viewed)
Sam Mendes directs "1917"
Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood....
January 16, 2020 (revised June 1, 2020)
Please note: For the fifth straight year, I will give you my choices for the best in movies of the past year. I only include movies that I have actually viewed.
Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2019 (on a 65 inch Panasonic Plasma, the best TV to watch a movie in Blue-ray DVD) My movie grade is also included.
The Films:
7Spider-Man: Far from Home$390,532,0854,634$390,532,085Jul 2Sony Pictures Releasing (3 and one half stars)
18Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood$141,076,9683,659$142,502,728Jul 26Sony Pictures Releasing (5 stars)
19Shazam!$140,371,6564,306$140,371,656Apr 5Warner Bros. (3 and one half stars)
22Dumbo$114,766,3074,259$114,766,307Mar 29Walt Disney Studios Motion (1 star)
24Glass$111,048,4683,844$111,048,468Jan 18Universal Pictures (4 stars)
27Ford v Ferrari$107,196,4443,746$117,624,357Nov 15Twentieth Century Fox (5 stars)
32Rocketman$96,368,1603,610$96,368,160May 31Paramount Pictures (5 Stars)
38Yesterday$73,286,6502,755$73,286,650Jun 28Universal Pictures (2 and one half stars)
50Midway$56,279,1643,242$56,846,802Nov 8Lionsgate (2 and one half stars)
56Ad Astra$50,188,3703,460$50,188,370Sep 20Twentieth Century Fox (2 stars)
91Uncut Gems$25,253,1192,686$50,023,780Dec 13A24 (4 and one half stars)
92Judy$24,017,5451,627$24,313,888Sep 27 (2 stars)
104Jojo Rabbit$21,059,7261,173$33,370,906Oct 18Fox Searchlight Pictures (3 and one half stars)
128Blinded by the Light$11,901,1452,307$11,901,145Aug 16Warner Bros. (3 and one half stars)
136Motherless Brooklyn$9,277,7361,342$9,277,736Nov 1Warner Bros. (4 stars)
162Tolkien$4,535,1541,501$4,535,154May 10Fox Searchlight Pictures (4 stars)
2321917$1,326,1783,987159,227,644Dec 25Universal Pictures (5 stars)
Other movies opened in 2019 that I viewed. Included are films that opened on streaming and/or DVD/Blue Ray
The Body (*)
Christmas at Dollywood (***)
A Christmas Love Story (***)
Shelby American (*****)
Full Count (0)
Twin Murders: The Silence of the White City (*and one half)
The Irishman (*** and one half)
The King (****)
The Two Popes (****)
The Aeronauts (**)
Secret Obsession (one half)
Kidnapping Stella (one half)
Wine Country (*)
The Silence (*)
The Highwaymen (****)
Triple Frontier (**)
Love Shot (** and one half)
An Affair to Die For (**)
Velvet Buzzsaw (***)
The Report (***)
Polar (* and one half)
Close (* and one half)
10 (* and one half)
STG. Will Garner (**)
My awards for the movies I saw in 2019 for that year:
Best Director: Sam Mendes, 1917
Best Actor: Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems
Best Actress: Renee Zellweger, Judy
Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Best Supporting Actress: Margot Robbie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Best Film Drama: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Best Film Comedy/Musical: Rocketman
Best Documentary: Shelby American
Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems
Quentin Tarantino’s
"ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD"
As a sixteen year old on the night of the Sharon Tate killings, the effect was little more than a footnote in my brain’s card catalog. I had viewed all of her films (yes, I got into the theater to see “Valley of the Dolls” which I did not like). At the time, late 60’s, I wondered why anyone like Charles Manson and family would want butcher people and hang Tate after stabbing her, a woman with child. That imagined visual kept me in a surprising intangible thought, something that I was not proud of and a dark place I did not want to go. And the family that was killed the night before, and Tate’s friends in the Polanski home that met their end on that August night, had a lasting impression of evil on me for my time on this earth.
The Hollywood scene was not of experiences for me, just what I could imagine about the place from many movies I had already viewed about that Southern California venue. I continue, to this day, have substantial contemplation in regard to the panorama of “Hollywood” that is in my psyche, even if it was not of a true in-person experience. It is out a surreal one of viewing movies set on Sunset and Vine, having wet dreams of various fabulous looking women that were hot as hell, and the nuances of those that inhibited the wild debauchery of Los Angeles. To this day, I rush to most movies that are set in SoCal, and my imagination continues to work overtime when I see such films as La La Land, LA Confidential or from the far past, the great The Stunt Man.
“Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” is a film to ponder, to discuss, to contemplate. Some do not like what this director, Quentin Tarantino, did in his movie. QT did not tell the true gospel here and sure as hell was not politically correct in his take. Do not like smoking in films? Tarantino will shout to you, tough shit. Do not like his take on the movie legend/martial arts great Bruce Lee? Again, you also can just go. Do not like the movie’s ending? Make your own motion picture. Everybody seems to have an agenda and QT has one, his, which is reflected in his films. His agenda tell PC to go to hell. He makes films the way he wants as this medium is of the director, not the viewer. Political correctness is foreign to Quentin Tarantino. This is what I like about his films. Do not get me wrong, I hate this man’s political views. I think he is a dumb ass with regard to politics. But as a film maker, he is the real deal. His movies challenge you, and you do not feel disrespected as a viewer. His films are not boring. The worst thing about a film, good or bad, is indifference and being boring. QT does not make crappers. You might not especially like all of them and especially what he puts in them, but that is ok. You will have an opinion, good or bad. Do not like his movies? QT would say, that is just fine.
This 2019 summer entry is a fantasy as directed, edited, and produced by QT It does not represent the truth nor the facts of real life. It is a fairy tale of a real place at a real time. With that in mind, I am not of Hollywood. I can only perceive what my brain allows me to visualize. Dreaming of carnal experiences of Hollywood (literal dreaming as I sleep), of doing the hippity dippity with Marilyn Monroe as a fourteen year old, is all a vision quest, not of reality. Like what Quentin Tarantino did in this flick and has done in previous movies he has fashioned, with regard not only to sex, but of violence and the human condition. Reality? Yes, no, and sometimes.
In “Once Upon…” we have some melancholy infused in “what if these nice people” would have lived out a life. That is something that I took away from my experience from the final scene on the driveway of Polanski’s home. Yet this movie is more than a just a setup of a murder of some famous people. It is how this place in LA influences its inhabitants. How their emotions control them. The good and the not so good.
You see the characters, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), and Margot Robbie (Sharon Tate) among others develop in full fleshed humans. Do not overlook these three characters.
DiCaprio has never been better, showing a range of emotions that make you feel for his situation in this movie industry. There are more than a few set pieces that allow this actor to show his abilities. Look for an Oscar nomination and a possible win from his performance.
Pitt again allows himself to play a character that is not as much a push as of his great screen presence. His take as the stuntman for Dalton, and also being his best friend, is one of his best. He again shows us just how much he is as an actor and not just another pretty face.
Robbie’s take on Tate is exquisite. We get to see that Sharon Tate was a newbie to the Hollywood scene. What is real or not here is subjective, as QT is always playing his audience. Tate, as I think QT wanted us to believe, was a unabashed fickle young actress that was still learning what being a movie star was. She had a bewilderment of Hollywood and was a loving person toward all in her world as shown by QT. Her viewing of a performance by the real Sharon Tate in “The Wrecking Crew” was a fabulous bit of acting by Robbie. You could just inhale her love of self and her emotional presence of having others “laugh” at her performance on screen. She would have loved to have been a star of the cinema if she had lived out a full life. (Fuck you Manson and burn in fucking hell you sum bag). Her inner beauty in this role was as significant as her physical beauty, which QT put on display without the obligatory nudity that many directors would have included. I believe Tate and Robbie would have more in common that we might think. Just watch her. As of Tate, you cannot get your eyes off this actress. Some wanted more of the Tate angle in this movie, but, this was not a movie on her. But anytime we can see Robbie on the silver screen we are in for a treat. She is one smoking women that is for sure. And her talent matches that stunning look. You think I like Robbie?
A few words on the Bruce Lee controversy. Tarantino has pissed off many Bruce Lee apologists. I am and always will be a Bruce Lee fan. Yet, I found the caricature of Mr. Lee as QT has filmed him in this film appropriate. The scene on the fictitious movie set where Pitt’s character Booth kicks the ass of a arrogant Lee was one of the funniest highlights of the flick. Someone needs to tell Bruce’s daughter (who got her panties all up on a wad) that this movie begins with the title “Once Upon A Time…” so please allow the director to take us places in the film where fantasy is a “fairly tale at least and a parody at most.” I enjoy flicks that tell the PC crowd to get lost. QT did that in this one and the issue of Lee and how we think about him is not going to chance as of a work of Hollywood fiction.
The one theme I believe QT pushed was that the “rich and famous” are like us all. They have their problems, worries, and pleasures. They experience issues most of us have to endure. Money and fame does not exclude anyone despair or needs.
What if Charlie Manson did not exist? His family of shits never bonded? QT gives us some serious thoughts about this in the end of this presentation. QT will be discussed and cursed about this look (ending) on this aspect of the movie. But I will not accept that his film is not good as of the ending, or the focus was not dialed completely on these murders. QT did not tell a tale of truth. This movie is not about Tate and such and is not about the truth. QT’s perspective is as what he remembers from growing up in the area and what Hollywood reflected in his mind and soul.
This is a great film. I enjoyed every minute and found the final fifteen minutes as good as anything he has ever done. I went from being in total suspense, to out-and-out laughter, to that sad place of what if. Argue if you want. Disagree if you wish. This “Once Upon A Time” is a winner as a motion picture, as was the previous “Once Upon A Times……in the West, in America, and the Revolution.” Tarantino is our modern day Sergio Leone.
Some thoughts on Milestone’s “A WALK IN THE SUN” by someone who took those steps….
The World War II film, “A Walk in the Sun” (1945-Twentieth Century Fox) directed by the masterful Louis Milestone, is my subject today. A highly praised entry in the war/military genre, WALK has been said to be representative of the US Army infantry soldier that fought in the European theater. Specifically in this film, the battle for Italy, beginning with the Allied invasion on a beach near Salerno. To note, I will be giving you my opinions on the film with a first hand, “was there” interpretation of the WALK, as my Father was part of the army that liberated Italy. Father was a medic of the 45th Infantry Division, American Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark Clark. The 45th had participated in the battle for Sicily and this invasion of Salerno his 3rd action, with the landing in North Africa first. He would continue to make stops with the 45th until injuries forced him out of the war, a day before his Division crossed the Rhine River into the Fatherland.
,
Before my Dad died, we were able to view Milestone’s film together, as we often did with regard to WAR films. This is the first time I have written an article on this flick, but have mentioned my thoughts on the Net earlier.
Like many veterans of war, my Dad did not suffer any significant mental issues after the fact. His experiences as a member of the US Army during the war was the most memorable thing he had ever encountered. His participation was his most important experience in his life and he was as proud as anyone getting to serve his country. He could have had problems with who he was, the son of a German immigrant from East Prussia. He was a proud first generation American young man that was 23 when he joined up, not getting to be a paratrooper as of “bad feet”. He told me he cried when all his friends were accepted but he was left out. (They all died in the war). The Army took him to be a medic just after Pearl Harbor, passing up a his college career as a two sport athlete at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. It took more almost two years before he saw “action” on the battlefield, yet he enjoyed learning the trade of being a medic, as he had no problem with “blood and guts”. I always noticed how calm he was when dealing with injured people while I was in his presence, and he was always helpful to assist when needed.
Being fluent in German, he was one of a few US Army medics that could give a calming word to the wounded enemy when needed, telling me he had heard the last words of more than a few German’s that would soon die where they lay. A common thread was the dying man, both armies, calling out for their mother. That was what he told me. He did mention that he would not assist any German with the SS on his uniform, as the 45th Division had a thing against that sort of German soldier. (Fact of matter, the 45th was the only Division of the US Army that had members brought up on charges of shooting enemy prisoners during the war. My Dad would not talk about that subject on my questioning). The charges did not stick.
He was never fearful of the enemy and felt that if he was to be killed, let it happen. Not a religious man, he had a healthy view on “staying alive” and was well trained to keep himself safe from injury as best he could. Plus, he always did his work to save his fellow soldiers and keep them from further harm. The rule on the battlefield was that the most injured, no matter of the army, got first treatment. That is, if a German was needing assistance as of a critical wound and the American could wait and his life was not in jeopardy, he would help the German first. I believed him. He told me that the to save lives was his first duty, always.
I often think of the medic in “Saving Private Ryan” that spilled his life blood after being shot. Medics were always under fire as many died from various ways, usually getting shot, shelled and hit with shrapnel, or through accident, as my Dad was. He was in a roll over ambiance accident as his driver of the vehicle ran up a bank of dirt on the road as they were leaving the front line. at night, with the lights off, as of the enemy near by.. The wreck broke his back.
Now to the film. The acting is really good in this one. Not always a Dana Andrews fan, he gets it done here. The others are good also. That is about all I can praise this film on. That is it.
The first part, as the men were on the landing craft, talking, talking, talking…..a monotonous bore. Actually nothing of significance was actually being said and the scene lasted far to long. I did not question my Dad on this part of the flick, yet as we watched the movie on DVD, he seemed interested. The scenes of the beach that followed, with the action actually being out-of-sight told me that the production values that Milestone was dealing with were very low. Again, a lack of “real” action and wordy chit chat if you want my opinion. Once the actual “walk” in the sun began, the stories of the men were somewhat interesting but not for the length of the film as they again talked about nothing of actual importance. My Dad said that it was realistic in that they did a lot of walking around with nothing really happening. And the talk of the men was like that in some ways.
He also said the dialogue was unrealistic as many of the men would use profanity constantly, unlike the film. Soldiers, many soldiers, cussed up storm in describing anything. Some did not use curse words, as of my Father, most of the time. But he told me that even if the subject matter was, in his opinion, realistic, the words used in the screenplay were not. Many men used “god damn”, “son-of-a-bitch” and that was the norm. Not as many used “fuck” or “fucking”, as I never heard my Dad use the F word in his life. But the he did use the first two curses often, everyday. The men that took the WALK were not school boys that said darn. He told me that the film was off here and it was put offish for him in that respect.
He also said the action scenes in this film were phooey, and I agreed with him. Milestone, unlike some of his other works, must have had a budget problem with this film and it showed. This movie did not represent what battle actually looked like and that comes from a veteran that was there.
In the final analysis, my Dad would not praise this film for two reasons. It was unrealistic in the screenplay (and I get it as back in 1945 cursing on film was not allowed). The banter between the men was spot on, (family, back-home, girlfriends), but the actual words coming from the mouths of the men was hogwash to him. Secondly, the war/battle scenes, to him, were laughable. That does not lend to a great war/military film.
My Dad did not buy the emotional state of the men in this flick either. This is one area where Milestone has been really good at displaying in his war films. Cowardly men, not into the fight, was not going to happen with the men he was with. Injured or not, they wanted to do their job, without excuse. My Dad was in the George Patton mold, and he loved being a part of Patton’s Army under Omar Bradly and Mark Clark. He would have slapped a man that was not doing his job, or wanted out of a fight. He did not recognize “battle fatigue” when he served. He did understand it later in life. His fellow soldiers were all in, everyday, every second.
My Dad told me the most realistic thing about “A Walk in the Sun” was that, like his walk, the movie shows that the walk was a long, mostly forward and no retreating, hot and unconformable, and not much to do but talk with your fellow soldier. When the fire fights happened during the walk, they were short, could be deadly, and over within a minute or two. When they were up against an entrenched German company, such as in a town, city, fortified position, all shit broke loose and that was like being in HELL. To him, this film failed in that respect, and MIlestone made something worth only one viewing. (I have viewed this one three times and it is difficult getting through it.)
(I thank God to this day my Father was not alive to view SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. I do not think he would have liked it in any way.)
,
Before my Dad died, we were able to view Milestone’s film together, as we often did with regard to WAR films. This is the first time I have written an article on this flick, but have mentioned my thoughts on the Net earlier.
Like many veterans of war, my Dad did not suffer any significant mental issues after the fact. His experiences as a member of the US Army during the war was the most memorable thing he had ever encountered. His participation was his most important experience in his life and he was as proud as anyone getting to serve his country. He could have had problems with who he was, the son of a German immigrant from East Prussia. He was a proud first generation American young man that was 23 when he joined up, not getting to be a paratrooper as of “bad feet”. He told me he cried when all his friends were accepted but he was left out. (They all died in the war). The Army took him to be a medic just after Pearl Harbor, passing up a his college career as a two sport athlete at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. It took more almost two years before he saw “action” on the battlefield, yet he enjoyed learning the trade of being a medic, as he had no problem with “blood and guts”. I always noticed how calm he was when dealing with injured people while I was in his presence, and he was always helpful to assist when needed.
Being fluent in German, he was one of a few US Army medics that could give a calming word to the wounded enemy when needed, telling me he had heard the last words of more than a few German’s that would soon die where they lay. A common thread was the dying man, both armies, calling out for their mother. That was what he told me. He did mention that he would not assist any German with the SS on his uniform, as the 45th Division had a thing against that sort of German soldier. (Fact of matter, the 45th was the only Division of the US Army that had members brought up on charges of shooting enemy prisoners during the war. My Dad would not talk about that subject on my questioning). The charges did not stick.
He was never fearful of the enemy and felt that if he was to be killed, let it happen. Not a religious man, he had a healthy view on “staying alive” and was well trained to keep himself safe from injury as best he could. Plus, he always did his work to save his fellow soldiers and keep them from further harm. The rule on the battlefield was that the most injured, no matter of the army, got first treatment. That is, if a German was needing assistance as of a critical wound and the American could wait and his life was not in jeopardy, he would help the German first. I believed him. He told me that the to save lives was his first duty, always.
I often think of the medic in “Saving Private Ryan” that spilled his life blood after being shot. Medics were always under fire as many died from various ways, usually getting shot, shelled and hit with shrapnel, or through accident, as my Dad was. He was in a roll over ambiance accident as his driver of the vehicle ran up a bank of dirt on the road as they were leaving the front line. at night, with the lights off, as of the enemy near by.. The wreck broke his back.
Now to the film. The acting is really good in this one. Not always a Dana Andrews fan, he gets it done here. The others are good also. That is about all I can praise this film on. That is it.
The first part, as the men were on the landing craft, talking, talking, talking…..a monotonous bore. Actually nothing of significance was actually being said and the scene lasted far to long. I did not question my Dad on this part of the flick, yet as we watched the movie on DVD, he seemed interested. The scenes of the beach that followed, with the action actually being out-of-sight told me that the production values that Milestone was dealing with were very low. Again, a lack of “real” action and wordy chit chat if you want my opinion. Once the actual “walk” in the sun began, the stories of the men were somewhat interesting but not for the length of the film as they again talked about nothing of actual importance. My Dad said that it was realistic in that they did a lot of walking around with nothing really happening. And the talk of the men was like that in some ways.
He also said the dialogue was unrealistic as many of the men would use profanity constantly, unlike the film. Soldiers, many soldiers, cussed up storm in describing anything. Some did not use curse words, as of my Father, most of the time. But he told me that even if the subject matter was, in his opinion, realistic, the words used in the screenplay were not. Many men used “god damn”, “son-of-a-bitch” and that was the norm. Not as many used “fuck” or “fucking”, as I never heard my Dad use the F word in his life. But the he did use the first two curses often, everyday. The men that took the WALK were not school boys that said darn. He told me that the film was off here and it was put offish for him in that respect.
He also said the action scenes in this film were phooey, and I agreed with him. Milestone, unlike some of his other works, must have had a budget problem with this film and it showed. This movie did not represent what battle actually looked like and that comes from a veteran that was there.
In the final analysis, my Dad would not praise this film for two reasons. It was unrealistic in the screenplay (and I get it as back in 1945 cursing on film was not allowed). The banter between the men was spot on, (family, back-home, girlfriends), but the actual words coming from the mouths of the men was hogwash to him. Secondly, the war/battle scenes, to him, were laughable. That does not lend to a great war/military film.
My Dad did not buy the emotional state of the men in this flick either. This is one area where Milestone has been really good at displaying in his war films. Cowardly men, not into the fight, was not going to happen with the men he was with. Injured or not, they wanted to do their job, without excuse. My Dad was in the George Patton mold, and he loved being a part of Patton’s Army under Omar Bradly and Mark Clark. He would have slapped a man that was not doing his job, or wanted out of a fight. He did not recognize “battle fatigue” when he served. He did understand it later in life. His fellow soldiers were all in, everyday, every second.
My Dad told me the most realistic thing about “A Walk in the Sun” was that, like his walk, the movie shows that the walk was a long, mostly forward and no retreating, hot and unconformable, and not much to do but talk with your fellow soldier. When the fire fights happened during the walk, they were short, could be deadly, and over within a minute or two. When they were up against an entrenched German company, such as in a town, city, fortified position, all shit broke loose and that was like being in HELL. To him, this film failed in that respect, and MIlestone made something worth only one viewing. (I have viewed this one three times and it is difficult getting through it.)
(I thank God to this day my Father was not alive to view SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. I do not think he would have liked it in any way.)
PETER JACKSON GIVES US A SIGNIFICANT MOVIE EXPERIENCE
One of the best films of the year, if not the best, is the film "They Shall Not Grow Old." Peter Jackson's most personal film and ground breaking cinema. It is a must see for any historian, anyone that loves the cinema, and anyone that "cares" about where we have been with regard to the history of the world. Sure, it is a visual look with commentary by those that were on those battlefields and lived the experience and survived. But the kicker. It is in color, it is put on the silver screen as it was, not as we might think it was. Breathtaking photography by the film makers of 1914-1918 enhanced by the film makers of today (Peter Jackson). Do not have the film. Viewed at the AMC Quail on Jan 21, 2019 in 3D.
Where I am coming from: Film is important to me.........
Growing up in the 1960’s (I was born in 1953), my formative years, I was given the opportunity to view many of the movies of the time. As early as age five I was taken to the “movies” in a local theater in Northwest Oklahoma City usually on a Wednesday night and a Saturday afternoon. The weekday movie was usually at the Penn Theater with my parents, where the 65c adult admission fit just great with them, and the 15c or 25c admission for the tag along kids was just peachy keen. One a typical Saturday afternoon I was treated with a double feature, or if lucky, a triple feature of child directed flicks at the Penn or the May, theaters just few miles from home. As I became a self mobile adolescence, I lived in walking distance of the Shepherd Mall Twin, the Villa, and the Plaza Theaters. With at least five venues to view films, I could be found at the theater most often.
My parents did not put restrictions on what I could or could not see as I grew up. was mostly good, but they did take me to a few movies that were just too much to handle as a young child as they did “fry” by brain a couple of times in their selections of film that they took me to view. I will never forgive them on that. I still cringle thinking about Bette Davis in “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane” even though I can sit through that one thinking why was that so mind blowing for an eight year old.
As I reached the age of understanding, I was attending most flicks that opened in town, no matter if they were of the “G” variety or the hard “R” rating. As of OKC, the “X” rated movies were hard to come by as of the censoring by the leadership in the community. The first major studio X rated flick I viewed was Ken Russell’s “The Devils (1971) as I was a fan of its star Oliver Reed. (A review on that movie is another story line).
I had been influenced by my upbringing that censorship in any form was negative, and nobody has the right to tell you what you could or could not do if it did not hurt anyone (but yourself). We, as functioning human beings, should have discretion, and the picking and choosing of what we view is our own business and how we look upon the world with regard to our belief system. As long as it does not hurt someone else. As a Christian, I have self censored myself, but that is choice, not the choice someone has made for me.
My parents did not put restrictions on what I could or could not see as I grew up. was mostly good, but they did take me to a few movies that were just too much to handle as a young child as they did “fry” by brain a couple of times in their selections of film that they took me to view. I will never forgive them on that. I still cringle thinking about Bette Davis in “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane” even though I can sit through that one thinking why was that so mind blowing for an eight year old.
As I reached the age of understanding, I was attending most flicks that opened in town, no matter if they were of the “G” variety or the hard “R” rating. As of OKC, the “X” rated movies were hard to come by as of the censoring by the leadership in the community. The first major studio X rated flick I viewed was Ken Russell’s “The Devils (1971) as I was a fan of its star Oliver Reed. (A review on that movie is another story line).
I had been influenced by my upbringing that censorship in any form was negative, and nobody has the right to tell you what you could or could not do if it did not hurt anyone (but yourself). We, as functioning human beings, should have discretion, and the picking and choosing of what we view is our own business and how we look upon the world with regard to our belief system. As long as it does not hurt someone else. As a Christian, I have self censored myself, but that is choice, not the choice someone has made for me.
My Awards for 2018
(New Movies that I actually viewed)
January 3, 2019
Please note: For the fourth straight year, I will give you my choices for the best in movies of the past year. I only include movies that I have actually viewed.
Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2018 (on a 65 inch Panasonic Plasma, the best TV to watch a movie in Blue-ray DVD) My movie grade is also included.
1 Black Panther BV $700,059,566 2 1/2 stars
22 Ready Player One WB $137,690,172 4 stars
34 I Can Only Imagine RAtt .$83,482,352 4 stars
56 Sicario: Day of the Soldado Sony $50,072,235 3 stars
58 BlacKk Klansman Focus $48,271,960 5 stars
59 Red Sparrow Fox $46,874,505 4 and 1/2 stars
62 12 Strong WB $45,819,713 1 and 1/2 stars
63 Den of Thieves STX $44,947,622 4 stars
71 Paddington 2 WB $40,891,591 4 and 1/2 stars
73 The Commuter LGF $36,343,858 3 and 1/2 stars
78 Death Wish (2018) MGM $34,017,02 3 stars
81 Annihilation Par. $32,732,301 5 stars
So as you can see I saw only twelve of the top 100 grossing films of 2017. As with every year, I will see most of the top 100 of 2017 at home during 2018.
Other movies outside the Top 100 that I did see this past year were:
105 Paul, Apostle of Christ Affirm $17,560,475 Two and 1/2
107 Chappaquiddick ENTMP $17,395,520 Three and 1/2
144 The Hurricane Heist ENTMP $6,115,825
171 First Reformed A24 $3,448,256
I am including movies that I viewed that were not part of a box office but were on platforms such as Netflix as the home video market is overcoming the movie house experience. These films were watched at home either through the streaming or in a DVD/Blue ray format.
Bird Box 2018 1/2 Stars
Directed by Susanne Bier
The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein 2018 Four stars
Directed by Jean Froment
Outlaw King 2018 Three and 1/2 stars
Directed by David Mackenzie
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs 2018 Four and 1/2 stars
Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
My awards for the movies I saw in 2017 for that year:
Best Director: Paul Schrader, First Reformed
Best Actor: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Red Sparrow
Best Supporting Actor: Tim Blake Nelson, The Ballad of Buster Scrugs
Best Supporting Actress: Amanda Seyfried, First Reformed
Best Film Drama: First Reformed
Best Film Comedy/Musical: Paddington 2
Please note: For the fourth straight year, I will give you my choices for the best in movies of the past year. I only include movies that I have actually viewed.
Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2018 (on a 65 inch Panasonic Plasma, the best TV to watch a movie in Blue-ray DVD) My movie grade is also included.
1 Black Panther BV $700,059,566 2 1/2 stars
22 Ready Player One WB $137,690,172 4 stars
34 I Can Only Imagine RAtt .$83,482,352 4 stars
56 Sicario: Day of the Soldado Sony $50,072,235 3 stars
58 BlacKk Klansman Focus $48,271,960 5 stars
59 Red Sparrow Fox $46,874,505 4 and 1/2 stars
62 12 Strong WB $45,819,713 1 and 1/2 stars
63 Den of Thieves STX $44,947,622 4 stars
71 Paddington 2 WB $40,891,591 4 and 1/2 stars
73 The Commuter LGF $36,343,858 3 and 1/2 stars
78 Death Wish (2018) MGM $34,017,02 3 stars
81 Annihilation Par. $32,732,301 5 stars
So as you can see I saw only twelve of the top 100 grossing films of 2017. As with every year, I will see most of the top 100 of 2017 at home during 2018.
Other movies outside the Top 100 that I did see this past year were:
105 Paul, Apostle of Christ Affirm $17,560,475 Two and 1/2
107 Chappaquiddick ENTMP $17,395,520 Three and 1/2
144 The Hurricane Heist ENTMP $6,115,825
171 First Reformed A24 $3,448,256
I am including movies that I viewed that were not part of a box office but were on platforms such as Netflix as the home video market is overcoming the movie house experience. These films were watched at home either through the streaming or in a DVD/Blue ray format.
Bird Box 2018 1/2 Stars
Directed by Susanne Bier
The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein 2018 Four stars
Directed by Jean Froment
Outlaw King 2018 Three and 1/2 stars
Directed by David Mackenzie
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs 2018 Four and 1/2 stars
Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
My awards for the movies I saw in 2017 for that year:
Best Director: Paul Schrader, First Reformed
Best Actor: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Red Sparrow
Best Supporting Actor: Tim Blake Nelson, The Ballad of Buster Scrugs
Best Supporting Actress: Amanda Seyfried, First Reformed
Best Film Drama: First Reformed
Best Film Comedy/Musical: Paddington 2
Monica Vittie was "Modesty Blaise"
A favorite flick of mine played today on Turner Classic Movie channel. Modesty Blaise (1966), starring Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde, and Harry Andrews. The film, not highly rated by critics, was first viewed by me back in the late August of 1966, as a first run at the Midwest Theater in downtown Oklahoma City. It is in my movie collection (DVD).
This movie does not rock everybody’s boat. But as I was only thirteen at first viewing, it was a film that introduced me to an adult satiric theme that was filled with enough sex and violence (in a campy way and not overt) that was totally interesting for me as of my growing into a young adult. Sure, I did not get all the backhanded crap that was being presented under a very stylized and beautifully shot film by Joseph Losey.
I was a James Bond man, and the stuff that followed, such as Dean Martin’s Matt Helm movies were still a few years off. But it was was a perfect afternoon for a young guy, watching Monica Vitti strut her Italian stuff in exquisite clothing (some very reveling). This was a modern woman, based on the original material, that would be in vogue today. Wonder Woman never had anything on Modesty Blaise. It is hard to realize this fabulous lady, Monica Vitti, is now eighty-six years old.
There are many things I liked about this movie, including the musical score, the fine acting by all involved, and the look of what has been put on the screen.
This movie has held up through the years. Those that liked it still do, and most that did not, still don’t. But the whole Modesty Blaise franchise, from the characters developed by author Peter O’Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963 will always be developed in media. It is timely, either in film or in comic strip or book strength. A better female heroine might be found, but Modesty Blasie does not need to worry.
There are just too many of us world-wide that understand what is all about. And that cannot be explained. And for us, it does not need to be.
My Awards for 2017
(New Movies that I actually viewed)
January 23, 2018
Please note: For the fourth straight year, I will give you my choices for the best in movies of the past year. I only include movies that I have actually viewed.
Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2017 (on a 65 inch Panasonic Plasma, the best TV to watch a movie in Blue-ray DVD) My movie grade is also included.
3 Wonder Woman WB $412,563,408 B+
5 Spider-Man: Homecoming Sony $334,201,140 B
11 Logan Fox $226,277,068 A
14 Dunkirk WB $188,045,546 A
19 Kong: Skull Island WB $168,052,812 B-
21 War for the Planet of the Apes Fox $146,880,162 B
22 Split Uni. $138,291,365 A-
28 Baby Driver TriS $107,825,862 B+
34 John Wick: Chapter Two LG/S $92,029,184 B+
35 Blade Runner 2049 WB $92,001,208 A
40 The Hitman's Bodyguard LG/S $75,468,583 B-
47 The Shack LG/S $57,386,418 B-
56 Going in Style (2017) WB (NL) $45,018,541 B-
So as you can see I saw only thirteen of the top 100 grossing films of 2017. As with every year, I will see most of the top 100 of 2017 at home during 2018.
Other movies outside the Top 100 that I did see this past year were:
106 The Zookeeper's Wife Focus $17,571,660 B-
110 Detroit Annapurna $16,790,139 A
116 Megan Leavey BST $13,406,883 A-
117 The Founder Wein .$12,786,053 A-
128 The Lost City of Z BST $8,580,410 B+
129 The Promise (2017) ORF $8,224,288 B
159 Their Finest STX $3,603,484 A
311 Chuck IFC $320,725 A-
My awards for the movies I saw in 2017 for that year:
Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Best Actor: James McAvoy, Split
Best Actress: Anna Taylor-Joy, Split
Best Supporting Actor: Will Poulter, Detriot
Best Supporting Actress: Sienna Miller, The Lost City of Z
Best Film: Dunkirk
Pictured below: Anna Taylor-Joy and James McAvoy in SPLIT
COME AND SEE
Director Elem Klimov
1985
"a movie experience you will not forget"
I have viewed thousands of movies in my sixty-four years. Some I cannot tell you about as I have little remembrance of. Others I have taken a second, third, or even a third look through the years. But of all the movies that I have had the pleasure, or not, to see, very few fit into a category that I have to qualify with this following statement. "A movie that I have only viewed once and has seemed to creep into my psyche that I have it's images come to mind on a regular basis that I wish they would not." It is not a film for entertainment and as I have told others in conversation, it is the sister movie of Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List." I would say "Come and See" as "List" times ten more horrific and the most disturbing film ever made.
A film that takes place in Belarus, Eastern Front, World War II, COME AND SEE is not your standard war flick. It is, at times, a film that seems to wonder, like being in a dream that you cannot explain and really do not want to be in. A nightmare that forebodes a coming horror that you cannot escape from, yet one that you cannot avoid. You think, why am I here, and why do I continue to participate in this shit, knowing that I will not like what my future hold for me. To tell the story of this movie and to go into detail would turn most of any future viewer off, and that is something that I will let you know right now. If you any trepidation's of witnessing a true view at complete horror dished out by total evil in a way that you will not forget what you have viewed, do not see this movie. If the sights and sounds of "List" were too much for you, multiple that by ten and you get COME AND SEE.
Russian Director Elem Klimov's story of one boy's emotional experiences with the destruction of his homeland by an evil force has little comparison, but as in a 2001 review, J. Hoberman of The Village Voice said of Come and See, writing the following: "Directed for baroque intensity, Come and See is a robust art film with aspirations to the visionary – not so much graphic as leisurely literal-minded in its representation of mass murder. (The movie has been compared both to Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, and it would not be surprising to learn that Steven Spielberg had screened it before making either of these."
Roger Ebert, in 2001 said: ........ "one of the most devastating films ever about anything, and in it, the survivors must envy the dead... The film depicts brutality and is occasionally very realistic, but there's an overlay of muted nightmarish exaggeration... I must not describe the famous sequence at the end. It must unfold as a surprise for you. It pretends to roll back history. You will see how. It is unutterably depressing, because history can never undo itself, and is with us forever."
Finally, British magazine The Word wrote that "Come and See is widely regarded as the finest war film ever made, though possibly not by Great Escape fans."
This film can be purchased on Amazon. If it has ever been shown on a network/cable I am not aware.
“Chuck” (Bleeder) a must see for sports fans……..Wepner vs Ali
May 1, 2017 -
For sports fans in general and boxing fans in particular, a new movie opens in the United States this weekend that will bring back memories if you followed the pugilistic fist-a-cuffs during the Muhammad Ali era. It is named “Chuck”, formally called “Bleeder”, referring to the real life “Rocky” of the 1970’s Chuck Wepner.
This movie brought back great memories I have of a day when heavy-weigh boxing was more than just a passing thought. A time when the most recognized person on the earth was a sports figure and his name was not Pele. It was Muhammad Ali, the heavy-weight champion of the world. There was no discussion on who was the champ, and Ali was not just a bigtime boxer. He was larger than life, and what he said, did, and represented dominated not only sport but politics and the world view in general Some hated him and others loved him. Even today after his recent death, he has people in both camps. And part of Ali’s life was to “meet” the men in the heavy-weight division that tried to knock the hell out of him at any cost. Chuck Wepner was one of those men that gave it a try. “Chuck” the movie is about this man and his date with Ali in the ring.
From a strong positive reaction to the film by top critic Norman Wilner:The Bleeder offers a fairly equivocal take on that story, with Liev Schreiber (who also co-produced and co-wrote the film) playing the boxer as a loudmouthed hustler who carries himself like a king. It’s the GoodFellas of boxing movies, with Wepner’s self-aggrandizing voice-over constantly challenged by the images we’re seeing – an angry wife (Elisabeth Moss), an alienated brother (Michael Rapaport) and a drug habit that ruined the parts of his life he hadn’t already destroyed.
Wepner might think he’s Rocky Balboa, but Rocky Balboa was a good husband, a good father and a winner. Schreiber and Falardeau let him talk, but their movie has no illusions: The Bleeder knows this guy’s a bum.
Any movie that is compared to “GoodFellas” must be a winner. It is. Take a trip back to a day when the fight game was not all good. But it was salient. And if you are over sixty, you understand. If you are a novice in sport, or younger than a millennial, wise up and take a taste where sport, especially boxing, was just more than two men beating their brains into permanent damage.
(this movie is rated R for bloody images, profanity, sexuality, and nudity)
Feature photo: Live Schreiber as Chuck Wepner (http://www.cultjer.com/liev-schreiber-as-boxer-chuck-wepner)
This movie brought back great memories I have of a day when heavy-weigh boxing was more than just a passing thought. A time when the most recognized person on the earth was a sports figure and his name was not Pele. It was Muhammad Ali, the heavy-weight champion of the world. There was no discussion on who was the champ, and Ali was not just a bigtime boxer. He was larger than life, and what he said, did, and represented dominated not only sport but politics and the world view in general Some hated him and others loved him. Even today after his recent death, he has people in both camps. And part of Ali’s life was to “meet” the men in the heavy-weight division that tried to knock the hell out of him at any cost. Chuck Wepner was one of those men that gave it a try. “Chuck” the movie is about this man and his date with Ali in the ring.
From a strong positive reaction to the film by top critic Norman Wilner:The Bleeder offers a fairly equivocal take on that story, with Liev Schreiber (who also co-produced and co-wrote the film) playing the boxer as a loudmouthed hustler who carries himself like a king. It’s the GoodFellas of boxing movies, with Wepner’s self-aggrandizing voice-over constantly challenged by the images we’re seeing – an angry wife (Elisabeth Moss), an alienated brother (Michael Rapaport) and a drug habit that ruined the parts of his life he hadn’t already destroyed.
Wepner might think he’s Rocky Balboa, but Rocky Balboa was a good husband, a good father and a winner. Schreiber and Falardeau let him talk, but their movie has no illusions: The Bleeder knows this guy’s a bum.
Any movie that is compared to “GoodFellas” must be a winner. It is. Take a trip back to a day when the fight game was not all good. But it was salient. And if you are over sixty, you understand. If you are a novice in sport, or younger than a millennial, wise up and take a taste where sport, especially boxing, was just more than two men beating their brains into permanent damage.
(this movie is rated R for bloody images, profanity, sexuality, and nudity)
Feature photo: Live Schreiber as Chuck Wepner (http://www.cultjer.com/liev-schreiber-as-boxer-chuck-wepner)
The Best Films of 1967
It takes yeas to really understand which movies of any particular year are truly great and significant in the history of cinema. The Oscars, the most important platform to tell the public which movies are their (the industry in Hollywood) choices for that greatness after just months from being made, is a bad way to honor the best films as movies need to pass the test of time. We all know that people change their mind often and that goes with movies, I will take a look at the years of Oscar and who won, who should have won, and where Oscar was totally off base. I begin with the films of 1967, fifty years in the past of last night Oscar presentation.
The five best picture nominations were::
Best Picture
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) Bonnie And Clyde (1967) Doctor Dolittle (1967) The Graduate (1967)Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
My five best pictures of the year: In the Heat of the Night; Bonnie and Clyde; Cool Hand Luke: The Graduate; Belle de Jour. - close but no cigar: In Cold Blood; Wait Until Dark; Two for the Road
My Pick: Bonnie and Clyde
Of these five films, Bonnie and Clyde is the best film, a game changer in movie history, the most significant movie of the year. No one had seen what Arthur Penn put up on the screen in Bonnie And Clyde in a major motion picture by a major studio. All the other films listed might be, in fact better made films, dealing with subject matter that was timely and important for 1967. Bunuel's Bell de Jour is as good a movie as any for any year by a master movie maker. The Graduate was anything but ordinary. And the fact that Stewart Rosenburg's Cool Hand Luke was as good a film as the winner, In the Heat of the Night.
Director:
MIKE NICHOLS for "The Graduate", Richard Brooks for "In Cold Blood", Norman Jewison for "In the Heat of the Night", Stanley Kramer for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Arthur Penn for "Bonnie And Clyde"
My five best directors of the year: Mike Nichols, The Graduate; Richard Brooks, "In Cold Blood"; Arthur Penn, Bonnie and Clyde; Luis Bunuel, Belle de Jour; Jean-Luc Godard, Weekend
My Pick: Arthur Penn, Bonnie and Clyde
There were three directors that deserved the Oscar for best director. The winner in 1968, Mike Nichols, was one of them. Luis Bunuel was one of them. And Arthur Penn was one of them too. In my opinion, Penn should have won but any of the three just as deserving.
Actor:
Actor:
ROD STEIGER in "In the Heat of the Night", Warren Beatty in "Bonnie And Clyde", Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate", Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke", Spencer Tracy in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"
My five best actors of the year were Rod Steiger and Sidney Pointer, both for "In the Heat of the Night, Warren Beatty in "Bonnie and Clyde", Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke", and Spencer Tracy in "Guess Who's Comong to Dinner."
My Pick: Spencer Tracy, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"
It was a top heavy year, the top choices for best actor all gave great performances. Newman and Pointer both had two films that were noteworthy. Not overlooking Hoffman in "The Graduate" but Pointer's "Mr. Tibbs" was every bit as memorable as Stiger's Police Chief Bill Gillespie. Someone had to be eliminated. I have viewed these performances many times and Tracy's role as the father of a white woman engaged to the black educated Sidney Pointer was as good a performance he would to give in his career. It is hard to pick against Newman's Luke but Tracy is considered as good an actor as any with respect to Brando and Olivier. Tracy was magnificant, not only in how he delivered his lines but how he delivered those lines....his gentle inflections and eye movement was as good as it can get. Tracy owned that movie in movie with greatness (Pointer K.Hepburn).
Actress:
KATHARINE HEPBURN in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Anne Bancroft in "The Graduate", Faye Dunaway in "Bonnie And Clyde", Edith Evans in "The Whisperers", Audrey Hepburn in "Wait Until Dark"
My five best actress nods go to: Katherine Hepburn in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Audrey Hepburn in "Wait Until Dark", Faye Dunaway in "Bonnie and Clyde", Anne Bancroft in "The Graduate", and Catherine Deneuve, in Belle de Jour.
My PIck: Faye Dunaway, Bonnie and Clyde
Dunaway was the real deal in this violent movie. Sex, charm, danger, evil, lovely, and most importantly, true to her man Clyde. Dunaway was to win in Network but she was better here. Magnification on the big screen in those 1930's clothing. She showed so much that actually caught the movie world by surprise. Both Hepburn's were outstanding in their roles. Bancroft was the ultimate "cougar" in "The Graduate".
Supporting Actor:
GEORGE KENNEDY in "Cool Hand Luke", John Cassavetes in "The Dirty Dozen", Gene Hackman in "Bonnie And Clyde", Cecil Kellaway in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Michael J. Pollard in "Bonnie And Clyde"
My five were George Kennedy in "Cool Hand Luke", Gene Hackman in "Bonnie and Clyde", Cicil Kellaway in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Alan Arkin in "Wait Until Dark", and William Daniels in "Two For the Road".
My Pick: Gene Hackman, Bonnie and Clyde
A close shave for my choice here but Hackman was to Parson's as Beatty was to Dunaway. Another great performance by Hackman. Daniels and Arkin were overlooked and Kellaway held his own in great company.
ESTELLE PARSONS in "Bonnie And Clyde", Carol Channing in "Thoroughly Modern Millie", Mildred Natwick in "Barefoot in the Park", Beah Richards in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Katharine Ross in "The Graduate"
My five could have started with Estelle Parsons in "Bonnie and Clyde" and ended there. My other four are here just to fill in. Beah Richards was the weakest of the major actors in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" which still is a very good performance. Jo Van Fleet in "Cool Hand Luke" was a good but rather short performance, Angie Dickinson was nice in "Point Blank", and Judy Geeson in "To Sir With Love" was deserving.
My Pick: Estelle Parsons in Bonnie and Clyde
An easy winner the Academy got it right here. Parsons in the role of her lifetime.
The five best picture nominations were::
Best Picture
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) Bonnie And Clyde (1967) Doctor Dolittle (1967) The Graduate (1967)Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
My five best pictures of the year: In the Heat of the Night; Bonnie and Clyde; Cool Hand Luke: The Graduate; Belle de Jour. - close but no cigar: In Cold Blood; Wait Until Dark; Two for the Road
My Pick: Bonnie and Clyde
Of these five films, Bonnie and Clyde is the best film, a game changer in movie history, the most significant movie of the year. No one had seen what Arthur Penn put up on the screen in Bonnie And Clyde in a major motion picture by a major studio. All the other films listed might be, in fact better made films, dealing with subject matter that was timely and important for 1967. Bunuel's Bell de Jour is as good a movie as any for any year by a master movie maker. The Graduate was anything but ordinary. And the fact that Stewart Rosenburg's Cool Hand Luke was as good a film as the winner, In the Heat of the Night.
Director:
MIKE NICHOLS for "The Graduate", Richard Brooks for "In Cold Blood", Norman Jewison for "In the Heat of the Night", Stanley Kramer for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Arthur Penn for "Bonnie And Clyde"
My five best directors of the year: Mike Nichols, The Graduate; Richard Brooks, "In Cold Blood"; Arthur Penn, Bonnie and Clyde; Luis Bunuel, Belle de Jour; Jean-Luc Godard, Weekend
My Pick: Arthur Penn, Bonnie and Clyde
There were three directors that deserved the Oscar for best director. The winner in 1968, Mike Nichols, was one of them. Luis Bunuel was one of them. And Arthur Penn was one of them too. In my opinion, Penn should have won but any of the three just as deserving.
Actor:
Actor:
ROD STEIGER in "In the Heat of the Night", Warren Beatty in "Bonnie And Clyde", Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate", Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke", Spencer Tracy in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"
My five best actors of the year were Rod Steiger and Sidney Pointer, both for "In the Heat of the Night, Warren Beatty in "Bonnie and Clyde", Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke", and Spencer Tracy in "Guess Who's Comong to Dinner."
My Pick: Spencer Tracy, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"
It was a top heavy year, the top choices for best actor all gave great performances. Newman and Pointer both had two films that were noteworthy. Not overlooking Hoffman in "The Graduate" but Pointer's "Mr. Tibbs" was every bit as memorable as Stiger's Police Chief Bill Gillespie. Someone had to be eliminated. I have viewed these performances many times and Tracy's role as the father of a white woman engaged to the black educated Sidney Pointer was as good a performance he would to give in his career. It is hard to pick against Newman's Luke but Tracy is considered as good an actor as any with respect to Brando and Olivier. Tracy was magnificant, not only in how he delivered his lines but how he delivered those lines....his gentle inflections and eye movement was as good as it can get. Tracy owned that movie in movie with greatness (Pointer K.Hepburn).
Actress:
KATHARINE HEPBURN in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Anne Bancroft in "The Graduate", Faye Dunaway in "Bonnie And Clyde", Edith Evans in "The Whisperers", Audrey Hepburn in "Wait Until Dark"
My five best actress nods go to: Katherine Hepburn in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Audrey Hepburn in "Wait Until Dark", Faye Dunaway in "Bonnie and Clyde", Anne Bancroft in "The Graduate", and Catherine Deneuve, in Belle de Jour.
My PIck: Faye Dunaway, Bonnie and Clyde
Dunaway was the real deal in this violent movie. Sex, charm, danger, evil, lovely, and most importantly, true to her man Clyde. Dunaway was to win in Network but she was better here. Magnification on the big screen in those 1930's clothing. She showed so much that actually caught the movie world by surprise. Both Hepburn's were outstanding in their roles. Bancroft was the ultimate "cougar" in "The Graduate".
Supporting Actor:
GEORGE KENNEDY in "Cool Hand Luke", John Cassavetes in "The Dirty Dozen", Gene Hackman in "Bonnie And Clyde", Cecil Kellaway in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Michael J. Pollard in "Bonnie And Clyde"
My five were George Kennedy in "Cool Hand Luke", Gene Hackman in "Bonnie and Clyde", Cicil Kellaway in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Alan Arkin in "Wait Until Dark", and William Daniels in "Two For the Road".
My Pick: Gene Hackman, Bonnie and Clyde
A close shave for my choice here but Hackman was to Parson's as Beatty was to Dunaway. Another great performance by Hackman. Daniels and Arkin were overlooked and Kellaway held his own in great company.
ESTELLE PARSONS in "Bonnie And Clyde", Carol Channing in "Thoroughly Modern Millie", Mildred Natwick in "Barefoot in the Park", Beah Richards in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", Katharine Ross in "The Graduate"
My five could have started with Estelle Parsons in "Bonnie and Clyde" and ended there. My other four are here just to fill in. Beah Richards was the weakest of the major actors in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" which still is a very good performance. Jo Van Fleet in "Cool Hand Luke" was a good but rather short performance, Angie Dickinson was nice in "Point Blank", and Judy Geeson in "To Sir With Love" was deserving.
My Pick: Estelle Parsons in Bonnie and Clyde
An easy winner the Academy got it right here. Parsons in the role of her lifetime.
My Awards for 2016
(New Movies that I actually viewed)
Please note: For the third straight year, I will give you my choices for the best in movies of the past year. I only include movies that I have actually viewed. For the first time, I will also review movies that I could not choose last year as because I actually saw them in this current year. As posted last year I do not go to the theater as of illness.
Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2016 (on a 65 inch Panasonic Plasma, the best TV to watch a movie in Blue-ray DVD)
3 Captain America: Civil War $408,084,349 Grade: C
6 Deadpool $363,070,709 Grade: B
8 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $330,360,194 Grade: B
30 The Magnificent Seven (2016) $93,432,655 Grade: B
51 London Has Fallen $62,524,260 Grade: D
54 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 $59,689,605 Grade: C
71 War Dogs $43,034,523 Grade: B+
92 Hell or High Water $27,007,844 Grade: A
Other movies outside the Top 100 that I did see this past year were:
101 Mechanic: ResurrectionL $21,218,403 Grade: C
102 Free State of Jones $20,810,036 Grade: A-
108 Race (2016) $19,206,207 Grade: A-
117 Eddie the Eagle $15,789,389 Grade: A
118 The Infiltrator $15,436,808 Grade: A
120 Criminal (2016) $14,708,696 Grade: C+
As you can see, of he movies that came out in 2016, I had a very limited sampling to choose from. For the year 2015, I was able to view most of the top 100 and many more listed below that.
My Awards for 2016 for films that i viewed:
Best Director: David Mackenzie, Hell or High Water
Best Actor: Ben Foster, Hell or High Water
Best Actress: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Free State of Jones
Best Supporting Actor: Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Waater
Best Supporting Actress: Haley Bennett, The Magnificant Seven
Best Film Drama: Hell or High Water
Best Film Comedy: Eddie the Eagle
Movies of 2015 that were viewed in 2016 were many. My favorites, all with the highest ranking of an A were:
The Revenant; Kingsmen, The Secret Service; Creed; The Bridge of Spys; Black Mass; Hateful Eight; Brooklyn; Woman in Gold.
Tom Hanks performance in Bridge of Spys and that movie were as good as any in that year. It was my favorite movie of 2015. Below: Ben Foster in Hell or High Water
Great Western's of the 1960's My Rankings
#1 Once Upon A Time in the West
1968
There are many rankings of the best of the best Western movies of various eras. Today, my list of the Western genre from decade of the 1960's.I have viewed each of these movies, both at the theater and atn=ome on a 65 inch big screen Panasonic Plasma, the best TV for movies ever built. My list is for discussion and it is a personal selection. There is no right or wrong here movie fans. Since I am not a professional critic, the list of movies are ones that I would want to see again.
One upon a Time in the West - The most vivid of the westerns of the decade. Henry Fonda playing the bad guy, the first in his career in a western. Seeing a evil Fonda gunning down the family; and the dead bodies laid out in the sun. Close-ups of the actors, a Serigo Leone characteristic. A beautiful female lead in Claudia Cardinale. Leone, in the class of John Ford, the two greatest directors of westerns. Close to three hours of western masterpiece film making with a musical score second to none by Ennio Morricone.
Directed By Sergio Leone Starring Charles Bronson • Gabriele Ferzetti • Henry Fonda • Claudia Cardinale • Jason Robards Genres Ensemble Film • Epic • Revenge Film • Revisionist Western • Spaghetti Western • Western Studios &
FranchisesNational Film Registry • They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? • 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die • Sight & Sound's Greatest Films of All Time Poll • Quentin Tarantino's Cinematic Influences • Time Out: London's 50 Greatest Westerns • Time Out: New York's 100 Best Action Movies • Slant Magazine's 100 Essential Films Other Titles C'era una volta il West [Italy] Release Info December 21, 1968
Color • 165 minutes PG13
One upon a Time in the West - The most vivid of the westerns of the decade. Henry Fonda playing the bad guy, the first in his career in a western. Seeing a evil Fonda gunning down the family; and the dead bodies laid out in the sun. Close-ups of the actors, a Serigo Leone characteristic. A beautiful female lead in Claudia Cardinale. Leone, in the class of John Ford, the two greatest directors of westerns. Close to three hours of western masterpiece film making with a musical score second to none by Ennio Morricone.
Directed By Sergio Leone Starring Charles Bronson • Gabriele Ferzetti • Henry Fonda • Claudia Cardinale • Jason Robards Genres Ensemble Film • Epic • Revenge Film • Revisionist Western • Spaghetti Western • Western Studios &
FranchisesNational Film Registry • They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? • 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die • Sight & Sound's Greatest Films of All Time Poll • Quentin Tarantino's Cinematic Influences • Time Out: London's 50 Greatest Westerns • Time Out: New York's 100 Best Action Movies • Slant Magazine's 100 Essential Films Other Titles C'era una volta il West [Italy] Release Info December 21, 1968
Color • 165 minutes PG13
Two movies that are a real treat: RACE is good and EDDIE THE EAGLE is even better…..
December 20, 2016
The human spirit and sport come together in two fine films
I do not get to the local theater much (I was a one or two movie theater man for my first 57 years) so I pay close attention to what comes out on DVD/Blue Ray or my in-home fiber optic wire. It is easy to pick up the more popular movies but I tend to find many of these movies as either bland, not interesting, or just plain garbage. But this past weekend I was lucky and was treated to two outstanding films that I was able to view on the best television for movies, my large Plasma that sits in my viewing room.
The first film was the bio picture (college through the Olympic 1936 games in Berlin) of the great American Olympic champion Jesse Owens. The film has excellent production value and the use of CGI was top notch. The story itself was entertaining with above average acting by all involved. It was close to historically accurate as some might try to disagree. Owens was never given his due by the German Dictator Adolph Hitler, as the evil carpet-chewer thought of blacks as “Jewish niggers”. And of note, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt never congratulated Owens on his four gold metals……not one letter or recognition. As historical movies go, the movie did Mr. Owens well as he, along with Jack Johnson and Joe Lewis, our first two black heavy-weight champions paved the way for Jackie Robinson and those that followed. If you don’t know the story of Owens you cannot call yourself a sports history buff.
The second movie I highly recommend is “Eddie the Eagle”, the story of British ski jumper Michael “Eddie” Edwards. If you are old enough to remember the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta, this story of “sport” shows why sports are so very important, especially for those that are participants. I have seen almost every movie on almost every sport that has been filmed and this one is as good as it gets. Only Vision Quest, in my opinion, is better in this regard.
From the first scene of the movie, showing a very young Eddie Edwards, in his home bathtub in England, submerged in the water, holding his breath, timed for a new personal record, you are hooked. Edwards, with a life long quest to be an Olympian, is one of the most interesting athletes of the past fifty years. His story, and the story of never giving up, is awe-inspiring. The versatile Hugh Jackman plays a former ski-jumper that becomes Edwards trainer and is top notch. Taron Egerton plays Edwards and gives the performance of his career. Even the fantastic Christopher Walken graces the film in a small but special role as Jackman’s Olympic coach. The telling conversation between Edwards and Finish Gold Medal ski-jumper Matti Nyken as they assend the ski platform for their jumps in the 1988 Olympics is telling. Edwards is not in the class of the Finish champion but the dialogue goes deeper than winning and losing a medal.
Nyken: You and I are like
1 o’clock and 11 o’clock.
You see we are closer to each other
than to others.
Winning, losing,
all that stuff is for the little people.
Men like us, we jump to free our souls.
We are the only two jumpers
with a chance to make history today. (Ewards was out to set the British 90 meter record and Nyken to best his world record)
If we do less than our best
with the whole world watching…
it will kill us inside.
For all time.
Edwards: Good luck, Matti.
Walken’s character on what it means to be an Olympican:
……..a true Olympian
was not just about a God-given skill set.
It’s about never giving up,
no matter what.
Knowing that doing your best
is the only option…
even if it results in failure
Three Movies I Never Want to
See Again
The Exorcist, the Ring (2002), and Mulholland Drive are three movies that I will not view again. They are creepy and not enjoyable to watch. Not bad movies, and in fact, all three are very good films. But not entertaining for me one bit.
Not just another pretty face.......Hedy Lamarr was the real deal
"Hedy Lamarr, Old Hollywood sex symbol, had a brain. It's a fact that may be nearly as overlooked as the inventor's wartime creation: landmark technology that was a precursor to Bluetooth.
It's not surprising that she's known best for her sultry persona, given her film role that made everyone sit up and take notice. In 1933's "Ecstasy," a Czech film, she raised eyebrows and drew condemnation around the globe when she appeared nude in one part of the film and simulated an orgasm in another.
Lamarr is seen going skinny-dipping and, still without a stitch on, chasing a runaway horse. The orgasm scene comes later, and, yes, she does smoke a cigarette afterward. "Ecstasy" is considered the first theatrically released movie to feature an actress simulating an orgasm on screen". (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2011/11/hedy-lamarr-inventor-hedy-lamarr-sex-symbol.html)
She was a real beauty on the silver screen. She was an average actress, sometimes better in better films, sometimes forgettable in lesser flicks. She was so-so with respect to marriage, six husbands along the way. Three children proved her to be a good mother. But did you know that Hedy Lamarr was a world class inventor, a woman that made a significant difference in the way we live our lives today in the twenty-first century?
I enjoyed her movies, but I can positively say that I enjoy Wi-Fi and what it brings to my modern life. At the beginning of World War 2 back in the late 1930's Lamarr and composer George Antheil combined minds to "developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes, which used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers. The principles of their work are now incorporated into modern GPS, Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology. Though not used in WW2, their inventions " were key in 1962, at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, as an updated version of their design appeard on US Navy ships. The design is one of the important elements behind today's spread-spectrum communication technology, such as GPS, CDMA, Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth technology
.
Yes, where would we be today without GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth........? What about Alka-Seltzer? No, she didn't invent that but she did develop a tablet with the fizz in the tablet.for a carbonated drink. She also invented improvements to traffic lights that we still use today.
Ms Lamarr and composer Geroge Antheil's work led to their being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014
My Awards for 2015
(New Movies that I actually viewed)
(On a personal note, as I mentioned in my awards last year (below in an older post) I do not go to the movies anymore. I did see one film this previous year, "The Big Short" as my brother-in-law treated me this Christmas. Various reasons, health of my wife and the fact that I can enjoy a movie at home more than going to the theater. I didn't see all of the top eight movies up for Best Picture this year so my opinion on which of the nominated movies is the Best of that group I cannot give.. With that, I did view a varity of new movies at home after their release to ON DEMAND or to DVD Blue-Ray.. And of those I did view at home, some were worthy to being a Best Picture nominee. I will, in time, view all the nominated movies and I am sure to enjoy them. This is my take of 2015 and the best films that I did see.)
Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2015
Total Gross
2 Jurassic World Uni.$652,270,625 A
8 The Martian Fox$228,380,115 A (Best Picture Oscar Nomination)
10 Spectre Sony$199,844,533 C
11 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Par.$195,042,377 D
44 The Big Short Par.$68,520,574 A (Best Picture Nomination)
54 Focus (2015) WB $53,862,963 C
60 Sicario LGF$46,889,293 A
62 McFarland, USA BV$44,482,410 A
78 The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel FoxS$33,078,266 A
88 No Escape Wein.$27,288,872 A
94 Ex Machina A24 $25,442,958 A
So as you can see I saw only eleven of the top 100 grossing films of 2015. Think not that I like movies? Well, of the list last year, of the 100 I saw 20. But this year I viewed 65 of the movies in that list that I had not seen before Oscar. This trend will continue and I will view most of those this year that I did not view.
Other movies outside the Top 100 that I did see this past year were:
143 Little Boy ORF$6,485,961 B
144 The Loft ORF$6,002,684 C
153 The Water Diviner WB$4,196,641 A
184 Assassination (2015) WGUSA$1,904,682 B
210 Child 44 LG/S$1,224,330 B
235 Cartel Land Orch.$704,352 A (Best Documentary Oscar nomination)
Best Director: Adam McKay, The Big Short
Best Actor: Christian Bale, The Big Short
Best Actress: Emily Blunt, Sicario
Best Supporting Actor: Benicio Del Torro, Sicario
Best Supporting Actresss: Alicia Vikander, El Machina
Best Film Drama: Sirario
Best Film Comedy: The Big Short
Best Documentary: Cartel Land
Waste of time movies that were awful not worth the time spent to watch: Mission Impossible-Rouge Nation (didn't finish it)
Comments:The Academy Awards did some of the same things as last year as this year's show was the lowest viewed in the past seven years. Many of the films nominated are not popular with the movie going public and do not have much of an audience. Best Picture winner SPOTLIGHT did little business this year,not cracking into the top 100 grossing films of 2015. I am sure it will gain in audience and will take a look later when it comes to home video. Other Oscar nominated films that were panned by the movie going public included THE DANISH GIRL, ROOM, and TRUMBO. All three films are worthy of Oscar in various categories but have had little box office. It is my personal opinion that if the men and women of color are going to be better represented in the Oscar nominations, lets get real and stop giving out nominations to films that nobody cares about. If we are gong to water down talent because of color (and I ok with that) lets get it right and nominate films that the movie going public wants to see. For example, why was the new Star Wars movie not in the best picture catagory. The new Mad Max flick was and it won six Oscars for technical quality. That movie should have been best picture if you want my opinion.
My personal favorites for 2015 that I have viewed have been The Big Short and Sicario. Both are outstanding films and would have liked to see either win as Best Picture. Sicario and one of two of its stars, Emily Blunt and Benicio DelTorro were worthy of Oscar acting nominations. Cartel Land was very interesting and with friends that have told me the workings of the cartels in Mexico, the documentary was very informative. Don't believe everyting you hear about the Cartels, and the fact of the matter, if you don't deal in drugs or use them, or not around those who do, you have little to worry about. And the fact of the matter it has been the illegal drug taking American public that has feed the monster of the Cartels and kept them wealthy.
Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2015
Total Gross
2 Jurassic World Uni.$652,270,625 A
8 The Martian Fox$228,380,115 A (Best Picture Oscar Nomination)
10 Spectre Sony$199,844,533 C
11 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Par.$195,042,377 D
44 The Big Short Par.$68,520,574 A (Best Picture Nomination)
54 Focus (2015) WB $53,862,963 C
60 Sicario LGF$46,889,293 A
62 McFarland, USA BV$44,482,410 A
78 The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel FoxS$33,078,266 A
88 No Escape Wein.$27,288,872 A
94 Ex Machina A24 $25,442,958 A
So as you can see I saw only eleven of the top 100 grossing films of 2015. Think not that I like movies? Well, of the list last year, of the 100 I saw 20. But this year I viewed 65 of the movies in that list that I had not seen before Oscar. This trend will continue and I will view most of those this year that I did not view.
Other movies outside the Top 100 that I did see this past year were:
143 Little Boy ORF$6,485,961 B
144 The Loft ORF$6,002,684 C
153 The Water Diviner WB$4,196,641 A
184 Assassination (2015) WGUSA$1,904,682 B
210 Child 44 LG/S$1,224,330 B
235 Cartel Land Orch.$704,352 A (Best Documentary Oscar nomination)
Best Director: Adam McKay, The Big Short
Best Actor: Christian Bale, The Big Short
Best Actress: Emily Blunt, Sicario
Best Supporting Actor: Benicio Del Torro, Sicario
Best Supporting Actresss: Alicia Vikander, El Machina
Best Film Drama: Sirario
Best Film Comedy: The Big Short
Best Documentary: Cartel Land
Waste of time movies that were awful not worth the time spent to watch: Mission Impossible-Rouge Nation (didn't finish it)
Comments:The Academy Awards did some of the same things as last year as this year's show was the lowest viewed in the past seven years. Many of the films nominated are not popular with the movie going public and do not have much of an audience. Best Picture winner SPOTLIGHT did little business this year,not cracking into the top 100 grossing films of 2015. I am sure it will gain in audience and will take a look later when it comes to home video. Other Oscar nominated films that were panned by the movie going public included THE DANISH GIRL, ROOM, and TRUMBO. All three films are worthy of Oscar in various categories but have had little box office. It is my personal opinion that if the men and women of color are going to be better represented in the Oscar nominations, lets get real and stop giving out nominations to films that nobody cares about. If we are gong to water down talent because of color (and I ok with that) lets get it right and nominate films that the movie going public wants to see. For example, why was the new Star Wars movie not in the best picture catagory. The new Mad Max flick was and it won six Oscars for technical quality. That movie should have been best picture if you want my opinion.
My personal favorites for 2015 that I have viewed have been The Big Short and Sicario. Both are outstanding films and would have liked to see either win as Best Picture. Sicario and one of two of its stars, Emily Blunt and Benicio DelTorro were worthy of Oscar acting nominations. Cartel Land was very interesting and with friends that have told me the workings of the cartels in Mexico, the documentary was very informative. Don't believe everyting you hear about the Cartels, and the fact of the matter, if you don't deal in drugs or use them, or not around those who do, you have little to worry about. And the fact of the matter it has been the illegal drug taking American public that has feed the monster of the Cartels and kept them wealthy.
Cagney was a better actor than Bogie; Considered the best Actor of all time by Kubrick
Cagney and Harlow in "The Public Enemy" (Warner Brothers 1931)
James Cagney was a better actor than Humphrey Bogart, Paul Muni, E. G. Robinson, and others that starred in the early "gangster movies" just after the "talkie" motion pictures took the place of the "silent" era of the motion picture industry.
From the 1931's THE PUBLIC EMENY through 1948's WHITE HEAT, Cagney was the finest actor in the genre. That would include Bogart and the above mentioned historic actors, considered as good as any in the film industry, past and present. After viewing the most significant gangster movies from that time period (1930 through 1950) (in the past month), I have come to the conclusion that James Cagney was as fine an actor as there has ever been, including a list that would contain Tracy, Olivier, Brando, Hanks, De Nero, Hoffman, and Pacino. My statement is a rehash from the great film director, Stanley Kubrick, who said that Cagney was the "best actor of all time."
Bogart is considered the "greatest movie star" of all time. Some say Brando was the best actor. Others say Olivier for acting and still others would choose Rooney or Tracy. After watching his body of work, including these early gangster movies, and his later work which spanned decades, I cannot argue with Kubrick's statement. Cagney's range of emotions and physicality were without question, the work of a genius performer. Only Brando, in my opinion, is as good, especially in displaying emotions. Cagney, an Oscar winner for Best Actor, should never be overlooked for his greatness.
First of a Series-Great Films of the Past
Vanishing Point (1971)
Steven Spielberg named it as one of his favorite films. It's also one of my favorite films. Spielberg has good taste in movies. I was a senior in high school in Oklahoma City and it was January, 1971. I was, still am, and will take to the grave a love of movies that are not of the ordinary, the bland, the mundane. Get the point? The Vanishing Point? This movie is just the opposite. It was my Woodstock framed in a 98 minute movie of anti-establishment of a fast car, a Wolfman Jack DJ, great music, and a true American film in which the crazy driver tells the law to fuck off. At 18 years old, you didn't need anything else in a movie. Vanishing Point was Quinton Tarantino's "Grindhouse" forty years earlier. It is bold and bawdy. It is in-your-face up yours film making of the highest order. It is the counter culture of McQueen's "Bullett." The Dodge Challenger for the entire psychotic screen presentation is the real character and Barry Newman the driver is along for the ride of his life.
Add Oklahoma's (Chickasha) own Clevon Little, music by Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, a snake charming Dean Jagger and the great Southwestern part of the US, what more can you want. A first-rate B movie that is now a cult-classic, Vanishing Point was and is the real deal.
Add Oklahoma's (Chickasha) own Clevon Little, music by Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, a snake charming Dean Jagger and the great Southwestern part of the US, what more can you want. A first-rate B movie that is now a cult-classic, Vanishing Point was and is the real deal.
My 15 Favorite Sports Movies #1
Vision Quest
(Warner Brothers-1985)
1. Vision Quest (Warner Brothers-1985) From the definition of vision quest: a rite of passage in some Native American cultures. The ceremony of the vision quest is one of the most universal and ancient means to find spiritual guidance and purpose. In practicing cultures, a vision quest is said to provide deep understanding of one’s life purpose.That sums up this movie, my favorite sports movie to watch, anytime, any place. A right of passage through the art of high school wrestling is what we have here. Unlike some of my other favorites, there is not a lot to say about this film. Everything is first rate, including the dialog and the sports action. Add a great Madonna song, Linda Fiorentino, and a first-rate supporting cast, it is a cult classic for wrestlers and other sports fans. Modine looks the part of a high school athlete, yet he was quite older than the 18 year old in the film. The clip below sums up what sport is all about.
My Favorite Sports Movie #2
Bang the Drum Slowly
(Paramount Pictures-1973)
2. Bang the Drum Slowly (Paramount Pictures-1973) It was close as this movie and my #1 movie one down in this article were really too close to call. But I flipped a coin and Bang came up short. Like myself, the 2nd greatest living actor (another of my lists) Al Pacino will tell you Bang is his favorite movie, sports or no sports. Bang the Drum did that to me the first time I viewed it and so I am in good company.
Where shall I start? Production value is noting special. The baseball scenes are realistic, somewhat. Black and white here, a movie that comes from a novel by Mark Harris converted into a stage play that was on TV back in the fifties. A movie that many women won’t understand what a man might see in it. A film not or everyone. But where other great sports movies are on the visual, Bang the Drum is on the emotional, and with a cast that can rival any in sport film, this movie delivers. There is something about friendship that is hard to explain. If you have a friend, not even a best friend, but an average run of the mill friend, throw in situations that in the course of life (and death) bring out humanity (I like that word) and the interactions of relationships that are, in my opinion, stronger than love and hate, more telling than mere words, display feelings of the human condition that can’t, will not, be shunned to the side, real in fiction, a presence of being in the good, the perfect, and the immediate. Yes, words are messy here, but for men to show emotion toward another men in a metaphysical way, you have a unique happening, even in a film of fiction. In no other film has men’s relationship toward other men been so meaningful or eye-opening, on how we must treat others and how important it is not only for yourself but for the one you try to influence. It is not all about us, but in the long of it, it is about all of us. Yes, understanding what is cannot be understood.
The story is set in a real baseball world. It is not fake, it is what it is. The catcher, played by Robert De Niro (Bruce), has a fatal condition, and his friend, played by the under-rated Michael Moriarty (Henry) helps him through the season, his last. As underplayed by De Niro, he shows a deep range of the southern good old boy, not so bright, a daddy/mommy’s boy, a kind soul from a different place and time. At this early stage in his career, De Niro shows greatness in the presence of this role, one that doesn’t have to show his violent side. Kind of a forerunner of his more comedic and softer human nature roles that would follow, his work here is magnificent. On the other hand, Moriarty’s Henry Wiggen gets the choicer dialog, some of the most important words said in a relationship between two men, sport or no sport. Emotionally spent without showing it, this is Moriarty’s best screen role, and was Oscar worthy. An example of the interplay between Bruce and Henry: Bruce Pearson: Everybody’d be nice to you if they knew you were dying. Henry Wiggen: Everybody knows everybody is dying; that’s why people are as good as they are.
The last line of the movie by Henry on his feelings towards others: Henry Wiggen: From here on in, I rag nobody. When you think of it, why do we “rag” on people? If we would just think before we speak, how wonderful the world would be. The point, be careful when you develop relationships as you never know what the other person is going through, feeling, having to endure. Ragging, saying crude and unflattering things about people can be damaging, both to the person you are putting down and too yourself. This movie has it’s moral sense set in concrete. Tom Keogh sums it up in his review: Only those with ice water in their veins won’t get misty-eyed watching this moving film about the friendship of two professional baseball players, one of whom–in every sense–is playing his last season. A pre-stardom Robert De Niro portrays a rather simple-minded rookie catcher who comes under the wing of a veteran pitcher (Michael Moriarty). When De Niro’s character is diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, Moriarty tries to help him get through one more season.
Directed by John Hancock and based on the novel by Mark Harris (who also wrote the screenplay), the film builds on baseball’s ability to foster its own lore of courage, nobility, loyalty, and–sadly–tragedy. Watching the youthful De Niro and Moriarty, with all that promise in their bones, adds to the overall romance of the film today. Also appearing are Vincent Gardenia and Danny Aiello. A perennial favorite for many. –Tom Keogh Vincent Gardenia won the Oscar for best supporting actor in 1973 in his role of the manager in this film. Give me two hours and this film and I am all in.
Where shall I start? Production value is noting special. The baseball scenes are realistic, somewhat. Black and white here, a movie that comes from a novel by Mark Harris converted into a stage play that was on TV back in the fifties. A movie that many women won’t understand what a man might see in it. A film not or everyone. But where other great sports movies are on the visual, Bang the Drum is on the emotional, and with a cast that can rival any in sport film, this movie delivers. There is something about friendship that is hard to explain. If you have a friend, not even a best friend, but an average run of the mill friend, throw in situations that in the course of life (and death) bring out humanity (I like that word) and the interactions of relationships that are, in my opinion, stronger than love and hate, more telling than mere words, display feelings of the human condition that can’t, will not, be shunned to the side, real in fiction, a presence of being in the good, the perfect, and the immediate. Yes, words are messy here, but for men to show emotion toward another men in a metaphysical way, you have a unique happening, even in a film of fiction. In no other film has men’s relationship toward other men been so meaningful or eye-opening, on how we must treat others and how important it is not only for yourself but for the one you try to influence. It is not all about us, but in the long of it, it is about all of us. Yes, understanding what is cannot be understood.
The story is set in a real baseball world. It is not fake, it is what it is. The catcher, played by Robert De Niro (Bruce), has a fatal condition, and his friend, played by the under-rated Michael Moriarty (Henry) helps him through the season, his last. As underplayed by De Niro, he shows a deep range of the southern good old boy, not so bright, a daddy/mommy’s boy, a kind soul from a different place and time. At this early stage in his career, De Niro shows greatness in the presence of this role, one that doesn’t have to show his violent side. Kind of a forerunner of his more comedic and softer human nature roles that would follow, his work here is magnificent. On the other hand, Moriarty’s Henry Wiggen gets the choicer dialog, some of the most important words said in a relationship between two men, sport or no sport. Emotionally spent without showing it, this is Moriarty’s best screen role, and was Oscar worthy. An example of the interplay between Bruce and Henry: Bruce Pearson: Everybody’d be nice to you if they knew you were dying. Henry Wiggen: Everybody knows everybody is dying; that’s why people are as good as they are.
The last line of the movie by Henry on his feelings towards others: Henry Wiggen: From here on in, I rag nobody. When you think of it, why do we “rag” on people? If we would just think before we speak, how wonderful the world would be. The point, be careful when you develop relationships as you never know what the other person is going through, feeling, having to endure. Ragging, saying crude and unflattering things about people can be damaging, both to the person you are putting down and too yourself. This movie has it’s moral sense set in concrete. Tom Keogh sums it up in his review: Only those with ice water in their veins won’t get misty-eyed watching this moving film about the friendship of two professional baseball players, one of whom–in every sense–is playing his last season. A pre-stardom Robert De Niro portrays a rather simple-minded rookie catcher who comes under the wing of a veteran pitcher (Michael Moriarty). When De Niro’s character is diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, Moriarty tries to help him get through one more season.
Directed by John Hancock and based on the novel by Mark Harris (who also wrote the screenplay), the film builds on baseball’s ability to foster its own lore of courage, nobility, loyalty, and–sadly–tragedy. Watching the youthful De Niro and Moriarty, with all that promise in their bones, adds to the overall romance of the film today. Also appearing are Vincent Gardenia and Danny Aiello. A perennial favorite for many. –Tom Keogh Vincent Gardenia won the Oscar for best supporting actor in 1973 in his role of the manager in this film. Give me two hours and this film and I am all in.
My Favorite Sports Movie #3
A League of Their Own
(Columbia-1992)
3. A League of Their Own (Columbia-1992) My second favorite baseball movie, Penny Marshall’s ALOTO is so watchable. A period piece, it works better than Eight Men Out. The women in this story about the women’s baseball league during World War 2 are just more interesting than the guys of the 1919 scandal. Fact of the matter, A League is just a better film in most all areas. Take the wonderful character actor David Strathairn, in both. As Eddie Cicotte in Eight Man he was just another character that one really doesn’t remember. In A League, as Ira Lowenstein, as the working general manager and principal owner of the league, his role is paramount to the being of the woman’s league and you can visualize his significance in the movie. From the grizzly old manager played by Tom Hanks, to the ball players led by Lori Petty and Gena Davis through Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell just to mention four of the fine actors strutting their baseball skills, we add John Lovitz, Gary Marshall and Bill Pullman. You never feel like what is on the screen is faked, and that goes for the 1940’s look, the play on the diamond, and the work of the actors. As for emotion, I always tear up at the end when the “real” players come out on that Cooperstown Hall-of-Fame field and forty years after they were in their prime, strut their skills, as they look as professional baseball players as any man past their prime. Watching these women, the forerunner of today’s great women’s softball players, you have to give them their due. The movie is supremely great in every respect. And yes, there is no crying in baseball. It is not allowed.
My Favorite Sports Movies #4
The Big Lebowski
Gramercy Pictures (1998)
4. The Big Lebowski (1998) I am human and when this movie comes into my mind I plug the blue-ray in and take a trip to California to be with one of the greatest characters in film, Jeff Bridge’s “The Dude”. If you can find a better way to spend two hours tell me fast. As I mentioned in the preface of this 15 film list, the #1 priority was to choose films that I can see over and over, regardless to what the critics might think, or for that matter, what anyone else might think. TBL is classic, both in the dialog, the acting, and the general on-screen presentation of director/writer(s) Joel and Ethan Coen. These two make great movies and this one is a doozy, an adult R rated feast. Also, find a film that has the star power of not only Oscar winner Bridges, but Oscar winners Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore, with the always strong John Goodman, the unique Steve Buscemi, David Huddlestone (as the Big Labowski), John Turturro as a crazy character, and the tart Tara Reid, minus a toe. And I won’t forget Sam Elliot as the cowboy at the bar in the bowling alley. Every bit a wonderful ride, again and again.
My Favorite Sports Movies #5
Raging Bull
(United Artists-1980)
5. Raging Bull (United Artists-1980) I can see brilliance in movies and can enjoy the critics best. This movie, considered as high as the 4th greatest film of all-time, the best film of the 1980’s, is the real deal. Boxing has, and still is, the best sport to film. There are more top choice fight films than from any other sport. With the direction of Martin Scorsese, the acting of Robert De Niro, and the story of the pugilist Jake LaMotta, you have a trifecta of historic movie making. This movie gives you the experience that you have traveled back to those places in boxing history to witness the real fights of LaMotta and his opponents. Scorsese, the greatest director of our time (with respect to others such as Speilberg) has his masterpiece, his signature film, in Raging Bull. He will continue to work, make great films, some maybe equal, but none better. Raging Bull totally engages the viewer with the human emotions of Jake LaMotta, his violence, his weaknesses, and finally, his humanity, painted with a ever perceiving colorful brush by the director, in black and white. For a total work of art, Raging Bull is the Mona Lisa of sports films.
My 15 Greatest Sports Movies #6
Without Limits
(Warner Brothers-1998)
6. Without Limits (Warner Brothers-1998) Their are two Steve Prefontaine movies. Prefontaine (1977) and Without Limits a year later. Of the two, I think the second one is better for a couple of reasons, named Sutherland and Crudup. And that is not a knock against R. Lee Emery and Jared Leto. The movies are about two people, the runner and the coach. The interaction between Donald and Billy were outstanding, giving Without Limits the edge. The last minutes of the Robert Towne (Chinatown) screenplay in Without Limits is priceless and gives Donald Sutherland the words to give his tear jerking performance the best in his career. Those last minutes deserved an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Holding the fastest time in the 2 mile in high school history for 43 years (set in 1968 by Pre and broken in 2011), he was on track to be an Olympic champion and quite possibility the greatest long distance runner in the history of track. Death in a car accident in 1975, the man is a legend. He would be 64 today if living. Both movies on his life are must see films.
My 15 Greatest Sports Movies #7
Hoosiers
Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer-1986
7. Hoosiers (Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer-1986) Atmosphere of small town basketball circa 1951, Indiana, State Championship. Roger Dale (Gene Hackman) magnificent in his ” other character” role of his life, completes the best basketball movie ever. Barbara Hersey as his fellow teacher at the small high school that oozes believability. If you want Dennis Hopper as a drunk, a loveable one, the best assistant coach in movie history. The on-court action was never done better and you can forget the other hard court movies. Hoosiers is not only one of the finest films on sport but one of the finest films on the human condition. -
My 15 Greatest Sports Movies #8
Slap Shot
(Universal-1977)
8. Slap Shot (Universal-1977) The funniest movie of any genre I think I have ever viewed. I remember sitting in the North Park multi-plex in Okla. City in 1977 on it’s opening and hurting my hand as I hit the theater wall as I fell out laughing so hard. Paul Newman and cast were marvelous, the Hansen brothers were the best trio ever in a comedy, the music pure 1970’s, and the hockey was ever so freaking un-realistic yet spot on. Never a dull moment, the strip-tease on ice is totally over the top. Paul Newman was perfect as the grizzled old hockey veteran and they players and how they interact with the community and others is priceless. A period piece, Slap Shot is one great movie.
My 15 Greatest Sports Movies #10 and #9
10. RUSH (Universal-2013)
9. Grand Prix ((Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer-1966)
RUSH by Ron Howard
10. RUSH (Universal-2013) 9. Grand Prix ((Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer-1966) During my teens and early adulthood I followed the Gran Prix Formula One racing scene as the best race car drivers in the world raced on that circuit. I was a Jim Clark fan and I thought he was the best driver during his time. A Formula 1 champion, Clark ws also an Indy 500 winner and his death was significant in that the world had lost another great driver of a time much different than today. In the movie RUSH, set in 1976, Clark had been dead from a crash for over seven years, a stretch of time that I could tell you who won which race, where the races in Formula 1 were staged, and who had the best and fastest cars. As mentioned in Ron Howard’s RUSH (2013), at the beginning race of the 1976 season, of the 25 drivers to start that first race, two would be killed by the end of season. That was normal for F 1. Driving a F 1 car was as dangerous a job you could have, ranking up there with being an astronaut. Like riding on a bomb waiting to exploded as referred to in the movie, it took a special man to guide the bomb down the track, turn after turn, all in accordance with a precise skill of hand, eye, and foot coordination. Jim Clark was just one of the great drivers not to live to an old age, and like the others that raced in Formula 1, the thought of death was always present, like being a soldier in a war that was asked to lead the charge. John Frankenheimer directed Grand Prix (MGM 1966) and it was, at the time, the most exciting movie I had ever viewed. Attending a screening here in OKC, the wide screen production was an event of historical significance worldwide. In a future viewing forty-five years later from that first look, Grand Prix presents itself as a fully encapsulated microcosmic look of the time and period of 1965 Formula 1 racing spectacle and pageantry. With appearances of many of the F 1 drivers of the era, along with real race footage interwoven with make believe shots, Grand Prix holds the test of time, providing a film still fresh and beautiful as the day it opened in the theaters almost a half a century ago. Not as personal a movie as RUSH, the epic Grand Prix is still the greatest film on auto racing ever made, and also the most visually handsome of any. It puts you in the seat of an F 1 car and never relents in the spine tingling exhilaration of power of the experience mixing with the terror of a sudden catastrophe. RUSH, on the other had, gets into the soul of two men in their pursuit of greatness in F 1 and their drive to better the other.
The better acted movie, RUSH gives its’ two protagonists enough differences to try to make you pick one over the other, yet allowing both to have good and not go good attributes in the way they live their lives. Ron Howard is as fine a director as Frankenheimer, but RUSH lacks in the racing scenes where Grand Prix excels. Real footage always, well usually, bests make believe, and in this comparison, RUSH comes in second place. One significant difference that gives RUSH a positive advantage over Grand Prix is the finality of the accident. Not that the accidents shown in RUSH are better shot or more exciting, the gory frames that you are required to view are horrific in nature, realistic to the point of nausea. A driver’s body, minus his head, sitting in a wrecked F 1 race car; a driver burning in race car while trying to free himself; and another driver being loaded into a meat wagon with injuries that you really don’t want to look at. I will give Ron Howard credit that he didn’t prolong the savagery, cutting away in enough time to allow the viewer get away from such nastiness, but leaving a lot to ponder in the future. I liked RUSH very much. A movie I will see again, many times, to enjoy the acting skills of the various “faces” of the beautiful people, including Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt, Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda, Olivia Wilde as Suzy Miller and Alexandra Maria Lara as Marlene Lauda. Director Howard tries to get us into the head of the Hunt and Lauda, how they tick, how they as race car drivers, take the sport as individuals who were on different time clocks. Fascinating work by Howard and outstanding performances by Hemsworth and Bruhl. As for Garner and the rest of the cast of Grand Prix, routine and workmanlike performances, yet putting those actors into real race cars and having them in truth, drive the F 1 race tracks, you cannot take away from their bravery.
The race car genre in movies is littered with some good, some not so good, and some really bad. In my book, there is noting worse than a bad race car movie. Both Grand Prix and RUSH are outstanding movies. Two movies on the same track ten years apart, but in reality, not one second apart in taking the checked flag.
The better acted movie, RUSH gives its’ two protagonists enough differences to try to make you pick one over the other, yet allowing both to have good and not go good attributes in the way they live their lives. Ron Howard is as fine a director as Frankenheimer, but RUSH lacks in the racing scenes where Grand Prix excels. Real footage always, well usually, bests make believe, and in this comparison, RUSH comes in second place. One significant difference that gives RUSH a positive advantage over Grand Prix is the finality of the accident. Not that the accidents shown in RUSH are better shot or more exciting, the gory frames that you are required to view are horrific in nature, realistic to the point of nausea. A driver’s body, minus his head, sitting in a wrecked F 1 race car; a driver burning in race car while trying to free himself; and another driver being loaded into a meat wagon with injuries that you really don’t want to look at. I will give Ron Howard credit that he didn’t prolong the savagery, cutting away in enough time to allow the viewer get away from such nastiness, but leaving a lot to ponder in the future. I liked RUSH very much. A movie I will see again, many times, to enjoy the acting skills of the various “faces” of the beautiful people, including Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt, Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda, Olivia Wilde as Suzy Miller and Alexandra Maria Lara as Marlene Lauda. Director Howard tries to get us into the head of the Hunt and Lauda, how they tick, how they as race car drivers, take the sport as individuals who were on different time clocks. Fascinating work by Howard and outstanding performances by Hemsworth and Bruhl. As for Garner and the rest of the cast of Grand Prix, routine and workmanlike performances, yet putting those actors into real race cars and having them in truth, drive the F 1 race tracks, you cannot take away from their bravery.
The race car genre in movies is littered with some good, some not so good, and some really bad. In my book, there is noting worse than a bad race car movie. Both Grand Prix and RUSH are outstanding movies. Two movies on the same track ten years apart, but in reality, not one second apart in taking the checked flag.
My 15 Greatest Sports Movies #11
Heaven Can Wait
(Paramount-1978)
11. Heaven Can Wait (Paramount-1978) First, let me explain. I am a Julie Christie fanatic from the first time I viewed her at the theater in Darling in 1965. Second, I am a Warren Beatty fan, and putting those together in a sports fantasy movie directed by both Beatty and Buck Henry, a remake of a previous version of this classic stage play by Harry Segall (Here Comes Mr. Jordan-1941) is never old from the first frame. Both movies are classic and I am picking the newer Beatty film because the love interest is done better in this version. Both are outstanding. This movie is on many of my lists, including love stories and fantasy films, and comedy, drama and good old fashion movie excitement is ever present. Ten Oscar nominations tell you have great this one is. The supporting cast includes both great character actors such as Jack Warden, the great James Mason, Dyan Cannon, and various football players of the time. Funny as hell and so deep in emotions.
My 15 Greatest Sports Movies #12
Breaking Away
(Twentieth Century Fox-1979)
12. Breaking Away (Twentieth Century Fox-1979) “The Little 500″ bicycle race in Bloomington, Indiana is highlighted in this coming of age movie. A sleeper hit, Peter Yates’s masterpiece is accorded a place in the best sports films of the decade. A staple of some of the best young actors in their teens (Dennis Quaid, Dennis Christopher, Daniel Stern, and Jackie Earl Haley are supported by the incomparable Paul Dooley in this finely acted movie. Barbara Barrie was nominated for Oscar as well was the film and the director Yates. Screenplay by Steve Tesich was a winner for Oscar and the Golden Globes picked it as best movie of 1979, musical or comedy. A truly great movie that the critics and I both agree on.
My 15 Greatest Sports Movies # 13
The Sandlot
(MGM-1993)
13. The Sandlot (Twentieth Century Fox-1993) A no-name group of kid actors pull off one of the best and funniest sports movies ever. A supporting cast including James Earl Jones and Nancy Allen push all the right buttons. A must see for all. Watch out for flying chewing tobacco and sneak attack kisses.
My 15 Greatest Sports Movies #14
Gentleman Jim
(Warner-1942)
14. Gentleman Jim (Warner-1942): Errol Flynn as Gentleman Jim Corbett, the man that beat James L. Sullivan for the heavyweight boxing title around the turn of the century (1892 to be exact). Great story and plenty of action and emotion as this fictitious version of James J. and James L is as good as it gets. The final scene where the former champ gives his belt buckle to Corbett is one of the best. Respect in sports is so valuable and this is shown is spades. Ward Bond’s James L is one of his best roles. Flynn is wonderful and Alexis Smith is not only hot but can give as much as she could take. A winner. A nice review at: (http://letsnottalkaboutmovies.blogspot.com/2012/06/gentleman-jim.html) - See more at: http://prosportsextra.com/2015/06/13/favorite-sports-movies-today-15th-to-11th-tomorrow-10th-to-6th-monday-the-top-5/#sthash.wtLUNnHh.dpuf
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Ward Bond as James L. Sullivan, defeated World Heavyweight champ gives the historic “buckle” to Errol Flynn, portraying the new champ James J. Corbett. No photo credit. - See more at: http://prosportsextra.com/2015/06/13/favorite-sports-movies-today-15th-to-11th-tomorrow-10th-to-6th-monday-the-top-5/#sthash.wtLUNnHh.dpuf
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My 15 Greatest Sports Movies #15
Navy Blue and Gold
MGM-1935
15. Navy Blue and Gold (MGM-1937): Jimmy Stewart and Robert Young with Lionel Barrymore star in a movie on the Academy in Annapolis. Caught it one night on cable and was blown away. As good as Knute Rockne All-American for tears and historical presence, a great story as you gain a love for the US Naval Academy. Directed by the great and under-rated Sam Wood.
Brando and Britt in "The Young Lions"
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Films that I liked: The Young Lions (1958)
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THE YOUNG LIOINS staring Martin and Clift
I am a fan of Brando, Martin, and especially Montgomery Clift. The three leads in the film were all outstanding and Clift demonstrated his mastery of the screen as he stole the picture along with Hope Lange, an outstanding actress in every respect. Brando was the blond German, Martin the singer, and Clift the Jew. Lange's WASP character falls for Clift and the ending gives hope for the world. Viewing this war film as a child, there were scenes in it that I would never forget and after various viewings I still enjoy watching the greatest of the actors on display and Brando and Schell's travels through the sands of North Africa on a motorbike, trying to escape the Allied army on their tail. This film dealt with various themes and is in my view, a thinking man's movie of World War 2, A major production with the biggest stars of cinema.
Variety gave a positive review, and noted: "The Young Lions is a canvas of the Second World War of scope and stature. It's a kingsized credit to all concerned, from Edward Anhalt's skillful adaptation of Irwin Shaw's novel to Edward Dmytryk's realistic direction, and the highly competent portrayals of virtually everyone in the cast."
A rich film in every respect, this is a must see for any new film buff. You can read the particulars of the movie on the net but if you haven't seen it please do. It will allow you to understand the world during World War 2 and show you a side of that war where we don't visit much. DVD copies are easy to get at a reasonable price.
Directed by Edward Dmytry
Produced by Al Lichtman
Screenplay by Edward Anhalt
Based on The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw
Starring Marlon Brando
Montgomery Clift
Dean Martin
Music by Hugo Friedhofer
Cinematography Joe Macdonald
Edited by Dorothy Spencer
Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Release datesApril 2, 1958 (US) Running time167 minutes
Budget $3,550,000 Box office $4,480,000 (US/ Canada rentals)
Variety gave a positive review, and noted: "The Young Lions is a canvas of the Second World War of scope and stature. It's a kingsized credit to all concerned, from Edward Anhalt's skillful adaptation of Irwin Shaw's novel to Edward Dmytryk's realistic direction, and the highly competent portrayals of virtually everyone in the cast."
A rich film in every respect, this is a must see for any new film buff. You can read the particulars of the movie on the net but if you haven't seen it please do. It will allow you to understand the world during World War 2 and show you a side of that war where we don't visit much. DVD copies are easy to get at a reasonable price.
Directed by Edward Dmytry
Produced by Al Lichtman
Screenplay by Edward Anhalt
Based on The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw
Starring Marlon Brando
Montgomery Clift
Dean Martin
Music by Hugo Friedhofer
Cinematography Joe Macdonald
Edited by Dorothy Spencer
Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Release datesApril 2, 1958 (US) Running time167 minutes
Budget $3,550,000 Box office $4,480,000 (US/ Canada rentals)
Hope Lange in THE YOUNG LIONS
Oscars Too Political for Me; My Awards for 2014
(New Movies that I actually viewed)
Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" was one of the Oscars Best Picture nominations that I did see (at home on blue-ray). Another masterpiece from Anderson. A must see.
Jake Gyllenhall- Nightcrawler
A surprising performance that showed he is one of the most gifted actors of our time.
Roseamund Pike-My pick for Best Actress. Oscar included her in their top five. Gone Girl was my Best Picture. Oscar didn't think so.
Renee Marin-My pick for best supporting actress in Jersey Boys.
Robert Duvall-my choice for best supporting actor (Oscar nominated also) in the Judge, along with Robert Downey Jr. One of the finest movies of 2014. Lots of tears from my wife and me too. Conventional but a wonderful father/son film.
Guardians of the Galaxy, #2 in box-office for 2014. A winner in the critics mind and with the public. And why do films that are just as well made and totally more popular not considered for Best Picture? Could it be that they don't push an agenda? Shame on Oscar. Of the films you pick for best picture that most movie goers could give a shit for, get with the program. This movie was as every bit as good as any of those top 8.
Roseamnd Pike and Ben Afleck in GONE GIRL. Aflect is a very good actor and his husband role in this movie was perfect. (I do recognize those in the Academy that are politically left of me. Ben, though I don't agree with his politics, I do respect his opinions an his work.
Clint Eastwood director of "The Jersey Boys" and "American Sniper" in 2014. Mr. Eastwood can still bring it in my book.
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 One of the best films of 2014. A must see.
(On a personal note, I do not go to the movies anymore. Various reason, health of my wife, my attitude toward the movie houses (decision not to screen the "The Interview," and the fact that I can enjoy a movie at home more than going to the theater.) I didn't see but one of the top eight movies up for Best Picture this year so my opinion on which of the nominated movies as the Best of that group I cannot give.. With that, I did view a varity of new movies at home after their release to ON DEMAND or to DVD Blue-Ray.. And of those I did view at home, some were worthy to being a Best Picture nominee. I will, in time, view all the nominated movies and I am sure to enjoy them.
(Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2014. 2. Guardians of the Galaxy A 4. Capital America (The Winter Soldier A 11. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes A 13. Godzilla C 18. Gone Girl A 19. Divergent B 33. Edge of Tomorrow B 34. Non-Stop B 35. Heaven Is For Real D 37. Fury B 45. The Monuments Men B 55. The Grand Budapest Hotel (nominated for Best Picture by Oscar) A 65. Jack Ryan: The Shadow Recruit B 70. The Judge A 71. Jersey Boys A 84. Million Dollar Arm A 89. Nightcrawler A 92. Three Days to a Kill B 95. Draft Day B 98. A Walk Among the Tombstones B Of the second one hundred grossing movies: 105. Transcendence B 125. Winter's Tale B 191, Tim's Vermeer A 212. Stalingrad C 420. At Middleton A The Best New films (my ranking) that I saw last year (all at home). 1. Gone Girl 1. The Grand Budapest Hotel 3. Tim's Vermeer 4. The Judge 5. Nightcrawler 6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier Best Director: Wes Anderson-The Grand Budapest Hotel Best Actor: Jake Gyllenhall-Nightcrawler Best Actress: Roseamund Pike-Gone Girl Best Supporting Actor: Robert Duvall-The Judge Best Supporting Actresss: Renee Marin-Jersey Boys Best Film: Gone Girl-Drama; The Grand Budapest Hotel-Comedy Best Documentary: Tim's Vermeer Waste of time movies that were awful not worth the time spent to watch: None (I did a nice job in picking movies that I though I would like. Last word: My limited list of movies I viewed last year was not because of any political differences I have with individual directors, actors, or producers. I will in time visit those movies that I didn't view (as they are released on Blue-Ray.) I also buy Blue-Ray movies and do not discriminate, again, against anyone that has a personal political agenda, on which movies I purchase. As you now know, I loath Sean Penn as a person. But as an actor, he is one of the best there is. I watch his movies and enjoy his work. I wish Oscar could put their agendas down and recognize films without the bias they use in selection and in their yearly presentation. I know it won't happen. Clint Eastwood, you the man. |
My Favorite (and the best) Christmas Movies Ever (revised)
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The following twelve movies, as I have added two from the initial ten, are my favorite and in my opinion, the best Christmas movies ever made. The descriptions of the movies come from the the site: http://www.gamesradar.com/50-best-christmas-movies/ and are the reviews of Simon Kinnear. The words for the movie "One Magic Christmas" are mine and anything in red print also are my words.
It Happened on 5th Avenue
Not on my initial list of ten, this flick has joined my favorite Christmas movies this year (2017). I viewed it as a child, then forgot about it for many years. A deeper film than one might think, the acting is superior and the story is timeless. Victor Moore as the tramp steals his scenes and is the heart of the movie. A great film in every respect.
Christmas In Connecticut
Another addition to my list, the story and the actors are again the deal here. Barbara Stanwyck shows her acting chops in a wonderful film.
Love Actually (2003):
The Film: Love it or loathe it, Richard Curtis' selection box rom-com might be the most Christmassy movie of modern times.
Most Christmassy Moment: Take your pick. All permutations are here, from grand romantic gestures (cue card-laden Andrew Lincoln in the snow) to quiet family bonds (Laura Linney and her mentally ill brother), to the raucous singletons' Christmas of Bill Nighy and Gregor Fisher spending the big day together getting drunk and watching porn.
(A favorite movie of mine regardless of the Christmas theme, this movie is a mess to some. Yet I always love this directors movies and the theme of love in this movie has never been put on the screen better in the past twenty-five years)
Millions (2004)
The Film: Danny Boyle's modern-day parable revolves around two brothers who discover a bag of bank notes that are about to become worthless at the end of the year - do they spend, spend, spend or give the cash to charity?
Most Christmassy Moment: When the robbers ransack the family home for the money (which they'd originally stolen), dad Ronald (James Nesbitt) decides the best way to stop them getting it is a spending splurge on Christmas pressies.
(Another Top ten movie in any genre, Millions is a classic by Danny Boyle. Wonderful in every aspect)
Joyeux Noël (2005):
The Film: The story behind one of the famous legends of World War One, as soldiers from opposing trenches agree to a Christmas Day truce to bury their dead and play football.
Most Christmassy Moment: The ceasefire begins after German private Sprink (Benno Fürmann) sings Silent Night and is accompanied by a Scottish bagpipe player from across No Man's Land.
(What is says about war, nationalism, love, Jesus Christ, and finally, the similarity of all believers of the world is an important message. Also one of the finest war films ever made)
The Shop Around The Corner (1940):
The Film: It's the busiest time of the year at a Budapest gift shop, and tensions are high between co-workers Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan). Little do they realise that they are also secret pen-pals who have fallen in love via pen and paper.
Most Christmassy Moment: The two finally declare their love on Christmas Eve
(Another Jimmy Stewart classic and a movie of attraction by words. Classical and much better than it's remakes "Meet Me In St. Louis" and
"You Got Mail". That says a lot.)
A Christmas Story (1983):
The Film: Watching Bob Clark's bittersweet rite-of-passage movie about a boy's obsession with getting a B.B. Gun for Christmas is an annual event in America, but strangely it's never taken off in Britain despite its wry realism.
Most Christmassy Moment: Despite nearly blinding himself with the gun, Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) contentedly goes to bed with his prize present by his side.
(You'll shoot your eye out-nuff said)
It's A Wonderful Life (1946):
The Film: Frank Capra's fable of redemption, parallel universes and small-town life has been canonised as a feelgood classic. But its tale of a suicidal man (James Stewart) saved only by divine intervention is also darker than most remember, making it perfect seasonal fare whatever your view of life.
Most Christmassy Moment: George Bailey returns home on Christmas Eve to find that friends and family have bailed out the "greatest man" in town, while Clarence the second-class angel finally gets his wings
(The best film of the 40's and that is saying much. Jimmy Stewart was never better and the movie brings us back to what the meaning of life is all about. If you don't believe in this movie you don't believe in goodness and God.)
Home Alone (1990):
The Film: The McCallister family Christmas holiday checklist: tickets - check. Presents - check. Children - oh, bugger. Don't worry, folks. Abandoned Kevin (Macauley Culkin) is too busy reinventing Christmas as a child's playground of bed jumping and burglar bashing.
Most Christmassy Moment: The Kenosha Kickers, led by jovial Gus Polinski (John Candy) offer Kevin's mom Kate (Catherine O'Hara) a lift home on Christmas Eve so she can be with her son on the big day.
(The funniest Christmas move (with respect to The Christmas Story), the little man showed why he could act and the director showed why he made the most popular movies in his short time. Hughes was a genius and Culkin was as good a child actor as Temple, Rooney and that little boy in the Champ.)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989):
The Film: How many ways can things go wrong for Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) when he decides to concoct the perfect family Christmas? Lots.
Most Christmassy Moment: Clark gets the best Christmas show on the street, by virtue of a methane explosion propelling his decorations into the sky.
(Wonderful even though Chase can't act. Funny is not the word. Side splitting humor with some of the greatest Christmas movie characters ever)
Miracle On 34th Street (1947):
The Film: Susan Walker (Natalie Wood) is convinced that Macy's department store Santa Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwen) is the real thing. The authorities aren't so sure, and start court proceedings to have him locked up.
Most Christmassy Moment: Susan is sure her hunch about Kringle is right when he effortlessly slips into Dutch while speaking to a Jewish refugee girl.
(A classic that has to be included in any Top Ten of the best Christmas movies. Watch it every Holiday season. Can't beat this Santa.)
One Magic Christmas 1984:
The Film: An angel must show a mother the true meaning of Christmas. It's not just presents and materialistic things, but the people she cares about.
Most Christmassy Moment: The trip to the North Pole and the most realistic Santa ever put on film.
(You either love it or hate it. Harry Dean Stanton is in top form as is Mary Steenburgen.)
It Happened on 5th Avenue
Not on my initial list of ten, this flick has joined my favorite Christmas movies this year (2017). I viewed it as a child, then forgot about it for many years. A deeper film than one might think, the acting is superior and the story is timeless. Victor Moore as the tramp steals his scenes and is the heart of the movie. A great film in every respect.
Christmas In Connecticut
Another addition to my list, the story and the actors are again the deal here. Barbara Stanwyck shows her acting chops in a wonderful film.
Love Actually (2003):
The Film: Love it or loathe it, Richard Curtis' selection box rom-com might be the most Christmassy movie of modern times.
Most Christmassy Moment: Take your pick. All permutations are here, from grand romantic gestures (cue card-laden Andrew Lincoln in the snow) to quiet family bonds (Laura Linney and her mentally ill brother), to the raucous singletons' Christmas of Bill Nighy and Gregor Fisher spending the big day together getting drunk and watching porn.
(A favorite movie of mine regardless of the Christmas theme, this movie is a mess to some. Yet I always love this directors movies and the theme of love in this movie has never been put on the screen better in the past twenty-five years)
Millions (2004)
The Film: Danny Boyle's modern-day parable revolves around two brothers who discover a bag of bank notes that are about to become worthless at the end of the year - do they spend, spend, spend or give the cash to charity?
Most Christmassy Moment: When the robbers ransack the family home for the money (which they'd originally stolen), dad Ronald (James Nesbitt) decides the best way to stop them getting it is a spending splurge on Christmas pressies.
(Another Top ten movie in any genre, Millions is a classic by Danny Boyle. Wonderful in every aspect)
Joyeux Noël (2005):
The Film: The story behind one of the famous legends of World War One, as soldiers from opposing trenches agree to a Christmas Day truce to bury their dead and play football.
Most Christmassy Moment: The ceasefire begins after German private Sprink (Benno Fürmann) sings Silent Night and is accompanied by a Scottish bagpipe player from across No Man's Land.
(What is says about war, nationalism, love, Jesus Christ, and finally, the similarity of all believers of the world is an important message. Also one of the finest war films ever made)
The Shop Around The Corner (1940):
The Film: It's the busiest time of the year at a Budapest gift shop, and tensions are high between co-workers Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan). Little do they realise that they are also secret pen-pals who have fallen in love via pen and paper.
Most Christmassy Moment: The two finally declare their love on Christmas Eve
(Another Jimmy Stewart classic and a movie of attraction by words. Classical and much better than it's remakes "Meet Me In St. Louis" and
"You Got Mail". That says a lot.)
A Christmas Story (1983):
The Film: Watching Bob Clark's bittersweet rite-of-passage movie about a boy's obsession with getting a B.B. Gun for Christmas is an annual event in America, but strangely it's never taken off in Britain despite its wry realism.
Most Christmassy Moment: Despite nearly blinding himself with the gun, Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) contentedly goes to bed with his prize present by his side.
(You'll shoot your eye out-nuff said)
It's A Wonderful Life (1946):
The Film: Frank Capra's fable of redemption, parallel universes and small-town life has been canonised as a feelgood classic. But its tale of a suicidal man (James Stewart) saved only by divine intervention is also darker than most remember, making it perfect seasonal fare whatever your view of life.
Most Christmassy Moment: George Bailey returns home on Christmas Eve to find that friends and family have bailed out the "greatest man" in town, while Clarence the second-class angel finally gets his wings
(The best film of the 40's and that is saying much. Jimmy Stewart was never better and the movie brings us back to what the meaning of life is all about. If you don't believe in this movie you don't believe in goodness and God.)
Home Alone (1990):
The Film: The McCallister family Christmas holiday checklist: tickets - check. Presents - check. Children - oh, bugger. Don't worry, folks. Abandoned Kevin (Macauley Culkin) is too busy reinventing Christmas as a child's playground of bed jumping and burglar bashing.
Most Christmassy Moment: The Kenosha Kickers, led by jovial Gus Polinski (John Candy) offer Kevin's mom Kate (Catherine O'Hara) a lift home on Christmas Eve so she can be with her son on the big day.
(The funniest Christmas move (with respect to The Christmas Story), the little man showed why he could act and the director showed why he made the most popular movies in his short time. Hughes was a genius and Culkin was as good a child actor as Temple, Rooney and that little boy in the Champ.)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989):
The Film: How many ways can things go wrong for Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) when he decides to concoct the perfect family Christmas? Lots.
Most Christmassy Moment: Clark gets the best Christmas show on the street, by virtue of a methane explosion propelling his decorations into the sky.
(Wonderful even though Chase can't act. Funny is not the word. Side splitting humor with some of the greatest Christmas movie characters ever)
Miracle On 34th Street (1947):
The Film: Susan Walker (Natalie Wood) is convinced that Macy's department store Santa Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwen) is the real thing. The authorities aren't so sure, and start court proceedings to have him locked up.
Most Christmassy Moment: Susan is sure her hunch about Kringle is right when he effortlessly slips into Dutch while speaking to a Jewish refugee girl.
(A classic that has to be included in any Top Ten of the best Christmas movies. Watch it every Holiday season. Can't beat this Santa.)
One Magic Christmas 1984:
The Film: An angel must show a mother the true meaning of Christmas. It's not just presents and materialistic things, but the people she cares about.
Most Christmassy Moment: The trip to the North Pole and the most realistic Santa ever put on film.
(You either love it or hate it. Harry Dean Stanton is in top form as is Mary Steenburgen.)
Oklahoma's James Garner - A Big Movie Star But a Better Actor
7.20.2014
Native son Will Rogers once said that he never met a man that he didn't like or something like that. James Garner never seemed to meet anyone that he didn't treat well. As a personality, Mr. Garner represented our state as fine as anyone since Mr. Rogers. Coming back home for his statue dedication in his hometown of Norman years back, he was gracious. His acceptance of his fellow Oklahomans, never leaving any doubt that he had Sooner blood flowing through his veins, allowed us to accept him as our State ambassador. Garner was old time Hollywood that transformed the masses into accepting his held back performances that were effective on the sliver screen and the telly. He was one of the great ones.
Repost:
James Garner and Julie Andrews, the stars of the The Americanization of Emil, a 1964 American comedy-drama war film written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Arthur Hiller, have said that this movie was there personal favorite. I can say as much, as it is my personal favorite movie of James Garner, and my second favorite movie of Julie Andrews (Sound of Music is my personal favorite). I first viewed this gem as a young teenager, just as the Viet Nam war was taking off. It bothered me at the time, a movie about a confessed coward (James Garner as Lt. Cmdr. Charles E. "Charlie" Madison) during World War 2. Even though I don't consider this movie anti-war (some critics do), it's sure not a poster boy film for war in general. A comedy yes, but as written in book form by author William Bradford, it was neither a comedy or a novel about cowardice. The great Paddy Chayefsky wrote the screenplay and changed the book into a thought provoking movie. [ "Paddy Chayefsky's adaptation, while retaining the title, characters, situation, background and many specific plot incidents, nevertheless told a very different story. "I found the book, which is serious in tone, essentially a funny satire, and that's how I'm treating it." Wikipedia] The subject of cowardice in this film was troubling. As we all want to say, that men who give their time, effort, and many times, their lives to defend our country, is heroic, what is a true hero? Is it all about getting killed? This movie makes one think about this serious topic in a troubling way. How would you like to be a dead hero? This movie is one of the best. It shows that James Garner is one of our best living actors and Julie Andrews was more than Mary Poppins.
7.20.2014
James Garner was 86 and died of natural causes. Growing up he was a favorite actor, but not in the same way as a Steve McQueen or a Paul Newman or a George C. Scott. He was a pretty boy, a understated actor in many roles, but had the skill to pull off the performance to steal a movie from others that were considered much the better actor. Mr. Garner also had range. Going from the dramatic WW2 gem "The Great Escape" and follow with "The Thrill of It All" with Doris Day proved that point. Garner's range from comedy, to serious western, to silly western, to dramatic themes such as "36 Hours" was his strength. He was always the romantic from day one, and could play the leading man with charm, disdain if needed, and always with sencerity even as a coward as in IAOE. As we put the great Jim Garner to bed for eternity, he will be missed but with a body of work that is as impressive as any, he won't be forgotten.
Best Acting job: The Americanization of Emily
Best Movie: The Americanization of Emily
Most favorite performance: 36 Hours
Native son Will Rogers once said that he never met a man that he didn't like or something like that. James Garner never seemed to meet anyone that he didn't treat well. As a personality, Mr. Garner represented our state as fine as anyone since Mr. Rogers. Coming back home for his statue dedication in his hometown of Norman years back, he was gracious. His acceptance of his fellow Oklahomans, never leaving any doubt that he had Sooner blood flowing through his veins, allowed us to accept him as our State ambassador. Garner was old time Hollywood that transformed the masses into accepting his held back performances that were effective on the sliver screen and the telly. He was one of the great ones.
Repost:
James Garner and Julie Andrews, the stars of the The Americanization of Emil, a 1964 American comedy-drama war film written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Arthur Hiller, have said that this movie was there personal favorite. I can say as much, as it is my personal favorite movie of James Garner, and my second favorite movie of Julie Andrews (Sound of Music is my personal favorite). I first viewed this gem as a young teenager, just as the Viet Nam war was taking off. It bothered me at the time, a movie about a confessed coward (James Garner as Lt. Cmdr. Charles E. "Charlie" Madison) during World War 2. Even though I don't consider this movie anti-war (some critics do), it's sure not a poster boy film for war in general. A comedy yes, but as written in book form by author William Bradford, it was neither a comedy or a novel about cowardice. The great Paddy Chayefsky wrote the screenplay and changed the book into a thought provoking movie. [ "Paddy Chayefsky's adaptation, while retaining the title, characters, situation, background and many specific plot incidents, nevertheless told a very different story. "I found the book, which is serious in tone, essentially a funny satire, and that's how I'm treating it." Wikipedia] The subject of cowardice in this film was troubling. As we all want to say, that men who give their time, effort, and many times, their lives to defend our country, is heroic, what is a true hero? Is it all about getting killed? This movie makes one think about this serious topic in a troubling way. How would you like to be a dead hero? This movie is one of the best. It shows that James Garner is one of our best living actors and Julie Andrews was more than Mary Poppins.
7.20.2014
James Garner was 86 and died of natural causes. Growing up he was a favorite actor, but not in the same way as a Steve McQueen or a Paul Newman or a George C. Scott. He was a pretty boy, a understated actor in many roles, but had the skill to pull off the performance to steal a movie from others that were considered much the better actor. Mr. Garner also had range. Going from the dramatic WW2 gem "The Great Escape" and follow with "The Thrill of It All" with Doris Day proved that point. Garner's range from comedy, to serious western, to silly western, to dramatic themes such as "36 Hours" was his strength. He was always the romantic from day one, and could play the leading man with charm, disdain if needed, and always with sencerity even as a coward as in IAOE. As we put the great Jim Garner to bed for eternity, he will be missed but with a body of work that is as impressive as any, he won't be forgotten.
Best Acting job: The Americanization of Emily
Best Movie: The Americanization of Emily
Most favorite performance: 36 Hours
Greatest Living Film Actors: #9 Gene Hackman
I've spent weeks trying to make this selection as the abundance of actors is not the issue for picking a top 10 living actor. After a third viewing of the civil rights movie "Mississippi Burning" my selection was sealed. Always a fan of Hackman, an actor that has brought us a wide range of roles that show diversity, Hackman is a national treasure second to none. It was close as Kirk Douglas, Anthony Hopkins, Denzel Washington, Leonardo D'Caprio, and Johnny Depp are outstanding and worthy of a top ten ranking. God gave Hackman the perfect acting tool, his face. Sometimes blank, often disinterested, always watchable. Violent and mean, loving and caring, and most importantly, engaging in every emotion or lack of. Hackman can do the lead, can do the character acting role, and can do both right. Christopher Walken with better range, that is Hackman. Hackman is not a joke on screen as Walken often is. Important films can be made by the actor and Hackman has made them in spades. 1967's ground breaking Bonnie and Clyde was his first major character role that put him on the map. The acting was suburb and paired with Estelle Parsons (Oscar winner) the big brother of Clyde was eye opining. He held his own with Parsons and the rest of the cast and was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award for the role. In fact, Dunnaway, Beaty, Parsons, and Hackman all were nominated for Oscars.
Hackman with Beaty as Buck Barrow, Clyde Barrow's brother in the violent masterpiece "Bonnie and Clyde".
Nominated for five Oscars and a two-time winner, my personal best acting job by the man was in the movie "The Conversation", which I consider one of the greatest movies in history and Francis Ford Coppola's greatest movie with the exception of the Godfather II. Made 40 years ago when Hackman was 44, the movie is as fresh to day as it was the day it opened. A personal film, Hackman was never better. Oscar ignored his performance, which was a complete joke. Godfather II won the best picture that year, but Coppola's other film that year was just as deserving, in my opinion. It's a shame that Gene Hackman has retired from acting and at 84 some vanity and possible disinterest has set in. Hackman is currently writing novels.
Best Screen Performance: The Conversation
My Favorite Screen Performance: Mississippi Burning
My Favorite Movie: Hoosiers
My Favorite Screen Performance: Mississippi Burning
My Favorite Movie: Hoosiers
Greatest Living Film Actors: #10 Billy Bob Thornton
as Jacob in A SIMPLE PLAN
as the President of the United States in LOVE ACTUALLY
as Karl in SLING BLADE
I ask myself whom would I like to see work in a great motion picture? Or in a minor B-grade movie? One name keeps coming back to me and with great performances already in the can, this Arkansas actor is one of the best right now, and quite possibility one of the best to grace the silver screen of all time. A master film maker not withstanding, acting is Thornton's gift to us, and his work doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone. Karl the mentally retarded man in the movie Sling Blade is in my opinion, one of the greatest performances in movie history. Having looked at it for can't remember time just before writing this, his total transformation into Karl is as complex as any character could be with limitations. It is genius. In every frame of this/his movie (directed, screenplay) Karl resonates a calm yet terrifying human being of extreme kindness with the tint of unrelenting violence. This performance was overlooked as the winning Oscar (male) acting award which tells us more about the politics of the Academy than the ability of it's members to recognize great work. Thornton is in the running for the best actor never to win an acting award by the Academy even with his win for the screenplay for Sling Blade. Other great performances can be found but his small secondary roles in such movies as Tombstone, the Apostle, and Love Actually are just as memorable. Even his not so good movies he is on his game, such as in the funny but crappy Bad Santa.
Best screen performance: Sling Blade
Favorite screen performance: Sling Blade
Favorite movie: Sling Blade
Best screen performance: Sling Blade
Favorite screen performance: Sling Blade
Favorite movie: Sling Blade
Films that I like: RUSH and GRAND PRIX
During my teens and early adulthood I followed the Gran Prix Formula One racing scene as the best race car drivers in the world raced on that circuit. I was a Jim Clark fan and I thought he was the best driver during his time. A Formula 1 champion, Clark ws also an Indy 500 winner and his death was significant in that the world had lost another great driver of a time much different than today.
In the movie RUSH, set in 1976, Clark had been dead from a crash for over seven years, a stretch of time that I could tell you who won which race, where the races in Formula 1 were staged, and who had the best and fastest cars. As mentioned in Ron Howard's RUSH (2013), at the beginning race of the 1976 season, of the 25 drivers to start that first race, two would be killed by the end of season. That was normal for F 1. Driving a F 1 car was as dangerous a job you could have, ranking up there with being an astronaut. Like riding on a bomb waiting to exploded as referred to in the movie, it took a special man to guide the bomb down the track, turn after turn, all in accordance with a precise skill of hand, eye, and foot coordination. Jim Clark was just one of the great drivers not to live to an old age, and like the others that raced in Formula 1, the thought of death was always present, like being a soldier in a war that was asked to lead the charge.
John Frankenheimer directed Grand Prix (MGM 1966) and it was, at the time, the most exciting movie I had ever viewed.
Attending a screening here in OKC, the wide screen production was an event of historical significance worldwide.
In a future viewing forty-five years later from that first look, Grand Prix presents itself as a fully encapsulated microcosmic look of the time and period of 1965 Formula 1 racing spectacle and pageantry. With appearances of many of the F 1 drivers of the era, along with real race footage interwoven with make believe shots, Grand Prix holds the test of time, providing a film still fresh and beautiful as the day it opened in the theaters almost a half a century ago. Not as personal a movie as RUSH, the epic Grand Prix is still the greatest film on auto racing ever made, and also the most visually handsome of any. It puts you in the seat of an F 1 car and never relents in the spine tingling exhilaration of power of the experience mixing with the terror of a sudden catastrophe. RUSH, on the other had, gets into the soul of two men in their pursuit of greatness in F 1 and their drive to better the other. The better acted movie, RUSH gives its' two protagonists enough differences to try to make you pick one over the other, yet allowing both to have good and not go good attributes in the way they live their lives. Ron Howard is as fine a director as Frankenheimer, but RUSH lacks in the racing scenes where Grand Prix excels. Real footage always, well usually, bests make believe, and in this comparison, RUSH comes in second place. One significant difference that gives RUSH a positive advantage over Grand Prix is the finality of the accident. Not that the accidents shown in RUSH are better shot or more exciting, the gory frames that you are required to view are horrific in nature, realistic to the point of nausea. A driver's body, minus his head, sitting in a wrecked F 1 race car; a driver burning in race car while trying to free himself; and another driver being loaded into a meat wagon with injuries that you really don't want to look at. I will give Ron Howard credit that he didn't prolong the savagery, cutting away in enough time to allow the viewer get away from such nastiness, but leaving a lot to ponder in the future.
I liked RUSH very much. A movie I will see again in a couple of years, to enjoy the acting skills of the various "faces" of the beautiful people, including Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt, Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda, Olivia Wilde as Suzy Miller and Alexandra Maria Lara as Marlene Lauda. Director Howard tries to get us into the head of the Hunt and Lauda, how they tick, how they as race car drivers, take the sport as individuals who were on different time clocks. Fascinating work by Howard and outstanding performances by Hemsworth and Bruhl. As for Garner and the rest of the cast of Grand Prix, routine and workmanlike performances, yet putting those actors into real race cars and having them in truth, drive the F 1 race tracks, you cannot take away from their bravery.
The race car genre in movies is littered with some good, some not so good, and some really bad. In my book, there is noting worse than a bad race car movie. Both Grand Prix and RUSH are outstanding and very good, respectfully. Two movies on the same track ten years apart, but in reality, not one second apart in taking the checked flag.
In the movie RUSH, set in 1976, Clark had been dead from a crash for over seven years, a stretch of time that I could tell you who won which race, where the races in Formula 1 were staged, and who had the best and fastest cars. As mentioned in Ron Howard's RUSH (2013), at the beginning race of the 1976 season, of the 25 drivers to start that first race, two would be killed by the end of season. That was normal for F 1. Driving a F 1 car was as dangerous a job you could have, ranking up there with being an astronaut. Like riding on a bomb waiting to exploded as referred to in the movie, it took a special man to guide the bomb down the track, turn after turn, all in accordance with a precise skill of hand, eye, and foot coordination. Jim Clark was just one of the great drivers not to live to an old age, and like the others that raced in Formula 1, the thought of death was always present, like being a soldier in a war that was asked to lead the charge.
John Frankenheimer directed Grand Prix (MGM 1966) and it was, at the time, the most exciting movie I had ever viewed.
Attending a screening here in OKC, the wide screen production was an event of historical significance worldwide.
In a future viewing forty-five years later from that first look, Grand Prix presents itself as a fully encapsulated microcosmic look of the time and period of 1965 Formula 1 racing spectacle and pageantry. With appearances of many of the F 1 drivers of the era, along with real race footage interwoven with make believe shots, Grand Prix holds the test of time, providing a film still fresh and beautiful as the day it opened in the theaters almost a half a century ago. Not as personal a movie as RUSH, the epic Grand Prix is still the greatest film on auto racing ever made, and also the most visually handsome of any. It puts you in the seat of an F 1 car and never relents in the spine tingling exhilaration of power of the experience mixing with the terror of a sudden catastrophe. RUSH, on the other had, gets into the soul of two men in their pursuit of greatness in F 1 and their drive to better the other. The better acted movie, RUSH gives its' two protagonists enough differences to try to make you pick one over the other, yet allowing both to have good and not go good attributes in the way they live their lives. Ron Howard is as fine a director as Frankenheimer, but RUSH lacks in the racing scenes where Grand Prix excels. Real footage always, well usually, bests make believe, and in this comparison, RUSH comes in second place. One significant difference that gives RUSH a positive advantage over Grand Prix is the finality of the accident. Not that the accidents shown in RUSH are better shot or more exciting, the gory frames that you are required to view are horrific in nature, realistic to the point of nausea. A driver's body, minus his head, sitting in a wrecked F 1 race car; a driver burning in race car while trying to free himself; and another driver being loaded into a meat wagon with injuries that you really don't want to look at. I will give Ron Howard credit that he didn't prolong the savagery, cutting away in enough time to allow the viewer get away from such nastiness, but leaving a lot to ponder in the future.
I liked RUSH very much. A movie I will see again in a couple of years, to enjoy the acting skills of the various "faces" of the beautiful people, including Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt, Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda, Olivia Wilde as Suzy Miller and Alexandra Maria Lara as Marlene Lauda. Director Howard tries to get us into the head of the Hunt and Lauda, how they tick, how they as race car drivers, take the sport as individuals who were on different time clocks. Fascinating work by Howard and outstanding performances by Hemsworth and Bruhl. As for Garner and the rest of the cast of Grand Prix, routine and workmanlike performances, yet putting those actors into real race cars and having them in truth, drive the F 1 race tracks, you cannot take away from their bravery.
The race car genre in movies is littered with some good, some not so good, and some really bad. In my book, there is noting worse than a bad race car movie. Both Grand Prix and RUSH are outstanding and very good, respectfully. Two movies on the same track ten years apart, but in reality, not one second apart in taking the checked flag.
Films that I like: Notting Hill
I'm a sucker for movies like this. A screenplay by Richard Curtis (directed by Roger Mitchell), this flick is one of my all-time favorites and I never get tired of viewing it. Curtis has the nack to put the everyday man, or woman, in situations that are out of the ordinary giving us a fantasy that we would like to happen to us. In Hugh Grant, he has written the perfect role as a bookstore owner that meets the hottest female movie star of the day. Julia Roberts is never better in playing the beautiful but troubled Anna Scott, a person with boyfriend trouble but finding a true love in the unabashed Will Thacker (Grant). The movie is full of great performances throughout, giving the extended family of Thacker enough material to keep everyone engaged in the interplay of the characters. A real sense of caring, family, love, comedy, and finally, truth, give this movie a rich and wonderful experience to the viewer. I rate this movie a five out of five. Hugh Grants finest acting job.
TOMBSTONE
(Was there a better Western ever made?)
I've seen most every Western movie that was ever made. In my opinion the 1993 George P. Cosmatos, Kevin Jarre directed flick is the most entertaining and the best of its' genre in the history of film. Not a John Ford directed movie, not a John Wayne acted movie, not a Monument Valley shot production. Kirk Russell and Val Kilmer? I really don't want to say a lot about TOMBSTONE except that for my money, it's a shoot'em up, a love story, a historical work, and in my opinion, the most exciting and violent cowboy show this side of the WILD BUNCH.
Throw in a great performance by Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday (he was robbed of an OSCAR in this one) and a brief but convincing bit part by Billy Bob Thorton and you have a good start. Kirk Russell's Wyatt Earp is dominate over any Earp performance in the past, and great character actors that fill the various roles are totally outstanding. Church, Biehn, Elliott, Paxton, Boothe...............the list goes on and on.
Never a better Western.
Throw in a great performance by Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday (he was robbed of an OSCAR in this one) and a brief but convincing bit part by Billy Bob Thorton and you have a good start. Kirk Russell's Wyatt Earp is dominate over any Earp performance in the past, and great character actors that fill the various roles are totally outstanding. Church, Biehn, Elliott, Paxton, Boothe...............the list goes on and on.
Never a better Western.
Jesus In the Movies
A new "Jesus" movie opens this weekend here in America. That in itself if good. Well, sort of a new movie. A TV mini-series that played last year has been re-cut and molded into a two hour plus feature film for theaters from a 10 part series. Son of God is a 2014 American epic biblical drama film based on Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's ten-hour miniseries The Bible. The film will feature selections of the miniseries as well as deleted scenes not featured during the telecast. As a stand-alone film, Son of God will explore the life of Jesus Christ from his birth through the resurrection.
Reviews of the "new" movie are less than glowing. I can completely understand. I tried watching the mini-series when it was presented and I couldn't get past the first hour. That says more about me than the mini-series, but I guess I was more in line with the few and far between reviews of those critics that have had the pleasure to view it. Movies such as SON of GOD, independent films with certain agenda's do not often get screened by the critics in mass as many of these films are of dubious quality and hundreds ot negative reviews do these films harm. With this current movie, the production values are quite good (thought I thought the mini-series looked cheesy with the off color and non-recognizable cast).Those who are devout Christians in a certain sort of mind-set will cherish this movie I suspect. Another "Jesus" movie with the principals speakng the King's English, a mature Mother Mary, and various Caucasian's filling the roles of the particulars. I'm trying not to be condescending, as this new movie does feed an audience wanting a somewhat solid "Jesus" movie, abet a paint-by-colors simplistic non-controversial view. Non believers will probably avoid it all together. The problem with this movie IS that Jesus Christ IS not a simplistic man/god and sure enough a very controversial person. Should a movie about "Jeues" be more personal, a fresh take, knock your socks off I have to have some of that event? How about a deep dig into the relationships Jesus had with those on earth and his Father in Heaven? The paint-by-numbers has been done. I want more. If you are a Christian you must know the story. For me, a person that will view the various "Jesus" movies out in the inventory every Easter, this telling is not enough. Sure, I will watch it, knowing that I will not have to sit though ten hours, and I will probably get emotional and such. Yet, I will tell you I want more. I know this movie will make money, like a double-dip for the producers.
This is good old American capitalism at work, milking the Christian audience, lining the pockets of people that profess the "good word". Nothing wrong with that, but do your homework. This new "movie" is a re-tread. A TV movie that has been converted to the big screen and that has not been something that has been widely told.
My list of "Jesus" movies begin with the Mel Gibson movie "The Passion of the Christ". Realistic, the movie is not a complete birth to death movie. To see what Jesus did to save you and me and the world, Gibson's movie says it all. Hard to watch, a horror movie, a love story, the real deal. Compared to what is opening today, well, there is no comparison. Personal favorites include King of Kings, The Last Temptatoin of Chris, Godspell, and Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Jesus Movie.
Reviews of the "new" movie are less than glowing. I can completely understand. I tried watching the mini-series when it was presented and I couldn't get past the first hour. That says more about me than the mini-series, but I guess I was more in line with the few and far between reviews of those critics that have had the pleasure to view it. Movies such as SON of GOD, independent films with certain agenda's do not often get screened by the critics in mass as many of these films are of dubious quality and hundreds ot negative reviews do these films harm. With this current movie, the production values are quite good (thought I thought the mini-series looked cheesy with the off color and non-recognizable cast).Those who are devout Christians in a certain sort of mind-set will cherish this movie I suspect. Another "Jesus" movie with the principals speakng the King's English, a mature Mother Mary, and various Caucasian's filling the roles of the particulars. I'm trying not to be condescending, as this new movie does feed an audience wanting a somewhat solid "Jesus" movie, abet a paint-by-colors simplistic non-controversial view. Non believers will probably avoid it all together. The problem with this movie IS that Jesus Christ IS not a simplistic man/god and sure enough a very controversial person. Should a movie about "Jeues" be more personal, a fresh take, knock your socks off I have to have some of that event? How about a deep dig into the relationships Jesus had with those on earth and his Father in Heaven? The paint-by-numbers has been done. I want more. If you are a Christian you must know the story. For me, a person that will view the various "Jesus" movies out in the inventory every Easter, this telling is not enough. Sure, I will watch it, knowing that I will not have to sit though ten hours, and I will probably get emotional and such. Yet, I will tell you I want more. I know this movie will make money, like a double-dip for the producers.
This is good old American capitalism at work, milking the Christian audience, lining the pockets of people that profess the "good word". Nothing wrong with that, but do your homework. This new "movie" is a re-tread. A TV movie that has been converted to the big screen and that has not been something that has been widely told.
My list of "Jesus" movies begin with the Mel Gibson movie "The Passion of the Christ". Realistic, the movie is not a complete birth to death movie. To see what Jesus did to save you and me and the world, Gibson's movie says it all. Hard to watch, a horror movie, a love story, the real deal. Compared to what is opening today, well, there is no comparison. Personal favorites include King of Kings, The Last Temptatoin of Chris, Godspell, and Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Jesus Movie.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman Was One of the Great Ones
With sadness, the acting profession lost a major player last week in the death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, 46 years of age. His drug overdose shocked the movie industry. It will be our loss, the movie going public that is. We can only wonder what great performances we would have been treated to in the years that would have come. Hoffman was an actor first, not a movie star looking for the next off screen camera shoot. Though the second Hoffman in the line of Hoffman actors, he had such a diverse list of roles that it became obvious that Seymour could have challenged Dustin in a final look at these two at the end of their careers. He was that good, and his abilities to transcend himself into a character was on par with DeNiro, Day-Lewis, Duvall, and the other Hoffman. Likable, funny, horrific, and just plain Jack, he was one of a kind, the real deal, an actor that others will be measured too.
My first recollection of Hoffman was in his work in one of my most favorite movies "Scent of a Woman". Hoffman was perfect in that supporting role. He displayed the right emotions of a spoiled young man. From that first experience with his work in that movie, other minor and major roles followed, each in its own way, showing us a range that not many have. My list of my favorite PSH film performances are as follows:
5. Capote - his only Oscar win, a spot on portrait of the man. Not a personal favorite movie of mine, but the role of a lifetime for anyone that could pull it off. (Toby Jones, another fine actor pulled a Capote one year later and was equally good in the movie Infamous) Without question, he was Capote in the flesh in this movie.
My first recollection of Hoffman was in his work in one of my most favorite movies "Scent of a Woman". Hoffman was perfect in that supporting role. He displayed the right emotions of a spoiled young man. From that first experience with his work in that movie, other minor and major roles followed, each in its own way, showing us a range that not many have. My list of my favorite PSH film performances are as follows:
5. Capote - his only Oscar win, a spot on portrait of the man. Not a personal favorite movie of mine, but the role of a lifetime for anyone that could pull it off. (Toby Jones, another fine actor pulled a Capote one year later and was equally good in the movie Infamous) Without question, he was Capote in the flesh in this movie.
Capote as played by Hoffman
4. The Talented Mr. Ripley - Stealing every scene with the likes of Cate Blanchette, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law, Hoffman simply outclassed this group of superior actors. As a top critic said: Hoffman is similarly superb and exact in his portrait of a bright but boorish snob.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
3. Before the Devil Knows Your Dead - Some rate this as a top 5 performance and I agree. A much finer film that Capote, a movie that you want to revisit. A personal choice for me. Putting Director Sidney Lumet together with Hoffman, Finney, Hawke, Tomei in a crime drama (Dog Day Afternoon......) is just wonderful. Critic Mike Scott: Hoffman plays Andy as slick and stylish, a smooth operator living in a chrome-and-glass world. Inside of him, however, resides a scared and resentful little boy.Hoffman portrays both sides of Andy brilliantly. In one scene he gently and confidently bullies little brother Hank into participating in his twisted plan. He's just as convincing as he wallows in self-doubt, using terms only an accountant would use: "I'm not the sum of my parts. All of my parts don't add up to one me."
Before the Devil Knows Your Dead with Tomei in steamy sex scene
2. 25th Hour - Not the major character in the movie, Hoffman's performance is, as many critics agree, his best. It's as good as my #1 choice and so when all things are pretty much equal, I'll just make a quick decision and let it be. Spike Lee is a favorite director of mine, not that I seek out everything he does, but this movie hits the nail on the head about New York City, the subject matter, and the real emotions of its characters. Shot just after 9 11 it stays close to the book but adds the tragedy of the recent past. As Jeffery M. Anderson says: He's weakness and romance, there to juxtapose the hardness and confidence and cynicism of the other characters. His costume is perfect: shabby schoolteacher tie and cheap coat (which he leaves on, even in a nightclub), glasses and a Yankees hat. Yet these attributes are so well-played that Jacob doesn't seem weak or pathetic. He just seems human. I met Hoffman twice over the years, and I liked him immensely, but I have to say that I feel I got to know Jacob far better than I got to know the real man. That's great acting, and it's the pinnacle (so far) of a truly great career. http://news.moviefone.com/2010/01/18/their-best-role-philip-seymour-hoffman/
25th Hour
1. Doubt - Most will not agree, but the role, playing off Adams and Streep, remind us how great an all venue actor this man is. Stage, TV, movies, I for one, didn't give him his due when I named by ten best living actors. I missed the boat on Hoffman. His greatness, as much as it will be missed on the big screen, will be missed just as much or more on Broadway. Shanley's play (2004) became the movie and the four (add Viola Davis) world class actors were in top form. When you hold your ground toe to toe with Streep you are there. "And yet the few personalities who were at the center of this Pulitzer Prize winner remain there.Chief among them are Meryl Streep, as the formidable "dragon" who runs her parochial school like a prison, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the cheerful priest who preaches unconditional love. On paper, they are constructs: symbols of the old church and the new, penance and forgiveness. On the screen, they are blazingly alive.
That's due to the actors, of course, two of our finest. Hoffman gets the showier part, perhaps -- building up, over the course of the film, to an explosion of crimson-faced anger. But the inflexible Streep is every bit his equal -- holding her rosary as tightly as a club, peering through her glasses as if she had finally trapped sin under a microscope." http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2008/12/doubt_successfully_expands_upo.html
That's due to the actors, of course, two of our finest. Hoffman gets the showier part, perhaps -- building up, over the course of the film, to an explosion of crimson-faced anger. But the inflexible Streep is every bit his equal -- holding her rosary as tightly as a club, peering through her glasses as if she had finally trapped sin under a microscope." http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2008/12/doubt_successfully_expands_upo.html
Doubt
Since this blog header says "FILM" I will only say that the world loses in this death. Let us remember that bad things happen when you play with fire. As the years past and we re-examine his work, the critics will add to what they think about this artist and his work.
In summary, it was a sad past week. God damn heroin and let's pray that Mr. Hoffman's soul is in a good place. From all reports from is friends he was a good man. May his children understand.
In summary, it was a sad past week. God damn heroin and let's pray that Mr. Hoffman's soul is in a good place. From all reports from is friends he was a good man. May his children understand.
Peter O'Toole in "Lawrence of Arabia"
Horizon Pictures, Columbia Pictures-1962
Great Film Performance
From a previous post on my .com you already know what I think about the movie "Lawrence of Arabia". Peter O'Toole is everything in this movie and some critics have ranked this performance as the greatest of all time. http://www.filmsite.org/100greatperformances4.html
Others rank it second only to Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront." The greatest or not, this performance is also in the running as the greatest "debut" by an actor in a movie, with Andy Griffith's "A Face in the Crowd" equally great. There are many scenes that stand out and O'Toole steals each and every one. Viewing a blood spattered O'Toole standing in front of his army after murdering hundreds of Turks is as stunning a shot as any in movie history.
O'Toole is a master artist and one shouldn't miss his latest movie "For Greater Glory-the True Story of Cristida." He gives another stunning performance. Nominated eight times for Oscar in acting and never a winner, no matter. O'Toole as T. L. Lawrence is above Oscar, with respect to Gregory Peck (who won in 1962 over O'Toole). Peck is not in Peter O'Toole's class as an actor.
Others rank it second only to Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront." The greatest or not, this performance is also in the running as the greatest "debut" by an actor in a movie, with Andy Griffith's "A Face in the Crowd" equally great. There are many scenes that stand out and O'Toole steals each and every one. Viewing a blood spattered O'Toole standing in front of his army after murdering hundreds of Turks is as stunning a shot as any in movie history.
O'Toole is a master artist and one shouldn't miss his latest movie "For Greater Glory-the True Story of Cristida." He gives another stunning performance. Nominated eight times for Oscar in acting and never a winner, no matter. O'Toole as T. L. Lawrence is above Oscar, with respect to Gregory Peck (who won in 1962 over O'Toole). Peck is not in Peter O'Toole's class as an actor.
Robert Mitchum in "The Night of the Hunter"
MGM-1955
Great Film Performance
Robert Mitchum in "The Night is the Hunder"
Evil on the screen is not Freddy Kruger, or Jason, or any popcorn comic book character that graces our theaters today. It's so easy to put crap on the screen, get the young movie going audience to buy in to the fake shrills and bloody killings that they eat up, and move on. Hostel and Saw franchises are silly, mostly yucky, more often predictable than not, and in truth, boring. Real film making, the kind that give you goose bumps, the movies that you think about often without notice, are rare and far between. "The Night of the Hunter", the only film directed by the great actor Charles Laughton, presents evil in full blown black and white portrayed by Robert Mitchum as Harry Powell, serial killer extraordinaire. "A thriller but it's also a child's nightmare. A Noir but also a fable. Robert Mittchum gives one of his very best performances as Harry Powell, the charming but evil preacher with "love" tattooed on one hand, "hate" on the other. Powell is one of the most memorable screen villains of all time, and "The Night Of The Hunter' is worth watching just for Mitchum.
One of the greatest performances ever in one of the greatest movies of all time, Robert Mitchum and "The Night of the Hunter" is a must see. Not for children under twelve as yes, it can get under your skin and give you the willies. A real film treasure that needs to be watched on the big screen.
One of the greatest performances ever in one of the greatest movies of all time, Robert Mitchum and "The Night of the Hunter" is a must see. Not for children under twelve as yes, it can get under your skin and give you the willies. A real film treasure that needs to be watched on the big screen.
Greatest Film Performances That I Have Screened
Having finished my top ten living actors ranking my next list will be the greatest performances that I have screened since I have been able to comprehened what I was watching. These ten performances will not be posted in any particular order, but at the conclusion of the listed ten, I will rank them at that time one to ten. These movie performances are what I personally deem/liked/enjoyed as my greatest. Everyone that is a movie junkie will have their list. In reality, you cannot say one performance at the highest level is any better than another. My list would be no better or worse than any other. It's all personal choice.
Greatest Living Film Actors: #1A Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis as Abe Lincoln in Steven Speilberg's movie Lincoln
Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't make bad films, doesn't give bad performances, never lowers himself to work in crap. Daniel Day-Lewis might be the greatest actor ever. EVER! Even as I have tied him with the great Al Pacino as my pick as Greatest Living Actor .
Day-Lewis has made 29 films in 41 years. Starting in 1971 with an un-credited role in Sunday Bloody Sunday, he didn't get his first major notice as a film actor until his role as Johnny in My Beautiful Laundrette (1986), earning him various Best Supporting Actor nominations. A Room With A View followed in the same year, again garnering him again various Best Supporting Actor nominations.
Not until Phillip Kauffman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) did Day-Lewis show himself as an actor for the ages in a truly great movie. My first viewing of this fantastic movie blew me away and is still one of the best films I have ever seen.
Day-Lewis won his first Oscar for Best Actor in My Left Foot. His work as Christy Brown, along with fellow Oscar winner that year, Brenda Fricker, is as good as it gets. Hiding behind a beard, Day-Lewis's performance is a total transformation into another person. During the filming of the movie, he never got out of character, making others carry him from place to place during the shoot. His extreme foul language continued once the director said cut, causing many around him during the making of the movie despise him. The actor himself has let it be known that the extreme contortions of his body during the making of the movie was extremely hard on him physically. When Day-Lewis does a film it is a twenty four hour seven days a week experience. As with all the great actors, you could never imagine another person in the Christy Brown role.
More great performances followed through the years. My three personal favorites are as Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York, Newland Archer in Age of Innocence, and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. As a trifecta, those three roles represent the three best performances by one actor.
The next movie coming up for Day-Lewis will be Lincoln, directed by Steven Speilberg. Can't wait.
Best Screen Performance: My Left Foot
My Favorite Screen Performance: Gangs of New York
My Favorite Movie: Age of Innocence
Day-Lewis has made 29 films in 41 years. Starting in 1971 with an un-credited role in Sunday Bloody Sunday, he didn't get his first major notice as a film actor until his role as Johnny in My Beautiful Laundrette (1986), earning him various Best Supporting Actor nominations. A Room With A View followed in the same year, again garnering him again various Best Supporting Actor nominations.
Not until Phillip Kauffman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) did Day-Lewis show himself as an actor for the ages in a truly great movie. My first viewing of this fantastic movie blew me away and is still one of the best films I have ever seen.
Day-Lewis won his first Oscar for Best Actor in My Left Foot. His work as Christy Brown, along with fellow Oscar winner that year, Brenda Fricker, is as good as it gets. Hiding behind a beard, Day-Lewis's performance is a total transformation into another person. During the filming of the movie, he never got out of character, making others carry him from place to place during the shoot. His extreme foul language continued once the director said cut, causing many around him during the making of the movie despise him. The actor himself has let it be known that the extreme contortions of his body during the making of the movie was extremely hard on him physically. When Day-Lewis does a film it is a twenty four hour seven days a week experience. As with all the great actors, you could never imagine another person in the Christy Brown role.
More great performances followed through the years. My three personal favorites are as Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York, Newland Archer in Age of Innocence, and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. As a trifecta, those three roles represent the three best performances by one actor.
The next movie coming up for Day-Lewis will be Lincoln, directed by Steven Speilberg. Can't wait.
Best Screen Performance: My Left Foot
My Favorite Screen Performance: Gangs of New York
My Favorite Movie: Age of Innocence
My Beautiful Laundrette
Gangs of New York
There Will Be Blood
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My Left Foot
Age of Innocence
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Greatest Living Film Actors: #1B Al Pacino
"You wanna fuck with me? You fucking with the best! You wanna fuck with me? Okay. You little cockroaches... come on. You wanna play games? Okay, I play with you; come on. Okay. You wanna play rough? Okay. Say hello to my little friend!" (Scarface 1983)
One of the most iconic bits of dialogue in movie history, Al Pacino's Tony Montana in Scarface says it all. Nobody in the world could have played the part better. You give me any gangster character in movie history played by the best actors ever, Bogart, Cagney, Pesci, or Nicholson, nothing beats Pacino in Scarface.
From Michael in the Godfather and Godfather II, Frank Serpico in Serpico, Sonny in Dog Day Afternoon, Arthur in .....Justice For All, Benjamin in Donnie Brasco, and Frank in Scent of a Woman, Pacino is simply the best. Better than DeNiro, better than Nicholson, better than anyone. Only my #1A is his equal.
Best Screen Performance: Scent of A Woman
My Favorite Screen Performance: Scarface
My Favorite Movie: Scent of A Woman
One of the most iconic bits of dialogue in movie history, Al Pacino's Tony Montana in Scarface says it all. Nobody in the world could have played the part better. You give me any gangster character in movie history played by the best actors ever, Bogart, Cagney, Pesci, or Nicholson, nothing beats Pacino in Scarface.
From Michael in the Godfather and Godfather II, Frank Serpico in Serpico, Sonny in Dog Day Afternoon, Arthur in .....Justice For All, Benjamin in Donnie Brasco, and Frank in Scent of a Woman, Pacino is simply the best. Better than DeNiro, better than Nicholson, better than anyone. Only my #1A is his equal.
Best Screen Performance: Scent of A Woman
My Favorite Screen Performance: Scarface
My Favorite Movie: Scent of A Woman
Al Pacino
in the movie Donnie Brasco
in the movie ....And Justice For All
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in the movie Scent of A Woman
in Scarface
in Godfather 1 and 2
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Greatest Living Film Actors: #3 Robert De Niro
"Considered the best actor of his generation, Robert De Niro has built a durable star career out of his formidable ability to disappear into a character, whether tempering his charisma to become a believable everyman or imbuing his renowned gallery of mobsters and psychopaths with a compelling, frightening authority." (http://www.empireonline.com/)
Some will say De Niro is the greatest living actor of our time. Could be. For sure, you cannot argue he is one of the greatest actors of all time and his top performances can be considered as good as any in film history. Yet, he does junk as much as any actor. He works at his craft in some not so good movies. He walks through some of his pictures. I will have the same complaint with my #2. I won't with my #1.
Viewing Taxi Driver when it opened was pure cinema as only De Niro and Scorsese could pull off. Same for Raging Bull, Goodfellows, Cape Fear, and Mean Streets. I would put his work in Raging Bull up in the top five acting performances ever. Add the Godfather II directed by Coppola and Deer Hunter (Cimino as director), along with the King of Comedy (Scorsese) and you have a body of work that is second to none.
With De Niro, just like Hoffman, I have so many options to choose from in my best's list. De Niro would have been my number one ten years ago. Today he is a strong number three.
Best Screen Performance: Raging Bull
My Favorite Screen Performance: King of Comedy
My Favorite Movie: Bang the Drum Slowly
Some will say De Niro is the greatest living actor of our time. Could be. For sure, you cannot argue he is one of the greatest actors of all time and his top performances can be considered as good as any in film history. Yet, he does junk as much as any actor. He works at his craft in some not so good movies. He walks through some of his pictures. I will have the same complaint with my #2. I won't with my #1.
Viewing Taxi Driver when it opened was pure cinema as only De Niro and Scorsese could pull off. Same for Raging Bull, Goodfellows, Cape Fear, and Mean Streets. I would put his work in Raging Bull up in the top five acting performances ever. Add the Godfather II directed by Coppola and Deer Hunter (Cimino as director), along with the King of Comedy (Scorsese) and you have a body of work that is second to none.
With De Niro, just like Hoffman, I have so many options to choose from in my best's list. De Niro would have been my number one ten years ago. Today he is a strong number three.
Best Screen Performance: Raging Bull
My Favorite Screen Performance: King of Comedy
My Favorite Movie: Bang the Drum Slowly
Raging Bull
King of Comedy
Taxi Driver
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Taxi Driver
Once Upon A Time In America
Bang the Drum Slowly
Deer Hunter
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Birdsong
PBS Masterpiece
Don't miss (out on video) Birdsong (Masterpiece Theater), a two-part 2012 television serial, based on the 1993 war novel by Sebastian Faulks. Outstanding in every way. If you like love stories, war stories, and human drama, this is the real deal. After seeing the three hour presentation, I will follow up by reading the novel. A can't miss on both accounts. Acting is first rate and PBS Masterpiece does it right.
Greatest Living Film Actors: #4 Dustin Hoffman
A real tough decision to pick Dustin Hoffman as the #4 Greatest Living Actor. As I already have my picks for one through three, by choosing Hoffman as a deserving #4 I had to eliminate many great actors that could be chosen from four through ten. Yet, when making Hoffman my #4, I have to look at the greatest performances of all time and Hoffman has as many as any living actor. From Raymond in Rain Man, to Louis Dega in Papillon and Jack Crab in Little Big Man, Hoffman always puts out great performances in the best films. Of all the actors in my top ten, picking out the best and most entertaining of his films has become the most difficult. How can you pick between The Graduate and Kramer vs Kramer, or the Marathon Man and Straw Dogs? Don't forget Tootsie or Getting Straight and Lenny and All the President's Men.
The Graduate (1967) was my introduction to Dustin Hoffman. Being only fourteen I don't remember how I got into the theater (the movie was restricted to 16 and over) but I did, without a parent. Following that movie up with Midnight Cowboy two years later and then Little Big Man, I was hooked. Just those three films could make an actors lifetime achievement. From then on, I won't miss a Hoffman film.
Best Screen Performance: Midnight Cowboy
My Favorite Screen Performance: Little Big Man
My Favorite Movie: Papillon
The Graduate (1967) was my introduction to Dustin Hoffman. Being only fourteen I don't remember how I got into the theater (the movie was restricted to 16 and over) but I did, without a parent. Following that movie up with Midnight Cowboy two years later and then Little Big Man, I was hooked. Just those three films could make an actors lifetime achievement. From then on, I won't miss a Hoffman film.
Best Screen Performance: Midnight Cowboy
My Favorite Screen Performance: Little Big Man
My Favorite Movie: Papillon
Straw Dogs
Little Big Man
"My name is Jack Crab and I'm...."
Midnight Cowboy with the great John Voight
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Marathon Man
As Louis Dega in Papillon
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Rain Man
Greatest Living Film Actors: #5 Meryl Streep
Not only the greatest female actor living today, Streep is arguably the greatest actor ever, male or female. She continues to turn out great performances and garner Oscars. She can go into character better than any actor as witnessed by her latest work as Margaret Thatcher of England. A real treasure, Streep is one for the ages.
Best Screen Performance: Sophie's Choice
My Favorite Screen Performance: Julie and Julia
My Favorite Movie: Kraner vs Kramer
Best Screen Performance: Sophie's Choice
My Favorite Screen Performance: Julie and Julia
My Favorite Movie: Kraner vs Kramer
"UNITED"
BBC-2012
United is based on the true story of Manchester United's legendary "Busby Babes", the youngest side ever to win the Football League and the 1958 Munich Air Crash that claimed eight of the their number. The film draws on first-hand interviews with the survivors and their families to tell the inspirational story of a team and community overcoming terrible tragedy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010tb6z
If you like historical drama with sports as a backdrop this is you cup to tea. Strongly recommended. You can find it at Redbox.
Acting: A-
Action: C
Emotional Impact: A
From the first scene of the two guys sitting in their airplane seats you are hooked. (Manchester United FC is the most recognized and wealthiest sports franchise in the world today. That includes the New York Yankees)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010tb6z
If you like historical drama with sports as a backdrop this is you cup to tea. Strongly recommended. You can find it at Redbox.
Acting: A-
Action: C
Emotional Impact: A
From the first scene of the two guys sitting in their airplane seats you are hooked. (Manchester United FC is the most recognized and wealthiest sports franchise in the world today. That includes the New York Yankees)
Dillinger (1973)
Oates and Michelle Phillips
John D and Warren O - Mr. Oates had the part down pat
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Richard Dreyfus as Baby Face Nelson
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It was the fall of 1972 and I was on my first movie set. Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips, and Warren Oates, under the direction of John Milius, were shooting the climatic John Dillinger gun down scene in the 1973 American International Pictures release of Dillinger. Standing outside a building next to the since torn down Midwest Theatre in downtown Oklahoma City, I was excited to be watching the filming of the one of the first movies completely shot in Oklahoma. The Midwest Theatre was transformed into the Biograph Theatre (Chicago) with the overhead billboard telling us that Manhattan Melodrama was playing. Point in fact; John Dillinger was killed on a summer night in Chicago, July 22, 1934. (I would be married 44 years later to the day). I cannot say that the director tried to make the movie totally factual, but truth to be, the movie was described as one that featured "largely unromanticized depictions of the principal characters." As gangster films go, Dillinger (1973) was true to the time. It looked like the Thirties depression and our State gave the film maker great locations to use. That is, a lot of Oklahoma looked like it did forty years in the past.
Actor Ben Johnson was gracious that night as he chatted with the audience on the set. An Academy Award winner from Oklahoma, Mr. Johnson played G-Man Melvin Purvis, who in the movie, shot Dillinger (a fabrication- G-Man, Charles Winsted bullet is believed to be the one that killed the bad guy). I remember his large cigar he was chomping on that night along with his long heavy coat and hat.
Warren Oates didn't come out of his trailer until the scene had been set up. He didn't seem to want anything to do with us that night. With that, I have always considered Mr. Oates as one of the most under-rated actors and one of the greatest character actors of the time. He was so talented that director Richard Linklater said of the actor in giving reasons for viewing Oates greatest film Two-Lane Blacktop, "because
there was once a god who walked the Earth named Warren Oates."[2] I give it up to Mr. Oates, even if he was not very accomadating that night.
I remember they shot the scene in regular time but watching the movie the scene is in slow motion.
I will never forget Director Milius having the woman who screams at the sight of a dead Dillinger in the ally to do it again and again, as he wasn't pleased with her voice. She must have screamed at least ten times to get it right.
We were given passes to attend the World Premiere of the movie at the Plaza Theatre (now the Lyric) at 16th and Indiana in Oklahoma City. Held the following summer, Director Milius, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips (first movie role for the Mama's and Papa's singer) and a variety of local Oklahoma actors were introduced just before the viewing.
This movie was considered an epic for AIP and running just short of two hours I would agree. The best part of the movie is not the Oklahoma sets, the action and violence (outstanding on both accounts) or the terrific acting. The best part was the screenplay of Director Milius. Some of the greatest lines in Ganster films come from this movie:
John
Dillinger:
I rob banks for a living, what do you do?
____________________________________
John
Dillinger:
All my life I wanted to be a bank robber. Carry a gun and wear a mask. Now that
it's happened I guess I'm just about the best bank robber they ever had. And I
sure am happy.
____________________________________
John
Dillinger:
You have a nice smile, too, miss. I'd like to withdraw my entire account
Bank
Teller:
Your entire account? John Dillinger:
That's right... the whole thing
Bank
Teller:
And your name?
John Dillinger:
John. John Dillinger. [pulls a pistol]
______________________________________
[Pretty Boy Floyd has been hiding with a farm family when he sees
the FBI pull up]
Farm
woman:
Do you need a Bible? Pretty Boy Floyd:
[shakes his head ruefully]
I admit, I have sinned; I have been a sinner, but I enjoyed it. I have killed
men, but the dirty sons-of-bitches deserved it. The way I figure it, it's too
late for no Bible. Thanks just the same, Ma'am. [leaves through the window]
______________________________________
Baby
Face Nelson: Will you shut him up!
Homer Van Meter: You
better shut up yourself, ya little rat or I'll blow the back of yer goddamned
head off.
_______________________________________
Melvin
Purvis:
[about his Monte Cristos]
Do you know who gave me these cigars, Sam?
Samuel Cowley:
No.
Melvin Purvis:
Ray Caffrey gave them to me right before he got his head blown off in Kansas
City. They were for my birthday. And I intend to smoke one of these over each of
those men's dead bodies
________________________________________
John Dillinger:
Now nobody get nervous, you ain't got nothing to fear. You're being robbed by
the John Dillinger Gang, that's the best there is! These few dollars you lose
here today are going to buy you stories to tell your children and
great-grandchildren. This could be one of the big moments in your life; don't
make it your last!
The final line says it all. This is the best there is! Go to the $5 bin at your local Wal-Mart or find it on Netflix. This "is" the best Dillinger film by far.
Great Film Actors of the Past: Andy Griffith
Only fourteen feature films and a couple of them he was a voice and not a body in the movie. Yet, on the strength of one movie, A Face In The Crowd, Andy Griffith ranks as my #6 Greatest Living Film Actor. The performance by Mr. Griffith in the above mentioned movie has been called arguably the greatest film performance in the history of the movies. I rank his portrayal of Larry Rhodes in Elia Kazan's masterpiece as one of the three greatest (I will tell you the other two in my future list) and the biggest oversight of a missed Oscar win in Academy Award history. If you have not viewed A Face In the Crowd you don't know what you are missing. A Face In The Crowd is a timeless flick
"Andy Griffith’s dramatic performance in this, his first film, was outstanding. He
exuded duplicity, menace and cruelty. If he had never made another film, or gone
on to his seek his fame and fortune in much lighter roles in television, his
performance in “A Face in the Crowd” would leave a legacy for which any dramatic
actor could be proud.
Griffith, Neal and Matthau were robbed of Oscar Nominations for their work in this movie.
Schulberg’s screenplay equaled his work in “On the Waterfront,” but shamefully
received no nomination. As for media and celebrity impact in political
machinations, “A Face in the Crowd” is as timely today as it was in 1957."
http://hillnholler.net/2011/12/24/a-face-in-the-crowd-a-riveting-study-of-charisma-and-manipulation/
Griffith proved that he could act with anyone and his range is complete. Comedy, drama, lead actor, character actor alike, he did it all in this movie. He was not just Andy Taylor or any other TV character.
Best Screen Performance: A Face in the Crowd
My Favorite Screen Performance: A Face in the Crowd
My Favorite Movie: No Time for Sergeants
A Face In The Crowd
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The Quiet Man
A Must View For St. Patty's Day
The movie for this fine St. Patrick's Day is the the 1952 John Ford directed (won Oscar, Director) The Quiet Man. Staring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, with Ford's stable of actors Barry Fitsgerald, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen, and others, a finer movie set in Ireland hasn't been made. Want real star power, just tell me their was a finer couple in the movies than Wayne and O'Hara. The cinematography by Winston C. Hoch and Archie Stout won an Academy Award as Ireland never looked greener.
O"Hara
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Wayne
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Greatest Living Film Actors: #6 Morgan Freeman
Make no doubt about it. Morgan Freeman is a versatile actor that has performed in some of the most celebrated movies of our lifetime. He owns the screen, from roles such as Fast Black in Street Smart to Hoke Colburn in Driving Miss Daisy, followed by Ellis Boyd Redding in the Shawshank Redemption, God in God Almighty, Eddie Dupris in Million Dollar Baby and Nelson Mandela in Invictus. Morgan is one of a few actors that can play Morgan in his roles, or he can go deep into a character and become that character. If anyone wanted someone to "play" the President of the United States, or "God", Mr. Freeman is the man.
Best Screen Performance: Street Smart
My Favorite Screen Performance: Driving Miss Daisy
My Favorite Movie: Invictus
Best Screen Performance: Street Smart
My Favorite Screen Performance: Driving Miss Daisy
My Favorite Movie: Invictus
Freeman in the movie Se7en
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Freeman in Electric Company
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Greatest Film Actors of the Past: Mickey Rooney
The actor Sir Lawrence Olivier was asked if he was the greatest actor in the world. Olivier, quite possibly the greatest Shakespearean actor of his time and possibly the greatest actor of all time (with respect to Brando) surprised the interviewer with a quick and strong Mickey Rooney. Olivier wasn't joking. He gave his reasons saying that Rooney was the biggest box office actor for the longest time and that he connected with the movie going audience like no other. He paid his respect to Rooney, from one legendary star to another. Looking at the body of work that has spanned ninety (90), that is ninety years, who is to argue with Oliver? Pushing 92 years of age, Rooney has four projects in the can or still filming. A great of the greats, and still going strong.
Best Screen Performance: The Human Comedy
My Favorite Screen Performance: Requiem for a Heavyweight
My Favorite Movie: Young Tom Edison
Best Screen Performance: The Human Comedy
My Favorite Screen Performance: Requiem for a Heavyweight
My Favorite Movie: Young Tom Edison
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Greatest Living Film Actors: #7 Robert Duvall
As I watched "The Great Santini" yesterday (2.25.2015) I again was taken away with the greatness of Robert Duvall's acting skill. In a small movie of 1979, one that wasn't even slated for the big screen if it wasn't noted in "air plane" viewing by some top critics (Rex Reed for one) Duvall gave the performance of his life, one that was duplicated in the great "Apocalypse Now". "Lonesome Dove" and the various westerns were met with rave reviews as Duvall' body of work is second to none. "A Family Thing", another little movie, shows the a different side of Duvall on film. He is one actor that keeps producing as with his 7th Oscar nomination in 2014 in "The Judge." Duvall is in more movies that I would want to re-visit than any other actor.
Best Screen Performance: The Great Santini
My Favorite Screen Performance: The Great Santini
My Favorite Movie: Family Thing
Best Screen Performance: The Great Santini
My Favorite Screen Performance: The Great Santini
My Favorite Movie: Family Thing
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Greatest Living Film Actors: #8 Tom Hanks
(I will count down my ranking of the Greatest Living Actors)
A two time Oscar winner, Hanks is suited for drama or comedy, and it's possible that his best performance on the big screen in has not been filmed. His range is not that of a Daniel Day-Lewis or a Robert DeNiro, (He doesn't do mean or crazy, but given the chance who knows?). He can get into character with the best of the best. One day Hanks might become one of the greatest character actors when the leading man roles dwindle because of age. In being Forrest Gump, Hanks completely owned the character and without his abilities to be spot on in the role the movie could have been a forgotten disaster.
Best Screen Performance: Forrest Gump
My Favorite Screen Performance: Forrest Gump
My Favorite Movie: Saving Private Ryan
A two time Oscar winner, Hanks is suited for drama or comedy, and it's possible that his best performance on the big screen in has not been filmed. His range is not that of a Daniel Day-Lewis or a Robert DeNiro, (He doesn't do mean or crazy, but given the chance who knows?). He can get into character with the best of the best. One day Hanks might become one of the greatest character actors when the leading man roles dwindle because of age. In being Forrest Gump, Hanks completely owned the character and without his abilities to be spot on in the role the movie could have been a forgotten disaster.
Best Screen Performance: Forrest Gump
My Favorite Screen Performance: Forrest Gump
My Favorite Movie: Saving Private Ryan
Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump
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Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan
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Garner's and Andrew's The Americanization of Emily Is Fresh
James Garner and Julie Andrews, the stars of the The Americanization of Emil, a 1964 American comedy-drama war film written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Arthur Hiller, have said that this movie was there personal favorite. I can say as much, as it is my personal favorite movie of James Garner, and my second favorite movie of Julie Andrews (Sound of Music is my personal favorite). I first viewed this gem as a young teenager, just as the Viet Nam war was taking off. It bothered me at the time, a movie about a confessed coward (James Garner as Lt. Cmdr.
Charles E. "Charlie" Madison) during World War 2. Even though I don't consider this movie anti-war (some critics do), it's sure not a poster boy film for war in general. A comedy yes, but as written in book form by author William Bradford, it was neither a comedy or a novel about cowardice. The great Paddy Chayefsky wrote the screenplay and changed the book into a thought provoking movie. [ "Paddy Chayefsky's adaptation, while retaining the title, characters, situation,
background and many specific plot incidents, nevertheless told a very different
story. "I found the book, which is serious in tone, essentially a funny satire,
and that's how I'm treating it." Wikipedia] The subject of cowardice in this film was troubling. As we all want to say, that men who give their time, effort, and many times, their lives to defend our country, is heroic, what is a true hero. Is it all about getting killed? This movie makes one think about this serious topic in a troubling way. How would you like to be a dead hero? This movie is one of the best. It shows that James Garner is one of our best living actors and Julie Andrews was more than Mary Poppins.
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Speilberg's WAR HORSE is Beautiful Looking Crap
If you love horses beware! This movie will make you cry as you watch the way horses were cruelly used in the Great War. You will not be entertained looking at dead horses piled in heaps and living horses with busted legs pulling heavy the heavy German canons. Director Steven Speilberg's beautiful looking movie about a horse during World War I is not one of his best. It's a slow movie with actors that are not that interesting given throwaway lines to read. War is depicted as loud and don't expect anything like Saving Private Ryan. Don't get me wrong, this movie has some nice qualities. Running horses in a pasture is always nice and a boy loving a horse isn't all bad. Still I wonder, who did the director target this movie for?
(War Horse was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar today)
(War Horse was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar today)
The Guard
Staring Brendan Gleason
One Great Film
My favorite film of 2011 The Guard is a near miss masterpiece. First time director John Michael McDonagh has spun a comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption set in the west of Ireland. This is a sharp and cutting dialogue sort of movie that is acted by perfection by the great Brendan Gleason and Don Cheadle. Currently you can find the movie on DVD. Critic Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post writes: McDonagh's script is agile, darting between the ridiculous, the sage and the surprisingly sentimental. His love of language and the absurd has hints of the wisecracking Quentin Tarantino. But the story is decidedly more rooted in Ireland's loamy turf. I agree. The Guard is a great movie.
The Wind And The Lion (a blueprint for a President)
One of my favorite films of all time is John Milius's The Wind and the Lion (1975). An epic not on the scale of another of my favorite movies, Lawrence Of Arabia, the Wind still works on various levels, including great acting, superb dialogue, outstanding cinematography, a music score by Jerry Goldsmith, and a movie excitement missing from many of our recent so-called adventure stories.
I can remember my first viewing in the summer of 1975 at the Will Rogers Theater on Western Avenue in Oklahoma City. The imagery of Brian Keith playing my favorite US President Teddy Roosevelt blew me away. The cutting screenplay by Director John Milius, especially the words given to Keith and Sean Connery, playing
Berber brigand Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli, were manly, and telling of two leaders that had their shit together. Any politician of the current day needs to listen to the words of Mr. Roosevelt and his take on how the United States needs to conduct business in the modern world.
Dialogue from the movie:
Pres. You know as well as I do we can't have errant desperadoes running around kidnapping American citizens. If I could, I'd go there with a couple of Winchesters...battalion of marines, but I can't do that, can I? Obviously he has no respect for human life! Threatening the lives and property of American citizens. It's an insult in the eyes of the world community, you realize that? What do I want? I want respect! That's what. Respect for human life and American property. And I'll send the Atlantic Squadron to Morocco to get respect.
Mr. Hall: That's Illegal.
Pres. Why spoil the beauty of the thing with legality?
From this you can see that our President was not a going to let American interests be trod upon by others. He demanded respect and if not given he would make sure we got it. Look at how we bow down to the little Hitler in Iran. Disgusting. Do you not think we would have that situation taken care of if we would have a President as strong a leader as Teddy was. It makes me sick to my stomach that we are now going to watch Iraq go into a civil war between religious factions now that we are leaving this county with over 4,000 dead and countless others who will suffer the effects of war.
Dialogue from the movie:
Pres. The American grizzly bear is a symbol of the American character: strength, intelligence, ferocity. Little blind and reckless at times. But courageous beyond all doubt. And one other trait that goes with all previous. Loneliness. The bear lives out his life alone.....indomitable, unconquered.....but always alone. He has no real allies, only enemies, but none of them are as great as he.
Newspaper man; you feel this might be an American trait?
Pres. Certainly. The world will never love us. They respect us. They may even grow to fear us. They will never love us...for we have too much audacity....and we're a bit blind and reckless at times, too.
Roosevelt was right on the money. If we think we are loved by others, hell, we are not even loved by our own citizens. How disrespectful we treat our leaders, from the President on down. How we run rough shot over our founding fathers, our laws, our fighting men. Have we the attention of some of our enemies? Yes, but not all. Take Iran. Pray to God they don't kill us before we awake the monster that can take them out.
The Wind and the Lion is a deep movie as John Milius is one of our greatest screenwriters and his words are biting. A movie make thirty-six years ago about American imperialism, just after the VIet Nam War, was not trashed then, and today stands up to our national concerns. Listen to what it says and you might understand how our presidents should play the hands given to them. Play the fool (as in Presidential hopeful Ron Paul) and blink, our country might be gone sooner than you think.
I can remember my first viewing in the summer of 1975 at the Will Rogers Theater on Western Avenue in Oklahoma City. The imagery of Brian Keith playing my favorite US President Teddy Roosevelt blew me away. The cutting screenplay by Director John Milius, especially the words given to Keith and Sean Connery, playing
Berber brigand Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli, were manly, and telling of two leaders that had their shit together. Any politician of the current day needs to listen to the words of Mr. Roosevelt and his take on how the United States needs to conduct business in the modern world.
Dialogue from the movie:
Pres. You know as well as I do we can't have errant desperadoes running around kidnapping American citizens. If I could, I'd go there with a couple of Winchesters...battalion of marines, but I can't do that, can I? Obviously he has no respect for human life! Threatening the lives and property of American citizens. It's an insult in the eyes of the world community, you realize that? What do I want? I want respect! That's what. Respect for human life and American property. And I'll send the Atlantic Squadron to Morocco to get respect.
Mr. Hall: That's Illegal.
Pres. Why spoil the beauty of the thing with legality?
From this you can see that our President was not a going to let American interests be trod upon by others. He demanded respect and if not given he would make sure we got it. Look at how we bow down to the little Hitler in Iran. Disgusting. Do you not think we would have that situation taken care of if we would have a President as strong a leader as Teddy was. It makes me sick to my stomach that we are now going to watch Iraq go into a civil war between religious factions now that we are leaving this county with over 4,000 dead and countless others who will suffer the effects of war.
Dialogue from the movie:
Pres. The American grizzly bear is a symbol of the American character: strength, intelligence, ferocity. Little blind and reckless at times. But courageous beyond all doubt. And one other trait that goes with all previous. Loneliness. The bear lives out his life alone.....indomitable, unconquered.....but always alone. He has no real allies, only enemies, but none of them are as great as he.
Newspaper man; you feel this might be an American trait?
Pres. Certainly. The world will never love us. They respect us. They may even grow to fear us. They will never love us...for we have too much audacity....and we're a bit blind and reckless at times, too.
Roosevelt was right on the money. If we think we are loved by others, hell, we are not even loved by our own citizens. How disrespectful we treat our leaders, from the President on down. How we run rough shot over our founding fathers, our laws, our fighting men. Have we the attention of some of our enemies? Yes, but not all. Take Iran. Pray to God they don't kill us before we awake the monster that can take them out.
The Wind and the Lion is a deep movie as John Milius is one of our greatest screenwriters and his words are biting. A movie make thirty-six years ago about American imperialism, just after the VIet Nam War, was not trashed then, and today stands up to our national concerns. Listen to what it says and you might understand how our presidents should play the hands given to them. Play the fool (as in Presidential hopeful Ron Paul) and blink, our country might be gone sooner than you think.
Greatest War Film You Haven't Seen Might Be the GREATEST War Film Of All Time
I like war movies. I have seen most of them and have the DVD copy of most of the top 100 rated and many more that are not considered that great. Two years ago I selected a film on Netflix with the title Come and See (1985) by the Russian director Elem Klimov (1933-2003). The visual experience on a TV screen in standard definition (the DVD was not in high def) was nothing to write home about. The emotional experience was equal to films such as Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. You will never forget this film if you view it. And please don't ever think this world is devoid of a God. To have evil so vile on earth God must exist to counter balance it.
A review by Rob Halpin from London, England sums it up: Come and See , well if you hate violence and brutality then you certainly wont want to see this. This Picture set in 1943 occupied Byelorussia is most probably the most true to life war movie ever, only Saving Private Ryan and Schindlers List can come close. What is amazing in this picture , is how the director uses a child's perspective and view in circumstances that you can only describe as evil. The director pulls no punches in how bad times actually were for peasents and partisans alike as German and collaborators show the viewer how low and depraved a fascist military machine actually is.
I dont want to go into the plot , as this film is a MUST for anyone who considers themselves a film buff. Disturbing and terrifying scenes do not in anyway spoil the flow of the film , but when viewing this film , please desist from seeing this movie in the early evening , as you wont sleep.
The acting accolades of course goes to the main characters , but I wish to give a special mention for the Russian Partisan Commander , who was just simply , superb. Everything about him was what you'd expect a Red Army Officer to be. The looks , the attitude and the steely determination is simply a credit to the actor. The best scene involving the Red Army Commander was when they had captured an Einsatgruppen Unit , and the SS soldier , who knew they were facing death was allowed to speak , after there own Commanding Officer was pleading pitifully for his own life. The SS soldier tells his captors that they are sub-human and that there peasent belief in Marxism was grounds enough that they should be eradicated. The Red Army Commander then in just a few words tells his men , that they are not just fighting for Socialism , but also the right to exist.What happens after...well you'll have to see.
Come and See is nothing short of disturbing, awesome, powerful and brutal. This is the best film I have ever seen regarding films portraying the Eastern Front 1941-1945 war. This film should be engraved in gold as the standard for any budding war film director. Only Saving Private Ryan and Schindlers List can be put in the same League table.
Reviewer Vlad B sums it up: The title, "Come and See", taken from the frequently repeating lines of the book of Revelation, clearly dares the audience to assume the role of St. John, witnessing the Apocalypse, or rather one of the darkest periods in the history of humankind. What we are assaulted with, plays somewhat like a demented version of "Modern Times" transpiring across the panel of Brueghel's "Trimuph of Death", if such a combination is possible. The camera is consistently filtered through a murky, slightly unfocused gaze, and the sound is often heard through shellshocked ears. This tends to eirly distance the events, yet make them even more frightening and unsettling. Much of the dialogue lacks specific meaning or even concrete sentences - it is replaced by subhuman growling, wailing and other spine-chilling, gluttural sounds of the war. What the director prepares is something Spielberg would never even dream of - no sign of compromise with the audience.
Come an See is one of the most significant movies I have ever seen. Great movie by a great director.
Footnote: On June 16, 2010, Roger Ebert posted a review of Come and See as part of his "Great Movies" series, describing it as "one of the most devastating films ever about anything, and in it, the survivors must envy the dead...The film depicts brutality and is occasionally very realistic, but there's an overlay of muted nightmarish exaggeration...I must not describe the famous sequence at the end. It must unfold as a surprise for you. It pretends to roll back history. You will see how. It is unutterably depressing, because history can never undo itself, and is with us forever."[13]
A review by Rob Halpin from London, England sums it up: Come and See , well if you hate violence and brutality then you certainly wont want to see this. This Picture set in 1943 occupied Byelorussia is most probably the most true to life war movie ever, only Saving Private Ryan and Schindlers List can come close. What is amazing in this picture , is how the director uses a child's perspective and view in circumstances that you can only describe as evil. The director pulls no punches in how bad times actually were for peasents and partisans alike as German and collaborators show the viewer how low and depraved a fascist military machine actually is.
I dont want to go into the plot , as this film is a MUST for anyone who considers themselves a film buff. Disturbing and terrifying scenes do not in anyway spoil the flow of the film , but when viewing this film , please desist from seeing this movie in the early evening , as you wont sleep.
The acting accolades of course goes to the main characters , but I wish to give a special mention for the Russian Partisan Commander , who was just simply , superb. Everything about him was what you'd expect a Red Army Officer to be. The looks , the attitude and the steely determination is simply a credit to the actor. The best scene involving the Red Army Commander was when they had captured an Einsatgruppen Unit , and the SS soldier , who knew they were facing death was allowed to speak , after there own Commanding Officer was pleading pitifully for his own life. The SS soldier tells his captors that they are sub-human and that there peasent belief in Marxism was grounds enough that they should be eradicated. The Red Army Commander then in just a few words tells his men , that they are not just fighting for Socialism , but also the right to exist.What happens after...well you'll have to see.
Come and See is nothing short of disturbing, awesome, powerful and brutal. This is the best film I have ever seen regarding films portraying the Eastern Front 1941-1945 war. This film should be engraved in gold as the standard for any budding war film director. Only Saving Private Ryan and Schindlers List can be put in the same League table.
Reviewer Vlad B sums it up: The title, "Come and See", taken from the frequently repeating lines of the book of Revelation, clearly dares the audience to assume the role of St. John, witnessing the Apocalypse, or rather one of the darkest periods in the history of humankind. What we are assaulted with, plays somewhat like a demented version of "Modern Times" transpiring across the panel of Brueghel's "Trimuph of Death", if such a combination is possible. The camera is consistently filtered through a murky, slightly unfocused gaze, and the sound is often heard through shellshocked ears. This tends to eirly distance the events, yet make them even more frightening and unsettling. Much of the dialogue lacks specific meaning or even concrete sentences - it is replaced by subhuman growling, wailing and other spine-chilling, gluttural sounds of the war. What the director prepares is something Spielberg would never even dream of - no sign of compromise with the audience.
Come an See is one of the most significant movies I have ever seen. Great movie by a great director.
Footnote: On June 16, 2010, Roger Ebert posted a review of Come and See as part of his "Great Movies" series, describing it as "one of the most devastating films ever about anything, and in it, the survivors must envy the dead...The film depicts brutality and is occasionally very realistic, but there's an overlay of muted nightmarish exaggeration...I must not describe the famous sequence at the end. It must unfold as a surprise for you. It pretends to roll back history. You will see how. It is unutterably depressing, because history can never undo itself, and is with us forever."[13]
Male Actors Need the Western Experience for Resume
Back in the day, most great male actors took roles in Westerns. Name the great ones and you can look and see that the Western genre was in their list of motion pictures. Even actors that were not considered "western" actors usually did at least one western, if not more. Today's best and greatest need to find western projects and show their skills. Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, and Christopher Walken are three examples of great actors that have displayed their talents in westerns. Past greats such as Gregory Peck, Spencer Tracy, Humphery Bogart, Anthony Quinn (and I can go on and on) may not be thought of as western actors but they all made their mark in great films of the west. The great Gangs of New York is an example of current actors working in roles set in the western past, even if was the Four Points in New York. Set during the Civil War, Gangs gave its actors the exposure of working in a period of time that we are forgetting. Daniel Day-Lewis, the greatest actor of our time, gave us Bill the Butcher for eternity. Other greats need to to the same.
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Michael Cimino-Talented Director of Heaven's Gate
Some film makers have great talent and make many money making films in their lifetime. Michael Cimino has directed just a few movies, many with mixed reviews, yet I consider him one of the great directors of our time. Winning a Best Director Oscar for The Deer Hunter in 1978, a great movie of the seventies, Cimino knows how to put violence and emotion on the big screen. Add Magnum Force, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and The Year of Living Dangerously, all excellent films, you pretty much named his successful movies. But you cannot forget Heaven's Gate, the cost override movie that put United Artists out of business. Directing the $44,000,000 movie in 1990, Cimino killed his directing career. Heaven's Gate is a film everyone must see. It's not a good movie. It is a movie that has scenes that you will never forget. Don't see it in one setting. Want to know what Wyoming was like during the Johnson County War in 1892 or what it was like to graduate from Harvard in the 1870's? This movie has Christopher Walken in it. That, by itself, is a must see. Again, violence is extreme. The sex is hard. This movie is tough to chew. It's not a great movie. It's an unforgettable movie. It is one of my favorite movies.
" On the basis of this track record, Cimino was given free rein by United Artists for his next film, Heaven's Gate (1980). The film came in several times over budget. After its release, it proved to be a financial disaster that nearly bankrupted the studio. Heaven's Gate became the lightning rod for the industry perception of the loosely controlled situation in Hollywood at that time. The film's failure marked the end of the New Hollywood era. Transamerica Corporation, the owner of United Artists, lost confidence in the company and its management, and sold the company.[20]
Heaven's Gate was such a devastating box office and critical bomb that public perception of Cimino's work was tainted in its wake; the majority of his subsequent films achieved neither popular nor critical success.[21] Many critics who had originally praised The Deer Hunter became far more reserved about the picture and about Cimino after Heaven's Gate. The story of the making of the movie, and UA's subsequent downfall, was documented in Steven Bach's book Final Cut. Cimino's film was somewhat rehabilitated by an unlikely source: the Z Channel, a cable pay TV channel that at its peak in the mid-1980s served 100,000 of Los Angeles's most influential film professionals. After the unsuccessful release of the re-edited and shortened Heaven's Gate, Jerry Harvey, the channel's programmer, decided to play Cimino's original 219 minute cut on Christmas Eve 1982. The re-assembled movie received admiring reviews." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cimino
" On the basis of this track record, Cimino was given free rein by United Artists for his next film, Heaven's Gate (1980). The film came in several times over budget. After its release, it proved to be a financial disaster that nearly bankrupted the studio. Heaven's Gate became the lightning rod for the industry perception of the loosely controlled situation in Hollywood at that time. The film's failure marked the end of the New Hollywood era. Transamerica Corporation, the owner of United Artists, lost confidence in the company and its management, and sold the company.[20]
Heaven's Gate was such a devastating box office and critical bomb that public perception of Cimino's work was tainted in its wake; the majority of his subsequent films achieved neither popular nor critical success.[21] Many critics who had originally praised The Deer Hunter became far more reserved about the picture and about Cimino after Heaven's Gate. The story of the making of the movie, and UA's subsequent downfall, was documented in Steven Bach's book Final Cut. Cimino's film was somewhat rehabilitated by an unlikely source: the Z Channel, a cable pay TV channel that at its peak in the mid-1980s served 100,000 of Los Angeles's most influential film professionals. After the unsuccessful release of the re-edited and shortened Heaven's Gate, Jerry Harvey, the channel's programmer, decided to play Cimino's original 219 minute cut on Christmas Eve 1982. The re-assembled movie received admiring reviews." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cimino
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
I revisit this masterpiece every ten years or so. My 1990's viewing was on the big screen in a theatrical presentation in Oklahoma City at the former AMC Theatre on Memorial Rd. I can't remember the year, but I think it was shown for one of its birthdays. Every movie lover must see this movie on the big screen. My look at the grand movie last night was more intimate, at home on a really good large screen plasma in Dolby 5-channel. My next step will to purchase a Blue-Ray copy for my next visit in ten years or so. The blue-ray will be out sometime in 2012 for its 50th anniversary. Hopefully the movie will get the full treatment and the studio (Columbia) will give it another go on at the theater. My 2001 two disk DVD copy was my source for this latest look.
Never was a better epic, war, and action film made. Historically, it ranks somewhere as the second to six best film ever made. Personally, it is my third favorite film I have ever seen. What's not to like about an adventure film that includes such actors as Peter O'toole, Sir Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif, and Claude Rains. Big battles and great action to go along with strong dialogue and supreme acting set in the Middle East during the coming of age of the Arab uprising during the First World War. Historical characters such as Prince Faisal, T. E. Lawrence, Auda ibu Tayi, and Edmund Allenby give the movie significance. Cities such as Aqaba and Damascus, the great Suez Canal, the Arabian desert, and the Turks all play their part. To sum up the movie in one word, Spectacular !
Hundreds of critics have reviewed this movie and I wouldn't try to write a critical review of Lawrence of Arabia. This mention of this movie is to make sure that anyone who has not viewed this film need to get a DVD copy and take a look. This movie, not withstanding its historical significance, is a must see. As Lawrence says in the move "I liked it."
Never was a better epic, war, and action film made. Historically, it ranks somewhere as the second to six best film ever made. Personally, it is my third favorite film I have ever seen. What's not to like about an adventure film that includes such actors as Peter O'toole, Sir Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif, and Claude Rains. Big battles and great action to go along with strong dialogue and supreme acting set in the Middle East during the coming of age of the Arab uprising during the First World War. Historical characters such as Prince Faisal, T. E. Lawrence, Auda ibu Tayi, and Edmund Allenby give the movie significance. Cities such as Aqaba and Damascus, the great Suez Canal, the Arabian desert, and the Turks all play their part. To sum up the movie in one word, Spectacular !
Hundreds of critics have reviewed this movie and I wouldn't try to write a critical review of Lawrence of Arabia. This mention of this movie is to make sure that anyone who has not viewed this film need to get a DVD copy and take a look. This movie, not withstanding its historical significance, is a must see. As Lawrence says in the move "I liked it."
Fine Actor Cliff Robertson Dies At 88
Cliff Robertson passed away today from natural causes one day after his 88th birthday. I can remember viewing many of his movies through the years and he was always a strong believable actor on the big screen. My favorite role was the British Major Alen Crown in the war movie The Devil's Brigade, which I viewed at the Plaza Theater in OKC. His role as former President JFK in the movie PT 109 and Charly Gordon in Charly which won him the Oscar as Best Actor of 1968 were top notch. Other films that I enjoyed with Mr. Robertson included Three Days of the Condor, 633 Squadron, and The Great Northfield Minnesota
Raid.
Tina Fineberg/AP
BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY (1973)
A Sports Film for the Ages
I was in my early twenties when the sports/buddy film Bang the Drum Slowly was released in 1973. I remember the film making a deep impact on my relationships with others, especially with people that were in one way or another different or had a special need in their life. This movie, considered one of the greatest sports films, is so deep that with every viewing you can come away with something different. The interactions between Henry Wiggin (Michale Moriarty), the star pitcher, and Henry Pearson (Robert DeNiro), the mentally challenged rookie catcher dieing from an illness, are unforgettable. The great character actor Vincent Gardenia playing the team manager Dutch adds to the outstanding cast of New York based actors. First time director John D.Handcock handles the transformation from the stage presentation in 1958 (Paul Newman stars) to the big screen deftly, giving the film a total emotional experience for men about men. The film is funny, the acting is outstanding, the baseball is right on, and the final emotional impact is real without being sappy. Bang The Drum Slowly tell you how to treat your fellow man and that is a big time theme. This movie is big time.
http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/03/12/bang-the-drum-slowly-1973/
http://youtu.be/OaaXbxMg4MU
http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/03/12/bang-the-drum-slowly-1973/
http://youtu.be/OaaXbxMg4MU
SHORT DVD REVIEW: Win Win Not a Sports Film
Looking for a good DVD to rent? Try Win Win, a film by Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor, The Station Agent) staring Paul Giamatti (John Adams). Strong in family values, consequences in decisons you make, and how families survive in todays economy, the movie is one of the best films of the year (98% fresh RT). If you want car crashes, shootings, sex, etc, go somewhere else. If you want a great story and outstanding acting, this is your ticket. Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) is especially good as the wife to Paul Giamatti. If you don't see the movie she just might beat you up.
