Monday, February 29, 2016
Movie #161: His Girl Friday
Movie #: 161
Movie Title: His Girl Friday
Year Released: 1940
Director: Howard Hawks
Notable Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Clarence Kolb, John Qualen
Short Description: A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: #58
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/28/2016
Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)
Rationale: There are not a lot of notable things to say about His Girl Friday other than the dialog was witty and Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell complimented each other very well. In a good way it felt much more modern than a movie from 1940. As I’ve said before regarding other movies, I don’t know if it’s necessarily a top 100 all time movie, but it’s probably a top tier example of movies from that age in film making.
Movie #163: Duck Soup
Movie #: 163
Movie Title: Duck Soup
Year Released: 1933
Director: Leo McCarey
Notable Cast: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Margaret Dumont, Raquel Torres, Louis Calhern, Edgar Kennedy
Short Description: Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: #60
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: #100
Date Watched: 2/27/2016
Grade: 1 out of 5 (Poor)
Rationale: The Marx Brothers are simply not funny. Fleeting moments may have been mildly amusing, particularly the mirror scene, but not enough for me to have liked Duck Soup on any level. In fact, the only good thing about Duck Soup is that it’s barely over an hour long so I didn’t waste too much time watching it.
Friday, February 26, 2016
Movie #164: Amadeus
Movie #: 164
Movie Title: Amadeus
Year Released: 1984
Director: Milos Forman
Notable Cast: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice, Jeffrey Jones, Simon Callow, Charles Kay, Christine Ebersole
Short Description: The incredible story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told by his peer and secret rival Antonio Salieri - now confined to an insane asylum. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #89
Ranker.com: #71
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/25/2016
Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)
Rationale: Other than Tom Hulce’s laugh, which is earsplitting and annoying, Amadeus in general is excellent. Two parts, though, stand out as among the greatest performances I’ve seen so far in the top 251 movies I’ve watched and maybe of any movie I’ve seen. As an old man F. Murray Abraham’ character Antonio Salieri recounts his and Mozart’s story in a way that’s both beautiful and beautifully sadistic, leaving the priest he’s speaking to visibly disturbed. Abraham’s performance as Salieri is so emotional that the spite and disdain for Hulce’s Mozart was almost palpable. As good as that was, the scene near the end of the movie in which a gravely ill Mozart unknowingly assists in composing his own requiem, or death song, as Salieri writes it down is better. I literally paused the movie at the end of that scene and said “wow” out loud. Abraham and Hulce both ended up receiving Oscar nominations for Best Actor with Abraham very deservedly winning in my opinion.
Movie #165: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Movie #: 165
Movie Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Year Released: 1977
Director: Steven Spielberg
Notable Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, François Truffaut, Bob Balaban
Short Description: After an encounter with U.F.O.s, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: #59
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/24/2016
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)
Rationale: Close Encounters was not at all what I expected. Knowing it was from Steven Spielberg I was expecting something along the lines of another famous alien movie of his, the family friendly E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. They’re really not similar at all. Close Encounters has an element of fear that I don’t recall E.T. having, particularly with a home invasion/abduction sequence and creepy looking aliens at the end when you finally see what they look like. I enjoyed watching Richard Dreyfuss’s character Roy Neary fall deeper and deeper into his obsession with the mountain image in his mind, even to the point of driving his family away while thinking everything is normal and ok by tearing up their landscaping and making a giant sculpture in their living room out of dirt, plants, and garbage. Not my first choice for a sci-fi movie to watch, but it’s pretty good.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Movie #166: Finding Nemo
Movie #: 166
Movie Title: Finding Nemo
Year Released: 2003
Director: Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
Notable Cast: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney, Geoffrey Rush, Andrew Stanton
Short Description: After his son is captured in the Great Barrier Reef and taken to Sydney, a timid clownfish sets out on a journey to bring him home. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: #59
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/21/2016
Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)
Rationale: Finding Nemo is a example of Disney and Pixar at their finest. It contains a near perfect combination of beautiful visuals, a compelling and fun story, memorable and quotable lines, excellent voice acting and gorgeous music in a way that only the paring of Disney and Pixar can devise. Not much more needs to be said than Finding Nemo is absolutely in the top tier when referring to best animated movies of this generation or any other.
Movie #167: Nashville
Movie #: 167
Movie Title: Nashville
Year Released: 1975
Director: Robert Altman
Notable Cast: Henry Gibson, Ronee Blakley, Geraldine Chaplin, Scott Glenn, Allan F. Nicholls, Cristina Raines, Keith Carradine, Allen Garfield, Lily Tomlin, Ned Beatty, Michael Murphy, Karen Black
Short Description: Over the course of a few hectic days, numerous interrelated people prepare for a political convention as secrets and lies are surfaced and revealed. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: #59
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/20/2016
Grade: 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory)
Rationale: If done right I'm usually a fan of movies that have ensemble casts that are all considered to be the stars, with their own storylines that end up being connected in some way. The stories in Nashville were entertaining, I just had an issue with the sheer amount of "major" characters. The list I provided above is most but not all since there were just some characters that I didn't feel needed to be included. Jeff Goldblum, for example, is in the movie but shown only a few times and says nothing when on screen. His character ultimately seemed pointless. I did like that the musical numbers the characters sang were original and actually performed by the actors, not voiceovers from other singers, but as I thought with the characters, there were too many songs. Literally about an hour of the film features full length songs sung by the characters, a good portion back to back with no breaks in between. Overall there was too much going on.
Overall Best to Worst: #176-251
Overall Best to Worst of #176-251
This list is my overall best to worst of every movie I've seen so far on my list of 251. I fully expect this list to get harder to compile every time I finish a set of 25 movies and need to incorporate those, but it'll be fun to see how I rank all 251 movies when I'm done. Without further ado, here it goes.
This list is my overall best to worst of every movie I've seen so far on my list of 251. I fully expect this list to get harder to compile every time I finish a set of 25 movies and need to incorporate those, but it'll be fun to see how I rank all 251 movies when I'm done. Without further ado, here it goes.
| Movie # | Movie Title | My Grade |
| 198 | Apollo 13 | 4.5 out of 5 (Outstanding) |
| 218 | Gran Torino | 4.5 out of 5 (Outstanding) |
| 212 | Argo | 4.5 out of 5 (Outstanding) |
| 181 | The Intouchables | 4.5 out of 5 (Outstanding) |
| 233 | Sophie's Choice | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 205 | Cinema Paradiso | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 186 | The Prestige | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 215 | Groundhog Day | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 249 | Star Trek | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 235 | Persona | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 248 | Cinderella Man | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 207 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 223 | Training Day | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 238 | Ocean's Eleven | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 209 | Iron Man | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 250 | The Sting | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 189 | Tootsie | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 200 | The Bourne Identity | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 176 | Cabaret | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 185 | Once Upon a Time in America | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 193 | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 202 | In the Heat of the Night | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 226 | Rain Man | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 213 | The Great Escape | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 240 | A Fistful of Dollars | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 232 | When Harry Met Sally | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 190 | Cool Hand Luke | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 208 | The Thin Red Line | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 244 | The Untouchables | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 229 | Catch Me If You Can | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 199 | Ratatouille | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 246 | Shaun of the Dead | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 192 | The Breakfast Club | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 184 | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 206 | Rosemary's Baby | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 178 | Edward Scissorhands | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 227 | Magnolia | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 210 | The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 251 | Ben-Hur | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 216 | Airplane! | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 224 | Bringing Up Baby | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 177 | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 194 | The Wild Bunch | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 225 | Kill Bill: Volume 1 | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 182 | Strangers on a Train | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 197 | Requiem for a Dream | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 201 | A Matter of Life and Death | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 211 | Wild Strawberries | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 242 | The Last Picture Show | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 231 | Swing Time | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 214 | Brazil | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 222 | The King of Comedy | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 237 | The French Connection | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 234 | The Big Sleep | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 204 | All the President's Men | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 221 | Carrie | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 228 | The Conversation | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 241 | Grease | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 196 | Trainspotting | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 191 | The Great Dictator | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 195 | Das Boot | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 247 | Yankee Doodle Dandy | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 217 | Easy Rider | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 179 | Harold and Maude | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 180 | The African Queen | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 236 | Spirit of the Beehive | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 243 | Do the Right Thing | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 203 | Manhattan | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 187 | The Seventh Seal | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 188 | Three Colours Red | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 239 | Princess Mononoke | 1 out of 5 (Poor) |
| 245 | Shadow of a Doubt | 1 out of 5 (Poor) |
| 220 | Blue Velvet | 1 out of 5 (Poor) |
| 183 | Tokyo Story | 1 out of 5 (Poor) |
| 230 | Metropolis | 1 out of 5 (Poor) |
| 219 | A Night at the Opera | 1 out of 5 (Poor) |
Recap of Movies #176-200
Adjustments
Movie #: 176
Movie Title: Cabaret
Original Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)
Adjusted Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)
Movie #: 183
Movie Title: Tokyo Story
Original Grade: 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal)
Adjusted Grade: 1 out of 5 (Poor)
My Best to Worst of #176-200
| Movie # | Movie Title | My Grade |
| 198 | Apollo 13 | 4.5 out of 5 (Outstanding) |
| 181 | The Intouchables | 4.5 out of 5 (Outstanding) |
| 186 | The Prestige | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 189 | Tootsie | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 200 | The Bourne Identity | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 176 | Cabaret | 4 out of 5 (Excellent) |
| 185 | Once Upon a Time in America | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 193 | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 190 | Cool Hand Luke | 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good) |
| 199 | Ratatouille | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 192 | The Breakfast Club | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 184 | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 178 | Edward Scissorhands | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 177 | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 194 | The Wild Bunch | 3 out of 5 (Good) |
| 182 | Strangers on a Train | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 197 | Requiem for a Dream | 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory) |
| 196 | Trainspotting | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 191 | The Great Dictator | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 195 | Das Boot | 2 out of 5 (Fair) |
| 179 | Harold and Maude | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 180 | The African Queen | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 187 | The Seventh Seal | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 188 | Three Colours Red | 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal) |
| 183 | Tokyo Story | 1 out of 5 (Poor) |
Friday, February 19, 2016
Movie #168: The Bourne Ultimatum
Movie #: 168
Movie Title: The Bourne Ultimatum
Year Released: 2007
Director: Paul Greengrass
Notable Cast: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Albert Finney, Paddy Considine
Short Description: Jason Bourne dodges a ruthless CIA official and his agents from a new assassination program while searching for the origins of his life as a trained killer. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #92
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: #69
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/18/2016
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)
Rationale: My grade is based solely on the action (both the fight scenes and the chase scenes) and the acting. All of the first three Bourne movies are top notch in those areas. The grade for The Bourne Ultimatum isn’t as high as what I gave The Bourne Identity because the story is wash, rinse, repeat at this point. How many times can a government agency come after Bourne while he’s trying to track down new pieces of his past based on fragments of memories he’s recalled? I don’t want to call the story boring, but it was teetering on that ledge. Hopefully the new, upcoming Bourne movie with Matt Damon deviates from that path and is a bit more original than The Bourne Ultimatum.
Movie #169: Pan’s Labyrinth
Movie #: 169
Movie Title: Pan’s Labyrinth
Year Released: 2006
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Notable Cast: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil, Álex Angulo, Doug Jones
Short Description: In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #91
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: #70
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/17/2016
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)
Rationale: The one thing that will stick with me about Pan’s Labyrinth more than anything else is the designs of the fantasy characters, like the Faun and Pale Man, are the stuff of nightmares. We’re talking about almost satanic looking. Clearly it’s just a movie but I would never trust a creature that looks like the Faun and follow its commands so I can return to my place amongst royalty in the underworld. That sounds and looks too suspicious to me. That said, it had a pretty good story and was definitely unique. A bit predictable at points, but entertaining even if you think you know what’s coming. I’m glad I finally had a chance to watch it as I’ve wanted to for some time and I would again.
Movie #170: Come and See
Movie #: 170
Movie Title: Come and See
Year Released: 1985
Director: Elem Klimov
Notable Cast: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius
Short Description: After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet Army and experiences the horrors of World War II. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: #60
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/16/2016
Grade: 2 out of 5 (Fair)
Rationale: Come and See felt like a movie distinctly divided into two parts. The first half has a very trippy, bizarre scene set in the woods where Florya and Glasha frolic about after being left behind from combating the Nazi invasion of Russian controlled territory. After discovering that his townsfolk, including his mother and sisters, had been slaughtered by Nazis, Florya goes crazy and eventually attacks Glasha, prompting her to essentially abandon him and not be seen for the rest of the movie. That’s where the movie changes tone and becomes much more serious. The second half was clearly the more brutal of the two with its focus on a war zone. Nazis are shown burning a building with people in it that are unable to escape, including children. You’re forced to and listen to screaming but thankfully the camera pans away so you don’t see it but for a couple of seconds. That, among other instances, makes this a disturbing movie to watch for varying reasons.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Movie #171: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Movie #: 171
Movie Title: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Year Released: 1928
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Notable Cast: Maria Falconetti
Short Description: A chronicle of the trial of Jeanne d'Arc on charges of heresy, and the efforts of her ecclesiastical jurists to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #60
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/11/2016
Grade: 1 out of 5 (Poor)
Rationale: Completely unwatchable. Silent films require something other than visual cues of a person to progress the story and explain what’s happening, whether that be through music or the classic text boxes that appear letting you know what someone is saying or thinking. Unfortunately there was absolutely no music, making this the most silent of silent films possible, and text boxes were few and far between. I was constantly left with watching people “talk” and had little idea of what was going on. The vast majority of the film is shot in close-ups of heads so emotions like fear, anger, happiness, and sadness were obvious, but with no spoken or written words to describe why characters had those emotions I lost interest within minutes of starting the film. How anyone can like this film is as mysterious to me as what the characters were "saying."
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Movie #172: Casino
Movie #: 172
Movie Title: Casino
Year Released: 1995
Director: Martin Scorsese
Notable Cast: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Alan King, Kevin Pollak, Frank Vincent, Pasquale Cajano
Short Description: Greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two mobster best friends and a trophy wife over a gambling empire. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: #69
Lifed.com: #93
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/10/2016
Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)
Rationale: I enjoyed Casino, especially the unique touch of double narration by De Niro’ character Ace and Pesci’s character Nicky, but by the time the second hour finishes and you realize there’s still another hour to go, fatigue sets in quick. The movie felt like it was done in numerous small parts because of jumps in time and I lost count of how often we see Ace struggling to manage a casino and keep a low profile while his whore, druggy wife Ginger runs off with her only real love (money) to her former pimp and his friend Nicky gains more power as a crime lord. The whole thing seemed repetitive in nature yet thankfully with evolving circumstances each time to stave off boredom.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Movie #173: Sullivan’s Travels
Movie #: 173
Movie Title: Sullivan’s Travels
Year Released: 1941
Director: Preston Sturges
Notable Cast: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Robert Greig, Eric Blore
Short Description: A director of escapist films goes on the road as a hobo to learn about Life...which gives him a rude awakening. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: #61
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/9/2016
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)
Rationale: With an intriguing premise, witty dialog and a non-over-the-top slapstick humor, Sullivan’s Travels pleasantly surprised me. Compared to other movies of that era that I’ve watched, it holds up better than most against the test of time. I was especially impressed with Veronica Lake and her strong on screen presence considering she was only 19 when Sullivan’s Travels was made. Both Lake and Joel McCrea played off each other very well. I did think the car chase scene at the beginning of Sullivan’s adventure was amusing but a bit too dramatic and the crowd’s reaction near the end of the movie to a Mickey Mouse cartoon was obnoxious to listen to.
Movie #174: The Lives of Others
Movie #: 174
Movie Title: The Lives of Others
Year Released: 2006
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Notable Cast: Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme, Hans-Uwe Bauer
Short Description: In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #61
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 2/8/2016
Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)
Rationale: Even though it was late at night and I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish until close to 1pm on a work night, there was something so compelling about The Lives of Others that I just had to finish it that night. It’s always a good feeling when you’re that engaged in a movie. As I’ve thought with many others that have received “Good” grades from me, this wouldn’t be one that would ever jump to mind as a top 100 all time movie, but it was absolutely worth watching once. My only bit of criticism is that Ulrich Mühe’s character Wiesler is presented right off the bat as a hard-ass interrogator for the Stasi in communist East Berlin and either it was lost in translation or went over my head, but I couldn’t figure out what exactly compelled him about the couple he was spying on to forgo his duty by forging documents and lying about his findings. They were interesting, but not enough to risk the wrath of the East Berlin government.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Movie #175: American Graffiti
Movie #: 175
Movie Title: American Graffiti
Year Released: 1973
Director: George Lucas
Notable Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Harrison Ford
Short Description: A couple of high school grads spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: #62
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 1/30/2016
Grade: 2 out of 5 (Fair)
Rationale: I’m going to keep this one relatively short as there isn’t much to say. I found American Graffiti to be a boring, Fonzie-less version of the TV show Happy Days and the entire time I was watching it I wished I was watching Happy Days instead. Heck, American Graffiti even stars two future Happy Days alumni, Ron Howard and Cindy Williams. Harrison Ford being cast as a tough, street racing cowboy seemed comically odd and unfortunately he was given little screen time.
Movie #178: Edward Scissorhands
Movie #: 178
Movie Title: Edward Scissorhands
Year Released: 1990
Director: Tim Burton
Notable Cast: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall, Kathy Baker, Alan Arkin
Short Description: A gentle man, with scissors for hands, is brought into a new community after living in isolation. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: #66
FilmCrave.com: #100
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 1/26/2016
Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)
Rationale: I’m not a fan of Tim Burton because the design and story of most of his movies doesn’t appeal to me on any level. That said I actually enjoyed Edward Scissorhands. I felt he went minimalistic in his odd set and costume designs compared to other movies of his and I appreciated that. I’d even say things like the bush and ice sculptures that Edward cut where pretty cool looking. Surprisingly the story was one I found interesting too. I don’t feel this would make me want to watch other Tim Burton films, but at least Edward Scissorhands was good.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Movie #177: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Movie #: 177
Movie Title: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Year Released: 1927
Director: F.W. Murnau
Notable Cast: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston
Short Description: A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: #82
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #83
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 1/27/2016
Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)
Rationale: Ah, a good old-fashioned silent film. Based on precedent and personal preference I’m always leery of watching films from this age of film, but Sunrise was actually decent. Visuals are clearly key when watching silent films and I thought the acting, stiff as it may have been given how acting as done 90 years ago, was fine. I don’t think it was necessarily special and I’m pretty positive I wouldn’t have it on a top 100 list of my own, but watching it once is worth it.
Movie #179: Harold and Maude
Movie #: 179
Movie Title: Harold and Maude
Year Released: 1971
Director: Hal Ashby
Notable Cast: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles, Charles Tyner
Short Description: Young, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral. (IMDB.com)
Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)
AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: #65
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A
Date Watched: 1/25/2016
Grade: 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal)
Rationale: It’s possible Harold and Maude is a very artsy, deep movie and I’m too low brow to understand it. I’d like the think, though, that Harold and Maude is a piece of garbage. The last half of the movie is watchable until the very end and mildly amusing in brief moments, but to have to sit through the first half isn’t fair. I thought Harold and his obsession with death and attempts at faking his suicide was just flat out stupid and not entertaining in the slightest way. Maude twice screwing with the police officer on the bridge was comical but her circumstances at the end of the movie left me frustratingly confused after I started to like her character. I want those two hours back.
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