Movie #4: Casablanca

Movie #: 4
Movie Title: Casablanca
Year Released: 1942

Director: Michael Curtiz
Notable Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid

Short Description: In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #3
IMDB.com: #25
Ranker.com: #17
Lifed.com: #16
Empire.com: #18
FilmCrave.com: #37
FlickChart.com: #13



Date Watched: 12/22/2016

Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)

Rationale: For most other movies I watch, 3 out of 5 is generally a respectable score. For a movie regarded so highly as Casablanca is, 3 out of 5 is unacceptable because I was expecting so much more than just average. Humphrey Bogart is an incredibly dry actor and it's a good thing the supporting cast was more than adequate to pick up the slack. Sure, the few famous movie quotes I recognized like "here's looking at you, kid" brought a smile to my face, but that was the only thing to smile about. I'm glad I've now seen it just so I can say I have.

Movie #88: Batman Begins

Movie #: 88
Movie Title: Batman Begins
Year Released: 2005

Director: Christopher Nolan
Notable Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe

Short Description: After training with his mentor, Batman begins his fight to free crime-ridden Gotham City from the corruption that Scarecrow and the League of Shadows have cast upon it. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: #63
Lifed.com: #85
Empire.com: #81
FilmCrave.com: #49
FlickChart.com: N/A



Date Watched: 7/7/2016

Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)

Rationale: In a world that’s full of superhero movies, you’d be hard pressed to find an origin story that’s more complete and satisfying than Batman Begins. Dark and gritty is a welcome tone compared to the flashy and disgusting Batman movies of the mid to late 1990’s. Christopher Nolan made excellent casting choices with Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as not-yet-Commissioner Gordon, and Liam Neeson as Batman’s foil Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul during the ascension of Neeson’s popularity surge in the 2000’s. While superhero movies may never fall into the realm of realistic, Batman Begins is the closest there is and I wholeheartedly appreciate the grounded feel of it.

Movie #31: The Shining

Movie #: 31
Movie Title: The Shining
Year Released: 1980

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Notable Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd

Short Description: A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #47
Ranker.com: #35
Lifed.com: #49
Empire.com: #52
FilmCrave.com: #28
FlickChart.com: #26



Date Watched: 10/31/2016

Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)
Adjusted Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)

Rationale: The Shining gets a 3.5 out of 5 almost solely based on the outstanding performance of Jack Nicholson. Without his performance as deranged hotel caretaker Jack Torrance it's likely The Shining falls flat on its face because his wife, played by Shelley Duvall, was annoying and their son, played by Danny Lloyd, seemed wooden. Really, there isn't much more that can be said beyond Jack is the man and definitely not a dull boy. On a side note, it was a total and pretty cool coincidence that this happened to be the next movie on my list and I watched it on Halloween night.

Movie #45: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Movie #: 45
Movie Title: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Year Released: 1968

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Notable Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood

Short Description: Humanity finds a mysterious, obviously artificial object buried beneath the Lunar surface and, with the intelligent computer H.A.L. 9000, sets off on a quest. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #15
IMDB.com: #93
Ranker.com: #51
Lifed.com: #82
Empire.com: #16
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: #83



Date Watched: 9/24/2016

Grade: 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal)

Rationale: What the hell did I watch? I literally don't know if I've been more perplexed and frustrated after watching a movie that's considered to be as good as 2001: A Space Odyssey supposedly is. The space scenes with HAL turning against the crew were what I expected the vast majority of the movie to be about since that's the most well know and/or liked part, but they were only a portion of the movie and honestly a bit boring with the lack of emotion in the characters. Easily the most disappointed I've been in a while watching a supposedly well regarded classic movie.

Movie #47: Memento

Movie #: 47
Movie Title: Memento
Year Released: 2000

Director: Christopher Nolan
Notable Cast: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano

Short Description: A man juggles searching for his wife's murderer and keeping his short-term memory loss from being an obstacle. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #33
Ranker.com: #66
Lifed.com: #32
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: #39
FlickChart.com: #72



Date Watched: 9/17/2016

Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)

Rationale: I've believed this for a while, but Memento further confirms my thought that "In Christopher Nolan I trust." The man is nothing but a genius and, along with Steven Spielberg, tops my list of favorite directors. I've seen other movies that start by showing you the end of a story and then jump back in time to show you how the movie gets to that ending in a very linear method. What I don't recall ever seeing is a movie that builds upon the initial flashback with an additional flashback layer that includes more past information. Over and over the building continues through adding more layers until you're finally at the beginning of the story and discover how it all started rather than seeing the ending first and jumping straight to the beginning. Though repetitive at times because each additional layer required a brief retelling of previous layers, it was an amazing way to watch a movie and Nolan delivers as always.

Movie #48: Reservoir Dogs

Movie #: 48
Movie Title: Reservoir Dogs
Year Released: 1992

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Notable Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen

Short Description: After a simple jewelry heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #71
Ranker.com: #47
Lifed.com: #62
Empire.com: #97
FilmCrave.com: #44
FlickChart.com: #25

Note: This is the first movie on my list to appear on six of the top 100 lists I used to compile the 251 movies I’m watching.



Date Watched: 9/17/2016

Grade: 4 out of 5 (Excellent)

Rationale: Upon finally seeing Reservoir Dogs, my opinion of not liking Quentin Tarantino movies has certainly changed for the better. There was just the right amount of classic Tarantino action, even with a small cast confined to a small area for most of the movie, and I found the story to be very smartly written. The few characters that you get back stories for had plenty of depth to explain their part in the crime and I wanted more as I thought it ran a bit short at 1 hour 39 minutes. The audience wanting more is one of the qualities of a great movie, though.

Movie #62: The Big Lebowski

Movie #: 62
Movie Title: The Big Lebowski
Year Released: 1998

Director: Joel Coen
Notable Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, John Turturro, Tara Reid, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Short Description: "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: #29
Lifed.com: #95
Empire.com: #43
FilmCrave.com: #71
FlickChart.com: #67



Date Watched: 8/17/2016

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)

Rationale: I wasn't disappointed with The Big Lebowski like I was Hail, Caesar! and I also didn't have a feeling of meh like after watching Fargo, so that's a plus for a Coen "comedy". Jeff Bridges did a good job as The Dude, but John Goodman was phenomenal as Walter. Most of the laughs came from something Walter said or did and Goodman was the highlight of every scene he was in. I didn't mind Sam Elliot as the narrator, but the two scenes with him in the bowling alley seemed out of place and the second of the two made the ending not flow as well as it could have. The Big Lebowski still doesn't make me a fan of the Coen brothers, but I don't dislike their work as much now.

Movie #66: To Kill a Mockingbird

Movie #: 66
Movie Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Year Released: 1962

Director: Robert Mulligan
Notable Cast: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, John Megna, Ruth White, Paul Fix, Brock Peters, Frank Overton

Short Description: Atticus Finch, a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his kids against prejudice. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #28
IMDB.com: #68
Ranker.com: #89
Lifed.com: #66
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: #66
FlickChart.com: N/A



Date Watched: 8/12/2016

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)

Rationale: To Kill a Mockingbird is a movie with two totally different stories going on at the same time and my feelings on them are polar opposites. I'm not a fan at all of anything related to Boo Radley and Scout and Jem's attempts to see what he looks like. I'm sure there's symbolism and importance in it that I'm not getting, even with Boo being important to the end of the movie, but it didn't click and wasn't for me. Everything involving the trial of Tom Robinson was superb and Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch delivers one of the most stirring and important speeches in cinematic history when addressing the jury in his closing arguments. That scene alone makes this a top movie in my mind.

Movie #91: The Searchers

Movie #: 91
Movie Title: The Searchers
Year Released: 1956

Director: John Ford
Notable Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood

Short Description: A Civil War veteran embarks on a journey to rescue his niece from an Indian tribe. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #12
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #84
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: #90



Date Watched: 7/4/2016

Grade: 2 out of 5 (Fair)

Rationale: To the best of my knowledge I’ve not previously intently watched a John Wayne movie. That said, I don’t know if it was just how his character was written or if Wayne’s own personality bled into the movie, but damn he was a racist ass in The Searchers. Every time Wayne’s character Ethan Edwards opened his mouth he was either insulting or yelling at the others in the search party or he was cracking unnecessary comments about the Cherokee Indians they were tracking. Even his character’s niece, who the search party was looking for, wasn’t immune to his wrath once he realized she’d been with the Cherokee too long. I get that times have changed and the world is far more PC now than in the 1950’s, but it really makes one wonder why being a racist ass was ok even back then. Definitely doesn’t make me want to watch more of his films if they’re like this.

Movie #110: The Night of the Hunter

Movie #: 110
Movie Title: The Night of the Hunter
Year Released: 1955

Director: Charles Laughton
Notable Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, Billy Chapin, Sally Jane Bruce

Short Description: A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery. (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: #71
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: #47



Date Watched: 6/1/2016

Grade: 1.5 out of 5 (Marginal)
Adjusted Grade: 2 out of 5 (Fair)

Rationale: Robert Mitchum absolutely pulls off creepy as Harry Powell when he’s stalking his step children because they know where the money is that he wants, but that’s as good as The Night of the Hunter gets. I never felt the movie was as suspenseful as it should have been and a few of the supporting actors were flat out bad with unconvincing acting. I noticed that this movie was remade in 1991 as a TV movie and that’s probably what this rendition should have been as well.

Movie #128: The King’s Speech

Movie #: 128
Movie Title: The King’s Speech
Year Released: 2010

Director: Tom Hooper
Notable Cast: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall, Derek Jacobi, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Gambon

Short Description: The story of King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it. (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: #35
Empire.com:
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A

Note: This is the highest ranking movie that only appears on Lifed.com's list.



Date Watched: 5/4/2016

Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)

Rationale: I found myself getting increasingly mad at The King’s Speech the deeper I got into it only because I struggled to understand the rationale of a Colin Firth’s King George VI fighting so hard against receiving speech help from Geoffrey Rush's Lionel Logue when that help was clearly working. The film hinted at mental abuse he received from his brother as kids in the form of teasing and from his father in the form of belittling, but if that’s solely the motivation for George’s unwillingness to try and general low self esteem it’s not emphasized enough. I’m still shocked that The Social Network didn’t win Best Picture instead of The King’s Speech as The Social Network was slightly better in my opinion.