Top 100: 20-11

     We're quickly approaching the finish line, as we get down to the cream of the crop in my personal view of cinema history (check out the previous weeks: 100-91, 90-81, 80-71, 70-61, 60-51, 50-41, 40-31 , 30-21). All these movies have had a great impact on me and my life, and I vividly remember the first (and in many cases multiple) time(s) I watched them. In short, I really love these films. The films are all over the map genre-wise this week (although there are my four favorite foreign films on the list, if you count that as a genre), with some of the darkest films in cinema history sitting beside some of the most feel-good inspirational movies ever made. I guess it illustrates my somewhat schizophrenic view of life, but regardless of the drastic differences in tone between the films, they are all made by expert auteurs with unique visions. And this week does have an amazing laundry list of some of the greatest directors to ever step foot behind a camera. I will let you read on to discover the great directors on this week's list, but I do have to mention the two appearances from the great Martin Scorsese, who is the only director with more than one film appearing on the list this week. No decade is represented by more than two movies this week, but I do reach my favorite films of 1930's, the 1980's, and the 2000's this week. Now on to the countdown!

News: Speilberg and Lucas. Two Friends, Two Very Different People

     I stumbled across this interesting article at "Sound On Sight"'s website and I thought I would pass it along to anyone interested (click here to read the story). The two part article compares and contrasts the two defining auteurs of their generation, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, in style, effect on cinema history, and personality. The article paints a much more flattering view of Mr. Spielberg than it does Mr. Lucas (or at least in my opinion), which isn't too surprising from the things I have heard before (or just watching the two speak). If your a fan of either of the two directors, and really even if your not (as long as you find different personality types interesting), it is definitely worth a read.

News: "The Dark Knight Rises" Gets Its Villains

     Today, the cat was let out of the bag (sorry for the pun, I couldn't help myself) when the people in charge of the Christopher Nolan Batman series announced that Catwoman and Bane are going to be the villains in the series final chapter. Ann Hathaway is set to play Selina Kyle (Catwoman) and Tom Hardy, who just worked with Nolan on "Inception", is going to play Bane. Now if you read my Top 100 article last week (and if you haven't, click here), you'll know I am a huge fan of the last Nolan Batman film, "The Dark Knight" (it ranked number 25 on my all-time list), so while I am looking forward to the conclusion of the series, I can't help but express some disappointment over the choice of villains. For one, I was hoping Nolan might explore characters from the Batman universe that hadn't already been put to the silver screen in the Tim Burton Batman films. While the Michelle Pfeiffer version of Catwoman in "Batman Returns" was decent, the "character" Bane in the Joel Schumacher directed "Batman and Robin" was hideous. Now while I haven't read any of the Batman comic books, I am assured by people who have that Bane is a much more interesting character than the one portrayed in the terrible excuse for a film that was "Batman and Robin", and I did get a small glimpse of this side of the character Bane in the excellent video game, "Batman: Arkham Asylum" (for any of you that play video games, I highly recommend this fun and well written game). I am also not too hot on the casting of Anne Hathaway, who I am not a fan of in general, but I was surprised at how great a performance Heath Ledger gave as the Joker, so who knows. I guess will just have to wait and trust in Christopher Nolan.

News: And the Train Kept A-Rolling. Globes Keep Things As They Are.

     The Golden Globes were held last night, and every single winner matched up with the odds-on-favorite winners come Oscar night. "The Social Network" winning Best Picture (Drama), Best Director, and Best Screenplay, Colin Firth winning Best Actor (Drama), Natalie Portman winning Best Actress (Drama), Melissa Leo winning Best Supporting Actress, and Christian Bale winning Best Supporting Actor are all to be expected at the 2010 Oscar ceremonies. In the television department, while I haven't seen too many of the shows, I was glad to see Steve Buscemi win an award. Buscemi is one of my favorite character actors (even going back to his work on the Nickelodeon show "The Adventures of Pete and Pete), and it was about time someone gave him an award for his great work (although I have not seen "Boardwalk Empire" yet). I also must mention what a great job Ricky Gervais did as the show's emcee. Gervais is my favorite comedian in the business today (if you haven't seen the original "The Office" or the show "Extras", do what ever you have to to watch these shows), and I was glad to see he did not use kid gloves on the self-adoring Hollywood types. Any actors, such as Tom Hanks and especially Robert Downey Jr., who can handle being poked fun at, need to learn to let their narcissism go, and how to take themselves (and their egos) less seriously. Anyway, if you want to check out at list of the winners click here. Also, the night before was the critics choice awards, who also put their patented stamp on this years inevitable winners, so if you want to check that out, click here.