News: James Franco and Anne Hathaway to Host 83rd Oscars

     Official word came in today that this year's Oscar ceremonies are going to be hosted by the tag-team duo of Anne Hathaway and James Franco. This seems like an obvious ploy to attract the Holy Grail of television ratings: the 18-44 audience. The Academy Award's ratings have been trending downward (for the most part) for about a decade or so and this is largely due to an evaporating younger audience that has lost interest in the once prestigious Oscars. I'm not sure if Franco and Hathaway are big enough names to draw in the "youngin's", but I guess this is the Academy's compromise between maintaining a certain level of professionalism and prestige, and appealing to the "chic and hip" crowd. The other interesting aspect of this choice is that it is almost a certainty at this point that James Franco will be nominated as Best Actor for "127 Hours", which creates an odd sort of conflict of interest situation. To my memory, there has never been a nominated actor that simultaneously hosted the Oscars, so whether Franco wins or loses I guess it should be interested (if not awkward). The main thing that bothers me about the decision is nether of these actors strike me as great comedians. It's true that Franco was funny in the stoner comedy "Pineapple Express", but that's because he was playing a character, not hosting an awards show. No matter how good a comedian is, the nature of the job is going to make it hard to pull off something memorably funny, but it would help if they actually used talented stand-up comedians. For instance, someone like the Golden Globe's host Ricky Gervais would be good, but I guess they don't want to look at copy cats. I would also be excited to see a pairing Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. How about you? Who is your idea as a perfect Oscar host?

News: Leslie Nelson Dies at Age 84

     I'm sure you know this by now, but I thought I would acknowledge the death of Leslie Nelson on Sunday. He died at the age of 84 due to complications from pneumonia. He is most famous for his career as a comedian later in life for roles in parody films such as "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun" and its sequels. I haven't seen this movies for many years, and even though I have the feeling they wouldn't quite live up to my memory if I watched them today, but I loved them as a kid. No matter what, these films stand miles ahead of the poor excuse for parodies films today like "Meet the Spartans" and his performances had a lot to do with that. Before his career as a comedian, Leslie Nelson was actually a serious dramatic actor appearing in films like "The Poseidon Adventure". It is sad news whenever a beloved film figure dies, and with the ever expanding impact of media on American culture, there are only going to be more and more of these sad announcements. I think though the best way to honor any person's memory is to discuss what stuck out about them in your mind, so if you have any cinematic  moments in Mr. Nelson's career that you would like to share, feel free to leave your memory in the comment section.

Top 100: 90-81

     Last week I started counting down my 100 favorite movies, revealing 100-91, and now this week I'm back at it again, counting down ten more movies (90-81). This week has an interesting mix of movies, leaning heavily towards newer films. After last week's heavy dose of the 1970's (seven out of the ten films were from the 1970's), I get much more up-to-date this week with half the films coming from the 2000's, one film from this year (in fact, the first film I reviewed for this blog), and all but one of the films coming from after 1990. In terms of genres, there isn't one that sticks out as much as comedy did with last week's batch, although four out of the ten films are bio-pics (biographical films). For at least three out of the four films though (and even the fourth film to some extent), they are not you're typical bio-pics. Instead of simply chronicling the events of the subjects life, each of these films mirror the personality of the subject, staying truer to the idea of the protagonist's life as an artist, which is the reason I enjoy the films so much. Finally, from the auteur's perspective, there are two films from the visually artistic Tim Burton. I'm not a fan of much of his recent work, but these two films show why he became a household name. Now on to the countdown!

Review: Skyline

     Every era in cinema history has its version of B-movies. Whether it is "Reefer Madness" of the 1930's, "Plan 9 from Outer Space" of the 1950's, "Silent Night, Deadly Night" of the 1980's, or "The Room" of the 2000's, no decade can escape the inevitable B-movie. As time goes on, I keep thinking there will be some point where the B-movie will disappear like some worn out old custom, because the evolved "modern man" will see how backwards and outdated movies with terrible acting and dialogue are. I mean, no one is "thrown into the gallows" anymore. We don't use torture devices like the iron maiden, we don't hold witch trials, and most countries don't even hang people in this day and age, so at what point can we permanently bury the B-movie. Well, for anyone hoping that this might be the decade where we could wave goodbye to the B-movie will be sorely disappointed, because now, even at this very early age of the 2010's, I can confirm this decade has at least one terrible B-movie in "Skyline".

News: Daniel Day-Lewis Set to Play Honest Abe

     Steven Speilberg has been preparing to direct an Abraham Lincoln bio-pic for about a decade now, but has consistently delayed it to direct something else. Well, it finally looks like Spielberg may be ready to get the project under way, as it was announced this week that Daniel Day-Lewis is set to play the famous sixteenth president. Apparently, Day-Lewis is checking out Lincoln's old stomping grounds in Illinois to research the role. Ever since the project was announced, Liam Neeson has been attached to be the film's star, but for some reason or another Daniel Day-Lewis has now taken over the role. I'm personally happy to see the change, but I am still skeptical about the project. Spielberg has the tendency to over-simplify things in his historic films, and even with Daniel Day-Lewis, I'm betting the film will be incredibly reverential, but we will have to wait and see. If you want to read more about the casting, clcik here.

Top 100: 100-91

     I have been wanting to do my own "Top 100 movies" list for a long time now. Lists like these have become an obsession in pop culture over the last decade or so, and while ranking any great art does somewhat of a disservice to the art, and all lists are more likely to start arguments more than anything else, the fun of seeing great films ranked and debating what should and shouldn't make the list ultimately outweighs the negative aspects in my mind. With any two individuals, their opinion on what constitutes a great movie is going to vary somewhat, and I would be shocked to find any two human beings on earth with the exact same list of their 100 favorite films, but that's kind of the point with these lists. There meant to start debates, and more than anything, they get people thinking and talking about good movies, which is definitely a positive thing.

     The only other negative aspect of making a top 100 list, and the only reason I considered not making the list, is that there are always more great films to see. In fact, three of the films that made my list I saw for the first time just within this last month, so unless you have seen every film in existence, your list is never really complete. I know for me at least, there are a lot of famous films I have yet to see, so every once and a great while, I may make updates to my top 100 list as I see new films and my opinions on older films change. I would also like to take the time here to make a little disclaimer: There were a lot of really great films that didn't quite make my top 100. It doesn't mean I don't think they're really good movies, but they just happened not to be in my top 100. So once I finish releasing my whole list, if one of your favorite films is not on it, it doesn't necessarily mean I didn't like it. In fact, I may love it, but once you have seen a lot of movies, 100 isn't as big a number as it sounds. This means a lot of really great films were left off my list, so after you see my complete list, let me know of some films that would be in your top 100, and I will let you know my thoughts on the films and whether they just missed my top 100 list.

     Before we get started, I thought I would just list some interesting facts about my list. The decade with the most movies in my top 100 was the last decade. It doesn't necessarily mean the last decade was the greatest in cinema history, but it makes sense that the decade I have seen the most movies from would have more films in my top 100 than any other. That being said, the 1970's had only one film less than the 2000's, so like most big top 100 movies lists, I guess I am a pretty big fan of the movies that were made during the 1970's as well. In terms of directors (or auteurs since this is auteurfan), there is a four way tie for the most movies directed in my top 100 list. Each of these auteurs directed five movies each on my list, but I don't want to give any hints as to which movies are on my list, so I won't mention their names yet (if you have any guesses though, feel free to guess).

     And now finally, the list. Each week I will be revealing 10 more movies on my list and writing a bit about why I love them. I will reveal the list in countdown fashion, so I will start with 100 and count my way down to my all-time favorite film. This week I will be revealing 100-91. Out of the ten movies for this week, five of them are comedies (although two of the comedies are a little on the serious side), one is a Best Picture film, and another is a foreign film that was a co-production between two different countries. All the films skew a bit older this week, as the newest film on here comes from the mid-80's. Enough teasing though, it is time to get to movies!

Review: Iron Man 2

     Continuing my recent trend of catching up with summer movies I wasn't willing to pay for at the theaters, I checked out "Iron Man 2", one of the many summer sequels earlier this year. The first "Iron Man" was a pleasant surprise back in 2008 and was well reviewed by critics who are usually not too fond of superhero or action movies. One of the main reasons for the film's positive responses was that the film moved along at a quick pace and had a very likable care-free attitude, personified by its lead actor, Robert Downey Jr. Anyone familiar with Hollywood's obsession with sequels will know that the second time around, things are rarely as fresh. So how about "Iron Man 2"? Does it pull off the rare feet of being a great sequel, a la "The Godfather Part 2" and "The Empire Strikes Back", or does it go the typical route of most sequels in being lackluster versions of the original?