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the B-movie will disappear like some worn out old custom, because the evolved "modern man" will see how backwards and outdated movies with terrible acting and dialogue are.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?

Review: Robin Hood

     Have you ever felt like you have done something before? Been somewhere before? Seen something before? That feeling of deja vu, is the feeling I had watching Robin Hood, a movie that does not contain a single original frame in its film reel (although I think it was shot digitally, but you get the drift). The cliches ticked off so fast, that I lost track of how many there are. It felt like a blitzkrieg of action/period piece stereo-types, and it left me totally dazed and confused, but nevertheless, I will give it my best effort to document as much of the blatant unoriginal parts of "Robin Hood" I can remember.

     First, let's start with the story. Instead of going the traditional route of telling the warmed over story of Robin Hood taking from the rich and giving to the poor (an actual misnomer since in reality, Robin Hood took money from the government and gave it back to the people), Ridley Scott and crew decided to tell a prequel of sorts. The film's story gives us a glimpse into the early years of Robin Hood, and how he changed from being a soldier in the crusades to a man of people fighting for justice and the anglo-saxon way. The decision to change the story is the only non-traditional thing about "Robin Hood", but unfortunately it was a poor decision. I understand the desire to tackle the story of Robin Hood from a new perspective, as the traditional story of Robin Hood has been done ad nausiem by Hollywood over the years, but to include a preposterous back story about Robin Hood's father drafting the Magna Carta and put to death because of it, only to have Robin Hood rediscover it and introduce to Prince John, is just stupid.

If I Picked the Winners: Best Adapted Screenplay 2008

    To get the idea behind this column, click here

  
     Before I get started on dissecting 2008's Best Adapted Screenplay race, I need to make an announcement about this column. I will be temporarily suspending this column either after this edition, or maybe next week's edition. Over the last week, I have been working hard on composing my own "100 Greatest Movies" list, and once it is done, I plan on releasing ten movies at a time each week, starting with 100-91. Since this will require a bit of time, I didn't want to attempt to do ten write-ups of some of my favorite movies and continue to rank different categories in Oscar history, which is why "If I Picked the Winners" will be going on a ten week hiatus while I count down my favorite movies.

     Now to the real point of this article: 2008. 2008 was an extremely disappointing year for me in terms of the Oscars (and the Super Bowl for that matter, but that discussion is better left for another blog).  The main reason for my dissatisfaction with the Academy Awards in 2008 was their sinful omission of "The Dark Knight", one the decade's greatest films, in the writing, directing, and picture categories. How on earth they managed to nominate typical "Oscar bait" films like "The Reader", "Frost/Nixon", "Milk", "Slumdog Millionaire", and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", but failed to nominate one of the most memorable movies in recent history is beyond me. In fact, I was so angered a movie that was so well received by the public and critics alike failed to live up to the Academy's "high-class" sensibilities, I considered boycotting the Oscars, but at the last minute I couldn't help but watch. The good part of this terrible snub was it lead the Academy to make some changes. Immediately, by the next year they expanded their Best Picture nominees to ten. The Academy felt this would make room for more movies from a variety of genres, such as action/drama films, which, with the very small sampling data of one year, has seemed to work so far.

     There were more problems though with the 2008 nominees than just "The Dark Knight". A number of other good films were mostly ignored by the Academy in favor of the stereo-typical films mentioned above. For instance,"Tropic Thunder" was one of the best comedies of the last decade in my book, but since the Academy has a perpetual bias against movies that make you laugh, it was not too surprising it did not get a Best Picture nomination. What was more surprising, was that three really good dramatic films, "Gran Torino", "Doubt", and "The Wrestler", failed to secure a Best Picture nomination, but garbage like "Frost/Nixon" did. What can I say, that's the Academy for you. Oh well, on to ranking the nominees.