Monday, November 5, 2007

top 50 movies (50-41)

So this was going to be a Top 10 list, but it was impossible. Top 5 were easy, but it was impossible to differentiate between 10 and 11. (It was also impossible to differentiate between 50 and 51, but I felt less guilty because the movies were less great.) So instead, we're going with a 5-day installment, but before we begin...

HONORABLE MENTION: American Beauty, American History X, Back to the Future, Big Fish, Boogie Nights, Fletch, Hotel Rwanda, Major League, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Saving Private Ryan, The Shining

And now, the Top 50 Movies of All-Time...

50. Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: A man robs a bank to pay for his lover's operation; it turns into a hostage situation and a media circus.
PERFORMERS: Al Pacino, John Cazale
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Charles Durning
INTERESTING FACTS: Based on the real-life story of John Wojtowicz (who watched The Godfather, starring Al Pacino and John Cazale, the day he robbed the bank)...Pacino's performance as Sonny Wortkiz was #4 on Premiere's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All-Time..."Attica! Attica!" was #86 on the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All-Time
BEST SCENE: The phone conversation between Sonny and Leon.
BEST LINE: "Attica! Attica!"

49. Bull Durham (Ron Shelton, 1988)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: A fan who has an affair with one minor-league baseball player each season meets an up-and-coming pitcher and the experienced catcher assigned to him.
PERFORMERS: Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Robert Wuhl
INTERESTING FACTS: In a memorable line, Costner says he believes "Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone"; in JFK, Costner plays Jim Garrison, who devoted much of his life to proving that the JFK assassination was a conspiracy...The part of Crash Davis was originally written for Kurt Russell, who helped Shelton develop the script...Sarandon and Robbins both claim that of all the films they've worked on in their respective careers, this is their favorite
BEST SCENE: The rain-out scene.
BEST LINE: "Well, Nuke's scared because his eyelids are jammed and his old man's here. We need a live...is it a live rooster? We need a live rooster to take the curse off Jose's glove, and nobody seems to know what to get Millie or Jimmy for their wedding present...We're dealing with a lot of shit."

48. Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife.
PERFORMERS: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Joe Pantoliano
INTERESTING FACTS: Anterograde Amnesia is the real-life name for the condition that Leonad suffers from in the film...Alec Baldwin was Nolan's first choice for the role of Leonard...The screenplay is based on a short story ("Memento Mori") by Nolan's brother (Jonathan Nolan)
BEST SCENE: Natalie reveals that she is helping Leonard because her boyfriend was killed by Teddy.
BEST LINE: "My wife deserves vengance. Doesn't make a difference whether I know about it. Just becuase there are things I don't remember doesn't make my actions meaningless. The world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes, does it?"

47. The Negotiator (F. Gary Gray, 1998)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: In a desperate attempt to prove his innocence, a skilled police negotiator accused of corruption and murder takes hostages in a government office to gain the time he needs to find the truth.
PERFORMERS: Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Paul Giamatii
INTERESTING FACTS: Spacey was originally supposed to play Jackson's part, and Sylvester Stallone was supposed to play Spacey's part...The movie is dedicated to the late J.T. Walsh
BEST SCENE: Danny embarrassing Farley when he tries to talk Danny down.
BEST LINE: "You hurt one of them, you burn up any currency you have with me. They're all I care about. Getting you out of here alive... a distant second."

46. Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan, 2000)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: A suspense thriller with supernatural overtones that revolves around a man who learns something extraordinary about himself after a devastating accident.
PERFORMERS: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Spencer Treat Clark
INTERESTING FACTS: Eljiah (the name of Jackson's character) is a biblical character who returns to Earth to pave the way for the return of the savior...Three times before he is identified as "Mr. Glass" (as a newborn, as a child, and in the art studio), Elijah is revealed through a reflection (the delivery room mirrors, the TV screen, a glass frame)...Alliterative names (like David Dunn) are common for the "secret identities" of superheroes (Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Clark Kent, etc.)
BEST SCENE: David Dunn coming to the realization that Elijah caused all of those accidents while trying to find him.
BEST LINE: "To answer your question, there are two reasons why I'm looking at you like this. One because it seems in a few minutes you will officially be the only survivor of this train wreck, and two, because you didn't break one bone, you don't have a scratch on you."

45. Se7en (David Fincher, 1995)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: Police drama about two cops, one new and one about to retire, after a serial killer using the seven deadly sins as his MO.
PERFORMERS: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: R. Lee Ermey
INTERESTING FACTS: Kevin Spacey's character is identified in the credits only as "John Doe" (REM's Michael Stipe was once considered for the role)...Spacey was originally supposed to receive top billing at the beginning of the movie, but Spacey insisted that his name not appear at the beginning at all, so as to hide the identity of the killer (his name is, however, first in the closing credits)...Denzel Washington turned down the part that went to Brad Pitt
BEST SCENE: Mills, Somerset, and John Doe in the car ride before they find Mills's wife's head.
BEST LINE: "I've been trying to figure something in my head, and maybe you can help me out, yeah? When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you're insane?"

44. The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen, 1998)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: "Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
PERFORMERS: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: John Turturro
INTERESTING FACTS: In an early draft of the script, it is revealed that the Dude made his money because he was the heir to the Rubik's Cube fortune, but Coen decided to cut that part and never explain it...The word "dude" is spoken 160 times in the movie, or roughly 1.5 times per minutes...White Russian: 2 parts vodka, 1 part Kahlua, 1 part cream
BEST SCENE: Walter's eulogy for Donnie.
BEST LINE: "Obviously you don't golf."

43. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: Dr. Frankenstein's grandson, after years of living down the family reputation, inherits granddad's castle and repeats the experiments.
PERFORMERS: Gene Wilder, Teri Garr
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Marty Feldman
INTERESTING FACTS: Gene Hackman plays Harold, the Blind Man, but was uncredited in the original cut...Wilder's performance as Dr. Frankenstein was #9 on Premiere's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All-Time...Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler wrote the band's hit song "Walk This Way" the day after seeing the movie, inspired by Feldman's famous line
BEST SCENE: The revolving bookcase.
BEST LINE: "What hump?"

42. Knocked Up (Judd Apatow, 2007)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: For fun loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant.
PERFORMERS: Seth Rogen, Katherie Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Kristen Wiig
INTERESTING FACTS: James Franco, who starred in Freaks and Geeks with Seth Rogen, was considered for the part of Ben Stone...Originally, the movie was supposed to be a follow-up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Rogen, et al. were supposed to reprise their roles as the Smart Tech guys
BEST SCENE: Alison and Debbie trying to get into the club.
BEST LINE: "Marriage is like a tense, unfunny version of Everybody Loves Raymond, only it doesn't last 22 minutes. It lasts forever."

41. Office Space (Mike Judge, 1999)
IMDB PLOT OUTLINE: Comedic tale of company workers who hate their jobs and decide to rebel against their greedy boss.
PERFORMERS: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Stephen Root
INTERESTING FACTS: Peter lives in the Morningwood Apartments...Milton's stapler was created by the prop department because Swingline didn't make any staplers bright enough to be seen on film (after the movie, Swingline began producing red staplers)
BEST SCENE: The guys destroying the printer in the field.
BEST LINE: "Why should I change? He's the one who sucks."

Later gators.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So much fun!! :)

I just saw The Big Lebowski because everyone thinks it's awesome...and I didn't really like it. I'm not sure why. I do like White Russians, though.