Nick Plowman over at
Fataculture inspired me to post the IMDB Top 250, which some consider to be a list of the best films of all time (I have my doubts). The ones I've seen are listed in bold, and you can click on the
few one that I've reviewed on this site.
So... out of 250 movies, I've seen a paltry 91. All right, let the ridiculing begin. I do have a teensy excuse, though: I haven't been
fully aware of my movie geekdom for all that long. Let a girl catch up.
OK, so feel free to express your outrage in the comments section. I'll even help you out. Fill in the blank: "You've never seen _________?!?! And you call yourself a movie buff? Shame, Nayana, shame."
- The Godfather (1972)
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- The Godfather: Part II (1974)
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly(1966)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Schindler's List (1993)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
- Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Casablanca (1942)
- The Seven Samurai (1954)
- Star Wars (1977)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
- 12 Angry Men (1957)
- Rear Window (1954)
- Goodfellas (1990)
- City of God (2002)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Usual Suspects (1995)
- Psycho (1960)
- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
- Fight Club (1999)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- North by Northwest (1959)
- Memento (2000)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- Sunset Blvd. (1950)
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
- The Matrix (1999)
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962) -- I started to watch this one, and fell asleep.
- Se7en (1995)
- Apocalypse Now (1979) -- I've started to watch this one TWICE. I suppose I'll try again.
- Taxi Driver (1976)
- American Beauty (1999)
- The Professional (1994)
- There Will Be Blood (2007)
- Vertigo (1958)
- Amélie (2001)
- American History X (1998)
- The Departed (2006)
- Paths of Glory (1957)
- M (1931)
- No Country for Old Men (2007)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
- The Third Man (1949)
- Chinatown (1974)
- The Lives of Others (2006)
- A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- Alien (1979)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- The Shining (1980)
- Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
- The Pianist (2002)
- Spirited Away (2001)
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- Forrest Gump (1994)
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- L.A. Confidential (1997)
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- Das Boot (1981)
- Requiem for a Dream (2000)
- Reservoir Dogs (1992)
- The Downfall (2004)
- Aliens (1986)
- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- Raging Bull (1980)
- Rashômon (1950)
- Metropolis (1927)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- Modern Times (1936)
- Singin' in the Rain (1952)
- Hotel Rwanda (2004)
- Rebecca (1940)
- Sin City (2005)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- All About Eve (1950)
- The Seventh Seal (1957)
- Some Like It Hot (1959)
- City Lights (1931) -- It's up next on my Netflix. Thanks, David.
- Amadeus (1984)
- On the Waterfront (1954)
- Life is Beautiful (1997)
- The Great Escape (1963)
- Touch of Evil (1958)
- The Prestige (2006)
- The Elephant Man (1980)
- Full Metal Jacket (1987)
- Jaws (1975)
- The Sting (1973)
- Cinema Paradiso (1988)
- Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
- The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
- The Apartment (1960)
- Braveheart (1995)
- The Great Dictator (1940)
- Blade Runner (1982)
- Strangers on a Train (1951)
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
- Batman Begins (2005)
- The Bicycle Thief (1948)
- High Noon (1952)
- Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
- The Big Sleep (1946)
- The Wages of Fear (1953)
- Notorious (1946)
- Back to the Future (1985)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- Ran (1985)
- Oldboy (2003)
- Fargo (1996)
- Unforgiven (1992)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
- Donnie Darko (2001)
- Princess Mononoke (1997)
- Cool Hand Luke (1967)
- Ratatouille (2007)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
- For a Few Dollars More (1965)
- Yojimbo (1961)
- The Green Mile (1999)
- Million Dollar Baby (2004)
- The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
- Nights of Cabiria (1957)
- Gladiator (2000)
- Into the Wild (2007)
- Die Hard (1988)
- Annie Hall (1977)
- The Battle of Algiers (1966)
- The Deer Hunter (1978)
- Ben-Hur (1959)
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- The Sixth Sense (1999)
- Platoon (1986)
- The General (1927)
- Life of Brian (1979)
- Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
- The Killing (1956)
- Wild Strawberries (1957)
- Amores perros (2000)
- Les Diaboliques (1955)
- Finding Nemo (2003)
- The Incredibles (2004)
- V for Vendetta (2005)
- Heat (1995)
- Brief Encounter (1945)
- The Wild Bunch (1969)
- Children of Men (2006)
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
- The Graduate (1967)
- The Princess Bride (1987)
- 8½ (1963)
- Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
- The Night of the Hunter (1955)
- Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
- The Big Lebowski (1998)
- Juno (2007)
- Stand by Me (1986)
- Crash (2004)
- Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
- Gandhi (1982)
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
- Snatch (2000)
- Harvey (1950)
- Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
- Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
- The Thing (1982)
- The African Queen (1951)
- Trainspotting (1996)
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
- Gone with the Wind (1939)
- The Gold Rush (1925)
- Groundhog Day (1993)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
- Beauty and the Beast (1946)
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
- Scarface (1983)
- The Conversation (1974)
- American Gangster (2007) -- This movie so does not belong on this list, IMHO.
- Patton (1970)
- Duck Soup (1933)
- Toy Story (1995)
- Twelve Monkeys (1995)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
- Nosferatu (1922)
- The Terminator (1984)
- Sleuth (1972)
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
- The Hustler (1961)
- Umberto D. (1952)
- Stalker (1979)
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
- Glory (1989)
- Ed Wood (1994)
- King Kong (1933)
- Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
- The Lion King (1994)
- The Exorcist (1973)
- Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
- Grindhouse (2007)
- Spartacus (1960)
- The Lost Weekend (1945)
- Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
- The Lady Vanishes (1938)
- The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
- Magnolia (1999)
- Stalag 17 (1953)
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
- In the Heat of the Night (1967)
- Run Lola Run (1998)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- Frankenstein (1931)
- Big Fish (2003)
- Out of the Past (1947)
- Casino (1995)
- Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
- Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
- Mystic River (2003)
- Toy Story 2 (1999)
- Once (2006)
- 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
- Rififi (1955)
- A Christmas Story (1983)
- Hot Fuzz (2007)
- Ikiru (1952)
- Dial M for Murder (1954)
- Manhattan (1979)
- Young Frankenstein (1974)
- Infernal Affairs (2002)
- Rope (1948)
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
- Roman Holiday (1953)
- In Cold Blood (1967)
- His Girl Friday (1940)
- Hero (2002)
- The 400 Blows (1959)
- Shaun of the Dead (2004)
- Harold and Maude (1971)
- La Strada (1954)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
- The Searchers (1956)
- In Bruges (2008)
- Le Samouraï (1967)
...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.
all hell breaks loose. There's a terrorist attack on a group of British royals; inexplicably, Jack jumps into the middle of it and thwarts the bad guys. Of course, the bad guys are pissed, so they come after Jack and his family. That's when the movie goes from a straight-up shoot-em-up to some seriously powerful emotional drama. There's one scene when Jack's standing over his broken daughter's hospital bed--you can see the pissed-off daddy rage boiling over through his eyeballs. You know, at that moment, that all hell is about to break loose. And, of course, it does. Jack jumps back into the CIA fray and not only brings down the terrorist organization, but wastes the chief baddie (Sean Bean) in an intense, unforgettable climax.
As most of my fellow film gluttons certainly know, TCM held their regular "31 Days of Oscar" film festival last month (God bless 'em). One of the many fantastic films I caught was the classic MGM musical (some say the best of all time) Singin' in the Rain.
Of course no one can compare to Hepburn and Bogey. I know that... everybody knows that. Her fresh face and elegant manner is inimitable, though it is hard to accept her as the frumpy teenager in the beginning of the film. And Bogart is just so damn moody and mysterious--but he doesn't project the vulnerability which is necessary to make Linus Larrabee (his character) work.
But what swept me away when I first saw Sabrina at 16--was Paris! Oh, how it made me want to go to Paris. The City of Lights is almost another character in the film; it's so pivotal to Sabrina's reinvention. That's evident in one of my favorite lines, spoken by Ormond as Sabrina: "I met myself in Paris." (Incidentally, the reinvention theme so strikes a chord with me right now.)
If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know I've had some trouble reconciling my love of movies with the attitudes of other Christians (yes, I'm a Christian) who believe that censorship is the way to go. After reading a fascinating and insightful post on censorship by my friend Rick over at Coosa Creek Mambo, I've got two new thoughts on the topic.
The movie begins blandly enough, with the two flirting in a chatroom, meeting at a diner, going to his place... but then he starts to feel kind of fuzzy. He passes out; when he wakes up, he's bound tightly to a chair, and the whole tone of the movie changes. We actually feel sorry for him... he doesn't seem so bad! We wonder why she tortures him as she does--is she a bit insane? Well, of course she is. But she's not wrong.
Hank's tough exterior only seems to crack once: in my favorite scene, when he tells a young boy the story of David and Goliath. In that moment, we realize this guy's lost both his kids, and what a tragedy... because underneath all that gruffness lies a really cool dad.
