I was thinking about making a yearly update of my top 50 favorite movies. My first (and last) list was in August 2006, and though it's only about May, here it comes again. Because I can, and some serious revisions have occured. Also, surprisingly some people enjoyed it (I'm not completely egocentric).

For those unfamiliar, it's a countdown of my top 50 favorite movies. Emphasis on favorite. Not what I think is the best (though there's obviously some connection), not what I think should be up top, not based on innovation or Oscar nominations (surprising, I know) or fear of embarrassment. Last year I wrote up a small note with each entry, and I plan to do that again. I'll also include an IMDb link and a note of how much it moved on the countdown.

The list will be posted in about 5-10 a day, starting on the first. No pictures this year though, because I'm lazy. Okay, maybe pictures for the top ten.

A lot can happen in a year, and I've seen a lot of new movies. Though, what kind of person would I be if a majority of my list wasn't the same? I take pride on my opinion, and while it may sway, its general feeling remains the same--just the element of favoritism sways. I'm anticipating about 35-40 of the movies making the cut again--at least.

So, here's the old list:

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. American Beauty
3. A Streetcar Named Desire
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. The Princess Bride
6. The Godfather
7. A Shot In the Dark
8. Some Like it Hot
9. Psycho
10. Annie Hall
11. Casablanca
12. All About Eve
13. Halloween
14. Clue
15. Dr. Strangelove
16. Sunset Blvd.
17. Lilo and Stitch
18. The Producers
19. Silence of the Lambs
20. Traffic
21. Finding Nemo
22. Blazing Saddles
23. Chinatown
24. Fight Club
25. The Godfather: Part II
26. Clerks
27. How to Lose a Guy In 10 Days
28. Moulin Rouge!
29. Reservoir Dogs
30. Mean Girls
31. The Usual Suspects
32. Gone With the Wind
33. Jerry Maguire
34. The Graduate
35. About a Boy
36. Chocolat
37. Ghostbusters
38. Army of Darkness
39. Schindler's List
40. 28 Days Later...
41. Breakfast at Tiffany's
42. Love Actually
43. The Shining
44. Mallrats
45. A Night at the ROxbury
46. My Cousin Vinny
47. Dawn of the Dead
48. Almost Famous
49. Shakespeare in Love
50. Scream

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Anyone who knows me well is aware that I think All About Eve is one of, if not the best movie(s) ever made. 'Eve' was written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (yeah, I spelled that without looking it up).

In some show on TV a while ago (maybe an intro to it on TCM or something), it was pointed out how Joe always had somewhat of a rivalry with his older brother, Herman (who wrote Citizen Kane, among other things). While Herman may have worked on the screenplay to the best movie of all time (according to a lot of people), Joe Mankiewicz is one of only two directors to win consecutive Best Director Oscars (the other being John Ford), and is the only person to win the best screenplay/best director pair twice in a row (1950 and 1951).

So we know that All About Eve (1950) took top honors for the 1951 ceremony, but what was Joe's previous winner? That movie was 'A Letter to Three Wives.'

'Letter' won Mankiewicz Director and Screenplay, but its only other nomination was Best Picture; unlike All About Eve, which had an enormous amount of nods, giving it huge potential (even over Billy Wilder's fantastic Sunset Blvd).

While 'Letter' is clearly no 'Eve,' it shares many similar themes that make it great on its own.

Opening with an invisible narrator (whom is never seen, but is voiced by Celeste Holm, who later appears in 'Eve') talking over the actions of three different women--their lives and husbands--she appears to be in total control, and it's clear that Addie Ross (the voice) is the principal conflict of the movie. As time progresses, and our three women are going on a riverboat without their husbands, they receive an ominous note addressed to the three of them from Addie saying that she has run off with one of their husbands; but the details end there. The women are stuck on this boat, each worrying that it may have been their husband that Addie's stolen.

The central chunk of the story is dealt with in three major flashbacks, one for each woman. Through these scenes, we see that Addie has played some form of previous love interest to their husbands, and that Addie Ross is also the epitome of 'class.' Reminiscent of Hitchcock's 'Rebecca,' the presence of Addie is felt strongly without her ever appearing on screen. We learn only of Addie through others' eyes, and her mystery would be seductive to the audience as well if we didn't see her ruining the main women's lives from an insider perspective.

Mankiewicz has always written sharp dialogue, with a high volume of references to literature, music, theater, movies, and even pop culture, and 'Letter' doesn't disappoint. He also has a talent for portraying women of all strengths and weaknesses, and while 'Letter' didn't churn out four Actress nominations ('Eve' had four women, and George Sanders), these women avoid stereotypes and outshine their male counterparts, except for possibly Kirk Douglas.

Not the classic movie that 'Eve' is, but definitely a solid picture, and a solid 9/10.

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Two things about DVDs:

First off, I can tolerate previews on a DVD, but I don't see the point of having a preview for the company that produced the movie (i.e. Miramax). Who cares if a bunch of best picture winners came from Miramax? The same can be said for numerous companies. And, regardless, I'm going to buy a movie I like on DVD whether it's from Miramax, or DreamWorks, or FOX, or whomever. Plus, I already have this DVD, because I'm watching it.

Secondly, I went to the DVD setup to put on subtitles, and the options were Spanish, and 'English for the hearing impaired.' Since when did English subtitles become only for the hearing impaired? I'm not hearing impaired and I happen to enjoy subtitles on my movies (when they're accurate--that is another rant for another time). Maybe 'for the hearing impaired' has stuff like [moans] or [softly], but either way, that phrasing bugs me.

Stupid Miramax.

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Earlier I was watching the Braves/Marlins game on TBS, and in the first inning, one of the guys hit the ball deep into the outfield (I forget which side, I think RF). Now the ball looked like it would be close to a home run, and one of the fans sitting back there f'ing reached over the fence to catch the ball. In the replay it clearly showed him sticking his hands below the yellow line, where the ball would've hit and not have been a home run.

What the hell kind of asshole fan would ruin the game like that? If it's out of there, fine, but he had to REACH DOWN to grab it. Batter gets a double, when it could've potentially been a triple, or an out. I think this was before the 3-run homer, so this could've probably changed the whole game. Well, in the end it wasn't actually close, but in theory... Use common sense, people.

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New template... this one may be permanent, may not be. We'll see.

I like the archiving better, at least that's a plus. Also, the black was getting too emo for my tastes.

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Went and saw three movies at the theater today, and ranking worst to best:

Fracture -- Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling

I hate doing summaries, so if you want one, go to IMDb. I generally like Ryan Gosling, but when he's paired up against someone as talented as Anthony Hopkins, his acting talent looks about as bad as mine. The movie has some tense moments, but falls into a lot of thriller cliches (it's so hard not to these days, I know). Any scene without Hopkins seems twice as long as it needs to be. Unfortunately the character development isn't too amazing either, and at no point was I thinking, "Man, I really hope Ryan Gosling wins," because there's no threat of dramatic change, and the whole plot banks on the immediacy of the situation Gosling is in.

Decent, but not good. 5.5/10

Meet the Robinsons (in 3D)

I don't know if seeing this movie in 3D was worth the extra $2.50, but it was still pretty awesome. The plot took a tiny bit too long to get going (on the criteria of a 'family film'), but once it did, it was plenty enjoyable. There was a solid supply of jokes, both for older and younger kids, and references to The Godfather always make me happy.

Not up to Pixar quality, but good fun. 7/10

The Hoax -- Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Stanley Tucci, Marcia Gay Harden

This was a viewing on a whim between the other two, and I'm glad I randomly picked it. Richard Gere has become quite the great actor over the last few years, turning in solid performances in Unfaithful, Chicago (which he was robbed an Oscar nod for), and now The Hoax. Gere is the shining point of the movie, selling his lies to the audience just as well as he does to McGraw-Hill. Alfred Molina also turns up a great perfomance, and the other supportings are strong as well.

Director Lasse Hallstrom shows again that he knows how to make outstanding work (Chocolat, The Cider House Rules), and doesn't waste a moment this time around; a great recovery from Casanova. It also helps to know a bit about Howard Hughes before watching this flick, so maybe watch The Aviator (shameless Scorsese plug).

Highly recommended. 8.5/10

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Wow, I haven't mentioned movies in three posts. That must be some kind of record.

I went and saw Grindhouse again, and it was even better than the first time. Still think Planet Terror was the better of the two, but I enjoyed Death Proof a lot more during round two.

I watched The Godfather earlier today. That movie only gets better with subsequent viewings, though this time I noticed something freaking weird. During the funeral, when Al Pacino stands up and sits down, there's some woman's face that randomly appears in the bottom right of the screen. After some research, it's his mother, and is because of some lens reflecting or whatever. Odd...

The Queen comes out on DVD Tuesday and I'm excited.

I've been slacking on the viewings, but here's some lightning reviews:

Mutiny on the Bounty - Gable is obviously amazing, and this movie is obviously great as well. I almost want to see the remake with Brando, but who knows if I ever will (probably will). 8.5/10
Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin is also, obviously, amazing. 9/10
Volver - Almodovar disappoints with his most recent. Penelope Cruz delivers, but it's not enough. 6/10
Top Hat - Fred Astaire? Ginger Rogers? I actually kind of want to buy this movie.... 8/10
Scoop - Woody Allen's latest is terrible, I'm sad to say.... wait, I already reviewed this one. Ok, guess I can stop now.

Slowly chipping away at AFI's 100... though they're updating it soon. I wish they'd hurry up and do that so Toy Story and American Beauty and LotR3 and maybe a few others can bump some of the ones I'm dreading. I'm also looking for an All About Eve bump up, fingers crossed. Why do I place so much on this list? AFI isn't really that great (especially since they didn't put The Departed in their Top Ten of 2007). I think their list is just the best overall. Maybe once I finish the whole list I'll reorder it. Yeah, I get that bored. It's fun to think about, though...

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(I know this probably has a legit answer that I could find with ten seconds of Google searching, but what's the fun in that?)

Let's take a hypothetical situation: A baby girl is born to two parents who for whatever reason (separation, maybe) give their child a hyphenated last name, i.e. Jane Brown-Smith.

Then little Jane grows up and wants to marry some dude whose last name is Davis. But for whatever reason, she wants to kind of keep her name, so she goes hyphenated again. Would her name then become Jane Brown-Smith-Davis? Or, even more extreme, if the guy had a hyphenated name, could she be Jane Brown-Smith-Davis-Monroe? What's the limits on hyphens in last names?

It'd almost be pretty fun if, say she's born Jane Brown-Smith, and then wants to marry a guy whose last name was Davis-Smith, her name could be Jane Brown-Smith-Davis-Smith.

Or, to save a lot of trouble and still achieve the same results, she could just go to whatever the office is and officially change her name to have all the hyphens she wants. I think the probability of that happening is much higher. But where's the fun in that?

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So Agatha Christie is quite the famous mystery writer, and one of her most popular plays is called 'The Mousetrap.' It's one of those with a group of people stuck in a house, one of which is the murderer and one is the next victim, a basic 'whodunit.'

Now Tom Stoppard wrote a comedy play called 'The Real Inspector Hound,' which is a parody of 'The Mousetrap.' I had to read 'Hound' for my Modern British Lit. class.

I'm going to do my final paper on 'Hound,' so I figured, as research, I would read 'The Mousetrap' out of good faith to the source material, and I came to realize that by reading the parody first, it completely ruined the experience of the original. I mean, it was still good, but all I could think about was the mocking premise of 'Hound.'

This happens more with movies--at least for me. I saw 'Night at the Roxbury' a few months before I ever saw 'Jerry Maguire,' so when I did finally see the 'You had me at "Hello"' scene with Tom Cruise and Renee, all I could think about was Chris Kattan telling Will Ferrell to shut up. But again, it was still good, just not as good. Plus, 'You had me at "Hello"' is possibly one of the most parodied lines ever.

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This is my 200th update, and instead of being something special or whatever, it is an unfortunately morbid post.

Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84

I know he was done writing and everything, but this is sad news. Vonnegut was one of the few authors I felt attached to (attached being defined as, 'liking more than one-two of their books, and loving at least one of them'). Sigh.

[I'm going to avoid the obvious SH5 joke.]

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When I first heard about 'Grindhouse,' I shrugged it off as a cheap marketing ploy, but for some reason, over the last couple weeks it became more appealing (probably from the marketing), so I saw it tonight.

In summary: fucking amazing.

For people who don't know, 'Grindhouse' is two ~90 minute movies in one feature, with fake trailers before and between. The first movie, 'Planet Terror' is a zombie movie written/directed by Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Sin City), the second, 'Death Proof' is a... well, semi-thriller, semi-horror movie written/directed by Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill).

On a first look, it appears Planet Terror is the stronger of the two films, and the main reason is it is 90 minutes of nonstop action and gore, then we're thrown into about an hour of witty dialogue and slow pace, which pales in comparison to the zombie-fest of the previous 'feature.'

I'm partial to zombie flicks, and Rodriguez does it about as awesome as anyone could want. There's straight up some of the most grotesque scenes I've seen, yet they're fantastic. I think it helps that Rose McGowan is extremely hot (this is fact, not opinion). Also, the whole concept of a machine gun for a leg may look stupid in the previews, but I assure you it's part of many laughs, as well as fantastic gore and carnage.

After some extremely hilarious pseudo previews, we get a somewhat typical Tarantino movie, with lots of sharp dialogue leading up to a semi-climactic incident, lots more dialogue, then a big climax. It's a rough transition (as I said above), but it's obviously well done. I'll even admit that though I hate Eli Roth, he was hilarious in this segment. Probably because he wasn't directing or writing, and just playing an asshole. Tarantino has always been great at setting up tension, making his audience just want to scream 'ALL RIGHT, SHOW US WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN,' and where most directors would fail to live up to huge expectations, this one's worth being patient. I don't want to ruin it.

I personally think Tarantino will never, ever top Pulp Fiction--but this was a good try. Not even close, but he achieved what he was aiming for, and that's all that really matters, right?

Planet Terror - 9.5/10
Death Proof - 8/10
Thanksgiving--Don't--Machete--Werewolf Women of the SS - 10/10
Grindhouse - 8.75/10

PS. QT can't act for shit.

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Earlier tonight I was going to see the Reno: 911! movie at the dollar theater with a couple friends, because the show is hilarious, so naturally the movie would be too.

We get there, and since it had been raining, for some ungodly reason the showing was canceled. Against my better judgment, we went to see Stomp the Yard instead (not for serious entertainment, but for laughs).

With a 2.1 rating on IMDb, making it #33 on their bottom 100, this is easily the worst movie of the year so far. Not only does it fit into every mold for a movie plot, ever, but the fact that one of the 'teams' is the 'Pythons' and they do the exact same motion as Ben Stiller's team in Dodgeball is beyond hilarious.

Also, the fraternity that our main character joins is Theta Nu Theta, and the only reason it's called that is so at the end of the movie they can use the cheesy joke of their routine being TNT explosive. Get it?

I got dizzy watching half the scenes because the director has no idea how to operate a camera. It's pretty obvious that he just strapped a camera to a flopping trout gasping for water and used that footage to record the scenes, since there's more jump cuts than an Aronofsky film. Except, you know, Aronofsky is a decent director, and whoever did this is a notch above my oscillating fan.

This movie is like a mix between Bring It On and Drumline, except the former is an amazing(ly cheesy, yet awesome) movie, and the latter had a somewhat decent structure (though, being in a real drumline for seven year, it was terribly inaccurate, and just terrible, but that's for another post). So actually, it's nothing like either of those.

God, what a piece of shit.

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So I sat down and read this whole novel tonight for class tomorrow... I'm so tired.

Crash (the novel, not the movie[s])

Ballard's novel is about people who get extreme sexual pleasure from car crashes, and have sex in pretty much every way, everywhere (mainly in cars). There are some interesting parts, but overall the novel aims at shock factor, and that works for about a hundred pages, but the book loses steam when it's obvious that the same scenarios are repeated over and over, often with repeating diction.

7.5/10

Hannah and Her Sisters

I've been on a Woody Allen binge lately. Michael Caine is pretty much one of the best actors around, and this movie was really good. The best out of these three, that's for sure. (That's all you get--I'm hella tired)

9/10

The Purple Rose of Cairo

You can always count on Woody Allen for absurd plots. Not the best movie, but I really liked it--especially the ending. Also, lots of good laughs (more than the movie before and after this one).

8/10

Scoop

Woody Allen's latest, with Scarlett Johansson, Allen himself, and Wolverine. Not a terrible plot, but there aren't many curve balls and the jokes only come from Allen, and even then they're not up to par. But then again, like Jon always says, "Even when a Woody Allen movie is bad, it's still pretty good." Good alternatives: Match Point, Anything Else (ok, not 'good,' but 'better')

5.5/10

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