5 - Mr. Goodkat (Lucky Number Slevin). Bruce Willis tends to do well when it comes to being scary, even if he's not supposed to. Though Mr. Goodkat isn't scary, he is great at getting the job done. He thinks much farther ahead of everyone else. Take the scene at The Fairy's apartment. He hears the bodyguards behind the wall. He presses the button on The Fairy's necklace and stands there looking at the wall waiting with his two pistols drawn.
4 - Anton Chigurh (No Country For Old Men). Javier Bardem was scary as Chigurh. No doubt about it. His deep voice and expressionless face contributed to that. And his weaponry consists of a shotgun with a silencer and a cattle stun gun. The sound of the silenced shotgun when it shoots is disturbing. And every time the stun gun is shot, whether it's through a lock or an old man's forehead, it makes your heart jump. And even when he gets shot, he's a bad ass when he fixes the wound himself. He doesn't want to buy all the supplies. So he creates a diversion by lighting a piece of cloth hanging out of a car's gas tank in front of a pharmacy. When it blows, no one cares about anything but the explosion because they're either scared and trying to get somewhere safe, or curious and want to see the car after it's blown up.
3 - Vincent (Collateral). Tom Cruise's best performance. He is so smooth, like a snake. He just smoothly moves around attacking his prey, going unnoticed. His smoothness is exceeded by his slyness. He definitely benefits from having Max with him. When they're at Club Fever, all the cops and FBI believe Max to be Vincent. Vincent knows this because he had Max pose as him to get the information on his targets that Max eliminated. So what does Vincent do? He has Max approach target number four while he stays back and watches. But he's not just watching Max. He's checking around the club for security and bodyguards. He then takes them out one by one before taking out target number four, albeit after his cover is blown.
He can get out of nearly any situation. The two muggers in the alley. Both of them have guns, though only one has one already in his hand. Vincent first swats the gun out of one guy's hand and shoots him. But his gun is barely drawn from the holster. A hip shot. He then raises the gun, arms fully extended, and shoots the second guy.
2 - Colonel Mortimer (For a Few Dollars More). Yes, he's better than Clint Eastwood. Lee Van Cleef stole the show for me. His first target tries to escape on his horse. But Mortimer takes out his rifle and shoots the horse from a couple hundred feet with no scope. He doesn't shoot the guy. He shoots the horse. The guy has no getaway now. He then pulls out his magnum, attaches a stock to it (a handgun with a stock) and shoots the guy from a couple hundred feet away right in the forehead. No scope.
When Mortimer first confronts Eastwood, the two have a strange exchange. It starts out with stepping on each other's toes, literally. Then after slapping Mortimer to the ground, Eastwood pulls a quick shot on Mortimer's hat laying on the ground. He keeps shooting the hat until it's out of range for his gun. Then after Mortimer puts his hat back on, he pulls out his magnum, this time without the attachable stock. Again, from a couple hundred feet away, he shoots Eastwood's hat off his head and shoots it a couple more times, keeping it from falling to the ground.
1 - Leon (Leon the Professional). Leon is by the far the hardest man to bring down. Let's start with the opening scene. Everyone has a machine gun. Leon doesn't even use a gun! He pulls a guy over a ledge down a stairwell. He wraps a noose around another guy and hangs him. The main guy then accidentally shoots his own men behind a metal sheet wall.
But Leon's ultimate performance comes near the end. The SWAT team has Natalie Portman, and uses her to get to Leon. But Leon doesn't fall for any of it. Hanging from the ceiling, he takes out at least five SWAT officers without even being shot! He does get shot eventually, but continues to take out more SWAT officers.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Top 5 Comic Book/Graphic Novel Movies
5 - Iron Man. The suit is by far the best part about him, for obvious reasons. It's got a heads-up display that includes an altimeter and thermometer which can be used to improve flight performance. Even the "prototype" he creates while captive in the Middle East kicks ass with its flamethrowers. The prototype is even more intimidating. And the ability to fly and hover doesn't hurt.
4 - 300. No superheroes. Just an army of 300 Spartan soldiers. The ultimate alliance of any group of people. When they work together, which is always, they make an impenetrable force. When King Leonidas fights the Uber Immortal, it's not David vs. Goliath. It's David vs. Behemoth. The Uber Immortal takes a sword through the biceps, slashes to the lower legs, and a knife to the eye. And they are all mere annoyances to him. Keep in mind that the movie never intends to be historically accurate. It is based on Frank Miller's historical fiction writing.
3 - Batman Begins. This was the best Batman movie to date. Tim Burton's original was great, but having Tim Burton portray Batman is like Stanley Kubrick directing a James Bond movie. For the first time, Batman's origins are told accurately. It wasn't the Joker who killed his parents as portrayed in Tim Burton's film. It was Joe Chill, as Christopher Nolan accurately portrays it. The score and cinematography are key essentials in making this a movie that is not great, but excellent. Michael Caine's performance as Alfred is so enlightening, he appears to be more of a friend to Bruce Wayne than a butler. I also thought it was great to have not-as-popular villains like Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul.
2 - Sin City. This is the most accurately made comic book/graphic novel film ever made. You are practically watching the graphic novels on screen. The dialogue is almost verbatim, and the panels from the graphic novels were used as storyboard. There are numerous times when you could freeze the scene, and find that exact image in the graphic novel. Same angle, same characters and objects in the same locations in the same physical locations they appear at. There are four stories total that are told: "The Customer is Always Right," "The Hard Goodbye," "The Big Fat Kill," and "That Yellow Bastard." They are told individually instead of being interwoven together. "The Customer is Always Right" is the most accurate story. The dialogue, including the narration, is verbatim, and the shots are identical to the panels. Director Robert Rodriguez filmed this segment in order to convince Frank Miller that he was dedicated to making it as accurate as possible. Rodriguez wanted the movie to be so accurate, he had Miller co-direct with him. The cinematography is essential to making the movie fit the mood: dark, dirty, and sinful.
1 - The Dark Knight. Like I said before, "Batman Begins" was the best Batman movie ever. Until this came out. This starts out very fast. The robbery of the bank with the intro of the Joker with the beautiful musical score by Hans Zimmer. With a handful of scenes filmed in IMAX, including the bank robbery and semi-truck chase, the picture quality is so beautiful it leaves you speechless. While filming the chase scene with the semi-truck, one of the IMAX cameras was destroyed, leaving only three IMAX camera left in the world. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was so extraordinary. He won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, as well as 31, count them, 31 other awards, including the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screen Actor's Guild, and Critic's Choice posthumously. It was so extraordinary, that any scene without the Joker almost seems boring. There just isn't enough that can be said about how great Heath Ledger was as the Joker and how pivotal is was in making this movie into a mega-blockbuster. They even had Jerry Robinson, who co-created the Joker with Batman creator Bob Kane, work as a consultant of the film.
4 - 300. No superheroes. Just an army of 300 Spartan soldiers. The ultimate alliance of any group of people. When they work together, which is always, they make an impenetrable force. When King Leonidas fights the Uber Immortal, it's not David vs. Goliath. It's David vs. Behemoth. The Uber Immortal takes a sword through the biceps, slashes to the lower legs, and a knife to the eye. And they are all mere annoyances to him. Keep in mind that the movie never intends to be historically accurate. It is based on Frank Miller's historical fiction writing.
3 - Batman Begins. This was the best Batman movie to date. Tim Burton's original was great, but having Tim Burton portray Batman is like Stanley Kubrick directing a James Bond movie. For the first time, Batman's origins are told accurately. It wasn't the Joker who killed his parents as portrayed in Tim Burton's film. It was Joe Chill, as Christopher Nolan accurately portrays it. The score and cinematography are key essentials in making this a movie that is not great, but excellent. Michael Caine's performance as Alfred is so enlightening, he appears to be more of a friend to Bruce Wayne than a butler. I also thought it was great to have not-as-popular villains like Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul.
2 - Sin City. This is the most accurately made comic book/graphic novel film ever made. You are practically watching the graphic novels on screen. The dialogue is almost verbatim, and the panels from the graphic novels were used as storyboard. There are numerous times when you could freeze the scene, and find that exact image in the graphic novel. Same angle, same characters and objects in the same locations in the same physical locations they appear at. There are four stories total that are told: "The Customer is Always Right," "The Hard Goodbye," "The Big Fat Kill," and "That Yellow Bastard." They are told individually instead of being interwoven together. "The Customer is Always Right" is the most accurate story. The dialogue, including the narration, is verbatim, and the shots are identical to the panels. Director Robert Rodriguez filmed this segment in order to convince Frank Miller that he was dedicated to making it as accurate as possible. Rodriguez wanted the movie to be so accurate, he had Miller co-direct with him. The cinematography is essential to making the movie fit the mood: dark, dirty, and sinful.
1 - The Dark Knight. Like I said before, "Batman Begins" was the best Batman movie ever. Until this came out. This starts out very fast. The robbery of the bank with the intro of the Joker with the beautiful musical score by Hans Zimmer. With a handful of scenes filmed in IMAX, including the bank robbery and semi-truck chase, the picture quality is so beautiful it leaves you speechless. While filming the chase scene with the semi-truck, one of the IMAX cameras was destroyed, leaving only three IMAX camera left in the world. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was so extraordinary. He won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, as well as 31, count them, 31 other awards, including the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screen Actor's Guild, and Critic's Choice posthumously. It was so extraordinary, that any scene without the Joker almost seems boring. There just isn't enough that can be said about how great Heath Ledger was as the Joker and how pivotal is was in making this movie into a mega-blockbuster. They even had Jerry Robinson, who co-created the Joker with Batman creator Bob Kane, work as a consultant of the film.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Top 5 "Superior" Sequels
This list consists of movie sequels that are not only good sequels overall, but better than the movie that preceded it. If the third movie in a series is listed, that doesn't necessarily mean it's better than the first movie, just the second one, which preceded it.
5 - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Not only was this better than "Episode II: Attack of the Clones," but better than "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and "Episode I: The Phantom Menace" combined. I didn't think that Episodes I & II were that bad, but Episode III was great. It started out fast with the search and rescue of Chancellor Palpatine and ended with two great light saber fights, Yoda vs. Palpatine and Anakin vs. Obi-Wan, with the latter being the best possibly of every light saber fight there ever was.
4 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I liked this more than "Raiders of the Ark" also. "Temple of Doom" didn't even have a MacGuffin. In this, it was the Holy Grail and in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" it was the Ark of the Covenant. Sean Connery as Dr. Jones Sr. was great, as well as having Sallah, who wasn't in "Temple of Doom." I guess I missed the Nazis in "Temple of Doom." It was honestly nice seeing the Nazis again.
3 - For a Few Dollars More. I even liked this more than "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Clint Eastwood teams with Lee Van Cleef as Col. Mortimer to hunt down Indio and his gang. Plain and simple. Though they don't know about each other for a little bit. And their first encounter with each other is very memorable.
2 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This was significantly better than the first. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the protector makes you feel he's more evenly matched with the T-1000 than Kyle Reese was with the first terminator. Sarah and John Connor decided they could prevent judgment day from happening by eliminating Cyberdyne, something they could do while avoiding the T-1000. The climax beginning at Cyberdyne alone was better than the first terminator movie.
1 - The Dark Knight. "Batman Begins" was great. The best Batman movie ever. Until this came out. Starts out very fast with the bank robbery. They actually flipped the semi. No wires or special effects. Heath Ledger as the Joker is more than words can say. Whenever there was a scene without the Joker, it was usually boring. That's how great Heath Ledger was.
5 - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Not only was this better than "Episode II: Attack of the Clones," but better than "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and "Episode I: The Phantom Menace" combined. I didn't think that Episodes I & II were that bad, but Episode III was great. It started out fast with the search and rescue of Chancellor Palpatine and ended with two great light saber fights, Yoda vs. Palpatine and Anakin vs. Obi-Wan, with the latter being the best possibly of every light saber fight there ever was.
4 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I liked this more than "Raiders of the Ark" also. "Temple of Doom" didn't even have a MacGuffin. In this, it was the Holy Grail and in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" it was the Ark of the Covenant. Sean Connery as Dr. Jones Sr. was great, as well as having Sallah, who wasn't in "Temple of Doom." I guess I missed the Nazis in "Temple of Doom." It was honestly nice seeing the Nazis again.
3 - For a Few Dollars More. I even liked this more than "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Clint Eastwood teams with Lee Van Cleef as Col. Mortimer to hunt down Indio and his gang. Plain and simple. Though they don't know about each other for a little bit. And their first encounter with each other is very memorable.
2 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This was significantly better than the first. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the protector makes you feel he's more evenly matched with the T-1000 than Kyle Reese was with the first terminator. Sarah and John Connor decided they could prevent judgment day from happening by eliminating Cyberdyne, something they could do while avoiding the T-1000. The climax beginning at Cyberdyne alone was better than the first terminator movie.
1 - The Dark Knight. "Batman Begins" was great. The best Batman movie ever. Until this came out. Starts out very fast with the bank robbery. They actually flipped the semi. No wires or special effects. Heath Ledger as the Joker is more than words can say. Whenever there was a scene without the Joker, it was usually boring. That's how great Heath Ledger was.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Top 5 Ensemble Movie Casts
5 - Saving Private Ryan. Who's in it? Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon, Ed Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina, and some other not-so-big name actors including Bryan Cranston. Some are only cameos (including Ted Danson and Paul Giamatti). And Matt Damon, who is the title character, doesn't appear until a little past the half-way mark, which may not sound too bad. But to be exact, he appears at the one hour and forty-six minute mark in a movie that is two hours and fifty minutes long. My reasons for why this movie isn't ranked higher is that nearly half of the big name appearances are cameos, and some of the ones that aren't cameos are killed at some point.
4 - Ocean's Eleven (2001 remake). George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Scott Caan, Casey Affleck, Elliott Gould, Carl Reiner, Eddie Jemison, and Shaobo Qin make up the crew. Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia play the supporting roles. And cameos include Lennox Lewis, Wayne Newton, Siegfried and Roy appear as themselves as fight spectators, Topher Grace, Joshua Jackson make appearances at the beginning in Rusty's poker class.
3 - Pulp Fiction. John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Maria de Medeiros, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, and Bruce Willis are the top billed actors. Cameo appearances include director Quentin Tarantino, Kathy Griffin, Steve Buscemi, Julia Sweeney, and Alexis Arquette. Travolta, Jackson, and Thurman received Oscar nominations for their performances, though none of them won.
2 - Sin City. Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Elijah Wood, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Josh Hartnett, Powers Boothe, Rosario Dawson, Rutger Hauer, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Jaime King, Marley Shelton, and Nick Stahl star in the movie comprised of four individual stories with some intertwining. Frank Miller, the author of the graphic novels which are the bases for the movie, makes a cameo as a priest. With this many big name actors appearing, you would think that at least some are cameos. Not so. While some appearances are brief, they are pivotal characters.
1 - The Royal Tenenbaums. Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, and Gwyneth Paltrow all play pivotal roles that are seen throughout the entire movie, unlike the four previously mentioned movies. Alec Baldwin even narrates. Though there aren't as many big name actors as the other four movies, they are all bigger than some actors in the other four (Nick Stahl in Sin City and some of the "Ocean's Eleven" crew members like Shaobo Qin and Eddie Jemison), and they all appear in the movie for the majority of it, unlike Christopher Walken in "Pulp Fiction" or Matt Damon in "Saving Private Ryan."
4 - Ocean's Eleven (2001 remake). George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Scott Caan, Casey Affleck, Elliott Gould, Carl Reiner, Eddie Jemison, and Shaobo Qin make up the crew. Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia play the supporting roles. And cameos include Lennox Lewis, Wayne Newton, Siegfried and Roy appear as themselves as fight spectators, Topher Grace, Joshua Jackson make appearances at the beginning in Rusty's poker class.
3 - Pulp Fiction. John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Maria de Medeiros, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, and Bruce Willis are the top billed actors. Cameo appearances include director Quentin Tarantino, Kathy Griffin, Steve Buscemi, Julia Sweeney, and Alexis Arquette. Travolta, Jackson, and Thurman received Oscar nominations for their performances, though none of them won.
2 - Sin City. Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Elijah Wood, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Josh Hartnett, Powers Boothe, Rosario Dawson, Rutger Hauer, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Jaime King, Marley Shelton, and Nick Stahl star in the movie comprised of four individual stories with some intertwining. Frank Miller, the author of the graphic novels which are the bases for the movie, makes a cameo as a priest. With this many big name actors appearing, you would think that at least some are cameos. Not so. While some appearances are brief, they are pivotal characters.
1 - The Royal Tenenbaums. Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, and Gwyneth Paltrow all play pivotal roles that are seen throughout the entire movie, unlike the four previously mentioned movies. Alec Baldwin even narrates. Though there aren't as many big name actors as the other four movies, they are all bigger than some actors in the other four (Nick Stahl in Sin City and some of the "Ocean's Eleven" crew members like Shaobo Qin and Eddie Jemison), and they all appear in the movie for the majority of it, unlike Christopher Walken in "Pulp Fiction" or Matt Damon in "Saving Private Ryan."
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