10. Lucky Number Slevin- I thought the trailer made this movie look alright and it had Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman in it, so it couldn't have been all bad. However, after sitting through the first about 5 minutes of this thing, I knew I was in for something different. Josh Hartnett finally figured out how to act and the lines in this thing are hilarious. Yes, it borrows from Pulp Fiction and the twist can be figured out in the first 20 minutes, but it does not take away the enjoyability factor of it. It movies very quickly with a Strong sense of wit and direction and when it was over, I just walked out smiling because of how much I enjoyed myself. It is not a well known or oft seen movie so this is my plea for you to go rent it.
9. The 40-y old Virgin- This is a very rare comedy that did not do much for me in the trailer, but turned out to be crazy hilarious. I had a free ticket and 2 hours to kill and with nothing else worth seeing at the theater I decided to take this movie in. I knew Judd Apatow from Undeclared and that he was one of the "minds" behind the god awful Anchorman garbage and I was not sold on Steve Carell, so I was expecting nothing. What I got was a highly quotable, hilarious yet touching romantic comedy. The one-liners are fast and furious, Paul Rudd showed why he is necessary in comedies and the rest of the supporting cast turned this thing into movie with infinite replay value. It birthed a few careers and helped give way to the new R-rated comedy resurgence.
8. Scream- The slasher flick was dead and Wes Craven was hanging on for dear life when he directed this movie. It starred some t.v stars and was written by a no name (Kevin Williamson). The biggest buzz about the movie was that Drew Barrymore appeared in it and that is never a good sign. I was working at the theater when this was set to be released so we got to watch a midnight showing of it and wow was it an absolute blast. Instead of falling into every horror movie cliche, it made jokes and references to them and it was a smart, funny and still very scary movie. The costume for the killers was beyond creepy and Craven proved why is the master of the slasher flick by making everyone look guilty and the opening sequence is still an iconic slasher flick scene. I still get laughs and scares out of this today.
7. Mean Girls- Forget what you know about Lindsay Lohan now because at one point she was poised to rule the box office and this movie is the reason for it. This movie broke her out of the Disney image and proved she could carry a smart movie. Of course the real credit goes to Tina Fey for a brilliantly hilarious script. I didn't even want to see this movie much but I was incredibly glad I did. I laughed loud and often as almost all of the side gags worked and the basic story was a lot of fun to watch. It had been a long time since a movie set in high school had come across so smart and managed to play into cliches without making them seem so cliche. It is a lot silly, but it is done in a way that made it work for me and Tim Meadows cameo always makes me giggle.
6. Hairspray- I have to say that I Am not a fan of the first movie and when I heard that John Travolta was going to be playing Edna Turnblad I was writing this movie off because it just could not work and I thought they should have let Harvey do it like he did on Broadway. Then the awful teaser trailer came out, then the actual trailers came out and I got to see that I was right about Travolta, he looked awful and I was sure he would ruin this movie. The director had only directed a bunch of crap- Bringing down the house, The Pacifier and Cheaper by the dozen 2 and with young unproven leads I did not expect anything. I certainly did not expect the absolute joy I got while watching this movie. What a fun, energetic, touching movie and wow was I wrong about Travolta. In fact everyone in this thing was picture perfect!
5. Good night and Good luck- A small budget black and white film about how one man took on the Senator McCarthy's red scare bullying that was directed by big time movie star George Clooney had no business being one of the best movies I saw that year. I thought it might be a fairly good film but instead it was a deep thinking, well acted, beautifully directed movie. Clooney, whose first directing job wasn't stellar, turns out to be a very wonderful director here, preferring the less-is-more approach here. All of the acting is fantastic and it is a movie I have highly recommended to people who love movies or love American history. I'll never forget the goosebumps I had when it was over because of how beautiful it truly was. It is a very straight forward old style movie, but it feels new and refreshing all at the same time.
4. Moulin Rouge- It is nearly impossible to explain this movie to someone who has not seen it, but it is a musical set in early 1900's Paris but most of the music is modern and the style is a futuristic orgy of colors and sounds. It is the most tragic love story I have ever seen but going in I wasn't even sure I'd like it. I had enjoyed Baz's first two movies (Romeo and Juliet and Strictly Ballroom), but I was not a huge Nicole Kidman fan and I was not at all sure what to expect. From the opening moments it is clear this not your usual musical, but it worked for me. It is funny, gorgeous, wildly weird and infinitely entertaining as well as heart breakingly romantic and the only real original song "Come What May" is a stellar love song. The play within a movie idea is funny as it parallels the movie itself and Ewan McGregor has the pipes of an angel. I can understand somewhat if people do not like this movie, but it is the only movie billed as a romance that makes me genuinely tear up because of how beautiful it all is.
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou- I know, I know, How can a Coen brothers movie be surprisingly good when all of their films are fantastic? Well easy, I would have never expected them to create one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Based loosely on the epic poem "The Odyssey" and featuring a bunch of hill billy blues and country music this movie could have been an absolute failure but with the Coen's odd sense of humor and some tremendous performances this movie turns out to be unbelievably good. George Clooney and John Turturro are at their best here and with great Cameos from John Goodman, Holly Hunter and Michael Badalucco this movie succeeds in every way. It even got me to like some sort of country music. This movie is a family favorite and I know most of it by heart but that doesn't stop it from being funny still. My dad, my Brother and I actually went to the concert of all the people on the soundtrack, that is how much we just love this thing. I never thought that in a list including The Big Lebowski, Fargo, Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing that a country musical would be my favorite Coen Brothers' movie.
2. Reservoir Dogs- Before he hit the national spotlight with Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino directed his first feature length film with this brilliant crime heist film. I watched it for the first time when I was 13, before Pulp Fiction cam out, so I had no idea what I was in for here. Something about the box of the VHS did it for me. This was right around the time when I was getting heavy into movies and renting pretty much anything I could find. From the opening moments I knew I was in for a treat. We meet our characters sitting around a table at a diner discussing Madonna and the ethics of tipping. This dialogue has nothing to do with furthering the plot of the movie and that is why I loved it. Finally there were people on screen just talking. Characters allowing us to get to know them through regular dialogue. The movie, told in sections from the present and the past is a flawless movie. The violence at the end remains one of my favorite closing scenes, the acting and script are both perfect and Tarantino shows he knows how to direct a movie. This movie is one of my favorite movies of all time, coming in at number 2 most days, which is saying a lot considering it was just some random movie I picked up at Blockbuster.
1. The Usual Suspects- This is my all time favorite movie, but when I first watched it, I went to see it because I just wanted to try my hand at sneaking into an R-rated movie. That is literally the only reason I saw this movie in 1995. My friends had started buying tickets for movies but going into R-rated movies and I wanted to do the same so this is the movie I chose. I walked in as the final trailer showed and for the next 100 minutes I was thrown into a world of movie perfection. The performances range from perfect to beyond perfect and the story while seemingly simple is a wonderful crime story. Kevin Spacey came into his own as an actor in this movie and Bryan Singer became a big name director with this movie. This movie made careers of about half the people in it, that is how good it is. There is a twist, but the movie is so good that repeat viewings do not diminish by knowing what happens in the end. This movie also features one of my favorite lines to ever be in a movie and it seems the perfect way to end this section "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. And like that... he is gone."
It seems a little easy to include my two favorite movies in this list, but it just goes to show you that sometimes you can find gems in the most random of places. I would love to hear about some movies that were pleasantly surprising to everyone else, for the simple fact that maybe it could be something I missed or perhaps someone saw a movie in a different way than I did and maybe I need to see a movie again. Also, feel free to talk about my picks as well, whether you agree or disagree.
1 comment:
I think "The Usual Suspects" was excellent, not only in it's storytelling and fantastic acting, but was how it captured our surprise at the end. I mean, what a classic!!!
"Kaiser Sose!!!!"
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