In the late '90s, Cartoon Network was the king of edgey cartoons that could still appeal to a family-friendly audience (for instance: "Ed, Edd 'n Eddy" - three children practicing to become con artists, "Dexter's Laboratory" - a little boy who stays in his room all day long and has a pretty big secret that he keeps from his parents, "Johnny Bravo" - a buff womanizer trying to pick up women and "Courage the Cowardly Dog" - a dog protecting his often-neglectful owners from frightening horrors... among others). But when MTV started animated shows like "Beavis & Butt-Head", they had to come up with something new: an entire block of cartoons that would appeal to older teenagers. To start it off, they created a new talk show out of a very old character, "Space Ghost Coast to Coast"; the idea being that the famous cartoon character would interview celebrities (who often spoke to a guy in a "Space Ghost" costume and most likely never knew they were being talked to for a TV show). One episode involved country music superstar Willie Nelson, but its biggest impact would be in three other guest stars. Space Ghost, in the episode, had racked up a pretty big bill for a local restaurant and settling the debt meant the three mascots of said restaurant would show up: Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad. They caused chaos and unsettled Space Ghost enough that he eventually left the show in the middle of "broadcast". The episode's script was so strange and nonsensical it didn't air (or even get animated) until years later. But something about these characters struck a cord with Mike Rizzo, the head of [adult swim] (the moniker that Cartoon Network eventually created for its late-night programming). He employed Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro (two of "Space Ghost"'s head writers) to come up with a series involving said characters.
What the world got was "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", a cartoon that rivaled "Seinfeld"'s famous declaration that it was "a series about nothing". Maiellaro said in an interview with the AV Club, "We get to do things nobody else would let us do." And yet, [adult swim] viewers thought it was hysterical. The show followed no real formula: in the first season, it was said that the Aqua Teens were detectives facing off against monsters/strange creatures sent by the criminally insane mad scientist Dr. Weird and his reluctantly loyal assistant Steve (both voiced by C. Martin Croker). This was quickly dropped as Willis and Maiellaro lost interest. The plots soon began to revolve around the antics of the vain and egotistical Master Shake (voice of Dana Snyder), the experiments of the remarkably intelligent Frylock (voice of Carey Means) and the playfulness of the impressionable Meatwad (voice of Willis); they all live in a "third-world hellhole" in South Jersey next door to the slothful and lovably repugnant Carl Brutananadilewski (voice of Willis) who hates his neighbors and loves the band Boston (and other '80s hair rock bands). Often the Aqua Teens would come into contact with villains such as the Mooninites (two 8-bit video game characters) who try to scam them, MC Pee Pants (a dead rapper who keeps returning to the land of the living under different animal disguises voiced by mc chris), the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future (a time-traveling robot with an addiction to telling "severely long" stories) and the Plutonians (two dumb aliens out to conquer the universe if only they knew where to start). The show was famous for its non-sequitur endings (each episode is only 11 minutes long) and often Carl would end up dead. Still, viewership continued to rise and "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" quickly became a cult favorite.
[adult swim] fans were overjoyed when it was announced that an actual theatrical film based on "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" was heading to theaters. The only film to come from a Cartoon Network show prior to this was The Powerpuff Girls Movie. In adapting an 11-minute cartoon to a feature-length film, Maiellaro and Willis decided to finally tell the Aqua Teen's origin story. In their own ways, naturally. And without network censors, that meant a lot more swearing, sex jokes and comedic depravity than ever before.
NOTE: This is not the actual ATHF:MFFT trailer, but one of my own creation.
The Aqua Teens come into possession of a mysterious piece of gym equipment known as the Insanoflex. However, they cannot do anything with it without the final piece of its puzzling mechanics. Their neighbor Carl naturally offers no help, so the Aqua Teens set off on a journey to find the missing piece. Meanwhile, in space, the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future (voice of Maiellaro) teams up with the Plutonians, the passive Emory (voice of Mike Schatz) and the short-tempered Oglethorpe (voice of Andy Merrill), to prevent the Insanoflex from being put together as it could set off the end of the world. As the Aqua Teens travel, Frylock begins to have nightmares about his creation at the hands of Dr. Weird and comes to suspect there may be more to the story than he thought.
Naturally, the audiences seeing the film who hadn't seen the series were repulsed. Some were calling it the latest Dadaist piece of cinema since Tom Green's Freddy Got Fingered; a movie essentially designed to trick people looking for a comedy into seeing something surreal and disquieting to make them think more about themselves and the world around them. Methinks such critics were reading waaaaaay too much into it. It's utterly stupid, yes, but there is worthwhile entertainment in it. Of course, [adult swim] sent Carl out to encourage fans to see the film in theaters and not listen to negative criticism.
The film's random humor is hit and miss, but so much hit than miss. It goes to show how well the jokes fly in a shorter setting than over an hour. A cameo by Bruce Campbell as the lost member of the Aqua Teens, Surprisingly, the film actually made it onto the shortlist of nominees for Best Animated Feature in 2008. Not surprisingly, it didn't make the final list. But I'm sure if one asked Willis and Maiellaro, they'd definitely say it was a success. A sequel was bandied about for years, to be titled Death Fighter, involving the return and subsequent revenge of Dr. Weird. It never came to be as the series was brought to a close by the network in 2015, against the creators' desires. Supposedly, the heads of [adult swim] wanted to move on from the show that had been running since the programming block's debut.
While I do believe the creators are sincere in their declaration of the series actually being over and that it is not part of some elaborate hoax, it is quite a testament to how things will be different now at [adult swim]. There'll be original programming, like the ever-popular "Rick & Morty", but it won't have that in-house feel to it. "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" was the last of the old guard, the final cornerstone of what gave birth to a counter-cultural phenomenon - which included 13 seasons, a feature film, a PS2 video game, a Boston bomb scare and even a holiday music album. Sure it's not nearly as historical as "South Park" or "The Simpsons", but from where it was, it had a good run and left behind an indelible mark of adult-brand silliness that few will ever forget.
And now... just for fun... my favorite Aqua Teen Hunger Force episodes (random order, just how they'd like it).
"Balloonenstein" "Space Conflict from Beyond Pluto" "Super Bowl" "The Clowning" "Unremarkable Voyage" "Gee Whiz" "T-Shirt of the Dead" "Carl" "Intervention" "Last Dance for Napkin Lad" "Chicken & Beans" "Total Re-Carl" "The Cloning"
All my life I've been known as "the movie guy". The walking, talking IMDb. Among the questions I get most often -- "Why are you so into movies?" They make sense to me; they always have, they always will. "Are you, like, gonna make movies when you grow up?" I have made short films, yes, but as I get *older* I'd like to make features. -- is "What's your favorite movie?" For the longest time, I fought the question reasoning that to be a good student of film, one had to be open to all genres and all types of stories. Singling out one film more than others can be easy for some, but not for me. Still, I think I've finally sat down and realized what movies mean the most to me. The ones I know by heart because they know me by heart. My all-time favorites in a top 20 list. Now I've laid out a few ground rules for myself:
1. No Star Wars or Star Trek. Way too easy and I enjoy them all (except on the "Trek" side - Insurrection, Nemesis and Into Darkness). 2. For the purposes of this list, I'm staying with films that I currently own on Blu-Ray. That means nothing currently in theaters (believe me, that ain't saying much). 3. Because of the exclusions of Star Wars and Star Trek, trilogies ARE allowed. 4. I will not be beholden to this list for the rest of my life. Change is inevitably bound to happen (though for the top 5, it is very unlikely).
So here goes. My Top 20 Favorite Films. I'm going in reverse order to preserve surprises. There may be a few films on this list I talk more about than others (some on this list are classics everyone knows).
--- 20. Cloud Atlas (2012) Directors: Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer and Andy Wachowski
"While my extensive experience as an editor has led me to a disdain for flashbacks and flash forwards and all such tricksy gimmicks I believe that if you, dear Reader, can extend your patience for just a moment, you will find that there is a Method to this tale of Madness."
I'm quite aware there is not a lot of love for this movie. If you saw it and didn't like it, I can't tell you that you're wrong. However, if you believe the hearsay of this film without seeing it, I highly encourage you to set apart three hours for yourself and actually sit down and watch it. The directors themselves have acknowledged that this ambitious movie was hard to market because it was hard to condense to sell in a 30-second TV spot. All I know is that as soon as I saw that first extended trailer, I couldn't miss this movie. And to this day, I'm still incredibly taken by this movie. The way it was made (three directors - a brother and a sister and a unrelated Frenchman), the way it was cast (each of the main actors plays multiple parts; the two main leads play six roles each), the way it's edited (the film ranges from scenes set in 1849 to the far-flung future) and its legitimately epic storytelling (how does a man go from a villain to a hero?). The cast is fantastic and is some of their finest work. This movie is unique in that it's telling six different stories that happen to intersect in intriguing ways. One's a sea-faring voyage, another is a '70s noir and one is a modern-day "prison break" comedy caper; it's juggling genres like no other film I've ever seen. I'm told that the Wachowskis' new Netflix series "Sense8" takes a lot of cues from Cloud Atlas. I'm definitely intrigued and will have to catch up with it at some point. 19. Forrest Gump (1994) Director: Robert Zemeckis
"If there's anything you need, I won't be far away."
There's a lot of talk of "oh, this movie's overrated", "oh, if you really look hard enough this movie is nothing but tripe", blah, blah, blah. I only know that this movie works. It's a tour through 20th Century American History like no other. It's funny, it's poignant, it's sad, it's joyous; isn't that what movies do best? It's telling to this day that although Tom Hanks is probably most recognized for this character that he never got typecast. That's how good he is. Even so, this is a character that has a good heart, instinctively does the right thing and that's why I like him. The supporting cast is good - Robin Wright plays Jenny as someone trying to figure out what she wants in life and constantly going down the wrong roads; Sally Field as Forrest's mother is his conscience, telling him what is right and what is wrong; and Gary Sinise has the biggest character arc as Lt. Dan, a guy who was so sold on dying on the battlefield that he had to rediscover how to live. Should this movie be looked at as "Life: The Manual", as many of the '90s wannabe philosophers took it as? Not at all, that's a ridiculous assumption. This is just a simple American fable in a time and place where fables are not always appreciated. 18. Goodfellas (1990) Director: Martin Scorsese
"We ran everything. We paid off cops. We paid off lawyers. We paid off judges. Everybody had their hands out. Everything was for the taking. And now it's all over."
This is unquestionably Scorsese's masterpiece. Since the beginning of cinema, there has been more fascination with depicting bad men doing bad deeds than heroes saving people and doing the right thing. Ray Liotta narrates, as Henry Hill, his life of being a gangster; from meeting his life-long friends and wife in the '50s to getting busted for narcotics in the '80s. The movie never attempts to show how evil the things these people are doing; it's a family thing. Scorsese orchestrates a brilliant one-take shot of Henry and his wife entering into a club from the outside in; a lot of movies today have long one-take shots but Scorsese does it with such unchallenged style and class. One thing that surprised me was how funny the movie is - most of said humor coming from the Oscar-winning performance of Joe Pesci ("I'm funny to you? Like a clown? How am I funny?"). Naturally the consequences of Henry catch up to him, but even at the end, the audience never feels that Henry is remorseful for what he did, but that he got caught. It's a crime story that thrills, chills and kills.
17. Fletch (1985) Director: Michael Ritchie
"I had to keep digging... without a shovel."
There's a lot of roles that Chevy Chase has been identified with over the years but for me, as much as I love him as Clark Griswold, he'll always be Irwin M. "Fletch" Fletcher. It's a testament to not only his performance but also the tightly-constructed mystery story scripted by Andrew Bergman (Blazing Saddles, The Freshman). So no matter where in the story Fletch is, as many one-liners and wisecracks he drops, there is still a serious mystery to be solved. One of the antagonists of the film is played by Joe Don Baker, who to me will always be the sloppy cop "Mitchell" and might as well be playing the same character in this film, just with a promotion to police chief. There is a sequel to the film, Fletch Lives, that is not nearly as good as this film; mostly due to the film's construction being the opposite of this one (Fletch goes into disguises and then solves a mystery as opposed to solving a mystery requiring Fletch to go into disguises). One thing I should not neglect to mention is the stellar score by Harold Faltermeyer who is also famous for his scores for Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun. It perfectly acknowledges the thriller aspect of the film, while staying true to the comedy. 16. The Incredibles (2004) Director: Brad Bird
"No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again."
It's not easy to create a hit movie with completely new superheroes that no one's heard of. Luckily Pixar seems to have that magical calculation that can take whatever you throw at it and make it awesome and endearing (except for Cars 2 for some reason). Bird always said that this film is about "the mundane and the fantastic" and how they clash at the opportune times. But it's also a great story about how we have no idea how the way we interact with people can come back to haunt us. Other movies try and tell similar stories but this movie does it the best. The cast - although none of them are marquee movie star names; aside from Samuel L. Jackson - is impeccable, tailor-suited for their roles. Jason Lee, in particular, is at once hilarious and devious. If one owns the Blu-Ray, there is a fantastic 10-minute alternate opening (in animatics) to the movie that is almost as compelling as the opening in the film. It's different, not as action-packed, but it feels more personal. You get into Bob and Helen's lives as people first and then gradually reveal they used to be superheroes. It's been long in development, but an official Incredibles 2 with Bird at the helm (at least in writing, no word on directing) is finally on the way and I'll definitely be there opening day.
15. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Director: Stanley Kubrick
"You're talking about mass murder, General, not war."
My first Kubrick film. It constantly popped up in AFI's 100 Years... TV specials and I was intrigued. I watched it and... I didn't get it. At first. It took me a few more watches and it finally dawned on me: this was absolutely hysterical. Peter Sellers playing three different roles with three different accents and, in some scenes, he actually talks to himself. But let's not take away from the hilarity that George C. Scott brings. He's so committed to the role that in mid-take, he trips over himself, somersaults and brings himself back up into frame without blowing his line. That's amazing. The three stories that the film tells - a British officer is trapped in an office with a crazed American general who single-handedly has started World War III, the War Room of generals, a Russian ambassador, a Nazi mad scientist and a President who are desperately trying to prevent said war and a plane full of patriotic soldiers willing to die for their country - could have (and was initially planned as) played for drama, but goes for laughs in as tasteful a way as possible (a line that Slim Pickens uses was changed from referencing Dallas to Vegas in the aftermath of the JFK assassination). It's madness from beginning to end.
14. The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012)
Director: Christopher Nolan
"You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness and I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever."
In the years following Batman & Robin, comic book movies were generally frowned upon as know-nothing tripe for the masses. Even successes like X-Men and Spider-Man were not received as game-changers in cinema. That was until Christopher Nolan, director of Insomnia, was brought on-board to reboot the Batman series for modern audiences. His first film, Batman Begins, was a brilliant reinvention that took the Batman origins and made them realistic. You see how someone with the billions Bruce Wayne has can fabricate a suit, build the gadgets, upgrade his vehicle and be Batman. It was a success (though not as much as was anticipated as some fans were still burned after Batman & Robin) and naturally a sequel followed. And the answer to the question everybody asked themselves, "How is Heath Ledger gonna play the Joker," was the talk of the year. After his untimely death, Ledger gave an expectations-defying performance that rightly won him a posthumous Academy Award. However, his performance outshone Aaron Eckhart's as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. The film itself, The Dark Knight, was an evolution of what had been set up in the previous film. It was deeper, darker and even more thrilling. Momentum was high when The Dark Knight Rises was released three years later. While Tom Hardy could not reach the atmospheric levels of Ledger's Joker, his portrayal of Bane also permeated the culture. Anne Hathaway also took up the mantle of Selina Kyle, while Nolan did away with all the supernatural cat-themed brouhaha that plagued the character in the past. Kyle, in this film, is simply a cat burglar balanced between Bane's reign of terror and Batman's war on crime. Through these three films, Christopher Nolan redefined Batman for a new generation of moviegoers as a symbol that was incorruptible. Though DC/Warners has moved on with a new Batman, we'll always have this one to go back to.
13. Superman: The Movie (1978)
Director: Richard Donner
"They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason among others, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son."
The character of Superman had conquered the realms of radio, theatrical cartoons, weekly serials and a popular television series. Still, he didn't get his first theatrical feature-length film until the rights were purchased by two Italian film producers from Mexico. The Salkinds, who had perfected franchise building by filming one long movie and releasing it as The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, decided they would do the same with Superman. Hiring Richard Donner, hot off the hit thriller The Omen, was the best decision they made. Somebody who believed in bringing verisimilitude ("the appearance of being true or real") to the character. The film plays out in three acts - the icy world of Krypton featuring acting legend Marlon Brando playing Superman's father Jor-El, the Norman Rockwell-ish Smallville where Clark Kent grows up and then the city of Metropolis that plays like a '30s screwball comedy, especially when Gene Hackman shows up as "the greatest criminal mastermind of our time" Lex Luthor. Christopher Reeve brings an earnestness that shines through in his Superman. In contrast, Hackman is genuinely hilarious as Luthor. The flying effects, that won a Special Achievement Academy Award, still hold up today. This is my favorite DC Comics movie.
12. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978)
Director: Steven Spielberg
"I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important."
Though this wasn't Spielberg's first take on aliens (see his short film "Firelight") and certainly wouldn't be his last, but between E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and War of the Worlds, it has a great position being in between a cutsy kidsy alien tale (no disrespect) and a dark and chilling cautionary tale (don't get invaded by aliens, Earth; you oughta know better by now). Even with its out-of-this-world (pun intended) premise, the movie is grounded in humanity thanks to the performances of Richard Dreyfuss as an Indiana lineman who finds himself in the middle of this massive UFO conspiracy and François Truffaut as the head scientist chasing the titular "Third Kind". The climax of the film is less action-packed than you'd expect but more wondrous and thought-provoking. Even Steven Spielberg has said that he wouldn't make the movie the same way today. It's cinematic catharsis at its finest.
11. Ghostbusters (1984)
Director: Ivan Reitman
"We're ready to believe you!"
If "Ghostbusters" the franchise was just limited to one movie, no sequels (holding off judgment of the new all-female reboot; but you don't mess with the Ecto-1, that car's a classic), no animated series, no video games and no Ecto-Cooler, Ghostbusters the movie would still be awesome. They're better than superheroes because they are basically everymen who have dangerous equipment and are running around trying to protect us. Though he essentially did the film as a favor after Columbia bankrolled his pet project The Razor's Edge, Bill Murray leads a perfect ensemble cast who are all invested in not only their characters, but the concept itself. Dan Aykroyd's initial drafts of the film were very esoteric and futuristic, so Harold Ramis took time to pull the script back into something more palpable. This is the best movie Ivan Reitman has ever directed and it shows in the rest of his career. To say the special effects no longer hold up isn't exactly fair considering it was 1984 and they still had the best of Industrial Light and Magic working on the film. "Ghostbusters" the song is still as catchy and awesome today as it was then and both times it appears in the film -- the "Ghostbusters at work" montage and the joyous end credits scene -- really brightens the mood. If you can't quote-a-long with this movie, watch it again until you can.
10. Jaws (1975)
Director: Steven Spielberg
"You yell barracuda, everybody says, 'Huh? What?' You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July."
I had to do a lot of shifting around to get Jaws in the Top 10. Not that I don't like the movie; it's amazing, I love it. But the real die-hard fans of this movie would clean my clock if I put it anywhere under 10. And it's not hard to see why: this movie literally invented the blockbuster. For years, I didn't want to see it because I'm not much of a horror guy (I was a kid too, come on). But I didn't realize that the movie is much more of an action-thriller and the horror of the movie actually came in the making of it. The fact that Steven Spielberg didn't lose his mind or snap is a testament to why he's still a legend to this day; he's always thinking through his films to make them. The cast, of course, are unforgettable - Roy Scheider playing the reluctant Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as the brainy Hooper and the performance everybody loves, Robert Shaw as Quint, the 20th century's answer to Captain Ahab. It's incredible how the team that built the shark ("Bruce") got so much personality out of the character with almost no expression. And the size of it really gives this animal more monstrous qualities. The movie itself is pretty split in half: the first being on Amity Island with all the townspeople and the second out at sea with Brody, Hooper and Quint. Personally, I prefer the first half because you get a whole lot of characters to deal with and not just the main stars. Still, it's a testament to 20th century cinema and it's a tale that will "swallow you whole". 9. Toy Story Trilogy (1995, 1999, 2010)
Directors: John Lasseter (Toy Story), John Lasseter/Lee Unkrich/Ash Brannon (Toy Story 2), Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3)
"Look, over in that house is a kid who thinks you are the greatest, and it’s not because you’re a Space Ranger, pal, it’s because you’re a toy! You are his toy!”
These movies have a special place in my heart because they grew up with me. I mean, OK, I'm sure they grew up with a lot of people reading this, but they mean a lot to me specifically. I wouldn't say I was Andy, but I certainly could identify with him. Like him, I had (and still have) a Woody and Buzz Lightyear. But you don't see movies today being made with the care that Pixar does. As Genri says in Toy Story 2, "Ya can't rush art!" I remember the day they announced Toy Story 2 with that picture of the toys going across the street with the towering monster truck ahead. You couldn't find a happier camper that day. I saw it and was thrilled! And so years went by and Pixar just got better and better, making different movies that all followed the same idea: fish, superheroes, cars, rats, robots and old people; they're all more than they seem. Then, Toy Story 3 was announced. The one plotline that was given was that "Andy grows up and leaves for college". That's a very depressing thing for a kid who's loved these movies all his life. Each trailer reminded you of the good times but hinted of things to come. I saw the film and was blown away. The infamous trash fire pit scene? I wasn't ready to buy it because the trailers had spoiled Andy's last words about Woody so I knew there had to be more. But when the claw came down, I was laughing my head off. I think the audience I saw it with was annoyed because I caught it first: the long-awaited payoff to "THE CLAW!!!" gag that the Little Green Men from Toy Story 1 couldn't shut up about. I had a huge smile on my face as Mr. Potato Head hugged them and the LGM all say, "DADDY!!!" It still cracks me up. These are perfect movies that I will always carry with me, in my memories and in my heart.
8. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Director: James Gunn
"And you think life takes more than it gives, but not today. Today it's giving us something. It is giving us a chance."
Maybe a movie this new (at this writing, exactly a year old) shouldn't be in the top 10, but it's my top 10, so there! It's not just cause it's a Marvel superhero movie; it's a hysterically sci-fi comedy action/adventure. It's the movie of my dreams, as weird as that sounds. I had an idea JUST like that, even down to the retro soundtrack but it just didn't have the Marvel comic book edge. So if that movie never gets made, at least there's this one. This is the movie that made Chris Pratt a household name and deservedly so. He's one of those few movie stars that seems just as nice and cool as the characters he plays if not more so. Zoe Saldana gets to add another great performance to her sci-fi repertoire, rivaling that of her Avatar co-star Sigourney Weaver. Dave Bautista does a great job playing a character who seems like a massive warrior but is hiding his true heartbreak underneath and that's really hard to do. Which is why they hired Vin Diesel to play another Iron Giant-esque character Groot, who even with "I am Groot" to say, conveys so much. Bradley Cooper takes his cue from Joe Pesci in playing a funny tough guy with Rocket Raccoon. The movie took off as audiences all over the world fell in love with the characters. It was something new from a Cinematic Universe we thought we knew. It's already been confirmed that James Gunn and the cast are back for another installment. I know I can't wait for the next ride through the galaxy with these wonderful characters. 7. Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
Director: Joss Whedon
"The Avengers. That's what we call ourselves; we're sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type thing."
Say what you will about the sequel to this, this is cinematic history whether you like it or not. The first cinematic crossover of comic book movie heroes. 10 years ago-- heck 20 years ago, this never would've been possible. Not just because of special effects, but studios just did not care enough to put the right people on these projects. Marvel made the somewhat questionable choice to announce Joss Whedon as director on April Fools' Day, but it ended up working for them. Whedon has history in the industry as a writer (including an Academy Award nomination for co-writing Toy Story) and he is the only Marvel Studios director to have previously written for Marvel Comics. The cast is impeccable as expected, improving on their characters from their previous films. Especially Tom Hiddleston as Loki, in a star-making performance; which is why Thor: The Dark World may as well be called Loki: The Movie. Just that one shot circling around the characters is worth the price of admission. To me, this is the ultimate comic book movie. 6. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Director: Steven Spielberg
"Oh, Marcus. What are you trying to do, scare me? You sound like my mother. We've known each other for a long time. I don't believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus pocus. I'm going after a find of incredible historical significance, you're talking about the boogeyman."
Raiders is an amazing film; perhaps the greatest action film ever made. It launched its lead character into the pop culture lexicon forever. That's not to outweigh the efforts of the rest of the cast, who all fit their characters as well as that fedora fits Harrison Ford. Seriously, they're gonna bury him in that hat. Even people who hate Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull have admitted getting chills in seeing that shot of Indy putting on the hat in silhouette; it's that iconic. Spielberg's direction has been imitated since the film's release, with many challengers to the action/adventure throne. None of them however can make you feel the sweat and blood that permeates through the celluloid. Naturally, sequels followed and although they each have pros and cons to them, none of them feel as real as Raiders. All followers, not innovators. What more can be said about a movie that is truly legendary?
5. Groundhog Day (1993)
Director: Harold Ramis
"Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today!"
Here we are at the top 5, with what I will argue to my dying days as the best Bill Murray movie ever. The movie operates briskly and brilliantly with each day that Phil Connors re-experiences audiences are able to see something new that they hadn't before. Characters that come into play later on in the film are set up early in the story; for instance, Buster the Groundhog Day head honcho (played by Bill's brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, one of the best character actors around today), the drunks (one of whom played by the late Rick Ducommon) and Nancy, Phil's one day love tryst. There's the frequently mentioned "deleted opening" to the film that features Phil's ex-girlfriend having a gypsy place him under a curse, which results in him repeating Groundhog Day; naturally, that's a dumb move. Phil is repeating Groundhog Day because he needs to learn how to become a better person. If it takes him months, years, decades... so be it. This is one of the few comedies I've seen that really emphasizes the drama properly; Murray knocks his scenes with Andie MacDowell out of the park. Unarguably, it's Ramis' masterpiece. 4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
"So tell me, Eddie. Is that a rabbit in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
How Zemeckis, master animator Richard Williams, or anybody in the cast and crew did not lose their minds doing this movie is beyond me (though Bob Hoskins has admitted, perhaps jokingly, to seeing cartoon rabbits long after the movie had ended). This film is a work of art; a modern miracle. It works on so many levels: as a flat-out funny comedy, a hard-boiled detective story, a buddy picture, a '40s romance and an action-packed thriller. The British Hoskins delivers his greatest role as American private eye, Eddie Valient. You see all the backstory necessary for his character in that great panning shot across his desk that shows you his relationship with his late brother ("Toon dropped a piano on his head") and Dolores, the hardened lady running the bar across the street that ostensibly has a train running next to it. Though the shining character is Roger himself, voiced by certified genius Charles Fleischer (seriously, look him up, he's written about gamma-rays making him a real life Dr. Bruce Banner). It'd be easy to make Roger really obnoxious and annoying, but Fleischer wisely balances both wackiness and sympathy for his character making him endearing to the audience. And who can forget the evil Judge Doom, played by Christopher Lloyd, in an absolutely chilling performance. The blend of 2D hand-drawn animation and live-action is still a marvel to this day; even more so is the blend of world-famous Disney characters and Looney Tunes characters. Legally, you will never see Mickey and Bugs and Daffy and Donald together in a movie ever again. That's how special this movie is. Zemeckis triumphs, balancing story and spectacle, and this is just one of the films that proves it.
3. Mary Poppins (1964)
Director: Robert Stevenson
"I'd know that silhouette anywhere! Mary Poppins!"
Yeah, you laugh, but this movie means a lot to me. Disney has always been a huge part in my life but unlike a lot of people in my generation, I was raised more on the live-action side of Disney than the animation side. Of course, a movie bridging both of these sides had to be "practically perfect in every way". It's also my all-time favorite musical: all the songs by the Sherman Brothers are sensational. Everyone in the main cast gets a song to sing; if "Feed the Birds" doesn't make you teary-eyed to outright bawling, you have no soul. Can you believe this was Julie Andrews' first film? Not only is she the title character, she also won an Academy Award and became a part of childhood consciousness. A few years ago, a wild rumor went around saying that Steven Spielberg had mused about remaking Mary Poppins. Naturally the world went into an uproar, while actors like Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey were trying to get in on the part of Bert. Spielberg eventually had to release a press statement saying, "I have no intention of remaking a classic, let alone a Disney classic." That's how powerful this film is. Quite frankly, it's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
2. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Director: Frank Capra
"You see, George, you really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?"
I am constantly frustrated at the number of people my age I meet who have never seen this film. And how is that possible? It's on practically every Thanksgiving on NBC; don't they know a holiday perennial when they see one?! Steven Spielberg (yes, him again) has said that this movie necessitates about "five hankys" to get through it. I don't necessarily cry at this film, but it's certainly moving. Though he achieved a lot through his Westerns and Hitchcock films, this is without a doubt James Stewart's signature role. Through the eyes of his guardian angel Clarence, we see all of George Bailey's life in Bedford Falls, NY: as a boy saving the life of his kid brother and losing half of his hearing in the process, as a young man courting the love of his life, and as an adult trying to get out of the town that he's been tied to his whole life and see the world. But at his lowest moment, when he's lost a large amount of money for the banking and loan for the town that needs him, he considers throwing away God's greatest gift ("Oh, dear, his life!"). Clarence comes down to tell George that he shouldn't think of killing himself. George cynically says he should've never been born which gives Clarence an idea: he shows George the town of Bedford Falls as though he's never been born. Although George regains the hearing he lost as a boy, he loses all the friends and family he's ever known (the plot of this film is often used as fodder for Christmas-themed episodes of sitcoms past and present). At first he believes it's nothing but a trick, but as George explores this terrifying train of thought, he fears for all that he's lost and wants his life back. What follows is probably the happiest ending ever seen in American cinema short of "...and they lived happily ever after," (though it comes awfully close). A year or so ago, a low-budget production company proudly announced they were attempting a sequel to the beloved film. Never have I been more thankful for brutal studio mentality as the rights holders of the film quickly issued a cease-and-desist order towards these fools. This is the ultimate Christmas movie, but its shining quality is that it can be seen at any time of the year and still reach your heart.
1. Back to the Future Trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
"It means your future hasn't been written yet! No one's has! Your future is whatever you make it! So make it a good one, both of you!"
Come on, guys. You knew this was coming. These series of films combines so much of what I love: science-fiction, comedy, rock 'n roll, time travel and just the definition of cool in the performance of Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly; somebody who's kind, funny, smart and talented. Who wouldn't want Doc Brown as their friend? Who wouldn't want Jennifer Parker as their girlfriend? Who wouldn't want to drive around in a time-traveling DeLorean? Michael J. Fox apparently, but that's beside the point! Zemeckis and Bob Gale's script is flawless; it's often used in screenwriting classes today to explain the concepts of "setups-and-payoffs". A lot of talk has been made recently of Eric Stoltz, who was originally hired to play the role of Marty, disliking the ending of Part I as it seemed to celebrate '80s excess. As with everybody else on the planet, I disagree. The ending of Part I is all about good choices in life versus bad ones. With Marty's help, George changes the course of his life. The second film is my favorite of the three. A lot of people don't like it because it's darker than the other two films. To me, the dark moments of the film only make the funnier stuff stand out that much more. It's really cool to see two Martys, two Docs, two Jennifers and two Biffs running around. My favorite moment in the entire film, if I had to sum up my sense of humor, is Part II Marty getting knocked out by Part I Marty running out the door. Makes me laugh every time. Part III really belongs to Christopher Lloyd and Mary Steenburgen. Their relationship is so sweet and really makes you look at Doc in a completely different way. The train climax is so awesome, simultaneously achieved with a full-size train and a smaller scaled model; something you wouldn't see in today's CG extravaganzas. Ultimately, I feel like these movies were made for me. I know there are legions of fans for these movies, and deservedly so, but... I don't know. It just seems like whenever I watch these movies, they might as well be speaking to me. They're truly timeless.
And so we've come to the end of my top 20 favorite movies! I hope you've enjoyed reading and I certainly hope it's inspired you to revisit these films or even see them for the first time. Cinema is something very important to me and I like to share it with everyone. I'll leave you with a little jam that's sweeping the Interwebs that's very fitting for the occasion.
Poor Adam Sandler. (Just hold on, I’m going somewhere with this.) After leaving “Saturday Night Live”, the gates of stardom opened and he began making hit after hit, all comedies of course: Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy and Big Daddy. He threw in the occasional drama; most notably the critically acclaimed Punch-Drunk Love, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. But somewhere along the way, Sandler seemed to settle into making crude, ill-humored cheap fare where he can prance around the screen in goofy voices screaming gibberish. Oh, sure, he did all of that and more from Billy Madison to Big Daddy, but there was a point when it just got increasingly irritating to people. Some might say he’s squandering his talent in filth like Jack and Jill and all the schlocky movies he even parodied in fake trailers made for Judd Apatow’s Funny People. So if he gets why people don’t like him, why does he keep making what they don’t like?
From multiple accounts, Sandler is said to be one of the nicest guys working in movies today. If you’re his friend, you’re more likely to get in one of his movies, or even star in one. Sandler has moved away from movies portraying him as the goofy slacker with a temper towards more of a bewildered father figure in more recent flicks like Blended. He’s found meager success in voicing Count Dracula in Hotel Transylvania and will return in this year’s Hotel Transylvania 2. Many are expressing hope that Pixels will be better than his typical films. But way back when, Sandler was just at the tip of the hate iceberg. He made a film that few talk about today; surprising, considering it crosses both hatred of Sandler and remakes. Especially remaking a Frank Capra movie!
Dead from irrationally climbing Mount Everest, billionaire Preston Blake (Harve Presnell) leaves behind a massive media empire that desperately needs an heir to keep afloat. The company’s two top men Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher) and Cecil Anderson (Erick Avari) are sent to Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire after research discovers the closest living relative to Blake: greeting card writer Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler). Deeds is a nice enough guy, willing to help anyone with a smile and a cheerful heart. When Cedar and Anderson tell Deeds of his heritage, he agrees to go with them to New York to earn his inheritance but mostly to find a woman to fall in love with. This gets the attention of entertainment reporter Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder) who decides to disguise herself as simple nurse Pam Dawson to accompany Deeds, solely to write stories for her boss, Mac McGrath (Jared Harris). She soon realizes Deeds isn’t the country bumpkin everyone has been led to believe and slowly starts to fall for him.
One might be surprised to find that this film actually does reference to the original Capra film, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The town of Mandrake Falls and the little poem under its Welcome sign, Deeds and company making echoes in a cavernous room, the names Babe Bennett, Dawson and Cedar, sliding down the stairs, Deeds telling a bunch of high class bullies, “If it wasn’t for Miss Dawson being here, I’d probably knock your heads in,” and Deeds wanting to save a damsel in distress are all nods to the original. Sure, Sandler will never be Gary Cooper, but that’s more reverential than most remakes of this day and age.
Don’t get me wrong, this movie has the same goofy voices and weird gross out humor (Deeds has a black, frost-bitten foot and we’re forced to watch one of McGrath’s henchmen soap his butt). But the heart of Capra still seems to come through, if only through the lens of Sandler. You feel happy for Deeds when he’s happy, sad for Babe when she’s sad, and mad with Deeds when he’s mad. Capra’s film climaxed with Deeds’ sanity being called into question. Sandler’s film wisely skirts this issue (because who wouldn’t believe he’s crazy) in favor of Deeds making a long speech at the end about not giving up on childhood dreams. It’s a nice speech, but a little out of place in this movie.
Capra’s film led to a spiritual sequel, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (more famous than either Deeds film). It’s unlikely anyone – even Adam Sandler – will remake Smith (except Mel Gibson who did it once on “The Simpsons”). But for all its typical Sandler humor, Mr. Deeds has just a little something more that outshines his current work. Maybe it’s because less raunchy than most comedies today that rely on sex and drug jokes; if you took ‘em out, those movies would only be 20 minutes long. One would hope that Capra would have recognized the soul of his film in the depths of this 2002 movie.
The Walt Disney Company is probably the largest organization on the planet with the most amount of attention paid to their actions. From canceling TRON 3 after the box office failure of Brad Bird's Tomorrowland to announcing needless remakes of its much beloved animated catalog (Tim Burton doing Dumbo?), it seems no matter where you turn, Disney has made some monumental mishap. Probably none more recent than 2013’s The Lone Ranger, directed by Academy Award-winner Gore Verbinski.
The idea seemed bulletproof. Disney would bring back the creative team behind their famous Pirates of the Caribbean franchise: director Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and actor Johnny Depp. At a press event, former head of Studio Production, Dick Cook announced Disney’s intention to produce a new Lone Ranger film to great fanfare with Johnny Depp stepping on stage in full Jack Sparrow attire with a Lone Ranger mask on with a local high school band performing the “William Tell Overture”.
Unfortunately, the script that was being developed had only the “Overture” to do with what the public knew about the characters of the Lone Ranger and his faithful Native American sidekick, Tonto. Depp reportedly wanted the film to be Hollywood’s apology to Native Americans as he himself is 1/16th Cherokee Indian. Though heavily denied by the filmmakers, the initial drafts had darker elements to the film including having villain Butch Cavendish shape-shift into the Native American equivalent of a werewolf, which would be the film’s explanation for the silver bullets that the Lone Ranger carries. Disney was quietly worrying that the film was wandering so far away from the radio and television show that people knew well.
"I won an Oscar for turning Johnny Depp into a talking lizard.
Turning him into a Native American oughta get me a Nobel prize!"
In late summer 2011, the film had the brakes hit violently. After the demise of Jon Favreau’s devastatingly serious genre mash-up, Cowboys & Aliens, Disney CEO Bob Iger and studio head (and replacement of Dick Cook) Rich Ross came to the realization that a Western had not made money in years. Not to mention the budget that Verbinski and Bruckheimer were asking for was well over $250 million (an outrageous sum for any movie not directed by James Cameron). The two men had planned a meeting to try and talk something more reasonable but found themselves the main headline of every trade in town: Disney had killed The Lone Ranger.
Or… at least pulled the plug. For one weekend. Claiming they needed time to strategize going forward with the idea, Disney found themselves at the epicenter of a massive conspiracy theory. The two schools of thought:
1. Verbinski, furious with the treatment Disney was giving him (after giving them a billion-dollar franchise with Pirates and winning an Oscar for Rango), leaked the drama to Deadline Hollywood writer Mike Fleming. 2. Someone from within Rich Ross’ own office accidentally snitched Disney’s plans to non-reputable sources.
"All I see are dollar signs."
For one weekend, Disney was clamored with phone calls, demanding updates. Unfortunately, this was a holiday weekend and no one was at their offices. In fact, the only person that reporters managed to get on the line was Johnny Depp himself. Calming the waves, Depp assured reporters the film would still get made. When the heads of Disney returned to their desks horrified at the reaction, they immediately set about trying to get the film back up and running. After taking off 20% of their own salaries, Verbinski, Depp and Bruckheimer pleased Disney enough for them to green-light The Lone Ranger.
Despite having their release date changed frequently and a crew member fatally drowning on set, The Lone Ranger came out just as Disney had wanted. And… the public and critics were ready to eviscerate it. The film opened to just below $30 million in its opening weekend and received a 31% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Many were comparing the film to John Carter, in terms of box office shame and studio marketing idiocy. It even won a Razzie for “Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff or Sequel”. The filmmakers attempted to decry the critics’ hate-filled opinions as an attack on how large their budget was. Surprisingly, one of the film’s supporters was Quentin Tarantino who remarked, “When I saw it, I kept thinking, ‘What, that’s the film everybody says is crap? Seriously?’”
That is enough from me talking about the behind-the-scenes stuff I enjoy dearly. Everything else but the movie aside, what is wrong with it? First and foremost, the film cannot commit to its lead characters as serious heroes. Oddly enough, this was the same main problem with The Green Hornet, another film from the creators of “The Lone Ranger” (George W. Trendle and Fran Striker) and also starring Tom Wilkinson in an antagonistic role. The question I pose to the filmmakers is this: “If you are embarrassed to make a movie about the Lone Ranger, an American icon who has existed for almost 80 years and is a part of the pop culture lexicon, to the point where you have to make fun of everything the character stands for, why even make the movie?” Yes, branding. I get it. But it doesn’t work if the character you’re branding is almost completely different than what the audience has in their mindset. As created by Trendle and Striker, the Lone Ranger is a kind-hearted, polite, well-meaning action hero who prefers to use his mind to solve problems rather than his fists or his pistols. He will protect the town he resides in while not allowing himself to be captured by the local police believing himself to be working alongside them.
The second biggest problem I have with the film is one scene in particular. While Rebecca (Ruth Wilson) goes to investigate what has happened to John Reid (Armie Hammer) on the train, she leaves her young son holding a gun at a guard. A Disney movie where a kid holds a gun on an adult. This leads to a somewhat unnerving scene where three adults have to talk down an emotionally destroyed kid - who just learned his father was violently murdered - out of killing someone. In a Disney movie. Verbinski is no stranger to making films for families: his first film was the wacky Nathan Lane comedy Mouse Hunt. But there is another film that was clearly not made for families that had the sense to not put a gun in the hands of a kid - Terminator 2: Judgment Day. On the audio commentary, director James Cameron made it clear that John Connor (Edward Furlong) never holds a gun at anyone; however, because of his training to be a military leader, he shows that Sarah has taught him how to reload weapons which helps them in their escape from the T-1000.
All in all, The Lone Ranger is yet another example of what happens when a studio exec buys a property thinking it'll be perfect for a franchise, gets fired and leaves a studio in disarray trying to figure out how to market said film. It's not an unwatchable film by any means, but it just does not have what the public expects a "Lone Ranger" movie to be. Are these bygone characters that don't work anymore in the 21st century? Maybe. Superheroes that were created around the same time still exist and are box office bonanzas. Disney still managed to use these characters in their popular video game "Disney Infinity" (with Armie Hammer reprising his role). It's all about the respect that a filmmaker/production company/studio gives a property. If they don't care, we don't care. It's just that simple.
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