Callie's top
Best movies:
1. My Fair Lady
2. Godfather
3. Rebecca
4. The King's Speech
5. Rain Man
Worst movies:
1. How Green Was My Valley
2. Cavalcade
3. Tom Jones
4. Unforgiven
5. Deer Hunter
Joel's Top
Best movies:
1. Slumdog Millionare
2. Godfather
3. My Fair Lady
4. Gladiator
5. Rain Man
Worst movies:
1. Tom Jones
2. Cavalcade
3. Unforgiven
4. How Green Was My Valley
5. American Beauty
Biggest surprising movies that we liked: Life Of Emile Zola and It Happened One Night.
Movies that were all hype but failed to deliver: Gone With The Wind and The English Patient
Best decade: The 2000s and then the 1970s
The worst decade: The 1940s and then the 1980s
The best performance by an actor: Al Pacino in Godfather and then Sidney Poitier in In The Heat Of The Night
The best performance by an actress: Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady and then Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
Best Director: Steven Spielberg in Schindler's List and Alfred Hitchcock in Rebecca
Best Quote: "They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!" from In The Heat Of The Night and "Me and Jenny were like peas and carrots" from Forrest Gump
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
2000s Wrap Up
Y2K brought about another huge shift in movies. The 70s were the era of great acting. The 80s centered on family relationships. The 90s centered around romance and the 2000s were filled with creative story lines. The 2000s were the most creative movies we've seen. The movies were also very consistent. They were all good movies or great movies (with the exception of Chicago).
2012 - Argo: "If we wanted applause, we would have joined the circus"
2012 Best Picture
Premiered October 4, 2012 in Beverly Hills
Budget $44.5 Million
Gross $136 Million
Watching The Artist took us full circle and made us feel that our journey should end there. However, there was one movie left. We felt like Argo was a compelling movie with a edge of your seat type of plot but we struggled because 2012 had so many great movies and we thought that it should not have won. For the record, Lincoln is a better movie than Argo. This is not a knock against Argo, it is just a statement that Lincoln is an outstanding movie. Nevertheless, Argo shines a light (even though a historically inacurate one) on a messy time in U.S. History. Overall, this is a suspenseful movie that leave you wanting to cheer.
Callie
Favorite: It was an intriguing story. It was a cool bit of history to see.
Least Favorite: At the end of the movie it was still hard to tell who was who.
Joel
Favorite: Ben Affleck did a nice job as the lead and as the director. At times, he carried the movie.
Least Favorite: The cinematography did not break anything new to the industry even thought that there were some opportunities to do so.
2011 - The Artist: "With Pleasure"
2011 Best Picture
Premiered No American Premier
Budget $15 Million
Gross $44 Million
We've now come full circle in our journey to watch all of the Best Picture winners. This movie took us back to 1927 and the era of silent movies. The movie is very artistic and very smart in the limited way that they incorporated sound effects and dialog. The movie is lacking in story and plot but that aspect is not the focus of this movie. The challenge was to take 21st century movie technology but re-create and experience that movie goers had in the late 20s. The filmmakers succeeded.
Callie
Favorite: I loved the artistic flare of the movie. It was very creative.
Least Favorite: The story line was so shallow.
Joel
Favorite: I loved the way that the movie ends with dialog. It drove the point of the movie home. (I also liked the dog and the role he played)
Least Favorite: The story was ok but not great.
2010 - The King's Speech: "Vulgar, but fluent. You don't stammer when you swear."
Premiered No American premier
Budget $15 Million
Gross $138.7 Million
The King's Speech is a very inspirational story. The film is also a story of unlikely friendship. The acting is excellent and the story was well scripted and executed. We really felt for George and what he went through. This movie is time well spent!
Callie
Favorite: I loved the relationship between George and Lionel.
Least Favorite: The formality was a blockade to George and Lionel's relationship and I wanted that to go away.
Joel
Favorite: I thought that Colin Firth did an excellent job.
Least Favorite: The movie is a little slow at times.
2009 - The Hurt Locker: "If I'm gonna die, I want to be comfortable"
Premiered June 5, 2009 in Hollywood
Budget $15 million
Gross $17 Million
It was the Best Picture that no one saw. However, that is no indictment on this movie. The combat scenes were well show and the special effects were great. The story is good and the acting is pretty good. Overall, it is a good movie.
Callie
Favorite: It was interesting to see a side of the military that you don't normally see.
Least Favorite: I did not like that he chose the adrenaline rush of his job over his family.
Joel
Favorite: I liked the special effects.
Least Favorite: I thought the combat scenes when they were in the fire fight went a little too long.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
2008 - Slumdog Millionaire: "I knew you'd be watching"
Premiered No American premier
Budget $15 Million
Gross $141 Million
This is like the little movie that could. This is the best movie of the decade. It was one of those rare movies that we could not have turned off if we had to. It was creative in story and cinematography. The acting was very good and the message of the movie was expertly portrayed. Overall, this is a movie that any movie fan needs to see.
Callie
Favorite: I loved the way that they used the game show to move the story forward.
Least Favorite: Salim. The character made me so mad.
Joel
Favorite: Everything, the actors were great, the sound track was fun and the story drew me in. I felt for the characters.
Least Favorite: Nothing. This movie is excellent.
2006 - The Departed: "I'm the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy."
Premiered September 26, 2006 in New York
Budget $90 Million
Gross $132.3 Million
This movie is a cross between The Godfather and On The Waterfront. The movie, while quirky at times, is engaging and well acted. The plot had many twists and turns and kept us guessing until the credits. The casting was also well done with Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Sheen and Mark Walhberg.
On the downside, the movie is gruff in terms of violence and profanity (PluggedIn.com counted over 200 F-Words). The writers went out of their way to convey the rough Boston police and criminal scene.
Callie
Favorite: I liked that DiCaprio and Damon were made to look so similar even though there were on the opposite side of the law.
Least Favorite: I did not like the ending.
Joel
Favorite: Unlike Callie, I did like the ending.
Least Favorite: The writers went out of the way to portray Boston bad guys and cops as extremely vulgar guys.
2007 - No Country For Old Men: "It's your lucky quarter."
Premiered November 4, 2007 in Hollywood
Budget $25 Million
Gross $74 Million
The Coen brothers wrote and directed this odd little movie. It is like they took the book on how to make a great movie and threw it away. It is unconventional but it is a good movie because it is unconventional. For example, there is no soundtrack whatsoever. However, the lack of music adds to the creepy nature of the movie. In summary, it is a unique movie and a compelling movie at the same time.
Callie
Favorite: I liked the fact that it was so eerie with no music in the background.
Least Favorite: It was just so random. I kept thinking "this movie won"? But I liked it at the same time.
Joel
Favorite: Anton was such a mysterious and creepy villain. He was up there with Hannibal as an all time creepy bad guy.
Least Favorite: The "hero" was eliminated and we find out in a very un-dramatic fashion.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
2005 - Crash: "I want the locks changed again in the morning"
Premiered April 26, 2005 in Beverly Hills
Budget $6.5 Million
Gross $53.4 Million
This movie has one message: that we are all racist, even the most upstanding of people. The multiple storylines all have that common thread. Normally, multiple plots and characters can leave the audience confused but the makers of this film did a masterful job at it. This is a very compelling movie and it is a great piece of art. The creators of the movie wanted to cause you to think and that is exactly what they cause the viewer to do.
We had a long discussion about the premise in the movie. Here is the conclusion that we came to: Sin causes us to hate those that are not like us. People at their core are unloving but that is where the love of Christ comes in. Jesus spoke out against racism and shows his followers early that He came for people of all skin color.
Callie
Favorite: I loved how all the handful of characters had their lives so intertwined.
Least Favorite: It is so intensely raw that the viewer can't see where the movie is going.
Joel
Favorite: I am a Don Cheadle fan and I thought he did a very good job. I also liked the fact that this movie made me think.
Least Favorite: I did not like the amount of profanity used in the script.
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