After a bit of a break, it's time to pick back up with the countdown of my 100 favorite movies.
70. Changeling. Angelina Jolie powerfully demonstrates that she's not just a pretty face in this Clint Eastwood-directed film about a 1930s woman who goes through the horror of having her son go missing... only to face an even greater horror when the police return to her the wrong child, and then begin to look at her as though she's the one going crazy. The acting is what puts this film onto my list, as I noted in my original review.
69. Saving Private Ryan. It's been a while since I watched this movie, and I really must make time for it again. Many were upset when Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture over this film, and while I don't think it's an outrage by any means (as Shakespeare in Love is on my 100 list too), I agree this was the superior movie. It has the soul of an epic war film, but the heart of an intimate character drama. The performances are amazing from top to bottom. I've seen many war movies, but this one stands head and shoulders above them all in my mind at conveying a real sense of what the experience of going to war takes away from a person.
68. The Illusionist. Over time, I've warmed to this period piece starring Edward Norton as a turn-of-the-century magician. What once I saw as slow-paced, I now see as methodical and full of purpose, and a vehicle for great acting from Norton and Paul Giamatti. The story is also clever, and has a lot to say about the lengths one will go to for love.
67. Sneakers. I love a good heist movie, and I think this is one of the best. It has a wonderfully eclectic cast of top shelf actors, including Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, David Strathairn, Dan Aykroyd, River Phoenix, Mary McDonnell, and Ben Kingsley. It demonstrates that movies that are meant at their core to be "just fun" don't also have to be stupid, an assumption too often made by summer popcorn fare. It also marked one of only a couple times in his long career that composer James Horner actually shook up his formula and wrote interesting new music (though he would then go on to reuse this reinvented style in a long "second age of Horner").
66. 50/50. It was less than two months ago that I saw this movie for the first time, and I ended up making room for it in my top 100 list. As I said then, I think this was the best movie of 2011.
1 comment:
70. Changeling.
Haven't seen it yet. It's on the list.
69. Saving Private Ryan.
Not only is this my favorite war movie, it's in my Top 10 (and possibly my Top 5). Everything in it is absolutely stunning. Writing, acting, photography, sets, pacing, directing... hell, what more do you want?
68. The Illusionist.
Excellent movie. And as an amateur magician, it struck an interesting chord (one that rarely gets any attention from Hollywood). Ironically, after decades of films without any actual magic in it, The Illusionist came up along in a year with two other movies featuring magicians: The Prestige, and Scoop.
67. Sneakers.
One of my favorite movies, period.
And I agree with you on the music. I especially like the crashing piano chords that he used throughout the score.
66. 50/50.
Haven't seen it yet. Don't feel the need to.
Yet.
FKL
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