100 Movies That Deserve More Love.
Bliss. I could go on about this all day. So many good movies that went
straight to video. So many movies that are ignored in favor of crap
like Scooby Doo 2.
A few of my favorites that they missed:
1. Year of the Comet
How can you not love a movie that follows the travails of two
diametrically opposed people whilst they follow a bottle of wine all
over Europe? Now, granted it's a priceless bottle of wine with
Napoleon's seal on it, but it's great fun. You have sweet Scottish
grannies sending out their henchman offspring to grab the bottle. Art
Malik plays a suave Greek who completely befuddles frigid hardass
Penelope Ann Miller with the biggest line of bull I've ever heard. And
the incomparable Louis Jordan makes a charming Frenchman bent on world
domination via a fountain of youth type serum. It's fantastic. It's
funny. Note to self: buy this one, you doof! 2. Fight Club
This movie blew me away when I first saw it. All David Fincher movies
are dark---literally. They're barely lit and they give you that creepy
feeling, like ghosts could walk on your grave if you mattered enough
for them to care. But this movie? I watched this one at home. By
myself. I started when it was still light outside, and I finished when
it was pitch black. I then ran around the house and turned on every
light and smoked copiously until the wee hours of the morning. It made
me think a lot about my life at the time and how freaking miserable I
was. It changed my mindset---but I didn't have a schizophrenic episode,
nor did I set a few bombs at the credit reporting companies. A
brilliant film and one that's HIGHLY underrated. You had to give it to him: he had a plan. And it started to make
sense, in a Tyler sort of way. No fear. No distractions. The ability to
let that which does not matter truly slide.
3. Death to Smoochy
I just loved the premise of this flick. Danny DeVito has one of the
sickest, most twisted senses of humor ever. I just love him. But
honestly---I don't know how everyone thought that Throw Momma From the Train was so fabulous, yet ridiculed this movie. It's great.
An Irish soul band?
5. Hudson Hawk
Now, I know a lot of people really hate this movie, but in my opinion
they're going into it with the wrong attitude. This movie is pure
over-the-top-camp. It's a spoof. If you thought it was something other
than that, well, you're a goof who believes everything Hollywood tries
to sell you. As proof---how does Hudson Hawk steal the Codex? He uses
vegetable oil, mirrors, and a Popeil pocket fisherman. If that's not a
spoof, what the hell is? It's brilliant. If for no other reason than
David Caruso is in it and he KEEPS HIS EFFING MOUTH SHUT FOR ALMOST THE
ENTIRE MOVIE!
6. Real Genius
Completely ignored in favor of Weird Science which was lame unless you were a fourteen-year old boy who had a thing for Kelly Le Brock.
Self-realization. I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, when he said, "I drank what?"
I might post some more. I might not. I'm fickle.
Some of the films on their list that I take issue with.
This movie blew. I don't care how you slice it---after the original, it was a complete and utter letdown. Bleh. Die Hard: With A Vengeance is much, much better. Nothing beats the original. Alan Rickman was fantastic,
but Numero three in the series is way and beyond better than Numero
Two. You have Jeremy Irons as the bad guy; it brings back your
love/hate of Hans from the first film. It has Samuel L. Jackson. And,
honestly, it tackles the subject of race better and more honestly than
any other movie I've seen of late.
41. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
I remember not being able to go and see this movie the first day it
came out. But my sister did and when she came home she told me "don't
bother." I've bothered once and I realized she was right. Muleram! Ugh.
No one, particularly not an Indiana Jones fan, should ever see this movie. It reeks.
Dolph Lundgren. Need I say anything else?
Ooops. Perhaps Jean Claude Van Damme.
This is listed at eighty-freaking-one??? What the hell is wrong
with you people? It should be listed in the top twenty---AT LEAST.
If you're a fan of LeCarre and his work, know that this is the ONE
movie that has actually managed to get his vibe down
correctly---probably because he co-wrote the script. LeCarre's stories
are always centered around the theme of moral ambiguity. He gets people
correct. He knows they're all talk, but when it's time to walk the walk
and in the process perhaps they put themselves out on a very weak limb,
well, he knows that people will take the route of self-preservation
every time. He's a wise man. Most of the time, you finish one of his
books depressed. Not this one, though. Pierce is the anti-Bond in this
film and he looks as if he had a great time with it. 85. The Zero Effect
Please. Move this one up the list a wee bit, would you? Brilliant film.
Despite the fact that the plot is ruthlessly pilfered from "A Scandal
in Bohemia,"---a Sherlock Holmes story---and NO credit is given
whatsoever, I still love this movie. 90. The Winslow Boy
I haven't seen this movie. I have no intention on seeing it. I can hear the objections already. It's Mamet! It's brilliant! You have to see it! Jeremy Northam is fantastic. I will utter two words in reply.
Rebecca Pidgeon.
THE WORST ACTRESS IN THE WORLD IS IN THIS MOVIE. I WILL NOT SEE IT.
Honestly, Mamet is completely besotted with his wife. She is SO bad. I
cannot tell you how many of his films she's ruined. And she has ruined them. Heist
would have been great if not for her. The Spanish Prisoner was ruined
because of her. She's wooden. It's obvious that she loves the
language---so much, in fact, she puts all of her energy into delivering
the lines, rather than---you know---developing the character she's
playing. To put it this way, if she were Midas and everything she
touched turned to gold, this, indeed, would be proof that we are living
in a parallel dimension. In the real world, everything she touches
turns to shit. No one other than her husband will hire her. This should
be proof enough. No movie in which she's cast "deserves more love."
Christ Almighty---she's worse than Shannon Tweed.