The Gold Rush

Title: The Gold Rush
Year: 1925
Director: Charles Chaplin
Writer: Charles Chaplin
Starring: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman, Malcolm Waite, Georgia Hale
Music: Charles Chaplin (possibly?)
Distinctions: currently #158 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: c. 82 minutes
Synopsis: The Tramp goes prospecting in Alaska
How I saw it: the original silent version, on video (rented from Netflix), February 2009
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for story, pacing and cinematography) c. 2.8/4 (Good).

It's not really much of a movie, but it's great as a collection of footage of gags and impressive mime acts.

Gandhi

Title: Gandhi
Year: 1982
Director: Richard Attenborough
Writer: John Briley
Starring: Ben Kingsley
Music: Ravi Shankar
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Kingsley), Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Costume Design and Best Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Score, Best Makeup and Best Sound; currently #165 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: Gandhi's political life
Length: 188 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), February 2009
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for concept and story) c. 3.2/4 (Very good).

If you're going to make a biopic about Gandhi, this is certainly the best movie you could possibly make. I just do not care for biopics.

The Wild Bunch

Title: The Wild Bunch
Year: 1969
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Writers: Walon Green & Sam Peckinpah; story by Green & Roy N. Sickner
Starring: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien
Music: Jerry Fielding
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Score; currently #171 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a group of bandits steals US guns for a Mexican general
Length: 145 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), February 2009
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for story, pacing and music) c. 2.7/4 (Good).

Large parts of it are great, but a lot is boring, too. It's worth sitting through to get to the good parts, but I don't see why people love it.

The Princess Bride

Title: The Princess Bride
Year: 1987
Director: Rob Reiner
Writer: William Goldman, based on his book
Starring: Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, André the Giant, Chris Sarandon, Peter Falk, Fred Savage
Music: Mark Knopfler
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Song ("Storybook Love"); currently #176 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a grandfather reads a fairlytale/adventure book to his sick grandson
Length: 98 minutes
How I saw it: on video countless times (have on DVD), most recently February 2009
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites)
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for cinematography, special effects/design and music) c. 3.1/4 3.2/4 (Very good).

Swashbuckling fantasy adventure and hilarious comedy, simultaneously. Probably my second favorite movie.

Gone with the Wind

Title: Gone with the Wind
Year: 1939
Director: Victor Fleming
Writer: Sidney Howard, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Hattie McDaniel, Olivia de Havilland
Music: Max Steiner
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (McDaniel), Best Cinematography (color), Best Art Direction and Best Editing; honorary Oscar (for use of color); Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Gable), Best Supporting Actress (Havilland), Best Score, Best Special Effects and Best Sound Recording; currently #167 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a young, wealthy Southerner during and after the Civil War
Length: 238 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), February 2009
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for concept and dialog) c. 3.0/4 (Good).

It's the sort of movie I'm almost guaranteed to hate, but I didn't. For about 90 minutes in the middle there, I was actually getting into it. I have to admit, unlike every single other "epic" drama, there is actually four hours of material here. The visuals are great; they knew how to colorize a sound stage back then.

V for Vendetta

Title: V for Vendetta
Year: 2005
Director: James McTeigue
Writers: Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski, based on the book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt
Music: Dario Marianelli
Distinctions: currently #172 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a masked terrorist attacks a dystopian government
Length: 132 minutes
How I saw it: in the theater, 2005; on video (rented from Netflix), February 2009
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent).
Objective Rating: 3/10 (gets points for pacing, special effects/design and acting) c. 2.0/4 (Indifferent).

I guess it's entertaining, so long as you don't think too hard. There are major plot holes, and a lot of corny moments. The climactic action scene is hilariously bad. There are some great secondary characters, but the two leads hardly even make sense. Portman's acting stinks, but everyone else in the movie is great.

The Incredibles

Title: The Incredibles
Year: 2004
Director: Brad Bird
Writer: Brad Bird
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Jason Lee
Music: Michael Giacchino
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Sound Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound Mixing; currently #181 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a super-powered family comes out of hiding
Length: 115 minutes
How I saw it: in the theater, 2004; on video a number of times (have on DVD), most recently February 2009
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites).
Objective Rating: 10/10 c. 3.9/4 (Great).

A geeky adventure story with strong, likable characters. Giacchino's score is lots of fun.

Scarface

Title: Scarface
Year: 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Writer: Oliver Stone
Starring: Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer
Music: Giorgio Moroder
Distinctions: currently #171 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: an immigrant coke-dealer gets rich
Length: 170 minutes
How I saw it: on video twice (rented from Netflix), most recently February 2009
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible).
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for concept, dialog, cinematography and special effects/design) c. 1.8/4 (Eh).

Why the hell is that a classic? Every single character is a complete assh*** - usually an obnoxious one. Pacino plays his part as if it were a comedy routine (never mind that The Godfather includes some of the best acting ever put on film; I am still confused that he continued to be taken seriously after this movie). There's an 80's Rock Montage Sequence. There are maybe three scenes in three hours that are any good at all (the opening scene interrogation where it still seems like there might be an interesting character in the movie, the bit with the chainsaw, and the shoot-out finale); highlights of the rest of the film include: "Tony shops for a new car," "Tony talks to his banker," and, of course, "Tony Takes a Bath." The one positive is that visually, it doesn't just look like crap - it consistently looks like a deliberate, particular kind of crap.

The Thing

Title: The Thing
Year: 1982
Director: John Carpenter
Writer: Bill Lancaster; story by John W. Campbell Jr.
Starring: Kurt Russell
Music: Ennio Morricone
Distinctions: currently #173 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a shape-shifting monster in Antarctica
Length: 109 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), February 2009
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for characters, dialog and cinematography) c. 2.5/4 (Okay).

Occasionally unintentionally funny, but I don't care, I liked it. You have to heckle this sort of movie, anyway. It seemed like the special effects were good, when they could be bothered to light things well enough to see what's going on.

Shadow of a Doubt

Title: Shadow of a Doubt
Year: 1943
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson & Alma Reville; story by Gordon McDonell
Starring: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey
Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Story; currently #179 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a girl suspects her uncle might be a murderer
Length: 108 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), February 2009
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Objective Rating: 10/10 c. 3.7/4 (Great)

Easily the best Alfred Hitchcock movie I've seen so far. I didn't think the ending is very satisfying, but everything else is great. The score is completely wrong (a 1930's style action/adventure score for a psychological suspense film), but in a way that works beautifully.

The Lion King

Title: The Lion King
Year: 1994
Directors: Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff
Writers: Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts & Linda Woolverton; story by about twenty-six people
Starring: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones
Music: Elton John & Tim Rice (songs), Hans Zimmer (score)
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Score and Best Song ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight"); Oscar Nominations for two more songs ("Circle of Life" and "Hakuna Matata"); currently #169 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: musical power struggle between anthropomorphic royalty
Length: 89 minutes
How I saw it: on video a number of times (have on VHS), most recently January 2009
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent).
Objective Rating: 5/10 (gets points for concept, story, pacing, cinematography and special effects/design) c. 2.5/4 (Okay).

Watching it for the first time since I was a kid, for the first five minutes or so I was thinking, "Okay, this is a lot better than I remember it." The animation is great. The plot is Shakespearean and a folktale at the same time. Then they have the first musical number, and I want to smash the cassette a little. But still, I'm thinking, "Okay, this isn't too bad for an animated broadway musical." ...then Matthew Broderick shows up. Man, that guy is worse than Keanu Reeves.

The Battle of Algiers

Title: La battaglia di Algeri
Year: 1966 (Italy), 1967 (US)
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Writers: Gillo Pontecorvo & Franco Solinas
Starring: Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin
Music: Ennio Morricone, Gillo Pontecorvo
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film (1967); Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (1969); currently #190 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: the Algerian revolution in the late 1950's, shot documentary style
Length: 121 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), January 2009
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for story, characters, dialog and subjective rating) c. 2.5/4 (Okay).

Morricone's score makes it all bearable. The trouble with shooting this movie documentary style is that it doesn't have any content that wouldn't be in an actual documentary (such as, say, characters). And I'm sure it would make a very interesting documentary. But... all this stuff that it feels like I'm learning is just a fictionalized version of things. So I'm not getting any storytelling out of this, and I'm not getting any edumacating out of it... What am I supposed to get out of it?

Kill Bill

Titles: Kill Bill: Vol. 1 / Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Year: 2003 / 2004
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino, based on a character by Tarantino and Uma Thurman
Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Sonny Chiba / Thurman, David Carradine, Chia Hui Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Perla Haney-Jardine
Music: RZA / Robert Rodriguez (mostly non-original music)
Distinctions: currently #139 on IMDb's Top 250 / currently #223 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a professional assassin hunts down the people who tried to kill her
Length: 111 minutes / 136 minutes
How I saw it: in the theater, 2003 & 2004; on video many times (have on DVD), most recently yesterday
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites).
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for dialog) c. 3.5/4 (Very good) 3.6/4 (Great).

The ultimate action movie(s). Of course the dialog is terrible - but in a good way. I'm not particularly a fan of Tarantino, or of kung fu movies, or of samurai movies, but somehow the combination of the three is one of my all time favorites.

Groundhog Day

Title: Groundhog Day
Year: 1993
Director: Harold Ramis
Writers: Danny Rubin & Harold Ramis
Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell
Music: George Fenton
Distinctions: currently #174 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a man is stuck re-living the same day
Length: 101 minutes
How I saw it: on video many times, most recently January 2009
Subjective Rating: 8/10 9/10
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for cinematography and music)

Who doesn't love this movie?

Harvey

Title: Harvey
Year: 1950
Director: Henry Koster
Writer: Mary Chase & Oscar Brodney, based on Chase's play
Starring: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow, Charles Drake
Music: Frank Skinner
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (Hull); Oscar nomination for Best Actor (Stewart); currently #177 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a friendly alcoholic has an invisible rabbit friend
Length: 104 minutes
How I saw it: on video twice (rented from Netflix), most recently January 2009
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good).
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for cinematography and special effects/design) c. 3.2/4 (Very good).

Here's another one where I disagree with myself the second time around. The first time I saw it I was annoyed by the stage play farce aspects, but they are hardly noticeable when you go into it knowing Elwood P. Dowd and expecting his implacable calm. And I seemed to think the acting was terrible the first time around, but it's perfectly fine; some actors are bad, but most are good, and of course Stewart is great. Cute movie.

Children of Men

Title: Children of Men
Year: 2006
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Writers: Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby, based on the novel by P.D. James
Starring: Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Clare-Hope Ashitey
Music: John Tavener
Distinctions: currently #187 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: people try to survive in a dystopian near future
Length: 109 minutes
How I saw it: on video twice (rented from Netflix), most recently January 2009
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites).
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for characters) c. 3.5/4 (Very good).

Best. Cinematography. Ever. An amazing movie in almost every respect. The first time I saw it, it felt like there wasn't much story arc, and it ended up seeming slow, although I didn't feel that way at all the second time.

The Hustler

Title: The Hustler
Year: 1961
Director: Robert Rossen
Writers: Sidney Carroll & Robert Rossen, based on the novel by Walter Tevis
Starring: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott
Music: Kenyon Hopkins
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Cinematography (black-and-white) and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (black-and-white); Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Newman), Best Actress (Laurie), Best Supporting Actor (Gleason), Best Supporting Actor (Scott); currently #182 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a pool shark is bad at gambling and has relationship troubles
Length: 134 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), January 2009
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for story, pacing, special effects/design and subjective rating) c. 3.0/4 (Good).

Very pretty looking movie, with a great score and great acting (especially from Gleason), but mind-numbingly boring. It feels like two or three different movies mashed together. The "sets" (read "locations") and costumes etc. are great, but the sound is a garbled mess.

Nights of Cabiria

Title: Le notti di Cabiria
Year: 1957
Director: Federico Fellini
Writers: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli & Pier Paolo Pasolini, based on the novel by Maria Molinari
Starring: Giulietta Masina, François Périer, Franca Marzi
Music: Nino Rota
Distinctions: Oscar for best foreign language film; currently #143 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a prostitute copes with being low-class
Length: 117 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for concept, story, pacing and subjective rating) c. 2.9/4 (Good).

Masina's performance and character are entertaining, but it's a pretty slow movie. There's not much of a plot, and what little there is doesn't really get started until over half way though.

The Terminator

Title: The Terminator
Year: 1984
Director: James Cameron
Writers: James Cameron & Gale Anne Hurd, with William Wisher Jr., based on material by Harlan Ellison
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton
Music: Brad Fiedel
Distinctions: currently #184 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: an unstoppable killer robot from the future
Length: 107 minutes
How I saw it: on video twice, most recently January 2009; on television a few times
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good).
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for concept, story, pacing and subjective rating) c. 2.2/4 (Okay).

It may be painfully corny in places (okay, most of the movie), but the idea of being relentlessly attacked by [the remains of] a demented robot is enough to get me to re-watch it every few years. Terrible dialog ("Talk to me." "Okay, here's my backstory..."). Very dated special effects. One of the worst scores of all time. But the concept is f***ing brilliant.

Letters from Iwo Jima

Title: Letters from Iwo Jima
Year: 2006
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: Iris Yamashita; story by Yamashita and Paul Haggis; based on a book by Tadamichi Kuribayashi & Tsuyoko Yoshido
Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya
Music: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Sound Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Original Screenplay; currently #199 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: the battle of Iwo Jima, from the Japanese point of view
Length: 141 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), January 2009
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for cinematography, special effects/design and music) c. 2.6/4 (Good).

The shape of it is a great way to do a war movie -- building up to a huge battle for the first half of the movie, followed by mayhem. I didn't like how they handle the character-related stuff very much, though - although the characters themselves are good. Visually, it's usually too dark to see who we're looking at. And the beach appears to be stormed by a cartoon army.