Baumer's ridiculous, uninformed, stupid list of MY BEST 105 FILMS EVER , FULL LIST PG 42

[baumer]

Aiming for another 10 tonight

[baumer]

83) Braveheart (1995)

Mel Gibson

 

Movies are not documentaries, they are works of fiction.  Even the ones that claim they are "based on a true story" are just that...based on a true story.  This film might take a few liberties with said story, and I could really care less.  Simply put, this is as epic as they come.  Mel Gibson has never been better and the film is one of the few that the academy got right when it gave it best picture.  It's a moving story of love, patriotism, friendship, war and so much more.  The battle scenes can rival or stand toe to toe with some of the other great films like Saving Private Ryan and Platoon (one of which will appear here later).  Mel Gibson has been ostracized by Hollywood, but that doesn't reduced his talent.  IMO, it has never been better than in this film.

 

 

Trivia:  

 

In an October 2009 interview with "The Daily Mail", Mel Gibson admitted that the film was heavily fictitious but claimed the changes had been made for dramatic purposes. He also admitted he had always felt he was at least a decade too old to play Wallace.

 

One of the film's weary extras reportedly mistook one of Gibson's children on the set for an errand boy, and asked him to bring a cup of tea. Gibson was within earshot, and nodded and whispered to his son, "Go get it."

 

Mel Gibson has said he would give five dollars to anyone who could spot the fake horses in the final film. Reportedly he has not had to make good on the wager.

 

[The Futurist]

Iconic celtic James Horner Score.

[baumer]

82) Unbreakable (2000)

M. Night Shyamalan

 

As I sat in theater and saw the haunting image of Bruce Willis being told in an eerie and confused voice by a doctor that he was the sole survivor of a train wreck, and that he wasn't scarred or broken in any way, I was curious. Then those magic words flash across the screen....FROM THE WRITER AND DIRECTOR OF SIXTH SENSE. Now it had my attention. Toss in Samuel L. Jackson playing the prophet, and at the time, it was my most anticipated film of the year. This was back when MNS's name meant something.  Not like it is today.

Bruce Willis plays David Dunne, who, as the film opens is riding on that doomed train destined to crash. We all know this from the trailers. But as he is riding on that train, a pretty young woman asks if the seat is taken next to him and he says no. As she sits down, he takes off his wedding ring and begins to flirt with her. As we already know, somewhere along the way in the film, we are going to see that Willis may have some sort of gift that prevents him from injury, but that doesn't mean he is unbreakable in other facets of his life. Somewhere along the way, he has lost contact with his family and he and his wife don't even hold hands as he is being released from the hospital. 

Upon leaving the funeral for the passengers of the train wreck that he survived, he finds a note on his car from a place called LIMITED EDITION, and on it, it asks him how many days he has ever been sick in his life. This question intrigues him and since he can't remember himself, he goes to the one source that knows him better than he knows himself, his wife. She can't ever remember him being sick.

"Doesn't that strike you as odd?" he asks her.

When David finally meets Elijah Price, we learn that Elijah has sought him out because Elijah is one of the most breakable men in the world. His bones are easily broken and his cells react very poorly to disease and have a hard time fighting off even the common cold. It seems that these two are the complete opposite. Elijah tells David that he believes he is "unbreakable" simply because Elijah is not. If a man like Elijah exists, then there must be a man out there that is on the other side of the spectrum. 



I read a review about Unbreakable by the venerable Roger Ebert, and he praised the film but then criticized the ending saying that it felt like it was rushed, that more care was needed, so instead of giving it four stars he gave it three. My response to that is this:

I am not a lover or a connoisseur of the thing that Shyamalan is. I will not reveal what that is, but saffice it to say that if you at least understand them, then you will see what the direction the film is heading in. There are many hints and subtleties that you can begin to guess about half way through the film what is happening. That is not to say that the secret is not shocking, because it is. It's just that this time you can see it coming from a far. And that is done through actions, camera shots, camera angles, the colouring of the film, the dialogue, and the costumes. This is a brilliant film that wants to emulate a passion that one man has for one particular thing in this world. And when you open your film by telling your audience that the world of COMICS is bigger than any of us imagined, well that should give us a clue right there. Make no mistake about it, this film is calculated from beginning to end. Unbreakable is a fascinating film done by a talented writer and director, it's just too bad he started writing shitting movies because this is one of the best films I've seen.

 

Trivia:

 

M. Night Shyamalan always had Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in mind to play the roles of David Dunn and Elijah Price.

 

The stadium that David Dunn (Bruce Willis) works at is actually Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania. It is the oldest stadium in the country and the first to have an electronic scoreboard, an upper deck, and the first site of a live radio and television broadcast.

Edited February 28, 2015 by baumer

[The Futurist]

I still can t believe Shyamalan s carreer path.

From hero to literally zero.

What a strange case.

[Ozymandias]

83) Braveheart (1995)

Mel Gibson

 

Movies are not documentaries, they are works of fiction.  Even the ones that claim they are "based on a true story" are just that...based on a true story.  This film might take a few liberties with said story, and I could really care less.  Simply put, this is as epic as they come.  Mel Gibson has never been better and the film is one of the few that the academy got right when it gave it best picture.  It's a moving story of love, patriotism, friendship, war and so much more.  The battle scenes can rival or stand toe to toe with some of the other great films like Saving Private Ryan and Platoon (one of which will appear here later).  Mel Gibson has been ostracized by Hollywood, but that doesn't reduced his talent.  IMO, it has never been better than in this film.

 

 

Trivia:  

 

In an October 2009 interview with "The Daily Mail", Mel Gibson admitted that the film was heavily fictitious but claimed the changes had been made for dramatic purposes. He also admitted he had always felt he was at least a decade too old to play Wallace.

 

One of the film's weary extras reportedly mistook one of Gibson's children on the set for an errand boy, and asked him to bring a cup of tea. Gibson was within earshot, and nodded and whispered to his son, "Go get it."

 

Mel Gibson has said he would give five dollars to anyone who could spot the fake horses in the final film. Reportedly he has not had to make good on the wager.

 

 

I fucking love the "mad Irishman" in Braveheart.

 

"Him!?  That can't be William Wallace, I'm prettier than this man."

 

"If I risk my neck for you, will I get a chance to kill Englishmen?  Excellent!"

 

"I wouldn't worry about them.  Didn't I tell you before? Its my Island"

 

"The Lord tells me he can get me out of this mess, but hes pretty sure you're fucked."

 

"In order to find his equal, an Irishman is forced to talk to God. Yes, Father? The Almighty says 'Don't change the subject, just answer the fucking question.'"

 

"Sure didn't the Almighty send me to watch your back? I didn't like him anyway, he wasn't right in the head."

[baumer]

81) O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000)

The Coen's

 

I'm just going to reprint my original review of this film.  It's a bit long, but it sums it up perfectly:

 

I have walked out of a Coen movie before and not quite known how to feel. The two best examples of that are The Big Lebowski and Fargo. Lebowski was so ridiculously original and so filled with strange humour that I had to like it. On the other hand, there were some unnecessary reveries with flying people and killer bowling balls that just didn't seem to fit the mold of the film. Still, I liked the film and now own a copy of it. Fargo made me howl with hysterics, sometimes I wasn't sure why I was laughing so hard that it made me cry, but nonetheless I was. There were many seemingly strange characters in Fargo, but upon further investigation, they were really just real people talking about real situations. That is why the man with the shovel ( or was it a broom ) was so side-splittingly funny when he was telling the police officer about some funny looking man down at the bar the other night. And that is also why the theater erupted in laughter when he then says that there are some funny looking clouds coming in. (I own a copy of this film too) The Coen's have a way of masking their film and their characters as being somewhat eccentric and perhaps a little off the wall. But if you look closer at some of those same characters that seem zany, you will always find that in some strange way, they all ring true. That is what is quite exceptional about O Brother Where Art Thou? This is a film that is out there. I mean it is not even in the same ballpark as a traditional film. I reviewed the film Shaft this past summer and in it I said that Shaft was an okay film that I have seen a thousand times before. But you can not say that about a Coen Brother's film and you most certainly can not say that about this one.

This film has everything in it from a jail break, crooked southern politicians, muses, references to what I can only assume are historical figures, riverside baptisms, bank robberies, violence towards animals, singing flocks of religious fanatics, KKK, lynch mobs and so on. There are obviously many references to Homer's Odyssey in here as well, but I wouldn't know that because I have never read Homer's Odyssey or even knew one thing about it. Every other newspaper reviewer seems to know all about it and they think that this cynicism and almost spoof-like quality towards it makes the film that much better. Well, coming from a guy who doesn't know anything about it, I can tell you that it is still an entertaining film. There were times when again, as is usual for a Coen film, I wasn't sure why I was entertained or laughing, but I was.

 

This is a road picture where three men travel along the way to find a hidden treasure that Clooney says he has hidden to his two other cell mates. He has to take them along because they were also chained to him when they had their chance to escape.

I like all the principal actors in the film and many of them are Coen cronies. It was nice to see Goodman again. It was nice to see Hunter and especially Turturro who seems to have a place in every Coen film. It's too bad they didn't find a place for Steve Buscemi but that is a different story all together. But back to Clooney. The man just has charisma. He is a one hell of an actor as well and here he is not quite as zany as the others but even he has his own idiosyncrasies. His work here is quite awesome and I really hope this shows that he is capable of playing any range of character.

Now after heaping all this praise on the film, let me just say this as well. I didn't really enjoy the film at first. I found it to be quite tedious and a little boring. There were too many ideas in here and at first I felt as though not enough care went into harnessing them for all what they were worth. But then the film began to grow on me. It took a while but it did grow on me. I don't think this is their best film, but it is close.  

Every day you can look at what's playing at the theater and say to yourself, seen it, seen it, oh, seen it last year, that is the same as this film and that is the same as that film. Most films have been recycled in some form or another. Not the Coen's films. They have not been recycled and if they have I don't know about it. That is reason enough to see something that they put out. Originality counts for a lot in my books. The Coen's are original and they are good. And that is not common in today's cinema. Enjoy them while they are allowed to make films. Because you don't get vision like this in many films, so when you do, enjoy it!

 

And one final note, Constant Sorrow became one of my favourite songs of that year.  And the scene where they sing it to a room full of people who apparently hate them, is one of the all time classic scenes in cinema, imo.

 

 

Trivia:

 

The film's soundtrack became an unlikely blockbuster, even surpassing the success of the film. By early 2001, it had sold five million copies, spawned a documentary film, three follow-up albums ("O Sister" and "O Sister 2"), two concert tours, and won Country Music Awards for Album of the Year and Single of the Year (for "Man of Constant Sorrow"). It also won five Grammys, including Album of the Year, and hit #1 on the Billboard album charts the week of March 15, 2002, 63 weeks after its release and over a year after the release of the film.

 

George Clooney agreed to do this film without having read the script.

 

Director Trademark: [fricassee] Dan Teague tells Everett "Thanks for the fricassee," in the picnic scene under the tree. The Coens also included this dish in "Fargo" when Margie and Norm are eating in a restaurant and another cop asks her, "How's the fricassee?"

[baumer]

80) Argo (2013)

Ben Affleck

 

An excellent film, with more tension than most well done horror movies. The tone was set early on with the historical context, showing how the west created the circumstances that led to the Revolution in the first place, by installing the Shah and then supporting him irrespective of the human rights violations in his country (of which he claimed no knowledge, as the film shows). The filming of the protects and siege of the embassy were very realistic - at some points I thought they were using original footage.

 

Being of an age where I remember the events quite vividly, the film brought all that back to life for me. I didn't need the events around the actual escape spiced up (as Affleck has admitted) as the tension was already there. Just having the housemaid quizzed at the gate showed the tension and menace graphically enough for me. The scene in the spice market showed the chaotic mayhem that existed at that time in the country - no one was really in charge, anyone could take it upon themselves to exercise a bit of revolutionary action of their own.

I think part of the reason I love this movie so much is that it is one very big shining moment in my countries history.  Canada and the US have always had a very strong relationship and this incident shows how tight that bond is.  I loved it for all of the neat intricate research that went into it.  My favourite exchange in the movie is this one:

 

Tony Mendez: [quizzing the houseguests about their cover identities] You. Where was your passport issued?

Bob Anders: Vancouver.

Tony Mendez: Where were you born?

Bob Anders: Toronto.

Tony Mendez: [correcting him] "Torono". Canadians don't pronounce the "t".

Lee Schatz: Some Komiteh guard is actually gonna know that?

Tony Mendez: If you're detained for questioning, they will bring in someone who knows that, yes.

 

It's a brilliant scene because it's so true....we don't pronounce it wit the second T.  Small details like this made the film so good.

 

Trivia:

 

In an interview with Piers Morgan, former American President Jimmy Carter said that he believes the film was a "great drama" and it deserved to win an Oscar for best film. However, Carter noted that although "90 per cent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian," the film "gives almost full credit to the American CIA. With that exception, the movie's very good," Carter said, but "the main hero, in my opinion, was Ken Taylor, who was the Canadian ambassador who orchestrated the entire process."

 

According to Tony Mendez, the fake production office known as Studio Six was so convincing in the real-life Argo plan that even several weeks after it folded and the Iranian rescue was complete, "we had received twenty-six scripts. One was from Steven Spielberg."

 

Alan Arkin was the first actor cast in the film.

[Ethan Hunt]

Unbreakable is a friend of mines favorite movie.

[baumer]

79) Indian Summer (1993)

Mike Binder

 

I am a sucker for films like this. Films that take you back and let you relive your childhood. Being an adult has its advantages, but the innocence of childhood is lost once you hit a certain age and have adult responsibilities.  Mike Binder's Indian Summer knows this and explores this like he was twelve years old. It brings you back to a time when life was simpler and much more fun. It brings you back to a time when worrying about your first kiss and wondering if you could finish the camp marathon were important issues. Indian Summer is a fantastic film and it is one that should be watched at least once a year just so you can sit back and laugh...and reminisce.

 

The film stars Kevin Pollak, Bill Paxton, Diane Lane and Matt Craven (to name a few) as childhood friends that are being summoned back to Camp Tamakwa by their former Head Camp Counsellor, Uncle Lou. Uncle Lou is played perfectly by Alan Arkin. He is kind of guy who is the patriarch of the group. He is also all knowing and encompasses the true spirit of a father figure and someone who understands the simple things in life. He has a hard time relating to today's kids that need a walkman (it's the 90's....that's what they had then)blaring in their ears when they are at a place of immense beauty like Tamakwa. This is a camp that has moose wandering through the camp, leaves turning colours that God gave them and water for as far as the eye can see. Uncle Lou yearns for the days of old and asks his former campers back to the camp to see one of them will take over the camp. While they are all together again, we get to see their trials and tribulations and perhaps a new love could spring between them.

 

As the adults return to the camp, it isn't long before they act like kids again as the typical camp pranks get played all over again. They take toilet paper out of the stalls, the put toothpaste on sleeping bags and so on. All of this is done hilariously and with actors like Pollak and Paxton, it is all very funny stuff.

But beyond the hilarity, we get to explore some very real adult emotion that anyone can relate to. In one of my favourite scenes, Kevin Pollak and Elizabeth Perkins are overlooking a bay where they used to go canoing as kids. Pollak can't get over how small it all looks and Perkins finally tells him that the bay didn't get smaller, they just got bigger. It doesn't hammer the point home, but it does it subtly. We all grow up, we all move on and we all unfortunately can't live like we did 20 years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Indian Summer is a character driven film and it is written beautifully by Mike Binder who actually did attend Camp Camp Tamakwa, (as did Sam Raimi, who played Stick in the film) and it is his fond and vivid memories of his experiences that fuel the film. There are many touching scenes and there are many hilarious ones also. Both are perfect.

I love this film. I love everything about it and it is a true hidden gem.

 

Trivia:

Director Sam Raimi, who plays the character Stick Coder also attended this camp (Camp Tamakwa) as a child.

 

One of the founders of the real Camp Tamakwa is 'Unca' Lou Handler, whom the character in the movie is named after.

[baumer]

78) When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Rob Reiner

 

I've had some long winded pieces in the last few reviews.  I'll keep this one short.  This is a timeless classic and has one of my favourite scripts.  Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan have never been better and Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby are excellent as well.  People know this film because of the fake orgasm scene in the restaurant but there are about a dozen or so memorable scenes contained here.  It's a beautiful film.

 

 

Trivia:

 

In the museum scene, Harry adlibs, "But, I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie." Sally laughs and looks to her right where Rob Reiner silently prompts her to go with it (this is also my favourite scene in the movie)

 

The concept of Sally being a picky eater was based on Nora Ephron, the scriptwriter, and so years after the movie came out, when Nora Ephron was on a plane and ordered something very precise, the stewardess looked at her and asked "Have you ever seen the movie 'When Harry Met Sally'?"

 

Harry is shown reading Stephen King's Misery, which was the next movie directed by Rob Reiner.

 

[The Futurist]

Meg, what have you done to yourself, why, WHY ?

[baumer]

77) Apocalypse Now (1979)

Francis Ford Coppola

 

In high school, I had to read Heart of Darkness. Although it was a good book, I did not understand any of it so my teacher had to explain everything. It was a harder read than a Shakespeare play. Apocalypse Now is a loose adaptation that surpasses the book. A few years after Coppola does what the rest of the world thinks are the best movies ever--The Godfather Part 1 & 2--he directs arguably the best war movie ever made. Apocalypse Now is sheer genius.

 

One thing that sets this apart from a lot of other films about war is the weirdness that Coppola incorporates, used from the story. Martin Sheen (in an underrated performance) plays a soldier who seeks out Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando. Along the way, he encounters many odd tribes and rituals. When he gets to Kurtz's kingdom, the weirdness reaches an all-time high and the result of his stay changes him forever. Coppola creates some odd tribes that is genius for movies. The general filming with stuff like cinematography is revolutionary and mind-blowing. Coppola never did better than this and very few directors have done better than this. 

Apocalypse Now is a story about how war can change people and does the best job in showing how and why.  I almost didn't give this movie a ten when I first saw it because of all the behind the scenes stuff I learned about how much of a malcontent Marlon Brando was to work with. But then I realized that it takes nothing away from the power this film had over me.  This film is truly great in spite of Brando.

 

Trivia:  

 

Francis Ford Coppola believed that Marlon Brando was familiar with Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and had prepared for the role before the legendary actor arrived on the set. When Brando did come out, Coppola was horrified to find that Brando had never read "Heart of Darkness", did not know his lines, and had become extremely fat (Kurtz had always been written as a tall but starvingly-thin man). After some panicking, Coppola decided to film the 5'10" Brando as if he was a massively built, 6'5" brute (to explain Brando's size) and steered the camera clear of Brando's huge belly.

 

Originally scheduled to be shot over six weeks, ended up taking 16 months.

 

Laurence Fishburne lied about his age (he was 14 at the time) when production began in 1976.

[Kalo]

There are two movies that absolutely terrified me as a child, probably for being exposed them at a way two young age that I still hate to this day.. The Rock and Braveheart.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Kalo

[baumer]

76) Tequila Sunrise (1988)

Robert Towne

 

This film is so rich in character that you could really care less if the film sucks in every other way. Fortunately, it doesn't and what we are left with is one incredible film.

What I enjoyed most about the film was how almost every character has a hidden agenda. From Mac ( Gibson ) and Joanne's ( Pfeiffer ) laywer and the Mexican detective Escalante ( in a brilliant performance by Raul Julia ). They all have something that they are hiding. Something that they don't want anyone else to know.

 

Robert Towne, who is one of the great script writers of our time, directed this masterpiece. He paints every character with many shades of grey and he paints the background of this movie with lush oranges and sunset reds. It is excellent in every way. But you have to have your brain working in this film because it is a smart movie. It treats the viewer as if they are smart and it asks you to pay attention.

 

There isn't one off key performance in this film and the writing is just astounding.  Robert Towne got famous for doing Chinatown, but in my opinion, this is his best work.  So many great lines in the film and I even did the entire monologue of Kurt Russel's (when he tells Joanne that he had been checking her out because of her possible connection to Mac) in first year university film studies and got an A on it.

A great cast, perfect writing and direction and cinematography make this a treat to watch.

 

Trivia:

 

Before shooting began according to producer Thom Mount, Warner Bros. pulled out of the film because of issues with the screenplay citing that the good guy was an ex-drug dealer and the cops and feds are the bad guys.

 

When the film went into production, the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers at the time, Pat Riley, was offered the role of Nick. When he turned it down, it went to 'Kurt Russell'. Russell's look for the role was influenced by Riley.

 

JT Walsh's best performance, imo

 

Edited February 28, 2015 by baumer

[baumer]

75) The Prophecy (1995)

Greg Widen

 

Religion has always been a clouded issue to me. There is absolutely no evidence that there is a God or an afterlife. But that hasn't stopped me ( and billions of people ) from believing in something. And I have always been taught that if there is good, then there is also the bad. If there is a heaven, there has to be a hell. The Prophecy tells us that there is, but it is not necessarily that cut and dried. The ruler of hell in this film is more like a character in a Martin Scorsese film. He is evil ( he has to be, he is Lucifer ) but he is not necessarily here to make God's life miserable. He is not necessarily good, but he is in a self serving kind of way.

The Prophecy is a very confusing and convoluted but brilliant film. The story ( bear with me here, it's been a while since I've seen this film ) is about a war between angels. Some angels became jealous when God decided he loved humans more than them. They become bitter and decide to start a war in heaven with the angels that are loyal to God. Their theory is that if the angels that oppose them are gone, they can take over certain things and hopefully get God's love back. To do this, they must steal the soul of the most heinous person that ever lived. We meet Gabriel, the lead angel in this crusade, and played by Christopher Walken, he is one of the most entertaining characters I have ever seen in film. He has a sense of humour, he is vicious and he uses humans as slaves to do his dirty work. He catches them just before they are about to die and uses them with the promise that he will kill them once their job is finished. Here we meet Jerry, as his human monkey,and the only reason I mention this is because it is one of Adam Goldberg's early roles. He was Mellish in Saving Private Ryan and watching this you could tell he had talent and that he would go places. He is fantastic in this film.

Elias Koteas plays Thomas, the only one who may have an insight into what is going on. He was a former priest who understands how religion is playing a part in all of this.

Eric Stoltz plays Simon, one of the good angels that is trying to save the world from Gabriel and he is very affective here as well.

But the star of this film is absolutely Walken. He is perfect as Gabriel. He has a sense of humour and he is evil at the same time. And in some ways you are rooting for him to win. That is until the very end when Satan shows up, because he steals every scene he is in as well.

 

Satan is played with wicked slickness by Viggo Mortensen. When he speaks he almost slithers and creeps his words onto the screen. He makes a dark scene darker and he keeps you glued to the screen. And his role in this film is one that epitomizes convolution. He is awesome.

This film is one that should not be missed. If you don't understand everything about it the first time, watch it again and again. You'll learn something new every time. And you'll enjoy it more and more. Pardon the pun, but it's one hell of a film.

 

 

Trivia:  Filmed shortly after Pulp Fiction, and stars three members of that cast (Amanda Plummer, Stoltz and Walken).

 

The film opened number three at the box office the weekend of September 1, 1995 much to everyone's surprise including the Miramax/Dimension Films and earned back its budget that weekend.

 

The film was followed by the sequel, The Prophecy 2 which was originally intended by the studio to be a theatrical release and ultimately went straight to video.

 

[Avatree]

I still think Spec Ops: The Line is the best adaptation of Heart of Darkness, despite Apocalypse Now's greatness.

[baumer]

74 The Fugitive (1993)

Andrew Davis

 

Harrison Ford might be the best actor when it comes to making the ordinary seem extra-ordinary. Indy, Han and many others, all seem common at first, until Ford breathes life into them. Add Richard Kimble to that list. As Kimble, Ford is perfect. He is the wronged man that has to avenge his wife's death and clear his name at the same time. 

 

Andrew Davis is a terrific director, especially with action scenes. But the real star of the Fugitive is Tommy Lee Jones.

" I don't bargain."

" Well that's odd!"

His portrayal of Samuel Girard is an exercise in how to make the audience relate and understand a character. He starts off as a manic perfectionist. He is obsessed with capturing Kimble and that is all that matters. But as the film proceeds, you can sense his unease, his wonder and his ethos. You can tell by a simple expression that he is beginning to solve a crime and not just chase a criminal. And the turning point to me was his simple scene where he says " You know Devlin and McGregor made 4 and one half billion dollars last year? That company's a monster. " It is all in his face. He knows that Ford is innocent but he still has a job to do. It is Jones that makes this film so much fun. And I didn't think that there would be a more worthy recipient of best supporting actor in '93 than Kilmer in Tombstone, but Jones' work here was well deserving of his Oscar.

The Fugitive is simply outstanding.

 

 

Trivia:

 

According to producer Roy Huggins, Gerard's line in response to Richard Kimble's claim of innocence ("I didn't kill my wife") was originally read in the script as, "That isn't my problem." But at the request of Tommy Lee Jones, it was changed to, "I don't care."

 

The scene where Kimble is running through the St.Patrick's Day parade was not scripted. This was a later addition by Andrew Davis. Davis who is a native of the city, really wanted to capture the parade and was granted permission from the mayor's office to film the day of the parade. All shot with a hand held steady cam.

 

Julianne Moore's brief role landed her an interview with Steven Spielberg, who would later cast her in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).

[4815162342]

I still think Spec Ops: The Line is the best adaptation of Heart of Darkness, despite Apocalypse Now's greatness.

 

Agreed except for the part about Apocalypse Now being great

[baumer]

73) Basic Instinct (1992)

Paul Verhoeven

 

You know a movie achieves its objective when you think that a character is sexier than the person that plays her. That is exactly what Catherine Tremell does. She exudes sex and that is exactly her game. She knows that she can play with people's minds by using her beauty and her sex appeal. And she does it so well.

 

The epitome of this is the interrogation scene. Much has been made about nudity in film but this is one of those movies where every breast and every shot of someone's crotch is done so to further the plot. The famous scene that we have all witnessed now is a major part of Tremell's M.O. She knows there are a room full of men asking her questions and she uses that sexuality to play with them. And it works.

The cast and the script and the direction are top notch and the movie feels like it is one big game. And Catherine Tremell is the ultimate game master. Paul Verhoeven and Joe (remember him) Eszterhas directed and wrote this piece and if memory serves me correctly, this was one of the highest amounts paid to a script, at the time.  Eszterhas was never able to match the sheer brilliance of this script again but his legacy was cemented with this one.  IMO, there isn't one wrong note or one false move here.  Basic Instinct is brilliant.

 

 

Trivia:

 

Sharon Stone was only offered the role of Catherine after 13 actresses had turned it down.

 

Sharon Stone was seriously considering giving up acting to study law at the time she was offered the role of Catherine Tramell.

 

According to Sharon Stone, director Paul Verhoeven asked her to remove her underwear for the leg-crossing scene, as he said they were too bright and reflected at the camera. Stone agreed to do so under the assumption that her genitals weren't visible. It was only at an early preview that Stone discovered Verhoeven chose to use this specific shot. Stone was mainly cross with Verhoeven for not discussing the matter with her beforehand, but decided to let the scene go without changes, as she felt this conformed with her movie character. However, Verhoeven's version of the conflict is that he told Stone beforehand about the leg-crossing shot, as it was important for showing Catherine Tramell's free-spirited nature and her constant drive to toy with people. Stone was reportedly excited about the idea and shot the scene. However, during the early preview, her agents supposedly disproved of the scene, fearing it would harm her future career. According to Verhoeven, Stone radically changed her mind about the shot and demanded that he remove it, which he ultimately refused.  (baumer speaking here now.....this scene basically gave her a career, the  rest of the movie helped as well, obviously, but this one famous scene made Sharon Stone a lot of money in the future, so it's a good thing it did stay in the movie)