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

[Jessie]

It seems most don't share our love of Armageddon.

 

60) Armageddon (1998)

Michael Bay

JJ Abrams (screenplay)

 

Might as well end the night with a film I love and most hate.

 

 

Not going to get into why this makes my list, all that much.  But briefly, it has some of the best direction I've ever witnessed.  The script is hilarious and emotional.  The cast is epitome of perfection and as mentioned about the script, I laughed until my sides hurt in some scenes and then wept in others.  I could watch the scene where the boy's mom tells him that's not a salesman, that's your daddy, every day and still get emotional every time.  Armageddon is what is right with movies.  It's loud, boisterous, ballsy and entertaining from start to finish.  Most disagree.  But this isn't their list.  

 

 

Trivia:  

 

After Rockhound gets space dementia, the shuttle crew wraps him in duct tape, which is, in fact, NASA protocol for immobilizing a crazed crew member.

 

Director Michael Bay had the actors write their list of demands on the papers that Bruce Willis read from.

 

Rockhound's line about sitting on a million pounds of fuel in a rocket built by the lowest bidder is a variation of an actual radio transmission by Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, just prior to lift-off.

 

According to the Criterion Collection commentary, many of the errors found in the film were acknowledged by the director and known even during filming/production and were left in deliberately (such as fire in space). Michael Bay said, "It's a movie and not many people know about it", so they were kept in for entertainment value.

 

Armageddon is a classic in the publics eyes, its only when we look on the internet that we find hate.

[baumer]

I think Bay is one of the best directors working today.

[Jessie]

The action in ARMAGEDDON is not particularly good (or interesting). What makes the movie entertaining are the fun characters.

 

Yeah I don't praticarly remember much action in  the film, but I cared for all the characters, and that's hard for a filmmaker to do. Sure, its a dumb movie, but its still lot of fun.

[baumer]

I dont want to give anything away but heres a hint for two of the films in my top 12:

Dan Fielding

"They say he has maggots drawers....that means he wasnt any good."

[Kalo]

just curious are there any animated films on this list?.. especially between the years 1991-1994..  

Edited March 3, 2015 by Kalo

[baumer]

just curious are there any animated films on this list?.. especially between the years 1991-1994..  

 

Zero.

 

No big spoiler there.  I'm not an animated guy.

[Kalo]

Zero.

 

No big spoiler there.  I'm not an animated guy.

[baumer]

54) Traffic (2000)

Steven Soderberg

 

 

Maybe it was by design and maybe it wasn't but one of the best aspects of Traffic is that it doesn't preach. It does show us the potential damage hard core drugs can do to you but it never really comes out and says that drugs are bad, drugs ruin you and drugs should be forbidden. What it does instead is tell about five different stories that all inter-connect in some way or another. There is the Michael Douglas story about an Ohio judge that is appointed to head a committee on drug enforcement, and also has a daughter that is hooked on crack cocaine. Then there is the story of a wealthy business that is the biggest supplier of narcotics in So Cal and his wife. He is fingered by one of his associates when he is busted and hopes to weasle his way out of his impending prison sentence. Then there is the story of the two cops that are trying to keep the witness alive long enough to testify. Don Cheadle has an astonishing performance, one of my favourites in any film. Next is the story of a Mexican General that is trying wipe out the drug trade in Tijuana, or so he says. Then you have the story of the other drug cartels that are trying keep their business thriving and finally you have the most intriguing story in the film and that is the one about the two Mexican State policemen that are trying to help General Salazar wipe out the drugs. Benitio Del Toro plays one of the officers and this is one of the most intriguing performances that I have ever seen, in any language. 

Every story is given ample time to grow and develop and we are equally intrigued by each of them. 

Traffic is brilliant in every way. Especially intriguing is the use ( or lack thereof ) of music and the way it is photographed. There is no music in the film except when people are moving around. But never during dialogue is there any musical interludes. This gives it a realistic feel, like you are tagging along silently, witnessing all that happening. Technically speaking, this is a film that goes against perhaps everything that you may learn in film school. No music, choppy editting and a grainy look to film that may put some people off. Others will appreciate what the film stands for. I am not talking about the message because frankly the message is one that we have seen before. But what this film stands for the triumph of film making.  

What is also incredible about the film is some of the ideas and the writing of the thoughts behind it. It will go on to tell you that drugs are an intracal part of American society and no matter how great an effort you give to eradicate them, they will always exist. Put one drug Lord out of business and another will thrive. Don Cheadle's character actually shows his only sign of mistrust towards himself and every ideology that he ever believed in when one drug dealer tells him that his whole life is transparent because by having him testify means that one drug lord is gone but the other is waiting eagerly to break into the same market. In essence, Don Cheadle and the rest of the DEA are really working for a drug lord. Deal with that, he is told. It is one of the great moments in the film.

 

Far and away my favourite part of the film is Benitio Del Toro, who plays Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez. 
 

 

Trivia:

 

Benicio Del Toro is one of only five actors to have won an Academy Award for a part spoken mainly in a foreign language (most of Del Toro's dialog is in Spanish). Sophia Loren, Robert De Niro, Marion Cotillard and Roberto Benigni are the other four.

 

Michael Douglas originally declined the role of Robert Wakefield, and it was offered toHarrison Ford, who accepted. Ford worked with director Steven Soderbergh to improve the character, but then decided not to do the movie. Douglas liked the change in the character so much, he accepted the revamped part.

[baumer]

53) The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Stephen Chbosky

 

Beautifully written, expertly acted, directed well, and perfectly designed, this movie succeeds on all levels. And not just as a high school movie, but as one about human beings. 

 

"We accept the love we think we deserve."  A line with meaning.

 

 

The performances hit every note perfectly.  Even the shop teacher, as played by make-up artist Tom Savini, who appears at number in Friday the 13th, wonderful in here.  Emma Watson broke my heart a few times, Ezra Miller made me laugh and feel sadness and Logan Lerman was a revelation.  

The clichéd issues and scenarios that inevitably come with a high school film are handled with such humanity and honesty that they become authentic. There are hilarious moments and heartbreaking ones and your emotions go on a roller coaster ride that is synonymous with high school itself. Instead of the usual cringe-worthy sentimentality, you feel something for the 3 dimensional characters simply because it is all so real. 

 

During one of the best scenes, the main character Charlie says "I feel infinite." This movie is infinite because it can appeal to more than just high

school students. The core themes and conflicts are all humane that just happen to be set in a high school.

 

Years from now, this might be higher on my list.

 

Trivia:  Emma Watson has admitted that she refuses to watch her kissing scenes or The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) scene.

 

John Hughes originally bought the film rights with the intention to write and direct. He intended to make the film as more of a dark comedy with Shia LaBeouf set to play Charlie, Kirsten Dunst slated to play Sam and Patrick Fugit cast as Patrick. Hughes sudden death stalled the project, as he'd not completed a script before his passing. This allowed the film to be revived as an independent movie with novelist Stephen Chboskyreturning to script & direct.
 

[baumer]

52) Better Off Dead (1985)

Savage Steve Holland

 

Savage Steve Holland had a very brief career in Hollywood. He only directed two other films after this one before he went to the silver screen. But his name will live on forever as Better Off Dead might be the funniest comedy of the 1980s. Some people have a filter, I don’t think he did. It seemed that any and every idea he had, he used in this script. John Cusack plays Lane Meyer. He’s just been broken up with by his girlfriend of two years, named Beth. Everyone wants to date Beth, including the mailman, his science teacher and some animated hamburgers. But beyond that, this film features Asian brothers who talk like Howard Cossell, a French exchange student living with a fat, sexually aggressive boy and his mother, a persistent paperboy who will go to any length to get his two dollars, a younger brother who can build a rocket and then have a party with promiscuous women on the same night and so many other zany and off the wall scenarios that must have looked ridiculous on paper. But somehow it all works. Better Off Dead is a gut-bustingly funny film. It’s also one of the smartest films about teenagers that you’ll ever see.

 

 

Trivia:  When Beth (Amanda Wyss) shows up at the high school dance, the person standing behind her is wearing Freddy Krueger's sweater. Wyss played Krueger's first victim in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

 

Some movie posters for this film featured a long blurb that read: "You've blown up your neighbor's mom. Your seven-year-old brother has better luck with women than you do. Your girlfriend has a new boyfriend. Relax, you're never...BETTER OFF DEAD".

 

[Empire]

Perks is a fantastic movie! Glad it made your list so high!

[baumer]

51) The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Victor Fleming

 

One of the most wonderful and beautiful entertaining family masterpieces is 1939's all-time classic, "The Wizard of Oz". Directed by the same director of "Gone with the Wind" in the same year, Victor Fleming has helped to bring L. Frank Baum's timeless children's' stories to life on the big screen. The story tells about Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto, who get sent to the land of Oz, after their house in Kansas was sent in a tornado. Along the way, they meet singing munchkins, a scarecrow in need of a brain, a tin man in need of a heart, a lion in need of courage, a beautiful kind witch, flying monkeys, a green nasty witch, and a wonderful wizard of a green city. "The Wizard of Oz" is one of my all-time favorite movies for many reasons. It's a movie for all audiences to enjoy, and it's perfect for the whole family. The performances by Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, and Margaret Hamilton as these wonderful characters were quite memorable to watch on screen. The characters are memorable, the art direction and costumes are imaginative, the story is timeless, and the music is still wonderful, with all of those classic songs we used to sign to as children. The songs never leave your head, and you always want to hum to them. "The Wizard of Oz" is a beautiful memory of our childhood, and it brings some heartwarming moments of love, courage, and how home matters.  It also has some of the most iconic lines ever written.  "We're not in Kansas anymore."  "There's no place like home."  And so on.

 

IMHO, no director had a better year than Fleming did in 1939, well, maybe Spielberg in 1993, but it's debatable.  

 

 

This is one of only two films on my list that came out before 1970.

 

 

Trivia:  According to lead Munchkin Jerry Maren, the "little people" on the set were paid $50 per week for a 6-day work week, while Toto received $125 per week.

 

A recent study claimed that this is the most watched movie in film history, largely due to the number of television screenings each year as well as video which has enabled children of every generation to see it.

[Empire]

Not really a fan of the Wizard of Oz.

[Kalo]

it's my sister-in-laws favorite movie of all time. I just never really understood the hype.

[baumer]

50) Man on Fire (2004)

Tony Scott

 

 

I'm big on revenge films.  I also have a beef with them because most of them have really heinous things happen to the good guys, and then when the comeuppance is about to be dished out, I'm waiting for some equally heinous things to happen to the bad guys.  And more times than not, it ends in a simple gun shot to the head and a snappy one liner.  A perfect recent example of this is A Walk Among the Tombstones.  Good movie, terrible ending.

 

But not Man on Fire.  In here, Denzel plays John Creasy, a former CIA blah blah blah....you get the point.  He's bad ass.  He is a drunk and has trouble living with his guilt.  But he is hired to babysit a rich family's young daughter, played by the ever so precocious Dakota Fanning.  He gets close to her and once she is kidnapped and killed, he goes on a rampage, hunting down and killing everyone involved, everyone who planned it, set it up, profited from it or knew about it.  His methods are sometimes torturous and always final.  

 

Tony Scott was never better than he was with this film and imo, it was the best film of 2004.  Man on Fire is one of the best revenge films out there.

 

 

Trivia:  

 

Writer Brian Helgeland first saw the original Man on Fire (1987) when he was renting videos in the late-'80s. He walked in to the video store where Quentin Tarantino was working, and asked what was good. Tarantino recommended Man on Fire (1987).]

 

Denzel Washington was cast in this film because of a trip to a doctor. He ran into director Tony Scott in the waiting room of a medical office and the two men started chatting. Scott had not seen Washington in person since they worked together onCrimson Tide (1995). Scott happened to see Dakota Fanning in I Am Sam (2001) the night before and seeing Washington made Scott think using of the two actors together

[baumer]

No we are onto the top 50.

 

Later tonight.

 

The next three will be:

 

Something from Marty

"You call this a storm?!!"

Michael Hunt and Buella Balbreaker

[darkelf]

Man on Fire!!! One of my favorites.

[RobinHood26]

Man on Fire is BADASS, good pick. Perks is an A movie, and I LOVE Dances With Wolves 

[Kalo]

55) Dances With Wolves (1990)

Kevin Costner

 

This is one of those rare Hollywood films that works in all departments. Even its nearly four-hour length is just right, any shorter and the required leisurely pace with emphasis on the Remington-like photography which makes one think of a moving painting would have been lost, any longer and the movie would have become boring. "Dances with Wolves" is one of the few occasions when the long time slot is required to tell the story the way it should be told. "Dances with Wolves" will stand up against any western John Ford made.

 

Though not all that original, the story approaches its subject from a fresh angle. A somewhat mentally distraught cavalry lieutenant who was driven nearly insane by action during the Civil War is assigned a distant frontier outpost by a deranged commander who proceeds to p*ss his pants and shoot himself. The post has been recently deserted. So Lt. John Dunbar (Costner) lives as a hermit, befriended first by a lone wolf, then later by a tribe of Sioux. Living with the tribe is a white woman to whom Dunbar takes a liking. The tribe is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the buffalo for survival. The encroachment of the white man begins taking its toll with the buffalo slaughtered for tongues and hides, leaving the meat to rot. Dunbar must decide which way to go.

 

Though long, the film moves with not a moment of respite from beginning to end. The viewer becomes part of the story and is carried along by the sweep of the lonesome, beautiful, and at times deadly, great plains, inhabited by native Americans who like all humans live lives of pleasure, pain, fleeting glory, desperation, and dreams, now threatened by outsiders who want the land and its creatures for themselves.

 

I was one of the few, it seemed who had no problem with this film or with Costner beating out Mart and his opus of 1990 at the Oscars.  It's a terrific film.  

 

The theatrical cut is a triumph of film making, the 4 hour cut makes it epic.

 

Trivia:

 

Kevin Costner's spreading out of his arms while doing his suicide run at the start of the film was a completely spontaneous gesture that took his stunt coordinator by surprise.

 

Because of budgetary overruns and general industry reluctance to invest in a Western,Kevin Costner was forced to dig deep into his own pockets to make up the film's $18 million budget. As it then went on to gross over $100 million, he himself earned an estimated $40 million from his original investment.

didn't realize  Mary McDonnell was in this movie, she is so stinkin Badass in Battlestar Galactica, of course it's been a looong time since I've seen Dances with Wolves., really don't remember it very well. need to watch it again.

[4815162342]

Gump incoming