The 100 Chapter 10: 80 & 79

Who doesn't love a list?

I devour the BFI Best Films of All Time list whenever they deem it necessary to revise and (invariably) disagree with most of the findings, but I still get a kick out of browsing. Same with Rolling Stone's inane Best 100 Albums (how does Sgt. Pepper drop from #1 to #24 in the latest incarnation?); the anger I feel subsides when I see they've put a couple of Aerosmith albums on the list! We all disagree with that number one but we keep right on scrolling through each choice.

This project, which has been percolating for quite a while, originated from the constant back and forth "good-natured bickering" between John Scoleri and myself. John invariably loves everything and I hate it all (for more of the discourse, I advise one and all to pick up a copy of bare•bones print magazine and read our debates about streaming and movie theaters to get a taste). I began to think it would be fun to compose a Favorite (as opposed to Best) 100 and compare our selections. Making it even more tantalizing, I managed to talk the third head of Ghidorah, Jack Seabrook, into participating. This could be interesting, since John's never seen a movie the two Georges (Romero and Lucas) didn't have a hand in, and Jack usually favors the flicks that have words at the bottom of the screen (dis-moi que j'ai tort, Jack!). I, on the other hand, can't wait to educate these two gentlemen as to what constitutes good cinema.

Every Thursday, we'll count down our picks two at a time. We're hoping this will generate discourse outside of our trio. Let us know just how crazy we are. This is going to be fun!—Peter

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) 

Starring: Matt Damon, Joan Allen, David Strathairn

Directed by Paul Greengrass

"This is Jason Bourne, the toughest target that you have ever tracked. He is really good at staying alive and trying to kill him and failing... just pisses him off."

I'll just come out and confess that this here entry is a bit of a cheat. It should read The Bourne Identity/The Bourne Supremacy/The Bourne Ultimatum since the differences between the three films are virtually undetectable to the naked eye. All three are superb wall-to-wall action thrillers (with complex, sometimes indecipherable plots) that leave your senses exhilarated, but since I have to play by the rules we've laid down, I'll select the finale. Despite what the two crappy follow-ups (Bourne Legacy and Jason Bourne) insinuate, it delivers a perfect wrap-up to the amnesiac killer's journey to enlightenment.

This is the one where there's a semi-sorta plot going on about a reporter (the great British actor Paddy Considine) who gets a tip about the origin and training of Jason Bourne and writes a no holds barred expose. Cut to our favorite killing machine riding a train with one of those ear pieces in and lots of groovy tech stuff, reading the Guardian's headline: "Who is Jason Bourne?" Jason knows that his bosses are going to eliminate any sources of leakage from within the Agency; he heads for Waterloo Station to meet up with Paddy but an "asset" (a really good shooter guy) takes the reporter out. That pisses off Jason. But this time he's not alone in his irritation; Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) has seen enough funny stuff from the big boys and wants justice to prevail. 

That's about all I'll spoil; suffice to say there's not a lot of slowing down to explain. Director Greengrass is smart enough to know that this isn't George Smiley or Harry Palmer; this audience wants to see Matt Damon drive a Vespa down the wrong direction of a one-way street, hanging out of the car and shooting assets and cops and managing to make it through those red lights in one piece. Who doesn't want to fly like JB along foreign rooftops, grabbing random women's underwear and T-shirts from clotheslines, somehow knowing they'll come in handy in a couple minutes and never misjudging the distance between this ledge and the next. Never having to take a dump or eat a cheese and tomato sandwich. He never misses a train or has to sit in traffic. I want to be Jason Bourne!—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: I saw this! I only remember the scene where he crashes through the window. That was cool. I vaguely recall that there was something weird about the way it was directed that I did not like at all.

John: I've enjoyed all of the Bourne films, but none rise to the level of my top 100. Of course, if I had to pick one, I'd have gone with Identity. I wish they let Franke Potente stick around a little longer.

Napoleon Dynamite (2004) 

Starring: Jon Heder

Directed by Jared Hess 

"Vote for Pedro!"

An awkward high school student in Idaho navigates his odd family, friends at school, and a student council election, all in his own peculiar way.

I expect to get some flak for this choice, but I get a big kick out of this movie and it really held up when I watched it the other night. It's a very quotable film where my wife and kids and I can throw lines back and forth at each other and always know what we're talking about.

I laughed from start to finish while watching this collection of oddballs and misfits. It really captures the nightmare of high school! Some highlights:

• Rex Kwon Do's eight-week program
• Uncle Rico's desire to go back to 1982
• Kip chatting online with babes all day
• Pedro's campaign for class president
• La Fawnduh!
• Napoleon's dance
• The post-credits wedding scene

Napoleon Dynamite is heartwarming, funny, and delightful and it makes me happy to watch it! OK, guys, let me have it.—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: No flak here. I liked this goofball comedy (not enough to squeeze anything out of my list). I was expecting Heder to go on to be a big star. My favorite scene has to be Uncle Rico boasting he can throw "a football over them mountains." I'd compare the vibe in Napoleon this one to Licorice Pizza (a flick that just barely missed my list)--sweet, but also very funny. Comedy gold.

John: Some films just don't click with some people (at least on first viewing). I expect a good 30% (or more) of my selections might generate just such a response. By the time I got around to seeing Napoleon Dynamite, I had heard how great it was, and perhaps that led to high expectations that it didn't meet. I may give it another chance to see if it fares better with me going in with lower expectations.

Jurassic Park (1993) 

Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum

Directed by Steven Spielberg

"Now eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right?"

I was working in a bookstore when Jurassic Park (the book) was released, and as a Crichton fan, I enjoyed the opportunity to read an advance copy. The last piece of email I ever received that was sent to my attention at the store (thanks to a kind person who still worked there—as this was a few months after I had quit my job) was a gracious note from Michael Crichton in reply to my request to have him sign some bookplates for us (his letter was coincidentally dated on my birthday). 

There were many reasons that I was the target demographic for a Steven Spielberg adaptation of the novel, and it didn't disappoint. In fact, its impact on me was far greater than I ever could have expected. 

I think everyone knows the high-concept deal—a theme park with genetically-engineered dinosaurs—so I won't waste your time on that here. The film delivers all of the action, excitement, wonder, and incredible visual effects that brought dinosaurs back to life, once and for all. 

For me, the scene that resonated with me the most was the arrival at Isla Nublar. The flourish of John Williams's score as the helicopter approached the lush green island jutting out of the blue water just blew me away. My immediate thought was that I needed to find out where this was shot, since I wanted to visit such an amazing location. Within a few years we took our first trip to Kauai and have been back more than a dozen times in the ensuing 30+ years. Of course it didn't hurt when I realized some of the other films in my top 100 were shot on Kauai as well. Williams's music has become a soundtrack to the island to me (not to mention the theme to our wedding procession in 1997), and I still get that same rush when I revisit the film. 

And it features a great supporting performance by an actor who will turn up on my list a little further down the road...

Plus the dinosaurs still hold up!—John

 

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: I'm probably in the minority when I say I liked the sequel, The Lost World, better. Not as many slow spots. Now that I'm older, I know you can take a nap for quite a while until the T-Rex finally arrives. Granted, that scene is still a mindblower and I do acknowledge the ground it broke. The CGI in this flick looks much better than the crap they're handing us in today's movies. How does that happen? Anything after JPIII belongs on a 100 Worst List. Anyway, JP's a good flick, but I can't wait until they've marketed easy-edit machines to hook up to our Blu-ray players and I can make those annoying kids go bye-bye. 

Jack: What's not to love about Jurassic Park? I saw it on first release and watched it on occasion since then. Was Jeff Goldblum ever more likeable? The kitchen scene is particularly suspenseful. And Sam Neill was great.

Atomic Blonde (2017) 

Starring: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman

Directed by David Leitch

"It's a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver."

Though it's easy to get lost in all the double-, triple-, and quadruple-crosses, about halfway through Atomic Blonde your mind will shut down and just go for the ride. As John mentioned a few weeks ago, it's hard to keep your eyes off Charlize Theron, whether she's rolling in the hay with fellow spy Sofia Boutella or bashing a stinkin' commie thug across the kisser with a hot plate. Those action scenes (the standout, obviously, being the one-take, ten-minute apartment battle) will make you hit rewind time and again to look for the seams and stunt doubles. The dialogue at times can be a little cutesy (imagine for a moment that Guy Ritchie was handed the keys to the John Wick franchise) and I kept wondering, "just how big was that suitcase Charlize brought along?," but raise your hand if you see these things for the quiet moments. Speaking of the quiet moments, I thought, for the most part, the soundtrack hit all the right notes (Queen, Bowie, The Clash, George Michael) despite John's fear that my '80s phobia would kick in; hell, Charlize and Sofia even make "The Politics of Dancing" bearable. That's a feat!

My first watch was very memorable, opening weekend at a theater in Luxembourg, luckily English language with French subtitles. I had no idea what to expect; hadn't heard a thing about the movie. It was Charlize Theron so how could I go wrong? I didn't.—Peter

Remarks from the Gallery:

Jack: Still never saw it.

John: Geez, Jack. It's been a month since it showed up on my list. How much more time do you need? :) 

Metropolis (1927)

Starring: Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm, Gustav Frohlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge

Directed by Fritz Lang

"The mediator between head and hands must be the heart!"

In a world of the future, the rich and powerful live in skyscrapers while the poor live underground, keeping the machines running that power the world above. Joh Fredersen runs the city but his son, Freder, becomes entranced by a poor woman named Maria when she brings a group of poor children to see how the other half live.

Can Joh find a way to cure the social ills of his society? Complicating matters is the mad scientist Rotwang, whom Joh engages to engineer a catastrophe that will end the revolution before it begins.

I love silent movies and chose Metropolis to represent them on my list of 100 favorites. Fritz Lang is one of my top directors, so we'll see his work again as we go up the list, but the other films are from the sound era. When I decided to rewatch this one, I was thrilled to find that it had been restored to nearly its original length. Watching it growing up, I was never able to see anything this close to what Lang intended.

The more expressive acting style of silent cinema takes some getting used to, but the message here is one that still resonates and the special effects are amazing. I was most impressed by the performance of Brigitte Helm, who plays both Maria and her double, the false Maria created by Rotwang from the mechanical man he made to the memory of his dead wife. There are clear influences on James Whale's Frankenstein in the lab scenes, and some of the architecture in the scene where Rotwang captures Maria recalls the surreal settings from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

There are so many other silent films I love that I could list—The Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Sunrise, The Man Who Laughs, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari—but I'll just leave it at Metropolis for now. Where would American Cinema be without the German emigres?—Jack

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: When I was a kid, Forry Ackerman was my idol. As editor and voice of Famous Monsters, he would drop in a mention of Metropolis just about every issue. It seemed to be an obsession for him the same way FM was for me. The chance to see a silent science fiction flick in those days was slim to none since we didn't have the advantage today's viewers have of physical media. Either you caught these things at a con or on late night TV (again, slim to none). As I got older, the desire to see Metropolis fell by the wayside so, other than clips, I've never had the pleasure. For the most part, science fiction bores the hell out of me anyway.

John: I'm surprised Peter didn't see the Giorgio Moroder version in 1984. Well, I guess I'm not. Perhaps he would have been drawn in if it had been done a decade earlier with a '70s music soundtrack. It is a cool, classic silent, which has undergone extensive restorations through the years, so there's really no better time to watch it. Though I don't have any silent films in my top 100 (the opening of Tombstone not withstanding!), F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu would probably be the closest, followed closely by one of Buster Keaton's efforts...

Unforgiven (1992) 

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Anthony James

Directed by Clint Eastwood

"Well, he should have armed himself if he's going to decorate his saloon with my friend."

I remember walking into my friend's movie memorabilia shop and seeing the teaser for this one. I bought the US one-sheet and the British quad; I liked it so much. And Clint's western lives up to the promise of that awesome teaser image!

For anyone who grew up loving Eastwood's westerns, of which there's far more variety to than I think he's given credit for, Unforgiven was the perfect western to close out his western career. It was a brilliant move for him to acquire the rights to the script when he did and hold on to it until the time was just right. 

It goes without saying that Clint's great in it. Morgan Freeman is great in it. Gene Hackman is great in it. Hell, I don't even mind Richard Harris in it. But you know what the coolest casting in the film is? Anthony James. The great Anthony James, character actor who appeared in countless films, including a number of Clint's, almost exclusively as a villain. His first and final roles were in Oscar-winning Best Pictures (In the Heat of the Night and—spoiler alert—Unforgiven). His greatest performance (arguably followed by this one, Skinny, the saloon owner) is in Dan Curtis's Burnt Offerings. If you've seen the film, you remember Anthony, even if you don't know his name. He played the most terrifying hearse driving chauffeur in the history of cinema. But more on that later. 

Should Unforgiven be higher on my list? Quite possibly. But there's still a lot of amazing stuff  to come, so the way I see it, it's a pretty high accolade to be in the top 100 at all.—John

 

Remarks from the Gallery:

Peter: It definitely should be higher on your list. Someday soon I'll tell you why this is one of the greatest movies ever made and I won't even mention the Burnt Offerings guy.

Jack: I remember this was a great movie. At the time it came out, it seemed like a fine capper for Eastwood's career. Who could have predicted he'd have so many more years as a top director?