Shaun Berk's 100 Movie Recommendations 5 Year Anniversary- 260th Edition Part 2

Monster's Ball (2001): This took me a couple viewings. The first one was like "okay, not bad", then I revisited it later and I really liked this. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Hank, who lives with his racist father, played very well by Peter Boyle in a different part, and has a son, played by Heath Ledger, who he has a rough relationship. Halle Berry plays Letitia whose husband is killed on death row where Hank was the executioner. They meet, not knowing the involvement in that person's life for each other. They both experience bouts of family tragedy and come together to ease each other's pain. I did not really consider it love, nor really lust, they were just all each other had. To me, it was the ultimate love story.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and the Meaning of Life (1975, 1979, and 1983):  I decided to go ahead and just put these together.  These consist of the great comedy troupe which includes Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.  In HOLY GRAIL, King Arthur leads his knights in pursuit of the Holy Grail but come up against some pretty funny obstacles but a very well-researched film on the Arthurian legend.  The next one is LIFE OF BRIAN where Brian is mistaken as the messiah instead of Jesus garnering a lot of followers but people against him.  This one is really my favorite which is a satire on biblical films which teaches us to look on the bright side of life.  In their last film MEANING OF LIFE, this one got a little bit more mixed opinions.  This one featured many different sketches which talk about life.  Some of them work and some just do not.  The most memorable whether you like it or not is Terry Jones as Mr. Creosote.  We also have THE SPERM SONG which was hilarious.  There is also a great beginning scene directed by Terry Gilliam called THE CRIMSON PERMANENT ASSURANCE.  All these have some pretty politically incorrect humor and must appreciate this kind of humor to really like it and they might require another viewing with a group that will absolutely go down in history.

Moulin Rouge! (2001): Baz Luhrman directed this love story and another one that just really sticks to me. Ewan McGregor stars in 1899 Paris as an American poet named Christian who joins a Bohemian group and looks for love. In his frequenting of the Moulin Rouge, he meets Satine, played by Nicole Kidman, a dancer at the Moulin Rouge who forms a relationship with Christian even falling in love but must compete with the Duke which puts Christian's life in danger. In the club, there was a lot of 20th century music which was worked in and done very well like Elton John's YOUR SONG, Queen's THE SHOW MUST GO ON, Madonna's LIKE A VIRGIN, Nirvana's SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT, and many others along with a few original songs. Jim Broadbent was also very good as Harold Zidler. It's very interesting that whenever I show this movie to people, they guess right away that Zidler is the villain of it because of his flamboyancy and running a rather sleazy club though he was not really the villain as he always had Christian and Satine's best interests in mind. McGregor and Kidman worked so well together in a musical and love story that many people I know who don't like musicals and love stories really liked. It became one of my favorite movies the first time I watched it.

Network (1976): Sidney Lumet directed what was then satire but now not as far-fetched. Peter Finch plays the iconic Howard Beale who is an anchor on the news who has gone off the deep end and due to his ratings, he is being fired. He goes off on a cynical rant on national tv which garners all kinds of ratings so then the network does what they can to get their ratings even if it means to exploit him. Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty, among others co-star. This movie was way ahead of its time and when you are done reading this paragraph, I want to you open a window and shout "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to it anymore".

90s Disney (The Lion King, Aladdin, Mulan, Pocahantas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Beauty and the Beast): I decided to just put this as one entry as this is really my favorite Disney period.  With THE LION KING, we meet the lion cub Simba who has a very mean uncle named Scar who sets off a plot to kill the king of the lions Mufasa where it is made Simba to believe he did it so he runs away soon to meet Timon and Pumbaa and learn Hakuna Matata which means no worries.  When grown up, he soon goes back to confront Scar and end his rule.  This may be a little disturbing for younger children with the climatic battle between the lions and hyenas.  This was also turned into a big Broadway musical with phenomenal costuming and music.  In ALADDIN, Disney treats us to Robin Williams as the Genie who is made master through a street urchin of the title name.  Aladdin then meets Princess Jasmine who was going undercover to get away from the overwhelming duties of being a princess.  Aladdin this wishes to be a prince for the possibility of becoming a prince but must deal with the evil Jafar.  This has the famous song A WHOLE NEW WORLD.  MULAN is Disney's film on Chinese folklore where Mulan is a maiden whose father is being called to battle but is not healthy enough.  She poses as a man to take his place and becomes quite a hero.  Eddie Murphy is pretty funny as the voice of the dragon Mushu and Donny Osmond sings the vocals for Shang, Mulan's love interest, and if you think that Osmond is just some teen idol, think again as he shows his music talent in this one.  In POCAHONTAS, Disney does their telling of the beautiful, free spirited Native American girl whose land is being invaded by English colonists in the 17th Century.  She then becomes friends with John Smith, voiced by Mel Gibson, and they try to avoid an all-out war being lead by General Ratcliff.  Many people discuss the historical inaccuracies of this film which I'm sure there are many but as far as her marrying John Rolfe, this is not the time period that she meets him.  What I liked on this Disney movie was showing the price of hatred.  There is also a very interesting song called SAVAGES which is sung by both the white man towards the indian and the Indians towards the white man.  In THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, Disney makes what is an already dark story into a family film for elementary age children.  We first meet Quasimodo who is the title character and hidden as the bellringer from Frollo, a very mean government official who makes Quasimodo believe he is being hidden because he is an ugly person.  Quasimodo soon meets a beautiful gypsy named Esmerelda and begins to learn that Frollo is not a very good man showing how inner beauty is what is most important.  There are also some pretty good music numbers in this one.  The last one to be featured is BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.  This is the classic story given the Disney treatment.  We meet a selfish prince who is cursed to be a beast and could only break the curse by learning to love and be loved in return with a time limit.  There are others in the castle who were cursed with him where they become things like a candle, clock, tea cup, mop, and wardrobe.  Through the years, the beast knows nothing but contempt and finds a man taking refuge in his castle and imprisons him.  His daughter Belle finds him there and trades her freedom for his.  Through time, he is taught to love again and tries to better himself for her.  The other big problem is the evil Gaston who learns of this beast and goes after him.  I had the honor of playing Gaston's henchman Lefou which was one of my best parts.  This story really seems to convey the fear of the unknown.  In this one we have the great title song as well as Gaston's MOB SONG.  I guess my thing mostly is the music numbers as well as stories that are for everyone and even have some adult moments.  That is why I wanted to just include them all with a brief description. 

Oliver! (1968): This is my favorite of the classic musicals. This was the musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic OLIVER TWIST. Mark Lester plays the title orphan whose life is changed when at the orphanage asking for more. He is then sold to a family lead by an undertaker but then escapes that abusive home. He soon meets the Artful Dodger who then gets him in with Fagin, played well by Ron Moody, who teaches Oliver the art of picking pockets. It is a great story with good musical numbers. I tried out for two different versions of this production this year not getting into either one of them. Oliver Reed plays the absolute psychotic Bill Sykes.

Once Upon a Time in China (1991): I consider this my favorite martial arts film. Jet Li plays Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung in the 19th Century who runs a legendary martial arts school but is not liking the changes from the Western world. He must then compete with the local and foreign governments trying to keep in his own tradition. Jet Li is my favorite Hong Kong martial arts actor but I have a hard time sometimes with his American films. This one is really what does it for me as well as the sequels that were put out. I love the beginning theme song which gets played throughout the film during action scenes. This is a great one that did not have to use all the special effects that today's HK martial arts films uses though not a technique I dislike.

Ong-Bak (2003):  This is my Thai martial-arts film which introduces us to Tony Jaa who plays Ting.  In his village, a very important statue gets stolen where he sets out to get it back where we get to see the great fight skills of this man.  Obviously, plot is not what would win over a film like this but the fights.  He did some amazing things and trained in the fight style of Muay Borin which is the predecessor to Muay Thai.  Jaa did his own stuntwork and did some very dangerous stunts where no wires were used for the fight scenes.  This introduces us to a new breed of martial arts. 

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928): This is the only silent film I have on here and of the ones I have seen, this is my favorite. I watched this one night at home on Tony's big screen tv and I was just mesmerized. Maybe if I watched it on some small screen I would not have had the same effect but this was just phenomenal. This actually takes plays during the trial of Joan of Arc that was put together through a few documents. This is actually a French film where Maria Falconetti plays Joan of Arc and was very good. Carl Theodore Dreyer directed this film which I just can't put into words how much surreal this was with things like the camera angles, camera shots and even the music that was put to the movie. I actually call this bizarre and surreal and it was one of the few silents that just absolutely kept my attention from beginning to end. There was also a very interesting scene where a mother was actually breast feeding.

The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996): Woody Harrelson plays the title publisher of the porn mag Hustler which was a person a bit ahead of his time. It starts with the start of the magazine and with the meeting of his wife, played by Courtney Love, and goes through all his controversial moments, arrests, and his crusade towards free speech. Harrelson was very good as Flynt and I have seen shows about him and the movie seemed pretty accurate. Much of his controversy was the degrading material in his magazine on evangelist Jerry Falwell who sues him for it and Flynt argues for his first amendment rights. I will say right now that I hate that magazine but that is my freedom to not look at it. The real Larry Flynt makes a cameo as one of the judges in court. Milos Forman directed this movie.

Phantom of the Paradise (1974): This is an awesome variation on PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. William Finley plays Leach whose music is stolen by crooked record producer Swan as well as a girl named Phoenix, played by Jessica Harper, who Leach befriended. Leach is determined to get revenge on Swan but becomes disfigured and then looks for other ways to exact revenge. This film has some great music numbers on it, I'm a bit concerned about this remake though.

Planet of the Apes (1968): Charlton Heston stars as Taylor, who with two other astronauts crash lands on a near distant future where they find that apes are the dominant species and that humans are enslaved. They are then captured and enslaved themselves and Taylor does what he can to escape. He makes friends with the nice apes Cornelius and Zera, played by Roddy McDowell and Kim Hunter, as well as the very beautiful Nova, played by Linda Harrison. On THE SIMPSONS, they managed to make this into a musical with Troy McClure as Taylor. I guess this genre is sci-fi but are we really sure? Is this what the author of the novel Pierre Boulee predicted. This movie spawned a few sequels, one or two tv series and a Tim Burton remake. Roddy McDowell became an absolute icon after this one.

The Producers (1968): This is my favorite Mel Brooks film. Zero Mostel stars as struggling theater producer Max Bialystock. He then meets Leo Bloom, played by Gene Wilder, who is an accountant and looking over his books. They then stumble upon a scam to make more money by producing a flop. They find a musical called SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER which they are sure will offend everyone and make them want to walk out but instead it turns out to be a big success which is not good for them in this situation. This was made into a musical, one I would love to be in someday. This is what starts it all for people like Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. There were some very funny moments in this great comedy.

Psycho (1960):  "The Master of Suspense" Alfred Hitchcock directed this one which stars Anthony Perkins in his iconic role of Norman Bates which was unfortunately the only movie most really remember him from even though he has done quite a bit of good things.  Norman runs the Bates Motel where we first meet Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh, who is on the run for embezzlement and takes refuge in his hotel leading into the very famous shower scene.  Norman also has a lot of problems with his mother, something parodied a lot including with Mr. Skinner in THE SIMPSONS.  This was followed by a few sequels with part two being decent, not sure about the others.  Gus Van Zant also had delusions of doing a remake which flopped big time.  No one can match this classic or Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates.

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002):  This takes place in 1931 Western Australia where three Aboriginal girls are taken from their home by the government to learn more western ways.  They are taken far away from their home to a school "to save them from themselves".  The girls then promptly escape and go on a long trek home evading their pursuers in every way possible.  Kenneth Branaugh plays the Chief Protector of the Aborigines A.O. Neville who thinks he is doing the right thing to teach a different culture about his feeling his is the right one but clouds his judgment a lot.  This is a very beautiful and sad independent film which is actually based a true story that I want to put on the radar.  The icing on the cake for me is Peter Gabriel's great music score showing his many talents.

Red Rock West (1993): This is actually my favorite Nicolas Cage film. He plays a drifter named Michael Williams who is out looking for work and comes into a small town where a corrupt sheriff named Wayne, played by J.T. Walsh, mistakes him for the hit-man that he has hired to kill his wife. Lara Flynn Boyle plays this wife of the sheriff named Suzanne. Michael is nice enough to let her know that he was paid to kill her but then she doubles the money to kill her husband. In real-life if that happens, one would just leave town but then we would not have any movie. Things then really get worse when the real hit-man, played by Dennis Hopper, comes into town. This was pretty unrealistic but a rather compelling story and these are the Nicolas Cage films I like most, the ones that are not known.

Rent (2005): This is a movie which I can watch a lot and the music just always stays in me. This is a Pulitzer and Tony-award winning musical that takes place in New York during the AIDS crisis and focuses on six friends during some very hard times. Christopher Columbus directed this musical which actually retained most of the actors from the musical except Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thomas but she would go onto play the part on the final run of Broadway. Anthony Rapp plays Mark who is a struggling filmmaker and Adam Pascal plays Roger who is trying to write that one hit song but struggles in his poor conditions. Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel, Wilson Heredia, and Taye Diggs also co-star. I remember Fishers, IN doing the first community theater run in Indiana and I really wanted to do it but did not get the part. There are lots of catchy tunes in this musical which is in some ways more of a rock musical.

Reservoir Dogs (1992): This is the feature film debut for Quentin Tarantino and the one that will always remain my favorite. Lawrence Tierney plays Joe Cabot who has theoretically organized the perfect crime. He gets together six criminals, each of whom know nothing about each other, to pull off a jewelry heist. He does not want them giving personal information about each other. Things get ugly though when the heist goes awry and they find that one of them is an undercover cop. Each have their own color names like Mr. White, Mr. Pink, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Blue. Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Eddie Bunker, and Quentin Tarantino are the criminals. Chris Penn also co-stars as Joe's son Nice Guy Eddie. The beginning of the movie takes you right away where where hear Quentin Tarantino's theory of what Madonna's LIKE A VIRGIN is about. We also have a great scene where Michael Madsen is torturing a cop while singing STUCK IN THE MIDDLE. Now that I am thinking about this, I think I must be pretty sick being amused by that kind of scene, see also what I had to say on A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. This is the start of many of Tarantino's great scenes of dialogue. Like his next film PULP FICTION, this movie jumps around some so you must stick with it but you'll be rewarded in full in the end. This was actually inspired by a Hong Kong John Woo film called CITY ON FIRE which stars Chow Yun-Fat which is also quite good. A very clever modern heist film.

Rocky I, II, III, IV, and ROCKY BALBOA (1976, 1979, 1982, 1985, and 2006): Notice that I did not include ROCKY V which is the one I call "the Rocky that does not count and Rocky Balboa was the real part 5". I decided to use the series for this entry as I have always been a big fan of the series besides that misfire with part five. Sylvester Stallone was not a very known actor at this time and actually wrote the script to ROCKY. This was at a time when he was down and out in a real-life make or break situation. United Artists really liked the script but they did not want him to star in it as they wanted some bigger name like Robert Redford, James Caan, or Burt Reynolds. Stallone refused to sell it unless he could star in it so United Artists finally gave in but just got a smaller budget and would become a great decision. Most of us know this story, Sly plays the small-time Philadelphia boxer who never really caught a break and fights for pretty little money and is a loan shark on the side. He then gets his big shot when the publicity-hungry boxing champion Apollo Creed is in Philadelphia and learns his opponent backs out. He then decides that it would be great publicity to give a local fighter their big shot. When looking through the locals he sees and likes Rocky's nickname "Italian Stallion". Apollo then learns in the ring not to ever underestimate opponents. Talia Shire co-stars as Adrian who is very shy but Rocky never gives up on her. Burt Young plays the slob Pauly who is Rocky's friend and Adrian's tempered brother. Burgess Meredith is also great as Mick, Rocky's manager. In the second Rocky, Apollo Creed is getting tired of people believing that he should not have won the fight so he gives Rocky a rematch to prove that he is the champion where we continue our friendship with Rocky and his friends. He has since progressed his relationship with Adrian into marriage and she becomes pregnant. In the third one, Rocky is now on the rise as a champion but gets his biggest challenge in Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T, who we first see defeat Rocky. He is also dealing with the loss of his manager Mick where Carl Weathers reprises his role as Apollo Creed to help Rocky get his confidence back and defeat Clubber in a rematch. Hulk Hogan has an amusing cameo as wrestler Thunderlips which was pre-Hulkamania and Vince McMahon Sr. fired Hogan for doing this film and when Vince Jr. took over, he brought back Hogan giving birth to Hulkamania. In the fourth one, Apollo and Rocky are pretty much retired but then learn of a Russian fight named Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren, who is coming to the US. Apollo feels he must show him up but pays the ultimate price of death provoking Rocky to challenge Drago where the match takes place in Russia. This one has a great training montage where Drago is using all the technology at hand while Rocky just uses the materials that he has on hand at the small cabin he is staying at which I feel is one of the most well-done scenes of all time. This one played quite a part in helping the cold war between the US and Russia. In 2005, he decided to bring back this character which had many people questioning if it would work with his age and all but the story was done correctly which really made it into a very good sequel. In this one Rocky has had it pretty rough. Adrian dies of cancer and he has a difficult relationship with his son Rocky Jr. He then befriends the local Marie which is a character featured in the very first Rocky and is remembered for saying "screw you creepo". She is living a difficult life and is a single mother with a teenage son. Rocky also befriends the son and he has no other motivation except just having friends which I really liked in the storyline. On the other side, we have a champion named Mason "The Line" Dixon, played by real life boxer Antonio Tarver, who people question as the champion with the validity in his opponents. Soon, ESPN does one of those things where they debate who would have won in a fight between Balboa and Tarver which sparked interest in a lot of people including Dixon's PR guys who ask Rocky to fight an "exhibition" fight in Vegas. The fight ends up being much bigger than an exhibition and gives Dixon some competition which no one expected. This fight was very authentic as they had the fight on HBO and got the real people who work for them like the announcers, refs, etc. The big part of this however was differences in the way Rocky and Pauly deal with Adrian's death, Rocky's difficult relationship with his son and the friendship with Marie and her son. There is also a great scene where Rocky is trying to get his boxing license back because his original intentions were to just have a few local bouts not expecting to fight the champion in a very big match. I have heard that this is more of what Stallone wanted for ROCKY V but producers wanted that story instead so this in a sense makes up for that and brings certain closure to Rocky that he did not get in part five. Just please don't do part six. There is no reason to dismiss this one because of Stallone's age. We have so many great moments in these films like the great line "Yo Adrian!", Bill Conti's inspirational music score, the Rocky statue, you name it. It's the ultimate underdog story and can you imagine what it would have been like if Sly had given in and let them cast some other person in the part just because of their name value. Rocky Balboa = Sylvester Stallone and that is just all there is to it. This is something I would like to make into a Broadway musical so Mr. Stallone, if you are reading this please contact me.

Romeo and Juliet (1968): This would easily be my favorite Shakespeare film and really my favorite of his plays. Franco Zeffirelli directed this adaptation of the classic which stars Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey as the star-crossed lovers who are part of feuding families with Romeo with the Montagues and Juliet with the Capulets but they still cannot resist each other and fall in love. We also see the underrated Michael York as Tybalt, the most villainous character in the story but is really taught that and takes it a step further. In the middle of the film we hear a beautiful song called WHAT IS A YOUTH during a Capulet gather where the two first meet which was wrote by Nino Rota. The two stars worked very well together in the ultimate and original story that Shakespeare wrote of forbidden love. If you look closely you will see about a split second of Juliet's boob. I first saw this in high school and even then I really liked this and noticing people were pretty attentive, they did not notice it. This is considered by many as the best film adaptation which has stuck with me for a long time.

Ryan (2004): This is my only short film to make this because this has become my favorite short film. This is kind of like an animated interview where an animator named Chris Landreth, who also directed, interviews the real-life Ryan Larkin who did some pretty groundbreaking animated shorts in the 60s and 70s but then went into a downward spiral. It then goes into the life of Ryan Larkin where Chris is trying to get him to return to the scene. The animation is the very interesting part where each person has had their demons where part of their body is taken out I guess to symbolize their rough past.

Scarface (1983): Brian De Palma directed this rather violent film which stars Al Pacino as Cuban immigrant Tony Montana. Tony is out to make his way up to the top of the cartel but it never becomes enough. Steven Bauer plays his partner and friend Manny and Michelle Pfeiffer plays Elvira who forms a relationship with Tony. This movie is very violent, it is not for everyone. The F-word is said many times. I remember one time when I was in high school and I believe it was Christmas break I watched this and tried to tally up how many times the F-word was said and I just lost count. There is not much more I can think to say but it is a rather fun film with the dialogue and action. If you watch this the world is yours.

Sid and Nancy (1986): This is a film on the volatile relationship between Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious, played to perfection by Gary Oldman, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungeon, played by Chloe Webb. This one goes into his time with the Sex Pistols and his attempt at a solo career where he had a very interesting version of the song MY WAY. It then documents the relationship between the two where they had a fight resulting in Nancy's death with murder charges being filed on Sid Vicious. This is a very depressing film to say the least but very well acted and likely accurate portrayals. A rock biopic that is not for everyone but Oldman was pretty much Sid Vicious in this movie.

Sin City (2005): This is the film based on the graphic novel from Frank Miller. This movie centers around multiple stories. Mickey Rourke co-stars as Marv, a big guy who was framed for the murder of Goldie and wants to find the killer because she was the only person ever nice to him. Bruce Willis plays Hartigan who looks to save a kidnapped girl and years later sees her all grown up. Clive Owen plays Dwight who must deal with a corrupt police force and teams with a group of amazon type girls. It's hard to really explain any more of this but the cinematography was great but then other movies used this format too much. Robert Rodriguez directed this film with a guest director spot with Tarantino.

The Sixth Sense (1999):  This is my M. Night Shyamalan feature and one I feel he just has not topped.  Haley Joel Osment plays Cole Sear who has the ability to communicate with dead people who are not aware they are dead.  Bruce Willis plays a psychiatrist named Dr. Malcolm Crowe who has been through a lot who tries to help Cole through his visions.  Toni Collette plays Cole's concerned mother which was really my introduction to her and turned into quite a fan of hers.  Donnie Wahlberg also has a good, small part as a bitter patient of Dr. Crowe.  This was a very well done thriller with good performances from the leads.

Sling Blade (1996): This is the movie where I got to know Billy Bob Thornton and this remains my favorite of his movies. Billy Bob wrote, directed, and stars in this film as Karl Childers. Karl is a man who has mental disabilities and is just about to be released from a mental hospital where he has been for a long time when killing his abusive mother and boyfriend as a child. He returns to the small town he has lived at to start a new life getting a job due to his gift of fixing things. In the process he meets a young boy named Frank, played well by Lucas Black, who he becomes good friends with in the town. Frank is having his own problems with his mom's fiery boyfriend Doyle, played very well by country singer Dwight Yoakam, who also jeopardizes Karl's newfound peace. Much of this is focused on the friendship between Karl and Frank. John Ritter co-stars as Vaughan and when I first watched this I had no idea that was Ritter. This is a great story of a small-town man with Thornton great as Karl. He is just not recognizable in this film when playing this part. This is an independent drama very difficult to dislike and makes many of us want to imitate Karl's voice out of tribute.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): This was the Best Picture winner of that year and for it lived up to its hype. Dev Patel plays Jamal who went on the Indian version of WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE and wins the whole thing so people wonder how a "slumdog" like him can ever win that show so the authorities put him through interrogation and even torture. I love the way it is shot too like it goes to the question he answered and flashes back to the reason he knows it. Danny Boyle directed this and I hope. It is a good portrait of slum life in that area.

Star Wars episodes IV, V, and IV (1977, 1980, and 1983): Yes, these are the originals which started quite a phenomenon in the world of Pop Culture. These really do promote diversity where we have humans, we have a black man in Lando Calrission, we have the wookie, droids, ewoks, and many other things. Harrison Ford is in his star-making role as the outlaw Han Solo who is hired to rescue Princess Leia but then decides to continue to fight with the Jedi. Mark Hamill plays Luke Skywalker who longs to get off the farm and train to be a Jedi. Carrie Fisher plays the feisty Princess. All these people team up to take on the Empire lead by Emperor Palpatine but on the Death Star ran by Darth Vader who is voiced by James Earl Jones. Alec Guinness co-stars in the later part of his career as Luke's mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi who used to fight for the Jedi. Many movies and tv shows make reference to these films and have quite a fanbase who would go dressed as the characters to see the movies. There are always Star Wars conventions. Many books have been written and we even had episodes I, II, and III which came out to some rather mixed opinions. These are the ones to check out however in this great sci-fi trilogy written by George Lucas who created icons. If you look at what happens between the Jedi and the Empire, it really resembles Rome.

Stop Making Sense (1984): This is the rock documentary that I decided to use which features the Talking Heads and was directed by Jonathan Demme. This was a great concert film which features David Byrne in that really big suit. The concert is well shot to make this into a good movie with a great performance from David Byrne. The talking heads are a great band who can accommodate to all genres, even my friend J.D. who is 24 years of age.

Strangers on a Train (1951):  I gotta include something from "The Master of Suspense" and this one is my favorite Hitchcock film.  Farley Granger plays tennis pro Guy Haines and Robert Walker plays psychotic socialite Bruno Anthony.  They have their meeting on a train where Bruno wants to kill his father but knows he cannot due to his motives.  He then has a crazy scheme where they "swap murders".  Guy who is having marital problems takes this as a joke but Bruno is very serious about it. This is a great dark comedy and an idea used for the Billy Crystal film THROW MAMA FROM A TRAIN and a few others.  It also leads into a great climax at a carousel.

Supersize Me (2004): This is one of my favorite documentaries and became a fan of Morgan Spurlock after this was over. He decided to look into the obesity problem that we have in the United States and what many believe is one of the culprits in the fast food industry. He decided to target McDonalds where for 30 days he was going to eat McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then see how much it affects him. His fiancee being a strict vegetarian did not like what he was doing but supported him. It was a very interesting and dedicated way to investigate what can happen with fast food restaurants who had some lawsuits at the time. I actually did not go to McDonald's for a while but eventually started going there. It was really more of a stab at the fast food industry and he chose McDonalds for his project. Spurlock would then get a tv series called 30 DAYS where him or someone else would do something for the 30 days like in this movie to see what happens.

Taxi Driver (1976): This is probably my favorite De Niro/Scorsese collaboration where Robert De Niro plays unstable vet Travis Bickle who takes a job as the title indicates in New York City where he insists on working the night shift. He believes he must make the world a better place and his main objective comes in the form of a 13 year old Jodie Foster who plays the 12 and a half year old hooker Iris. This does not sit well with Travis that Iris is a prostitute at the young of age and goes through some rather violent means to free her from her pimp Sport, played by Harvey Keitel. One of the most iconic scenes is the "are you talking to me" scene where Travis is in front of the mirror with his newly acquired guns which is a very imitated scene in both tv and film. This movie shows the gray areas of vigilantism and the dark side of the American dream with a great performance by De Niro.

Terminator 1 and 2 (1984 and 1991): These are the ones from James Cameron and in the first one we have the Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger who stars as the title character. He is a cyborg has been sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, whose son will one day lead the resistance. Kyle Reese, played by Michael Biehn, also comes from the future in hopes of killing the seemingly indestructible cyborg. This is a pretty innovative sci-fi film where Arnold did exactly what was needed which was show no emotion. I also like Brad Fiedel's music score in the beginning. Onto part 2, where years later Sarah Connor is in a mental hospital because they do not believe her on what she has to say about the future. Edward Furlong plays John Connor who is destined to lead that resistance one day. The John Connor of the future reprograms the Terminator to protect John Connor when an even more powerful cyborg called the T-1000, played by Robert Patrick, is sent to kill John. This was a very good sequel and I really liked the interaction between John and the terminator where John tries to teach him things like quotes and even about right and wrong. John has been living with a foster family and then breaks Sarah out when the T-1000 is out. One scene I really liked was when Sarah Connor started seeing the T-1000 as a father figure to John, one that would never leave him. There has since been two more sequels and even a tv series. I did not mind part 3, but I did not care for the one called TERMINATOR: SALVATION. I just did not feel there was really much to the script. With these two, we have gotten some good one liners that people quote lots like "I'll Be Back" and "Hasta La Vista, Baby".

The Untouchables (1987):  Brian De Palma directs this film focusing on Elliot Ness' non-stop efforts to bring down Al Capone.  Kevin Costner plays Elliot Ness and puts together a group of non-corrupt cops of the title.  Sean Connery plays street cop Jim Malone who is like the conscience of the group.  Andy Garcia plays rookie cop George Stone who is a very good shooter.  Charles Martin Smith rounds the group out as Oscar Wallace who is an accountant for the police.  Together they take on the mob and police corruption  Robert De Niro plays Al Capone and does a pretty good job.  There is a great shootout on a set of stairs where a baby carriage is also going down the stairs.  It is not the most accurate film of all time but still a pretty good movie on Prohibition.

Waiting for Guffman (1996): Christopher Guest directed a series of these mockumentaries and this is my favorite of them. Guest stars as Corky St. Clair who has directed a lot of plays and is in Blaine, Missouri directing a musical on the town history. He gets together a group of very amateur actors in this effort that include regulars Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, among others. Corky learns that a Broadway producer named Guffman will be in the audience to check the show out so they do what they can to anticipate him. I relate a lot to this one being a community theater actor myself.

Waking the Dead (2000): I was pleasantly surprised when watching randomly seeing it on the library shelf. This takes place in a couple different time periods. Billy Crudup stars as Fielding who in 1973 is about to enter law school. Jennifer Connelly plays Sarah who falls in love with Fielding and is quite the activist. When things were really heating up, she dies in a car explosion. When this happens we go nine years later where Fielding is in a political campaign but believes he is seeing Sarah which really clouds his judgment towards the campaign. It goes back and forth into the eras where Fielding is looking to pursue what he believes is Sarah. This was an absolutely beautiful film which is not as high on the radar as it should be so I hope this helps it some. Watching this, I was engaged the whole way through and thinking it could not get any better, I hear the Peter Gabriel song MERCY STREET which really won me over as a fan of Peter.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988): This is the ultimate blend of real-life and animation. Bob Hoskins plays a very bitter detective Eddie Valiant who has a prejudice towards toons. Roger Rabbit is the prime suspect of the murder of studio head Marvin Acme and Eddie becomes his only hope to clear his name. Robert Zemeckis directed this film which integrates Disney and Looney Tunes characters like the priceless scene between Daffy and Donald Duck, also a scene where Mickey and Bugs are together as well as many classic animation characters. This is the best toon-noir of all time or maybe it's the only one. Whatever it is, it was quite groundbreaking.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971): This is one of my favorite musicals which stars Gene Wilder as the title character. As the classic story goes, Willy Wonka has closed his factory for years but decides to reopen and give five lucky children a tour of his chocolate factory. Peter Ostrum stars as Charlie Bucket who is one of the winners and the one who is very poor but rich in the love for his family. The other kids are very spoiled in various ways and learn the hard way that you should follow the rules. I really liked the music in this film but even more I like the way the story was quite dark but did not have to emphasize it with cinematography the way Tim Burton did in his remake. Jack Albertson was also very good as Charlie's very caring grandfather.

The Wrestler (2008): This film ranks very high on my favorites. As a wrestling fan and someone involved in the wrestling industry, I was very excited to hear about this film. Most fictional wrestling films are just stupid comedies like NO HOLDS BARRED, READY TO RUMBLE, NACHO LIBRE, among others. I first heard about this when I was looking for some things in Netflix and was ready to dismiss it but then I saw one of my favorite actors was in it and I read some more and saw that the director was Darren Aronofsky. Once I heard about this wrestling drama starring my idol Mickey Rourke I never anticipated a movie than I did this one. Rourke plays wrestler Randy Robinson whose prime is over but does not know anything else. He likely had a lot of success in his younger days but burned too many bridges to get work beyond the independent leagues. He then must retire and adjust to the real world like his job at the grocery store but he soon finds out that it is very hard to stay out of this industry. Evan Rachel Wood co-stars as his estranged daughter who Randy obviously was not the father to her that he should have been. He does what he can to reconnect with her after his health scare but finds that he has blown it many times. She does a good job in her small part and I noticed that they were cast very well as father and daughter where she has kind of a big chin just like Mickey Rourke. The other co-star was Marisa Tomei who was also very good as Pam who makes her living as a stripper and is friends with Randy. However, Randy wants more of a relationship with her and she has a rule about dating customers that she cannot bring herself to break. Mickey Rourke was absolutely phenomenal in this role that was parallel to his own life as he has struggled a lot in his acting career. Nicolas Cage was originally cast in this part because the movie studio wanted him but ended up backing out and Aronofsky got to cast who he wanted in Mickey Rourke which could not have been a better casting. With my involvement in this industry I find this was a very accurate film on the independent world of wrestling. I know many people just like Randy Robinson and many wrestlers have cited liking this film. Roddy Piper is said to have broken down and cried after the premier liking it so much and relating to it. Rourke also went through a lot of wrestling training to prepare. However, what makes this movie work is that it really is a character study with wrestling involved so people who do not like wrestling can like this one. I know some did not care for the ending but the more I thought of it I see why they did it and liked it. If you want to know my thoughts there just message me.

Well, that is all.  I know that you are bound to hate at least one of these so when and if you comment on it, please also include what you like because I know people won't disagree with all 100 of my selections.  I also want to thank everyone who has supported me through the years.  It is because of that which has kept me going.  Next week I return to my normal format which so far includes Denys Arcand, Christina Ricci, Gene Barry, Werner Herzog, Eartha Kitt, and many others.