Justin at the Movies

#1

// June 9th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // 100 movies

American Beauty

Last years rank: 1

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The chances of this movie ever losing its number one spot are slim to none. There are a couple reasons for this. First, probably no movie will ever affect me as greatly as this movie did the first time that I saw it. This was the first movie that I ever watched twice in a row. I saw it back in 2000 at Stacey’s house. We watched it and it absolutely floored me. Then we decided to go get slurpees, when we got back I wanted to watch it again, so we did. Secondly, this was the film that got me heavily into film. I had no idea that film could be such a powerful form of expression. I thought movies were nothing more than forms of entertainment. Whereas I agree that they should be enjoyed as entertainment, there is also nothing wrong with them being more than that. Everytime I watch this movie it makes me want to be a better person. Seriously. It puts everything into perspective. It makes me realize how trivial things are and how they don’t matter in the big scheme of things. Somebody at work doesn’t like you, or drama at school, or a test on friday. None of these things really matter. That may sound a little strange in such a condensed format, but that’s what I believe. I already wrote an amazing ten page paper on this movie for my final in my film class so I don’t really want to hash it out all over again. I got an A on that paper by the way. Thirdly, it’s morals and themes and metaphors run so deeply it is impossible to get into it in a blog post. This movie is insanely powerful, insanely moving, ridiculously entertaining, and makes me want to be a better me. What more can you ask for? 

This movie contains so many of my personal favorite quotes and monologues, but this particular one strikes a chord that nothing else in a movie has ever struck before or since. It goes like so, “…but it’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I am seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fill up like a balloon that’s about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life…”

This is one of my all time favorite scenes that contains one of my all time favorite monologues by one of my all time favorite characters. This scene is beyond words. I only found it once on youtube and the embedding was disabled so what did I do? Did I settle for less? Nope. I extracted this clip from my dvd and uploaded it on youtube. I am so the man. Enjoy. #1. Best movie ever. And great clip provided by me.

#2

// June 7th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // 100 movies

The Shawshank Redemption

Last years rank: 2

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This movie is the ultimate story of redemption, and it feels that need in me for revenge when there is injustice. Most movies that are made out of Stephen King novels or novellas are usually terrible, but this happens to be one of the few exceptions. Not only is this movie nothing short of brilliant, but it is ten times better than the book. Just like how Kubrick greatly improved the shining, Frank Darabont did the same with this and the Green Mile. The movie is so superbly done it has managed to find its way to being the #1 ranked movie on imdb.com and the AFI ranked it as the #72 greatest movie of all time. Even though you can’t trust imdb rankings more than you can trust your dogs opinion, it still speaks volumes that it is the highest ranked. Casting Morgan Freeman as Red was one of the most brilliant things they did for the movie (he is a white Irish guy in the book.) Somehow this managed to not win a single Oscar, which is one of the greatest snubs of all time. Granted it did come out the same year as Forrest Gump, so that makes it a little more understandable. Silly side note; in Taiwan this movie was released as “1995: Fantastic.” Yeah, I don’t know. “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.” #2. Enjoy.

#3

// June 6th, 2009 // No Comments » // 100 movies

Magnolia

Last years rank: 3

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This is probably the most heart wrenching movie I have ever seen. From start to finish this movie is nothing but pure emotion. It’s quite difficult to explain the premise of this movie so we will just say that it’s about the intertwining of about ten people’s lives. Like I have previously stated, think ‘Crash,’ but better and without the racism. Crash took the formula straight from ‘Magnolia,’ but I guess you could say that ‘Magnolia’ took the formula from an early nineties film called ‘Short Cuts.’ The difference being that both Crash and Magnolia are five times the film Short Cuts could ever hope to be. Anyway, back on topic, this movie is nearly three hours in length but is one of the quickest paced films I have ever seen. It barely feels like an hour and a half because of all the stories and all of the emotion that you will invest into each and every character.

I saw this film for the first time back in 2001 at Stacey’s house. I was sitting in her Moses chair and she was sitting on her bed. When the movie ended I said of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance, “If this guy gets a leading role, I guarantee that he will win best actor in the next five years.” Five years later he did exactly that. I am awesome. This movie contains amazing performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Phillip Baker Hall, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, and the best performance Tom Cruise has ever delivered. Tom Cruise actually plays a character in this movie instead of just being Tom Cruise. Most people really like this movie until the ending. That seems to be where people start to have a problem, and mainlyl because they don’t understand it. It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense on the surface, but if you look a little deeper, it’s there and it’s amazing. This clip is amazing, but I think it is more amazing in context. In context this is one of the most powerful scenes you are ever likely to see. I promise you that. This is toward the end of the film when every single character has absolutely reached their breaking point. The events that are happening in these people’s lives that have lead them here are absolutely insane. Crash even directly borrowed this musical montage method. Oh well. I love both movies. #3. Enjoy.

#4

// June 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // 100 movies

Casablanca

Last years rank: 4

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In reference to the recent discussion about Citizen Kane and it being considered the greatest film of all time, in my correct opinion, Casablanca is the greatest film ever made. Widely regarded in film circles and by film scholars as the greatest screenplay ever written, it baffles me as to why they don’t recognize it as the greatest film ever made. In fact AFI says it’s the third greatest movie ever made. Well, Justin says that’s insanity. The screenplay is better than Citizen Kane’s and I would take Bogart’s performance over Orson Welles’ everyday of the week.  And most importantly, it is very entertaining. A lot more entertaining than Citizen Kane and that should greatly factor into deciding the greatest movie ever, in my awesome opinion. Not an attack on Citizen Kane….just saying. This movie is just as good as everybody has ever told you that it is, if not better. It definitely lives up to the hype. The dialogue is so witty that it is beyond my words. I love this movie, and I want to personally thank it for one of the coolest lines ever- “Here’s looking at you, kid.” Bogart ad-libbed the “kid” part. Although he was not a very pleasant man in real life (allegedly), the man is one of the coolest actors ever. Watch this movie already. #4. Enjoy.

#5

// June 4th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // 100 movies

Once

Last years rank: 82

↑77 positions

First of all, this was the biggest mistake I made on last years list. I had just completed the list when I watched this movie and I loved it so much that I knew that it had to be included but I didn’t know where, so I just threw it in there randomly. This is the spot it belongs in. And remarkably, this movie gets better and better the more times you watch it. I watched this movie more than any other movie last year at nearly ten times. It is that good. The story is about two musicians who run into each other on the streets of Dublin. The Guy, played by Glen Hansard, is an aspiring musician and plays his guitar on the streets. One day The Girl, played by the lovely Marketa Irglova, hears him playing and is greatly intrigued. She tells him that she plays the piano and they decide to try and play some music together.

This is the most innocent and unadulterated love story I have ever seen on film. And it doesn’t go the way that you expect it to. I also love that about it. It is essentially about musicians doing what they love. There is no hollywood romance crap thrown into it. It looks and feels just like real life. Both Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are actual real life musicians. Glen Hansard was the frontman of the band ‘The Frames,’ and Marketa is a Czech concert pianist. This is the only movie either of these two have been in and both have said that they won’t make another movie. And they both do great jobs in this movie. They also incorporated the music into the movie so it’s almost like a musical but not. You will see what I mean with the clip. Anyway, the music is so brilliant, all of which was written and composed by Hansard and Irglova. Every music fan should watch this movie. It will blow you away. It’s funny, moving, and most importantly charming. A movie that feels completetly untouched by Hollywood. This clip is when The Girl takes The Guy into a music store where the owner let’s her practice on the piano during lunch time. The Guy teaches her one of his songs. This is a beautiful movie and a beautiful song. It won the 2008 academy award for best original song, as it should have. And there wasn’t crap for clips on youtube, this was the only one for this scene that I wanted to use and the quality sucks, and the audio is off but oh well. The scene and song are both still awesome. This is without a doubt the greatest soundtrack of all time. #5. Enjoy.

#6

// June 3rd, 2009 // 1 Comment » // 100 movies

Million Dollar Baby

Last years rank: 5

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Two years after Clint Eastwood blessed the world with Mystic River he came back and blew us away with Million Dollar Baby. This time he did win best picture and best director as there were no more Lord of the Rings movies. Not only are both of these films brilliant, but he filmed both in less than 40 days. The guy is good. He also managed to get Hilary Swank her second best actress award (she is now 2 for 2) and finally got Morgan Freeman an oscar which was way overdue. Morgan Freeman’s character in this movie is one of my all time favorites. And just like Mystic River, this movie is a story of redemption, unless you are Rush Limbaugh and then this movie is pro assisted suicide. So like any normal level headed person would do, after he saw this movie he went on his radio show and gave away the ending so that people wouldn’t go see it. Once again Rush, you are a jackass. And secondly, if you think this movie is about assisted suicide than you completely missed the point, which he obviously did. This is one of the those movies that makes me tear up everytime I watch it, but still nothing compares to the first time I saw it. I saw it in the theaters back in December 2004. I went to a matinee showing all by myself because everybody was at work. It was only me and three other couples all over the age of 65. When it got to the end there was this old lady a couple rows ahead of me that was just bawling so uncontrollably and her husband was trying to comfort her but to no avail. It made the movie that much more powerful and is still my favorite theater experience of all time. I couldn’t have watched it with a better audience. There aren’t words to express how much I love this movie. #6. Enjoy.

#7

// June 2nd, 2009 // 2 Comments » // 100 movies

Mystic River

Last years rank: 7

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Disregarding Peter Jackson for his accomplishment that is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Clint Eastwood is the greatest filmmaker of the decade and probably the last twenty years. This movie is nearly unmatched this decade and would have easily won best picture had it not been released the same year as Return of the King. Not only did he direct the movie but he also composed the music for the movie. There is nothing that this man can’t do. This movie is so powerful and features amazing performances from everybody in the movie. There were three people nominated for acting for this movie and once again Kevin Bacon gets left out. He did such a good job in this movie, as he also did in Frost/Nixon, but he will never live down Footloose. And now that it is being remade he will definitely never live it down. But that’s ok because he does a fantastic job in this fantastic movie that I can watch almost everyday if I want to. And he wouldn’t have even been in this movie had Michael Keaton not left the project, as he was originally cast as Sean Devine. This movie is so full of symbolism and deals with deeply rooted emotions, so deep in fact that you almost can’t blame anybody for the decisions that they make. I don’t know how differently I would have acted in the same situation. Language warning for the clip and I absolutely love Kevin Bacon’s sublety. It’s the epitome of great acting. Sean Penn’s obviously is too. #7. With a bullet. Enjoy.

#8

// June 1st, 2009 // 3 Comments » // 100 movies

Forrest Gump

Last years rank: 6

↓2 positions

Between all the jokes and parodies of this movie I think people forget how brilliant this movie really is. From the amazing performance of Tom Hanks all the way down to the writing, this movie is almost flawless. There are so many serious issues that are dealt with in this movie and at the same time they all seem to be full of humor. Some of my favorite moments in this movie are the little things that easily get overlooked. For example, when Forrest is still a young boy and they are renting out their rooms like a hotel and Elvis comes to stay with them, Forrest says that “this man had himself a guitar case.” How fantastic is that?! He doesn’t say he has a guitar, he says he has a guitar case. It freakin kills me. But as I mentioned before, my favorite thing about this movie other than Tom Hanks’ brilliant performance, is how they address all the serious issues like Vietnam and civil rights with such humor. And one of my favorite lines in the entire movie isn’t even in the movie at all. It’s when he goes up to the microphones to speak at the ralley in D.C. and the microphones get unplugged and then get plugged back in and we hear him say, “That’s all I have to say about that.” Well, the part we don’t hear is this, “Sometimes when people go to Vietnam, they go home to their momma’s without any legs. Sometimes they don’t go home at all. That’s a bad thing.” Oh, it kills me. And when he tells Jenny that he thinks she should go back to GREENBOW ALABAMA! I love it when he yells that. Ahh….There is just too dang much to say about this amazing movie. And that’s all I have to say about that. #8. Enjoy.

#9

// May 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // 100 movies

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Last years rank: 8

↓1 position

The best of the three and truly a wonderful movie. #9. Enjoy

#10

// May 30th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // 100 movies

We have finally made it to the top then! Not really sure that anybody is nearly as excited as me, but oh well. I thoroughly enjoy myself. Ladies and sirs, the top ten.

Seven

Last years rank: 9

↓1 position

“Innocent? Is that supposed to be funny? An obese man, a disgusting man who could barely stand up; a man who if you saw him on the street, you’d point him out to your friends so that they could join you in mocking him; a man, who if you saw him while you were eating, you wouldn’t be able to finish your meal. After him, I picked the lawyer and I know you both must have been secretly thanking me for that one. This is a man who dedicated his life to making money by lying with every breath that he could muster to keeping murderers and rapists on the streets…A woman….A woman so ugly on the inside she couldn’t bear to go on living if she couldn’t be beautiful on the outside. A drug dealer, a drug dealing pederast, actually! And let’s not forget the disease spreading whore! Only in a world this shitty could you even try to say that these were innocent people and keep a straight face. But that’s the point. We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it’s common, it’s trivial. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I’m setting the example…” #10. Enjoy.