Film Favorites

One of my life's great pleasures is film and I was struck the other day about the lack of decent action sequences in the last few years (mostly due to quick cuts by the director - haven't seen Rambo yet) - Here is my list of top action sequences of all time (please let me caveat this by admitting I am a complete hypocrite as I hate all lists (film, books, sports) as I believe they are all subjective;  sort of a beauty in the eye of the beholder belief, but I understand their place in terms of illiciting conversation and debate).  However, if you like action, I suggest that you check these out if you haven't yet:

• Matrix Reloaded - from the point when the keymaker scurries off after seeing the Frenchie up till the scene on the freeway - this blew me away - I still think this is the best of alltime
• Hard Boiled - Hospital Escape by Tequila (might be cheating since it's so long, but it has my favorite line by any screen villan "there is no room for error now - the innocent must die" - In fact John Woo should have a separate section - this is the director that felt that Wilford Brimley should kill people with a Bow and Arrow in Hard Target
• T2 - from the mall to the aqueduct - my favorite action film (favorite drama - godfather)
• Kiss of the Dragon - Jet Li escaping the hotel & End fight (btw the school of black belts and the twins)
• Matrix - Springing Morpheus
• Opening Sequence to Rundown - I'm Biased

Now there are other sequences that bare mention but, I don't know if I would put them in the same catagory as the others due to the scale of the scenes:

• Storming of Normandy in Saving Private Ryan - Speilberg really captured the theme of whismy that I think they all must of felt
• A lot from When We Soliders - It's a solid flick which only pays off when (spoilers) Chris Klein dies (hilarious)
• All major battles from the LOTR's movies
• The majority of Black Hawk Down (I wonder why we have no more peace keeping missions in Africa anymore?)

Other Recent flics that I think one might have missed:

• You Can Count on Me - v good - good linney and ruffalo
• Nobody's Fool - Newman should have won the oscar
• Defending Your Life - my favorite romantic comedy of all time
• The Pianist - another flic that I can watch anytime of day - its doubtful that you missed this though...
• Big Fish - Good father son flick without all of the incest that permeates the 21st century - damn you Dick Gephardt

Comedies that need to watched soon:

1. Beerfest - some people didn't see this after being dissappointed by Club Dred (a pretty good flic in its own right), but this in many ways better than Super Troopers
2. Wet Hot American Summer - pure gold
3. Daniel Tosh - DVD special - its' not as good as his live standup, but pretty decent - his album, "True Stories I Made Up" is one of the funniest comedy albums to come out since David Cross' last one

Recent Films I had to sit through:

1. The Number 23 - instead of watching this film, go down to your local butcher and pay him roughly 6 and half bucks to kick you in the balls for 2 hrs.  While not the best anology, you might have have more self awareness after the butcher. 
2. Cloverfield - the fact that the ticket to this film cost me 12 bucks for a matinee, started us out on the wrong foot.  After the necessary popcorn and soda, my tab for the experience had already reached $22.  For a 2:10 PM start time, the film started at 2:45 PM (most of the commericials focused on anti-Huckabee ads placed by Romney's campaign - also another strike against the film - who knew that Huckabee fed on the blood and bone marrow of the elderly? not i).  I guess that I had higher hopes for this (why?) flic, because I found my self a bit dissappointed at the end of the feature.  As I was trying to grasp on how I would change the film for the better, I drew a blank, so what does that say about me?  I guess the one thing that they could have improved, is that none of the characters are sympathic.  I could have cared less about any of them which is always a bad sign for a horror movie when most of the movie turns on the death of the next character.
• A perfect example of this is the film 28 days later, where Danny Boyle almost forces you to like each character (BTW the sequel - 28 weeks later - worth renting)
3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - I go back and forth on this film, simply because, I thought it would be impossible to capture the sentiment in the book and translate it to film, but after a bit of time - I like the film - the first 20 minutes work well
4. Bully & Alpha Dog - 2 movies I lump together, but still kind of like, not sure why as there are great performances in both by different actors but, the larry frank "young, fucked up, and lacking any consequence" films entertain me - they aren't great but I'm glad they exist
5. Lars and the Real Girl - my bro and I suffered through this - if you have a chance to see this, don't - same thing for Dan in Real Life...

what am I listening to:

• Web - the roots - the tipping point
• Tour is War - Josh Martinez - midriff music
• Colours - Donovan - Donovan's Grst Hits
• Hang on Sloopy - McCoys - Best of 60s party hits
• Playboy mansion - U2 - Pop