Movies Movies Movies - My 115

I love film; maybe not as much as Roger Ebert, bless his heart, but as an ordinary citizen, I really love the movies. Yes, more than pie.

Recently, I attempted to whittle down 15+ years of lists to produce a new list of 100 films to include a wide range of genres. These are movies that I love (or really like) whether blockbusters (not many) or straight to video (a few). In their own way, they made an impression, and if we had all the time in the world I could tell you at least one minor but interesting detail that I remember from them all. It's about the little things.

I labored to get the number to 100 but when the tally came to 115 I decided "close enough!" You will find them listed alphabetically to the lower right. Ever the analyst, I decided to consider the titles and see if I could learn something about my obsession.

Here are the statistics (very unscientific) with some films falling into multiple categories:

The majority (48) qualify as dramas,
35 meet the romantic category (not necessarily chick flicks but, hey, I am a girl),
At least 34 are indies,
26 are comedies or try to be,
18 are classics (tough to pare down all the "greats"),
Films about social issues: 18,
17 are period pieces (not just one period!),
There are 13 foreign films and 13 thrillers,
At least 12 films center around strong but imperfect women (including a few total bad asses),
11 involve dark humor,
10 have a crime story and 10 are heart breakers,
9 are coming of age stories and 9 are political,
Action & Adventure films: 8,
7 are considered suspenseful,
6 are cult films and 6 westerns (with horses),
5 are low budget films. 5 are considered epics. There are 5 documentaries and 5 road trips or journeys,
4 were "Best Pictures", 4 are about war. 4 are musicals and 4 showcase food,
There are 3 spoofs and 3 films about aging,
2 were first films for the directors and at least 2 can be considered "film noir",
Horror: 1!

48 are from the 00s, 34 from the 90's, 12 from the 80's, 5 - 70's, 8 - 60's, 2 - 50's, 4 - 40's and 2 from the 30's.

A few directors pop up more than once including Ang Lee, Woody Allen, Lasse Hallstrom, Alejandro Inarrtu, Whit Stillman, Joel Cohen, Wes Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino and Curtis Hansen.

The actors range from the total unknown to Laurence Olivier. Wasn't he knighted as a film god? If I remember correctly he actually played Zeus in "Clash of the Titans." One of my faves, Russell Crowe (soooo intense), appears in at least 3. Billy Bob Thornton manages to pop up as an actor and a director. Al Gore achieves rock star status from An Inconvenient Truth. I was surprised that I liked a film with John Goodman and one with the guy from Kung Fu. But I did and do.

You really can't go wrong watching Annette Bening (she must be a great actress to be married to Warren Beatty), Juliette Binoche, Frances McDormand, Judi Dench, Toni Collette, Judy Davis, Cate Blanchett (she makes Brad Pitt look better) and Laura Linney - to name a few.

So what did I learn?

I like variety and movies that are intense, intelligent, unexpected, emotional, artistic, visually stunning, inspiring (without trying or preaching) and passionate; with broken characters. Throw in some quirkiness with the occasional cheese and insanity and I'm a happy viewer.

I'm tolerant but there are a few movies that come to mind that I severely disliked.

"Next" with Nicolas Cage was preposterous (I did like him in "Valley Girl").

"Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind" gave me a headache. Jim Carrey should never be allowed to act with Kate Winslet.

I hated, hated, hated "Swordfish". Halle Berry removing her shirt could not save that disaster of a movie.

I'm not a Tom Cruise fan and with obviously limited sexual experience, I didn't understand "Eyes Wide Shut". Besides, TC and sex? Ew. I did like "Minority Report" but more for the pre-mug shot Colin Farrell than T.C.

Johnny Depp must have been paid a huge pile of money to do 3 "Pirates" movies. Ugh. (Sorry, kids.) I did like "Sweeney Todd", for some reason.

Lastly, I was disappointed with "Leatherheads". George Clooney bombed with that one. Oh well, he made up for it with "Michael Clayton". That film made my "115" more for the actor Tom Wilkinson and the bizzaro actress - Tilda Swinton.

Oh, so many movies and so little time. Next I'll work on my Reading list.

That's a wrap,

CitizenB