I was sitting here this morning working on a script and a book (not related) and I popped on Flickchart after finally getting my fiance to sit and watch SHRINK this weekend  I was curious to see where it ranked amongst my favorite Spacey flicks.  See for yourself.

Swimming With Sharks – “Shut up. Listen and learn.” Not just a great film quote but an attitude to take with you in life. You can’t learn anything if you are the one doing all the talking. Believe or not this is the hardest thing for me to do. Aside from that this film has a dark edge with character depth that is matched by few. It is a dark look at what one man will go through to get into the film industry and what is does to him.

The Usual Suspects – If you don’t like this film you are a douche bag. No exceptions will be given and no excuses will be accepted. If you have not seen this movie then by all means go find a copy now and watch it. This movie is one of the finest examples of what a dark “Who done it” film should look like. I am beginning to think that it is the best movie Bryan Singer will ever make.

The Big Kahuna – Character piece all the way.  A majority of the film takes place in a hotel room and is 2 old sales dogs trying to get that one big deal while showing the ropes to the new kid. Spacey and Danny Devito give memorable performances as for me this film became an instant favorite.

Shrink – I just watched this for the 3^rd time in 3 months and DAMN does it hold up. Not a film for a quick entertainment fix but something to devote yourself to as you travel through the life of our shrink and the lives of his patients. This is a brilliant film filled with characters that will draw you in and make you care.

American Beauty – This is probably my favorite role to watch Spacey in. The character speaks to each and every one of us in some way form or fashion. A midlife crisis hits us all in different ways. This look at a man going through is one of my all time favorite films, not just one of my favorite Kevin Spacey flicks.

Hands down Spacey is one of my favorite actors in Hollywood.

I am not seeing Avatar till the 31^st. It is my son’s birthday and he really wants to see it, but aside from that let’s take a look at some of my favorite films from the first decade of this millennium. You know  fuck that how about my favorite from each year.  Sound good?  Then let’s get on with it.

HIGH FIDELITY

Not just my favorite film from 2000 but my probably my all time favorite film. I have a list of failed relationships and this is a character I can identify with. I have talked this movie up so much that even I am tired of hearing me talk about it. If you haven’t seen it, do it now. If you didn’t like it, you’re an idiot.

SNATCH

Do I have to say anything? Didn’t think so.

FRAILTY

One of the most underrated films of the decade. I loved this film from beginning to end. This is what a psychological thriller is supposed to look like.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO

Is it just me or did this series get better as they went on? I actually think I would rather watch this than DESPERADO. Hard to believe even for me and me and me. Sorry a little self indulgence.

BIG FISH

One of the only things Tim Burton has done that I absolutely loved. Great movie from beginning to end. A perfect mix of fantasy and reality as we relive the truly interesting life of a man known for his fish story.

THE DEVIL’S REJECTS

Yes I am that psychotic dude that loved this movie and was cheering for the Firefly family throughout the film. Get over it, move past it and for love of film already don’t dwell on it. You will hurt yourself.

BRICK

Watch it with the subtitles on to get the jist of what they’re saying. Trust me it helps. Once you get it you will love this movie. Great mystery flick and one of my all time favorites.

GRINDHOUSE

Oh yeah baby, it was all about the in theater double feature experience. This is one cinematic event they got right. Of course it helps if you are a movie whore. If not I am sure the wonderment of the whole experience was lost on your pathetic soul. It actually kind of pisses me off that you can’t relive it at home without having to change discs and you miss that double feature theater feeling.

THE DARK KNIGHT

Just watched it the other day for the tenth time and it still holds up. If you didn’t like it, well that says more about you than it does the film and may God have mercy on your soul.

ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL!

Straight up documentary that reminds you of THIS IS SPINAL TAP but this is for real. These guys have worked their asses off for more than 20 years trying to make it in the music business and become the rock stars that everyone who did make it thought they should have been. In the world of cinema it is always good once in a while to remember real life still happens and this is one of those moments where you could not write this, you had to live it. Definitely a band I would throw my support behind in a heartbeat.

Those are some of my favorites from the decade. What are some of yours?

After watching the trailer for Jet Li’s new film, THE WARLORDS, I am reminded of several movies I love. Epic pieces are hard to pull off and are often ruined by directors who want to go too big in scope and too small in story and character.

THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN

I first saw this film back in 99 or 2000 and immediately fell I love with it. It is in Chinese with subtitles, which is the only way to watch this movie and get the full appreciation of the incredible performances by the entire cast. The story follows the life of Ying Zheng, the first emperor of China and his rise to unite the six kingdoms of China. A must see for anyone that enjoys a historical epic film.

THE LAST EMPEROR

If you are going to start with China’s first emperor you might as well acknowledge the last one. Forget the pretty costumes and the amazement of The Forbidden City and sit back and enjoy the performances. This film at the time was an ambitious effort that paid off with 9 Academy nominations and 9 Academy wins. There is an interesting story I heard but don’t know if there any truth to it. Apparently the Queen of England was in town and was denied entrance to The Forbidden City because they were filming the Coronation scene during her visit.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD

You know I almost shut this movie off due to the jarring score through the first part of the film. I am glad I didn’t. This film never pretended to be happy and you knew it was not going to end happy which gave it a sense of realism that you find in so few films.

APOCALYPTO

There was nothing grand about this film. Instead it was very simple. In its simplicity is where I found my enjoyment. Say what you want about Mel (you are probably right) but the dude can make a damn good film.

BRAVEHEART

Not even close to being fully accurate but still one of my all time favorite films. Interesting side note, I actually have a buddy who is a descendant of Robert the Bruce.  As a matter of fact one of his music students frequents the site. Ask your teacher about this someday.

SPARTACUS

Stanley Kubrick, Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier and I think that covers it. If it was not for this film I seriously doubt we would have ever gotten…

GLADIATOR

Simply put, great movie. Ridley Scott knows his shit and this film is just further evidence the long time filmmaker has earned his accolades.

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

As a novel it has been heralded as one of the greatest ever written and as a film it was pretty damn good. I am not much a reader (big surprise) however after seeing this film and being completely drawn in by the story and characters it has had me thinking about reading the novel for the last 7 years.

THE CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER

In a word, AMAZING! From costuming to set design to storytelling and character development, one of the finest films I have seen. There is a reason that Chow Yun Fat is one of the most underrated actors around and this is one of the films that showcases that.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY

You have to look at this trilogy as a singular story. It was originally written that way and it was the publisher that split it into three books.  Let me be perfectly clear on this. This was a masterful achievement in film and from all technical aspects this trilogy was incredible. However I just can’t bring myself to watch them more than maybe once every couple years as they are damn long and I just don’t have that kind of free time on my hands.

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Again take notice there are no numbers and this is not a top list. I don’t believe in them in general as everyone has their own personal favorites in which they can construct their own top film list and to assist you in that I suggest heading over to Flickchart and start ranking. As a matter of fact you can find The Movie Whore on Flickchart here.

There have been many times over the last year in which I have denounced top movie lists. I have picked them apart. I jumped up and down screaming towards the heavens. Ok so I am a little overly dramatic in my reactions to film, but I am The Movie Whore and it comes with the gig.

For the last few weeks I have quite a bit going on. We have been dealing with a lot of drama that is not even ours. Having friends and family does that sometimes. During that time I have found it difficult to write. During all of this I received an email to try out a beta version for a website called Flickchart.

WTF is Flickchart?

From the site FAQ

What is Flickchart?

Flickchart is a website that lets you:

• rank movies to create your own personal list of favorites by using the Flickchart matchup system
• become part of the Flickchart community and help decide what the “Best Films Of All Time” really are
• take part in discussions about particular pairs of movies
  (who doesn’t like to debate whether Star Wars is better than Star Trek?)
• view movie information, popular discussions, fans, and more
• invite friends and make new ones that you can compare your taste in movies with
  (Someone out there must share your love for Gigli?)
• view statistics charts that break down the top movies by popular choice, year, decade, and coming soon: genre, actor, director, and more

I have in the past been openly opposed to all time great lists and have even devoted entire posts to the subject. My opinion on the subject has made the last 2 weeks very interesting.

We all have movies we love and movies we recognize as being good or even great, but how do you rank those movies once you determine they are good?

This is a question that I have been obsessed with for the last 2 weeks as I have been adding titles and ranking movies for hours on end. I have over 1,000 titles and have done 7,000 rankings and I am still no closer to what I would call my definitive top 20 list. Hell the 1,000+ films I have listed are not even a definitive top 1,000. I still have tons of titles to add and rank. As I go through adding films and working out the rankings be sure to check it out and see how we match up. I will start posting my top films from time to time and ask for your opinions.

Again I am going to say that I believe film is too subjective for anyone to compile a true all time great movie list, however it has been interesting to see how my list has been shaping up and I want to talk about these films and why they are on list and maybe why certain films are as high as they are, but we will get to that in moment.

As I have been ranking films the guideline I use to help me make my choices is this: If these 2 movies were on right now and I had to choose what to watch, which would I choose.

So when I am faced with choosing between 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange, I must admit that if given the choice I would watch A Clockwork Orange.

This guideline does something else. There are movies that may not measure up to the good/great standard but have a quality to them that you cannot deny and you for some reason end up ranking them much higher than even you think they should be ranked, but again would you watch American Psycho over American Beauty?

I have been learning quite a bit about the way I watch movies and what types of movies I enjoy the most. Let’s take a look at some the top flicks on my list as of today and see if I can explain what I mean through example.

The Shawshank Redemption is a movie I will drop everything to watch if I am flipping through channels and see it is being aired. I don’t care if I have missed half the movie I am still sitting down and watching the rest. I can’t not do it. I feel much the same way about Pink Floyd: The Wall. However if both are being aired, which one do I watch?

Shawshank is a story that shows what determination and knowing your skills can do. The Wall is something you cannot even begin to explain. It is an experience and that experience changes each time you watch it, but it is always something that affects you.

In all honesty if I had to choose between the 2, I don’t think I could. I would spend the time flipping back and forth watching both.

American Beauty is a great character movie and has taken on a more personal meaning in the last year for me. Spending a year unemployed and now working part time for a toy store has given me a completely different way of identifying with the main character. The move has become more personal. I have even started getting back into shape. I will be 35 this year and my part time job feels like a retirement job. That job you get when it just does not matter anymore and you like going to work because it gets you out of the house. It’s a job you have fun doing. Nothing like a real job where you drag your ass into the office day in and day out, cursing the idiots you work for and feeling yourself die piece by piece each day.

It is often in being able to identify with the characters in a personal way that makes us love certain movies so much. This explains why I have High Fidelity on the list. It really is a chick flick for men, told from our perspective. That is why men love this movie so much. It tells our dirty little secrets without us ever having to utter a word and explains how so many feel or has felt at some point into our lives. It is a personal story that most can find some personal meaning in. There is one moment of great universal truth that every man has experienced at least once in this film and it this:

“You are as abandoned and noisy as any character in a porn film, Laura. You are Ian’s plaything, responding to his touch with shrieks of orgasmic delight. No woman in the history of the world is having better sex than sex you are having with Ian… in my head.”

This is exactly how men think.

I want to point out that long before I ever saw Clerks, I always listed The Empire Strikes Back as my favorite Star Wars movie. It was a very character driven film. We got to watch characters evolve before our very eyes and it had the biggest surprise ending ever.

Darth Vader: If you only knew the power of the Dark Side. Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.

Luke: He told me enough! He told me you killed him!

Darth Vader: No. I am your father.

Audiences everywhere gasped in unison.

One thing I have found to be a common theme with many of my top movies has been characters and does the movie speak to me on a personal level. It is the movies that speak to me on a personal level that I love the most. When I am feeling off and need to find my center I usually watch one of the Clerks movies or I may even throw in one of several Cusack flicks.

If you want to see what my top list looks like click here. Also to end this post here is my current top 20 films. Be warned this will change. As with everything else that constantly evolves, my love of film is no different.

1 The Shawshank Redemption 1994 Frank Darabont

2 Pink Floyd: The Wall 1982 Alan Parker

3 Blade Runner 1982 Ridley Scott

4 The Princess Bride 1987 Rob Reiner

5 A Clockwork Orange 1972 Stanley Kubrick

6 The Prestige 2006 Christopher Nolan

7 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Stanley Kubrick

8 The Dark Knight 2008 Scott Ewers

9 Alien 1979 Ridley Scott

10 Almost Famous 2000 Cameron Crowe

11 A Scanner Darkly 2006 Richard Linklater

12 The Usual Suspects 1995 Bryan Singer

13 Donnie Darko 2002 Richard Kelly

14 American Psycho 2000 Mary Harron

15 The Empire Strikes Back 1980 Irvin Kershner

16 American Beauty 1999 Sam Mendes

17 High Fidelity 2000 Stephen Frears

18 The Crow 1994 Alex Proyas

19 Clerks 1994 Kevin Smith

20 The Quiet Man 1952 John Ford

So I got this morning and turned on the TV to see a familiar face. It’s a face I have not seen in a while and one that always leaves me smiling. John Ritter was one of those rare talents that made everything he did better than it would have been without him. There have been few that can match much less surpass his ability to perform physical comedy. One of the true masters of the prat fall, John spent his life making us smile. His life was cut short and once in a while when I flip on the tube and I see his face, I feel a little sad. Then I start getting into whatever it is I am watching and he has me smiling in no time. Here a few select films that you may have not heard of but are definitely worth the watch.

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