Dead American

I laughed just making this list.

This one was even harder than the horror movies.  No clear #1 at all, so I had to go more with favorites that intersected with classics to get a #1.  I’m sure there will be many disagreements, and I’m sure I’ll understand them all, but I had fun making the list nonetheless.  Another problem is that some movies possess different standards of humor, so potty humor isn’t as funny to some as dry British humor.

A lot of movies were left off this list.

Well, I did my best.  Let me know your thoughts!

10.  Monty Python and the Holy Grail. People either love or hate this movie.  When I was a younger teen, I think this movie was more quoted than any other.  A couple parts are a little over the top, but most of it is downright brilliant and timeless.

9.  Napoleon Dynamite. The first time I watched this movie, I didn’t laugh a whole lot … I was too amazed that someone had made a movie like this.  It was clean and original and I was transfixed.  The next couple times I watched it, I laughed in fits.

8.  Caddyshack. Bill Murray’s performance alone is list-worthy, but the whole cast put together one of the funniest films ever made.

7.  What About Bob? It was between this one and Groundhog Day, honestly, but Bob won out with baby steps.  One of the few movies I enjoy where one character is just tortured throughout, but Richard Dreyfuss makes it work.

6.  This is Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner put together one of the best (and first) mockumentaries.  Waiting for Guffman might be a better movie, but it owes too much to this one as the original.  Spinal Tap does have some crude humor, but overall it is a hilarious look at a pop/rock band in the twilight of its career.  The songs are brilliant and most of the movie is done improv, without a script.  They just set up the characters, the overall plot and the scene and just started filming.

5.  No Time For Sergeants. My mom made me watch this movie one weekend afternoon as a kid.  I remember literally falling off the couch in laughter.  This was the movie that both inspired Gomer Pyle and gave Andy Griffith the popularity to have his own TV show (of which he was supposed to be the comic relief, but when they got Don Knotts, Griffith insisted on being more the straight man).  Griffith starred on the stage in the play and then got to play the movie, too.

4.  Young Frankenstein. Most people would put Blazing Saddles up here before this one, but I think Young Frankenstein is a little cleaner and more classic.  This movie does a great job mocking the old horror movies, and Gene Wilder is great again.

3.  Airplane. Another of its kind that, if not the first, the first to be this good and a standard for the rest.  A unique blend of clever and ridiculous, some of the most quoted lines in comedic history.  There were a couple really bad sequels (I think William Shatner was in one) and the whole Naked Gun series, too.  Airplane was the pioneer.

2.  The Princess Bride. Perfectly written, performed and casted.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like this movie or hasn’t seen it.  My only complaint (and probably the reason it’s not #1 on this list) would be the Casio keyboard music and Mark Knopfler singing at the end.  The melody isn’t bad, but does the whole movie need to sound like some dude recorded it on a mono tape player in his mom’s basement?

1.  The Jerk. Easily Steve Martin’s best movie, although he’s made some great ones since.  Putting his zany stand up persona in a movie actually worked.  So random and clever and even sweet, I could watch this movie any time.  Great slapstick, clever writing, situations, and one liners.

Also considered:  Waiting for Guffman, Dumb and Dumber, Liar Liar, Happy Gilmore, Tommy Boy, Blazing Saddles, National Lampoon’s Vacation, So I Married an Axe Murderer, 3 Amigos, Fletch, Groundhog Day, Some Like it Hot, Back to School, Arsenic and Old Lace.

Okay, so we’ve had romantic comedies and horror.  Here we go with sci-fi.

Science fiction is another difficult category.  I decided to create a different list for fantasy, just for fun, but I still had a major issue nailing it all down to just ten.

But suffice it to say I included movies with more futuristic and technologically advanced elements.  Again, we could have included some of these movies as fantasy or action/adventure, so some decisions had to be made.

10.  Aliens. This movie was sci-fi, but it had elements of action/adventure and slasher flicks.  James Cameron took a classic sci-fi horror movie centered around ONE alien and asked the basic question: “What would a movie look like with hundreds of them?”  Well, he got to make that movie.

9.  Logan’s Run. Originally, sci-fi was either something cheesy for kids or a vehicle to comment on and question the human condition in general.  This movie fit into the latter.  It can be slow in parts, but remember … this movie was meant to make a statement, not keep you on the edge of your seat.

8.  Serenity. The best of both worlds.  Deep themes of character, the evils of big government, belief, commitment, and truth run throughout this film full of action and space zombies.  Probably the best thing Joss Whedon has done and one of the best shows ever canceled in mid-season.

7.  Matrix. The blue pill or the red pill?  Well, we all took the pill and were introduced to a world of virtual and post-apocalyptic reality where machines and computers have enslaved mankind and use them as batteries.  Unfortunately, the latter movies in the “trilogy” didn’t come close to the overall quality of the first.  Keanu Reeves proves again that he has the best agent in Hollywood.

6.  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The first Star Trek was cool, but more like a glorified episode idea rejected in the 60’s.  They would’ve rejected those baby blue uniforms, too.  But the Roddenberry crew came up with a truly epic story worthy of the big screen.  They balance this movie perfectly between characters, story, morality and action.  And the cast pulled this off like old pros … without looking so old.

5.  20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. One of two Disney films on this list, they took a classic sci fi book, one of the first of its kind, actually, and knocked it out of the park.  Kirk Douglas is epically heroic.

4.  Tron. The 2nd Disney film on the list, Tron took the video game craze of the 80’s and combined it with a Wizard of Oz motif (”and you were there, and you were there, and YOU were there!”).  Computer animation began here.

3.  Planet of the Apes. The rest of the series never achieved the same quality, but the idea and the statement were top notch for the 60’s.  TV shows, comics, cartoons, and more have tried to build on this one, but to no avail.  Viewed as a single movie reveals its genius.  One of the best last scenes ever in a movie.  Was also nominated for an academy award for costume design … if it were for creature effects, it would have won.

2.  ET. Close Encounters of the Third Kind slipped off this list because ET made it.  Unfortunately, Spielberg almost ruined this movie by remastering it and replacing the guns in the hands of government agents with walkie talkies.  Still, this is science fiction and 80’s Spielberg at its best.

1.  Star Wars. Empire Strikes Back was a better movie (Lucas didn’t direct Empire), but Empire would never have been possible without this one.  With Star Wars, sci fi became a true money making genre instead of philosophy or children’s lit.  The strides in special effects weren’t improved upon in a decade or more.  Star Wars became the standard of sci fi and revived interest in the classics, like Star Trek.  Combining Nazi-like bad guys with Greek tragedy, eastern mysticism, Asian warrior codes, lasers, light sabers, and coming of age fantasy — how could you go wrong?  Well, Lucas tried to prove how with Episodes 1-3, but that’s a different discussion.

Some great ones also considered:  Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Terminator, Soylent Green, Star Trek: First Contact, Equilibrium, War of the Worlds (1953), Road Warrior and Blade Runner.

Peace.

Four years ago, I wrote an article on a friend’s website on why I voted for Bush.

Interestingly enough, while Bush has done a couple good things here and there, I feel a little more comfortable voting for McCain.

Some people don’t like telling others who they voted for.  That is definitely their right to a private vote, but I obviously don’t think it is a big deal to let people know who you voted for.

My vote in ‘04 was definitely a vote against Kerry, as well.  He was quite the Democrat and unfortunately indicative of the tragedy that is the Democratic party.  But this time my vote is even more for one candidate, McCain.

Now, that doesn’t mean I agree with McCain on every issue.  Anyone who needs a candidate who aligns with every issue should seriously run for office.  That’s the only way you’ll find one.

AS for McCain, I respect his push for the surge in Iraq, and his willingness to criticize the Bush administration on the war there, but his campaign has been lacking a real plan for Iraq.  I think that’s a weakness.  I know what McCain says his plan is (stay the course, fight til we win, no time tables, etc), but he really needed to distance himself further from Bush, especially on this issue.

On a positive note about the war, I absolutely believe McCain will make a better commander in chief than Bush or Obama.  McCain’s history in the military and a POW is a great background to have for the man who will decide where our troops will go.

Also, on a related note, McCain will see terrorism as a national security issue.  The main Democratic philosophy on terrorism (began by Clinton as he severely weakened our national security on this front) is to treat terrorism as a domestic crime.  This makes a huge difference.  When it is a national security issue, every department MUST cooperate.  Treating it as a domestic crime limits the flow of information between agencies.

I believe the best way to kick start and help our economy is to not only keep the Bush tax cuts but make them permanent or cut taxes more.  The economy will improve AND the government will see more revenue to pump back into the economy as it sees fit, whether welfare programs or not.  McCain is not particularly strong on tax cuts, but strong enough to make him a clear choice over any Democrat, especially one promising to majorly raise taxes on the producers in this country.

The continual push by Democrats to raise taxes to give to the poor betrays their agenda.  If they were just for the governmnet getting more money so they could give it to the poor, they would cut taxes, getting more money and therefore helping more poor people.  But the Democrats don’t want to just help poor people, they want to punish the rich.  It is all over their rhetoric.

McCain has also said he’ll nominate judges that stick to the constitution, not make up judgments as they go or use foreign rulings to decide over what the Constitution cleary says.  Legislation from the bench is dangerous, as we continually see with eminent domain cases and child porn.  This is important to me.

McCain is soft on some issues I’m not sure I’m prepared to be strong on … my example would be immigration.  I see both sides of the issue, and someone willing to compromise a little about it makes sense to me.

McCain is strong, though, on earmarks and other corrupt traditions in Washington.  Obama makes a show about it, but he went back on his word when he used public funds.  McCain has stayed true to his word on that … and has “suffered” with less money.

McCain also runs a completely volunteer run campaign.  He wants to encourage citizen action.  Obama is using public funds to pay people to campaign for him.  I like McCain’s character on this issue.

In general, I believe McCain to be a person of character, moreso than Obama or Bush, for that matter.  Cindy McCain is extremely independent and successful in business.  She is deeply involved in charities.  She heads them up while Michelle Obama is only on their roster.  But the McCain family is personally invested, adopting a child from Mother Theresa’s ministry some years ago and getting that child the health care needed for a better life.

McCain has proven himself in being personally compassionate.  I’ll take that over someone who wants to be compassionate with other people’s money any day.

McCain has also done what he could to cross the aisle and make some compromises, even pissing conservatives off from time to time in the process.  He still reached out in order to get things done.  I think that’s the whole point of our republican system … leaders making compromises for the public good.  That’s an important background for a president to have.

One of the most important issues to me is abortion.  McCain is pro-life.  While I understand the discussions on economic factors and compassion for life after birth, as well, and agree with them, that NEVER justifies a nation legalizing the killing of children.  Never.  McCain isn’t strongly pro-life, but he has a strong record of being pro-life.  Rock on.

So I voted for McCain.  Sure he’s old and a little pudgy, but I looked beyond that to see someone I can respect enough to vote for.  Many in this country obviously disagree.  But I spoke my peace with my single ballot and am willing to ally myself with the losing side, if that becomes a reality.  At least my vote might counteract some dead guy or minor in Ohio.

Peace.

Nice call on the Exorcist, Rob.  I can’t believe I didn’t include the Exorcist!  Okay, that should be #2, definitely, and push Poltergeist off the list.  Being a “church-going” and God believing young lad, I was completely fascinated and frightened by that movie.  The Exorcist challenged much of my then Evangelical beliefs and instigated a borderline unhealthy interest in the occult and demons and spiritual warfare.

And yes, I really love M. Night’s movies.  I just love his style and sense of character.  His last few haven’t been as good, but I still love how he makes a movie.

Another good call on the original Night of the Living Dead, Matt.  Definitely could be included in such a list and I should have included it in the “also considered” line.

My problem is I don’t really research this stuff … I’m kinda coming up with these movies off the top of my head … which is why the Exorcist really should have been on there.

Peace.

In honor of Halloween, a severely un-Christian holiday, I thought I’d go ahead and share my top ten horror movies.

This list is lacking more modern movies that others might place on the list.  I haven’t watched a lot of the more recent gore fests.  Marrying Becca streamlined my scary movie consumption (she really doesn’t like them), and so you have here a more classic list.

Of course, these movies are designed to specifically scare the crap out of you.  Each does that in its own way.

This was a difficult list to put together for another reason.  How is one better than another?  The equality of quality is more pronounced with horror flicks.  Lemme know what you think.

10.  Poltergeist. This one just barely snuck onto this list.  Nostalgia put it over the top.  I saw this movie as a young dude, maybe 11 years old, and I watched it several times.  I still think it is a great movie with great characters and a creepy baseline.  I think my parents let me watch it because it was only PG.  This is actually a Spielberg movie.

9.  Alien. While this could go on a later sci-fi list, Alien is basically a horror/slasher flick in space.  Great creature effects.  Ridley Scott at his best.

8.  Scream. For those of us who grew up on slasher flicks from the 70’s and 80’s, this movie resonated with us.  Scream mocked the very genre it was in, and it did a great job at the mocking and the scary stuff.  The next two were okay, but really just more of the same.  The Scream movies were transitions into what we would consider more modern style horror.

7.  Frankenstein. This movie made in 1931 is still great.  Shelly wrote one of the first horror stories and developed it into quite a complex story.  Great movies, no matter what genre, have to have more than just style and formula.  They should say something about human nature.  Shelly’s monster gives us a great insight into these things.

6.  Halloween. In my opinion, the best of the 70’s/80’s slasher flicks.  A little more realistic than the others of its time, and that always makes scary movies a little creepier.

5.  Interview with a Vampire. Another great story full of statements about the nature of man and character.  Anne Rice’s drunken rant was a good story and had great character insight into the darkness of humanity.

4.  Carrie. Young outcast girl in high school is the victim of a practical joke at Homecoming (or was it prom?  I can’t remember).  I read the book and saw the movie a couple times.  Carrie then takes revenge on the whole town with her superpowers.  One of the first, and best, adaptations of Stephen King to the big screen.  Somewhat prophetic, too, if you think about it, in light of high school shootings and violence over the last decade or so.

3.  Jaws. Probably the only good time to jump the shark.  Ultimate man verses animal story.  Primal in the protection of humans from an unusually large predator, a white shark.  This was a great book, too.  Great story and final battle.  Made us all think twice about going to the beach.  I try not to put two movies by same director on here … but it’s another Spielberg flick … man!

2.  6th Sense. I love all of M. Night’s movies.  Again, a great spooky story with real character and human issues.  M. Night proved himself the new Hitchcock and freaked a lot of people out with that surprise ending.

1.  Psycho. The order of the list is pretty debatable … up till this one.  Hard to argue with this being #1 on this list.  Very creepy movie with the most classic slasher scene ever: the shower scene.  Perfectly done, Hitchcock was good at pretty much anything he wanted to do. Birds and Rear Window didn’t make this list because I made Psycho #1, but they could have been on here, too.

Also considered:  Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dracula (1931), The Shining, Misery, The Birds, Rear Window, The Hitcher, Silence of the Lambs

Peace … or not … mwah hah hah …

A little history to begin:

Back even with abolition before the Civil War, the American media has had an agenda, keeping slavery legal (much like pro-baby-killing is with the modern media).  The “alternative” media served its purpose then, too … generating articles and literature designed to stop slavery.  It worked then.  That’s part of the power of freedom of speech.

After the Civil War, the media turned more liberal … at least in some ways.  The media has always taken upon itself theresponsibility of pushing certain agendas and policies.  It is the nature of having to choose what to report and how that manipulates what people think.  This is the “bully pulpit” of the media.

This liberal leaning was exacerbated in the 50’s when many people in the entertainment industry were openly suspected of being communists and even traitors.  Years later, even though many of them were actually giving information to the Soviet Union, the damage was done, the media was decidedly anti-conservative and Republican.

So while the media has gone through cycles of being more or less objective, it cannot by nature BE objective.

With that in mind, the complaints of a skewed media can never be solved or addressed.  Humans have opinions and agendas, and those in certain power positions take it upon themselves to slant information.

The problem with slanted media is when truth or facts are suppressed and an honest exchange of ideas is openly discouraged.  This is oppressive and harms a “free press”.  Over the last twenty years, this has become the norm for the “mainstream” media.  Let’s quickly look at the progression.

1988.  Fairly liberal media then.  Regan was continually mocked and criticized despite winning in landslides.  His VP, George Bush, runs for president at the end of a successful two terms for Republicans.  His only copetition is Dukakis.  Well, a story breaks about how Dukakis pardoned a criminal, a murderer, who went on to kill again.  Bush, Sr., wins in another landslide, much to the chagrin of the liberal media.

Once Bill Clinton comes along, the liberal media leared their lesson.  IF they want a Democratic candidate to win … which they do … then they can’t report certain things … or if they do, report them in a way that makes the Democratic candidate look like a victim.  Which is what they did with Clinton.  Stories about his abuses of power while in Arkansas were glossed over and the “scandal” that broke considering his adultery was skewed as if he were some sort of victim … along with poor Hillary.

Not that ‘92 was that simple, but you get the idea.  Conservatives then felt completely disenfranchised by an already hostile liberal media.  In the opinion of conservatives, the media failed to properly scrutinize him.  Hence, talk radio emerged as a political force for conservatives … which really pisses liberals off because they don’t actually believe in equal expression of ideas.  But freedom of speech wins out, and Boortz and Limbaugh and Hannity and others paved the way for a conservative revolution that won both House and Senate in ‘94 for Republicans.

Conservatives adopted terms like “mainstream” and “alternative” media, and what used to be obscure voices and stations on the AM dial actually influenced politics and how people thought.

Part 2 tomorrow.

Peace.

Per previous discussion about labels, I’ve included movies meant to be romantic and funny, although even not strictly or only romantic comedies.  This opens the field a little bit and allowed me to dodge some cheese.  Let’s get started.

10.  Sleepless in Seattle. While I could easily pick some that I liked more, Sleepless was well written and creatively put together.  Some of the same people from When Harry Met Sally got involved, and rode the coattails a little, but the ultimate idea was different, even though the style and tone was similar.  Although an adult-oriented movie, it was innocent enough to capture a wide audience with a story about two people perfect for each other but thousands of miles apart.  Soundtrack was also pretty good.  I let it sneak on the list.

9.  My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Every element of this movie worked, and every character came alive.  You wanted to marry into this family, too.  The transformation of a woman from a homely waitress to a beautiful, confident, independent career woman was perfectly realistic and engaging.  The cultural tension was real and distinct without being too cliche.  Made me want to put Windex on stuff.

8.  Much Ado About Nothing. Well, you can’t beat Shakespeare at, well, anything.  Probably the first major romantic comedy ever written.  Kenneth Branagh did a great job helping a whole generation (myself included) rediscover Shakespeare and reconnect with some of the most brilliant literature ever written.  Shakespeare was meant to bee SEEN, not read.

7.  Lars and the Real Girl. Late entry to the list.  Just saw this movie and was really impressed.  As original and well-written as any other movie on the list, I highly recommend it.  Probably the wierdest one on the list, Lars is completely innocent but manages to creatively express some very deep themes.

6.  Grosse Pointe Blank. John Cusack makes this list twice because, well, he rocks … but he also manages to have great chemistry with every actress he’s ever worked with.  Grosse was his brainchild and is just violent and crazy enough for guys to enjoy, but it still centers around the soul-mate relationship of his “dream girl”, Minnie Driver.

5.  Some Kind of Wonderful. In my opinion, this is John Hughes best teen movie, behind Ferris Bueller, of course.  Young stars before they were huge and a trend setting director combined for a top notch movie from the 80’s.  This wasn’t as fairy tale as some of Hughes’ other work but still had the classic 80’s high school cliques, class warfare, and generational gap.  It didn’t have the brat pack celeb status and outdid the other ones in terms of realism and believability while still being a great story.

4.  Pretty Woman. Okay, don’t laugh.  This was one of the most successful romantic comedies ever, and the top grossing one for its day.  Don’t know if I could technically give it comedy status, but the funny elements are there.  Julia Roberts became a big time star with this movie (she had a couple hits before Pretty Woman, but can anyone remember them?  I can, but there is a lot of worthless info in my head).  More of a modern fairy tale, women REALLY liked this movie, and Becca and I still watch it from time to time.

3.  As Good as it Gets. Another one not technically in this class, but the main thrust is the inexplicable relationship between an obsessive compulsive romance writer and a waitress with a sick son … and a dog.  And it’s funny as crap.  Amazingly written, directed, acted, its just awesome.

2.  When Harry Met Sally. The stars kinda aligned for some of these movies.  Everything worked and was just right.  Harry Connick, Jr. did the soundtrack, giving him star status overnight.  This movie should probably be number 1, but I gotta give shout outs to my man John for …

1.  Say Anything. How could my favorite movie of all time not be on the top of this list?  Had to do it.  This movie still stands apart from the cheesy 80’s teen romantic comedies and the formulaic ones they made through the 90’s.  No one tried to copy this one.  That was smart.

Also considered:  Best Friends Wedding, the Holiday, Hitch, While You Were Sleeping

Peace.

A couple weeks ago, my sister Gina made a comment about a romantic comedy top ten list.  I liked the idea at the time, but I also thought of other movie top ten lists I could do.

And then when I started to put things together, the problem of labels came up.  Should Fellowship of the Ring be a fantasy, an epic, or an action/adventure … or all three?  Then I have the problem of what to actually put on the list and what to leave out.  Choosing only ten is near impossible, but that’s probably what makes it interesting.

I included an “also considered” list … movies that could have/should have made the list, enough to potentially knock one off.

So we’ll start with Romantic Comedies this week.  We’ll see what happens next week …

Oh, and please make comments; share opinions with me if you have them … not just me, but everybody … maybe you’ll bring up a movie I hadn’t considered or even seen. 

Peace.