100 Movies in 2007
Goal: To watch a total of 100 movies in 2007, whether they are brand new or I've seen them before. No spoilers!



01 | Newsies (1992)
Christian Bale, David Moscow, Bill Pullman, Robert Duvall, Ann-Margaret
Director: Kenny Ortega

Summary: July, 1899: When Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise the distribution price one-tenth of a cent per paper, ten cents per hundred, the newsboys, poor enough already, are outraged. Inspired by the strike put on by the trolley workers, Jack "Cowboy" Kelly (Christian Bale) organizes a newsboys' strike. With David Jacobs (David Moscow) as the brains of the new union, and Jack as the voice, the weak and oppressed found the strength to band together and challenge the powerful.

How could I go wrong with a movie like Newsies? Everytime I watch it, I feel like I'm sixteen again (which was when I was first introduced to this piece of Disney magic). Christian Bale, the future Batman, singing and dancing like nobody's business? With a New York accent? Excuse me while I fangirl. Great musical numbers choreographed (and directed) by Kenny Ortega and a just a great dramatic story underneath all the flash of the music numbers. A Disney movie that is sorely overlooked.

Grade: A
Quote: "Sometimes all it takes is a voice, one voice that becomes a hundred, then a thousand, unless it's silenced." Bryan Denton (Bill Pullman)

02 | Bride & Prejudice (2004)
Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Naveen Andrews
Director: Gurinder Chadha

Summary: A Bollywood update of Jane Austen's classic tale, in which Mrs. Bakshi is eager to find suitable husbands for her four unmarried daughters. When the rich single gentlemen Balraj and Darcy come to visit, the Bakshis have high hopes, though circumstance and boorish opinions threaten to get in the way of romance.

I will be the first to admit that I'm not really that big of a fan of the BBC presentation of Pride & Prejudice. Six hours long and the only good thing is Colin Firth in a wet t-shirt? I'll pass. But the great thing about Bride & Prejudice (the Bollywood version of the former) is that it can tell the same story in two hours and let it be a musical. Cinematographically speaking, it's one of the most brightly colored movies I've ever seen (especially in the market scene) and the actors are able to balance the comedy and drama of Jane Austen's story wonderfully (Nadira Babbar, the mother, is particularily great in her role). And yeah, the movie is a full two hours but it more than makes up for it with peppy song & dance numbers.

Grade: A-
Quote: "I'm a hopeless dancer, but this looks like you just screw in a light bulb with one hand and pat the dog with the other." Will Darcy (Martin Henderson)

03 | Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, Roger Rees
Director: Mel Brooks

Summary: A spoof of Robin Hood in general, and 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' in particular.

I wanted to like this movie. I really did; true_sarcasm certainly talked it up enough, telling me how funny it was. Ultimately, the movie fell really flat for me. I found most of the jokes to be entirely too predictable and I didn't really care for the characters. I have nothing against Mel Brooks; I love Young Frankenstein and The Producers. But Men in Tights did nothing for me. The highlight of the movie was seeing the actual musical performance of Men in Tights, but I wouldn't recommend this as one of Brooks' best.

Grade: C-
Quote: The whole song of Men in Tights

04 | Psycho (1960)
Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Summary: A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother

Aaah, the first slasher movie is essentially what Psycho boils down to. What can I say that hasn't already been said a thousand times? Perkins gives an amazingly spooky performance as Norman Bates and certainly sets the bar high for horror movies to follow after. Even though I'm such a wuss when it comes to horror movies, I can still watch this movie (albeit, with closed eyes are some parts - stupid shower scene *shivers). One of my favorite elements about this movie is the music; it's such an important part to any movie, but especially this movie. I remember the first time I ever saw this movie I was freaked out way early on in the movie and nothing had even happened yet. It was just Marion (Leigh) driving in her car (which by the way, features awesome voiceovers from the other actors - it really helps the story along).

Grade: A
Quote: "I think I must have one of those faces you can't help believing." Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins)

05 | High Fidelity (2000)
John Cusak, Iben Hejejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black
Director: Stephen Frears

Summary: Rob, a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his top five breakups, including the one in progress.

Top 5 Favorite things about High Fidelity:
5. Random appearances by Denise Huxtable and Darlene Conner. Hello 80s tv stars!
4. The quirky narrative style where Rob (John Cusak) broke the "invisble" wall between himself and the audience. Particularily when he goes into his spiel about the four horrible things he's done to Laura.
3. It's the movie that made me finally get the amazingness of Jack Black. Seriously, everytime they show him in Championship Records it's instant hilarity.
2. It's so insignificant and very film-dork of me to notice this, but right as the movie is about to start and you see the Touchstone Production logo and as the light is coming across and when the light matches up with the beginning of You're Gonna Miss Me - The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. Coolest thing ever.
1. John Cusak. He throws himself absolutely into this character and you don't even see him as John Cusak - he really is Rob Gordon and you feel for him as he's just trying to make sense of himself and his past relationships.

Grade: A
Quote: "Awhile back, Dick, Barry, & I agreed that what really matters is what you like. Not what you are like. Books, records, films; these things matter. Call me shallow - it's the fucking truth." Rob Gordon (John Cusak)

06 | Blazing Saddles (1974)
Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn
Director: Mel Brooks

Summary: To ruin a western town, a corrupt political boss appoints a black sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.

Maybe I'm just not a Mel Brooks fan and maybe I just have to make peace with that. Sure, some parts were funny, but overall I didn't find this movie to be anything astounding. I mean, it's pretty crazy to realize what Brooks got away with in this movie but overall I felt kind of bored watching it. Madeline Kahn was entertaining with her song of "I'm So Tired" and Little & Wilder were great in their scenes together. Frankly, my favorite scene was toward the end of the movie with Dom DeLuise as a crazy-ass director. Oh Dom DeLuise, you slay me so.

Grade: C+
Quote: "As chairman of the welcoming committee, it's a pleasure to present a Laurel and Hardy handshake to our new mayor." Howard Johnson (John Hillerman)

07 | Night At the Museum (2006)
Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Carla Gugino
Director: Shawn Levy

Summary: A newly recruited night security guard (Stiller) at the Museum of Natural History discovers that an ancient curse causes the animals and exhibits on display to come to life and wreak havoc.

The premise of this movie is cute: The Museum of Natural History comes to "life" for the night watchman when the museum shuts down for the night. But the first twenty minutes of the movie are a slow build up to the actual story and I found myself somewhat bored until then. With the exception of Zoolander, I'm not sure that Stiller should keep getting starring roles in movies (I haven't seen There's Something About Mary, but I could've lived life without seeing Meet the Parents and its sequel). I felt that the supporting characters gave much stronger performances (Van Dyke, Rooney, and Bill Cobbs are crazy!) that helped keep the movie going. I didn't exactly hate the movie overall (Robin Williams and Owen Wilson are fun to watch), but I wouldn't recommend rushing to the theater to go see it.

Grade: C+
Quote: "Quest for fire? Over!" Larry Daly (Ben Stiller)

08 | To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Gregory Peck, Brock Peters, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, Robert Duvall
Director: Robert Mulligan

Summary: Atticus Finch (Peck), a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his kids against prejudice.

What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said a million times over? To Kill A Mockingbird is quite possibly one of my favorite books ever and the movie is just as good, if not better. Peck delivers a killer performance as Atticus Finch (going on to win the Oscar) and the cast around him just shines. Love, love, love, LOVE this movie.

Grade: A++++
Quote:
"Good Afternoon Miss Dubose... My, you look like a picture this afternoon." Atticus (Gregory Peck)
(whispering) "He don't say a picture of what." Scout (Mary Badham)

09 | Spartacus (1960)
Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons
Director: Stanley Kubrick

Summary: The slave Spartacus leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman empire.

I watched this for my Topics in History class and it was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. The script was entertaining (particularily whenever Batiatus was on screen) and the musical score was gorgeous. Overall the movie was pretty awesome and if you're in to Roman history and whatnot, it's definitely worth checking out.

Grade: A
Quote: "A good body with a dull brain is as cheap as life itself." Batiatus (Peter Ustinov)

10 | Jules et Jim (1962)
Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre
Director: Francois Truffaut

Summary: Decades of a love triangle concerning two friends and an impulsive woman

I only watched this movie because my film class made me. It's an old black and white foreign film about two men Jules and Jim (Werner and Serre) who are best friends (foreverz, omg) and they both meet this girl who they both end up subsequently being involved with in one way or another. There's not really too much to say here; the story was kind of interesting and Jeanne Moreau did a great job playing Catherine (the female lead). Considering that the movie takes place over a period of 15-20 years, the way the film was edited was pretty genius. But overall, the ending was weird and the director's last name reminds me of Truffles. Clearly, I got a LOT out of this film.

Grade: C+
Quote: The whole thing was French and in subtitles so...no quote.

11 | Because I Said So (2007)
Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Lauren Graham, Piper Perabo
Director: Michael Lehmann

Summary: A meddling mother (Keaton) tries to set her daughter (Moore) up with the right man so her kid won't follow in her footsteps

If the movie looked predictable and hokey from the trailer...that's because it was. It's a cute premise filled with lots of mother/daughter bonding moments (hell, I even went and saw this with my own mother) but in the end, the movie just kind of fizzled and came out awkward in the end.

It's pretty clear right from the start who Milly (Moore) is going to end up with and Graham and Perabo are vastly under-used (especially Graham, but I might be slightly biased because I'm such a Lorelai Gilmore fan. Although to her credit, Graham is pretty fantastic on her own as an actress). Keaton comes off spastic when she's trying to relate to all of her daughters' kooky sense humor and watching her performance is like watching a roller coaster; too many twists and turns that just end up coming off as dizzy. Besides Graham, the only performance I really enjoyed was Johnny (Gabriel Macht), who gives a pretty awesome turn as a soft-hearted musician. Also, the scenes with all the actresses are pretty fun (my mom even whispered to me at one point: "i'm sorry i didn't give you sisters"), but the movie concentrated way more on Keaton and Moore than I would've liked. Oh and sidebar: for those of you who are Arrested Development fans, check out a supporting role from one the cast members from AD.

Bottom line: if you're into predictable romantic chick-lit for the silver screen, this is definitely the movie for you. Otherwise, it's something that can wait to be rented from your local video store.

Grade: C+
Quote:
"God couldn't be everywhere so that is why he invented mothers." Daphne (Diane Keaton)
"What? That was on a Hallmark card we gave you." Maggie (Lauren Graham)

12 | Smokin' Aces (2007)
Jeremy Piven, Andy Garcia, Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta
Director: Joe Carnahan

Summary: When a Las Vegas performer-turned-snitch named Buddy Israel (Piven) decides to turn state's evidence and testify against the mob, it seems that a whole lot of people would like to make sure he's no longer breathing.

I had really high expectations of this movie, so it kind of sucked that the movie wasn't as amazing as I had hoped it would be. In a nutshell, this movie is Ocean's Eleven on really trippy acid - cool camera tricks, hit men, an appearance by an Affleck, Andy Garcia; the resemblance is there, most definitely. But where Ocean's Eleven is cool, clean, and funny, Smokin' Aces is messy and just comes off as trying too hard. The plot is hard to follow at times, but everything is nicely wrapped up in the last thirty minutes. Personally, I thought it was far too gory considering how long it took to get to the point of the movie.

There are solid performances by Liotta, Reynolds, and Garcia - the ending with Reynolds really kind of pulled it together for me. Alicia Keys pulls out a surprising performance too and Jason Batemen's scenes are entertaining for the little time he's on screen. But in the end, I left the theater thinking "WTF was that?"

Grade: C+
Quote: nothing really stands out.