A Speech I relate to.

This monologue opened the 74th Annual Academy Awards in March of 2002.  It was the first telecast after 9/11.
The speech sums up what I love about movies perfectly.

My must See movie list

I pride myself on my somewhat knowledge of movies.  I do enjoy viewing a wide variety of features from low brow B flicks such as Roger Corman’s Piranha to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather.  

I do enjoy reading must see movie lists as well.  After reading my yearly crop of must see lists that include annual must see movie before you die I wondered what my own must see list look like.  

I pieced together a handful of titles with a bit of a blurb about each.  The movies are listed in order by year they were released and not in the order in which I enjoyed the movie or in which they should be seen if they haven’t.

So please enjoy and let me know how many you’ve seen and what you think of the list.

Casablanca (1942)

The best picture winner at the 16th annual academy awards.  It’s a war movie that doesn’t actually show the war.  What it does show is the effects of war on those involved.  The classic is a must see for everyone movie buff and casual viewer alike.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

My favorite of all science fiction movies.  In addition to having many of films greatest one lines (‘Get your hands off me you damn dirty apes’ ect) the movie has one of the greatest endings in cinema.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

The 007 franchise is my favorite film series and I count many entries (Skyfall, Goldfinger, Goldeneye, ect) among my favorite movies.  The sixth entry On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is my favorite and a movie that works well as a James Bond movie and works well on a separate level as a well thought out movie.  I’m not going to put all the Bond flicks on the list but they are represented by this classic entry.

The Exorcist (1973)

Yes a horror movie! But it’s the granddaddy of horror movies.  I’ve seen it many times and it still scares me each time.  Unlike recent trends in horror is uses graphic images to enhance an excellent & scary story instead of using the graphic images to go for the scares.  It is a must see but do be cautious that it is graphic in imagery and scary.

Jaws (1975)

The first of two movies by director Steven Spielberg on the list.  The movie beautifully creates suspense without showing you the villain until the final act.  Great filmmaking at its best.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

No movie do I quote more then Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  I find myself laughing at the same jokes over the years after each viewing.  It is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.

Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

The best of all 7 (counting the animated feature The Clone Wars) Star Wars feature.  Also the movie has the greatest twist in film history.  You can skip Episodes I-III because The Phantom Menace is one of the worst movies ever made.  A New Hope & Return of the Jedi are both fantastic movies as well but The Empire Strikes Back takes it up a notch.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

The second of two movies from Steven Spielberg and the adventure proves that movies can be a fun time.  Nothing wrong with enjoying one’s self at the movies and Raiders of the Lost Ark is a prime example of that.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Morgan Freeman & Tim Robbins both are at the top of there game.  The movie shows brilliantly ones will to survive in hellish circumstances beyond ones control.  Also based on material by Stephen King shows great diversity from a talented horror author.

Bowling for Columbine (2002)
People either love Michael Moore or hate Michael Moore.  There appears to be no middle ground.  That is all irrelevant though with this movie.  Here he creates a thought provoking look at gun violence in America that is just as relevant in 2002 when the movie was released as it is in 2012.

Ironman & The Dark Knight (2008)

Superhero movies tend to have a bit of camp to them.  That tends to add a bit of fun to it.  By the late 90’s that camp though seemed to have ruin superhero movies.  In 2008 both Marvel & DC released features that revamped the superhero movies.  Marvel released Ironman.  The movie was full of camp but also added an edge factor that brought Superhero movies to a new level.  The Dark Knight took a more realistic approach to the superhero genre.  It worked great and did something even rarer by becoming the first superhero movie to win a major academy award.  (Heath Ledger took home the Academy Award posthumously for his supporting performance)

A Favorite movie of mine

It’s not a well kept secret that 1968’s Planet of the Apes is one of my favorite movies.  PERIOD.  I love it.  Even the sequels I enjoyed.  They had there weak moments but what series doesn’t?

When it was announced that the first Retrofantasma Classics of 2013 would show the immortal classic, to say I was excited would be one of the biggest understatements in the history of cinema.  So time passed as the program got closer.  

My excitement got further enhanced when, as a Christmas gift, two very good friends of mine were sponsoring the movie for me.  So I got to see my name appear on the big screen before the movie as well as many cinema passes to go to the movie.  

The winter nights then marched on from December and the calendar turned into January.  My beloved Oscar nominations came about and then I was preparing dinner for before mentioned friends.  An excellent meal of deer as in Bambi Tacos.  

Minutes turned slowly as we parked the car, got our tickets, and topped off our stomachs with some popcorn.  

The vintage trailers started.  What a presentation of trailers they were.  My name appeared as the sponsor of the movie and the house lights flickered into the glow that became the movie.

It was a tearful moment as the movie played, as a dream coming true.  Some people dream of becoming the president, I dream of seeing really awesome movies from yesteryear on the big screen and hopefully in the glory that is 35 MM.

The movie played all to quickly as the two hour running time went by in what seemed to be a blink.  The sights, the sounds, the dialogue all cheered on by a crowd that neared 280.  

To wildly applaud as Charlton Heston’s Taylor first reveled he could speak to the apes when he yelled out ‘Get your hands off me you damn dirty apes’ or to cheer on Taylor as he pounds the beaches at the movies reveal with a crowd that size was unimaginable.  But yet there we were all experiencing the triumphs of the films protagonist.  Many moments like those just mentioned were what made the experience unforgettable.

That winter night will forever pleasantly burn as a memory as bright as the brightest star shines

 (For those who don’t know Retrofantasma Classics and it’s sister program Retrofantasma are monthly double features that play at the Carolina theater in Durham.  The second half of this great sci-fi double bill was Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey).  

The Nominees for the Academy Awards

Happy Oscar nomination Day one and all!

I do love this time of year.  The weather in theory should be cold and the best of film from the previous year are now nominated.  

Like a younger me on Christmas morning I was up well before the crack of dawn to anxiously await the nomination announcement.  The three stages of breakfast -prepare, consume, clean- quickly happened.  The TV was turned to ABC’s Good Morning America and I caught up on the news as I waited the nominations announcement.

Then it came.  During the 10 quick minutes I gloriously geeked out as the roll call of nominees were read.  Quickly then I found the remaining unannounced categories and eagerly became knowledgeable about what movies were nominated and those that weren’t.

I break down my reaction into thee stages, much like the before mentioned breakfast.

STAGE 1 THE EXPECTED: Lincoln to do extremely well with nominations.  12 nominations in total including picture, director, and three acting nominations (Daniel Day Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, & Sally Field).  

The cast of Silver Linings Playbook to be well received.  The film received one nomination in each of the acting categories.

Adele’s tune for Skyfall to be nominated.  

All expectations were met.  We move to stage 2.

STAGE 2 THE SURPRISES: Beasts of the Southern Wild receiving 4 major nominations (picture, director, actress, and screenwriting).

Life of Pi receiving 11 nominations.  I enjoyed the movie and thought it would do well in the technical categories but not that well.  I’ve admired Ang Lee’s work and am glad to see his first return to the Oscars since winning the director Oscar for Brokeback Mountain.

Host Seth MacFarlene is also a nominee for his musical work on his movie Ted.

All surprises were pleasant to me

STAGE 3: THE SNUBS: The Intouchables snubbed for best foreign film.  I loved the movie and it received many nominations from other awarding bodies.

While Argo and Zero Dark Thirty both made the list of best feature film there respective directors were snubbed.  I justify this snub with Benh Zeitlin and David O’ Russell being nominated for there work on Beasts of the Southern Wild and Silver Linings Playbook.  Both works were good and in the end just as worthy of the nominations as the two features they snubbed.

All n all I do love Oscar season and can’t wait to put on my tenth annual party.