Fantastic movie about Robert Gould Shaw leading the first black volunteer company in the Civil War. Inspiring stuff. Unfortunately there is a scene where Shaw (Matthew Broderick) Pulls aside Major Forbes (Cary Elwes) and scolds him for questioning his authority about having to punish Denzel's character with a whip. Major Forbes reply?
"Well I is sorry Massa'. You be the boss man now and all us chillins must learn your ways!"
It makes me cringe and laugh every time I see it, and it almost ruins the tenseness of the scene.
2. Legends Of The Fall (1994)
Another great movie, and look! Same director Edward Zwick. Anthony Hopkins plays Colonel William Ludlow trying to raise his three sons in Montana, and no longer believes in war. He is a proud, noble man's man, and Sir Anthony plays the character with the kind of dignity that seems to be his specialty. Until Col. Ludlow has a stroke. Then he has to walk around with wild hair and a chalkboard around his neck to communicate. (No Bullshit.) when asked by one of his sons what he thinks about trespassers coming back on to the land, Ludlow protrudes his middle finger and says "Screw 'em!" But of course, see, since he had a stroke, it comes out like.. "Shhkru uhhm!" You half expect the cast laugh and say something like "Oh, dad!" while the studio audience laughs and applauses.
3. Superman (1978)
I forgot how good this movie actually is, as I just recently watched it on HBO with my boy Alex before we went to see the new one. Richard Donner really did some great work with this movie. Christopher Reeves is still heartbreaking to watch as Superman, and he really was the definitive Man Of Steel. That being said, I also forgot about the scene where he makes his first public appearance as Superman to save Lois Lane. The very first person to see Superman? A pimp. That's right, a very clean DC Comics 1978 pimp. "Maaaann. That is a bad Out-FIT! WHOOO! WHOOO!" Trivia you won't find anywhere else kids.
4. Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961)
Based on a novel by Truman Capote, with Blake Edwards as director, this movie had great acting all around about New Yorker Holly Golightly and has a great wit throughout the movie. I still believe that Audrey Hepburn was one of the most Beautiful actresses ever. I also can't believe how offensive the character Mickey Rooney plays is. He is the apartment manager Mr. Yinioshi, a veerrry bad stereotype of the Japanese. The guy has got the buckteeth and everything. Every time he appears in the film for so called "comic relief" it's painful. Makes a good argument for bringing back "Song of The South" since they pulled that Disney movie based on outdated stereotypes, but not this one. Somehow, it's almost like it's more acceptable to make fun of Asians. Shit, just see Rush Hour and you'll know what I mean.
5. William Shakespeare's Romeo Juliet (1996)
Baz Luhrman's take on the great tragedy. Modernized and aimed for the teenage crowd when it came out, I was excited to see this one. The moment I hate for this movie though is the first third of the entire movie. It starts off very MTV hyperkinetic to the point where you want to throw up though. I got the point after the first five minutes but it keeps hitting you and you get to see a young Harold Perrineau (Lost) play Mercutio... in DRAG. It pisses me off that the movie starts this way, glossing over the whole Capulet and Montague division, because once the "star crossed lovers" meet in the film, the movie then becomes great. Baz Luhrman knows how to make colors pop and paces the rest of the film perfectly.. I just wish the entire movie was that way.
6. Munich (2005)
The story of the "unofficial" retaliation against Palestinian leaders of "Black September" where 11 Israeli athletes lost their lives in a botched hostage standoff at the '72 olympics. Great Spielberg movie. Very thought provoking and a good conversation starter, especially with the bombings going on now. The moment in the movie though that I wasn't too big on, is where Eric Bana's characer Avner makes love to his wife, and it's intercut with shots of his remembering what happened that day. They show how the Athletes are murdered and as the grisly scene ends, it is paralleled with Avner's .. ahem.. orgasm. Uh.. O.K? I can see that Spielberg was trying to say something with the way this is played out, but.. wha? Really?
7. Flightplan (2005)
Jodie Foster, one of my favorite actresses, finally makes another movie. And you know what? This one starts off great. It's a very Twilight Zone ' ish , tense movie. You can feel the madness that Jodie Foster expresses in that nightmarish scenario of losing your kid on an airplane, then having to wonder if maybe she really never existed at all. Then we get to the last 20 minutes of the movie, which I won't ruin.. but it's like Jerry Bruckheimer came on and decided to turn the movie into DIE HARD 4. I was pretty disappointed and thought it was going to go a different route.
8. The Squid And The Whale (2005)
This is a FANTASTIC movie. The acting and script is superb. A story of a family broken apart by divorce in the 80's. It's laced with bitter black comedy done perfectly by Jeff Daniels (always a highly underrated actor) and Laura Linney who also does incredible work here. It's like The Royal Tennenbaums without the tongue in cheek. Go rent it now. Unfortunately, there is a younger brother, around 12, maybe 13 that "acts out" during the unsettling separation of his parents... by jerking off in the library and wiping his results on a bookshelf. It may have been meant to shock, (mission accomplished) but I felt it was a little too much. It's very graphic and yes, you see it all even though it may be a quick scene.. but take it out of the movie and it changes nothing. I'm sure I may get some complaints on that one, but it's something I think could of been more implied than shown. blech.
9. Crash (2004)
I know I rallied for Brokeback Mountain to win best picture, but I actually do love this movie. I love the way it was shot and it's always hard to do a movie with multiple characters like this. Magnolia comes to mind when I see Crash. It's a great commentary on Racial relations set in Los Angeles, and even though it gets REAL close to being too melodramatic, it pulls it right back enough to keep you invested in these characters. Terrence Howard, Matt Dillon, even that wooden pretty boy Ryan Phillipe is good in this movie. The movie does a great job of intertwining all the characters, but I think it went a little too much at the VERY end of the movie. There is a character that Matt Dillon talks to in the movie, who I believe is an insurance adjuster, I'm sure I'm wrong, but she has a brief scene in the movie. It's a setup to reveal that Dillon's character is taking care of his terminally ill father. But, just to hammer it home that these characters all cross each other's pass in some degree or another.. She shows up right before the end of the credits and gets in a car accident (crash?) and comes out of the car yelling at someone for some last second comic relief. I didn't think the movie needed it, but hey.. maybe I'm just stretching since I could only come up with 9.
10. I leave that open for suggestion, as I can't think of another and even if I did, I would love to hear what everyone out there can think of.
Source: http://mynamewasjonah.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-10-most-awful-moments-in-good.html
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