RobertR

Stan Musial and Al Kaline would round out the list. Robert

They have to be giving him a shot in centerfield. Florida centerfielders are hitting a combined .249/.299/.351. At this point and after last year, they have to be desperate for anyone that can even come close to calling themselves a major league hitter and who can fake competence in centerfield. I bet Hendry is picking up the majority of the contract as well. Robert

EDR, you're going to love ARMY OF SHADOWS. I was lucky enough to go see it when it made its brief trip through theaters last year. Been a long time, so SCOOP Not as good as MATCH POINT, but I thought it was a solid, light Woody Allen comedy. Woody gets a good performance out of Scarlet Johanssen and Hugh Jackman makes a good match. And Ian McShane is a scene stealer in a too brief part. Woody is doing his same old schtick, albeit with a different outcome for his character than usual, and that's probably the biggest issue for many people. There's no gravitas to anything in the movie, but it's good looking and reasonably fun. THE CONFORMIST A masterpiece by Bernardo Bertolucci following an Italian Fascist as he is twisted by what he sees as his own secret perversions and tries to bury it through his politics and lifestyle. One of the greatest looking movies you'll ever see. Robert

Danny Noonan is also a bore, which is why Caddyshack will probably never make a list of this nature. It's the supporting characters that make Caddyshack. OTOH, Groundhog Day seems to be gaining critical acceptance over the years. Animal House, Airplane, Young Frankenstein, and Ghostbusters are probably stronger contenders for this sort of list. I can't see The Sixth Sense sticking around for next time. I enjoy the movie, but The Exorcist, Alien, Night of the Living Dead, Frankenstein, and The Thing From Another World, are all equally as good and more important horror films. Robert

Re: Streetcar Aside from the actual quality of the film and being groundbreaking for actors, it had several other things going for it. 1. It made Marlon Brando a star. 2. It made Elia Kazan a director with influence. 3. It won major awards (which is one of the AFI's criteria) 4. It dealt with sexuality in a much rawer way than films which had been hamstrung by the Hayes Code and opened up subject matters for films. I consider all of those significant. Robert

I've seen 81 of the 100, and good bits and pieces of the others. New additions to the list: Toy Story #99 Blade Runner #97 Do the Right Thing #96 The Last Picture Show #95 Sophie's Choice #91 (This one seems questionable to me.) Swing Time #90 The Sixth Sense #89 (of all the movies on the list, this is the most questionable to me) 12 Angry Men #87 Titanic #83 Sunrise #82 Spartacus #81 In the Heat of the Night #75 The Shawshank Redemption #72 Saving Private Ryan #71 Cabaret #63 Sullivan's Travels #61 (very pleased and surprised to see this one) Nashville #59 (I didn't realize it missed the original list) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring #50 Intolerance #49 (As influential and important as Birth of the Nation, but not racist) The General #18 (The biggest glaring omission from the original list) Biggest climbers, obviously The General. But, from the original list, The Searchers climbed 84 spots, City Lights climbed 65 spots, and Vertigo climbed 52 spots. Next tier, Unforgiven climbed 30 spots, the Deer Hunter climbed 26 spots, Duck Soup climbed 25 spots, Shane climbed 24 spots, and Raging Bull climbed 20 spots. Biggest fallers, besides Dr. Zhivago, Birth of a Nation, etc.. The African Queen fell 48 spots (and I attribute a lot of that to prints of the movie being in poor shape). Other major fallers, Ben Hur fell 28 spots, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The French Connection each fell 23 spots. The three movies that fell off the list that I thought should have remained are All Quiet on the Western Front, The Third Man, and Stagecoach. Overall, I think this might be a better list this time around. The only major omission is the lack of horror. Robert

I think My Fair Lady and Rocky certainly deserve to be on the list. MFL holds up to this day and Audrey Hepburn is hot A great actress also: I fully agree with the Audrey Hepburn love. One of the all time great movie beauties. She's on my shortlist anyways. I'm just spitballing here though. Certainly, if it was a top 150 movies list I'd think they'd both be safe. We'll find out soon. Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven might both get some extra credit as revisionist westerns. I certainly wouldn't complain if The Wild Bunch joined them. Or if Billy Wilder got more love. Edit: While I'm at it, it would nice to see Blade Runner get some love this time around. Robert

Apparently AFI is running out of ideas since they're redoing their Top 100 American Films list. The special tomorrow night is a glorified clip show, but at least there will be good clips. Here's the list from 10 years ago www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents...ies100.pdf I expect the new list to be pretty similar. Biggest question will be if The Godfather or some other film, Casablanca maybe, overtakes Citizen Kane at the top of the list. Recent films I expect to make the list this time around: The Shawshank Redemption Titanic (I'm just the messenger here) Saving Private Ryan The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Other classic films that didn't make it the first time that I expect will have a real shot this time: Sunrise The General In the Heat of the Night Movies I expect to fall off: The Jazz Singer Guess Who's Coming to Dinner A Place in the Sun Yankee Doodle Dandy Fargo Ben Hur My Fair Lady Rocky Any thoughts? Robert

I've heard people argue that everything after Tom Cruise gets the halo put on his head in Minority Report is merely a fantasy on Cruise's part. There are some plot elements that could make it true, but Spielberg is anything but an ambiguous filmmaker, even when ambiguity best serves the story. Hollywood certainly has been hit and miss with P. K. Dick I probably should catch Impostor one of these days, to see how badly they screwed up one of Dick's great stories if nothing else. I know there was some debate on Pan's Labyrinth over the winter. I'm on the side of "it was real" due to the chalk. Robert

I don't remember the movie that well but did it really matter exactly what he said? It seemed that the audience was allowed to tidy up the story any way they wanted to (and satisfy whatever emotional needs you might have had). I don't recall the actual plot dangling, though. No it probably didn't matter exactly what Bill Murray said, but it is a little mystery to speculate about. And the mystery does indeed allow people to fill in the space as to whether they never see each other again, they keep in contact as good friends, etc. Certainly the ending leaves room to consider the possibilities. At the very least its not a "they rode off into the sunset together" ending. Robert

2001 - A Space Odyssey I have a pretty concrete reading of this. The aliens that imbued man with intelligence at the beginning snatch David Bowman away. His humanity dies and he's reborn as the next stage in evolutionary development, the star child. Taxi Driver and The Graduate Two movies I did think of. You can pretty much read the "what next?" expression on the faces in the back of the bus in The Graduate after the adrenaline rush ends. Taxi Driver is filmed in such a way that you don't know if the end is reality, hell, or just a delusion of Travis Bickel. Robert

Something occurred to me today. Tony gave AJ the life that Christopher wanted. An executive position in the film industry, money, sex, and a fancy new car. That position might not even have been open without the death of Christopher. In many ways, Tony did make a choice between his two sons. Robert

"It all worked out in the end, right?" "In the end? Nothing ever ends." Roughly paraphrased from memory from a certain famous graphic novel. This is obviously spinning out of THE SOPRANOS discussion, but it's worth its own subject. "The Lady or the Tiger?" What did Bill Murray whisper in Scarlett Johannsen's ear at the end of LOST IN TRANSLATION? What's the former blind girl going to do now that she recognizes her benefactor is a scruffy tramp not a dashing millionaire? What's the meaning of the freeze frame at the end of THE 400 BLOWS? We all love it when a plot comes together definitively. There's a reason Sherlock Holmes is popular to this day. But the last few days has also been proof that a lot of fun can be had from not giving everyone all the answers and letting them freely interpret. Any favorites out there? Robert

I've had that darn Journey song stuck in my head all day. Darn that David Chase! A couple of things besides the ending. Despite Tony and Carmella's "best" efforts AJ and Meadow are still part of the life to an extent. Meadow is going to be an attorney so she can protect guys like her daddy and she's likely going to marry the son of a made guy. AJ, like his mother, is emotionally pliable to bribery and forgets all about his depression and idealism in exchange for a cool job, a new car, and a sexy girlfriend. And he's also pulled into Tony's circle through a job with Carmine. In many ways, that's the saddest part of the series. Even their children can't escape the life. Nor did Bobby's. And Phil's grandkids were present at his death. The shrinking nature of Little Italy and Butch accidentally stumbling into Chinatown were nice little touches to the episode. And emphasises the dead end that is the Mafia. Sil, even in a coma, has a magnificent head of hair. Tony's crew is no more conscious of security and using the back door than his screw up son. Nice parallel. Junior was, of course, spot on confusing Janice with Livia. Poor kids. Tony did take one more shot at redemption with Junior and trying to talk him into giving his stash up to Bobby's kids. Maybe the only selfless thing that Tony has ever tried to do. He fails of course. Partly through no fault of his own. Partly by holding a grudge so long that dementia has taken its course. Despite all his power and the fact that he once "owned north Jersey", Junior in the end is nothing more than a confused old man. And if Tony isn't gunned down, that's one of his other fates. Paulie vs. the cat. I'll take the cat. Nice job of animal handling to get it to lie down on cue next to Paulie at the end. That's a sitcom in the making. Despite Butch's betrayal of Phil being somewhat out of leftfield, I thought the aftermath of the negotiations was quite chilling. Especially when Tony indicated that he had a price for Bobby. Agent Harris is really the mirror of Tony Soprano. Especially when talking to his wife. I certainly could see Tony having that exact same conversation. Robert

Re: re -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The more I think about it, the more I like the actual ending. It's basically Tony's life in microcosm. The self absorbed family that he barely connects with, the bad food, Tony trying to relive his youth through music, the paranoia about who's that at the counter, a hitman, cop or just a guy who needs to use the restroom, etc. And one day the guy coming out of the bathroom is actually going to have a gun and it will be over just like that leaving all sorts of loose ends. That's Tony Soprano's life told as a metaphor. If anything, David Chase is saying that these characters are incapable of change on any meaningful level. Tony doesn't have panic attacks anymore, but he's basically still Tony. AJ is still AJ. Etc. They're all caught up in consumerism, their careers, and the latest fads, they were talking about American Idol and Dreamgirls at Bobby's wake while people were still gunning for Tony, without actually connecting with anyone else. And that's reflective of the final scene. Who actually changed during the series? Tony may have bought some time, but he hasn't changed what's coming for him. I think that all makes intellectual sense and it's kind of nice, to me, for a series to use metaphor instead of being literal. Now, whether that was satisfying and exciting or "pretentious and boring" is up to individual opinion. Robert

Given that The Prisoner and Twin Peaks have some of my favorite ending episodes, I'm kind of a sucker for a non-traditional ending. That said, although I think the the diner was full with the monthly meeting of the red herring society, when Tony's life ends it's going to be a lot like that. His wife and children wrapped up in themselves, Carmella didn't take long to stop worrying about Tony and start worrying about house designs, loose ends in his life, and at a time and place where he didn't see it coming. Maybe the guy going into the restroom is supposed to call up memories of Michael Corleone in THE GODFATHER, maybe not, but that's the type of ending ultimately coming for Tony. Tony's not a better person, but his children might make it out o.k. Let me say that the highlight for me was Paulie hitting on a 20 year old. Robert

Now that it's sunk in, I like the ending too. Unresolved, but that's how Tony Soprano lives his life. FWIW, I thought the rest of the episode was solid. Tony and Janice making everything about them, the lingering paranoia, the irresolution of Tony and Junior's meeting, Paulie's superstition and a new nemesis, the hit on Phil, the FBI's reaction, and the fact that the law is still bearing down on Tony. Robert

1.) Does Tony die? No 2.) Does Phil die? Yes 3.) Does Tony take down Phil with help from the FBI? No 4.) Does someone from Tony's crew betray him? No 5.) Does someone from Tony's family (wife+kids) die? No 6.) Does Tony get relocated via FBI? No 7.) Does Tony remain a boss in NJ? Yes 8.) Does someone from Tony's family betray him (wife, sister, kids)? No 9.) Does Tony end up arrested? Yes 10.) Does Paulie die? No I stink at predicting what David Chase is up to though. The only ones I feel strong about are 1 and 3. Robert

Lidge is essentially what Turnbow was last season, only Lidge hasnt turned it around and is paid 4x as much. Lidge's numbers are better than Turnbow's for the most part. I don't know how available Lidge actually is, but it's certainly an interesting idea. The Brewers need someone else that's capable of pitching the 7th and 8th when Turnbow isn't available other than the mixed bag that's Wise/Shouse/Capellan/Spurling. I wouldn't be upset if they used Villanueva more though. Robert

I was referring to 2 and 3 combined, as I don't think either is a complete movie. It's not the worst pair of sequels I've ever seen, but it sure looks like reports that they started filming without a finished script are true. I wouldn't say that it's impossible to follow, only that the complications don't have much/any emotional weight to them or payoffs. Robert

I think all of the digressions and detours by the series gave the last episode more of an impact. David Chase has avoided formula throughout the series and when he goes the "predictable" route it still feels fresh. Other thoughts. The Tony/Melfi fight was a highlight of the episode right up there with the murder of Bobby. Strong acting there. Melfi's analyst is a schmuck. Playing the "We're all professionals here" card after unprofessionally outing one of her patients is the definition of a hypocrite. Good solid writing there. I think I would have smacked AJ too after his reaction to Bobby's death. Tony showed remarkable restraint. Paulie has to complain about him not being a target next episode. Or mention he's lucky they found out before they targeted him. No way Paulie doesn't take offense/try to make himself the center of attention. Who would have thought it would come down to Paulie and Tony as the last of the core crew? It probably does make sense though. Bobby might have been the "heart" of the crew and Syl the "brains". That leaves Tony with his muscle and base animal instincts. It was nice they remembered the assault rifle that Bobby gave Tony at the start of this run. Great teaser for next week as well. It really gave away nothing of importance. I don't know how it's all going to play out, but I'm not expecting anything pat and predictable. Sopranos isn't Greek tragedy. Robert

Might not fall into the strict definition of "bad", but I doubt I could defend it as an actual good movie with a straight face when talking about things like dialogue, characterization, plotting, and acting. I'm of course referring to the awesomeness that is COMMANDO. Robert

Maybe not what he was looking for, but National Treasure runs 42% at Rotten Tomatoes. Not an outright bomb, but certainly not well regarded either. Robert

I'd compare POTC3 to Jim Bowden. Lots of activity, with the occasional brilliant nugget, that means very little in the long run. The middle third really does nothing except move the players in position for the climax. The last two movies were a prime example of Hollywood bloat. Depp and Rush were good, the special effects were good, and I liked the climax, but no way was there enough story for 5+ hours. Heck, the major character arcs are wrapped up in 5 minutes. Wrapping up the fate of the Kraken in a bit of dialogue and a later visual was particularly lazy. On a positive note, I've heard very good things about KNOCKED UP. And I have positive expectations for HARRY POTTER and STARDUST. Robert

It seems to me that this list has mutated into the "dumb comedies we love" list. Any movie that lands on one of the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest ... lists is technically not a bad movie. Like Airplane! And Buster Keaton movies. See www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents...ghs100.pdf That said, I'll repeat Hudson Hawk. And throw National Treasure out there. And most Godzilla movies. The quality of Hammer films was variable, but I have a lot of affection for most of their monster movies. And I'll toss Mars Attacks! on the list, which I think has aged better than Independence Day. Robert