Monday, November 30, 2009

My Personal Rank Of The James Bond Themes

Back in October I listed the official 007 movies ranging from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace in order from my least liked to my favorite (link here).
I decided I would continue my listings with the theme songs that accompany each film. So here they are.

22. Moonraker
21. All Time High (from Octopussy)
20. License to Kill
19. For Your Eyes Only
18. The Man With the Golden Gun
17. A View to a Kill
16. Diamonds are Forever
15. Die Another Day
14. Another Way to Die (from Quantum of Solace)
13. The Living Daylights
12. You Only Live Twice
11. You Know My Name (from Casino Royale)
10. From Russia With Love
9. Live and Let Die
8. Tomorrow Never Dies
7. Thunderball
6. The World is not Enough
5. Goldeneye
4. Goldfinger
3. Nobody Does it Better (from The Spy Who Loved Me)
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
1. James Bond Theme (from Dr. No)

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

How Oscars' Best Pictures Rank

I accomplished something the other day that I am not sure how many people alive can claim to have done: I have completely viewed every Academy Award Best Picture winner. I had seen probably two-thirds of the winning films before deciding to try and watch them all no matter what the subject matter or how little interest I had in the picture (take for example Out of Africa or Terms of Endearment, which happened to be the last two movies I watched to finish the list).
Since 1962, the winner has been honored the Best Picture of the Year by the Academy. Before then the title ranged from Outstanding Picture and Outstanding Production to Outstanding Motion Picture and Best Motion Picture.
After finishing all 81 movies and ranking them on IMDb I was interested in knowing how they all rated among each other and which of the older films had stood the test of time. After conducting a little research I took the ratings of the movies on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb and Netflix. The first grade alongside each movie is from Rotten Tomatoes, which is a percentage based on the amount of positive reviews from approved Tomatometer Critics.The second number is from IMDb and is based on a a 10-point scale. The third rating in parentheses is my personal rating on IMDb (again on a 10-point scale). The final rating is from Netflix and is based on a five-point scale.
And away we go.

Wings (1927) - 96%, 7.9 (8), 3.4
The Broadway Melody (1929) - 40%, 6.8 (4), 3.5
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - 97%, 8.1 (9), 3.7
Cimarron (1931) - 54%, 6.2 (6), 3.0
Grand Hotel (1932) - 85%, 7.7 (8), 3.6
Cavalcade (1933) - 62%, 6.6 (4), 2.6
It Happened One Night (1934) - 97%, 8.3 (10), 4.0
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - 93%, 8.0 (8), 3.8
The Great Ziegfeld (1936) - 60%, 7.0 (5), 3.5
The Life of Emile Zola (1937) - 68%, 7.4 (4), 3.5
You Can't Take it With You (1938) - 96%, 8.1 (6), 3.9
Gone With the Wind (1939) - 97%, 8.2 (10), 4.2
Rebecca (1940) - 100%, 8.4 (10), 4.0
How Green Was My Valley (1941) - 88%, 7.9 (8), 3.8
Mrs. Miniver (1942) - 86%, 7.7 (8), 4.0
Casablanca (1943) - 97%, 8.8 (10), 4.2
Going My Way (1944) - 78%, 7.5 (9), 3.9
The Lost Weekend (1945) - 100%, 8.2 (5), 3.6
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - 97%, 8.2 (9), 3.9
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) - 83%, 7.4 (5), 3.8
Hamlet (1948) - 92%, 8.0 (7), 3.7
All the King's Men (1949) - 96%, 7.7 (5), 3.6
All About Eve (1950) - 100%, 8.5 (9), 3.9
An American in Paris (1951) - 98%, 7.3 (4), 3.7
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) - 41%, 6.7 (5), 3.6
From Here to Eternity (1953) - 89%, 7.9 (9), 3.7
On the Waterfront (1954) - 100%, 8.4 (10), 3.9
Marty (1955) - 100%, 7.8 (7), 3.7
Around the World in 80 Days (1956) - 73%, 6.8 (4), 3.5
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - 95%, 8.5 (9), 4.1
Gigi (1958) - 73%, 6.9 (3), 3.8
Ben-Hur (1959) - 91%, 8.2 (9), 4.1
The Apartment (1960) - 90%, 8.4 (8), 3.9
West Side Story (1961) - 92%, 7.8 (7), 3.9
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - 98%, 8.6 (10), 4.1
Tom Jones (1963) - 81%, 7.1 (2), 3.3
My Fair Lady (1964) - 94%, 7.9 (9), 4.1
The Sound of Music (1965) - 81%, 7.9 (6), 4.1
A Man for All Seasons (1966) - 85%, 8.1 (7), 3.8
In the Heat of the Night (1967) - 96%, 8.1 (9), 4.0
Oliver! (1968) - 84%, 7.6 (5), 3.7
Midnight Cowboy (1969) - 90%, 8.0 (1), 3.7
Patton (1970) - 97%, 8.1 (8), 3.9
The French Connection (1971) - 98%, 7.9 (8), 3.8
The Godfather (1972) - 100%, 9.2 (10), 4.5
The Sting (1973) - 91%, 8.4 (9), 4.2
The Godfather: Part II (1974) - 98%, 9.0 (10), 4.4
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) - 96%, 8.9 (10), 4.3
Rocky (1976) - 93%, 8.0 (9), 3.8
Annie Hall (1977) - 98%, 8.2 (4), 3.4
The Deer Hunter (1978) - 91%, 8.2 (5), 3.9
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) - 88%, 7.7 (4), 3.7
Ordinary People (1980) - 91%, 7.8 (5), 3.7
Chariots of Fire (1981) - 86%, 7.3 (6), 3.7
Gandhi (1982) - 85%, 8.2 (7), 3.9
Terms of Endearment (1983) - 89%, 7.3 (6), 3.8
Amadeus (1984) - 97%, 8.4 (8), 4.0
Out of Africa (1985) - 61%, 7.0 (4), 3.8
Platoon (1986) - 85%, 8.2 (7), 4.0
The Last Emporer (1987) - 91%, 7.9 (8), 4.0
Rain Man (1988) - 87%, 8.0 (8), 4.1
Driving Miss Daisy (1989) - 78%, 7.5 (8), 3.8
Dances With Wolves (1990) - 78%, 7.9 (8), 4.0
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - 96%, 8.7 (9), 4.3
Unforgiven (1992) - 96%, 8.3 (10), 4.0
Schindler's List (1993) - 96%, 8.9 (10), 4.5
Forrest Gump (1994) - 72%, 8.6 (10), 4.3
Braveheart (1995) - 76%, 8.4 (9), 4.3
The English Patient (1996) - 84%, 7.2 (3), 3.5
Titanic (1997) - 82%, 7.3 (8), 3.8
Shakespeare in Love (1998) - 93%, 7.4 (7), 3.9
American Beauty (1999) - 89%, 8.6 (9), 3.9
Gladiator (2000) - 77%, 8.3 (9), 4.3
A Beautiful Mind (2001) - 78%, 7.9 (6), 4.0
Chicago (2002) - 87%, 7.2 (8), 3.6
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - 94%, 8.8 (9), 4.5
Million Dollar Baby (2004) - 91%, 8.2 (8), 4.0
Crash (2005) - 75%, 8.0 (7), 3.9
The Departed (2006) - 92%, 8.5 (6), 4.1
No Country For Old Men (2007) - 94%, 8.3 (7), 3.7
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - 93%, 8.4 (9), 4.1

One reason for the low scores on Wings and Cavalcade is that they are the only ones of the Best Picture Oscar winners that have yet to be released on DVD.
From my personal ratings, my top five movies are The Godfather, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, Gone With the Wind and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
My bottom five would be Midnight Cowboy, Tom Jones, Gigi, The English Patient and Annie Hall.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Hey It's Your Birthday!

I have yet to call the guy, but today is James Miller's birthday. He has entered the realm of his third decade, but I wouldn't expect much of a change.
Happy birthday James.