Top Movies By Decade: Part 5 – "Bond, James Bond."

Author’s Note: I apparently did this in July of 2009 but didn’t list my top ten favorites.  It simply had my favorite film and then a few honorable mentions that would have been in the top five.
I started a series of lists that rank my top ten favorite movies by decade.  It began in the 1920s and will be working toward the new millennium.
To compile this list, I took my ranked films from IMDb, which I grade after every movie viewing, and sorted them from highest to lowest.  Then, looking at each movie in each decade I came up with my favorite ten.
I have included some honorable mentions to show what the top ten were up against.  We will continue with the 1960s.

1960s
Honorable Mentions: Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), The Birds (1963), The Great Escape (1963), High and Low (1963), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Battle of Algiers (1966), The Graduate (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Bullitt (1968), The Lion in Winter (1968), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

10. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Some of the best films in cinema history take multiple viewings to fully appreciate.  2001: A Space Odyssey takes multiple viewings to understand.  Stanley Kubrick’s space epic, inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel,” premiered to varied opinions but acquired a cult following and has since become a mainstream masterpiece.  Nominated for four Academy Awards, receiving a win for visual effects, and ranked in numerous top ten polls, including AFI’s 100 Movies, 100 Thrills, 100 Quotes, and 100 Heroes and Villains, Sight & Sound, and The Moving Arts Film Journal, the film is notable for its deep thematic elements, scientific accuracy, soundtrack, ambiguous imagery, unconventional storytelling, and minimal use of dialogue.  2001: A Space Odyssey was included in the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1991, being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

9. Psycho (1960) – Not a critical success when released, Psycho was such a hit with moviegoers that it was re-evaluated and has since been seen as not just a classic, but one of the greatest films ever made.  Following the abolition of the Production Code, director Alfred Hitchcock pushed the limits of violence and sexuality in film, and by filming one of the most well-known murder scenes in Hollywood history and a killer score to go with it, he was able to create a ghastly thriller that is probably Hitchcock’s most popular release.  In 1992, the film was among those inducted into the Congress National Film Registry.  At the time of its release, Psycho received four Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Supporting Actress, nominations from the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and the Writers Guild of America, East for Best Written American Drama.  It won Best Motion Picture at the Edgar Allan Poe Awards and Janet Leigh won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.  Among its numerous praises as one of the greatest movies of all time, Psycho has been among many Best Of lists, including the AFI’s 100 Movies, 100 Movies Anniversary Edition, 100 Thrills, 100 Heroes and Villains, 100 Quotes, and 100 Scores lists.

8. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) – Spaghetti western, war epic, and Italian action film.  You could label The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as any one of these genres and you would be correct.  The scope of Sergio Leone’s grand conclusion for Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name is filled with chaotic American Civil War battles, gunfights, and hangings.  Spaghetti westerns were not received with high praise at the time of their release, but since then The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has become very popular and has become European cinema’s best representation of the western genre.  It is included among Time’s 100 Greatest Movies of the Last Century and Empire magazine’s Masterpiece Collection of 500 Greatest Movies at 25.

7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) – While The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an overly violent and surreal depiction of the Old West, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid instead goes the comedic route with its interpretation of the American outlaw.  The real treat in this movie is the chemistry between headliners Paul Newman and then-unknown Robert Redford.  The two were such a great team, while only starring in two films together they are among the great film duos alongside Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, or Hanks and Ryan.  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was the top grossing film of 1969 and won four Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Song, and Best Original Screenplay, while also being nominated for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Sound.  The film received numerous British Academy Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Actor (won by Redford), and Best Actress (won by Katherine Ross).  The movie was preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Film Registry in 2003.

6. My Fair Lady (1964) – A musical film adaptation of a stage musical based on a film adaptation of the original stage play Pygmalion, the Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison vehicle won eight Academy awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director, and was nominated for an additional four.  My Fair Lady also won three Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and was included in AFI’s 100 Movies, 100 Passions, 100 Songs, and 100 Musicals lists.

5. Goldfinger (1964) – The quintessential Bond film that every other Bond movie is measured up against.  Goldfinger began what is known as the Bond formula and blends plot, women, cars, gadgets, locations, and over the top action sequences seamlessly.  The bond girls are unforgettable.  The Aston Martin DB5 makes its first appearance.  Oddjob is the first henchman to have an interesting method of killing, which would be copied by others like Jaws and Xenia Onatopp.  Goldfinger won an Oscar for Best Sound Effects Editing and received nominations for a Grammy and BAFTA.  It was selected to AFI’s 100 Thrills, 100 Quotes, 100 Songs, and 100 Heroes and Villains lists.

4. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) – Featuring one of the most morally upstanding, kindly father figures in cinematic history, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was adapted into a powerful story of growing up in America and learning about the hardships of life through the eyes of a little girl.  The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Musical Score and won the award in Best Actor, Best Art Direction, and Best Adapted Screenplay.  It also received three Golden Globe Awards and won an award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.  To Kill a Mockingbird is among AFI’s 100 Movies, 100 Movies Anniversary Edition, 100 Heroes and Villains, 100 Scores, 100 Cheers, and 10 Top 10 lists.  It was selected to the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1995.

3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) – If black comedies about nuclear war are your sort of thing, this is the movie for you.  Directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers in three separate roles as President of the United States, a former Nazi wheel chair-bound scientist, and a Royal Air Force officer, Dr. Strangelove satirizes many Cold War attitudes, with its primary focus on the theory of mutual assured destruction.  Often ranked among the greatest comedies of all time, the film was selected to the National Film Registry in 1989.  It currently holds a 100% fresh rating on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes and is ranked highly on IMDB’s Top 250 movies.  Among the numerous nominations from the Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards, it won four.  In addition, it won the American comedy award from the Writers Guild of America and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.  Dr. Strangelove is rated the fifth greatest film in Sight & Sound’s directors’ poll, the only comedy in the top 10.  AFI included the film on its 100 Movies, 100 Movies Anniversary Edition, 100 Laughs, and 100 Quotes lists.

2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) – Moving performances, epic landscapes, and a mesmerizing score are all the things that make David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia an ambitious and masterful picture.  Lean is able to take a bleak and savage place like the desert and romanticize it through the camera lens, creating a remarkable and beautiful backdrop to the story of World War I British army officer T.E. Lawrence, who helped mobilize a guerilla-style Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turkish rule.  Although the historical accuracy is hotly debated, both in terms of events and representations of Lawrence, the film was an immediate success and has been fawned over for decades.  Lawrence of Arabia is constantly among the top of lists touting the best in cinema, including the American Film Institute ranking it fifth, seventh, and first among its 100 Movies, 100 Movies Anniversary Edition, and 10 Top 10 Epic lists.  Other AFI lists the film is included in are 100 Thrills, 100 Heroes and Villains, 100 Scores, and 100 Cheers.  In 1991, the Library of Congress deemed the film “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.  It received 10 Oscar nominations and won seven, including Best Picture and Best Director.  The BAFTAs and Golden Globes also recognized its greatness, bestowing nine wins and another two nomination to the picture.

1. From Russia with Love (1963) – The film before Goldfinger, From Russia with Love is a true spy movie.  Its utilization of fewer gadgets lets Bond use his wits rather than an Omega watch with built-in laser.  There are twists and turns throughout the film that begins during the first Bond pre-title sequence where our hero is hunted down by a homicidal assassin named Donald "Red" Grant.  From Russia with Love is adored by nearly all who view it, mixing humor, action, sexuality, and fun into a seamless adventure with suave Sean Connery carrying the picture the entire way.

Marvel's The Avengers

A movie that grosses internationally more than $1.4 billion (that’s billion with a “b”) and $575 million domestically in seven weeks has to be out-of-this-world amazing, right?  How about just really good?  Maybe a notch above mediocre?
I don’t want to be “that” guy and compare every superhero comic book movie to The Dark Knight, but like the Joker said, “You changed things … forever.”  These types of movies have to be more than just flawed hero with special powers fights evil force from space.  Audiences want more character development and intriguing writing.  I would like to believe moviegoers are willing to give up on over-the-top action and endless explosions for interesting stories and absorbing onscreen relationships, but the Transformers sequels making more than $750 million domestically combined doesn’t help my case.
Back to Marvel’s The Avengers though.  The idea of combining a team of superheroes in one movie is a fanboy’s wet dream come true.  And in Marvel’s defense, for the past half-decade they have been working toward the culmination of this film by building the story through the individual movies of each superhero team member: Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America.
The visual effects in The Avengers are top-notch and the acting is hit and miss, with the main actors being at the top of their game portraying the comic book characters who are better than us common folk physically but just as flawed internally.  The dysfunctional dynamic between the team members prior to gelling into a singular working entity for the betterment of mankind was pulled off well, but individual storylines were weak and not hashed out enough for what a 150-minute movie would allow with that many characters at play.  I also think Robert Downey's Tony Stark is more enjoyable when he gets to carry the picture, instead of sharing the limelight with countless others.
What bothered me most about the picture was the final battle was 20 minutes of repetitious explosions and the fact that it seemed like an exact replica of the finale of Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  I also didn’t like that the hand-to-hand fight sequences were a blur of camera movement (which is becoming increasingly the norm since the Bourne films started the trend) and the performances that were weak (I’m looking at you ScarJo) were laughably bad.
Overall, it was worth my time to see what Marvel could do by combining some of its most high-profile heroes but I don’t think it broke new ground in the comic book movie genre.  It gets a 6 out of 10 in my book, which is a strange trend as three of the four movies I’ve seen in theaters this year have rated at a 6.

Goodbye Underwriting. Hello Servicing!

I was offered today a job opening within the Colonial Savings company in the servicing department.  While talking to customers all day on the phone about the mortgage problems isn't exactly the ideal employment for me, I will be mostly working as the e-mail correspondent, which means I will be contacting customers through e-mail instead of on the phone.  That is a little more up my alley in terms of job skills.
This move to the servicing department is a good one because it means a lot more writing possibilities, a little more pay, and the potential to move up in the company.  That is something that is just not possible right now in my position with the underwriting department.
I believe the move will take place at the end of the month, so I will update with how I'm doing in my new position next month.