How Avatar Stacks Up In Tickets Sold

A lot of hype has been made about the amount of money Avatar has made, and rightly so because in the short time it has been in theaters it has crushed previous records. However, due to inflation, box office receipts aren't always the most honest ways to compare movies from different decades.
The music industry keeps count of things by records sold and the equivalent of that in the movie business is by the amount of tickets sold for a film. If you go by those statistics then James Cameron's Avatar falls behind some pretty important films to the 26th spot. Avatar will certainly move up the list, but there is just no way it is going to break the top five any time soon.
Here is the list of the top 30 movies, the year the film was initially release, the estimated amount of tickets sold and their unadjusted domestic gross.

1. Gone With the Wind (1939) - 202,044,600 tickets sold/$198.6 million
2. Star Wars (1977) - 178,119,600 tickets sold/$460.9 million
3. The Sound of Music (1965) - 142,415,400 tickets sold/$158.6 million
4. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - 141,854,300 tickets sold/$435.1 million
5. The Ten Commandments (1956) - 131,000,000 tickets sold/$65.5 million
6. Titanic (1997) - 128,345,900 tickets sold/$600.7 million
7. Jaws (1975) - 128,078,800 tickets sold/$260 million
8. Doctor Zhivago (1965) - 124,135,500 tickets sold/$111.7 million
9. The Exorcist (1973) - 110,568,700 tickets sold/$232.6 million
10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) - 109,000,000 tickets sold/$184.9 million
11. 101 Dalmatians (1961) - 99,917,300 tickets sold/$144.8 million
12. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - 98,180,600 tickets sold/$290.4 million
13. Ben-Hur (1959) - 98,000,000 tickets sold/$74 million
14. Return of the Jedi (1983) - 94,059,400 tickets sold/$309.3 million
15. The Sting (1973) - 89,142,900 tickets sold/$156 million
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - 88,141,900 tickets sold/$242.3 million
17. Jurassic Park (1993) - 86,205,800 tickets sold/$357 million
18. The Graduate (1967) - 85,571,400 tickets sold/$104.9 million
19. Star Wars: Episode I (1999) - 84,825,800 tickets sold/$431 million
20. Fantasia (1941) - 83,043,500 tickets sold/$76.5 million
21. The Godfather (1972) - 78,922,600 tickets sold/$134.9 million
22. Forrest Gump (1994) - 78,545,600 tickets sold/$329.6 million
23. Mary Poppins (1964) - 78,181,800 tickets sold/$102.2 million
24. The Lion King (1994) - 77,231,800 tickets sold/$328.5 million
25. Grease (1978) - 76,921,800 tickets sold/$188.3 million
26. Avatar (2009) - 76,421,000 tickets sold/$601 million
27. Thunderball (1965) - 74,800,000 tickets sold/$63.5 million
28. The Dark Knight (2008) - 74,282,100 tickets sold/$533.3 million
29. The Jungle Book (1967) - 73,679,900 tickets sold/$141.8 million
30. Sleeping Beauty (1959) - 72,676,100 tickets sold/$51.6 million

And The Nominees Are ...

This morning the nominees for the Academy Awards were announced. Despite sleeping in and having my wife record the broadcast, she did give me one tease about a nominee that made me very happy to hear.
Avatar and The Hurt Locker each received nine nominations, the most for a movie this year. Inglourious Basterds fell short of that honor by just one. Precious and Up in the Air received six nominations. Pixar's Up received five nominations.
So here are the nominees for the major nominees.

Best Picture:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

I've seen four of the ten nominees for this category and hopefully I can find time in the next month to view the other six. Well, what am I saying hopefully. I've got nothing else to do. I am happy to see Up nominated because ever since it was released I have been saying how good of a movie it was.
This year the Academy changed things up and allowed ten movies to be nominated for the Best Picture category. If I had to guess, I would say the five movies lucky enough to benefit from the new rule are District 9, An Education, Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, and Up.

Best Director:
James Cameron for Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels for Precious
Jason Reitman for Up in the Air

The real showdown will be between Cameron's Avatar for its visual 3D/CGI magnificence and Bigelow's The Hurt Locker for its compelling story. Going into the Oscars, Avatar has already won two Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director and The Hurt Locker won at the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement as well as Best Picture and Best Director awards from the National Society of Film Critics, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Circle, Chicago Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, Austin Film Critics Association, and Las Vegas Film Critics Society.
The most interesting thing about the Best Director race between Cameron and Bigelow is they used to be married to one another. Bigelow was Cameron's wife before marrying Terminator star Linda Hamilton. So it is sort of like a Battle of the Exes.

Best Actor:
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
George Clooney for Up in the Air
Colin Firth for A Single Man
Morgan Freeman for Invictus
Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker

Firth and Renner are receiving their first Oscar nominations this year, but Bridges, Clooney and Freeman have all been nominated four times before (although Clooney's nominations weren't all for acting categories).

Best Actress:
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
Helen Mirren for The Last Station
Carey Mulligan for An Education
Gabourey Sidibe for Precious
Meryl Streep for Julie and Julia

This is Streep's sixteenth Academy Award nomination, previously winning for 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer and 1982's Sophie's Choice. Both wins were in the supporting actress category.

Best Supporting Actor:
Matt Damon for Invictus
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station
Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress:
Penelope Cruz for Nine
Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air
Mo'Nique for Precious

Best Original Screenplay:
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

Best Adapted Screenplay:
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

Best Animated Picture:
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

There really is no question as to which movie is going to win. It is kind of hard to justify allowing an animated picture being nominated for Best Picture and it not be the best in the animated category.

Too Bored To Sleep

Do you ever get so bored at night that you don't want to do anything, and that includes not going to sleep? I keep clicking on the same 10 links while browsing the Internet hoping for an update so I can have something new to read. I guess I'm going to go to bed in order to pass the next nine hours so I can then waste another day with nothing to do. Man do I need a job.

My Personal Rank Of The James Bond Pre-title Sequences

This is the last in the series of my preference for the different elements found in 007 movies. The other ranks can be found in earlier posts that include favorite films, songs, girls, villains, henchmen and title sequences.
The following is my list of the worst to best pre-title sequences. They usually include Bond in some sort of separate action sequence somehow related to the plot, but every once in a while it is completely disunited from the rest of the film.
It should be noted, Dr. No did not include a pre-title sequence and that element of the film did not come along until the second movie.

21. Live and Let Die
20. For Your Eyes Only
19. Diamonds are Forever
18. A View to a Kill
17. License to Kill
16. Moonraker
15. Die Another Day
14. The Man With the Golden Gun
13. You Only Live Twice
12. Octopussy
11. Tomorrow Never Dies
10. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
9. Casino Royale
8. From Russia With Love
7. Thunderball
6. Quantum of Solace
5. Goldfinger
4. Goldeneye
3. The Spy Who Loved Me
2. The World is not Enough
1. The Living Daylights

My Personal Rank Of The James Bond Title Sequences

This is part of an ongoing account I have started where I list from my most disliked to my favorite elements of the 007 film series.
Today I will be focusing on the part of the film that most people probably don't pay too much attention to: the title sequences. That is when the cast and makers of the film are listed while silhouettes of nude women dance around in the background to the theme song of the movie.
Each title sequence for a film is unique in its own right, but the James Bond movies tie in elements of the film or of the time period to accentuate the film.
Here is my list.

22. License to Kill
21. Moonraker
20. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
19. Octopussy
18. The Living Daylights
17. The Man With the Golden Gun
16. Quantum of Solace
15. You Only Live Twice
14. Diamonds Are Forever
13. Dr. No
12. Tomorrow Never Dies
11. A View to a Kill
10. Die Another Day
9. Goldfinger
8. Goldeneye
7. For Your Eyes Only
6. The World is not Enough
5. Casino Royale
4. Live and Let Die
3. The Spy Who Loved Me
2. From Russia With Love
1. Thunderball

Consider The Pain Brought

I was nervous before the BCS National Championship game, but after the first few drives and seeing that the Longhorns were getting some breaks go their way, I was optimistic that Colt McCoy could handle the Alabama defense. Yet, the second McCoy went out and I saw what the substitute quarterback was capable of I knew this was a hopeless cause.
As long as McCoy is out, I have no hope this will end well. Let's hope he comes back for the second half.

Ray of Sunshine Update: Texas is showing their grit and giving me just a little confidence they can pull this one out. It is now up to the defense to get a stop and then the offense needs to get three points to tie or a touchdown for the win.

My Personal Rank Of The James Bond Henchmen

In the continuing quest to list my classify the different elements of James Bond movies, here are the different henchmen and women of the 007 series.
The previous listings can be found here for the films, here for the theme songs, here for the Bond girls, and here for the villains.


21. Professor Dent (from Dr. No)
20. Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd (from Diamonds are Forever)
19. Elvis (from Quantum of Solace)
18. Ivana Milicevic (from Casino Royale)
17. Emile Leopold Locque (from For Your Eyes Only)
16. Gobinda (from Octopussy)
15. Necros (from The Living Daylights)
14. Helga Brandt (from You Only Live Twice)
13. Nick Nack (from The Man With the Golden Gun)
12. Elektra King (from The World is not Enough)
11. Stamper (from Tomorrow Never Dies)
10. Zao (from Die Another Day)
9. Mayday (from A View to a Kill)
8. Dario (from License to Kill)
7. Tee-Hee (from Live and Let Die)
6. Irma Bunt (from On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
5. Xenia Onatopp (from Goldeneye)
4. Fiona Volpe (from Thunderball)
3. Jaws (from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker)
2. Donald "Red" Grant (from From Russia With Love)
1. Oddjob (from Goldfinger)

Happy Fantasy Ending...

But it could have been better.
In both fantasy football leagues I participated in this year, I took home a trophy in each. However, neither was a gold.
The league I put together with my wife and her family, I was in the Super Bowl against my buddy Jim. He crushed me and I finished in second place.
The other league, which was commissioned by my friend and old colleague Tye, resulted in a third place finish. Brett Favre and Percy Harvin outscored Adrian Peterson and Ryan Longwell in last night's Minnesota loss to give me the win. The worst part about that league is had I beaten my opponent last week by leaving in the Dallas defense (as opposed to replacing them with the Chicago defense leading to a loss), I would have outscored the guy who ended up earning the league's championship.
Yet, finishing in third place with a team that was autodrafted and not influenced in any way by me is pretty good. I'll probably be posting some statistics from the trades I made throughout the season in order to have them on record and hopefully learn something from the moves made.

Come On Fantasy Team

It is my Super Bowl this week against my buddy Jim in fantasy football land. I'm going to need some luck because he is the favored team (and rightly so, because he has a really good team). Ryan Grant is doing well, but he is really my only star right now.
In my other league I'm playing for third or fourth place. Apparently kicker Lawrence Tynes isn't playing for the New York Giants today, which I was not aware of. The silver lining in that loss is that the Giants haven't scored any points yet and are getting shelled by the Carolina Panthers (hahahaha).

Update: I guess Tynes is playing because his field goal gave me five points. Maybe just the fact that he was questionable had fantasy owners worried and more than 7,000 of them dropped the guy.

Merry Christmas!

I don't expect any traffic to this site today (especially since 95% of my hits are my own on any given day), but should you find yourself wandering this way I wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

My Personal Rank Of The James Bond Villains

In my continued listings of the different aspects of 007 films, which include the movies, theme songs, and Bond girls in earlier posts, I will now give my ratings of the main villains from each official Bond film.

22. Brad Whitaker (from The Living Daylights)

21. Ernst Stavro Blofeld (from Diamonds are Forever)

20. Aris Kristatos (from For Your Eyes Only)

19. Gustav Graves (from Die Another Day)

18. Kamal Khan (from Octopussy)

17. Elliot Carver (from Tomorrow Never Dies)

16. Dr. Kananga (from Live and Let Die)

15. Karl Stromberg (from The Spy Who Loved Me)

14. Max Zorin (from A View to a Kill)

13. Rosa Klebb (from From Russia With Love)

12. Francisco Scaramanga (from The Man With the Golden Gun)

11. Franz Sanchez (from License to Kill)

10. Renard (from The World is not Enough)

9. Emilio Largo (from Thunderball)

8. Dominic Greene (from Quantum of Solace)

7. Alec Trevelyn (from Goldeneye)

6. Le Chiffre (from Casino Royale)

5. Hugo Drax (from Moonraker)

4. Ernst Stavro Blofeld (from On Her Majesty's Secret Service)

3. Dr. Julius No (from Dr. No)

2. Auric Goldfinger (from Goldfinger)

1. Ernst Stavro Blofeld (from You Only Live Twice)

New Blog Is Up

Per request from James (and inspired by the Texas Poker Guy), I am giving updates on my poker play as of late. Go here to check it out.

The Music Of John Williams

As I am watching Richard Donner's cut of Superman II, I started to wonder what John Williams' most famous theme song is. Humming the Superman theme, I was almost positive it would be among the top five of Williams' tunes, but once I looked his filmography up on IMDb, I was astounded at how many great scores he has delivered. I always knew he had produced some great music, but I had forgotten how famous some of his work really was.
Well, I have narrowed down his top five theme songs and here they are. The following selections are the most recognizable pieces of music that any person would be able to identify whether they had seen the movie or not.

5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Those famous five notes might not immediately remind people what sci-fi movie they saw in 1977, but it certainly has become an oft-repeated hummed tune. It was even used in 1979's Moonraker as a passcode for a secret laboratory.

4. Superman
Any time I hear the Man of Steel's theme song I instantly think of those blue letters zooming through space telling the audience you are about to watch a movie that made an entire world believe a man could really fly.

3. Jaws
What boy hasn't thought of this hugely popular theme song while underwater slowly swimming toward a sibling? The monstrous shark's theme helped begin what is now known as the summer blockbuster and it also kept a large number of frightened moviegoers out of the water.

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
While Indiana Jones' theme song might not be quite as famous as Jaws' "Dun Dun, Dun Dun, Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Doodoodoo," it certainly reminds me of my adolescence and brings to mind my childhood hero whipping his way through temples of doom and fighting off Nazis during the last crusade. The personal touch this theme song has helped it move up one notch on the list.

1. Star Wars
What's there to say about this theme song? Williams did such a good job with the Star Wars series, he created two famous theme songs decades apart (The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) from Episode V and Duel of the Fates from Episode I), but he also established that any time the 20th Century drumroll is heard it brings to mind George Lucas' hit film series. This is his most recognized work and will most likely be what he is known for by the largest group of people.

Two movie themes that get honorable mention and just missed the cut were Jurassic Park
and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Williams' theme for Jurassic Park immediately takes people back to the moment the scientists (and audience) see the dinosaurs for the first time roaming the plains of the island.
Obviously Williams' theme songs are products of the great movies they go along with, but it is his music that helps shape the films into classics. John Williams is a genius at his craft and deserves the 34 Academy Award nominations, five Oscar wins and countless other musical accolades for his talents and contributions to the film industry.

My Personal Rank Of The James Bond Girls

When it comes to the 007 films, there are certain elements that will always be seen. This includes over-the-top action sequences, exotic locations, and beautiful women paraded throughout. For my third (and fourth) list I have decided to spotlight the girls of James Bond's world.
You can check out my first two Bond lists here and here.
For the following lists, I have broken down the main girl of the picture (excluding supporting females who are mostly eye candy for a scene or two and henchwomen) into two categories. The first list is made up of the actress' beauty alone. The second list factors in their overall contribution to the film, which ranges from how good her acting is to whether or not she enhances the scenes she is in or just stands around looking pretty. The woman's beauty is also factored in for the second list.
So here we go.

Bond Girls - Beauty
22. Melina Havelock (from For Your Eyes Only)
21. Pam Bouvier (from License to Kill)
20. Pussy Galore (from Goldfinger)
19. Domino Derval (from Thunderball)
18. Kissy Suzuki (from You Only Live Twice)
17. Tiffany Case (from Diamonds are Forever)
16. Kara Milovy (from The Living Daylights)
15. Mary Goodnight (from The Man With the Golden Gun)
14. Vesper Lynd (from Casino Royale)
13. Natalya Simonova (from Goldeneye)
12. Dr. Holly Goodhead (from Moonraker)
11. Anya Amasova (from The Spy Who Loved Me)
10. Stacey Sutton (from A View to a Kill)
9. Wai Lin (from Tomorrow Never Dies)
8. Dr. Christmas Jones (from The World is not Enough)
7. Camille (from Quantum of Solace)
6. Octopussy (from Octopussy)
5. Jinx (from Die Another Day)
4. Honey Rider (from Dr. No)
3. Tracy Di Vicenzo (from On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
2. Solitaire (from Live and Let Die)
1. Tatiana Romanova (from From Russia With Love)

Bond Girls - Overall
22. Stacey Sutton (from A View to a Kill)
21. Dr. Christmas Jones (from The World is not Enough)
20. Mary Goodnight (from The Man With the Golden Gun)
19. Melina Havelock (from For Your Eyes Only)
18. Kissy Suzuki (from You Only Live Twice)
17. Tiffany Case (from Diamonds are Forever)
16. Dr. Holly Goodhead (from Moonraker)
15. Kara Milovy (from The Living Daylights)
14. Pam Bouvier (from License to Kill)
13. Domino Derval (from Thunderball)
12. Anya Amasova (from The Spy Who Loved Me)
11. Jinx (from Die Another Day)
10. Natalya Simonova (from Goldeneye)
9. Octopussy (from Octopussy)
8. Camille (from Quantum of Solace)
7. Solitaire (from Live and Let Die)
6. Wai Lin (from Tomorrow Never Dies)
5. Vesper Lynd (from Casino Royale)
4. Tatiana Romanova (from From Russia With Love)
3. Pussy Galore (from Goldfinger)
2. Tracy Di Vicenzo (from On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
1. Honey Rider (from Dr. No)

A Reflection On The Dark Knight

I just finished watching The Dark Knight and am pleased at how great of a movie it is. Sure, it has its flaws here and there, but when compared with every other comic book movie so far made, it pales all others in comparison. The action is top-notch. The cast is superb (minus Maggie Gyllenhaal; I never thought I would actually want Katie Holmes back in the role of Rachel Dawes after watching Batman Begins).
One of the subjects of the film is escalation (how Batman has raised the bar for criminals like the Joker), and it is a fitting theme as Christopher Nolan has transformed a kiddie genre of film into an adult drama/action piece that will be the new blueprint for superhero movies to come for many years.
It is hard to believe that nobody who has any interest in film or comic books hasn't seen The Dark Knight, but if you somehow haven't, I highly recommend it. It's not to be missed.

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)

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.

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.

My Personal Rank Of The James Bond Films

This is not necessarily a list of the most highly crafted 007 movies available, but it is a rank from my least favorite to number one of the Eon produced films that star superspy James Bond.

22. The Man With the Golden Gun
21. A View to a Kill
20. Diamonds are Forever
19. Moonraker
18. Die Another Day
17. License to Kill
16. For Your Eyes Only
15. Octopussy
14. Tomorrow Never Dies
13. Thunderball
12. Live and Let Die
11. Dr. No
10. You Only Live Twice
9. The World is not Enough
8. Quantum of Solace
7. The Spy Who Loved Me
6. The Living Daylights
5. Goldeneye
4. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
3. Casino Royale
2. Goldfinger
1. From Russia With Love

Newsie Item

Not sure that anyone who doesn't read this semi-regularly isn't already aware, but I got a new job. And boy am I bored at it right now. I've sent four trade proposals out in one of my fantasy football leagues. I've checked out every possible Web site of interest to me for the day.
After watching a few episodes of Cheers lately, I was thinking about listing the top five television credit intros of all time. I guess I could work on that for the next two hours. There may be another update today. We'll see.