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#79 Once Upon A Time In America

1984

Staring

Jennifer Connelly, Robert De Niro, James Woods, Paul Bettany, Grace Hightower

I think to myself, "Ive got a couple of hours spare today, Ill watch another movie on the list, oh its a gangster movie, brilliant, I like them" (starts movie) "WTF!!!! its 3 HOURS AND 49 MINUTES long" Now, to quote Youtube "Aint nobody got time for that"

So I had to do this one in two sittings, I did consider it in 1, but after the first hour there was no chance of that happening. When this came out on the big screen, the whole world got their monies worth with this one, other than one country who were too uncultured to be able to sit and digest the complex intertwining's, flash backs and epicly long cut scenes, Never mins and endless ringing of a telephone for about the first 15 minutes. Of course America decided to cut the film by a whole 90 minutes, rendering it utter 'jibberish' just a car crash of random scenes forced together to create zero continuity and a story that makes little seance.

So I did endure the full version as the director had wanted, and my initial thought was "this is going to be slow" and it didnt disappoint, almost 4 grueling hours of my life spent watching this. It was long for a very good reason, to be able to fully tell the story that spans over 3 decades of the lives of a group of friends turn gangsters who form a bond like no other set of criminals, that takes the all the way from childhood to death.   

The scores

Visual
7/10 pretty standard

Sound
5/10 Nothing too sparkling here 

Acting
8/10 real good acting

Plot
5/10 So I love a good gangster film and this one didn't disappoint, apart from the length.

Ending
5/10 wasn't the best part of the movie, so a middle of the road score.

Final Score
30/50



Total Movie Minutes So Far ~ 2840

Next up - Lion King

  

#80 Star Wars : Return Of The Jedi

1983

Staring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie fisher 


Star Wars, do I need to explain this one? I think almost all of the population has seen a Star Wars movie, if you haven't, where have you been? In this installment to the Star Wars franchise we see a huge slimy slug type creature and some tiny bears, there are also some flying machines and a camp gold robot.

Return of the Jedi is the 6th movie in the series but turns out to be the 3rd I think?? Any way...
I feel obliged to really like Star Wars, but in reality, Im not that fond of it. I can sit and watch it, but im certainly no Star Wars convention goer...

The long and short of it is, Hans Solo (Hamill) gets captured by the giant slug Jabba the Hut. He gets cast in some life preserving metal type substance, and hung on the wall like a piece of art. It takes Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia to rescue him. Now spoiler alert) this "dark lord" Dartf Vader, happens to be Luke's father, Luke is trying to get him to see the light and leave the dark side.

Thats it really. Short and sweet.Moving Swiftly on.... 

The scores

Visual
8/10 Good set and costume designs

Sound
5/10 Standard 

Acting
6/10 middle of the park, not bad.

Plot
5/10 Im not a big space film fan.

Ending
5/10 yep, it had one.

Final Score
29/50



Total Movie Minutes So Far ~ 2611

Next up - Once Upon A Time In America

#81 Full Metal Jacket

1987

Here we go! This is what the top 100 should be like. I'm sure most people have seem full metal jacket before, I've seen it in parts and this was the first time I've watched it fully I'm ashamed to say.

Again I'm writing this on a plane, this time from Colombo to Dubai, I've been awake god knows how many hours so this may not make sense. On a side note I've decided I hate flying from Australia to the Uk, it's just far too far. I think it's about time Branson got his finger out and made space flights accessible to the non filthy rich pretty soon.

So if you didn't know full metal jacket is a war movie, some would say the best ever made. It's realism hits home and gets you in to the head of a marine and what they go through, from boot camp (paradise island) showing how the marines are broken down and then rebuilt as killing machines. unfortunately for 1 recruit it was all too much and he took his own life along with the commanding officer. The movie then follows the new recruits to Vietnam, where the marines are fighting a war that they don't even know what its for. Which quite often is the case. A testament to the script writers as this move has been sampled to death, from the Scratch Perverts (DJ's) sampling the "war face speech" to some rapper who I can't remember sampling "ah me so horny, me love you long time"

I love war movies and hate them at the same time, I have all respect in the world for the armed forces, what they do on a daily basis is truly amazing so seeing a war movie really do make you think what these men and women are putting themselves through, but on the other hand they make brilliant movies that keep you hooked with the right amount of violence ,suspense and true feelings.

This movie set the standard for every war movie after it, I think saving private Ryan came out after this and is on par as a fantastic movie.

The scores

Visual
8/10 A move that would make you think it was set in an actual war zone, good guts and gore.

Sound
5/10 Other than shooting not much to give scores for.


Acting
8/10 Every character is brilliant. 


Plot
7/10 A war movie not just about the fighting but about the mental torture a recruit goes through. 

Ending
7/10 classy. loved it, didn't want it to end!

Final Score
35/50

Best movie so far from the list in my opinion.


Total Movie Minutes So Far ~ 2477

Next up Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (1983)

#82 LA Confidential

1997

Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce

Kevin Spacey

I'm pretty sure before I watched this someone told me I would hate it, well low and behold.... I really enjoyed it. Its all about 1950's LA and the corruption that goes on inside the police department.

The photos I have added are in black and white but the movie is in colour don't worry. Guy Pearce's character Ed Exley is a straight down the line cop, works to the letter of the law and is getting ahead by doing so in his career, unlike almost all of the other cops on the force who resent Ed for what he is doing, especially after he sells out one of the forces own. The total apposite to Ed is Russell Crowes character Bud White. Bent as a ten bob note much like the rest of the force he has forged his career on braking the rules, covering his tracks and making personal gains.

Thirdly we have Jack Vincennes ( Kevin Spacey) another old school cop who uses the law to his own advantage, and is hell bent on ruining Exley's clean cut image, this is until certain events cause this trio to team up and try and discover what murky past has caused the force to become so corrupt.

The only problem with this movie is....

James Cromwell

His acting is brilliant, im not taking anything away from that, its his god awful accent. F**k me, I couldn't stand to listen to him. I think he was trying to do an Irish/american accent, and his catch phrase of "boyo" infuriated me further.

The scores

Visual
7/10 you know what, this had some pretty good wound injuries and shot impact things (not sure how to explain this) the costumes cars etc were good.

Sound
4/10 Nothing interesting, I really don't like old 40's/50's music. I know they cant use modern music for a 50's film but still, I just don't like it.

Acting
8/10 Top draw, enough said

Plot
8/10 I personally really like stories or corruption and this was really well written and portrayed.

Ending
8/10 Best Part, I love it when a good story has an equally good ending.

Final Score
35/50

A really good watch this one. Settle in for a Sunday afternoon movie and see the hours fly by watching this classic.

Total Movie Minutes So Far ~ 2361



Next Up, Full Metal Jacket.

#83 Chinatown

1974

Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway

A young jack Nicholson stars as the main character in this crime thriller. Strangely this movie turns out to revolve around incest for the second time in the top 100, the other one was of course Oldboy.

This movie wasn't quite as gripping as Oldboy though, it for me anyway dragged a little, a good storyline and plot but slightly drawn out.

We follow JJ Gittes who is a private investigator, he is enlisted to spy on a rich woman's husband to see if he is having an affair, and as it turned out, yes he was. Once this news breaks in the paper, JJ finds out he wasn't enlisted by the wife at all, yet it was someone acting as her on behalf of a greater power.

JJ finally meets the real a wife once the husband is killed, he is then sent on a fact finding mission to find out who killed her husband and why. While he is trying to find the facts one of his old police friends is on his back trying to take him down for whit holding information regarding the death.

I watched this movie on a flight from Australia to Singapore to try and pass a few hours of the flight, but to be honest, it made the flight seem longer, I think it was partly the movie and the fact I was starving (left my wallet in my bag and I had the window seat so couldn't get to it). That aside it wasn't all bad, we had some boob action, some shooting and the sound track was pretty intense, to the point where it was trying to build the movie up to something it couldn't deliver.

Like a few movies from the era, the last 20 mins were crammed with the best parts, and the other hour and 50 minutes were filler to make you feel like you had got value for your money. Nicholson is by far the stand out actor with the leading lady close behind.

The scores

Visual
6/10 nothing awe inspiring, some good makeup when a certain character gets shot in the eye

Sound
5/10 this was good build up, but then took it too far, I laughed at one point, so it must have been bad.


Acting7/10 Nicholson acted with class, just a shame the movie wasn't up to his standard.


Plot7/10 the plot was good and had you guessing till the end, it was just dragged out.

Ending
7/10 Best part of the movie, very typical of a movie that predates 1990 (so far I have found anyway)

Final Score
32/50

Total Movie Minutes So Far ~ 2223
So again I'm not sure how this is on the top 100, there are many movies better than this, maybe it could be because of Nicholson, or the fact that it probably started to define a movie genre or that people who voted for it did so after a few years and look back in with with pleasant nostalgia.

Next up LA Confidential (1997)

#84 Braveheart

1995

Director and Star Mel Gibson

So Im sure almost everyone on the planet has seen this movie, so that means this Blog will be pretty easy to write, and pretty short. A little note to add though, as an Englishman I think we are portrayed in a bad light, I mean its not like Scotland are still trying to get Independence from us is it? In all fairness though, the English were a pretty ruthless lot back back. For a tiny little country we managed to, at one point in time or another, rule half of the world, now though we have given most of it back (because we are nice like that) and unfortunately we now have to help out America to win their wars for them, anyway I digress....

The story...

William Wallace is a wee Scottish boy at the start of this movie, He experiences his dad and other close family and friends be killed at the hands of the English, trying to fight for the freedom of Scotland. When he is older he secretly marries a girl, who is then killed for not letting an English guard rape her, this (as it would be for any man) was the last straw. William Wallace starts to build an army, firstly seeking revenge on anyone who has done him or his close friends harm. As word spreads about this army, he gets more and more recruits, eventually he has enough to start to take down the English, firstly starting with the outposts in Scotland and then moving through to York in England. Unfortunately Wallace is betrayed by a Scott who is offered land to give Wallace up.

I have seen this movie before maybe 10 years ago now, and I remembered it with fond memories, a great movie with a real passion behind it, telling a story that was essentially true, of how the Scottish wanted to rule their own land. Unfortunately watching it again slightly tainted it. I sure didn't remember how long it was, 3 hours it is, and I didn't quite remember the comedy deaths (and there are plenty) while in battle, But the parts that mattered, the emotion, the meaning behind it was still as brilliant as it was the first time I saw it. 


The Scores

Visual
7/10 - Great battle scenes, some gore and good costumes.

Sound
7/10 - This makes the movie what it is, big classical scores tell you what emotions you should be feeling.

Acting
7/10 - Good, by everyone, good.

Plot
8/10 - Bit crazy how the Scotts wanted to bite the hand that fed them ;)

Ending 
8/10 - Good ending, emotional!

Final Score

38/50

If you haven't seen it, where have you been? Get it watched.....

Total Movie Minutes So Far ~ 2093 (That's almost 35 hours by the way)

Next up is Chinatown (1974)

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Thanks, Luke.