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An avid movie collector reviews movies, games, and TV shows for the common man, among other things. Spoiler Free

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

The Elite


(All my pics got ruined. I hate blogger, I'll try to add them later)

As previously mentioned I chart an All-Star list which consists of Actors featured in over 5 movies, and Actresses and Directors featured in over 3 movies. As my movie list approached 700 I have a lot of actors and the like featured as all-stars and I thought I would pay tribute to the ones who made me fork out the most money in their honor. I mean ultimately thats the most important thing, which actors make me spend the most money.


The Top Actors

John Cusack – 12

John Cusack has the gift of adding humor to a deeply satisfying drama, so that it pleases on two levels. But most notably John has blessed us with guy friendly romance movies, for without him we would be subject to Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts at torturous levels. And Hari-Kari (Ritual Suicide) would rise at alarming rates.

Bruce Willis – 12

Bruce Willis also had the gift of adding humor to a movie, but he did it primarily in the action genre, which opened up a whole new world to us. And probably was responsible for putting Steven Seagal out of work.

Steve Buscemi – 14

The ultimate supporting actor, this guy has been in most of the good movies made in the last decade. He brings something that no one else bring, and what that is, I don’t know. But I like it.

Clint Eastwood – 14

Clint started as the best Western hero, then moved on to be the best Cop hero, and now he’s just the best. He is also the only person to make double duty as both an Elite All-Star actor and Director (See Below)

Kevin Spacey – 14

He excels in dramatic roles like American Beauty, Swimming with Sharks, or The Usual Suspects. His snarky humor also helps him hold a special place in my heart.

Robert DeNiro – 15

He is a legend, its hard to say anything new. I am just glad to see some comedy roles from him like in Analyze This and Meet the Parents. It helps complete the package that could have been filled with just Goodfellas.

Sylvester Stallone – 15

What’s most amazing is that I don’t own the Rocky Set (holding out for the special edition set) and that once purchased he will take the lead, because with Rocky and Rambo alone he will be hard to beat. Sly holds a special place because he was the hero in most of the movies I loved when I was younger. Mostly due to Phil who loves him more deeply than I do.

Danny DeVito – 16

I think Danny DeVito and I are kindred spirits, his choices throughout his career and his style of comedy and directing make me feel that we would be good friends. Watch everything he’s been a part of and you’ll get my humor.

Samuel L. Jackson – 18

Samuel L. Jackson is a god in my collection, because unlike the others he has not had the help of many movie series to make the list. He will eventually have three slots for his Mace Windu role, but the majority of his list are individual movies which I think speak even louder of his awesome powers over me. I can’t say enough about how he can make a movie good all on his own.

Movies I own featuring Samuel L. Jackson

Deep Blue Sea
Die Hard: With a Vengeance
Goodfellas
Great White Hype, The
Jackie Brown
Jurassic Park
Loaded Weapon 1
Long Kiss Goodnight
Negotiator, The
No Good Deed
Patriot Games
Pulp Fiction
Shaft
Star Wars Ep. 1
Star Wars Ep. 2
Time to Kill, A
True Romance
Unbreakable

The Top Actresses

Salma Hayek – 6

The Latin goddess Salma Hayek makes the list courtesy of the El Mariachi Trilogy and her connection to Robert Rodriguez movies.

Bonnie Hunt – 6

I was surprised to see that she was in so much of my stuff, which is why I featured her in a Supporting Actress of the week segment. And although her name might not even register with everyone, she seems to end up in good films. Particularly family titles.

Joan Cusack – 7

Part of the mighty Cusack Clan Joan makes the list for being consistently excellent, often next to her brother. I love that face she makes where she drops her chin and it gets really pointy. I tried to find it for the pic, but I failed.

Whoopi Goldberg – 7

Another surprise, but Whoopi found her way into a bunch of my movies as well. Although I don’t own many of her solo movies, I do appreciate her supporting roles especially in Ghost where she made the difference between sappy drama and quality film.

Milla Jovovich – 7

She’s probably a surprise to everyone because she probably only made like 8 films so far. But apparently I own them all so she is doing something right. Something about women that fight zombies…

Cameron Diaz – 8

It’s funny but it used to bug me that she was the top of my Ladies List. But she chooses movies well…well maybe not so much recently (Charlie’s Angels 2???)

Movies I own featuring Cameron Diaz

Being John Malkovich
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Gangs of New York
Life Less Ordinary, A
Mask, The
Shrek
There’s Something About Mary
Very Bad Things

The Top Directors

George Lucas – 6

Star Wars...nuff said.

Sam Raimi – 6

The Evil Dead series of course made it happen for Raimi, although after The Gift and Spiderman I think he will have a longer career than many may have predicted.

Richard Donner – 7

He made the Lethal Weapon series which almost single handedly put him on the list (4) but lets not forget Deep Blue Sea. Don’t even try to forget that.

Stanley Kubrick – 7

Probably one of the most influential directors of his time, I bought the Kubrick Collection without even seeing many of them. Since then I have fallen in love with Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket, and The Shining. I even appreciate 2001: A Space Odyssey, although I think it takes a “unique” individual to love that movie more than once.

Clint Eastwood – 8

Can he do wrong (Any Which Way But Loose) OK don’t answer that. But I love Clint even more as a Director than as an actor, although they usually are closely tied. Unforgiven is still one of my favorite movies ever and the Eastwood stamp on that movie stamped into my brain as well.

Robert Zemeckis – 8

Back to the Future put him into orbit, but I will always love him more for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Few movies can stand near that one and not shudder in fear.

Tim Burton – 10

I own every movie he made (Minus Planet of the Apes and like Frankenweenie) His dark humor and stories are particularly interesting, and after seeing Ed Wood I knew I would always love Burton. And now after Big Fish, I think I want to stalk him.

Steven Spielberg – 10

Of course he’s on the top, the man made Jaws. What else do you need?

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Praise Comcast for their many blessings...which I have to pay for.

I'mmmmmmmmmmmm BAAAAAAAAACK!

Oh yes, High Speed internet has returned to me and I have returned to you. Comcast whom I now work for (For those of you I have not been keeping up with well) hooked me up with some Cable internet and a Digital Box. Now as a shameless plug I am going to extol the many wonders of this box which I had almost nearly avoided getting.

On Demand - which is like Pay-Per-View which you can control and often not pay for is sweet. I have a Starz package so I have access to all of the movies that Starz has the rights to this month and I can watch them as I would a VHS tape with the ability to Pause, rewind, etc. Don't like your kids watching uncensored movies, select the Bunny version which is basically the network TV edit version of the movie. Wanna watch it in Widescreen? Yeah they got that too for most new movies. Plus you get a pretty good sampling of each channels hit stuff, so I can watch episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Chappelle Show, Crocodile Hunter, whenever I want. I'm lovin' it.

Last night I opted to watch The Missing, and I will review it later. Tonight I watched a documentary on Tim Burton's film career, and an old episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. I highly recommend digital cable, if only for the old school rap channel they have which I am listening to from the other room right now. "Raah Raah went the Dungeon Dragon."

Shameless plug completed, usual drivel resumed.

The Missing

Ron Howard directed this??? Wow, he scared the piss out of me. Actually its not really a scary movie, but it has a disturbing vibe and flavor to it that had me hooked. The movie took a while to really grab me, and my other friend Dave was unable to bite into it before he had to leave, but once it did I found myself staying up later than I had anticipated. The story follows a woman whose teenage daughter was taken to be sold as a slave by Apache indians during the Wild West time period. The Indians, especially their leader were chilling, and I had to have dreams about me beating them up so I could feel better. Cate Blanchett as always is brilliant, and I felt that Tommy Lee Jones played one of the best roles of his career as the estranged father. I enjoyed it thouroughly and I would probably purchase it at a reasonable price. It would be worth a rental, hit up Blockbuster, or maybe some On Demand for that.

I was going to marathon an update but I am getting sleepy fast. I will however be resuming my frequent updating so feel free to keep checking back for more stuff. I have a lot left on my mind.

Coming Soon - A tribute to Dean's VIP All-Star Actors (AKA Actors featured in over 12 movies that I own.)

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