By Adam McPartlan
Continuing the countdown of my favorite films, #71-57. Come back Thursday for the next installment of 15.
71: Good Night, and Good Luck
Perhaps the most appropriate film on my list, Good Night, and Good Luck tells the story of a journalist who refused to be bullied by one of the nation’s biggest and most infamous bullies. David Strathairn plays Edward R. Murrow, the anchor of CBS News. McCarthy, played by nobody, is a senator from Wisconsin, who claims he has a list of 200 names that are all communist spies or sympathizers. Soon, he begins accusing random people of being communists, and everyone in America refuses to fight him, instead fighting for him and accusing those who speak against him as being communists themselves. Eventually, McCarthy talks too big a game, and takes a shot at Murrow, the nation’s most trusted name in news, and decency prevails. This movie is also the directorial debut of George Clooney.
Continuing the countdown of my favorite films, #71-57. Come back Thursday for the next installment of 15.
71: Good Night, and Good Luck
Perhaps the most appropriate film on my list, Good Night, and Good Luck tells the story of a journalist who refused to be bullied by one of the nation’s biggest and most infamous bullies. David Strathairn plays Edward R. Murrow, the anchor of CBS News. McCarthy, played by nobody, is a senator from Wisconsin, who claims he has a list of 200 names that are all communist spies or sympathizers. Soon, he begins accusing random people of being communists, and everyone in America refuses to fight him, instead fighting for him and accusing those who speak against him as being communists themselves. Eventually, McCarthy talks too big a game, and takes a shot at Murrow, the nation’s most trusted name in news, and decency prevails. This movie is also the directorial debut of George Clooney.
70: The Laramie Project
This is why the list is 101 movies. The Laramie Project, while a movie, is actually a television film that is just so good, I had to include it in both of my lists. The film is based on the many interviews conducted by a theater troupe who traveled to Laramie, Wyoming following the beating and death of Matthew Shepard in 1998. Shepard, almost 22, was kidnapped, beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead because he was gay. The interviews capture the many attitudes of the people of Laramie, such as a right wing preacher, a Catholic priest, Shepard’s doctors, students of the University of Wyoming, and the police who investigated the murder. It also follows the events that happened immediately following his beating, including the announcement of his death, the protests by conservative groups condemning Shepard, counter-protests from gay rights groups, and the trials and sentencing of the perpetrators. Tissues are needed for this movie as well.
On a more personal note, this is the story that I heard in high school that changed my mind about gay rights. I was at a speech and debate tournament when one of the pieces I heard was the speech given at the sentencing of one of the murderers by Matthew Shepard’s father, Dennis. It was this speech that allowed that man to avoid the death penalty. I was 14 years old at the time, having known nothing other than what the Catholic Church taught at the time under Benedict XVI and that whenever I was bullied in school, I was called a “homo,” “fag,” “fairy,” etc., and so being gay must be wrong, otherwise why would it be used as an insult? It didn’t matter that I watched Will & Grace and found nothing wrong with the lifestyle of the gay and lesbian community; that information only fueled the hate. It mattered that because everyone else thought and acted like it was wrong, so too must I think it’s wrong, lest I be treated like even more of an outcast. This movie makes us understand that there are always reasons, but there are never excuses. It forces us to face our own silent submission to that culture, whether we were 14 and a victim of bullying, or in our 50’s and a professor.
69: The Big Short
This multi-arc narrative follows various groups of people who knew the housing bubble would burst. It also has an omniscient, sarcastic narrator in Ryan Gosling, who goes around acting like he’s in a Woody Allen movie, breaking the fourth wall with special guests like, Selena Gomez, to explain the more complex economic issues. It’s funny, interesting, and ultimately depressing when, much like a character in the movie, you get slapped across the face by Brad Pitt saying that we better hope it doesn’t actually happen, because it means that their bet against the American economy, and the wallets of many Americans, was right.
68: Prisoners
Here’s a really dark film. Denis Villeneuve directs this movie about the father of a missing boy who takes matters into his own hands. The result is a painful, gritty film about just how far a father’s love and devotion to his son will take him. Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal give excellent performances, the writing is well above par, and the last half hour or so of the movie is some of the best time you will spend in front of a screen.
67: World War Z
The zombies are here, and there’s actually a logic to why. Brad Pitt stars in this movie about a former UN security force member, who must fight to save his family, and himself, from the zombie apocalypse. Let me tell you, due to the stress this movie caused me, it single-handedly aged me 30 years the first time I watched it. It wasn’t scary, it isn’t a horror film; it just stressed me the hell out every five minutes when some new piece of bullsh*t came around the corner. It’s a lot of fun to watch, but your gray hairs will grow in early.
66: Shrek 2
It’s just better than the original. Everything about the first one is brought back and made even funnier and more interesting. Instead of a princess hoping to avoid turning into an ogre, it’s about the ogre who wants to be a man and the conspiracy of a couple of fairy tale characters. Plus, who doesn’t love watching a giant gingerbread man terrorize a castle like the Stay Puf’t Marshmallow Man?
65: How to Train Your Dragon
Lemme just say that the music in this movie was absolutely beautiful. Then, there’s the storyline. What better way to show kids that things are not always as they seem and to always question things they don’t agree with than by making dragons lovable and cute while retaining their ass-kicking abilities?
64: Se7en
Ugh. I threw things the first time I saw this movie. I was brow-beaten into watching it by my mother, because she knew it was a great movie and that I’d love it. The thing is, it’s a great movie, but this is film number 2 on the list that I hate with the burning passion of 1,000 suns. You’re missing out on a wonderful cinematic experience if you don’t watch this movie. But when you watch it, be ready to throw things like a gorilla with ‘roid rage.
63: Chocolat
I saw this for the first time when I was 17. Admittedly, due to my intense fatassness, a movie all about chocolate is basically my way of living vicariously through film. But it’s actually just a generally great movie about passing judgment on others because you think differently than them. It works especially well for Christians, not only because it’s a Christian dude leading the charge to “boycott immorality” in the movie, but because let’s face it, we definitely pass a shit ton more judgment than anyone else who’s not gossiping in a hair salon.
62: Gladiator
This movie won Best Picture in one of the closest Oscar races in history. Before the final award was bestowed, three movies had each won four Oscars: Gladiator, Traffic, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Traffic had just won Best Director, putting it in the lead, and making Gladiator’s victory all the more shocking. Nevertheless, any of the three would’ve been a deserving victor, but Gladiator is special. It tells the story of Maximus, a general of Marcus Aurelius’, who is framed for Aurelius’ murder. His family is killed by Roman soldiers, and he, having escaped death, is sold into slavery as a gladiator. He makes his way back to Rome to fight in the Coliseum and challenge the murderer of his leader, Aurelius’ son Commodus. The whole movie is full of great acting, including Russell Crowe’s Best Actor winning performance in the lead role and Joaquin Phoenix’s exceptionally psychotic, plotting performance as Commodus.
61: Hidden Figures
This movie covers bias, racism, and inequality under the guise of history and science. For that reason, it’s one of the smartest movies I’ve ever seen. Nobody wants to talk or think about racism, so the filmmakers found a way around that: tell the untold story of three African-American women who were responsible for just short of everything having to do with space travel. Hidden under that story is the why: racism and misogyny, sometimes even unintentionally, that kept them from the recognition they deserved until President Obama gave one of them, Katherine Goble, the Medal of Freedom in 2015.
60: The Ox-Bow Incident
This movie got one Oscar nomination in 1942: Best Picture. When you watch it, you’ll understand why. The only reason I ever saw this movie is because of the Turner Classic Movies channel. The movie covers the dangers of mob justice, the desire for someone to be guilty rather than to find the truth, rushing to judgment, and forgiveness in the face of death. It is easily one of the most underrated movies I’ve ever seen, and it deserves to be talked about, especially today.
59: Spotlight
The penultimate journalism movie, behind only the greatest journalism film ever made (which is also in my top 5, so come back for that next week). Spotlight tells the story of the investigative team at the Boston Globe that uncovered the sex scandal that rocked the Catholic Church and communities across the world. The only movie better than The Big Short in 2015, and winner of Best Picture at the Oscars to prove it, the movie has some of the best writing you’ll find in a screenplay, as well as one of the best acting ensembles in recent memory. Everyone pulls their weight, and as a budding journalist, this film holds personal significance because it reminds us just why my profession is so necessary.
58: Wreck-It Ralph
Questioning your existence and who you are and what you do every day. Sounds more like a movie for adults changing careers at 50. But here we have the true Best Animated Film of 2012, not Brave. John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman do excellent voice work for the movie about the bad guy who wants to be a hero. Plus, cameos from Sonic, Bowser, Mario, and Pac-Man really add a layer of nostalgia to the film without having to rely on it to satisfy audiences.
57: The Blair Witch Project
Audiences hated this shaky camera movie about students wandering into the woods to research where the legendary Blair Witch lives. Yet critics loved it. Why? Who knows? I loved it, and it’s the only horror movie I’ve ever seen that continually freaks me out every time I watch it. It’s the original “be afraid of the dark” film: you never see the creature, but you always hear it off in the distance. Seriously, I’m getting chills just typing about it. Watch it. It can get a little draggy at times, and some don’t like the whiny, heavy-breathing sound of the acting (I do, though, because they’re acting like scared kids who don’t know what’s going on or what will happen), but the creepiness level is through the roof, and the ending will floor your jaw. Just make sure you have the volume turned up for the parts that seem like they’re quiet. They’re not.
This is why the list is 101 movies. The Laramie Project, while a movie, is actually a television film that is just so good, I had to include it in both of my lists. The film is based on the many interviews conducted by a theater troupe who traveled to Laramie, Wyoming following the beating and death of Matthew Shepard in 1998. Shepard, almost 22, was kidnapped, beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead because he was gay. The interviews capture the many attitudes of the people of Laramie, such as a right wing preacher, a Catholic priest, Shepard’s doctors, students of the University of Wyoming, and the police who investigated the murder. It also follows the events that happened immediately following his beating, including the announcement of his death, the protests by conservative groups condemning Shepard, counter-protests from gay rights groups, and the trials and sentencing of the perpetrators. Tissues are needed for this movie as well.
On a more personal note, this is the story that I heard in high school that changed my mind about gay rights. I was at a speech and debate tournament when one of the pieces I heard was the speech given at the sentencing of one of the murderers by Matthew Shepard’s father, Dennis. It was this speech that allowed that man to avoid the death penalty. I was 14 years old at the time, having known nothing other than what the Catholic Church taught at the time under Benedict XVI and that whenever I was bullied in school, I was called a “homo,” “fag,” “fairy,” etc., and so being gay must be wrong, otherwise why would it be used as an insult? It didn’t matter that I watched Will & Grace and found nothing wrong with the lifestyle of the gay and lesbian community; that information only fueled the hate. It mattered that because everyone else thought and acted like it was wrong, so too must I think it’s wrong, lest I be treated like even more of an outcast. This movie makes us understand that there are always reasons, but there are never excuses. It forces us to face our own silent submission to that culture, whether we were 14 and a victim of bullying, or in our 50’s and a professor.
69: The Big Short
This multi-arc narrative follows various groups of people who knew the housing bubble would burst. It also has an omniscient, sarcastic narrator in Ryan Gosling, who goes around acting like he’s in a Woody Allen movie, breaking the fourth wall with special guests like, Selena Gomez, to explain the more complex economic issues. It’s funny, interesting, and ultimately depressing when, much like a character in the movie, you get slapped across the face by Brad Pitt saying that we better hope it doesn’t actually happen, because it means that their bet against the American economy, and the wallets of many Americans, was right.
68: Prisoners
Here’s a really dark film. Denis Villeneuve directs this movie about the father of a missing boy who takes matters into his own hands. The result is a painful, gritty film about just how far a father’s love and devotion to his son will take him. Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal give excellent performances, the writing is well above par, and the last half hour or so of the movie is some of the best time you will spend in front of a screen.
67: World War Z
The zombies are here, and there’s actually a logic to why. Brad Pitt stars in this movie about a former UN security force member, who must fight to save his family, and himself, from the zombie apocalypse. Let me tell you, due to the stress this movie caused me, it single-handedly aged me 30 years the first time I watched it. It wasn’t scary, it isn’t a horror film; it just stressed me the hell out every five minutes when some new piece of bullsh*t came around the corner. It’s a lot of fun to watch, but your gray hairs will grow in early.
66: Shrek 2
It’s just better than the original. Everything about the first one is brought back and made even funnier and more interesting. Instead of a princess hoping to avoid turning into an ogre, it’s about the ogre who wants to be a man and the conspiracy of a couple of fairy tale characters. Plus, who doesn’t love watching a giant gingerbread man terrorize a castle like the Stay Puf’t Marshmallow Man?
65: How to Train Your Dragon
Lemme just say that the music in this movie was absolutely beautiful. Then, there’s the storyline. What better way to show kids that things are not always as they seem and to always question things they don’t agree with than by making dragons lovable and cute while retaining their ass-kicking abilities?
64: Se7en
Ugh. I threw things the first time I saw this movie. I was brow-beaten into watching it by my mother, because she knew it was a great movie and that I’d love it. The thing is, it’s a great movie, but this is film number 2 on the list that I hate with the burning passion of 1,000 suns. You’re missing out on a wonderful cinematic experience if you don’t watch this movie. But when you watch it, be ready to throw things like a gorilla with ‘roid rage.
63: Chocolat
I saw this for the first time when I was 17. Admittedly, due to my intense fatassness, a movie all about chocolate is basically my way of living vicariously through film. But it’s actually just a generally great movie about passing judgment on others because you think differently than them. It works especially well for Christians, not only because it’s a Christian dude leading the charge to “boycott immorality” in the movie, but because let’s face it, we definitely pass a shit ton more judgment than anyone else who’s not gossiping in a hair salon.
62: Gladiator
This movie won Best Picture in one of the closest Oscar races in history. Before the final award was bestowed, three movies had each won four Oscars: Gladiator, Traffic, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Traffic had just won Best Director, putting it in the lead, and making Gladiator’s victory all the more shocking. Nevertheless, any of the three would’ve been a deserving victor, but Gladiator is special. It tells the story of Maximus, a general of Marcus Aurelius’, who is framed for Aurelius’ murder. His family is killed by Roman soldiers, and he, having escaped death, is sold into slavery as a gladiator. He makes his way back to Rome to fight in the Coliseum and challenge the murderer of his leader, Aurelius’ son Commodus. The whole movie is full of great acting, including Russell Crowe’s Best Actor winning performance in the lead role and Joaquin Phoenix’s exceptionally psychotic, plotting performance as Commodus.
61: Hidden Figures
This movie covers bias, racism, and inequality under the guise of history and science. For that reason, it’s one of the smartest movies I’ve ever seen. Nobody wants to talk or think about racism, so the filmmakers found a way around that: tell the untold story of three African-American women who were responsible for just short of everything having to do with space travel. Hidden under that story is the why: racism and misogyny, sometimes even unintentionally, that kept them from the recognition they deserved until President Obama gave one of them, Katherine Goble, the Medal of Freedom in 2015.
60: The Ox-Bow Incident
This movie got one Oscar nomination in 1942: Best Picture. When you watch it, you’ll understand why. The only reason I ever saw this movie is because of the Turner Classic Movies channel. The movie covers the dangers of mob justice, the desire for someone to be guilty rather than to find the truth, rushing to judgment, and forgiveness in the face of death. It is easily one of the most underrated movies I’ve ever seen, and it deserves to be talked about, especially today.
59: Spotlight
The penultimate journalism movie, behind only the greatest journalism film ever made (which is also in my top 5, so come back for that next week). Spotlight tells the story of the investigative team at the Boston Globe that uncovered the sex scandal that rocked the Catholic Church and communities across the world. The only movie better than The Big Short in 2015, and winner of Best Picture at the Oscars to prove it, the movie has some of the best writing you’ll find in a screenplay, as well as one of the best acting ensembles in recent memory. Everyone pulls their weight, and as a budding journalist, this film holds personal significance because it reminds us just why my profession is so necessary.
58: Wreck-It Ralph
Questioning your existence and who you are and what you do every day. Sounds more like a movie for adults changing careers at 50. But here we have the true Best Animated Film of 2012, not Brave. John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman do excellent voice work for the movie about the bad guy who wants to be a hero. Plus, cameos from Sonic, Bowser, Mario, and Pac-Man really add a layer of nostalgia to the film without having to rely on it to satisfy audiences.
57: The Blair Witch Project
Audiences hated this shaky camera movie about students wandering into the woods to research where the legendary Blair Witch lives. Yet critics loved it. Why? Who knows? I loved it, and it’s the only horror movie I’ve ever seen that continually freaks me out every time I watch it. It’s the original “be afraid of the dark” film: you never see the creature, but you always hear it off in the distance. Seriously, I’m getting chills just typing about it. Watch it. It can get a little draggy at times, and some don’t like the whiny, heavy-breathing sound of the acting (I do, though, because they’re acting like scared kids who don’t know what’s going on or what will happen), but the creepiness level is through the roof, and the ending will floor your jaw. Just make sure you have the volume turned up for the parts that seem like they’re quiet. They’re not.