Random Thoughts 5/7/12

• Mother's Day next Sunday.  I see Jose Pepper's in my future…
• Every film reviewer on the internet has produced an Top-10 films list, which almost always includes classics like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Godfather, etc.   But this one is the first one I've ever seen with Aliens in the top spot.  Actually, Aliens (1986) does appear in a lot of top-50 lists, but #1?  Wow.
• My Top-10 films, as I see it today, but guaranteed to change tomorrow or the next day:  

10) Forrest Gump (1994), story-telling by way of story-telling… perfectly done.
9) Singin' in the Rain (1952), perhaps the best musical ever made, with extra points for film history buffs.
8) The General (1927), with apologies to Charlie Chaplain, this is my all-time favorite silent film.
7) Schindler's List (1993), devastating portrayal of a tragedy, though other holocaust films could be listed here.
6) Gone With the Wind (1939), powerful, epic, and iconic.
5) The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03), perhaps the best trilogy and most faithful literary adaptation ever made.
4) The Godfather, parts 1 and 2 (1972, 74), the pinnacle of the both mobster movies and multi-generational bios.
3) Seven Samurai (1954), perhaps the best action movie ever and my favorite non-English film.  Your favorite action movie is probably copying this one.
2) The Shawshank Redemption (1994), the top prison movie and a powerful ode to the human spirit.  The best film ever to not win a single Academy award.
1) Citizen Kane (1941), everybody says so but this is the definitive psychological postmortem on film.

• Speaking of movies, I took Brennan to his first midnight premiere last Thursday night to see The Avengers.  I was blown away.  This was the best comic book movie I've seen in years (absolutely on par with Christopher Nolan's recent Batman movies, but less dark).  It does help to have seen some of the good-but-less-than-spectacular Marvel movies first, specifically Thor, Captain America, and the Iron Man movies.  But the real reason for its greatness is that The Avengers was written and directed by the great Joss Whedon.  This guy has written some the best (and funniest… and nerdiest) dialogue ever put on screen.  He's one of my absolute favorite writers.
• Did you catch the Obama campaign's "Life of Julia" on the internet this week?  Yeah, that's not creepy at all.  Re-elect President Obama, ladies, and the government will take care of you from cradle to grave!  Who needs personal responsibility?  Or a man?  The government can be your parents and your husband all rolled into one!  Weird!!!  Can you get more Marxist than this?!
• Note that the slideshow doesn't say anything about years 42-65.  That's when she's being punitively taxed to pay for other entitled children demanding handouts "Julia's."