Movie: Million Dollar Baby.
Released: 2005.
IMDB rank: 8.2.
IMDB link.

Notes: Clint Eastwood is a cranky boxing gym owner who refuses to train Hilary Swank because he “doesn’t train girls.” She persists, because as she tells him, she has nothing else to go back to except a trailer, a deep fryer and some Oreos. He at first tells her what he feels is the truth, that she’s too old to start. Morgan Freeman, who is also a trainer, offers her some advice, which keeps up her persistence, which finally, grudgingly gets Eastwood to train her.

This multiple Oscar winner is a thoughtful, engrossing film about pain and the pursuit of dreams from a master filmmaker. Hilary Swank quite obviously did a lot of training for her role, which won her a Best Actress Oscar. Eastwood won a Best Director Oscar, and Morgan Freeman a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The movie also won the Best Picture Oscar.

Director: Clint Eastwood.
Categories: Drama/ Sport.
Writer(s): F.X. Toole, Paul Haggis.
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman.
Runtime: 132 min.

Trailer:

Movie: Kill Bill I, II.
Released: 2003, 2004.
IMDB rank: 8.2, 8.1.
IMDB link.

Notes: Director Quentin Tarantino shows up in a lot of the movies in this list, but I feel that Kill Bill shows more of the inner workings of his mind than any other. Despite the intentional kung fu and 70s exploitation spoof humor, and the partial comic book-like animation for a few sequences, there’s also a serious, introspective thread, and the two combined make the movies that much more entertaining. They intentionally have the low-budget feel that Tarantino likes so much (and fans, too, obviously).

Watch both movies together, for best effect, and to get a sense of all the story elements that are not cleared up in Vol 1. For example, who is The Bride (Uma Thurman), what is her relationship to Bill (whom we don’t actually see until Vol 2.), what happened to her during her four years of coma, etc. The Bride, in narration, does partly explain, her career as an assassin, who took out the wedding party, and that person’s career as an assassin.

There are a lot of well-thought camera angles, but one of the most strangely beautiful is the battle between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), in a Japanese garden, with snow gently falling. But just prior to that scene, when they’re fighting, the music is decidely non-Japanese, and before that, a Japanese girl band plays American surf music. It’s this fusion (Tarantino’s own word) of genre elements that makes these two movies so entertaining.

Director: Quentin Tarantino.
Categories: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller.
Writers: Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman (character: The Bride).
Cast: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Samuel L. Jackson (vol 2).
Runtime: 111 min.

Trailer:

Movie: Hot Fuzz.
Released: 2007.
IMDB rank: 8.1.
IMDB link.

Notes: An intelligent, hardworking London riot cop, Sargeant Angel, gets demoted to the countryside because he’s making all the other cops look bad. The model town he’s being sent to has won awards and hasn’t had a murder in 20 years, only accidents. Lots and lots of accidents. Or are they? Sargeant Angel gets stuck with a dessert-eating, movie-quoting dumbass of a partner. This movie is made even funnier if you can appreciate the typical dry British humor (or is that humour?).

Director: Edgar Wright.
Categories: Action, Comedy, Crime, Mystery.
Writer(s): Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg.
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton.
Runtime: 121 min.

Trailer:

Movie: Se7en.
Released: 1995.
IMDB rank: 8.6.
IMDB link.

Notes: A young cop (Brad Pitt) and an about-to-retire cop (Morgan Freeman) match their wits against a serial killer whose MO (modus operandi) is the seven deadly sins. He feels he has a higher reason to kill sinners. When they finally catch the killer, the way he justifies why he killed the people he did makes me think of what Dexter probably thinks when he justifies what he does. Seven is intense, with a disturbing ending that most people probably won’t expect.

Director: David Fincher.
Categories: Crime, Mystery, Thriller.
Writer(s): Andrew Kevin Walker.
Cast: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow.
Runtime: 127 min.

Trailer:

Movie: Goodfellas.
Released: 1990.
IMDB rank: 8.8.
IMDB link.

Notes: Considered by some to be one of the best mob movie ever, and based on a true story. Tough guys, tough women, hot classic cars with big trunks (for stashing things – and bodies), great actors, and a story about a Jewish girl who marries Ray Liotta’s character, Henry Hill (half-Irish, half-Italian). Hill runs with Jimmy Conway (full-Irish, played by Robert De Niro of all people), and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci). Pesci is scary as a hair-trigger psycho that takes offense at everything anyone says to him. De Niro, Liotta and Bracco give great performances. Trivia: over two dozen actors that were in The Sopranos TV series also appeared in Goodfellas. Pesci won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and there were five additional Oscar nominations.

Director: Martin Scorcese.
Categories: Biography, Crime, Drama.
Writers: Nicholas Pileggi (Wise Guy book, screenplay), Martin Scorcese (screenplay).
Cast: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, with appearances by Michael Imperioli, Samuel L. Jackson, and others.
Runtime: 145 min.

Trailer:

Movie: The Big Lebowski.
Released: 1998.
IMDB rank: 8.2.
IMDB link.

Notes: Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), a lazy bum, gets a visit from a couple of criminals who have mistaken him for The Big Lebowski, a millionaire whose young wife has gotten him in trouble with all sorts of bad people. One of the guys pees on The Dude’s rug, and he goes to The Big to get compensation. At first, all he gets out of the visit is a rug (which simply takes). Shortly after, he finds himself hired to communicate with the supposed kidnappers of Big’s wife. The Dude has to solve the kidnapping and stay out of trouble.

Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen.
Categories: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery.
Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen.
Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tara Reid, John Turturro.
Runtime: 117 min.

Trailer:

Movie: Crank.
Released: 2006.
IMDB rank: 7.1.
IMDB link.

Notes: Jason Statham has been in tons of tough guy movies now, but this movie’s entire premise is guy movie brilliance. He’s been injected with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops. It’s probably the best excuse ever in cinema history for having sex in public, including getting a hummer during a shoot’em up car chase, and doing it backdoor style in front of a huge crowd of people. During the latter, Statham’s character gets a cell phone call, which he takes. Amy Smart’s moronic character realizes there are all these people staring at her (as if their loud cheering a few minutes ago wasn’t enough) and says, “Oh god, what are you looking at?”

Directors: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor.
Categories: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller.
Writer(s): Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor.
Cast: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Dwight Yoakam.
Runtime: 87 min.

Trailers: Warning: NSFW.

Movie: Gladiator.
Released: 2000.
IMDB rank: 8.2.
IMDB link.

Notes: This is one of those rare majestic movies, winning 5 Oscars as well as 45 other awards. Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix give incredible performances. Crowe is Maximus, a general, chosen by sickly Emperor Marcus Aurelius to be his temporary successor. Phoenix is Aurelius’ son Commodus, who betrays Maximus, has his estate home burned, his family condemned. He becomes a slave, then a gladiator, and spends his time trying to fulfill the Emperor’s wish, to hand power to the senate. The cinematography is breathtaking, but the long movie is worth it for the graphically detailed arena battle scenes full of gladiators, chariots and even tigers. The last battle scene is of course the most memorable.

Director: Ridley Scott.
Categories: Action, Adventure, Drama.
Writers: David Franzoni (story and screenplay), John Logan, William Nicholson.
Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Djimon Hounsou, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris.
Runtime: 155 min (171 extended).

Trailer:

Movie: Heat.
Released: 1995.
IMDB rank: 8.2.
IMDB link.

Notes: One cop (Al Pacino) does his best to take down a group of criminals led by Robert De Niro. This tense thriller is long but worth it for the fact that it’s one of very few movies that Pacino and De Niro have acted in together. (They were in Godfather Part II and the re-edited trilogy turned into a TV series, and will be in Righteous Kill later this year.)

Director: Michael Mann.
Categories: Crime, Drama, Thriller.
Writers: Michael Mann.
Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, Wes Studi, Natalie Portman.
Runtime: 171 min.

Trailer:

Movie: Grindhouse (Planet Terror and Death Proof).
Released: 2007.
IMDB ranks: 8.1.
IMDB link.

Notes: [These movies were actually released separately on DVD, but together in theaters.] Directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino bring us their modern interpretations of the old B-movies with Planet Terror and Death Proof, respectively. In Planet Terror, a chemical outbreak turns people into living zombies. In Death Proof, a man (Kurt Russell) who calls himself Stuntman Mike who has a Jekyll and Hyde sort of personality, and takes out his aggression on victims with his “death proof” car.

Directors: Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright.
Categories: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller.
Writers: Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, Jeff Rendell.
Cast: (Planet Terror, Death Proof and fake trailers) El Wray, Rose McGowan, Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis, Naveen Andrews, Stacy Ferguson (Fergie).
Runtime: 191 min.

Trailer: