Top 10 Mob/Mafia/Gangster Movies

The mob movie has always been a favorite genre of mine. The mafia fascinates me in its strict moral code inside a world of crime. An "honor amongst thieves" kinda thing. That dichotomy is endlessly fascinating to me as a viewer, and has so many possibilities for storytellers within it as well. Although gangster movies have been around basically as long as movies have been, it all really got started in the 1930's, making big stars out of actors like James Cagney, Paul Muni, and Edward G. Robinson. And there's great hidden gems from this era as well, like The Petrified Forest with Humphrey Bogart in his first lead role alongside a hot young Bette Davis. Although the genre kind of morphed into the noir movies of the 40's and 50's, I think of that as a separate genre (and upcoming list), the gangster movie made a comeback in the 60's and 70's with movies like Bonnie and Clyde and Mean Streets. It hasn't really gone away since then.

Sometimes there are blurred lines for the genre, where movies like the heist film Rififi, one of my all-time favorite movies, is often considered a "gangster movie" because it deals with criminals committing a robbery. But there doesn't seem to me to be much connection to the mob itself in the movie. Maybe I'm misremembering things, but it seems more like criminals that have formed a group to do a job, not Mafioso. Then there are movies like In Bruges, which is about gangsters, but not about them necessarily doing gangster things. It's more about the aftermath and repercussions of gangster life. But it doesn't feel like a gangster movie to me. So I didn't include it even though it would be high up on the list if I did. Maybe that's semantics, but there are some great movies that didn't end up on my list because of this distinction.

So, anyway, onto the list!


Honorable Mentions: Casino, Once Upon a Time in America, A History of Violence

10. Road to Perdition

One of the most beautiful movies ever made, shot by the great Conrad L. Hall (who succumbed to cancer just two months before he could accept the Oscar for Best Cinematography, which was his third such award), Road to Perdition is an amazing movie unto itself, not just because of its wonderful look. Thought of at the time at "the movie where Tom Hanks tried to be a bad guy", the thing is that the movie works because Hanks is cashing in on his innate charm to get us to like a man who doesn't express himself very much, not to his wife or his sons, but we like him anyway. Another actor could've made the character a blank slate, but with Hanks you can see there's a lot going on under the surface, he's just not articulating it. When he needs to avenge a murder, we see the fire in his eyes even though we also see the pain and anger he isn't expressing. It's a remarkable performance, one of the best of Hanks's considerable career. Paul Newman deservedly was nominated for an Oscar for his powerful work, and guys like Daniel Craig, Tyler Hoechlin, Stanley Tucci, and especially Jude Law turn in terrific performances as well. This movie isn't as widely known as it should be, I don't think.

9. Donnie Brasco

Ah, the movie that showed me what a charismatic actor Johnny Depp could be, before he became a parody of himself. Paired up against Al Pacino, most actors would get upstaged, even with Pacino in one of the lowest key roles of his career (and one of his best). Depp plays Joe Pistone, a real life FBI agent who went deep under cover in the mob under the name Donnie Brasco. We watch as Joe tries to balance the mentality of being a gangster so that he can pass in the world of the mob, with the home life he has with a wife who hates his job and how it leaves her feeling like a single mother. Anne Heche is great as the wife, who gets a bit more nuance than in most similar movies. She feels like she's losing her husband, as when he is able to come home, he doesn't act like Joe, he acts like Donnie. The hurt on both of their faces when he tells her "I'm not becoming like them, Maggie. I am them." and you can see how he's hurt by this work too. It takes a toll on him too, the filmmakers don't just make it her problem. The scenes with Pacino showing Depp the ropes and roles and nuances of the mafia are really fascinating stuff. Perfectly acted by both actors. I wish it ended with Pacino's last scene, which gives the emotional ending of the movie, instead of the more logical resolution and crime statistics we get as the end of the movie, but that's a minor quibble.

8. The Departed

Maybe the most compulsively watchable movie Martin Scorsese has ever made, even more than Goodfellas, there's something about The Departed that I always go back to. It's not even in Scorsese's top 5 movies, but it is astoundingly well directed, well shot, and well edited. It just flows, it's told so fast that I get sucked in every time. It moves so quickly that the 2.5 hours fly by, and I think it's a fun game of cops and robbers and double crosses and all that. It's filled with terrific performances as well, especially from Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, who both say so much with their body language and eyes that they aren't saying with their dialog. Two great performances from two of our best star actors. It's not perfect, it does start to drag after Jack Nicholson is gone, but not because it misses his performance (which is fine, although it's one of the weakest in the movie), but because his character was the lynchpin of so much of the tension of the movie. Regardless, it's a great movie.

7. Scarface

Brian De Palma's remake of the Howard Hawks classic Scarface is one of the most garish and over-the-top movies ever made. It's not just Al Pacino's so-far-over-the-top-it-can't-even-see-the-top-anymore performance, the whole movie is garish, violent, loud and excessive. Almost 3 hours in length, I will admit that it is far too long. But I find Pacino so infinitely watchable in his role as Tony Montana that I never complain that the movie keeps going. Tony is loud and garish as well, but what people rarely talk about when they talk about this movie is that Tony is very funny. I almost think of the movie as a comedy, but intentionally so. Whether Tony is watching TV while soaking in the bubble bath and cheering on the flying pelicans, or getting kids to watch while his friend gets rejected by a woman, Tony makes me laugh so much. Sadly, like most gangsters, Tony lets power, money, women, and drugs take him down. In thematic resonance with his movie, Tony succumbs to excess. Honestly, my biggest complaint about the movie is actually Robert Loggia, an actor I always liked, who I think gives one of the worst performances I've ever seen. His accent is awful (say what you will about Pacino's, it's consistent and it works), his line deliveries are grasping for over-the-top but failing, it's just terrible work from a normally reliable actor. I still love the movie, but needed to say that about it.

6. The Godfather part II

We can just start with this: The Godfather is the best movie in its series, not The Godfather part II. The reason that Part II isn't as good is that the narrative doesn't quite work. By switching between the storylines of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone and Robert De Niro's Vito Corleone a generation before, each is robbed of its momentum, instead of building through the parallel struggles of power that tie the two together thematically. Francis Ford Coppola has said that he played with cutting back and forth twice as much, but it ended up feeling too chaotic and messy. I think that's because both are too self-contained. Yes they thematically tie together, but they're also narratively disconnected and don't ever come together. So what happens is that even though both pieces are brilliant, they don't fit. And the way the story unfolds, just as Michael's story is really gaining narrative momentum, it switches to Vito's story. Once Vito's gets going, to where we can't wait for the next scene, it switches back to Michael's. Neither is ever allowed to gain the full head of narrative steam that they both deserve. Each would be better as their own 90 minute movie rather than a single 3+ hour film. So why, even after all that complaining, is it still number 6 on this list? Because both of those 90 minute movie would be a 10/10 in my book. It's just that The Godfather part II doesn't become more than the sum of its parts when those two sections are cut together.

5. Eastern Promises

A story set in the not often explored Russian mafia in London, Eastern Promises contains one of the great performances of the 2000's in Viggo Mortensen's Nikolai, and also one of the most famous scenes of the decade, a fully nude fight scene in a Russian bath house between Nikolai and two assassins. It's a brutal scene, Nikolai is exposed in every sense of the word, vulnerable, it's dangerous and tense and lasts way longer than you might expect. Also at the center of the movie is the unpredictable Kirril (Vincent Cassel) and his coldly powerful father Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), Nikolai's superiors in the mob, and Anna (Naomi Watts) the non-mob affiliated midwife who has gotten caught up in this world. It's a gangster movie with no guns, set in a side of London we've never seen before, but given the form of a mob movie (and with the outsider Anna as the true lead character) we have no trouble finding our place in this world. I think it's the best work of director David Cronenberg's great career. Also proof that Watts and Mortensen are two of our very best actors working today.

4. Miller's Crossing

Miller's Crossing is a movie that didn't connect to me totally the first time I watched it. I was expecting something more epic in the vein of The Godfather, or something more kinetic and influenced by Scorsese. Instead, Miller's Crossing is more influenced by the noir novels of Dashiell Hammett (specifically Red Harvest and The Glass Key), and mixed a sense of weight through Barry Sonenfeld's sumptuous photography and the Coen Brothers' sense of humor and style. It's a gorgeous movie, so labyrinthine in its plot that the Coen's had to put the script down and write Barton Fink to give themselves time to work through the complexities. Gabriel Byrne is perfect as the classic noir hero, the smartest guy in the room, but not so smart that he avoids being doubled crossed or getting his ass kicked on occasion. Albert Finney is wonderful as the egotistic mob boss. Marcia Gay Harden is a great femme fatale, playing Byrne and Finney against each other while she protects her brother, John Turturro, who's the weakling that puts the whole plot into motion. Maybe because I knew more what to expect, and had much more familiarity with intricate noir plots, I loved Miller's Crossing when I went back and watched it a few years ago. It became one of my favorite movies from the Coen's, and definitely one of my favorite gangster movies.


3. Goodfellas

“As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster”

Goodfellas follows the story of the half-Irish Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his attempt to rise in the ranks of the New York mafia from the mid-1950’s through the late-1970’s. Being half-Irish is an important component in Henry’s story because it prevents him from ever becoming a “made guy”, as only those with 100% Italian blood can ever be “made guys”. The same hurdle blocks Henry’s mentor Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) as well. However, as a child Henry is paired with the sociopathic Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) who as a full blood Italian could one day rise to made status. Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci provide wonderful portraits of these psychopathic characters who do what they do (steal, kill, etc.) because they enjoy it and not for any other psychological or sociological reasons. Lorraine Bracco gives a great performance as a wife adjusting to a mafia marriage, which is a nice character to see Scorsese and co-writer Nicholas Pileggi take advantage of, as the “wife” is usually ignored in mafia/crime movies. The use of period music and subtle aging makeup allow a believable journey through the years with these characters.

In addition, Thelma Schoonmaker and Michael Ballhaus deserve infinite praise for their work on the editing and cinematography, respectively. Ballhaus’s roving camerawork helps us feel personally involved in these people’s lives, and Schoonmaker’s propulsive editing makes the movie feel alive with energy and easily the quickest 2 ½ hours in movie history. The most obvious examples of Ballhaus’s great work is the famous tracking shot in the Copa, and the great camera work during a certain section of the movie scored to the piano section of “Layla”. Schoonmaker’s genius in particular shows during a bravura sequence where Henry spends a frantic, paranoid day where he believes an FBI helicopter is following him as he dashes all over town running guns, tries to organize some drug trafficking, and attempts to cook dinner for his family (“don’t let the sauce burn” he repeats).

That said, some people may be bothered by both the language (the “f” word is used an alleged 300 times in the movies 145 minutes) and the violence. These characters are not nice people, and the fact that they show no remorse for their actions may also disturb some. The movie is not overly graphic in terms of gore, but there is no shortage of violence depicted on screen.

2. Pulp Fiction

Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction hit the movie going public like a lightning bolt in 1994. Its unashamed use of violence and creatively foul language offended a good deal of the people who went to see it (there were actually a number of boos from the audience when it took home the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival). It also hit me like a lightning bolt when I first saw it at about the age of 12 or so. It was the first movie I'd remembered seeing told out of order (no, I hadn't seen Citizen Kane by 12, nor had I seen Tarantino's debut, Reservoir Dogs) and the stunning dialog really lodged a place in my young brain. Tarantino's skills as director also had quite an impact on me, building tension in some scenes, hilarious comedy in others, and his use of music struck a significant chord with me back in those days of not knowing just how much he was stealing from Martin Scorsese, Elmore Leonard, and others.

So many movies that hit you at a young age simply don't continue having the same sort of impact as you get older. Pulp Fiction, though, still thrills me and makes me laugh (it's one of the great dark comedies at its core), nearly as much as when I was 12. There's not really a whole lot more to write about one of the most written and talked about movies ever made. Not for everybody, but definitely for me!

1. The Godfather

Yet another one that didn't hit me on first viewing. I'm not quite sure what it is about some movies, but many of the greats tend to grow on me. I don't remember when I first saw The Godfather, like Star Wars it seems like I have always seen it. But it didn't become one of my favorite movies until years later, when its combination of amazing photography, mesmerizing acting, and flawless script catapulted it to the top of my favorites list. I read the book while I was in the 8th or 9th grade, and had been disappointed when revisiting the movie, since it didn't go into the entrancing detail that the book went into. Over time, I realized that what Coppola and author Mario Puzo did when writing the script was to pare away the fat from the book and focus simply on the Corleone mafia family as the balance of power shifts through the generations. In fact, I had to read the book to find out some of the motivations for things that I didn't understand in the movie. As it turns out, the motivations for every action are there in the movie, we've simply not been conditioned to watch movies as densely constructed as this. However, even if you're not concerned with the intricacies of why everything happens, you can still be enthralled with the overall story, or at least with this incredible assembly of actors, all doing some of the best work of their careers.

There's no reason to relay the plot, or the famous quotes, or the things that have become part of pop culture since the movie's release. But one thing I find continuously fascinating is that honestly there aren't many "good" people in the movie. Coppola keeps things completely contained within the world of the mafia. Really only Diane Keaton's Kay is a good person, but she's not our protagonist. Somehow, storytellers have always been able to get us to identify with the less desirable members of our society. Vito, Sonny, Michael, Tom, and even Fredo are perpetuating the evil cycle of crime that the Corleone family is a member of. No matter that these aren't people we would necessarily want to know in real life, we worry for Vito's safety, Sonny temper, Fredo's weakness, Michael's descent from good to evil, and the future of the family. I never fail to be saddened by the last shot of the movie, as Michael finalizes himself and his family in the biggest position of power in the mob world.

Of course, you could praise everything from Gordon Willis's influential photography (for which the master somehow didn't even get nominated for an Oscar) to the flawless production and costume design, Nino Rota's famous score, everything. It's one of the most thoroughly well made movies I've ever seen. But none of that would make The Godfather as esteemed as it is if it wasn't so layered, powerful, and damn entertaining to watch. There's a reason so many people consider it the best movie ever made. I have to watch it every once in a while and I never fail to love it even more than I did the last time.

Director's Spotlight: Hou Hsiao-Hsien

Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-Hsien (pronounced Ho Shao-Shen) was one of the great discoveries of my movie watching life. I’d seen his name pop up every once in a while in threads on critics lists of best movies of the 80's or 90's, or Best Directors lists or whatever. He didn't seem to come up as much as other international directors, so it took me a while to expand into his work, but I'm glad I did. I think it was around the time I was finishing my initial Hayao Miyazaki quest, and looking for another director to check into. I already loved Akira Kurosawa, had just discovered and loved Miyazaki, and thought I should branch out to other Asian filmmakers and why not look outside of Japan?

The only movie of his I was able to get my hands on at the time was 2005's Three Times. Although I read it wasn't a great entry point into Hou's work, more of a culmination of his formalist style, but also much more experimental than usual, I went in anyway and I was blown away. The control of his camera, the tone, atmosphere, the way he let things breathe. He would let his characters just....be. Onscreen! He was never grasping for attention, he patiently unfolded everything, which rather than making me slump back in my chair and lose interest, it made me sit up and pay even closer attention. I immediately ordered a now out of print 8 film box set because even though I’d only seen one of his movies, I could tell that this was a genius filmmaker and one of my new favorites. He has stayed one of my favorites in the ensuing 10 years or so, and I even had the privilege of seeing 2015's The Assassin, one of the most beautiful movies ever made, on the big screen.

Hou has always been adored by film critics. Many of his movies have been nominated for the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The Assassin even won Hou the Best Director award when it screened there. A City of Sadness was the first Taiwanese film to win the Golden Lion, the top prize at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. In a poll of American and international film critics put together by The Village Voice and Film Comment magazine, Hou was voted the "Director of the 1990's". In a 1998 New York Film Festival worldwide critics poll, Hou was named "one of the three directors most crucial to the future of cinema." Although he often tackles historical times and subjects, such as in The Assassin, A City of Sadness, and The Puppetmaster, he's not afraid to throw modern set tales as well, like Three Times, or even make cinematic tributes like Flight of the Red Balloon (a riff on the great 1956 French short film The Red Balloon) or Cafe Lumiere (his tribute to the work of legendary Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu). Also, every one of his movies displays his impeccable camerawork and cinematographic beauty. Check out any of his films if you haven't already.

Acclaimed Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho (maker of international hits like The Host, Snowpiercer, and Okja) has listed A City of Sadness as one of his 10 favorite movies ever made. And American indie film godfather Jim Jarmusch said, when Three Times was released:

Hou Hsiao-hsien is not only the crowning jewel of contemporary Taiwanese cinema, but an international treasure. His films are, for me, among the most inspiring of the past thirty years, and his grace and subtlety as a filmmaker remain unrivaled. Film after film, Hou Hsiao-hsien is able to adeptly balance a historical and cultural overview with the smallest, most quiet and intimate details of individual interactions. His narratives can appear offhand and non-dramatic, and yet the structures of the films themselves are all about storytelling and the beauty of its variations. And Hou's camera placement is never less than exquisite.

His newest film, THREE TIMES, is also his newest masterpiece. A trilogy of three love stories, Chang Chen and Shu Qi beautifully portray Taiwanese lovers in three distinct time periods: 1966, 1911 and 2005. The first section (in 1966), just on its own, is one of the most perfect pieces of cinema I’ve ever seen. The second, set in a brothel in 1911, remarkably explores dialogue and verbal exchange by almost completely eliminating sound itself (!), while the final piece leaves us in present-day Taipei — a city of rapidly changing social and physical landscapes where technology has a harsh effect on delicate interpersonal communication. The resonance of these combined stories, their differences and similarities, their quietness and seeming simplicity, left me in a near dream-state - something that only happens to me after the most striking cinematic experiences.

What are your thoughts on this paragon of the Taiwanese New Wave?

My ratings of his work:

1. A City of Sadness - 10/10
2. The Assassin - 10/10
3. Three Times - 10/10
4. A Time to Live, a Time to Die - 9/10
5. Dust in the Wind - 9/10
6. Flight of the Red Balloon - 9/10
7. The Puppetmaster - 8/10
8. Cafe Lumiere - 8/10
9. The Boys from Fengkuei - 6/10
10. A Summer at Grandpa’s - 6/10
11. Goodbye South Goodbye - 5/10

And I’ve got so many left to see that I am excited for, especially Flowers of Shanghai.

Bowfinger

The movies have such an allure on us. Everyone’s got some kind of connection, and many of us would love to write, direct, or act in a movie. The obstacle is often that we don’t have the talent, or maybe we don’t have the ingenuity needed to get deals done, make filming happen, manage star egos, etc. Frank Oz’s 1999 movie Bowfinger is one of the great comedies, a spot on spoof of Hollywood, and it’s populated with people who know how to get things done, or at least try to get them done, but also with people who may not have the most talent in the world. Written by its star Steve Martin and co-starring in two of the best roles of his life, Eddie Murphy, Bowfinger is in the running for the best work either of these comedy giants has ever done.

Bobby Bowfinger (Martin) is a down on his luck movie producer/director who has just commissioned a new science-fiction script from his accountant, a wannabe writer, about alien invaders to Earth. The problem is that even though the script is pretty good, Bowfinger’s a nobody and can’t get it made. He strikes a verbal deal with mega-producer Jerry Renfro (Robert Downey, Jr.) that Renfro would back the movie if Bowfinger could get the biggest star in the world, Kit Ramsey (Murphy) to star in the lead role of Keith Kincade. The issue then is that Kit doesn’t agree to it, and Bowfinger is forced to find a look-alike, Jiff (also Murphy), to film close up scenes, while Bowfinger illegally follows Kit around and has the other actors play their roles interacting with him. Bowfinger has told the other actors that Kit is a serious method actor and won’t be interacting with them outside of their filmed scenes or addressing them at all. They’re all in awe of his commitment to the craft. An unsuspecting Kit begins losing his hold on reality, thinking there are real aliens invading Earth. People keep running up to him, acting crazy, and talking about an alien invasion. And why does everyone keep calling him Keith? This is even further complicated by Kit’s involvement in a big celebrity religious organization called Mind Head (a thinly veiled Scientology parody) that keeps their own tabs on him. With this wonderful setup, many hijinks ensue.

Bowfinger is a wonderful representation of classic Steve Martin, very subtle and smart jokes mixed in with pure idiocy and a lot of heart. These people are some of the lowest of the low on the totem pole of Hollywood, trying to strike big with one great opportunity. You can easily see the parallels to Mel Brooks’s The Producers or even Tim Burton’s Ed Wood. Like the characters in those movies, these people are mostly good hearted, and just want to work and be successful. Bowfinger is a schemer, but a noble one to some degree. He may be illegally filming Kit Ramsey, but he’s well-meaning, isn’t he?

Martin is perfect in this role as the fast talking Bowfinger, desperate to make a name for himself before he turns 50. The movie could’ve worked with just him as the star, but thankfully we also get the best work of Eddie Murphy’s career in his double role. Kit is paranoid, angry, and mentally unstable. His rapid fire delivery of a monologue telling his agent he wants to play the role of a mentally challenged slave (so he can win an Oscar) is one of my favorite in the movie. It also has one of my favorite subtle jokes in it when he says of great action leading man roles: “these parts go to Arnold, and Van Damme, and Jackie Chan. And they can’t even speak English good.”

But even better than his role as Kit, Murphy’s creation of the look-alike Jiff is the best work of his career. Jiff is nerdy, but really wants to be in the movie, and has the biggest heart of any character in the movie. It’s the most unlike Eddie Murphy role we’ve seen from him, but that’s not why it’s impressive. Jiff is just so dorky, adorable, and lovable that you can’t help but laugh both with him and at him. It’s really a wonderful performance, not just comedically, but as a real actor. Murphy takes a total wallflower and brings him to the foreground. But Murphy and Martin aren’t the only stars here, there’s a great tapestry of characters that all get a shining moment. Christine Baranski as an over-the-hill never-was-a-star, Jamie Kennedy as Bowfinger’s shady cameraman, Heather Graham as the young could be starlet, Terrence Stamp as the leader of Mind Head, and a group of illegal Mexican immigrants that Bowfinger grabs to be his crew all make us laugh.

Martin’s brilliant script takes big swings at a barrage of Hollywood targets as well. Martin denies Scientology being the inspiration for Mind Head, saying Mind Head was just based on any number of fads and religions that’ve passed through Hollywood over the years, getting their hooks into various stars along the way. But the satire is spot on. The hardworking Mexican crew members all work their way up from not speaking English in the beginning to trading technical notes on Citizen Kane and Apocalypse Now, and fielding other movie offers by the end of the film. Heather Graham’s character is a swipe at any number of young stars more than willing to sleep their way into power and stardom. Robert Downey, Jr.’s tiny role as the mega producer is particularly great. He boasts that although his ex-wife got the kids in their divorce at least he got to keep his car. And there’s a great moment when thumbing through Bowfinger’s screenplay that he reads the title, shuffles through the rest of the script saying “and then all this” before only reading the last line. It’s another little moment that always makes me laugh.

There are even more throwaway bits about unions, renting equipment, arrogant producers, pretentious actors at auditions, and many more. This movie is so chock full of jokes that you’re likely to miss half of them on your first viewing. But that just makes it more fun to re-watch this movie over and over again, as it keeps revealing new ways to make you laugh. Truly great comedies are sadly rare. Movies that work on a narrative and joke level, while being dense enough to warrant re-watches and still be as enjoyable as the first time, if not more so. I’m always surprised when I reference this movie and people haven’t seen or sometimes even heard of it. Two of the biggest stars in Hollywood comedy history somehow made a Hidden Gem. Go see it if you haven’t already.

Director's Spotlight: Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki is one of the greatest filmmakers we've ever had and is the reason I don't dismiss anime as an adult like I did when I was younger. Miyazaki often uses the exaggerated eyes and mouths characteristic of anime to evoke emotions, often those of childhood. His recurring themes of ecology and flight are explored often but never repetitiously. He can bring the fantastical to even a realistic and simple seeming story like The Wind Rises, while also bringing darkness in the form of a frighteningly rendered earthquake and the ensuing chaos. He does the same thing in movies like Castle in the Sky, which has scenes of transcendent beauty, terrifying action, and (for me too) broad comedy. His work holds so much and is what keeps us coming back to it over and over again.

Through research I've found that his work holds a lot of debt to the Shinto religion and their belief that everything in the world has a spirit. Often in Miyazaki's movies nature seems to have a sentient life and soul of its own, either rising up to counter people's negative influence, like in Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke, or the way that we literally see forest spirits and water spirits in Spirited Away, or nature guardians in My Neighbor Totoro. Much of this comes from Shinto and how it's engrained in Japanese culture. It's a much more spiritual and beautiful way of seeing the world than we're used to here in the US. I can't get enough and go back to Miyazaki's gorgeous work over and over again.

Miyazaki makes not only some of the most wonderful, awe inspiring, perfect family movies, but some of the best movies ever made, period. I have previously put his Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind on my top 50 movies list, as it's the one that I connect to the most for some unexplainable reason. A lot of people seem to connect to Totoro, Mononoke, or Spirited Away the most, but it's Nausicaa for me. In 2016, Spirited Away was even named by the BBC as the 4th best movie of the 21st century, and in 2017 the New York Times named it the 2nd best of the 21st century. It's also the movie that made him "Oscar winner Hayao Miyazaki".

My ratings for his work

1. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - 10/10
2. My Neighbor Totoro - 10/10
3. Spirited Away - 10/10
4. The Wind Rises - 9/10
5. Castle in the Sky - 9/10
6. Princess Mononoke - 8/10
7. Howl's Moving Castle - 7/10
8. Castle of Cagliostro - 7/10
9. Ponyo - 6/10
10. Porco Rosso - 6/10
11. Kiki's Delivery Service - 6/10

Top 10 Superhero movies

Over the last 10 years, superhero movies have become the dominant force at the box office the way that musicals, westerns, noir, and dumbed down sci-fi action movies before them were. Also like those genres before them, they are really a blank slate onto which a filmmaker can put their stamp. Many things can be said about humanity, society, emotions, and more if only the filmmaker has the ambition. These are no different than ancient Greek, Roman, or Norse mythology. These are modern myths. Even in the seemingly restricted world of Marvel movies, the company that controls their content more than any other, one can say real things about the world we live in just like non-superhero movies can. The best examples of the genre do exactly that. They have something to say more than just telling a story where super people fancy punch each other. Let's see what the movies on my list have on their minds.

There are movies I love but didn't include on this list because although they're based on comics, they're not what I consider "superhero movies". These movies include: Watchmen, Hellboy, and The Crow. Though each has a superpowered character in them, and Watchmen in particular is even a sort of satire of superheroes, they don't feel like "superhero movies" to me. So, maybe your definition differs, and I'd love to hear from you, but this is my list.

There has to be an honorable mention for 2008's Iron Man. Although there were superhero movies before (Superman, Batman, X-Men), it was Iron Man that really started the trend of superheroes being the dominant force at the box office. It's a really good movie and nearly made this list on its own merits, but I had to cut it out. Still wanted to mention it though.

Onto the list proper.

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

As a child, even more than Batman, Spider-Man was my favorite superhero. I had more Spider-Man comics than any other hero. Although I liked some Spider-Man movies in the past, and even loved Spider-Man 2 despite its flaws, Homecoming was the first Spider-Man movie to really feel like Spider-Man comics did. Tobey Maguire was too old, too wimpy without being smart nerdy enough, while Andrew Garfield understood Peter Parker's arrogance and love of his powers and enjoyed great chemistry with Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy, his movies never really came alive around him. He was let down by the movies themselves. We didn't get much of Tom Holland's Peter in his first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance in Captain America: Civil War, but what we did get hit all of my Spidey senses and I greatly looked forward to Homecoming. Holland is much younger (21 when the movie came out, whereas Maguire was 27 and Garfield 29 when they played the teenaged character), and the filmmakers have really done a great job helping him fit into a modern high school world. Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes is one of the great MCU villains, and he's the type of blue collar, not necessarily trying to take over the world, type of villain that Spider-Man fought in the comics so often. Keaton also has motivation, he's just a guy trying to provide for his family in a world increasingly changing once aliens and government cover-ups get involved. The scene between hero and villain in the car might be the best MCU scene, period. It reveals many layers, it deepens and expands and explains the plot, it has menace and danger and so many other things. It's the kind of scene that puts Spider-Man: Homecoming onto this list.

9. Superman

The hero and movie that started it all, really. We'd already had the great Fleischer studios Superman cartoons in the 40's (love those shorts, the look is still extraordinary), and the Batman serials and ultimately TV show in the 60's, but the grandfather of our modern superhero boom is Richard Donner's 1978 Superman. Christopher Reeve is just so perfect as Superman. He's charming, he's big athletic and good looking, but most of all we believe his goodness. Marlon Brando adds some nice weight to his role as Jor-El, Superman's father (I've always loved his line reading of "They can be a great people"), but the other actor that makes the movie go is Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor. Hackman was already the Oscar-winning (for the French Connection) genius actor we all know and love, but his villainous turn has something that not many other villains have: humor. Lex is having fun being the villain. He's as villainous as anyone else, but he likes it. He's not as self serious as most villains are. Jack Nicholson tried to bring some of this to his interpretation of The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman, but I didn't believe it. It didn't feel real. Hackman does and it makes him more enjoyable to watch, and more dangerous as well. Although I enjoy Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, and the chemistry she has with Reeve, it's really the 1-2 punch of Hackman and Reeve that makes this movie work. You could easily substitute in Superman II here, as Terence Stamp gives one of the great scenery chewing villainous roles ever given, but I went ahead and stayed with the original entry for my list.

8. Logan

Wolverine was always one of the best characters in Marvel comics, but he has also been over explored in the comics (at one point having like a dozen ongoing books running simultaneously with him as lead) and in the movies as well. Part of that is Hugh Jackman's star making turn as the character, and part of it is just that Wolverine is so cool. The claws, the athleticism, the metallic skeleton, the healing power. But as he got into his late 40's, Jackman knew he couldn't play the character forever. Unlike Wolverine, Jackman's cells don't regenerate and give him seemingly eternal life. Thankfully, Jackman and director James Mangold (who co-wrote the script with Michael Green and the great Scott Frank) decided to go out with a kind of elegiac western feel. They allow Wolverine to start breaking down, caring for his mentor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart, gorgeously saying goodbye to his character as well), playing the role of the reluctant gunslinger making sure the young child (Dafne Keen's Laura) is taken to idyllic safety. I love westerns. This is classic western stuff, and although it's not a western, it has the feel of one. It may be Jackman's best performance (it's up there with his best work, anyway), and it's a wonderful way to say goodbye to the character that gave him his career and kind of started this superhero boom back with 2000's X-Men. It has the same third act problems that even some of these best of the genre movies have, but we can forgive when the rest of the movie is so good.


7. Wonder Woman

It took far too long for us to get a real female driven modern superhero movie (don't inflict 1984's Supergirl on yourself if you don't have to), and I was worried with all of the behind the scenes conflicts that reportedly took place what kind of movie we would end up with. All of this amid DC Comics' and Warner Brothers' inability to hit on anything with Man of Steel, Suicide Squad, or Batman V Superman. Even though I kind of like Man of Steel, these movies are all thematic and narrative messes. Into all of this chaos stepped director Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot as Diana/Wonder Woman. Thank God they did, because Wonder Woman was what we needed. This is how to do a female led superhero movie. It's not complicated, all you gotta do is make it good. There's the now iconic No Man's Land sequence (which Jenkins said she had to fight the studio to keep in, further showing their incompetence), but the movie also wonderfully establishes where Diana comes from, who her people are, what she stands for and believes, as well as giving her a great foil in Chris Pine (climbing up the ladder of great Hollywood Chris's). Last year, when I put her as #2 on my top Heroes list, I wrote "Diana has no tolerance for intolerance, she has no stomach for fear. She loves and loses loved ones. She fights the bad guy and saves the day. And she will gladly go into 'No Man's Land' to take the fight to the villains, because she isn't a man. She's a hero." Although Wonder Woman falls victim to the same drawbacks that many of these kinds of movies fall to (the third act falls down and isn't nearly as interesting as everything that came before it), even then there are great emotional moments between Gadot and Pine and they are what stick in the memory.

6. Captain America: Civil War

The third entry in the Captain America saga ended up being more like a third Avengers film than a true Captain America movie. Taking one of the biggest crossover events in Marvel comics history as the base point for this movie, the amount of characters would seem ridiculous until Infinity War. But, as directed by the Russo Brothers, in their second time in the directors seat (after the great, but I think slightly overrated Captain America: Winter Soldier), Cap is still definitely the main character. We get great additions like Black Panther and a villain in Baron Zemo that doesn’t want to take over the world, he just wants revenge from having his family made into collateral damage by the events of the second Avengers movie. My favorite thing about this movie is the central theme of it. When dealing with super powered people, if they don’t answer to someone, then they’re just a bad day away from being a danger to society. Iron Man and others believe that the Avengers should answer to the United Nations. Captain America and those on his side believe that when a threat arises it’s up to them to answer, not to wait on bureaucracy to be deployed like a military for various (and always changing) political reasons. It ultimately comes down to the ancient Latin saying “who watches the watchmen?” (or “who will guard the guards themselves”, its exact wording has changed throughout history). It’s an idea that the DC movie universe has tried to wrap up movies like Man of Steel and Suicide Squad in, but have failed narratively. Thankfully, the Russo’s and Marvel soar higher than ever when focused on this heady theme.

5. Black Panther

I didn't grow up reading Black Panther comics. I knew who he was, loved how cool his suit looked, but I didn't know his character or any of his stories. His appearance in Civil War was something that I liked, but didn't get me super hyped for him having a stand alone movie. I was intrigued, however, when director Ryan Coogler came aboard. He'd previously directed the very surprising Creed, the best Rocky movie since Rocky, and Fruitvale Station, a wonderful, emotional, tragic true story. Both movies starred Michael B. Jordan, who came on here to play the villain Erik Killmonger. Although a pretty standard superhero flick in structure (including an underwhelming third act), Black Panther gives us another great villain with Andy Serkis's Ulysses Klaue, who teams with Killmonger. The story here is one of the big reasons this movie works so well. Killmonger has a backstory we can care about. He's actually not wrong, morally, and the way the movie presents the sins of the father having to be dealt with by the son is very powerful. For both hero and villain. Killmonger has pain in his eyes and his voice, and we know where it comes from. It's one of the great superhero villain turns by Jordan, with shades to his work that I go back to time and again. Black Panther also, like Civil War, has something on its mind. If someone has some great technology or product that would change the lives of so many people for the better, don't they have a moral necessity to share that with the world? Black Panther's Wakanda has always been hidden, and they credit that hiding with their successful development of their futuristic technologies. Don't they have to share their knowledge with the world? Shouldn't we all be wanting to make the world a better place? Isn't world advancement more important than nationalism? Again, not something you'll find being discussed in most big Hollywood blockbusters, but superhero movies give a lot of artistic room for philosophical exploration.

4. The Avengers: Infinity War

Now, some people will shout it down, but this was one of the most ambitious movies ever made. 50+ characters, all of whom were introduced in other movies, coming together to fight a big bad named Thanos that was also introduced in other movies, but not at his full strength until here. Now, was it a risky move? I don't think so, all of the movies in which these characters were introduced and had their own stories were all hugely successful. There was no risk that this was going to be a failure. But there was no assurance that this wasn't too many characters, there's danger that the actors couldn't carry the movie when they have so little screen time in which to do it. There could've easily been the narrative problems that sank Avengers Age of Ultron. And yet there weren't. The Russo's, following up from so wonderfully balancing Civil War, again knocked it out of the park. Everyone gets their moment up front, in the spotlight, but not feeling like "okay, now it's Thor's token moment" or whatever. Also what the writers did that was unexpected, is that they really made Thanos feel like the main character of the movie. A brilliant choice, and one that adds depth to their villain that likely wouldn't have been there otherwise. We see his motivation and dilemma: universal overpopulation combined with finite resources and most of all Thanos's messianic/narcissistic idea that he's the only one strong enough to make the difficult choice to correct the problems that plague us. They give him some emotional moments as well. He's got more depth than many villains ever get in these movies. That Marvel did all of this, did it so well, and still gave us a great big dumb action movie is pretty remarkable and I don't think has quite been appreciated enough by movie nerds like myself. Too many of us are such jaded assholes when it comes to reviewing mega-budget Hollywood movies that we can forget to enjoy when it is done so well.

3. The Dark Knight

I said, in my Christopher Nolan Spotlight a couple of months ago "Nolan, I gotta say that I'm a big fan even though sometimes his storytelling deficiencies get in the way. He tends to pitch everything at a climax, not letting the drama build to a crescendo, resulting in his movies running out of steam before they're over. The Dark Knight is the one where I feel this the most, because when it should be building to a climax with the coming together of the Batman, Joker, and Harvey Dent/Two-Face storylines, it's instead limping to the finish momentum wise. And all of the actors are so good, the storytelling letting them down disappoints even more." I have always believed that. Even sitting there on opening day watching this, there was something that stuck with me, kept me from fully embracing it like everyone else was. It wasn't until years later that I figured that part out about the narrative. That doesn't mean that I dislike the movie. I LOVE this movie, but I am not blind to its flaws. I didn't even mention the stupid Batman voice that Christian Bale does, mostly because everyone talks about that. But, I like Bale for the most part in the movie. Heath Ledger is phenomenal (his 20 minutes or so of screen time is reason enough to see the movie). I like Aaron Eckhart as well. Even Maggie Gyllenhaal, whom some people didn't like, I thought was terrific. I don't think Nolan's movies are as smart as he thinks they are. They are definitely not as smart as many of his fanboys think they are. But he's a good filmmaker and is telling a good story. I like how indebted to Michael Mann's Heat this movie is, it gives everything a great crime drama feel instead of a glossy superhero feel. I have watched this movie probably more times than all the others on this list except #1, and I love it every time. There's a reason it's #3 on this list.

2. Unbreakable

Following up the cultural phenom that was The Sixth Sense wasn't an easy task. M. Night Shyamalan decided to do it with a superhero movie a few years before superhero movies were really popular. What he brought to the table was a movie thematically and visually more indebted to the lore of comic books than almost any other superhero movie before or since. These are classic archetypes, he telegraphs the ending twist the whole way through, and he has some of the best performances Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson have ever given. The movie is gorgeous to look at. And I love how much it fits with superhero lore. There's the "discovering his powers", "first foray into actually acting the hero", and "confrontation with the villain" sequences just like in every other superhero movie. Shyamalan took the same deliberate pacing he'd had success with on Sixth Sense and applied it to this burgeoning genre. It makes it feel so different from any other superhero movie and I love that about it. People at the time didn't, and the movie was a financial flop. But Shyamalan has now gone back and decided to create his own cinematic universe, with 2016's Split, and next years Glass. But it's Unbreakable that earns its spot here on this list. I hope more people go back and revisit it. Its reputation has grown in the years since its box office failure, but not enough.

1. The Incredibles

This is the best and most thrilling superhero movie ever made, if you ask me (which by reading this blog, you're kinda doing). I also think that with the issues of marriage and family and trying to find yourself when you don't know who you are anymore, The Incredibles is Pixar's most adult movie, most thematically complex, even though it's disguised as a bright colorful action movie for kids. And there it is again, thematic complexity in a superhero movie that could easily go unnoticed or unappreciated if you want to just focus on the action of it all. But it's there if you want to see it as well. Each character is created with a distinct personality, each speaks differently about their feelings and actions (you'd be surprised how little this happens in movies once you start paying attention to it), and the voice acting brings that last little bit to make these truly remarkable characters. All of that said, it's also just a mind blowingly amazing action movie, with set pieces that put Bond and Bourne to shame. The attack on the plane is my personal favorite, as the mounting fear in Helen's voice, and the parental actions she takes to possibly sacrifice herself for her children are a rare action sequence that makes me tear up with its dramatic implications. Then there's the "discovering the joys of your abilities" quality of Dash vs. the flying machines. When Dash starts running (with unexpected success) on the water of the ocean, he lets out a little "oh man, that's so awesome I can do this" kinda giggle that lights my face up every time I watch it. This is the best superhero movie. I love the sequel, but this is the best one of them all.

Director's Spotlight: Ang Lee

Ang Lee is such a unique filmmaker. Despite winning 2 Best Director Oscars, there's not really an "Ang Lee style", or even really recurring themes that I can think of, except maybe his characters often struggling with hidden emotions that they keep from themselves and others. Regardless, he makes beautiful and emotional films, some of the best of the last few decades, and again despite winning two Best Director Oscars (and another for Best Foreign Language Film) I don't think he's often included in lists of the best filmmakers out there right now. I think he gets forgotten because of those lack of definable characteristics of his movies. His films are always technically impressive, usually expertly told, and even when he falls flat, he was at least ambitious about it.

Lee's take on the Hulk was one of the first big budget comic book movies, and Lee mimicked the actual pages of a comic book. Odd angles, jarring 180 degree edits, extreme close ups, he played with the visual language of what a movie could look like in a really fascinating way. The movie doesn't totally work narratively, it's too long, not engaging enough, too much silliness, etc. but it's a very interesting movie to look at and study. The care he brought to the emotional dramas within Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and especially The Ice Storm may be his calling card. He tried to bring the same thing to Hulk, but it's a movie that doesn't gel tonally into a whole. Regardless, he always makes movies worth seeing, both narratively and visually, and I say that without having seen his other movie that won him a Best Director Oscar, Life of Pi.

So, what do you think of Ang Lee and his films?

My ratings:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - 10/10
2. Brokeback Mountain - 10/10
3. The Ice Storm - 9/10
4. Hulk - 7/10
5. Sense and Sensibility - 7/10
6. Taking Woodstock - 6/10
7. Ride with the Devil - 4/10

Is historical fiction okay?

Is it okay to use real life tragedies (like 9/11) in fictionalized stories in movies?

This is a weird topic, I think. There have been plenty of times that movies have used things like the Holocaust, WWII, Vietnam, or really just war in general to tell fictional stories. In literature it's known as historical fiction. Is this okay, morally? Normally I would say yes, but one of the reasons I hate The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is because I feel like its finale tries to piggyback on the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina to ratchet up the tension and emotion that it wasn’t a good enough movie to create itself in the first place. So then I wonder if I think historical fiction is okay after all. There are movies like Remember Me, where the use of 9/11 just feels tacky, but not necessarily offensive to me. I’m honestly not sure what I think about this subject, so I pose the question to myself.

I think the question is less about accurately portraying a tragedy and more about the ethics of telling a fictionalized story using the framework of a real world tragedy. Is it offensive to the real pain that real people went through and how the tragedy changed their lives? Is it disingenuous because you could also just tell the real story of one of the real people the event happened to? Is it using the inherent emotions of a tragedy to manipulate the audience rather than creating emotions on your own as a storyteller? Those are the questions that interest me more than whether or not the movie accurately portrays how an event happened. And those are the questions I think are more important to ask and think about.


What do you think?

Director's Spotlight: Peter Jackson

The man responsible for New Zealand's tourism industry, we come to Sir Peter Robert Jackson, first of his name. Initially known for his low budget horror comedies, and then right turning into the brilliant drama of Heavenly Creatures, and then of course into what got people to know him by name, the Lord of the Rings adaptations and subsequently the thing that got him a bunch of ridicule, the Hobbit movies, Jackson is one of the most successful and popularly known filmmakers ever. His movies have been dissected and discussed as much as almost any filmmaker working today, for both positive and negative reasons (if you haven't seen YouTuber Lindsay Ellis's 3 part dissection of the Hobbit movies and what went right and wrong with them, you're sorely missing out). So, what do you think of the films of Peter Jackson?

My ratings of the handful I've seen:

1. Fellowship of the Ring - 10/10
2. Heavenly Creatures - 9/10
3. King Kong - 9/10
4. Return of the King - 8/10
5. The Two Towers - 6/10

I would say that as far as the LotR movies go, Fellowship is the only one I've seen more than twice because it's the only one that works as a whole. The next two entries don't have the weight and gravitas of Fellowship, they have too much of the bad comic relief that Jackson seems to love, the action becomes too repetitive and the characters too thinly sketched.

Heavenly Creatures, it's been too long since I've seen it, but I don't remember having many complaints. It's great filmmaking. Well acted, well put together, occasionally transportational in its fantasy world. Great stuff.

And Jackson's King Kong, while it is an hour too long, and there's a lot in it that doesn't work (I love Jack Black, but he's miscast here), overall it's a big fun blockbuster of the highest order. There's fun and adventure and everything with Kong and Naomi Watts really works well. And I'll always remember the sequence of Kong in NYC on the ice and playing like the animal he is instead of the monster he's seen as being. It's just a wonderful movie despite its many flaws.

Top Ten One Scene Characters

Sometimes actors can make a huge mark on a movie even without a ton of screen time. In some even more specific instances, actors make a mark with just one scene. Some of these scenes are long, others relatively short. Some are creepy or frightening, others are funny. Some are both. But all contain performances that left a big impact on me as a viewer.

10. Donald Sutherland - JFK

Oliver Stone's paranoid masterpiece JFK has many great performances in it from one of the best casts ever assembled, but the standout ultimately comes from the perpetually underrated Donald Sutherland. As X, an informant spilling some beans to Kevin Costner's DA Jim Garrison, Sutherland is utterly commanding in his few minutes on screen. Always one of our best actors, even though it's just one scene it has become the role I think of when I think of Sutherland. It's always great to see (and I'm sure for the actor to play) the guy with all the answers in the middle of the conspiracy. Hell, The X-Files became one of my favorite TV shows by banking on that feeling. But Sutherland really nails everything possible about this role to make it the definitive "guy with all the answers" role in my mind.



9. Samuel L. Jackson - Out of Sight



Really just a cameo, barely even a scene, but at the end of Steven Soderbergh's great Out of Sight, Sam Jackson comes in to join George Clooney's Jack Foley on the way to prison. Jackson underplays his role in a way that it unusual for him, and I love it. I love it for Jackson's work, and for what it means to the movie. Clooney is being taken to prison, but Jackson's character has broken out of prison repeatedly. Jennifer Lopez's US Marshall subtly smiles from the front seat as the men talk and get to know each other. Jackson's character doesn't know it, but this is the start of his friendship with Clooney, whom he will help break out of prison, and who Lopez can then chase after again, continuing their bizarre romance. It's one of my favorite movies, and even though the scene isn't in Elmore Leonard's book, Scott Frank's script and Jackson's way with dialog make it feel like it jumped out of Leonard's mind.


8. Martin Scorsese - Taxi Driver

Martin Scorsese wasn't supposed to be in Taxi Driver, but when the cast actor couldn't make it, Scorsese slipped in out of necessity. I'm thankful he did because Scorsese could've actually been a wonderful actor if the whole directing thing didn't work out. His character in Taxi Driver is the only person in the movie who leaves Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle feeling uncomfortable. Usually it's Travis who makes others feel this way, but when Scorsese's angry husband has Travis take him to see his wife cheating on him, and proceeds to talk uninterrupted about how he's going to kill her, gruesomely, with a .44 Magnum, Travis stays silent. Scorsese makes such a disgusting impact on us as viewers that I think we actually stay with Travis through his descent into madness because we have seen that Travis isn't even the worst of people out there. It's a remarkable performance that has always stuck with me, even if sometimes I would prefer that it didn't.


7. Billy Crystal - The Princess Bride

Honestly, this entry could just be a quotation of the great lines that Crystal delivers from one of the best scripts in cinema history. But rather than just quote, let me talk about how terrific Crystal is as Miracle Max. I would say that he keeps Max from being a cartoon, but the movie itself is so entrenched in its fairy tale-ness that it's fine even if you think Crystal does become cartoonish in his sort of fantasy Catskills comedian role. It fits with the movie. Crystal creates this terrific character that we're introduced to 2/3's of the way through the movie. Thanks to Crystal, and William Goldman's script, we know exactly who this guy is, and we love him. There could've been a whole movie just about Max and we would've lapped it up. And even though this is overall one of the funniest movies ever made, Miracle Max is most people's favorite part. Whether he's championing mutton lettuce and tomato sandwiches, wishing good luck storming the castle, or trying to define what "to blave" means, Max may be the standout character in The Princess Bride and he's only in one scene.


6. The Pale Man - Pan's Labyrinth

One of the most iconic scenes of the 2000’s, cinemas greatest fairy tale has its most recognizable villain in just this one scene, but it’s a doozy. He never says a word, but even before he pops those eyeballs into his hands you know you’re in for maybe the great monster in movie history. Referencing other great children devouring villains like the Krampus (sort of the anti-Santa Claus) or the mythical Cronos, who ate his children so that they didn’t replace him, The Pale Man attacks as our hungry heroine Ofelia passes through his buffet of food. She eats only a grape, but that’s enough for him to wobbly chase after her with intent to make her his dinner. It’s a wonderfully terrifying scene in one of my favorite movies.


5. Alec Baldwin - Glengarry Glen Ross

One of the most famous speeches in the movies is this "Always be closing" speech from Alec Baldwin to the desperate real estate salesmen in James Foley's movie version of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize winning play Glengarry Glen Ross. Now, I've never seen the play, but apparently Baldwin's speech isn't in it. It was written specifically for Baldwin, specifically for the movie. Strange that it wasn't in the play, because it's in the opening of the movie and Baldwin's presence lingers over the entire film. "First prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is, you're fired." Baldwin's barely contained anger, condescension, and disbelief at the men to whom he's giving the speech sear this scene into our brains. His command of Mamet's language is mesmerizing. The contents of the speech are kind of like the "fuck you" version of a "let's go get 'em!" type of speech you'd see from a coach in a sports movie. It's pretty depressing if you really look at it. These guys are not great salesmen, they mostly don't know it, but Baldwin does and he has no patience for them. He even closes with the not so rah-rah line of "I came here because Mitch and Murray asked me to, they asked me for a favor. I said, the real favor, follow my advice and fire your fucking ass because a loser is a loser." It is endlessly parodied and referenced, and without Jack Donaghy would’ve been the best thing Alec Baldwin ever did as an actor. As is, it's one of the best one scene characters ever.


4. Chris Sarandon - Dog Day Afternoon

Hilarious, heartbreaking, beautiful and painfully sad at its core, Chris Sarandon’s scene as Al Pacino’s pre-op transsexual lover Leon in Dog Day Afternoon is like a distillation of the movie itself. And that's because Sarandon conveys frustration, love, confusion, and all while feeling emotionally and physically fragile. You laugh and cry during their phone conversation, and that's because of the perfect acting from Sarandon and Pacino. Sarandon actually made so much of an impact on me that I didn't even realize he's only in this one scene until I was doing some research for making this list. He deservedly was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and would go on to be known to my generation as the cowardly Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride (as well as the voice of Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas) but the best work of career was this one scene on the phone with Al Pacino.


3. John Carroll Lynch - Zodiac

John Carroll Lynch has long been one of our best character actors, whether he was playing Marge Gunderson’s husband in Fargo or Drew Carey’s cross dressing brother on The Drew Carey Show. But his crowning achievement as an actor is his controlled, intelligent, exceedingly creepy turn in David Fincher’s Zodiac. As our best bet as who the Zodiac killer was, there are so many signs that point to his character even if they’re ultimately not enough for a conviction. But Lynch is commanding. He’s toying with the cops when they come interview him as a possible suspect. It’s a scene that must be seen, especially in he context of the movie. He's playing with fire, and he knows it, but he likes it. You can see his arrogance that he feels like he's walking up to the edge of the cliff but he's going to be fine. He's in total control of the situation. We all think know it was him, but like Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo, we can’t prove it. Lynch actually pops back up at the end of the movie, in the final scene, but he doesn't have any dialog so I'm counting him as only being in this one interrogation scene.


EDIT: it has been brought to my attention that Lynch is actually in more than just the interrogation scene that I didn't remember. I'm still keeping him on the list, but he doesn't ultimately qualify. Sigh...


2. Robin Wright and Jason Isaacs - Nine Lives

Only one scene, only one shot, and Robin Wright went from "that lady that was Princess Buttercup and Forrest Gump's Jenny" to "she's one of our best actresses" in my mind. Though she wouldn't really start getting her due until House of Cards, it was all here that Wright really got me. Nine Lives is a movie made up of 9 shorts, all a single take. It's a great movie, but the early section with Robin Wright and Jason Isaacs as two former lovers is the highlight. Damien and Diana. They run into each other in a grocery store after many years since they were together. Both married, thinking they've moved on, she's pregnant. They make small talk and go their separate ways, but he comes back to tell her he still thinks about her. The emotional dominos fall from there. The two actors are astounding in the piece, trying to put on their happy faces so that the other doesn't see how much they still care. Both of them unsure whether they want to say what they're feeling, or just leave it at the pleasantries. They love their spouses, but hint at things that happened in the past, old connections and old wounds that they'd both love to tend to. "We're still 'Damian and Diana'. And we always will be." he says. Wright and Isaacs are amazing in the piece, both with the dialog and in communicating wordlessly their thoughts and emotions. She may be best known as Claire Underwood from House of Cards, and he best known as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, but this is the best work either of them have ever done.


1. Christopher Walken - Pulp Fiction

In the years since Pulp Fiction, Walken has become a parody of himself. Although he’s still a talented actor, once he embraced his comedic side he seemingly stopped playing much drama at all and enjoyed his biggest successes. Thankfully, the reason his work in Pulp Fiction tops this list is because he plays all of the sides of himself as he tells a child Butch the story of his father's gold watch. Not sure how he wanted the scene to play completely, Quentin Tarantino had Walken shoot it three times, once very serious, once kind of middle of the road, and once very goofy. The setting of the scene of Butch’s family legacy, followed by the description of the hell of Vietnam, only to resolve in the hilarity of a succession of guys hiding a gold watch in their asses, is really one of the best scenes in movie history. His delivery of these lines still holds their full power. The serious stuff works, and we're reminded of Walken's talent as a dramatic actor, then the comedy comes in and Walken is hysterical. This performance is full of that great Walken comedy, and still gets a huge laugh from me every time I watch it, even now almost 25 years later. But mostly it works because it hits all of the bases: drama, comedy, and it's a wonderfully engaging story told by a tremendous actor.