# 96

96: The Usual Suspects (1995)

Kevin Spacey (Roger “Verbal” Kint), Gabriel Byrne (Dean Keaton), Benicio Del Toro (Fred Fenster), Stephen Baldwin (Michael McManus), Kevin Pollak (Todd Hockney), Chazz Palminteri (Dave Kujan)

I didn’t see this film in the theater and I wish I had. I rented it while I was in college, watched it alone probably on a Sunday afternoon while I was supposed to be working on a paper or studying for some test no doubt. The film follows the police investigation into a boat explosion. There are only two survivors: “Verbal” Kint and a Hungarian terrorist who is being treated for severe burns. Verbal narrates the film as he explains how the five men who were pulled into a line up in New York City ended up involved in a heist on a San Pedro pier. The film doesn’t seem all that special until the end—where one surprise ending is then immediately followed by another that trumps the first. Spacey shines as “Verbal” Kint—a criminal who seems so hapless that I couldn’t help sympathizing with him. The first time you watch The Usual Suspects is definitely the best. You can never go back and undo seeing that surprise ending—although it’s definitely worth multiple viewings.

If you like this film I also recommend the following films which do not appear in the Lisa’s Top 100:

Into the West (1992)

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

# 97

97: Walk the Line (2005)

Joaquin Phoenix (Johnny Cash), Reese Witherspoon (June Carter), Ginnifer Goodwin (Vivian Cash), Robert Patrick (Ray Cash)

 

When I first saw the trailer for this film I knew of three Johnny Cash songs: Ring of Fire, A Boy Named Sue, and The Wanderer, a collaboration he did with U2 on Zooropa (1993). I loved all three of these songs but I didn’t consider myself a Johnny Cash fan, I didn’t own any of his albums. After seeing this film I went out and bought my first Cash album—because of this film I fell in love with the “Man in Black.” I knew that I would see this film in the theater when it was released because I was already a Joaquin Phoenix fan. I fell for Joaquin in Inventing the Abbots (1997) and then was blown away by his phenomenal performance in Gladiator (2000). In Walk the Line both Phoenix and Witherspoon give performances of a lifetime. Both actors learned to sing and play for this film, which itself is impressive—but rather than merely impersonate Johnny and June, Phoenix and Witherspoon embody the couple who fall passionately in love with each other.

Biographical or biopics are a genre of film that I love. I enjoy learning something about a person or topic in a nice 90 minute to 2 hour film, however not all biopics are alike. I think Walk the Line is one of the best biographical films ever made. It’s an honest portrayal of Johnny and June Carter Cash. While some biography films turn into a cautionary tale or glorify or deify the subject—Walk the Line does none of those things. The film covers Johnny’s life from his childhood in Arkansas to his historic concert at Folsom Prison. We learn that he toured with such greats as Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Waylon Jennings. This was the early days of rock n’ roll and Johnny was right in the thick of it. While on tour Johnny is introduced to pills (barbituates) and soon becomes addicted. His addiction ruins his marriage with Vivian, alienates him from his children, and devastates his career—and then June steps in.

While the film is considered a biopic of Johnny Cash, the film isn’t called Cash or Johnny Cash, or the Man in Black—because the film is really about the relationship of Johnny of June. Johnny was a fan of June Carter’s as a child, he kept track of her career while in the Air Force, and when he began touring with the Sun Records’ performers he finally meets her and sparks fly. I can’t help but fall completely in love with Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash in this film—a performance which earned Witherspoon an Oscar. She is charming and effervescent when onstage as June Carter, and offstage she’s a strong, moral woman who sees the good in Johnny when he’s at his worst. The performances in this film are first rate, but that’s not all there is to this film that makes it awesome. Rather than just hit every important historical highlight of Johnny Cash’s life, director Mangold focuses on the relationship of Johnny and June—and it’s their friendship and love that drives the film. While the music is certainly important and essential to the film, it plays a supporting role to their relationship. When Johnny hits rock bottom—June decides to help him. It’s because of her love and determination to help him kick his addiction that Johnny is given a second chance. As a result, he and his career are reborn.  The attraction of Johnny Cash is that he’s an everyman, he’s flawed, he made mistakes—but he also found love and it was that love that saved him. This is one of my favorite films because unlike all of the other films about rock stars, musicians or bands—this film doesn’t end with the star burning out or dying of a drug overdose. This film ends on an optimistic note but is also a very honest and genuine portrayal of Johnny Cash that champions the theme that love really does conquer all.

If you like this film I also recommend the following films which do not appear in the Lisa’s Top 100:

Houdini (1953)

Spartacus (1960)

Legally Blonde (2001)

# 98

98: Pulp Fiction (1994)

John Travolta (Vincent Vega), Samuel L. Jackson (Jules Winnfield), Uma Thurman (Mia Wallace), Tim Roth (Ringo), Amanda Plummer (Yolanda), Bruce Willis (Butch Coolidge), Ving Rhames (Marsellus Wallace)

Marsellus Wallace is a tough guy—a guy who allegedly threw a man from a fourth story window because he gave Marsellus’ wife a foot massage. Jules and Vincent are hit men who work for Marsellus and are charged with the task of retrieving a valuable suitcase that was stolen from Marsellus. The plot of Pulp Fiction is simple, but the way that it’s broken up into five chapters and then presented out of chronological order is simply genius. Of all the films in my top 100, Pulp Fiction is the most violent and obscenity riddled. I first saw the film when it was released. I was fifteen years old and very green. The scene with the gimp in the basement of the crazy pawn shop owner; when I first saw the film I had no idea what was going on. I knew something bad was happening to Marsellus, but exactly what—I didn’t really understand. Of course I played it off to my friends that I totally understood every part of the film. Admitting ignorance I would have looked like a dork, and this was 1994 before being a dork was really cool. But I knew I loved this film. I went out and bought the soundtrack and committed it to memory, I dyed my hair black and got a bob a-la Uma Thurman as Mrs. Mia Wallace. So why did a 15 year old, who spent most of her week with her nose in fashion magazines and weekends at the dance studio practicing for the local production of the Nutcracker, love this film? As it turned out I didn’t need to understand all the details to know that this was something I had never seen before, Pulp Fiction was fresh and stylish and it had a killer soundtrack (pun intended). And though the film is full of violence and action—the best part is the dialogue. Razor sharp dialogue delivered by a stellar ensemble cast. Travolta’s career was resurrected as a result of this film and deservedly so—Travolta is brilliant as an affable hit man. Though Vincent Vega kills people for a living you know he has heart when he expounds on the intimacy of a foot massage. Uma Thurman is sublime as Wallace’s wife—a willowy coke addict who’s only claim to fame was starring in a failed TV pilot. When Uma slinks around singing Urge Overkill’s “Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon” I can’t look away. Uma is also devastatingly charming in the Jack Rabbit Slim’s sequence. But my favorite performance: Samuel L. Jackson as Jules. When Sam Jackson takes a bite out of the “Big Kahuna” burger it is Oscar worthy. That I’m not distracted by the chunks of brain in Jackson’s hair while he delivers lines is a testament to his awesome performance in this film. Sam Jackson never gives a bad performance, but this is my favorite—yes I love it even more than his Mace Windu.

Triva: I was researching Chief Illiniwek last week and found Pulp Fiction mentioned in the court report for one of the cases related to the controversy of the Native American mascot of the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign. In the film Travolta is seen wearing a University of California-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs t-shirt. The film was mentioned because of the shirt and the shirt was mentioned as an example of an inoffensive school mascot. It’s pretty hilarious because that’s maybe the only universally inoffensive part of the film. The t-shirt is in the film because that’s director Tarantino’s alma mater.

If you like this film I also recommend the following films which do not appear in the Lisa’s Top 100:

Fresh (1994)

The Red Violin (1998)

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)/Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

# 99

99: Densha Otoko/Train Man (2005)

Takayuki Yamada (Densha Otoko), Miki Nakatani (Hermes)

Every fall the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana holds an Asian Film Festival. I attended the film fest in 2008 and while all of the selections were excellent—this film was far and away my favorite. Train Man is based on the true story of a 23 year old “otaku” (which translates loosely to geek or nerd) who was riding the subway in Tokyo when a drunken man in a suit started harassing a young woman. The otaku stands up to the drunk and tells him to leave her alone. The young lady and two other observers all thank the Train Man and one of the subway personnel tells them that the police would like to hear their story. The young woman asks for Train Man’s contact info saying she would like to send him a small thank you gift. Train Man goes home and posts on a bulletin board site about how he met a woman on the subway. A few days later Train Man receives a package: a pair of Hermés cups and saucers. In Japan it is very common to give gifts to say thank you, or to give gifts when you are invited to someone’s home etc.; there’s even an area in the major department stores in Japan which are dedicated to these types of gifts. The fact that she sent him a thank you gift is protocol in Japan, but the fact that she gave him Hermés? Well that’s special; the Japanese are very label conscious but particularly in Tokyo. Encouraged by the thread followers from the bulletin board, Train Man asks Hermés to dinner. As their courtship continues Train Man is posting the play by play on the bulletin board and a LOT of people are reading and responding and keeping tabs on this thread. Supposedly the real life Train Man thread lasted 57 days and had over 29,000 posts. The film indicates the massive amount of followers in the beginning of the film then uses 7 characters to represent the entire audience: a young brokenhearted nurse, three gaming geeks, a young boy who is cooped up in his room, a young woman in her kitchen, and a young businessman. This is where the film separates itself from the myriad of other charming boy meets girl films. These seven characters that egg Train Man on in his quest to win the lovely Hermés are the heart and soul of the film. Some of the most hilarious and poignant moments in the film are not with the two protagonists but with these 7 supporting characters. There are a few really clever devices used in the film—the clicking of words being typed on a screen that appear in store windows, or when the super geeks are at the fancy tea room and the business man is at another table and though they see each other they don’t know that they were both drawn there by the Train Man thread which they are all following. At some parts the film gets almost schmaltzy but I tend to think some of it is due to the translation into English. The climactic scene in which the 7 thread followers confront Train Man in an empty subway station is my favorite—and there’s a really neat reveal when one of the thread followers leaves her kitchen…just trust me. At the end of the film I’m not only wanting a happy ending for Train Man and Hermés, but I’m wanting a happy ending for the 7 people who are following Train Man’s thread. The best stories are those in which the primary character or characters are transformed and Train Man certainly falls into that category.

If you like this film I also recommend the following films which do not appear in the Lisa’s Top 100:

17 Again (2009)

Leap Year (2010)

Lisa's Top 100 Films

I really love movies. I love going to movies, I love reading about movies, I love talking about movies, I love collecting stuff related to movies…I have had a lifelong love affair with movies. Though it wasn’t easy, I compiled a list of my top 100 films and to the best of my ability ranked them from 1 to 100. These are my favorite films and the list is subject to change as time goes on but for now this list captures for this particular moment in my life: my 100 favorite films. If I had to choose today—only 100 films that I could watch over and over again—I would choose these films. I plan on working from number 100 to number 1 though I suspect those who have subscribed to this blog can take a stab at what my number 1 favorite film is. Why read this? Well I hope this blog will give my friends some insight into what films I love and why—and while my top 25 I would suspect are films that everyone has seen I think there a few films in this list that you may never have heard of and maybe after reading my blog you may check out. Consider this blog my answer for when anyone asks me: Lisa, what movies would you recommend? So here goes…

100: The Right Stuff (1983)

Sam Shepard (Chuck Yeager), Scott Glenn (Alan Shepard), Ed Harris (John Glenn), Dennis Quaid (Gordon Cooper), Fred Ward (Gus Grissom), Barbara Hershey (Glennis Yeager)

In the fifth grade I wrote a report on John Glenn, U.S. Senator and Astronaut. My father suggested I write the Senator a letter because he thought it likely that I would get a response and wouldn’t that be awesome for my report? Well he was right, I got a letter from John Glenn advising me that if I wanted to be an astronaut to study hard, especially in the subjects of math and science. I got an A+ on that paper and to this day I have that letter—and because of it I will always love John Glenn. The Right Stuff, based on the book by Tom Wolfe, tells the story of the beginning of the American space program from Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier in 1947 to the seventh Mercury astronaut, Gordon Cooper, orbiting the globe 22 times. After the Russians launched Sputnik in 1957 the United States was anxious to get the American space program up and running. The film chronicles the beginning of the NASA program but highlights the space flights of Shepard, Grissom, Glenn and Cooper. Director Phillip Kaufman also delves into the emotional stress of the wives and families of these test pilots and astronauts. When we first meet the Mercury 7 they seem just a bunch of egotistical competitive hot-shots. By the end of the film they are a band of brothers who back each other up no matter what happens. When John Glenn’s wife refuses to let Vice President Johnson in her home for an interview (Annie Glenn stutters and does not want to be interviewed on television) John Glenn assures her if she doesn’t want to let the Vice President in her home she doesn’t have to. The head of the space program confronts Glenn saying he can’t do that—then the other six astronauts all back up Glenn in protecting his wife. While all of the performances in this film are excellent Ed Harris, Scott Glenn and Sam Shepard are my favorite. This is a superb film that always leaves me feeling patriotic and thanks to The Right Stuff I know the answer to a couple of trivia questions.

Trivia: Mary Jo Deschanel (wife of Caleb Deschanel the Director of Photography on this film, mother of Emily and Zooey) is Annie Glenn in her first feature film performance. In 1990 Mary Jo Deschanel would star in Twin Peaks as Eileen Hayward (mother to Lara Flynn Boyle’s character).

The real John Glenn starred as himself in a 2001 episode of Frasier.

If you like this film I also recommend the following films which do not appear in the Lisa’s Top 100:

All the President’s Men (1976)

JFK (1991)