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The MOME List - Top Movies of the Modern Era

thinkingstiff — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 06:21:10 +0000

All lists of top-grossing movies everywhere are wrong. They are all based on gross totals without adjusting for inflation. Comparing dollar amounts from different years without adjusting for inflation is total nonsense and is not done anywhere else regularly except for movie lists. Reporting based on these numbers is just lying.

Studios love these lists because it makes it seem like every few months they have a new top-grossing movie. Newspapers and movie blogs love it as well because it gives them something to talk about. But when they say things like, “[Skyfall is] only a week away from becoming the highest-grossing Bond film in history”^[forbes] and “Django Unchained triumphs as highest grossing Tarantino film in US”^[guardian], it is simply not true. The highest-grossing Bond film is “Thunderball” at an inflation-adjusted $581,944,000^{[boxofficemojo]}, compared to “Skyfall” at roughly $302,000,000 (at the time of this writing)^{[boxofficemojo]}. “Pulp Fiction” is Tarantino’s highest-grossing film at an inflation-adjusted $197,508,600^{[boxofficemojo]} compared to “Django Unchained” at roughly $151,00,000 (at the time of this writing)^{[boxofficemojo]}.

The data-heavy site, Box Office Mojo, is one of the few exceptions in that it allows you to see most charts in an inflation-adjusted version (it is where I get the data for The MOME List). But that is not the default and all the news on its front page is based on unadjusted amounts.

One of the problems with adjusting movies for inflation is figuring out the best way to do it. Box Office Mojo’s method is to take total gross, divide by average movie price for the year the movie was made to get total tickets, and then multiply the ticket count by the average ticket price for the year you want to adjust to. I have played with many different methods, including using actual inflation values of the whole economy based on Consumer Price Index and adjusting ticket price to that (which doesn’t match average ticket price exactly). I am going to incorporate that into The MOME List in the future, but for now it is using ticket price average.

There are other considerations when comparing movies of different eras, and Box Office Mojo’s Adjusting for Ticket Price Inflation covers the basics. I have spent a great deal of time playing with the data testing some different theories. I took into account total population, total movie theaters, economic strength, and total movies released at the time. None of them changed the ranking in any significant way. It seems the average ticket price method is good enough.

A limitation of an inflation-adjusted list is that it can only be based on US grosses. With drastically different release schedules, theater densities, and inflation values, it is impossible to include foreign grosses in an inflation-adjusted list in any meaningful way.

The Box Office Mojo inflation-adjusted list still has some issues (besides the fact that no one, not even Box Office Mojo, uses it for anything) that prevent it from being a useful list for today’s top movies. Take a look.

Box Office Mojo – All Time Box Office Domestic Grosses – Adjusted for ticket price inflation

It is dominated by extremely old movies. This in itself would not be bad if all the movies on the list could be meaningfully compared to each other. I argue they cannot. Take “Gone With The Wind (1939)” and “Titanic (1997)”. When “Gone With The Wind” was released, average ticket price was $0.23, or a CPI-based inflation-adjusted $2.64 in 1997, when Titanic was released. The average ticket price in 1997 was $4.59. So a movie ticket was substantially cheaper in 1939, compared to everything else, than it was in 1997. The other, much more important, difference is that in 1939 the public did not have TVs, cable, VCRs, DVDs, or the internet. There was no other way to consume pre-recorded visual entertainment. Everyone went to the movies; it is all they had. In 1997, going to a theater to see a movie was a completely different social experience, and one of dozens of ways to consume media. It just does not make sense to compare these two movies in the same list.

So what defines the “modern era” of movies? I say it is the point when most active movie goers had access to see movies of their choosing in other formats fairly easily. I am also saying that is 1985. That is the year Blockbuster Video opened and VCR saturation hit 30% of US households.^[entmerch] You could argue that as people got more and more ways to consume, like DVD and the internet, and when saturation neared 100% that the “modern era” moved with it. I considered this, but do not think it matters. The format for seeing a movie outside of a theater is irrelevant. It is either at a theater or it is not. And with 30% total household saturation, I estimate 65% of active movie goes had access to VCRs, since movie lovers were the early adopters. Active movie goers are the kind that affect gross in a significant way.

Also, after looking at the results with different years as the cutoff, the 1985 list feels right. In the 27 years the list covers, four of the top 25 movies are from the last five years and four are from the first five years. That is a pretty even distribution, which is what I would expect from a fairly new list comparing meaningfully-comparable items. As the list ages, I think it will become more difficult to get on this list.

So I present: The MOME List.

	Movie	Year	Gross	Standard		Adjusted
1	Titanic	1997	$1,053,991,400	2	+1	5	+4
2	Avatar	2009	$756,646,000	1	-1	14	+12
3	Star Wars I – The Phantom Menace	1999	$702,627,900	5	+2	16	+13
4	The Lion King	1994	$693,559,200	11	+7	17	+13
5	Jurassic Park	1993	$670,681,400	22	+17	20	+15
6	Forrest Gump	1994	$611,084,900	27	+21	24	+18
7	Marvel’s The Avengers	2012	$597,256,700	3	-4	27	+20
8	The Dark Knight	2008	$579,262,700	4	-4	29	+21
9	Shrek 2	2004	$552,776,200	8	-1	32	+23
10	Spider-Man	2002	$540,591,300	14	+4	36	+26
11	Independence Day	1996	$538,911,800	38	+27	37	+26
12	Home Alone	1990	$526,972,100	54	+42	38	+26
13	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest	2006	$502,808,700	10	-3	46	+33
14	Batman	1989	$489,786,900	71	+57	50	+36
15	LOTR: The Return of the King	2003	$479,556,900	19	+4	52	+37
16	Finding Nemo	2003	$479,429,400	17	+1	53	+37
17	Spider-Man 2	2004	$468,035,100	20	+3	55	+38
18	The Passion Of The Christ	2004	$464,503,700	21	+3	59	+41
19	Star Wars III – Revenge of the Sith	2005	$461,545,300	18	-1	60	+41
20	Back To The Future	1985	$459,414,100	115	+95	61	+41
21	LOTR: The Two Towers	2002	$449,102,700	24	+3	62	+41
22	The Dark Knight Rises	2012	$448,139,100	7	-15	63	+41
23	The Sixth Sense	1999	$447,965,600	45	+22	64	+41
24	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone	2001	$435,003,000	31	+7	69	+45
25	LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring	2001	$426,338,400	33	+8	77	+52

The Standard column shows the shitty, unadjusted rank that everyone everywhere uses. The Adjusted column is the rank in Box Office Mojo’s adjusted list with all movies. The columns next to those are the change from that rank to the current rank.

Some notable movies that I expect to see atop lists like this, like “Star Wars” and “E.T.”, are missing. And some horrible pieces of crap, like “Home Alone” and “Independence Day”, have crept up the ranks on this list. But this is not a list of great movies, it is a list of movies that a lot of people saw in theaters. One surprise was “Back To The Future”. It is a great movie, but I had no idea it was so popular when it was in theaters.

This list will improve when I add CPI-based inflation into the calculation, but for now this is the best top-grossing movie list that exists.

Best Movies of 2012: Part 3

Alex Thompson — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:11:34 +0000

Sorry I’ve taken so long here. Hectic week and I’ve seen two more movies from the year s

Best Movies of 2012: Part 2

Alex Thompson — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:16:50 +0000

Turns out I’ve seen 65 movies from 2012, including one movie I saw in between starting and end

some of my favorite movies

vivmart — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:48:52 +0000

in no particular order…

Yellow Submarine actually, this one goes first…

Young Frankenstein gene wilder is a god among men

La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful) Holocaust comedy, it works, you cry… amazing, other Benigni classics-

Johnny Stecchino, Il Mostro (The Monster) and he’s amazing in the next movie on the list:

Coffee and Cigarettes comical vignettes, mostly about addictions… great cast, effin hilar

The City of the Lost Children directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet… the camera shots and visuals are in-cre-di-ble

the three trilogies (BTTF, IJ, SW) duh

A Very long Engagement the only war movie I’ve even enjoyed, fantastic viz, great acting

A Fish Called Wanda f-f-f-ucking hilarious

Dr. Strangelove A MUST SEE, peter sellers… another god among men

Annie Hall so realistic you feel like woody allen was following you around

The Party another masterpiece of physical comedy by mr. sellers

Harold and Maude cat stevens soundtrack… amazing

Lost Highway / Wild at Heart david lynch films, Wild at heart is my fav anti-rom com

Lolita great story, once again… sellers rocks

Bananas/Take the Money and Run/Sleepers woody allen golden age

The Three Caballeros donald duck takes you on a stereotypical journey through mexico

Dark Crystal never ending story plus fraggle rock plus the labryinth plus… eh… something dark and in the woods = jim henson’s darkest/best film

Pan’s Labryinth a grown up’s fairy tale… or a child’s harsh reality

Donnie Darko (dir. cut) a classic… plus jake gyllenhaal is a hottie

Breathless jean luc goddard

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers this movie is gay-er than a parade but I love it, great dance scenes

Persepolis great story, touching to the core, it owns your brain from the moment it starts. better comic

Groundhog’s Day bill murray, nuff said

Holy Mountain trippy to say the least… deff a morality story

Santa Sangre trippy to say the least, Jodorowsky’s flick about his mama

The Triplets of Bellville cartoon, best movie soundtrack ever… simple and surreal with great characters

Performance starring mick jagger, yup

Swingers it’s so money it doesn’t even know it’s money, vince vaughn at his finest

Wet, Hot, American Summer absolutely brilliant summer camp spoof movie

Me and You and Everyone We Know beautifully creepy, brilliantly familiar

Sex, Lies and Videotapes sexy… james spader is just too sexy

A Shot in the Dark blake edwards with a little henry mancini sauce plus peter sellers makes one fucking great comedy

Detroit Rock City fuck yeah

Help! damn those beatles are cute… and the soundtrack rocks

Idiocracy a pretty realistic view of what our country is becoming… retarded

The Five Obstructions Lars Von Triers, great filmmaking about what exactly filmmaking can or could be

Some Like it Hot still makes me laugh so hard

Talk to Her <3 almodovar

Forbidden Zone 80′s black and white rock musical adsurdist experimental raunchy epic film starring Danny Elfman as the devil with music by the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo

I’ll add more as I think of them

Favorites from 2012

Ioannis Batsios — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:28:40 +0000

I told myself I wouldn’t do the movie/music reviews anymore (I used to on an old blog), because there are so many people out there doing that already (I recommend James Berardinelli), but I get asked a lot because I’m in the industry. So I thought I would just post a list of the best movies/music I saw/listened to this year. And these titles aren’t limited to release date, but what I actually discovered this year.

Favorite Movies/TV (in no order):

The Best:

Silver Linings Playbook
Looper
Wake in Fright
Headhunters
The Man From Nowhere
Battlestar Galactica
Fullmetal Alchemist

Very Good:

Haywire
21 Jump Street
The Cabin in the Woods
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Avengers
Lockout
Premium Rush
Lawless
Django Unchained
Bernie

Favorite Performances:

Jack Black in Bernie
Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike
Bérénice Marlohe in Skyfall

Favorite Albums:

Silversun Pickups: Neck of the Woods
Lana Del Rey: Born to Die
The Lumineers: The Lumineers
fun.: Some Nights
Ellie Goulding: Halcyon
Beach House: Bloom
Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra: Theatre is Evil
Youth Lagoon: The Year of Hibernation

Favorite Songs*:

Diamonds by Rihanna
Angels by The xx
Heartbreak on the 101 by Band Of Horses
Too Close by Alex Clare
Paper Moon #5 by Jeremy Messersmith
Same Love by Ryan Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

If you think I’ve missed something this year, please comment. If I’m flat wrong, please tell me why. Remember, art is subjective.

*I left off songs from my favorite albums. There’s so many great songs on those, this list would have went on forever.

Best Movies of 2012: Part 1

Alex Thompson — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:13:14 +0000

I’ve seen 61 movies from 2012 as of this writing. That is, I believe, a record for me. And now

Movies!

Tipid Tips & More. — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 06:35:00 +0000

Since, one of my “Must Remembers” this 2013 is to watch more movies, I want to keep track of my progress and just be happy with it! haha!

1. Life of Pi (2013)

2. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

3. Brave (2012)

4. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)

5. Hansel & Gretel (2013)

6. Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012)

7. 17 Again

8. Book of Eli

9. Warm Bodies (2013)

My Ever Expanding Movie list

themattbishop — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 01:05:47 +0000

In case anyone was curious of the movie list I review to in some of my posts, here it is:

No Country For Old Men
Psycho
The Usual Suspects
Apocalypse Now
Great Outdoors
Alien
American History X
Schindler’s List
2001: A Space Odyssey
Indiana Jones Trilogy
Silence of The Lambs
Hugo
American Graffiti
Rocky
Goodfellas
Terminator 2 and 3
The Hurt Locker
Full Metal Alchemist
The Bourne Saga
Broadcast News
Back to the Future 1-3
Titanic
Green Street Hooligans
The Rum Diary
Looper
Scarface
Bachelorette
True Lies
The Raid Redemption
Old Boy
Castaway
Machine Girl
Safety Not Guaranteed
Super Troopers
The Silver Linings Playbook
Moonrise Kingdom
Premium Rush
Pitch Perfect
Moneyball
Lawless
Zero Dark Thirty
Cloud Atlas
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Argo
The Big Lebowski
A Clockwork Orange
Lars and The Real Girl

And some TV shows I’m watching/need to watch:

The Walking Dead
Breaking Bad
Game Of Thrones
The Newsroom
iCarly
The Big Bang Theory
How I Met Your Mother
Dexter

I’ll be adding to these lists and (hopefully) crossing these titles off. If you have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment down below or message me on Twitter or Facebook. Even if you think I’ve had to see it, just remember I’ve only seen the 4th Indiana Jones film.

Girl's Top 10 Movies of 2012

girltakesthemovies — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 02:59:53 +0000

Alright let’s get right to it: after many a sleepless night full of stressful list-making and re-making, I finally bring you… THE LIST. Without further adieu, here is….

GIRLTAKESTHEMOVIES’ TOP 10 FILMS OF 2012

1. Perks of Being a Wallflower – from the nostalgic soundtrack to the heartbreaking storyline to Ezra Miller’s breathtaking performance as Patrick, the movie was a solid A+. Emma Watson riding on the back of that truck, free as a bird…. *wipes away tear*

2. Silver Linings Playbook – Because I can’t get enough of Jennifer Lawrence, and other than that one super unrealistic therapy session where the therapist induced Bradley Cooper’s meltdown, it was EVERYTHING.

3. Les Miserables – Since we already understand how epic the music is, other reasons for this being a best movie: every shot was stunning, necessary, and moved the plot forward. The only thing that could have been better were some of the stars’ less-than-stellar voices [cough Russell Crowe]. Still, an instant Broadway-turned-movie classic.

4. Moonrise Kingdom - a time machine of a movie that made me feel like a 50′s kid on summer break — in the best way. So friggin whimsical! Just what a movie should do: take you out of reality and into another world.

5. The Intouchables - Beautiful message and amazing performances by Omar Sy and François Cluzet. A small little movie with a huge impact.

6. Celeste and Jesse Forever - my heart broke watching normally two of the funniest act0rs around, Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones, transform into two people struggling to deal with their failing marriage. So truthful. The soundtrack is also by far the best of the year.

7. The Sessions – Another small movie with a huge impact. Helen Hunt is always out of this world, and I almost thought Jon Hawkes really was paralyzed, he was so good. I sobbed.

8. Lincoln - The fact is, Spielberg omitted a big action war sequence in favor of focusing on Daniel Day Lewis’ (once again) brilliant performance. I was watching Abraham Lincoln in this movie, wasn’t I?

9. The Hunger Games – Because of how obsessed I’ve been with this book, and the movie did a great job of translating the story to the silver screen. And Jennifer Lawrence is so awesome she can’t be real.

10. Zero Dark Thirty - The last third of this movie, shot to look like sight through night-vision goggles, was some of the best cinema I’ve ever seen. SO GOOD.

But wait, there’s more!

Honorable mentions:

*Funniest movie of the year: The Dictator

*Visual achievement: Life of Pi

Let me know what you think about my top ten

Happy Birthday Elvis

johngalt — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:03:51 +0000

Elvis Presley - Hound Dog (Live)

Elvis Presley – All Shook Up

ELVIS PRESLEY’S PRIVATE HOME MOVIES 1

discography

Year	Title	Label
1956	Elvis Presley [1956]	RCA/BMG / BMG
1956	Elvis [1956]	BMG International
1957	Loving You	BMG International
1957	Elvis’ Christmas Album	RCA Victor
1958	King Creole	RCA
1959	For LP Fans Only	RCA Victor
1959	A Date with Elvis	BMG International
1960	Elvis Is Back!/Something for Everybody	DCC Compact Classics
1960	G.I. Blues	BMG
1960	His Hand in Mine	RCA
1961	Something for Everybody	RCA
1961	Blue Hawaii	RCA Victor
1962	Pot Luck with Elvis	RCA / BMG International
1963	It Happened at the World’s Fair	Follow Dream
1963	Fun in Acapulco	Bmg / Sony Music Entertainment
1963	Girls! Girls! Girls!	BMG / Custom Marketing Group / Sony Music Entertainment
1964	Kissin’ Cousins
1964	Roustabout	BMG / Custom Marketing Group / Sony Music Entertainment
1964	Viva Las Vegas	Sony Music Entertainment
1965	Girl Happy	BMG / Sony CMG / Sony Music Entertainment
1965	Elvis for Everyone!	RCA Victor
1965	Harum Scarum	RCA Victor
1965	Tickle Me
1966	Frankie and Johnny	BMG / Sony Music Entertainment
1966	Paradise, Hawaiian Style	Follow That Dream
1966	Spinout
1967	How Great Thou Art	RCA
1967	Double Trouble
1967	Clambake	BMG / Sony Music Entertainment
1968	Speedway
1968	NBC-TV Special ['68 Comeback]	RCA
1968	NBC-TV Special	RCA
1968	Shake, Rattle & Roll [MBop Direct]	MBop Direct/Sound & Vision
1969	From Elvis in Memphis	RCA
1969	From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis	RCA
1970	Elvis in Person at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada	RCA Victor
1970	On Stage	RCA
1970	Back in Memphis	RCA Victor
1970	That’s the Way It Is	RCA
1971	Elvis Country	RCA
1971	Love Letters from Elvis	RCA Victor
1972	Elvis Now	RCA
1972	He Touched Me	RCA
1972	As Recorded at Madison Square Garden	RCA
1973	Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite	RCA
1973	Raised on Rock	RCA
1974	Good Times	RCA
1974	Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis	RCA
1975	Promised Land	RCA Victor
1975	Today	BMG / Bmg
1976	From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee	BMG Japan / RCA
1977	Moody Blue	RCA
1977	Elvis in Concert	RCA
1978	Memories of Elvis	RCA
1997	Elvis: The Fool Album	RCA / BMG International
2003	Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas	RCA
2010	Viva Elvis: The Album	Legacy / RCA
	Elvis Presley: Live!	RCA
	Loving You [Into U]	INTO U
	The American Music Heritage, Vol. 2: 1956-1957	Frémeaux

Elvis Presley Jailhouse Rock 1957 colour

Movies

Actor (31 titles)

1969Change of Habit
Dr. John Carpenter

1969The Trouble with Girls
Walter Hale

1969Charro!
Jess Wade

1968Live a Little, Love a Little
Greg Nolan

1968Speedway
Steve Grayson

1968Stay Away, Joe
Joe Lightcloud

1967Clambake
Scott Hayward/’Tom Wilson’

1967Double Trouble
Guy Lambert

1967Easy Come, Easy Go
Ted Jackson

1966Spinout
Mike McCoy

1966Paradise, Hawaiian Style
Rick Richards

1966Frankie and Johnny
Johnny

1965Harum Scarum
Johnny Tyronne

1965Tickle Me
Lonnie Beale / Panhandle Kid

1965Girl Happy
Rusty Wells

1964Roustabout
Charlie Rogers

1964Viva Las Vegas
Lucky Jackson

1964Kissin’ Cousins
Josh Morgan / Jodie Tatum

1963Fun in Acapulco
Mike Windgren

1963It Happened at the World’s Fair
Mike Edwards

1962Girls! Girls! Girls!
Ross Carpenter

1962Kid Galahad
Walter Gulick

1962Follow That Dream
Toby Kwimper

1961Blue Hawaii
Chad Gates

1961Wild in the Country
Glenn Tyler

1960Flaming Star
Pacer Burton

1960G.I. Blues
Tulsa McLean

1958King Creole
Danny Fisher

1957Jailhouse Rock
Vince Everett

1957Loving You
Deke Rivers

1956Love Me Tender
Clint Reno

Don’t Be Cruel

Happy Birthday To The King

Cake-cutting, new exhibit mark Elvis’ birthday (sfgate.com)
Chris MacDonald’s Memories of Elvis Rockin Birthday Bash is back at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts January 12, 2013. (prweb.com)
Happy Famous Birthday, The King, Elvis Presley! (thebirthdayregister.wordpress.com)
Happy Birthday, Elvis Presley (silverbirchpress.wordpress.com)
Elvis Presley 1956 – Photos by Alfred Wertheimer (sadmanstongue.com)
Hepcats Gallery 3 – Happy Birthday Elvis (sadmanstongue.com)
DOUBLE BIRTHDAY: Happy Birthday to Elvis and Bowie! (maryannemistretta.wordpress.com)

2013 movie goal...

mel — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:48:46 +0000

a toast to our upcoming movie watching… Yesterday I promised to publish a post on our movie go

Our 2012 movie list...

mel — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:32:37 +0000

Drum roll please! Here are the movies we saw in 2012. The goal was to see 182 movies. January 2012:

Movies Screened 2012

mmwm — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:00:53 +0000

As previously (2011, 2010, 2009), I’ve kept track of the dvds (TV series and movies) and first

Underrated Movie #87 ~ Two Family House

Underrated Movies — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:13:56 +0000

Blue-collar Italian-American Buddy Visalo (Michael Rispoli) has a record of failed business ventures. After buying a rundown home, his new scheme is to transform the bottom floor into a neighborhood bar. But first he must oust the current tenants — an abandoned Irish mother (Kelly Macdonald) and her half-black baby. Inspired by the true story of director Raymond De Felitta’s uncle, Two Family House won a Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. (Netflix)

Underrated Movie #86 ~ Flightplan

Underrated Movies — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:38:36 +0000

Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is on a trans-Atlantic flight when her daughter vanishes, but the captain (Sean Bean) and air marshal (Peter Sarsgaard) begin to doubt that the child was ever on board. With almost no support from the plane’s staff, Kyle can only rely on herself to find her little girl. (Netflix)

Underrated Movie #85 ~ Grand Canyon

Underrated Movies — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:07:18 +0000

A sequence of random but life-altering incidents conspire to link a group of Los Angeles denizens from disparate economic and social classes, leading to epiphanies about responsibilities and relationships in director Lawrence Kasdan’s pensive drama. Ultimately, two men from divergent lifestyles try to be friends. Co-written by Kasdan and his wife, and featuring a top-notch ensemble cast, the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. (Netflix)

Underrated Movie #84 ~ Ghost Town

Underrated Movies — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:01:02 +0000

British funnyman Ricky Gervais stars in his first feature film lead as Bertram Pincus, a hapless gent who’s pronounced dead, only to be brought back to life with an unexpected gift: a newfound ability to see ghosts. When Bertram crosses paths with the recently departed Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), he gets pulled into Frank’s desperate bid to break up his widowed wife’s (Téa Leoni) pending marriage to another man. (Netflix)

Underrated Movie #83 ~ Searching for Bobby Fischer

Underrated Movies — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:33:46 +0000

After 7-year-old Josh Waitzken gets hooked on speed chess and becomes a whiz at it, his dad hires an implacable chess master to coach the boy but reassesses his decision when Josh’s once-pleasant hobby turns into a source of anxiety, similar to what famed chess-master Bobby Fischer went through. (Netflix)

The Social Network

Ariana H. — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:42:40 +0000

Completed on: June 20, 2012

I finally finished the Social Network yesterday. I loved it. Honestly, Andrew Garfield is so hot! He made the movie! Seeing him in this movie made me feel bad for Eduardo Saverin, even though Eduardo is making $5 billion from Facebook. The other reason I felt bad for Eduardo was because he lost his best friend. I get that he got a lot of money, but money is not everything. Friends are so much more important. Anyways, this movie got me so interested in the people behind Facebook. I searched them all. What I discovered was that all the actors in the movie looked pretty close to the real people. I was shocked. Anyways, overall I give this movie two thumbs up for a hot actor.

: Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker

: Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg

: Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin

Underrated Movie #82 ~ The Long Good Friday

Underrated Movies — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:06:01 +0000

Bob Hoskins made his mark with a vivid portrayal of a London mob boss sweating the big deal designed to make him rich and legit. Suddenly, everything goes wrong when a series of bombs literally destroy his world. He escapes unharmed, but now faces the knowledge that someone wants him dead soon. A tough crime saga, The Long Good Friday paints a bleak portrait of a man caught up in forces beyond his control. (Netflix)

Underrated Movie #81 ~ Three O’Clock High

Underrated Movies — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:06:20 +0000

Casey Siemaszko, Anne Ryan, Jeffrey Tambor and Richard Tyson star in this high school comedy about a kid named Jerry, who has just seven hours to polish up his fighting skills so he can survive a face-off at the end of the day with the school’s meanest bully, Buddy. With the help of his sister, his friends and a heaping dose of good humor, Jerry hopes he’ll end up on top. But there’s no telling what’ll happen at 3 o’clock… (Netflix)

Underrated Movie #80 ~ The Hunted

Underrated Movies — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 16:04:37 +0000

In the woods of Silver Falls, Oregon, Aaron Hallam (Benicio Del Toro) — a trained special forces assassin gone AWOL — begins to make a sport of killing deer hunters in the area. To stop Hallam the FBI turns to L.T. Bonham (Tommy Lee Jones), the very man who trained him. Resistant at first, Bonham feels obligated to stop his former student. (Netflix) From the “how did this one slip under the radar?” files, The Hunted is “a pure and rather inspired example of the one-on-one chase movie.” (Roger Ebert)

Office Space

Ariana H. — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 21:11:24 +0000

Completed on: June 15, 2012

I finally finished this movie. I actually really enjoyed it. It kept me interested. I loved Milton, he was hilarious. Jennifer Aniston is one of my favorite actresses and I loved seeing her flip her boss off. I’m very happy to cross another movie off of my list

Underrated Movie #79 ~ Frequency

Underrated Movies — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:05:57 +0000

Policeman John Sullivan has long dreamed of altering the events that took the life of his fireman father in October 1969. So when a series of miraculous occurrences makes it possible for John to communicate with his dad, he tries to change history. But by entwining the past, present and future, John gets much more than he bargained for and unwittingly triggers a chain reaction of tragic events. (Netflix)