Top 100 Movies: No. 74 - Breaking Away (1979)
Posted on November 30, 2007
Filed Under Top 100 Movies | 3 Comments
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Ever feel like you don’t fit in - anywhere? Well, the lead character in Breaking Away, Dave Stohler (played by Dennis Christopher), sure can relate.
He didn’t fit in with his “Cutter” friends (he wanted to be an Italian bicyclist). He didn’t fit in at home (he and his father didn’t see eye-to-eye and his mother had some problems relating). He definitely didn’t fit in with the college kids from Indiana University.
What does he do to cope? He pretends to be Italian to get the girl of his dreams - who just happens to be a student at Indiana. Oh yeah, he also rides his bike - a lot.
Breaking Away takes place during springtime in Bloomington, Indiana just as the Little 500 bicycle race (AKA “The World’s Greatest College Weekend”) is about to take place. For those of you not familiar with “Little 5,” this movie will give you a little insight into the sporting side of this event. Maybe someday they will make a movie about the “other” side of the event.
Ultimately this excellent flick is about, you guessed it, trying to fit in and figure out just where your life is headed. This movie also features an early (and excellent) performance by Dennis Quaid.
Tags: bloomington indiana, breaking away, dennis christopher, dennis quaid, indiana university, little 500, the worlds greatest college weekend
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Movies Coming to Theaters in January and February 2008
Posted on November 8, 2007
Filed Under Anticipated/Upcoming Movies | 7 Comments
2008 is still a couple of months away, but it’s fun to look ahead to movies releasing in the near future, especially those that you may not have heard of (yes, I am sure most of you heard about Cloverfield and Rambo). Granted, January and February aren’t the best months for movies, but I found several that look promising.
I tried to include a little bit of everything - action, drama, comedy and horror. A few of these flicks look really intense. In fact, I’m not too sure about Funny Games, which is a remake of a foreign film - looks like it may be a little too disturbing/intense.
Some of these movies were either presented at film festivals or were previously released in other countries, so don’t let the release dates in the trailers fool you. Let me know which ones you plan to see or if there are others you think I should have included.
Cloverfield (January 18, 2008)
Rambo (January 25, 2008)
Be Kind Rewind (January 25, 2008)
All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (February 1, 2008)
Charlie Bartlett (February 1, 2008)
Vantage Point (February 15, 2008)
Funny Games (February 15, 2008)
The Signal (February 22, 2008)
Semi-Pro (February 29, 2008)
Tags: all the boys love mandy lane, anticipated movies, be kind rewind, charlie bartlett, cloverfield, dennis quaid, forest whitaker, funny games, jack black, jj abrams, jr., matthew fox, mos def, naomi watts, rambo, robert downey, semi-pro, sigourney weaver, sylvester stallone, the signal, tim roth, upcoming movies, vantage point, will farrell, william hurt
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Blog Action Day: Top 5 “Environmental” Movies
Posted on October 15, 2007
Filed Under Top 5 Lists | 2 Comments
Today is Blog Action Day. Thousands of bloggers all over the world are uniting to write about the environment. This is a great project and I am honored to participate. In keeping with the subject matter of Flicks Lists, I have compiled my Top 5 “Environmental” Movies.
5. Chinatown (1974)
An oldie, but a goodie. A real goodie.
Gumshoe J.J. “Jake” Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is determined to find out who is stealing water in Los Angeles. What? A movie about stolen water in L.A.? Sounds kinda dull. That’s what I thought before I saw this incredible movie. Although it has an environmental issue at the center of its story (water conservation), Chinatown is really about government corruption. So it comes in at No. 5.
4. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
I never knew it was so cool to be a climatologist. Get it? You know, a new ice age and Dennis Quaid’s character is a . . . Oh well.
Even though The Day After Tomorrow has an environmental theme, I don’t think that the filmmakers’ main objective was to raise awareness about climate change. It was a secondary objective though. Remember the vice president portrayed in the film? He is a dead ringer for a certain high ranking official in the current administration.
3. A Civil Action (1998)
A stereotypical personal injury attorney has a change of heart - in a big way. This is the true story of a lawyer on top of the world who bankrupts himself and his firm trying to help people victimized by groundwater pollution.
2. Erin Brockovich (2000)
The true story of a woman who helped the victims of, you guessed it, groundwater pollution, get some measure of justice. Julia Roberts portrays Erin Brockovich, a role for which she won the Best Actress Oscar.
1. An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
The winner of the Noble Peace Prize comes in at No. 1. I wonder which Al Gore is more proud of? Don’t answer that.
How could the top flick in this list be anything other than An Inconvenient Truth? This is a great documentary about the direction we are heading unless we make some immediate changes. Everyone should see this flick, no matter which side of the fence you happen to be on.
Tags: a civil action, al gore, an inconvenient truth, best actress, blog action day, chinatown, dennis quaid, documentary, environment, erin brockovich, jack nicholson, john travolta, julia roberts, nobel peace prize, oscar, the day after tomorrow
