This week inside the box I tackle the back half of my top 50 movie characters list (50-26). Also for the first time ever there is a featured writer in The Guest Box! My friend James Roush. I hope you all enjoy this week's look inside the box.
Movie Box:
50. Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt, Ocean's Trilogy), Although most of the characters from this franchise are good Rusty is the most consistent in my opinion. With his don't care attitude and character trait of always eating something, Brad Pitt nailed this role.
49. Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis, The Sixth Sense), A much more relaxed role for Bruce Willis was given when he played Dr. Crowe in The Sixth Sense. This is in part to the fact that he plays a child psychologist. The movie features a twist ending that I'm sure most know by now and Dr. Crowe remains to be one of Willis' best performances to date.
48. Blade (Wesley Snipes, Blade Trilogy), Half human and half vampire Blade makes a living hunting and killing the creatures that killed his mother. Based on the Marvel Comic of the same name, Wesley Snipes brought the Daywalker to the big screen in an awesome way. Although the third movie was a bit lacking the first two films are very enjoyable and nothing is better than watching Snipes kick some serious vampire ass.
47. Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand, Fargo), The ever persistent and extremely pregnant, Marge is the Fargo police chief. After she investigates a triple homicide she is lead on a long and wild chain of events leading to one of the most intense scenes ever...with a wood chipper.
46. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy), I absolutely love Chris Pratt, specifically in Parks and Recreation. Peter Quill is an awesome character and I noticed moments of Bert Macklin, FBI in the performance. Pratt's opening to the movie in my opinion is an instant classic seeming almost like a cross between Indiana Jones and Flashdance.
45. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray, Ghostbusters), "We came, We saw, We kicked its ass!" Bill Murray doesn't get much better than this. Enough said.
44, Alice (Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil Franchise), One of the most badass females in cinema. Not very many movies based off of video games are good but this franchise holds it's own and this is by creating the character of Alice for the movies. These movies are always fun to revisit, especially around Halloween.
43. Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson, Unbreakable), Armed with only bones as fragile as glass, Sam Jackson delivers a mysterious and spooky performance in Unbreakable opposite Bruce Willis who of course is as the title says, Unbreakable. I honestly think this is one of the most underrated movies out there and Mr. Jackson's performance plays a big part in that. He is scary good and he and Bruce always play opposite of each other really well. Like every Shyamalan movie there is a twist at the end. I wont spoil though since this movie didn't circulate as well as The Sixth Sense.
42. Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Marvel Cinematic Universe), The best villain so far in the movies. Loki remains to be one of the most interesting characters in the MCU. Oh and I can't forget to mention he is charming as hell.
41. Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen, A History of Violence), This is another movie that I feel hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. Viggo leads a cast that also features Ed Harris, William Hurt and Maria Bello. Based off of a graphic novel of the same name Tom Stall runs a dinner in small town Indiana. When he becomes a local hero by saving dinner staff and patrons from two criminals, shady men claiming to be from his past come to pay him a visit.
40. Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson, Clerks 1 & 2), "This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers." Worst employee ever? Perhaps. Randal Graves my have no filter but he is a great friend. Jeff Anderson is always in my opinon the most enjoyable cast member in the Clerks movies...followed closely behind by Jay and Silent Bob.
39. John Keating (Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society), Oh captain, my captain! Robin Williams had a cornucopia of great performances in his career but my personal favorite was his role as the inspiring English teacher.
38. Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup, Almost Famous), "I am a golden god!" Russell is the face and lead guitar player of mid level rock band Stillwater. Excuse my language but Billy Crudup just makes you want to be a fucking rock star in this movie. Whether he is on drugs, getting electrocuted by faulty equipment, or getting scolded over the phone by a journalists mom, Crudup dominates in this role.
37. Marv (Mickey Rourke, Sin City Franchise), This is the role that Mickey Rourke was born to play. If you were to look at one of the Sin City graphic novels you would see that Rourke was the perfect choice for the character of Marv. A man who likes his vengeance served bloody and a nice leather coat.
36. Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving, The Matrix Trilogy), Hugo Weaving exudes awesomeness. He has played so many cool characters in cinema and Agent Smith is one of his coolest. Even though this trilogy got worse and worse as the second and third films came out it doesn't take away from the fact that the first film was groundbreaking.
35. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones Franchise), One of the greatest adventures in cinema..and he was named after the dog. Ignore the fourth film and you have a great trilogy. Harrison Ford excels in the role and makes a whip and a satchel look awesome!
34. Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood), At this point it's pretty safe to say that if Daniel Day Lewis is in it, it's going to be a solid performance. Although this is the only one that features death by bowling pin and in my mind that gives you a few more pluses.
33. Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained), This is the only time I can truly think of Leo as a villain. He was undercover in The Departed so that doesn't count. Leo is really intense in this role. He really cuts that shit out of his hand smashing a cup and just keeps on going! My favorite scene in the movie is when he and Dr. Schultz are talking about The Three Musketeers.
32. V (Hugo Weaving, V for Vendetta), "Remember, Remember the 5th of November." Remember just a couple of moments ago when I said Hugo Weaving was awesome? Well this is another one of his many great characters. Based off the graphic novel of the same name V for Vendetta is a great comic book movie and also features great performances from Natalie Portman and John Hurt.
31. Gandalf (Ian McKellen, Tolkien Franchise), Nothing happens without Gandalf. Gandalf spearheads both the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Also no one believe in hobbits more than Gandalf.
30. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon, Bourne Trilogy), The movie that prove to everyone that Matt Damon is a badass! Then they came out with two more that were also good! I wish I could look at a road map and instantly know which way was the most efficient route to outrun the police. Jason Bourne will forever be one of the coolest secret agents of all time.
29. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., Marvel Cinematic Universe), Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Yeah that pretty much sums it up. RDJ was born to play the role.
28. Billy (Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths), "You didn't bring a gun to the final shoot-out?" Sam Rockwell excels in this one. If he isn't kidnapping dogs he is doing something even more psychotic. Just keep your ears open when he is on the screen and enjoy.
27. Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman, Die Hard), "Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?" Before Alan Rickman became known as the evil Severus Snape, he was known as Has Gruber the terrorist mastermind who was foiled by the totally unprepared John McClane. When he transitions into the American accent later on in the movie I die every time.
26. Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen, Lord of the Rings Trilogy), Whether you are talking about the ranger or the king Aragorn is someone you want on your side. Viggo does a great job in the role and you can really feel his hesitance and inner struggle in claiming what is rightfully his. Other than Samwise he is really the only other character trying to keep everyone together.
To Be Continued next week...
For now here are some honorable mentions that didn't make my top 50:
T-1000 (Robert Patrick, Terminator 2: Judgement Day)
David Dunn (Bruce Willis, Unbreakable)
Severus Snape (Alan Rickman, Harry Potter Franchise)
Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin, The Princess Bride)
William Thatcher (Heath Ledger, A Knight's Tale)
Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage, The Hobbit Trilogy)
Slevin Kelevra (Josh Hartnett, Lucky Number Slevin)
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, Star Wars Original Trilogy)
Penny Lane (Kate Hudson, Almost Famous
The Guest Box:
This week I present to you the first featured writer in the guest box! I would like to thank my friend James Roush for contributing to the blog.
I was watching Teen Titans Go! the other day (I have kids...and I'm a huge nerd) when an episode came up where the boys called the girls icky or something which in turn led to a battle of the sexes. Starfire and Raven proceeded to dominate in everything. Now based on what I know about you I'm guessing a good chunk of your life was spent watching Saturday morning cartoons and cartoons on Nickelodeon and my question is this. Can you ever remember an episode of any of those shows were it was boys vs. girls, and did the boys even stand a chance?
I get the concept. Nipping sexism in the bud at a very early age is the goal here and it's not a bad one and the whole concept goes beyond that and branches out to just equality in general. I remember being in the second grade and believing girls were the enemy. They had cooties and shit. I didn't want that shit. I heard about a guy three towns over who got it and turned into a girl. You can't take chances with that stuff.
No the problem isn't the concept, it's the format. Every time, in order for the boys to learn girls are people too, they have to get brutalized and it's almost definitely going to be in some sort of sport. I'm no body scientist, but based on what I've seen and been learned to by body scientists, guys tend to average above gals when it comes to physical ability. Just a small example here, if you were to go on Wikipedia right now you would find a list of every woman who has dunked in the history of the WNBA. I'm not sure you could do that with every male basketball player in the history of Riley High School, and that serves well as a segue into my really big problem.
WHAT THE HELL DUDE?! You make a list of all time greatest sports movies and don't include freaking HOOSIERS?! That movie set the standard for sports movies. Every cliche or story arc that's ever been used in the history of sports movies was invented in Hoosiers. Rag tag group of kids who are only held together by their desperate love of the game? Check. Coach with a rough past just trying to start a new, better life? Check. Stud who decides to join part of the way through and changes everything? Check. Overcoming impossible odds at the end through a bad ass speech? Check. Gross misrepresentation of what actually happened? Check. Without Hoosiers there are no sports movies and honestly I'm not sure if there would still be sports.
Written and submitted by James Roush.
Final Thoughts:
So since I actually had a feature in The Guest Box I will now use the Final Thoughts section to answer question asked in The Guest Box. So James your question about old cartoons having episodes with boys vs. girls and did the boys ever stand a chance. It's kind of an impossible question to answer. When I first watched those shows I didn't watch and really associate topics like battle of the sexes and it's almost impossible to find an outlet where you can re-watch episodes of those shows. I'm sure there are some that did but I have no way of giving you a definitive answer. As for your second question or to address your big problem all I can say is that anything I talk about or lists that I share in my blogs are strictly my opinion. Clearly Hoosiers is a much more important movie to you than it was to me. By no means was I say it isn't a good movie by leaving it out of my top 10, it's just not one of my favorites.
As always you anyone who reads this can follow me on twitter (@acbach27), or you can email me at acbach27@gmail.com.
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Have a great weekend!!!
That james roush guy is a genius and undoubtedly a fantastc lover
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