This week I continue where I left off last week on my top 50 movie characters list. That means numbers 25-1 and then a couple more honorable mentions as well. I also give a quick review of the movie This Is Where I Leave You. So open up the box and enjoy!
Movie Box:
Here we go folks! Numbers 25-1 of my top 50 movie characters. With a lot of these characters I am only going to share favorite quotes or moments.
25. Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder, Young Frankenstein), "No, it's pronounced Fronkensteen." I love the scene at the beginning of the movie when he is giving the lecture to his class and in a heated rage he stabs himself in the leg with a scalpel arguing that his grandfather's work was doodoo.
24. Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained), As I mentioned last week when talking about Calvin Candie, my favorite scene from the movie with Dr. Schultz is when he and Calvin are talking about The Three Musketeers.
23. Eric Draven (Brandon Lee, The Crow), "It can't rain all the time." This is an extremely good movie and it's a shame that there have been so many horrible sequels to it. For those who don't know Brandon Lee is the son of Bruce Lee. Unfortunately this movie was the last role for Lee as he was killed during the filming when he was accidentally shot in the abdomen.
22. Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects), "How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?" The end reveal of this movie is amazing! If you haven't seen it you really need to check it out.
21. Sgt. Nicholas Angel (Simon Peg, Hot Fuzz), "We just sat through three hours of so-called acting, constable, and their kiss was the only convincing moment of it." This is one of my favorite movies hands down and in my opinion the best of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy.
20. Paul Smecker (William Dafoe, The Boondock Saints), "There was a firefight!" Anytime Agent Smecker is describing what happened at a crime scene is by far his best moments in the movie.
19. Batman/Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton & Christian Bale, Batman Franchise), As far as movies go these two did it the best. Keaton did two movies: Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) while Bale did three: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Both actors best movie was when they battled the Joker. (Batman and The Dark Knight).
18. Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, Pirates Franchise), "This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!" The entire first movie is my favorite performance of the character. The other movies have their moments, most of which are Johnny Depp carrying the series.
17. Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen, Reservoir Dogs), "You ever listen to K-Billy's 'Super Sounds of the Seventies' weekend? It's my personal favorite." While Mr. Blonde is great the entire movie, his best scene by far is the razor blade scene.
16. Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men), "Yes, you did. You've been putting it up your whole life you just didn't know it." Bardem is great throughout the entire film. He is super intense and really doesn't need to say a whole lot to be super spooky.
15. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, Alien Franchise), The first two films in this franchise are where it's at although they are two completely different types of movies. The first movie deals with one alien and follows more of the horror element while the second is an action packed thriller as a squad of marines and Ripley take on an entire nest of the aliens.
14. Darth Vader (James Earl Jones-voice, Star Wars Original Trilogy), "I find your lack of faith disturbing." Everyone's favorite lord of the dark side comes in at number 14. It is also to be noted that David Prowse was the actor behind the mask during filming.
13. The Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood, Dollars Trilogy), "Get three coffins ready." While he had no official name in the movies he did go by Joe in A Fistful of Dollars, Monco in For a Few Dollars More, and Blondie in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
12. Han Solo (Harrison Ford, Star Wars Original Trilogy), "You're all clear, kid, now let's blow this thing and go home!"
11. James Bond (All Actors, James Bond Franchise), As I just did an entire blog to the James Bond franchise there really is much more I need to say to this one. I did finish re-watching all the movies and although there are a few that are a bit underwhelming it is still a great franchise and a great character.
10. The MacManus Brothers (Norman Reedus & Sean Patrick Flanery, The Boondock Saints), "And shepherds we shall be, for Thee, my Lord, for Thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand. That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine Patri, Et Filii, and Spiritus Sancti." I have the MacManus brothers as one because they are rarely ever on screen separately.
9. The Bride (Uma Thurman, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2), "Those of you lucky enough to have your lives, take them with you. However, leave the limbs you've lost. They belong to me now."
8. Walter Sobchak (John Goodman, The Big Lebowski), "Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."
7. Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds), "Oooh, that's a bingo! Is that the way you say it? That's a bingo?"
6. The Joker (Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight), "I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it!"
5. Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction), "If my answers frighten you, then you should cease asking scary questions."
4. Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."
3. Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt, Fight Club), "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."
2. John McClane (Bruce Willis, Die Hard Franchise), "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker." I'm not really going to go to much into this one because I did an entire blog post dedicated to Bruce Willis. He gets thrown into a situation that he is totally unprepared for in each movie and he overcomes in the most action packed ways possible.
1. The Dude (Jeff Bridges, The Big Lebowski), "Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." I love that the majority of The Dude's dialogue is taken from previous things other characters say to him through out the movie.
Here are a few more Honorable Mentions to overwhelm all of you:
Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale, American Psycho)
Magneto (Ian Mckellan & Michael Fassbender, X-Men Franchise)
Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey, American Beauty)
Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson, Marvel Cinematic Universe)
M. Gustave (Ralph Finnes, The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Selene (Kate Beckinsale, Underworld Franchise)
Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman, Nolan Batman Franchise)
Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd, Back to the Future Trilogy)
Carl Spackler (Bill Murray, Caddyshack)
Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton, Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Review Box:
I watched This Is Where I Leave You in the middle of the week and I absolutely loved it. Directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, The Internship) the movie stars, Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Jane Fonda (Barbarella), Adam Driver (Girls), and Corey Stoll (House of Cards). When their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. Now this movie is kind of like the Jewish Death at a Funeral in the scope that it follows a family that is sort of broken and are brought back together by the death of the father. The siblings (Stoll, Fey, Bateman, and Driver) and their mother (Fonda) to mourn their father must sit shiva, which means they must stay in the home for seven days as they sit in low chairs and talk with family and friends. Each of the main characters have something going on during this time. Judd (Bateman) quit his job after he walked in on his boss (Dax Shepard) sleeping with his wife and then when he goes home for the funeral he encounters Penny (Rose Byrne), a girl who liked him from his past, and as their relationship starts to blossom his soon to be ex-wife shows up. Wendy (Fey) is married with two kids but it's clear her relationship with her husband isn't the best. It is reveled that she used to date Horry (Timothy Olyphant) the son of her mother's friend. They never say what happened but he still lives at home because he suffered a brain injury when he and Wendy where dating. Timothy Olyphant's role is pretty small in this movie but he is absolutely amazing in this role. Paul (Stoll) is the oldest brother and he is married to Annie (Kathryn Hahn) who used to date Judd. He is the no nonsense character in the film and he has two things going on. One is that he and his wife are struggling to get pregnant and the second is that he is going to take over the sporting goods store that their father ran and he made it clear that he owns half of it and that he wont let youngest sibling Phillip (Driver) run it with him. This brings me to Phillip who the other siblings call a "Man whore" because he is one. He even refers to himself as the "family fuck up" at one point in the movie. He considers himself an entrepreneur which is why he wants to help run the family store with Paul. He is also dating his former therapist Tracy (Connie Britton). I'm not going to spoil the end of this movie but it fits very well with the rest of the movie. The chemistry between the actors in the film is fantastic! It really does feel like a family that has kind of lost touch with each other. The supporting cast is just as good as the main cast. Really the only supporting cast member I didn't mention was Ben Schwartz (House of Lies, Parks and Rec) who plays Rabbi Grodner. He went to school with Phillip and some how earned the nickname of "boner" which he does not appreciate being reminded of it.
The stand outs from this movie are Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, and Timothy Olyphant
but just about everyone does a great job. I wouldn't say there was a weak link in the film but Tina Fey's husband and Jason Bateman's wife played by Aaron Lazar and Abigail Spencer didn't really do anything for me. So if you get the chance to see this movie jump on because it's very good. The cast is great and it's full of solid performances.
Final Thoughts:
I just wanted to thank everyone who reads my blog posts because last week's blog got the ITB with AB its 200th view!!! Thank you all so much for the support and sticking with me week in and week out.
As always you all can follow me on Twitter (@acbach27) or you can email me any thoughts, reviews, or stories you want to share at acbach27@gmail.com.
Have a great weekend!!!
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