Tag: Boogie Nights

Top 25 Best Movies (1990-2015): Nos. 5-1

This is it, loyal blog readers! We’ve reached the best of the best of my personal favorite 25 motion pictures of the past 25 years. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my picks and keep in mind that while I know your list likely differs from mine, I would encourage all of you to check out any titles on this here list you may have missed.

Our final installment brings us the top five and these are obviously pictures I hold among the greatest of all time. Let’s get to it:

5. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Has any actor done more with less screen time than Anthony Hopkins in his iconic role as Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter? I think not. This masterfully constructed suspense thriller deserved the across the board Oscar attention it received – Best Picture, Director (Jonathan Demme), Actor (Hopkins), and Actress (Jodie Foster).

4. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

21 years later, it doesn’t matter how many times I see Andy Dufrane (Tim Robbins) make his escape past that poster on the wall… it still gives me goosebumps. Frank Darabont’s rendering of Stephen King’s short story is one of the ultimate feel good movies of any era about a man who had to experience years of hell to find redemption. And that moment seeing Andy walk the beach to meet Morgan Freeman’s Red gets me every time, too.

3. Boogie Nights (1997)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic about people in the California porn industry came out of nowhere and instantly became one of my all time favorites. The lengthy flick with its incredible cast (Mark Wahlberg, Don Cheadle, Burt Reynolds in career best work, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, Heather Graham and so forth) moves us from the character’s glorious excesses of the 1970s to their dark spiral downward in the 1980s. The drug dealing scene involving Alfred Molina’s crazed character and Chinese firecrackers that serve as an amazing example of sound effects work is the crowning scene in a film filled with many of them.

2. GoodFellas (1990)

Coppola’s first two Godfather masterpieces stood as the highlight of the American Mafia film genre. In 1990, Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas made that list a trilogy. Astonishing from beginning to end, this stands as Marty’s finest hour in a career filled with fabulous work.

  1. Pulp Fiction (1994)

Readers of my blog knew this was coming from a mile away and Quentin Tarantino’s time shifting crime drama/comedy served as a massive adrenaline shot to the movie industry. With an unrivaled cast that included a career resurgent role for John Travolta, Pulp merged the sensibilities of mainstream entertainment with the independent filmmaker spirit in a previously unforeseen way. In a career filled with one terrific picture after another, Pulp still stands as Quentin’s greatest. And that makes it the greatest movie of the last 25 years.

Thanks for reading, ladies and gentlemen! It was a pleasure.

Inherent Vice Movie Review

Like its constantly reefer toking lead character, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice could use a bit more focus and clarity. The complicated plot sometimes feels like a pothead is describing it to you as it’s occasionally challenging to follow along with. Yet you come away with the notion that Anderson, the master filmmaker responsible for Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood, has made exactly the picture he wanted to make.

Based on a 2009 novel by Thomas Pynchon, Vice stars Joaquin Phoenix (who gave a much different and also terrific performance in PTA’s last previous The Master) as Doc, a stoner private eye in California circa 1970. When we open, he’s visited by his hippie ex Shasta (Katherine Waterston) who’s gotten herself into some trouble with a real estate mogul (Eric Roberts) who may be the victim of some shady dealings by his family. It leads Doc to a case that involves Nazis, a thought to be dead musician (Owen Wilson), and a drug addled dentist (a typically memorable Martin Short). Along the way, we discover Doc’s antagonistic relationship with LAPD detective “Bigfoot”, played with gusto by Josh Brolin.

There’s a lot of subplots involved in Inherent Vice and it provides for smaller roles by familiar faces like Benicio del Toro and Joaquin’s Walk the Line counterpart Reese Witherspoon, among others. At its center is the love story between Doc and Shasta, though they talk about their connection like it barely exists. Phoenix, as always, turns in a fascinating performance that further demonstrates his considerable abilites (the guy can do slapstick comedy when called upon). Waterston, daughter of Sam, is the real find here in a sea of more famous faces.

For the most part, Inherent Vice couldn’t be more different than 2012’s The Master. They are similar in one way: I found it tough to get emotionally involved in either. To be fair, I do not believe that’s what PTA is going for. Vice is about atmosphere and characters and the plot is mostly an afterthought. As with all previous efforts by the director, the atmosphere is something to behold, as is the acting.

The picture has moments where it has a Big Lebowski vibe and not just due to the weed love of the star. There are times when you’ll remember this is coming from the guy who made the brilliant Boogie Nights. Inherent Vice doesn’t belong in the same category as either of those movies, but fans of PTA (of which I certainly am) should find this worthwhile. I suspect that this, like most of Anderson’s work, will improve upon subsequent viewings. The fact that I’ll likely sign up for a second viewing in the future is recommendation enough.

*** (out of four)