#94: Goodfellas

M: Can’t go wrong with this gritty, wise-guy Scorcese film, with a phenomenal cast of actors. Ray Liotta plays Hill and pulls off the gangster role flawlessly; Joe Pesci, play’s Hill’s brutal, quick-to-violence partner, and Robert De Niro who needs no laudation. The movie is the true story of Henry Hill who, as a boy, always wanted to be a gangster and gets an early start, mixing with crooked elements and exposing himself to a wave of crime and violence.

M's rating:

J: A Martin Scorsese film, you say? So it's going to be long and violent. Like The Departed, but without all of those actors I like (plus Mark Wahlberg. Bazinga.) Dread. But, I actually ended up liking this more than I thought I would. It got better for me after a certain obnoxious character took a much-deserved bullet to the back of the head. Also, I thought the pacing was great. It didn't feel like an unbearably long movie. Plus, Robert De Niro is always awesome. Besides the excessive violence, my only complaint is the age thing. Early on, De Niro and Liotta were way older than their characters were supposed to be and it was kind of distracting. But that's just being picky.

J's rating:

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#95 (1998): Pulp Fiction

M: Tarantino at his finest. A rough, gritty crime drama. The story is told out of order, with several different story lines, giving you tastes of how each storyline ends but not revealing everything until the film slowly ties itself, the storylines, and the characters together in the end. The dialogue is sharp, and the gruesome violence is well-played. Not much else to say other than this is a must-see.

M's rating:

J: This was my first time seeing Pulp Fiction. I'm a little late. And much like Inglouirous Basterds, some of the scenes went on too long and were waaaaaaay too tense for my comfort. I know something bad is going to happen, just have it happen already! Also, since this was John Travolta's big comeback, I thought he was the star. But he totally got Brad-Pitt-in-Burn-After-Reading-ed. Also, the Gimp, what the eff was that whole scene all about? Jeez. But overall, this movie was pretty funny and entertaining, so I'll put it on the like side.

J's rating:

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#98: Unforgiven

M: This movie did not disappoint when it comes to Eastwood and Westerns. It was gritty, an homage to such greats as High Plains Drifter. This also had a nice little ensemble of actors, with Gene Hackman as the man you love to hate, with such a love for peace that he doles out a great deal of violence to keep it. Morgan Freeman was ever-likable, even when he was trying to be bad. If you liked the Eastwood spaghetti westerns, this one shouldn't disappoint.

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J: SNOOZE. Westerns aren't my thing so I didn't think I'd like this one. I was right. It wasn't a bad movie, but I spent a lot of time looking at the clock. It dragged. And the kid was crazy annoying. My favorite line: "Nobody's gonna pay good money for a cut-up whore". I want that on my tombstone.

Note from the future: This entry is posting in September 2010, even though it's under the date that the draft was written, December 2009. Re-reading this short review 9 months later, I realize that I hardly remember anything about this movie. I think maybe Morgan Freeman was in it, but he's in lots of Eastwood movies, so I could just be assuming. He plays Nelson Mandela in this one, right? Also, I'm pretty sure that in my head I'm getting this movie confused with the parts of The Outlaw Josie Wales that I've seen. That movie is super long and luckily not on The List.

J's rating:





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#99 (2007): Toy Story

M: What's not to love about this movie? Aside from the all-star cast projecting their voices through Pixar creations, the film itself was clever and entertaining. This is one of those you could watch a dozen times.

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J: Dude! It's Toy Story!

J's rating:






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