50x2: Conclusion

Let me first start this by saying - I suck.

After such a seamless first 50 list that took no time at all, I took forever watching these second set of 50 films. Now, of course there were some reasons behind why it took so long, but not why it took this long.

The first post on this second list was made on August 11, 2011. The final post on this list was posted this morning. That is an entire year to sit down and watch 50 movies then post about what I thought. That is insane.

My main conclusion for why this took so long is basically laziness on my part. I watched a ton of these movies without sitting down to write the review. And then I found myself playing catch up, and the catch up took too long. Which basically made me stop watching the films until I did catch up.

Not this time. I am promising to watch a film and write a review as soon as possible after finishing it. My main reason for doing these lists is to get myself to watch films that I should be watching, but for some reason continue to put off.

Some of the films are exactly what I think they are going to be, and some of them surprise - and this works in both ways. Some films I watched surprised me that I liked them so much, while others surprised me that I just didn't enjoy it as much as I should have.

Anyway, to wrap up the 50 films list, volume two - here are my 10 favorite characters from the movies I watched and the top 10 films. Enjoy! 50 list, volume three coming soon.

Top 10 Characters 

10) Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen)

Mortensen stars as Tom Stall in A History of Violence. Stall is a local diner operator with a wife and two kids. One evening he takes out a few diner thieves and becomes an over night hero. But, he gets discovered on television and it turns out Stall is not who he says he is.

9) Irwin 'Fletch' Fletcher (Chevy Chase)

Almost everyone knows this film, but for some reason I never actually sat down to watch the movie. Chase stars as the titular Fletch, a columnist for a newspaper, who gets caught up in a bit of an issue with a man who wants Fletch to kill him.

8) Sir James Matthew Barie (Johnny Depp)

Depp stars as Barie, the man behind the magical Peter Pan, in Finding Neverland. This film shows Barie befriending a family and some children as he pens his most memorable book.

7) Aron Ralston (James Franco)

The first of two characters on this list that pretty much spend the entire film on the screen alone. Franco stars as Alston in 127 Hours, a film based on a true story where a mountain hiker falls down in between a pair of rocks and gets caught for days.

6) Floyd (Brad Pitt)

Pitt, who plays a bit of a stoner named Floyd in True Romance, doesn't have much screen time at all, but his presence is definitely felt. His character is pretty hilarious and he mistakenly tells the bad guys where to go to setup the final showdown.

5) Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

Like so many others I have sort of developed a non-sexual man crush on Gordon-Levitt. This man can act, and I have loved so many of his films of late. Here he stars as Tom Hansen in (500) Days of Summer, a man that falls in love but with a woman that doesn't seem to have the ability to love in return.

4) Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds)

I will make the confession that I didn't think Reynolds had the ability to carry a film alone - I hardly felt Tom Hanks could do it. But, I was wrong. Reynolds plays Conroy in Buried, a film where he gets buried alive with only a few things available to him to help him get rescued.

3) Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale)

I could have picked a lot of characters from this film. Bale gets most of the credit in The Fighter as the struggling Eklund, but Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams were just as good in this film. But, I think Bale played most against cast so he gets the edge for me.

2) Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling)

This is sort of where I come to the realization that Gosling is going to be a talented actor for a very long time. He stars as Lars in Lars and the Real Girl, a man that had a difficult upbringing and has the inability to connect with others - so he bonds with a sex doll instead.

1) Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson)

Woody Harrelson just has this ability to stand out, at least to me. In a film a bit outside my comfort zone that I really loved - Harrelson had a lot to do with it. He was so badass and hilarious in this film. He just loves killing zombies, but all he really wants is a Twinkie.

Top 10 Films

10) Point Break

9) City of God

8) All the President's Men

7) The Town

6) Zombieland

5) (500) Days of Summer

4) Buried

3) The Fighter

2) Mystic River

1) Lars and the Real Girl

5/50x2: Buried

I am so very surprised that not much about this movie was spoiled to me.

I knew a few of the minuscule moments going in, but that is it.

Buried stars Ryan Reynolds as Paul Conroy, a truck driver from the United States working in the hostile territory of Iraq.

That is pretty much the only person in this movie. Sure, you hear others, but Reynolds is the only actor you actually see during the entire film. 95 minutes of Reynolds and the occasional black screen.

I have to admit, when it first started I thought there is no way they can stay with Reynolds in this tiny spot for the entire film and still hold my interest. How would that be possible? Well, they did it.

Without giving too much away, Conroy awakens at the beginning of the film inside a buried, wooden coffin somewhere in the Iraqi desert. His truck driving convoy has been ambushed, as we are told in the story, but never see. Apparently everyone else was killed and he was buried alive.

Inside his coffin he is given a lighter, a cell phone (in Arabic), glow sticks, a flask, a pencil, a knife and a flashlight. He tries to contact his family and his employer, to no avail. He does manage to get in contact with the U.S. Embassy and tells them his predicament.

He is also contacted by a man named, Jabir (Jose Luis Garcia Perez), the leader of those who attacked his convoy, and is ordered to send a ransom message for his life for $5 million (which is eventually lowered to $1 million).

During this time, Conroy is also talking to Dan Brenner (Robert Paterson), a hostage rescue group leader, who now appears to be Conroy's lone chance at being rescued.

Like I said, hard to believe I could be so fascinated with a film that stays inside a wooden box throughout its entire run. I loved Cast Away, but even that film was off the island for at least 1/3 of the film - and, with no disrespect to Reynolds, but Hanks has the clout to carry a film alone.

Well, apparently Reynolds does as well. At least for me.

I adored this film, and truly began to felt for Conroy during my brief time with him. Reynolds did an amazing job at allowing that to happen. You could feel his pain and you could feel his pessimistic attitude.

Only a few things stuck out to me that I either felt was a useless moment or didn't really work for me. Other than that, I truly found myself engulfed in this film.

Grade:

Tuesday's With Movies: 1/18/11

A day late, I am sorry. But, here is Tuesday's with Movies.

Buried: Ryan Reynolds gets taken prisoner in Iraq and is buried in a coffin alive with just a cellphone, candle, a lighter and a knife. In a race against time, Reynolds' character must find out where he is and how to get that information out. Looks like a pretty interesting thriller - and from what I can tell Reynolds will have to pull off his inner-Tom Hanks to carry this movie alone. Definitely will be checking it out.



Takers: Looks insane, and probably has too many characters, but I am a sucker for heist films so I will be checking it out when I can. I mean, the poster itself even looks photoshopped.








Death Race 2: Kind of surprised by this one. A direct to DVD sequel to Death Race (which I am told is actually a prequel), but starring some decent actors like Ving Rhames and Danny Trejo. I have yet to see the first one, but I think I will - so once I do I will try and check this one out. I usually don't watch direct to DVD movies, but this one actually has me intrigued.




Stone: Um, I have never even heard of this at all. Apparently it stars Edward Norton, Robert De Niro and Milla Jovovich. Why was this not given more publicity? The premise actually seems decent. I mean, in the past two days I have seen previews for Gnomeo & Juliet about six times and this film can't get a tv preview. Since I just heard of it, it may take some time, but I will probably check it out.




Paper Man: Another stellar cast (Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Lisa Kudrow, Kieren Culkin and Jeff Daniels) and again I have heard nothing. This one has me even more intrigued than Stone does. Daniels' has a friendship with Stone and an imaginary super-hero (Reynolds) which helps him have a second adolescence. Cazy.