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

49/50x2: City of God

For those that know me at all, watching a film with subtitles is a bit out of my comfort zone. I am not that huge of fan of reading books, which is why I definitely enjoy watching a film over reading a book. I like to be entertained - but every so often I do take that step out of my comfort zone.

I shouldn't need to post this - reviews will have some spoilers.

A friend of mine has been telling me how good City of God is, so I tossed it on my list so that I would force myself to watch it. And, I waited until pretty much the very end to finally throw it.

And, I actually enjoyed it. In fact, the film itself was pretty amazing to watch. Of course, my only complaint is that I had to read what was going on. I feel if I could have just watched and not had to keep looking down to see what was being said I would have liked it even more. I thought afterwards that perhaps a dubbed version would have worked - except I cannot stand when words don't match with mouths, so I am not sure if this issue could have been fixed.

The film starts with a little party being thrown by one of the crime lords of the City of God (which is located in Brazil). One of the live chickens escapes, so everyone chases after it - and the group ends up face-to-face with the police, and in the middle is a teenager with camera.

The film then jumps back a handful of years to see how they got to this point. We learn that the kid with the camera is Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), a boy that is more into school, hanging out with his friends and eventually photography than becoming a member of one of the local gangs - or as they call it hoodlums.

At the start of this mess, a trio of hoods named Shaggy (Jonathan Haagensen), Clipper (Jefechander Suplino) and Goose (Renato de Souza) like to stickup delivery men in their slums, and do other non-violent crimes. Goose also happens to be Rocket's brother.

One afternoon the trio lets a young kid named Li'l Ze' (Leandro Firmino) to join them on a robbery at a local Motel. Li'l Ze' wants to be a hoodlum really bad, but unlike the other trio he has a bit of a taste for blood.

As we begin to flash forward, Li'l Ze' and his friend Benny (Phellipe Haagensen) start to take over the City of God - eventually they both become power hungry and end up taking out all of the local drug dealers, except Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele) who is friends with Benny.

Soon, though, even having Carrot out there becomes too much for Li'l Ze' and he wants to take him out as well. But, with Benny by his side talking sense into him he stays under control. Benny even convinces him to find a girl to take up some of his time.

At a local party, Li'l Ze' approaches a girl who has caught his eye - but she is apparently with Knockout Ned (Seu Jorge). Instead of just accepting this, Li'l Ze' takes it as a slap in the face and tries to embarrass Ned by stripping him of his clothes. While this is happening and the party begins to use a strobe light - a member of Carrot's gang tries to take out Li'l Ze', but accidentally kills Benny instead.

With Benny no longer by Li'l Ze's side - the war will officially begin. Li'l Ze' still feeling wronged by Ned and his girlfriend - knocks Ned out and rapes his girlfriend. Thinking later that he should have killed Ned, he goes back to his house and eventually kills Ned's brother and uncle.

Ned joins Carrot's gang and begins to sign up people for the inevitable war that would come between the two sides.

What does Rocket have to do with any of this? Well, he always seems to find himself in the middle of everything. He gets himself a job as a delivery boy at the local paper and befriends one of the guys in the lab and the photographer. Li'l Ze' even asks him to take photos of him and his gang - as he gets them developed a woman finds them and publishes them in the paper. Fearing for his life, he stays away from Li'l Ze' and the slums - not knowing that Li'l Ze' actually loves the photo.

Sneaking around the slums during the day to get photos for the paper, Rocket finds himself in the middle of Li'l Ze's game and the police. Which is where the film begins.

As I said, a great film even if I had to read what was going on. I can't really comment on the acting much because I don't know the language - but from what I could tell they all did very well. I really enjoyed the action and the relationships formed throughout the film. Even a big time crime lord has a soft spot for his best friend.

Grade: