WAMG’s Top 10 Films Of 2025

“All my memories are movies. That’s what movies are for us. Pieces of time.” – JAY KELLY

The 2025 film year has been defined by a “renaissance of originality” and a shift toward deep, emotionally resonant storytelling even within major franchises. Here are some of the filmmaking trends in 2025.

It was the beginning of the industry split between AI-driven innovation and a growing demand for authenticity. AI was all anyone could talk about – even A24’s film Heretic (2024) ends with the line in its credits “No Generative AI was used in the making of this film.”

Superheroes movies are no longer the cash cow at the box office, while video games are the big thing now. Gen Alpha is deciding what gets greenlit and the studios are paying attention. Minecraft, Sonic and Super Mario were a huge draw at the cinemas. GA is the group that have been weaned on YouTube, Tik-Tok, Roblox – talk to a youngling about Skibidi Toilet.

Horror movies were once again the big crowd-pleasers – zombies, vampires, and supernatural creatures. The global market shifted away from Hollywood centrism. International hits like China’s Ne Zha 2 and Japan’s Demon Slayer outperformed many Western blockbusters.

For those craving nostalgia and communal celebrations, 2025 provided re-releases of some great films, especially the 50th anniversary of JAWS, showing how terrific cinema really is. Even if we could stream it or had a physical copy, many of us went to see Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (20th Anniversary), The Goonies (40th Anniversary) and Toy Story (30th Anniversary), Pixar’s ground-breaking first feature film.

Speaking of physical copies, the comeback, and glorious return of DVDs, VHS tapes, box sets, and vintage deluxe editions was welcomed by film fans all over the globe.

As we do every year, below are videos of the year in movies – 2025 edition.

2025 was such a great year for going to the movies and WAMG’s Cate Marquis, Jim Batts and Michelle McCue had a time of it assembling the annual Top 10 – even deciding on one honorable mention was tough, so we went with three. First, James Gunn’s brilliant SUPERMAN. A cornerstone of the new DC Universe, this film focuses on Clark Kent reconciling his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing in a world already populated by superheroes. Second is Steven Soderbergh’s drama BLACK BAG. A high-stakes spy thriller featuring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as married intelligence officers whose loyalties are tested by a leak within their agency. Lastly, Zach Cregger’s WEAPONS asks why did one classroom of kids mysteriously vanish one night and features a host of bizarre characters, including the scary Aunt Gladys played by Amy Madigan.

The films on WAMG’s list had us laughing with the characters, terrified by the villains, weaping at their sad moments, and rooting for the heroes.

10. FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS

This Summer saw a classic superhero “showdown” as the “kid from Krypton” flew into the multiplex a couple of weeks before the “cosmic quartet.” This group had lots of baggage, from an unreleased Roger Corman 1994 “fizzle”, to a couple of mediocre early 2000’s flicks (the big G is a cloud shadow), to a 2015 fiasco dissed by its director days before the opening (and hasty closing). And Marvel Studios had become a media “punching bag” for being too successful, too long (but then they followed up the all-time epic AVENGERS: ENDGAME with stuff like ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA..yeesh). Now that Fiege and friends finally got their hands (after the Fox purchase) on the “first family,” they didn’t “phone it in”. They even addressed some complaints about having to do “homework” (I need to see that before seeing this to know what’s going on) by setting this on an alternate Earth (number 828), which harkened back to a time in which the title character was the only enhanced hero (like Sam Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN and Richard Donner’s SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE). Oh, and Marvel also made this planet all “sci-fi retro” with the NYC looking like what folks in the 1960s thought the year 2000 would look like (lots of flying cars and “Jetsons” gizmos and cityscapes). But director Matt Shakman (the creative force behind the best Marvel/ Disney+ show “Wandavsion”) didn’t forget the humanity of the heroes in blue. Vanessa Kirby and Pedro Pascal are quite engaging as the “parents” of the squabbling sibs, Joseph Quinn is a very cool” Human Torch,” and Ebon Moss-Bachrach is the soulful. strong, and big-hearted Ben “the Thing” Grimm (with some spiffy CGI making every brick of his body seem real). And we finally got a great take on Marvel’s biggest “baddie”, Galactus, given the proper guttural growl by Ralph Ineson aided by a Julia Garner as a shiny lady Silver Surfer. The real “icing” on this tasty cake is the effervescant ebulliant music score (think the Sherman Brothers’ World’s Fair tune meets THE RIGHT STUFF) from Michael Giacchino. Hey Sue, Reed, Ben, and Johnny, can’t wait to see you add some family fun to the MCU!

Review: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2025/07/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-review/

9. IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT

Writer/director Jafar Panahi is one of Iran’s leading filmmakers and has been pushing the boundaries of Iranian censors for years, for which he has been arrested and imprisoned several times. Sentenced again by Iran, in absentia, to serve a one-year jail term while traveling outside his home country, Panahi’s latest is a psychological thriller, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and is a top contender for the Oscar for Best International Film. This gripping thriller focuses on an Iranian ex-political prisoner, a mechanic, who encounters a man he believes is his former jailer and torturer. Unsure it is really him, since he was blindfolded during their encounters, the mechanic kidnaps the man and then gathers together his fellow ex-prisoners, to help identify him and to decide what to do with him. Gripping, tense but with hints of dark comedy and full of twists, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT explores feelings of revenge, trauma and uncertainity, and deals with issues of morality at a personal, human level. The film ends with a striking scene, and the whole thriller once again confirms Panahi’s genius as a filmmaker who creates engrossing films that explore complex issues at a deeply human level.

8. A MAGNIFICENT LIFE

And here’s the other big “show biz bio” on our list, one that delves into the life of a celebrated French playwright/filmmaker, Marcel Pangol, as told in animation from the incredibly talented Sylvain Chomet. Fans of his previous animated features, THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE and THE ILLUSIONIST, fear not, as Chomet hasn’t replaced his pen and pencil with a mouse and cursor. This decades-spanning lifestory is told in classic hand-drawn (2-D), though with some CG assists with backdrops and vehicles. This is a feast for the eyes with superb caricature work on all the real-life characters through the decades (1900 to 1974). And there’s even a bit of live-action, as we view scenes from Pangol’s classic films. It does begin near the end of his life, as he’s committed to writing his memoirs and is creatively “stuck” until Marcel is visited by the “ghost” of his younger self. Here’s hoping that Sony Classics (the US distributor) gives this a major theatrical release, so that movie audiences can be swept away by Pangol’s rich story, and the, well, magnificent artistry of Chomet, extolling the lasting wonders of classic animation.

7. TRAIN DREAMS

Clint Bentley’s TRAIN DREAMS has emerged as one of the frontrunners for the 2026 Academy Awards, anchored by a career-defining performance from Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier, alongside a stellar supporting cast including Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, and William H. Macy. It received a Producers Guild Nomination on January 9. The film’s visual language, crafted by cinematographer Adolpho Veloso, captures the rugged, mythic beauty of the American West with a painterly intimacy that has already secured a win for Best Cinematography at the Critics Choice Awards. Complementing this is a haunting, evocative score by Bryce Dessner, which underscores the novella’s lyrical themes of loss and industrial transformation. With the film currently shortlisted for the 98th Oscars and appearing consistently in Best Picture and Best Actor predictions, it enters the final stretch of the awards season as a quiet, powerful masterpiece of modern Americana.

Review: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2025/11/train-dreams-review/

6. FRANKENSTEIN

An icon of horror lumbers back onto the screen in a fresh new spin by returning to the tale’s literary roots. But “It’s alive!” and very lively due to the modern-day “mad doctor of the movies” Guillermo del Toro, finally living out his childhood dreams (and a few nightmares) by crafting the closest adaptation of Mary Shelly’s gothic masterpiece ever on film. But what truly makes del Toro’s “take” so spectacular is the dazzling visuals, from the elaborately constructed sets (no green drapes behind the players) to the elegantly designed costuming, complemented by Alexandre Desplat’s sweeping, swirling score and the meticulous practical make-up effects (no CGI or even AI on that set). This “eye candy” doesn’t detract from the excellent performance by Oscar Isaac as the swaggering, obsessive Victor F, Mia Goth as the sympathetic Elizabeth, Christoph Waltz as the quirky secretive investor, and especially the surprisingly effective Jacob Elordi as the sometimes savage but still soulful creature, much less of a monster than the “normals” that hunt and taunt him. Actually, the greatest “horror” here is the fact that most audiences were denied a chance to experience this in a movie theatre. Now that you’re “branching out”, how about a big screen re-release Netflix?

Review: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2025/10/frankenstein-review/

5. A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE

There are plenty of horror and thriller films about imaginary threats like zombies, or just very far-fetched dangers, but director Kathryn Bigelow’s gripping, ticking-clock thriller A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE focuses on a real threat that is much closer than we realize, a threat hardly anyone thinks about but which looms above us constantly: nuclear weapons. The Cold War left the world full of these lethal threats, which require constant vigilance to guard against everything from accidental detonation to theft by terrorists, and also require delicate diplomacy to keep in check those nations who also also have nukes, including places like North Korea.

Bigelow’s excellent, intelligent thriller looks at what happens if something does to go wrong, a higher risk than we might imagine. Bigelow explores that possibility by focusing on the people on the ground, at three levels, who have to deal with it most directly: the front-line military and specialists who first detect the threat; the analysts, generals, and policy experts who advise those at the top; and the President and senior advisors who make the decisions. What we see at each level is chilling. Bigelow uses a ticking-clock and Rashomon-like structure, retelling and overlapping events at each of three level, as we ascend the chain of command and the minutes tick down, with a result we deduce for ourselves that is both shocking and terrifying. Featuring an outstanding ensemble cast that includes Tracy Letts, Rebecca Ferguson and Idris Elba, this smart, real-world horror film is something everyone should see, and might wake up some to the risks of living in a house built of dynamite.

Review: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2025/10/a-house-of-dynamite-review/

4. 28 YEARS LATER

This sequel was lauded for resisting zombie clichés, instead focusing on a heartfelt mother-son relationship, turning a horror premise into a moving coming-of-age story. How the rest of the world moved on as if nothing had happened and left the British Isles isolated is horrifying. Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland achieved the unthinkable by focusing on Britain being re-quarantined by an international force while setting up a new trilogy. The relationship between Isla (Jodie Comer) and Spike (new-comer Alfie Williams) was sweet and we were left gutted, and sobbing, as they shared their last moments together after Isla accepted her fate.

The other brilliant piece was the clever marketing for the film. An unique trailer released in December 2024 was accompanied with the 1903 poem “Boots” by Rudyard Kipling, recited by American actor Taylor Holmes in 1915. The trailer became #1 trending on YouTube, and in 48 hours had over 10 million views.

Review: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2025/06/28-years-later-review/

3. BLUE MOON

In the first of two “show biz” bios on our list, a lauded director/actor duo (this is their ninth) join forces for an inside look at a Broadway musical classic, the start of an iconic collaboration, and the quiet finale for another. The fellow on the outs is Lorenz Hart, brought to glorious life by a remarkable performance from Ethan Hawke, who’s still full of surprises after nearly 40 years on screen. The film’s main backdrop (about 90% of the runtime) is one setting, so many have said that it’s basically an intimate filmed play. Ah, but what a play, penned by Robert Kaplow, lovingly crafted by actual letters from Hart and his unrequited love/muse Elizabeth Weiland, full of wit and drama brought to life by the superb direction of Richard Linklater, who makes use of every inch of the waiting area bar at Sardi’s restaurant (it’s never claustrophobic). It’s all set on a historic night in 1943, as Hart waits for the after-party for the premiere of “Oklahoma” to begin. He’s parted ways with his former collaborator, tunesmith Richard Rodgers (a terrific Andrew Scott), but Hart hopes to break up the new partnership with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. Lorenz is charming and a bit pathetic as he attempts to “woo” Rodgers, who will not be drawn into his self-loathing, destructive spiral. With wonderful supporting work from Margaret Qualley as Weiland and Bobby Cannavale as the “seen and heard it all” bartender Eddie, this is a thoroughly engaging “what if” gem that’s a feast for theater “geeks” and a superb showcase for the truly gifted Hawke (who makes us believe he’s the “diminutive” Lorenz via some clever cinema trickery) in perhaps the most verbose (Hart is catty and chatty) role of any 2025 film.

Review: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2025/10/blue-moon-2025-review/

2. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is near or at the top of many critics’ Top Ten lists, and WAMG’s is no exception. Paul Thomas Anderson’s propulsive comedy thriller is brilliantly made from a technical viewpoint but also highly entertaining and unexpectedly moving, built around a dad-and-daughter tale that is surprisingly tender while the action is wildly exciting and often hilarious. Very loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” Leonardo DiCaprio plays a one-time eco-warrior, Bob, who gives all that up to go into hiding to raise his baby daughter. Fifteen years later, he finds he has to brush off his own “special set of skills” when his now-teenaged daughter (Chase Infiniti) is targeted for kidnapping by a long-ago nemesis, Col. Lockjaw (a marvelously mad menace played by Sean Penn). Now if only Dad can remember the password, after 15 years of pot smoking.

Dark humor, satire, and electrifying action combine with a twisty plot and an strong ensemble cast. The action is breathless, some scenes are played for hilarious satiric or physical comedy, and others for suspense, and the whole thing is brought to vibrating life by outstanding acting, masterful editing and brilliant direction. There is one twist or chase after another, and you never know what’s next, including in a jaw-dropping, dizzying car chase over very hilly terrain near the film’s end. The director, actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro (as DiCaprio’s daughter’s resourceful martial arts teacher) and young Chase Infiniti as the very resourceful daughter, are all top contenders for Oscar nominations, and even front-runners. Like several of the films on this list, this is a film made to be seen on a big screen in a theater, to best appreciate it’s visual artistry.

1. SINNERS

WAMG’s number one film of 2025 is SINNERS and the biggest surprise of the year. Everyone was talking about it when it was released and was the one movie you wanted to go into without knowing the twist. Ryan Coogler’s period piece set in the Jim Crow-era South, blends Southern Gothic atmosphere with visceral vampire horror. Michael B. Jordan brilliantly plays both twin leads, which critics praised as a technical and acting highlight, while SINNERS features many of Coogler’s BLACK PANTHER collaborators, including Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson and and Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter.

Meant to be seen on the big screen, especially IMAX, the standout musical moments are the surreal Juke Joint “Séance” sequence where Sammie’s music “pierces the veil,” causing spirits from the past and future (including B-boys and 70s rock guitarists) to appear in a single continuous shot and the terrifying “Irish Dance” where Remmick performs a spirited, blood-soaked version of “Rocky Road to Dublin” after converting the juke joint patrons.

Check out our contributors individual picks for the year that was 2025.

Jim Batts

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER
BLUE MOON
A MAGNIFICENT LIFE
FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS
FRIENDSHIP
SINNERS
RELAY
28 YEARS LATER
A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE
FREAKY TALES

Honorable Mentions: THUNDERBOLTS, PREDATOR double feature: KILLER OF KILLERS and BADLANDS, FRANKENSTEIN, JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME, MY MOM, JAYNE, STILLER & MEARA: NOTHING IS LOST, WEAPONS, BLACK BAG

Cate Marquis

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER
SINNERS
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
HOUSE OF DYNAMITE
ORWELL: 2+2=5
BLUE MOON
FRANKENSTEIN
BLACK BAG
WAKE UP DEAD MAN
THE UGLY STEPSISTER

Honorable Mentions: WEAPONS, WARFARE, SECRET AGENT, NO OTHER CHOICE. HAMNET. TRAIN DREAMS, SUPERMAN, TALE OF SILYAN, WTO/99, RENTAL FAMILY

Michelle McCue

TRAIN DREAMS
SINNERS
FRANKENSTEIN
CAUGHT STEALING
WEAPONS
28 YEARS LATER
F1
SUPERMAN
KPOP DEMON HUNTERS
BLACK PHONE 2

HONORABLE MENTION – PRIMITIVE WAR, PREDATOR: KILLER OF KILLERS, SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE, HEART EYES, THE GORGE AND GOOD BOY.

WAMG’s Top 10 Films Of 2023

Steve Carell in director Wes Anderson’s ASTEROID CITY, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Augie Steenbeck: I still don’t understand the play.
Schubert Green: Doesn’t matter. Just keep telling the story. – Asteroid City’

2023 was a year full of stories with highs and lows. The year brought about ChatGPT, more news about UAP’s aka UFO’s, Technologists warned of “doomsday” style scenarios in which AI grows an ability to think on its own and attempts to destroy humanity, Baldur’s Gate 3 was crowned the Best Video Game of the Year, England saw the coronation of new king, Fran Drescher led SAG-AFTRA through the actors’ strike and it paid off with the 2023 TV/Theatrical billion-dollar deal, while the Writers Guild’s strike ended in October when they ratified a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) https://www.wga.org/contracts/contracts/mba/summary-of-the-2023-wga-mba.

We all became part of The “Barbenheimer” Phenomenon, the plethora of truly good horror films became the must-sees and in some cases reinvented the genre, The Super Mario Bros. Movie became the top-grossing video game adaptation of all time and the powerhouse that is Taylor Swift with her sing-along event Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. It made us want to go out to our local cinemas again, and boy did we ever!

Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter said “the motion picture industry saw a $9 billion-plus year at the domestic box office” up from 2022. https://deadline.com/2023/12/box-office-2023-marketshare-new-years-weekend-1235683633/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/barbenheimer-box-office-2023-revenue-bonanza-1235777081/

Honorable mentions include: ZONE OF INTEREST, THE IRON CLAW, ORIGIN.

As we head into the New Year, WAMG is celebrating the towering performances, powerful stories and the best films of 2023.

1. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON – Cate Marquis

“Evil surrounds my heart. Many times I cry and this evil around my heart comes out of my eyes. I close my heart and keep what is good there. But hate comes.“

Indigenous actress Lily Gladstone gives a star-making performance in Martin Scorsese’s riveting epic big screen adaptation of the sprawling non-fiction bestseller, about a series of murders by white men married to women who are members of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma. Scorsese narrows the focus to a single family in this complex tale, and tells it from the perspective of the Osage Nation, in a well-researched drama filled with gripping tension and astonishing authenticity, where Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro also give powerful performances along with a large Indigenous cast.

2. OPPENHEIMER – Cate Marquis

“Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.”

Cillian Murphy stars as physicist Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the bomb” for leading the U.S.’s WWII race to beat the Nazis to building a nuclear bomb, in Christopher Nolan’s sweeping historic drama OPPENHEIMER. The biopic follows the race to build the bomb but then Oppenheimer’s post-war struggle to limit his creation, haunted by guilty over what he had unleashed on the world, as the Cold War fires up. Cillian Murphy seems a sure thing for an Oscar nomination in this epic film with incredible cinematography, a thriller-like pace and features a tremendous ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr as the plotting head of the first Atomic Energy Commission.

3. BARBIE – Michelle McCue

“We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back and see how far they have come.”

Moviegoers and the world saw the birth of the Mattel Cinematic Universe. With director Greta Gerwig at the helm, this fun film with a star-studded cast was the perfect diversion from the news of wars, climate change, and the political mess in the U.S. Gerwig’s wholly original, critically acclaimed Barbie, penned with Noah Baumbach and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, became both a worldwide cultural phenomenon and a record-breaking box office success ($1.44 billion) as well as one of the most unique filmgoing experiences in years. Along with the perfect combination of absurdity, heart, and technicolor musicals, BARBIE is that quirky movie that shows that everyone, even Allan, is “Kenough”

4. THE HOLDOVERS – Jim Batts

“The world doesn’t make sense anymore. I mean, it’s on fire. The rich don’t give a s**t. Poor kids are cannon fodder. Integrity is a punch line. Trust is just a name on a bank.”

Time to add another fine film to the list of perennial holiday favorites. Ah, but there’s no mawkish sentimentality in the smart script by David Hemingson expertly helmed by director Alexander Payne in a spirited homage to Hal Ashby and countless classics of the 1970s. But the film wouldn’t capture us without the triumphant trio of thespians: first-film sensation Dominic Sessa, the divine Da’Vine Joy Randolph as the grieving but proud cafeteria manager Mary, and the ultimate curmudgeon, Professor Hunham a role tailor-made for character actor supreme Paul Giamatti. Who wouldn’t want to be sequestered with this group over the Christmas break?

5. MAESTRO – Jim Batts

“As death approaches, I believe that an artist must cast off anything that’s restraining him. And an artist must be resolute in creating, whatever time he has left, in absolute freedom.”

Proving that his superb take on A STAR IS BORN was no premiere film fluke, Bradley Cooper returns to the the director’s chair to examine and celebrate the complex life of music superstar Leonard Bernstein. Aside from also co-writing the screenplay, Cooper gives a fabulous performance as the composer/conductor, expertly paired with the wonderful Carey Mulligan as his understanding wife/muse actress Felicia Montealegre. Their work is ably abetted by the dazzling stylish choices made to establish the different creative periods of their lives, from the shimmering black and white look of the 40s and 50s to the bold color palette of the 60s and 70s. And despite all the bombastic stunts and cinema spectacles of 2023, was there any moment more thrilling and energetic than the concert at St. Ely’s?

6. AMERICAN FICTION – Cate Marquis

“Potential is what people see when what’s in front of them isn’t good enough.”

Smart and laugh-out-loud funny, AMERICAN FICTION may be the best comedy of the year, a tale about a Black author (Jeffry Wright), a buttoned-down academic fed up with a literary establishment that insists on tired tropes and offensive stereotypes in Black literature, who strikes back by satirically writing a novel packed with those tropes as a joke, “My Pafology” under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh, and then finds himself posing as a fictional ex-con author when the joke novel gets published and becomes a bestseller. Jeffrey Wright is outstanding in this comedy/drama filled with sharp humor, biting dialog, clever twists and a crazy family drama on top of it all, which adds up to a brilliant, hilarious film with biting social commentary.

7. ANATOMY OF A FALL – Cate Marquis

A man falls from the upper level of his remote Swiss mountain home, raising a host of questions including if it is murder, suicide or an accident. Suspicion falls on his wife (Sandra Huller, in an amazing performance), a successful writer, in this riveting French mystery mostly in English, with some French and German. Part police procedural, part courtroom drama and part searing family drama, you never know what will happen next in ANATOMY OF A FALL, as it peels back the events of the morning of the fall along with layers of a marriage and family dynamics, in this cleverly-constructed twisty mystery and gripping drama.

8. SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE – Jim Batts

“Everyone keeps telling me how my story is supposed to go.”

After changing the world of animated feature films five years ago, Miles Morales swings back into theatres with a superior sequel, building on the wonders of that first adventure and introducing us to a myriad of spider people and creatures. And for the new incarnations, the artists have created several unique rendering styles from the 80s punk rocker Hobie to the bouncy bright Indian hero Pavitr. But the movie is not just eye candy, though truly tasty, as the talented voice cast makes us care so much for the people inside the spandex, especially Miles, his crush Gwen, and even the daffy but deadly new villain the Spot. Sure, the cliffhanger finale was agonizing, but the conclusion will be well worth the long wait.

9. AIR – Michelle McCue

“That new slogan…You know where it came from?? That damn slogan came from a convict about to get executed in front of a firing squad and they asked him what’s your last words. Just do it? That’s where that comes?

That’s the way basketball is viewed at this company…NIKE just get the shit over with.”

Nike’s pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan, is well known and even if you know the story and how it ends, director Ben Affleck makes for an exciting suspense filled watch with his A-list cast featuring Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, and Viola Davis.

The beauty of the movie is watching how the chase unfolds, and boy does first-timer Alex Convery’s screenplay make us care about the characters. In an interview with Deadline, “Convery wrote Air on spec because he grew up in Chicago in the ‘90s when Jordan was already reigning with the Bulls. Convery said he was inspired to tell Vaccaro’s story by seeing a brief clip of him in the documentary The Last Dance. “His connection to the Jordan deal, I thought that’s your character, the ultimate underdog,” Convery said. “Sonny was ultimately cut out of recognition for this deal. I just felt it was important to tell his story, the relationship he had with Michael, Deloris [Jordan, Michael’s mother] and the family.”

The scene that slam dunks it is when Damon’s Sonny Vaccaro and Chris Tucker’s Nike VP Howard White figure out, with this one idea, the way to rebrand NIKE. And by the way, Chris Tucker is amazing in this film!

10. PAST LIVES – Jim Batts

“You make my life so much bigger, and I’m wondering if I do the same thing for you.”

In the year’s most impressive feature filmmaking debut, writer/ director Celine Song has crafted perhaps the year’s most heart-wrenching drama all built around the notion of “what if?”. In this intimate character study, we learn of the history of two twenty-something South Koreans who met as childhood friends in their homeland. Ah, but fate denies them the chance to become more than pals when her family moves to Canada. They keep in touch online but don’t meet again until he impulsively travels to visit her in NYC. Though she’s now a happily married writer, that old connection still flickers. It’s charming and quiet which adds to the impact of the final scene’s emotional wallop as the duo considers the “road not traveled”.

Here’s a quick look at what’s in store for 2024.

Below are the Geeks individual favorites of the year…

Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in OPPENHEIMER, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. Courtesy of Universal

Cate’s 2023 Top Ten Films

OPPENHEIMER
ANATOMY OF A FALL
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
PAST LIVES
THE HOLDOVERS
POOR THINGS
AMERICAN FICTION
BARBIE
ZONE OF INTEREST
MAESTRO
Honorable Mentions: YOU HURT MY FEELINGS (comedy), THE TASTE OF THINGS (international – France/French), THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE (international – Germany/German), THE BOY AND THE HERON (animated), ROBOT DREAMS (animated), PERFECT DAYS (international – Japan/Japanese), PIGEON TUNNEL (documentary), KING COAL (documentary), IT AIN’T OVER (documentary)

Jim’s 2023 Top Ten Films

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
THE HOLDOVERS
BARBIE
AMERICAN FICTION
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE
OPPENHEIMER
STILL: A MICHAEL J FOX MOVIE
MAESTRO
AIR
TETRIS
Honorable Mentions: ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME MARGARET, MAY DECEMBER, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL.3, ALBERT BROOKS: DEFENDING MY LIFE, YOU HURT MY FEELINGS

Michelle’s 2023 Top Ten Films

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT
THE IRON CLAW
ORIGIN
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
AIR
LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND
OPPENHEIMER
BARBIE
MAESTRO
OPERATION FORTUNE: RUSE DE GUERRE
Honorable Mentions: GODZILLA MINUS ONE, COBWEB, KNOCK AT THE CABIN, JOHN WICK 4, THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER, EXTRACTION 2, EVIL DEAD RISE, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES

Credit: Seacia Pavao / © 2023 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

WAMG’s Top 10 Films Of 2021

In what could be described as an interesting year, movie geeks and film fans over the past 12 months found the movie going experience a bit of a challenge but one that provided rich rewards and dazzling spectacles.

We witnessed the epic battle of titans Kong vs Godzilla, journeyed once again to the planet Dune, cheered on real-life heroes as well as superheroes Spider-Man, Black Widow, Shang-Chi, and The Justice League, rooted for supervillains The Suicide Squad, said hello once again to Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss “Trinity and Neo” and bid a sad goodbye to Daniel Craig’s 007 “James Bond.”

Whether the films of 2021 debuted in theaters or went straight to streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime, cinemas offered everyone an escapism from the trials and tribulations of everyday life with the continuation of franchise favorites SAW, A QUIET PLACE 2, MORTAL KOMBAT, FAST & FURIOUS 9, CANDYMAN and THE CONJURING.

We feasted on directors Steven Spielberg, Chloé Zhao, M. Night Shyamalan, Nia DeCosta, Edgar Wright, Jane Campion, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ridley Scott, Lana Wachowski and Guillermo del Toro visions of musicals, horror, comedy, cinema noir and DC/Marvel superheroes.

But in the end, it was your friendly neighborhood webslinger that saved 2021 with a huge box office return, the reemergence of villains (as well as Daredevils) and an emotional return with not only one but two Spider-men that had audiences sobbing, smiling, cheering and giving us hope for the coming year.

Even if Tinseltown is recovering from the long-term effects of the pandemic, 2022 is shaping up to be a pretty great year on the big and small screens with the upcoming THE BATMAN, BLACK ADAM, DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, TOP GUN: MAVERICK, THE FLASH, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, Jordan Peele’s NOPE, BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 and THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, just to name a few.

Before we kick off our list, check out this video montage of the best of what the big screen had to offer moviegoers.

Honorable Mention: THE SUMMER OF SOUL

Nina Simone performs at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969, featured in the documentary SUMMER OF SOUL. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

“Open your heart to what I mean, we must begin to tell our young, there’s a world waiting for you, yours is the quest that’s just begun.”-Nina Simone, “To Be Young Gifted and Black”

In his review, Jim Batts says, “the superb SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED) is also cause for rejoicing and adoration. What a time. What wonderful timeless entertainment.” In his directorial debut, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson sought to recover the meaningful spirit of the past – when the biggest names in African-American music, culture, and politics came together for six consecutive weeks for a landmark, transformational Black cultural event. His little-seen footage had remained in storage for the past 50 years, keeping this singular event in American history hidden – until now. The filmmaker presented fans with never-before-seen footage of concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King and The 5th Dimension. The winner of both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival, SUMMER OF SOUL is one of the best documentaries of 2021 and an amazing must-see for music fans.

10. WEST SIDE STORY

So, was a remake of the beloved, multi-Oscar-winning film from 60 years ago needed? While some still debate this, the “new spin” from Steven Spielberg was a surprisingly moving “re-interpretation” thanks in part to the script enhancements from Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner brought to vivid life by a young cast headed by the fiery Ariana DeBose as Anita and this year’s major movie discovery Rachel Zegler as Maria. Plus, there’s plenty of bright “star power” emanating from the “force of nature” Rita Moreno from the original (and now a co-producer). Lots of kudos to the army of artisans and craftspeople that meticulously recreated 1957 NYC. Best of all this is another chance to savor (and for youngsters to discover) the spectacular songs from Leonard Bernstein and the recently departed, much-missed Stephen Sondheim. It all gives support to the adage “Everything old is new again”.

9. ENCANTO

As the multiplex is bombarded with animation offerings from the major studios to the “indies”, the artists at Walt Disney Animation continue to impress (along with “sibling” Pixar who offered the lovely LUCA this year). Peppered with catchy, bouncy tunes from the very busy (whew) Lin-Manuel Miranda, this story of an enchanted village and its founding family is indeed magical, alive with color and comedy. Plus, it features a heroine that strives to save the day despite having no “gifts’ other than her bravery and intelligence. Oh, and she wears glasses (a first for Disney). And despite the incredible character design and superb action and slapstick, the dynamics of family and love are first and foremost in this fabulous fable.

8. NO TIME TO DIE

James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Paloma (Ana de Armas) in NO TIME TO DIE an EON Productions and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios film Credit: Nicola Dove © 2020 DANJAQ, LLC AND MGM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

After his 15-year adventure as James Bond, Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 had a bittersweet ending in director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s NO TIME TO DIE. Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain (Rami Malek) armed with dangerous new technology.

Bond 25 has one of the franchise’s best action scenes in the opening chase scene through the Southern Italian city of Matera.

Academy Award-winning director of photography Linus Sandgren’s thrilling cinematography is rich, colorful and exciting. The choreography is old-school filmmaking at it’s finest.

Fun facts about the film: At the age of 18, Billie Eilish is the youngest artist to record a Bond theme song, the first in the series to have sequences shot with 65mm IMAX film cameras and was co-written by “Fleabag” creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Like all 007 missions, the ending credits once again made a promise: “James Bond will return.”

7. CRUELLA

Emma Stone as Cruella in Disney’s live-action CRUELLA.

A mischievous Emma Stone gave us the performance of the year (and 47 costume changes) as CRUELLA, which was a suitably wicked backstory for one of Walt Disney’s greatest villains. This ‘mean girl’ fairytale’s stylish direction by Craig Gillespie, intricate dedication to period detail, eye-popping costume design, and crazed 70’s soundtrack, not to mention a truly game supporting cast, made CRUELLA the biggest surprise of 2021.

6. TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Joel Coen’s first solo production is an gripping adaptation of Shakespeare’s Scottish play, starring Denzel Washington as Macbeth and Frances McDormand as the ambitious Lady Macbeth. The film grabs you straight out of the gate with a weirdly wild meeting of the three witches, actually played by one woman with wicked contortionist skills, as a kind of unholy trinity. Shot entirely in a gorgeous black and white, with surrealist sets and a stark, wide-spaces cinematography where people might dissolve into an explosion of crows, but with a pared-down narrative tightness, it is Shakespeare as noirish thriller, or a “ticking-clock thriller” as Coen himself put it.

5. CRY MACHO

If 91-year Clint Eastwood had directed his 91-year-old self in a movie where he rides a horse, shoots a gun, punches someone in the face with his old-man fist, and dances with a woman, that alone would have been enough to put CRY MACHO on this list. But Clint gave this movie so much more. It was a gentle, even sweet, film about the wisdom of growing old. CRY MACHO felt like a parting gift from our greatest living director and star.

4. THE FRENCH DISPATCH

Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

Wes Anderson’s charming, creative, color-drenched literate comedy tale is an homage to the early New Yorker magazine, here re-imagined as a French-based Sunday weekly of a Kansas newspaper. Told through an anthology of short tales representing various stories by different contributors, this film packed with all the quirk and charm you expect from Wes Anderson, and it also sports an unbeatable all-star ensemble cast, including Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Tmothee Chalamet, Tilda Swinton, Benicio Del Toro, Frances McDormand and more.

3. LICORICE PIZZA

Photo Credit Melinda Sue Gordon Copyright © 2021 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s charming ode to the sparkly 70s is the perfect “middle section” between Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD and PTA’s own BOOGIE NIGHTS. It gets all the pop culture’s excesses of the period just right, though it’s more than merely a nostalgia “checklist. This is an endearing look at a couple, a wandering woman in her mid-20’s and an ambitious, always-hustling teenager, who can’t stop circling each other, both played superbly by two relative screen unknowns, Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman. But its secret weapon might be the hysterical scene-stealing performance by Bradley Cooper as a real-life Hollywood “power broker”. What a gem.

2. SPIDER MAN: NO WAY HOME

Tom Holland stars as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Columbia Pictures’ SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME.

As we near the 20th anniversary of this character’s film franchise, our biggest movie holiday present is this entertaining blockbuster, proving that there’s lots of life in the old superhero movie genre. While many “tent-poles” try to ignore their history, this zippy “thrill-ride” fully embraces its past in a story of courage, sacrifice, and redemption, as Spidey not only rescues the innocent bystanders but seeks to save, rather than punish or execute, the “villains”. Oh, and it’s really funny just as it tugs at your heart. It’s a sweet “look back”, while marking a new chapter in the “webbed wonder’s” life. Bravo to Sony for agreeing to team with Marvel Studios for another trilogy. And with Tom Holland on board, fantasy film fans have great cause to rejoice.

1. BELFAST

(L to R) Jamie Dornan as “Pa”, Ciarán Hinds as “Pop”, Jude Hill as “Buddy”, and Judi Dench as “Granny” in director Kenneth Branagh’s BELFAST, a Focus Features release. Credit : Rob Youngson / Focus Features

Kenneth Branagh’s semi-biographical tale of childhood in 1969 Belfast is a complete charmer, with a surprising amount of humor despite taking place during the Irish troubles. Sprinkled with terrific performances by Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench as wise-cracking grandparents, young Jude Hill as lively 8-year-old Buddy and Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe as his fiery, loving parents. A terrific film on all levels with fabulous, creative black-and-white cinematography, this one is a sure front-runner for Oscars.

STAFF PICKS

Jim’s Top Ten for 2021:

1. LICORICE PIZZA
2. SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
3. ENCANTO
4. WEST SIDE STORY
5. THE SUMMER OF SOUL
6. LUCA
7. THE LAST DUEL
8. LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
9. RITA MORENO; JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT
10. DREAM HORSE

Honorable mentions: CODA, STILLWATER, POWER OF THE DOG

Cate’s Top Ten for 2021:

1. BELFAST
2. THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
3. FRENCH DISPATCH
4. THE HAND OF GOD
5. LICORICE PIZZA
6. DON’T LOOK UP
7. THE POWER OF THE DOG
8. PASSING
9. A HERO
10. THE GREEN KNIGHT

Honorable Mentions: DRIVE MY CAR, STILLWATER, JOCKEY, WEST SIDE STORY, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, PARALLEL MOTHERS, SPENCER, CODA, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, TITANE, BEING THE RICARDOS

Michelle’s Top Ten for 2021:

1. BELFAST
2. SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
3. Zack Snyder’s JUSTICE LEAGUE
4. GODZILLA VS KONG
5. THE GREEN KNIGHT
6. NO TIME TO DIE
7. A QUIET PLACE PART II
8. DUNE
9. THE POWER OF THE DOG
10. THE LAST DUEL

Honorable mentions: OLD, SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, THE SUICIDE SQUAD, THE HARDER THEY FALL, THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES, MALIGNANT and MATRIX RESURRECTIONS

Tom’s List Top Ten for 2021:

CRY MACHO
CRUELLA
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
TITANE
ARMY OF THE DEAD
THE CARD COUNTER
THE FRENCH DISPATCH
NO TIME TO DIE
THE LAST DUEL
HOUSE OF GUCCI

Honorable mentions: NOBODY, PIG, WRATH OF MAN

Top Ten Films of 2020

Despite the ups and downs, 2020 was a year worth celebrating when it came to movies. WAMG’s list contains stories that provided insight, inspiration, and escapism in the wild year that was 2020.

With movements like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, there were true social and cultural films that showed everyone how important it is to celebrate diversity.

Even with the dark days, we came together in peaceful protest to bring light to the awful injustices. Diversity and inclusion go hand-in-hand and we must keep working to bring about an inclusive culture. In June The Academy announced that it will encourage equitable hiring practices and representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the film community.

There were moments of film brilliance that shone brightly whether you were streaming at home or viewing it from your car at the drive-in. Check out our list of Amazing Moments of last year HERE.

Reminding us of the importance of film, here’s WAMG’s Top 10 Films of 2020.

Let’s jump in with our Honorable Mention.

BOYS STATE

This informative movie from filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine followed a group of teenage boys who run a mock government in Austin, TX every year. This must-see film won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival and was truly one of the best documentaries of 2020. Be assured, if you’ve never heard of Boys or Girls State, and have a high school Junior, you will definitely want to send them to this week long event after watching this political coming-of-age story.

10. THE OUTPOST

Director Rod Lurie’s THE OUTPOST depicts the Battle of Kamdesh, which took place on October of 2009, near the border with Pakistan in Afghanistan. 53 American Soldiers were expected to defend the worst position possible from 300 Taliban fighters and the stage was set for one of the bloodiest close quarter conflicts of the war in Afghanistan. The second half of THE OUTPOST is a visceral depiction of combat and an amazing job portraying the odds that were stacked against these men. Scott Eastwood does away with Clint imitation shtick this time and proves himself a more than capable action star.

9. MANK

With MANK, director David Fincher and his late screenwriter father Jack Fincher tell the story of how the screenplay for CITIZEN KANE, regarded as one of the greatest ever written, was primarily penned by Herman J. Mankiewicz. Gary Oldman is a powerhouse in the titular role, playing Mank as a brilliant drunk. Tom Burke plays Orson Welles as kind of an annoying show off, but that’s not what MANK is about. The story jumps back and forth in time, an epic parade through ‘30s Hollywood, and focuses much of its story on the studio head’s reactions to the 1934 California governor’s race. The cinematography is spot-on, perfectly matching the look an atmosphere of CITIZEN KANE. MANK is a must-watch for fans of Hollywood history and politics

8. WOLFWALKERS

From the filmmakers of the Oscar-nominated short THE SECRET OF KELS, which combines magic, fantasy and Celtic mythology, WOLFWALKERS is the third film in Cartoon Saloon’s “Irish Folklore” trilogy. From Oscar-nominated director Tomm Moore and director Ross Stewart, this gorgeous film was an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival, and one of the best of 2020. Jim Batts says in his review of the the film, “the CGI feature films are stunning, but a variety of styles raises the level of all animated efforts. These arresting visuals are complemented by the lyrical score by Bruno Coulais). WOLFWALKERS is a dazzling combination of a compelling story matched by art that smoothly blends the best current techniques while recalling classic works that helped shape our childhood.”

7. ON THE ROCKS

2020 saw several actors and directors re-uniting in new films, with none perhaps more entertaining than this modern-day family fable. After having two adorable daughters, Rashida Jones’ Laura suspects that her hubby may be cheating on her. When she voices her concerns during a long-distance call to her daddy, surprisingly he soon arrives. Bill Murray as grandpa’ Felix is indeed a “wonderful, wonderful cat” as whisks her away on an undercover adventure, leaving a trail of empty martini glasses along the road to Mexico. Seventeen years after Sofia Coppola directed him in LOST IN TRANSLATION, she guides him in serving up another helping of that irresistible Murray charm, this time tinged with longing and regret, for a most enjoyable visit with one of cinema’s great “wiseguy” icons.

6. NOMADLAND

The wanderer on the open road is an icon of American tales from classic Westerns to Jack London to Kerouac. NOMADLAND upends our expectation of the usual male central character, making the wanderer instead an older woman. Frances McDormand gives a stunning performance as a woman reflecting on both past and the future, someone who has become untethered from ordinary life after small town where she and her late husband had lived evaporates when its sole employer shuts down. Hitting the road in a van, McDormand’s lone traveler encounters a loosely-connected community of fellow wanderers living in trailers and vans, moving from place to place in search of jobs, but also enjoying the freedom of the road amid the raw beauty of the Western landscape. Filled with breath-taking photography,, and by turns sad or joyous, NOMDALAND is a powerful, engrossing story that is both personal journey and social commentary, and one that is both timeless and timely.

5. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

Carey Mulligan gives a fearless, powerhouse performance as a once-promising young woman who now spends her nights prowling bars, posing as a drunken woman, to exact revenge on would-be rapists, in PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. Director Emerald Fennel’s smart, clever, darkly funny film is an equally fearless take down of rape culture and its enablers, a film that straddles the lines between thriller, dark comedy and drama genres. The surprising, and surprisingly entertaining, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN is at once a hard-hitting attack on rape culture, a highly entertaining experience, and an impressive showcase for Mulligan.

4. THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF

Codependency between the roles of the artist and the muse is examined in Benjamin Ree’s fascinating documentary that feels as riveting and unexpected as a scripted drama. What begins as a woman investigating her missing paintings evolves into an unlikely friendship that sets the stage for a stirring look at self-healing, how we see ourselves and how we are seen by others. As the film shows in beautiful and heartbreaking moments, a portrait is a reflection of both the artist and the subject — an image stuck in time despite what changes lie ahead for the two.

3. POSSESSOR

In the not-so-distant future, your body is just a vessel that can be used and manipulated to be a weapon. One part cyber-punk, body-horror freakout and one part existential metaphor about our lack of identity and the soul-crushing effects of a job controlling your life, POSSESSOR shows director Brandon Cronenberg continuing in his iconic father’s footsteps of creating experiences that meld sex, violence and technology in unforgettable ways. A bleak and visceral look at corporate espionage delivered at a time when data mining, surveillance and slipping into online virtual worlds isn’t the future but rather our “normal” paranoid lives.

2. NEWS OF THE WORLD

And here’s another terrific 2020 actor/ director reunion. Seven years after their fateful voyage in CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, director Paul Greengrass embarks on another tension-filled trek with actor Tom Hanks, this one set in the old West, just a few years after the Civil War. Hanks is a former Union officer who now lives by traveling from one isolated dusty town to the next, reading stories from a variety of newspapers from around the world to the settlers. His solidary life is upended when he meets a young girl of seven years, Johanna (Helena Zengel) who had been abducted by the Kiowa tribe, and decides to personally return her to his family. Greengrass skillfully twists the themes of the iconic film classic THE SEARCHERS to deliver a “road trip” adventure highlighting the deep emotional bond slowly forming between the two leads. And Hanks finally gets to saddle-up for his first live-action foray into the Western genre after several decades as our “fav’rit” plastic sheriff.

1. THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

Director/ writer Aaron Sorkin takes us on another dramatic trip into the world of politics but set in the now distant, but oh so familiar past. Indeed its main focus is on the legal “three-ring circus” that riveted the US a couple of years after the violent demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention in the Windy City when those protest organizers were charged with a litany of federal and state offenses. An impressive all-star cast, headed by Oscar-winners Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance, bring this slice of history to vibrant life under Sorkin’s taut guidance as he balances the courtroom “theatrics” with harrowing flashbacks of that turbulent era. After the past of summer of societal unrest, this 50 year-old story feels incredibly “of the moment” thanks to his filmmaking skills and perhaps this movie year’s scariest villain, Frank Langella as the single-minded stubborn Judge Hoffman.

The individual favorites from the WAMG team:

Michael’s Favorite Films of 2020

Welcome to Chechnya
Possessor
The Painter and The Thief
Relic
Boys State
Black Bear
Minari
Bacurau
Wolfwalkers
Sound of Metal

Honorable mentions:
Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Promising Young Woman, Lovers Rock

Cate’s Favorite Films of 2020

Nomadland
First Cow
Mank
The Painter and the Thief
Antigone (French Canadian, Canada’s official Oscar entry)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Promising Young Woman
Blow the Man Down
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Beanpole

Honorable Mentions:
Vast of Night, Emma., Lucky Grandma, Coded Bias, Painted Bird

Michelle’s Favorite Films of 2020

Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7
The Personal History of David Copperfield
The Painter and the Thief
First Cow
News of the World
Promising Young Woman
Wolfwalkers
The Outpost
Boys State

Honorable Mentions:
Love and Monsters, Bill & Ted 3 (BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC), Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, The Vast of Night, The Midnight Sky, Tenet

Jim’s Favorite Films of 2020

Soul
Desert One
Promising Young Woman
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Belushi
BORAT: Subsequent Movie Film
News Of The World
Wolfwalkers
The Trial of the Chicago 7
On The Rocks

Honorable Mentions:

THE ASSISTANT, PIECES OF A WOMAN, HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY: THE REN & STIMPY STORY, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS and OVER THE MOON

Tom’s Favorite Films of 2020

A Rainy Day In New York
Possessor
The Outpost
BORAT: Subsequent Movie Film
Mank
The Call Of The Wild
The Devil All The Time
On The Rocks
News Of The World
VFW

Honorable Mentions:

AMERICA’S LAST LITTLE ITALY: THE HILL, SKIN: A HISTORY OF NUDITY IN THE MOVIES

Best Movies of 2019

From superheroes to real life heroes, to tales of Hollywood and voyages to the Moon, the year that was 2019 had much to offer to audiences flocking to theaters for a few hours of escapism from the world.

Filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, Celine Sciamma, Quentin Tarantino, Olivia Wilde, Taika Waititi and Bong Joon-Ho brought a wealth of stories to the silver screen.

We saw the culmination of the Marvel phase 3 story arc, the culmination of the Skywalker Saga and the still in progress, groundbreaking John Wick series, as well as a host of other interesting, quality movies unleashed into cinemas.

WAMG presents its list for the Top 10 films of 2019.

1. Martin Scorsese reminds us why he is still a master movie maker with THE IRISHMAN, a compelling foray into familiar territory, making use of new tech to complete the “mob trilogy’ he began nearly thirty years ago with GOODFELLAS. It’s a sweeping story across the decades starring Scorsese’s muse Robert DeNiro as a kind of hitman riff on Forrest Gump as he bears witness, and often takes a role in the ever-changing late 20th century. Rejoining him is Joe Pesci playing a mob boss very different from the violent “hair triggers’ he’s played in the past, almost the “calm in the storm”. His opposite is the addition of Al Pacino who makes union leader legend Jimmie Hoffa a bombastic force of nature. And with Movie CGI magic, Scorsese is able to have the same actors age through the decades. This gives the powerful last act, with survivor DeNiro facing the ravages of time, even more of an emotional wallop. It’s an intimate epic from a cinematic artist. (Jim Batts’ review)

2. Our number 2 choice is 1917. Roger Deakins’ astounding cinematography drives the pulse-pounding pace of this electrifying tale of two WWI soldiers racing the clock to cross enemy territory to deliver a message to stop a disastrous attack. Made to look like a single take, Sam Mendes’ 1917 is an astounding piece of film-making but also a gripping war epic that immerses viewers into the experience of the two young British soldiers as they transverse a landscape filled with the unequaled horrors of WWI. – Cate Marquis

3. ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD is a fantastic dive into a Golden Anniversary of Hollywood in 1969. It’s full of characters and dialog that shine even brighter in its quieter moments while it’s love for everything old cinema (and TV) is at the forefront of its storytelling. For anyone who thinks the runtime should have been shorter, remember; Quentin Tarantino was trying to make those who had never experienced that era feel close to it, he had to create as authentic and dense an atmosphere as possible. – Tom Stockman (Jim Batts’ review)

4. DOLEMITE IS MY NAME is a sidesplitting and loving tribute to Rudy Ray Moore, one of the most outrageous and unique personalities of the 1970’s. Eddie Murphy channels everything about Moore; his walk, his expressions, his acting ability, his jokes, his attitude, his lousy kung-fu skills, and Moore’s raunchy brand of comedy. Wesley Snipes also shined as Blaxploitation mainstay D’Urville Martin. – Tom Stockman (Jim Batts’ review)

5. May I speak, for a moment, about how Celine Sciamma’s 2019 masterwork PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE sounds? Seriously. There’s been a lot of great writing on the visual literacy of the film (Claire Mathon’s cinematography in this film and Mati Diop’s Atlantiques is quite simply the best work of the year), as well as the sublime screenplay that took home the award for Best Screenplay at Cannes. There has also been a lot of writing on the chemistry of actresses Noemie Marant and Adele Haenel…so I’m not going to bother going down that well. I would like to talk about sound. There is many a moment in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, when the characters simply sit by a fire, listening to the crackle and enjoying the warmth of each other’s skin. It’s euphoria, and through a unique soundscape the sound department (Valerie Deloof, Sarah Lelu, Vincent Milner, Edouard Morin, Clemence Peloso, Julien Sicart and Daniel Sobrino), spread that feeling into almost every single scene of the production. Every movement of sheets, shifting of wood, paintbrush bristle scraping against a canvas and curl of a wave brings the audience back to the comfortable room where our two lovers experience their tryst. As the story progresses, this feeling starts to be played against us, reminding us sonically of that has come before. That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the last scene of the movie, but I wouldn’t want to spoil that explosion of emotion. So I’ll leave you with this. Listen to Portrait of a Lady on Fire. It’ll make you fall in love. – Stephen Tronicek

6. There’s a scene early in Bong Joon-Ho’s PARASITE where the son of the poor Kim family, Kim Ki-Woo (Woo-sik Choi) attempts to justify forging a college diploma in order to get a job as a tutor for the rich Park family. He mentions that he doesn’t think of it as a forgery because he’ll be going to college in the next year. The other members of the Kim family commend him for having such a good plan. This idea of a good plan has always been fundamental to the outlook of Bong Joon-Ho’s work. How do disadvantaged characters formulate the right plan to make it out of a situation alive…and what forces stop the plan from being good? This combined with his astute eye and ear for capturing social ills on film hyperfocus this question into: “How do societal plans fail?” Parasite is best matched with Bong’s 2013 sci-fi action film Snowpiecer, in that it’s about a surrogate for the poor creating a plan to become rich and failing in the process. Just as the poor of Snowpiecer make it to the front, only to realize that the very operation of the train means the moral degradation of its occupants, the Kim family’s journey is one of justification. Kim Ki-Woo may say that he’s going to college the next year (and may formulate later plans not to be spoiled) but there’s no chance of them working. Bong’s thesis is that these plans fail because we agree to play by their rules. By using deceit, by focusing only on the wealth that could be accumulated, by embracing the nihilism that people above us so desperately want us to focus on, we become the Kims. Parasite is a tragedy in the highest order, one that asks us desperately not to make the same mistakes the characters do yet still understand the context of their actions. We fail because we play by their rules. – Stephen Tronicek

7. BOOKSMART presents the cliche high school personas, and just as quickly, shows off how in 2019, the John Hughes 80s-movie stereotypes do not apply. Director Olivia Wilde (making her directorial debut) combines outrageous humor and a tender approach to characters that are typically presented as immature or just a punchline in other high school films. Beyond the raunchy jokes and pitch-perfect needle drops, BOOKSMART finds its strength in a quirky bond between the strong, feminist duo (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) leading to one of the best comedic duos in recent memory. The “final high school party” premise feels surprisingly fresh in large part to a smart and nuanced approach to female sexuality and friendship. (Michael Haffner’s review)

8. Using never-before-seen footage, much in gorgeous large format, the remarkable documentary APOLLO 11 presents the first moon landing as if it were unfolding in real-time, creating an expected thrilling excitement and breathtaking immersion in the landmark historic experience. – Cate Marquis

9. When the hate groups are on the rise, how do filmmakers fight back? In the case of Taika Waititi, it’s with laughter (Mel Brooks was thinking the same thing over 50 years ago with THE PRODUCERS). Though some may say “too soon”, Waititi takes on the Nazis in Germany during the waning days of WWII in his film JOJO RABBIT. After a brief stint with Thor over in the MCU, he delivers this intimate story and proves himself a true triple threat as director, screenwriter (adapting a novel) and actor, playing the neediest, most vindictive “imaginary friend” ever. The title character is a pre-teen lad (Roman Griffin Davis) swept up in the Hitler Youth movement, where he’s encouraged by several adults, including the superb comic actors Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, and Stephan Merchant. Luckily his home life is balanced by his loving, feisty mother played with tenderness by Scarlett Johansson (another great maternal role this year) and an unusual older girl played by the talented Thomasin McKenzie. The film somehow balances slapstick, satire, and the horrors of the time. leading up to a most moving and hopeful finale, proving that Waititi is an artist worth following. (Jim Batts’ review)

10. Our final pick is RICHARD JEWELL. This docudrama ripped from the late 1990s took many moviegoers by surprise at year’s end. First, because of its unlikely title hero, a chunky “cop wannabe” played with great skill by relative newcomer Paul Walter Hauser. And the second stunner is the director telling his story, movie icon Clint Eastwood. He proves himself a master of suspense early on as Jewell discovers the bomb-filled backpack in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics. It’s a real “nail-biter” of a scene that would have Hitchcock squirming. But that’s only the start of the drama as Eastwood takes us on Jewell’s astounding 72-hour journey from life-saving “saint” to murdering mastermind thanks to some sloppy investigators and over-eager reporters. All the while we’re wondering how much worse things would’ve been for him if the internet had been at today’s full strength and speed. Luckily Hauser has a great supporting cast lead by the always superb Sam Rockwell as his lawyer pal, Kathy Bates as his loyal, suffering mom, Jon Hamm as a fervent FBI agent, and Olivia Wilde as an ambitious newspaper writer. The assured storytelling and tight pacing make this Eastwood’s most compelling work in a long time. (Jim Batts’ review)

Honorable Mention – AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Fans were practically in a frenzy as they waited out a long, long year for the conclusion of the epic that began with AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (though there were little bits and hints over several other flicks). When they picked their jaws off the multiplex floors in late April, all agreed that this was the fantasy action extravaganza that they’d dreamed of. What really stunned moviegoers was how emotional it all was. With so many characters and locales, each character got a chance to shine, even those fairly new (hello Ant-Man and Captain Marvel, welcome back Hawkeye). It all felt as though Marvel Studios mastermind Kevin Feige, ably aided by the crisp clean directing from the Russo Brothers (with that big final battle perhaps the duo wished they were triplets), wanted to embrace the stalwart filmgoers who made the movies of the last eleven years an astounding media triumph (as many entertainment sources said, “We’ll never see this again”). But all was not just hugs and “high-fives” as sacrifices were made and several central figures bid adieu, including the last cameo of comics guru and co-creator of it all, the much-missed Stan Lee. Farewell phase three, but face front for phase four, true believers, as “the man” would say. Avengers (and movie fans) will assemble! (Jim Batts’ review)

Here’s the staff’s individual picks.

Jim’s Best of 2019:

Avengers: Endgame
Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood
The Irishman
Toy Story 4
Jo Jo Rabbit
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
Bombshell
Book Smart
Dark Waters
Richard Jewell

Honorable Mentions: Spider-Man: Far From Home, Dolemite is My Name, Apollo 11

Cate’s Best of 2019:

1917
JoJo Rabbit
The Irishman
The Report
Ford V Ferrari
Last Black Man In San Francisco
The Nightingale
Parasite
Honeyland
Apollo 11

Honorable Mentions: The Mustang, A Hidden Life, Harriet, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Tom’s Best of 2019:

Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood
1917
Dolemite Is My Name
Midsommar
Richard Jewell
The Irishman
A Dog’s Journey
Midway
Rambo Last Blood
Dragged Across Concrete

Honorable Mentions: Joker, Rabid, Toy Story 4

Michael’s Best of 2019:

Little Women
Uncut Gems
Waves
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
The Farewell
Booksmart
The Irishman
Fast Color
Under the Silver Lake
Jojo Rabbit

Honorable mentions: Hustlers, Gloria Bell, Dolemite is My Name

Michelle’s Best of 2019:

1917
Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood
Dolemite Is My Name
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
The Irishman
A Hidden Life
Alita Battle Angel
Us
Apollo 11
Ad Astra

Honorable mentions: Crawl, Good Boys, Knives Out, Shazam! and Ready Or Not.

Stephen’s Best of 2019:

Marriage Story
Long Day’s Journey into Night
Transit
Rachel (online film released)
High Life
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
The Irishman
A Hidden Life
Parasite
Peterloo

Honorable mentions: Monos, Asako 1&2, The Souvenir, Ash is Purest White, The Farewell, Midsommar.

Top 10 Films Of 2018

Undoubtedly the year that was 2018 was one of the oddest, to say the least. Events both in the United States and worldwide had movie goers escaping to cinemas for relief… both off world or right here on Terra Firma. WAMG’s Top 10 Movies of 2018 entertained audiences with superheroes and super-people alike, educated them with history lessons on prejudice, bigotry, and tragedy, while at the same time finding solace in one man’s gentle, understanding words as well as a family’s love, loss and sacrifice.

Uniquely all character, all human driven, here is a look at the Best films of the past year.

Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo, Marco Graf as Pepe, Carlos Peralta Jacobson as Paco, and Daniela Demesa as Sofi in Roma, written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
Image by Alfonso Cuarón.

1. ROMA: “It is hard to do justice in words to the sense of majesty and significance Cuaron manages to create for these ordinary lives, yet the sense is there in the finely crafted images. The fact is, the film really just needs to be seen to fully appreciate Cuaron’s artistry in making the everyday seem profound.” https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/12/roma-review/

2. FIRST REFORMED: “this is Ethan Hawke’s show and it’s the best performance I’ve ever seen him give. The actor does a magnificent job showing the inner turmoil and despair brewing inside Ernst Toller and he’s so good I can’t imagine anyone else in the role.” https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/05/first-reformed-review/

3. BLACKKKLANSMAN: “BLACKkKLANSMAN is a film about the power of language and how it can be used to fuel love or hate, but ultimately it’s the hateful speech that will linger with you long after the credits roll and how that speech is no longer disguised beneath a hood hidden from the public eye or ear.” https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/08/blackkklansman-review/

4. THE FAVOURITE: “THE FAVOURITE is great fun, with a dash of tragedy and the caution to be careful what you wish for.” https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/12/the-favourite-review/

5. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?: “The impact Mr. Rogers had on all of us can’t be measured or read about in a book, but it can be seen on the faces of your neighbors walking out of the theater. “ https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/06/wont-neighbor-review/

6. GREEN BOOK: “GREEN BOOK is a reminder of how far equality has come, a needed nudge that we still have a ways to go, and a real-life lesson in how hearts and minds can change through empathy, respect, and friendship. Need I say, this entertaining work is one of the year’s best.” https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/11/green-book-review/

7. VICE: “VICE seems a sure thing for Oscar nominations, particularly for Christian Bale’s breathtaking performance and its clever script. Highly entertaining as well as as impressively inventive, VICE is definitely a must-see film, and one of this year’s best.” https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/12/vice-review/

8. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE: “YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE is an impressive film, combining all the elements of a dark crime thriller while both transcending and transforming the genre utterly as it transforms its lead character.” https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/04/never-really-review/

9. WIDOWS: “WIDOWS is a film that has it all – a smart script, driving crime thriller energy, memorable characters and something to say about the world we live in.” https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/11/widows-review/

10. A QUIET PLACE: “you’re going to remember the film more for its depiction of familial love and sacrifice and its pulse-racing moments than the actual creatures. Krasinski shows you can have both a sincere family drama and a sincere monster movie and roll them into one simple and scary package” https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/04/quiet-place-review/

WAMG’s honorable mentions go to PADDINGTON 2, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT, SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, BLACK PANTHER, A STAR IS BORN.

Marvel Studios’ AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR..L to R: Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Wong (Benedict Wong)..Photo: Chuck Zlotnick..©Marvel Studios 2018

Jim’s Favorites

1. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
2. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
3. BLACKKKLANSMAN
4. VICE
5. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
6. GREEN BOOK
7. THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS
8. A QUIET PLACE
9. THE GUILTY
10. A SIMPLE FAVOR

Honorable mentions: INCREDIBLES 2, BLACK PANTHER, THE CAPTAIN, MARY
POPPINS RETURNS, A STAR IS BORN, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Noah Jupe plays Marcus Abbott, John Krasinski plays Lee Abbott, Emily Blunt plays Evelyn Abbott and Millicent Simmonds plays Regan Abbott in A QUIET PLACE, from Paramount Pictures. Photo Credit: Jonny Cournoyer © 2018 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.

Michelle’s Favorites

1. A QUIET PLACE
2. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
3. LEAVE NO TRACE
4. BLACKKKLANSMAN
5. ROMA
6. ANNIHILATION
7. HEREDITARY
8. WIDOWS
9. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT
10. PADDINGTON 2

Honorable mentions: FIRST MAN, OVERLORD, THE MEG

Tom’s Favorites

1. THE MULE
2. PADDINGTON 2
3. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
4. ROMA
5. THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS
6. FIRST REFORMED
7. ISLE OF DOGS
8. DEATH WISH
9. GREEN BOOK
10. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT

Honorable mention: OVERLORD

Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz in the film THE FAVOURITE. Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. © 2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

Cate’s Favorites

1. THE FAVOURITE
2. VICE
3. ROMA
4. BLACKKKLANSMAN
5. LEAVE NO TRACE
6. FIRST REFORMED
7. CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
8. SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
9. DEATH OF STALIN
10. WIDOWS

Honorable mentions: THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS, ISLE OF DOGS, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, BLACK PANTHER

Nicolas Cage appears in *Mandy* by Panos Cosmatos. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Michael’s Favorites

1. MANDY
2. THE FAVOURITE
3. ROMA
4. FIRST REFORMED
5. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
6. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
7. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
8. SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
9. AMERICAN ANIMALS
10. BODIED

Honorable Mentions: BLACKKKLANSMAN, A STAR IS BORN, THOROUGHBREDS , PRIVATE LIFE

10 Reasons I Love JUSTICE LEAGUE – Available on Blu-ray March 13th

JUSTICE LEAGUE will be available on Blu-ray next Tuesday, March 13th

Ok, I get it, the jury is in, the Justice League bombed at the box office and most critics were less than kind. I don’t care, I saw it three times (not as often as Wonder Woman) in theaters. I love it anyway. Even though I had my own problems with this latest DC Universe movie.

My problems, in brief: First, the missing and deleted scenes. Youtube was loaded with many and various previews for Justice League leading up to its release, all of which had scenes and lines of dialog that didn’t make it into the final cut. I sincerely hope the blu ray will present an extended or director’s cut of Justice League. And of course the blu ray release has been delayed.

Second the threat is too generic, Steppenwolf never does seem like much of a villain and the “ParaDemons” are too much like the Alien Army in the first Avengers movie, cannon fodder for the heroes with no personality. And the Macguffin the villain is after is way too much like the power box, again, in the first Avengers movie. Making three magic boxes instead of one, that makes it different? Right……

And to me the most egregious mark against the Justice League, J. K Simmons. Not the actor, he is one of the best actors working now and has an Oscar to prove it. My problem is, why hire J. K Simmons and give him nothing to do? Commissioner Gordon is used to working with The Batman, would he not have something to say to, I don’t know, Wonder Woman or Cyborg other than “How many of you are there? “ How about “Are you people crazy?” or “Why in the hell are you doing this?”

Oh well, to my simple mind these are minor problems. There is much I love in Justice League starting with:

10. Ezra Miller as Barry Allen “The Flash” Miller is a little guy but has a huge talent. Don’t believe me? Check out a movie called We Need To Talk About Kevin, a movie more relevant than ever in the wake of yet another school shooting. With a face that looks like it was designed by an artist Miller’s take on the Flash is wonderful. His comment that Barry Allen “needs friends” is heartbreaking. In fact Justice League more than hints at the notion that all these characters “need friends” most of all Batman and Cyborg. Miller brings humor to a movie that needs it, he makes an impossible character believable and likeable, all the actors do quite frankly. Which brings me to:

9. Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry “The Aquaman” I saw Conan the Barbarian in a theater and have it on dvd. Momoa really didn’t make much of an impression in that project. He must have been working on his craft because he is flat out wonderful in Justice League. Steals every scene he’s in and, for a man who can live and breathe under water is the voice of reason and sanity and common sense in a comic book universe. How many comic book super heroes are there that not only drink whisky straight out of the bottle but litter the landscape with their empties? Aquaman does. And I love his “truth to tell” rant due to his sitting on Wonder Woman’s lasso. Aquaman was never one of my favorite DC heroes, I now look forward to his stand alone movie. Justice League is worth seeing for Momoa alone.

8. The first battle scene. I love the idea of all the Justice League members being dependant on Batman’s various vehicles and gizmos. The fight in the tunnels under Gotham Harbor is complex and involves a lot of movement; it could have easily degenerated into confusion and chaos, much like the (rightfully) disliked Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice final battle. We never lose track of anyone’s location and who is doing what to whom. This battle can stand alongside any of the action set pieces in the Marvel Universe.

7. Henry Cavill as Kal El, Clark Kent, “Superman.” I will be the first to admit Cavill is not the most versatile actor in the business. Want real proof? Try The Man from Uncle Movie with Cavill as Napoleon Solo and Armie Hammer as Ilya Kuryakin, if you can make it all the way through. However, if there was ever an actor who looked exactly like a comic book character Cavill is it. I will be honest, I grew up with the George Reeves Superman television series and to me he will always be Clark Kent/Superman. I also very much enjoyed Christopher Reeves take on a classic character (except for that fourth movie!) Cavill looks exactly like the Superman of the 1960s DC Comics. And he brings his A game to the project and, as I told my sweetheart Radah Sheah, when we watched Superman Vs Batman Dawn of Justice (which she hated) “you can’t kill Supes, can’t be done!” And yet another issue I have with Justice League, when Superman finally (finally!) joins the fight against Steppenwolf and his cartoon minions we fully expect him to pound the living shit out of the Bad Guy and slam him back and forth on the concrete (much like what The Hulk did to Loki in the first Avengers movie) No, we see Supes get in a few licks and then run off to save “civilians!” Whatever!

6. Another visit to Paradise Island/ Themyscira/The Amazon Kingdom. I love the Amazons, LOVE the Amazons, adore them! I saw Wonder Woman 7 times last year, in theaters (that’s Seven times!) And not just for Gal Gadot. When I was 10 years old I became obsessed with the legend of the Amazons (yes obsessed is a good word, although it may not be strong enough!) I read of them in a children’s encyclopedia and checked out books, written at an adult level, from the library on Greek and Roman history and mythology for any information about the Amazons.
I even wrote my own stories about Amazons in my grade school classrooms, when I should have been paying attention to Geography and Arithmetic lessons. Other boys drew pictures of tanks and fighter planes; I scribbled out stories of women warriors defeating entire armies of men. The first time I saw Wonder Woman, during the entire opening on Paradise Island I wept, cried tears of absolute joy! I had forgotten all of my youthful enthusiasm for the Amazons.

There are other movies about the Amazons. Tarzan and The Amazons with Johnny Weissmueller, 1945, depicted a very cool Amazon kingdom in Tarzan’s territory. Ironically those Amazons defeated men armed with guns using bows and arrows, spears and swords, much like the Amazons of Wonder Woman. And during my time in the Navy when I ran the ship’s tv station on the USS AMERICA I broadcast a later day Italian peplum movie, War Goddess aka Amazons from 1973. Depicting the Amazons dealings with the Greeks and a disputed power struggle, it has its moments. Those Amazons apparently spent all their money on eye makeup. Those movies were ok, but Wonder Woman’s movie depicted the Amazon Empire exactly as I had pictured it at 10, 11 and 12 years of age. Except my Amazons had a bowling alley, equipped with pin ball machines, bumper pool tables and a soda fountain. My Amazons also got to use automatic weapons, grenade launchers, tanks and what have you. Hey, they were MY stories and I enjoyed that I could give them anything I thought they should have! So Wonder Woman is a very special movie to me and I was ecstatic that Justice League took us back to Themyscira and populated the Amazons with many of the same actors and athletes who portrayed the Amazons in Wonder Woman. I would love to see them have their own stand alone movie. A sweeping historical epic about their wars with the Greeks and Romans, and especially how they got mixed up with Hercules! It would be a perfectly logical reason to bring back Robin Wright as Antiope, one of the most awesome woman characters ever captured on film! I should add too, my Amazons always won, every engagement they kicked ass and took names. And they never even had any casualties (again, they were my stories, and no, none of the stories survived. Whenever recess was called I would throw my stories in the trash. I wrote them only for my own amusement and I was convinced that if any one, especially adults, found out about my obsession I would be put in an institution! I am NOT kidding!)

5. The second battle scene. In the DC and Marvel Universe there seems to be a great concern about collateral damage. And rightfully so, if super heroes and super villains really did exist and had epic battles in urban areas, the damage would be catastrophic. In Justice League the final showdown happens in what appears to be Chernobyl. Very few civilians present and the League members take great pains to get them out of harm’s way. And again, we never lose track of who is doing what, when, where and why. And the action, once it gets rolling, is truly awesome.

4. Ray Fisher Victor Stone “Cyborg” This is the one character I was not familiar with. I have not bought a comic book since about 1985. It finally dawned on me that I could no longer afford to buy and store huge amounts of paper collectibles. So Cyborg was a new character to me and Ray Fisher brings a lot to the project. I read at least one comment on the web that Cyborg is based on Robocop. Not really, Cyborg made his debut in 1980, Robocop the original movie, was released in 1987. If anything Robocop owes a debt to DC Comics and the character of Cyborg. What’s left of a man housed in a robotic body and finding himself stronger, faster and with many other powers not possessed by mundane people, like you and me. We get all that with Fisher, the pain of being different, an outcast, alone. And even better we have the incredible Joe Morton, star of John Sayles classic cult movie Brother From Another Planet as his suffering Father. Cyborg and all the other Justice League members are to have their own stand alone movies. I am looking forward to all of them.

3. Ben Affleck Bruce Wayne “The Batman” I have a co worker who refused to see Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice or Justice League because she cannot stand the idea of Ben Affleck playing Bruce Wayne/Batman. I could not possibly disagree more. Affleck makes a good Batman and an even better Bruce Wayne. I will readily admit I am a sentimental old fool when it comes to these characters. I saw all the faults of Batman Vs Superman and loved it anyway, mainly for the thrill of finally seeing Batman, Superman AND Wonder Woman in the same movie. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Marvel Universe and have seen most of their movies. But Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were there first. There was no Marvel Comics publisher during that time frame of the late 1930s and 1940s. Captain America was published by an outfit called Timely. I treasure what is probably the best moment in Dawn of Justice “Is she with you?” “I thought she was with you!” And I love the moment when Diana literally pulls Batman’s ass out of the fire. Affleck is a fine Batman, there is an epic sadness to this Caped Crusader. Bruce Wayne in Justice League is about, literally, at the end of his rope. A reluctant leader.

I love the idea that he would much rather have Superman back or somehow goad Wonder Woman into taking the lead. It’s heartbreaking when he openly admits that Superman is a better man than him. In fact this Batman seems to think that Wonder Woman is a better man than him! Of course Supes is a better man than anybody, and everybody! I would put Affleck’s Bruce Wayne/Batman about midway between Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer (my personal favorite of all the contemporary actors who have played Batman.) Affleck has proved himself as an actor and he’s an even better director, The Town and Argo prove that beyond any doubt. I’m going way out on a limb here and say it for the whole world, Justice League is the best Batman movie since Dark Knight. You want to see a bad DC movie? Try sitting through Dark Knight Rises more than once.

2. Gal Gadot Diana Princess of Theymyscira “Wonder Woman” If you’ve read this gibbering nonsense this far here is a no brainer. Of course I adore Gal Gadot and Wonder Woman. Here is the best example I can think of for an actor to be inseparable from a comic book super hero character.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Lynda Carter but her television show was to Wonder Woman what the 1960s Batman show (which I loved too, Adam West will always be the “real Batman”) was to the Caped Crusader. A goofy, pop art, more comic than book, take on this iconic character. Patty Jenkins and her crew gave us what is probably the greatest superhero movie that will ever be made.

I’ll say it again, I saw Wonder Woman seven times last year, bought the blu ray the day it went on sale, and could watch it every day the rest of my life. My co workers during the summer of last year, told me to shut up about Wonder Woman (and most of my co workers are women!) I also treasure the movie Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, which I also saw in a theater.

I love that Wonder Woman was created by a man, who truly believed women were superior to men. Marston’s my man, I have believed that for years, decades. Jenkins is on the record, Wonder Woman is only about 20% of what she had in mind! I would love to see how she originally envisioned this masterpiece.

I love that Gadot is, apparently, the real deal. She is an Israeli Army veteran and was a combat trainer, hand to hand and firearms., She downplays that and says it was no big deal. I doubt that, during my time in the US Navy we had class room training, one class involved “know your allies and your enemies” a rundown on various countries different military outfits. I distinctly recall being told the Israeli army is one of the toughest and most well trained in the world. I rest my case.

I had a co worker tell me that I kept going to see Wonder Woman because of Gal Gadot’s astonishing looks. No, if she were just another pretty face I would have seen it once, maybe twice. Part of what kept me going back is her incredible acting talent. The male super heroes, both Marvel and DC, when they go into combat mode, look very grim, determined, no nonsense. When Diana cuts loose and runs amok on the German Army she has this lovely smile, of utmost confidence and, could it be…..joy? Her smile, after she knocks aside her first bullet with those bracelets (one of my few problems with Wonder Woman, I would like to have an explanation of what those are and why they work the way they do. I also don’t think the Germans of WWI would be so quick to open up on one lone woman crossing No Man’s Land, some hesitation would be in order, but these are minor quibbles.)

When she comes busting through that window and lands in a roomful of heavily armed Germans her smile says it all “I’ve got this! You people are about to enter a world of pure, agonizing pain!” What she does after that is the best example of what I would call “running amok!” And she wears that smile of determination in Batman Vs Superman Dawn of Justice, repeatedly. Every time she gets knocked down by Doomsday she has that smile, gets back up and goes right back to knocking the shit of “a creature from another world.”

I could write page after page of how much I loved Wonder Woman’s movie, the humor, the valor, the team work, the pure joy of knocking the piss out of somebody who has it coming. And Gal Gadot brings all that to Justice League, and a whole lot more. The lady has talent and charisma and style to burn. I could watch her take a nap on the couch. Of course if she woke up and saw me she’d scream bloody murder and beat the shit out of me (I should be so lucky!)A good friend made a very rude comment when I showed him my Wonder Woman poster, which I shall not repeat on the internet. I told him the truth, such comments are sacrilegious, blasphemous, “I do not see this woman as a sex object, I worship her as a Goddess (I am only half joking!)

1. And finally; this is the Justice League movie. This IS the Justice League movie! Good Bad or Indifferent this is a movie aging comic book fan boys, and girls, like me have looked forward to for years. In the 1960s when I was reading comic book and monster magazines and science fiction books and magazines I never dreamed there would be a whole series of Marvel Comic movies,, or DC, that brought these wonderful characters to life. If someone had told me that in the future there would be movies as good as Spider Man Two or Dark Knight or The Avengers or Captain America: Winter Soldier or Wonder Woman, or a complete filming of The Lord of the Rings, I would have called them out for bull shit artists. And yet , here we are. As I said I am a sentimental old fool, at the end of Justice League I wept, again, at seeing Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman in the same shot, dust still in the air, with the American flag behind them.

And there are other moments I love, Jeremy Irons joins a long list of great actors who have played Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s right hand man. His Alfred has several great moments. And Diane Lane is probably the best Ma Kent we will ever see. There is a video on Youtube of Chris Hemsworth, Thor in the Marvel Universe, at Comic Con. He was asked about the DC Universe series; he laughed and said something to the effect that “those guys are just trailing in our dust!” Don’t get me wrong, I like Hemsworth, and Thor. I thought Thor Ragnarok was a very fine piece of work, loved it. But that was a rude thing to say. There is room in the market place for Marvel and DC. Although if somebody ever makes a Thunder Agents movie I’ll know for sure we are really living in the end times (or Blue Beetle or Plastic Man for that matter!) So yes, I love the Marvel Universe and DC, I thought Justice League was fine. Could it have been better? Of course, any movie could, unless you’re talking about directors at the level of Kubrick or Hitchcock. Having said all that, at some point in the future, if it’s possible, I would love to see a Justice League meets the Avengers movie. Of course the threat would have to be colossal, the fate of the entire solar system? Galaxy? The Universe itself? All of life hangs in the balance? I would just imagine that Superman and Thor would have something to talk about. And I would love to hear a conversation between Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne, technical innovations and high finance? But what I would really treasure, the moment I dream of, I would love to see Diana, Princess of Theymyscira, Wonder Woman, sit down with Agent Romanov; The Black Widow and The Scarlet Witch and have a nice cup of espresso and a croissant and talk about how messed up it is to try and deal with male super heroes. I can hear it now “you think Tony Stark is a jerk! Let me tell you what Bruce Wayne did! What he said!” “Sister you have no idea!”

And how would this be for a slow motion team walk:

Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, Spiderman, Antman, Wasp, Black Panther, Flash, Aquaman, Hulk, Thor, Cyborg, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, The Vision, War Machine, Green Lantern, and what the hell, Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy, The X Men, Fantastic Four and everybody else in the Marvel and DC Universe, striding towards the camera with a “terrible resolve” to face down an implacable and unstoppable enemy. If I’m going to dream I may as well dream big!

I have friends, good friends, who don’t care for the super hero movies. To paraphrase a line of dialog from My Favorite Year “ I need my heroes, I need them bigger than life! As big as I can get them!” And I thank everyone who works on these movies, in the DC and Marvel Universe. And I am so happy for Stan Lee, the Marvel movies are something he dreamed of for years.

And so, yes I love the Justice League, for all this and so much more.

Happy Birthday LEE MARVIN! Here Are His Ten Best Films

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

Born 94 years ago today, Lee Marvin rose through the ranks of movie stardom as a character actor, delivering mostly villainous supporting turns in many films before finally graduating to leading roles. Regardless of which side of the law he was on however, he projected a tough-as-nails intensity and a two-fisted integrity which elevated even the slightest material. Born February 19, 1924, in New York City, Marvin quit high school to enter the Marine Corps and while serving in the South Pacific was badly wounded in battle when a machine gun nest shot off part of his buttocks and severed his sciatic nerve. He spent a year in recovery before returning to the U.S. where he began working as a plumber. The acting bug bit after filling in for an ailing summer-stock actor and he studied the art at the New York-based American Theater Wing. Upon making his debut in summer stock, Marvin began working steadily in television and off-Broadway. He made his Broadway debut in a 1951 production of Billy Budd and also made his first film appearance in YOU’RE IN THE NAVY NOW in 1951. Soon Marvin began appearing regularly onscreen, with credits including a lead role in Stanley Kramer’s 1952 war drama EIGHT MEN OUT. After a string of villain roles, Marvin grew unhappy with studio typecasting and moved to television in 1957 to star as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger in the police series M Squad, which lasted three seasons.

Marvin’s return to the big screen was in 1961 opposite John Wayne in THE COMANCHEROS and starred again with the Duke the next year in the John Ford classic THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. In 1965 he appeared in a dual role as twin gunfighters in the Western spoof CAT BALLOU opposite Jane Fonda, a performance which won him the Academy Award for Best Actor (his first and last nomination). Next was THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967) the biggest hit of his career and he followed that with such great films as POINT BLANK (1967), HELL IN THE PACIFIC (1968) and even sang in the 1969 western musical PAINT YOUR WAGON with Clint Eastwood (now considered a fiasco, it was actually a financial success and earned Marvin a Golden Globe nomination). Some of his best films from the ’70s were PRIME CUT, EMPEROR OF THE NORTH (both 1972), and THE ICEMAN COMETH (1973). Marvin slowed down in the ’80s but did star in Sam Fuller’s great WWII epic THE BIG RED ONE in 1980 and worked opposite Charles Bronson in the memorable DEATH HUNT in 1981. His final screen role was alongside Chuck Norris in DELTA FORCE in 1986. Lee Marvin died of a heart attack on August 29, 1987 at age 63 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Lee Marvin appeared in 61 films in his four decades as an actor, and here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are his ten best:

Honorable Mention: THE BIG HEAT

After several small roles, Lee Marvin had his ‘Star is Born’ moment in Fritz Lang’s THE BIG HEAT (1953) where, as Vince Stone, the sadistic goon of ganglord Alexander Scourby, he mutilates Gloria Grahame’s face by throwing scalding coffee on it. It was such a cruel, violent, and unexpected outburst that shocked audiences (and critics) suddenly took notice of this rugged new actor and it led to further villain roles the next year opposite Marlon Brando in THE WILD ONE and Spencer Tracy in BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK. Marvin would go on from here and deliver a ream of brilliant gruff hard bastard performances. THE BIG HEAT is a tough, uncompromising drama starring Glenn Ford about one man’s crusade against corruption and the high cost his actions have on his own life and the lives of those around him. It’s a violent, fast paced story of an honest cop’s angry and vengeful struggle against the mobsters who killed his wife. Exciting and gripping throughout, the mean-spiritedness it depicts gives it a harder edge than most film noirs of its period.

10. PRIME CUT

Michael Ritchie was certainly an odd choice to direct a film about Irish mobsters starring the iconic Lee Marvin. Ritchie built a career crafting a series of near-perfect films that examined the social and political aspects of competition (THE CANDIDATE, SMILE, SEMI-TOUGH, BAD NEWS BEARS). While PRIME CUT is an entertaining but somewhat cliched gangster film, it is remembered today only for some great imagery and for the feature film debut of future Oscar winner Sissy Spacek. Marvin plays Nick Devlin, an enforcer for the mob who is sent to Middle America to reign in an insubordinate crime boss (a gleefully malevolent Gene Hackman). Unfortunately, these two have a history that (of course) involves a woman (the beautiful Angel Tompkins), so things head south real fast (as they say in farm country). Marvin here proves that he was one of the coolest anti-heroes ever, rivaling Eastwood’s or Bronson’s calm exterior that could explode with violence at any moment. PRIME CUT is betrayed by an episodic, hackneyed script with scenes that have no payoff (a young man leaving his family, Hackman’s weird brother, etc.), while other scenes border on parody (Spacek recounting how she used to snuggle with her girlfriend at the orphanage sounds like something from Penthouse Letters). But the opening sequence is both gruesome and funny, as easy listening music plays while cattle (and one unlucky human) are literally led to slaughter, intercut with some meatpacking scenes. The sex slavery storyline is revealed casually in a sequence that’s shocking even by today’s standards (the film contains copious amounts of nudity) but also emphasize the movie’s themes of man’s status as an animal. Utilizing the wide open spaces of Midwestern farmland, Ritchie juxtaposes images of clean-cut, blonde, overall-clad farm boys armed with shotguns hunting human prey– through a vast field of sunflowers! In the film’s most famous sequence, Marvin and Spacek run from a deadly combine hay-baler through bright golden wheatfields in broad daylight (the machine ends up destroying an automobile which leads to a nice visual joke). And the climax is all-out mayhem at the hands of Marvin/Devlin and a submachinegun, as only the man with the steely blue eyes can dispense it.

9. DEATH HUNT

Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson had interesting parallel careers that intersected several times including right at the beginning. They both made their big screen debuts in the 1951 military comedy YOU’RE IN THE NAVY NOW (Bronson had several lines. Marvin had none). They both had bit roles the next year in DIPLOMATIC COURIER and in 1958 Bronson made a guest appearance on an episode of Marvin’s TV cop show M-Squad. Marvin would go on to win an Oscar for best actor in 1965’s CAT BALLOU while Bronson would be accused of being a non-actor, a ‘wooden indian’ who nonetheless managed to coast on his brooding charisma to the top of the international box-office. THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967) was one of the biggest hits of both men’s careers and two unrelated episodes of the TV western The Virginian each actor had guest-starred in were strung together and released theatrically as THE MEANEST MEN IN THE WEST later that year to make it look like they had teamed up yet again (scenes were awkwardly edited to make it look like they’re interacting). In 1981, the actors worked together one last time for the snow-bound action adventure DEATH HUNT. Loosely based on a true story, it’s the tale of mysterious lone trapper Albert Johnson (Bronson) who’s killed some people in a dispute over dogs. This triggers a massive manhunt by the Mounties, led by hard-bitten Sergeant Ed Millen (Marvin) through the unforgiving Canadian Yukon wilderness. DEATH HUNT is simple blood and thunder stuff, with a rugged supporting cast (Ed Lauter, Carl Weathers) and a handful of violent action sequences well-directed by Peter Hunt, a highly-regarded British film editor who had helmed the 007 classic ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE. Marvin and Bronson’s gruff charisma bounce off each other nicely though they only share a couple of scenes and director Hunt shows great skill as looks, nods and raised eyebrows show the two men’s grudging, mutual respect. Angie Dickinson plays Sgt. Millen’s girlfriend and will appear two more times on this top ten list.

8. ATTACK

It’s unsurprising that Robert Aldrich directed three of the films in this top ten list as so many of his films, VERA CRUZ (1954), FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (1965), THE LONGEST YARD (1974), depict an isolated a group of rugged men in a self-contained and threatening universe. (WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE and KISS ME DEALY showed off his diversity), so it’s natural that he worked so well with a physical actor like Lee Marvin. Their first collaboration was ATTACK! (1956), a dark and cynical look at men at war and is one of Aldrich’s very best films, bearing his personal signature in a portrait of infantry warfare set in Belgium circa 1944. Scripted by James Poe (husband of Barbara Steele!) and based on the play The Fragile Fox by Norman Brook, ATTACK! is an intimate battle saga centering on the craven Captain Cooney (Eddie Albert), a coward who has achieved his rank due to family connections, specifically his father’s political power. In a strong supporting performance, Lee Marvin plays Colonel Bartlett, an officer who’s aware of Cooney’s incompetence but overlooks the problem in order to promote his own personal ambition and tasks him with setting up artillery observation posts in a strategic, heavily bombarded area. However, the platoon, led by Lt. Costa (Jack Palance), feels victimized, resents the situation and vows to take revenge. Though Marvin’s character is not part of the ultimate conflict, ATTACK! features a number of memorable scenes which combine physical action, superb dialog and emotion perfectly. One scene in which a mortally wounded Lt. Costa prays that God will let him live long enough to kill Cooney is gut-wrenching. The dynamic between Palance and Albert is similar to that of Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger in PLATOON thirty years later. ATTACK! Is one of the toughest and most realistic films about WWII combat from the the 1950s.

7. THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE

By 1962 television was the main showcase for stories of the old west. This is when the greatest director of those tales, John Ford, made his last truly classic Western motion picture: THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE starring Marvin as the title character. He had played several cowboy villains on the screen before, but Valance may be his most memorable. In his first scene Valance orchestrates a stagecoach robbery and has to be restrained by his toadies Lee Van Cleef and Strother Martin before he kills lawyer Jimmy Stewart with his heavy, silver bullwhip . Every time Valance sees his victim he calls him “dude” in a gutteral, taunting growl. Marvin plays an evil, sadistic bully who intimidates everyone in the small town ( including Andy Devine’s ineffectual sheriff ) except for John Wayne’s Tom Doniphon. There’s a terrific stare down between Marvin and Wayne in the diner where Stewart works. Gunplay is averted, but it’s clear that Valance is a mad dog that needs to be put down. When the newspaper office is trashed and the editor beaten, Stewart’s had enough. In one of the greatest screen showdowns he faces off against the brute who gleefully ‘licks his chops” at the chance to finish off the “dude”. Well, I guess the title kind of gives it away. Still there’s secrets and mysteries behind it that are well worth exploring. As the newsman says at the film’s climax, ” When the legend becomes fact, print the legend!”.

6. EMPEROR OF THE NORTH

This slice of Depression-era Americana is one of Lee Marvin’s best but least-known films. The movie opens with a lyrical shot of a train chugging through some beautiful Midwestern countryside, smoke billowing behind, mellow country tune playing on the soundtrack. However, this Norman Rockwell-esque vision soon gives way to a scene of brutal murder at the hands of a superbly menacing Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine, often cast as a heavy later in his career, here plays one of his best bad guys as ‘Shack’ – captain of a legendary train on which no hobo or drifter ever gets a “free ride”. Shack enforces this simple rule with a variety of deterrents, such as chains, lead weights, and sledge hammers. Marvin portrays ‘A- Number 1’, a seasoned, veteran hobo who is smart, strong, and pragmatic. He sums up his philosophy of life nicely as a rail-hopping metaphor:”Don’t ever grab unless you’re sure you can hold on, [because] you ever let go, she’ll throw you under.” Part of the fun of EMPEROR is knowing, almost from the first frame, that these two grizzled men are heading for a grand showdown. Director Robert Aldrich is mostly known for his tough guy films (KISS ME DEADLY, DIRTY DOZEN, LONGEST YARD, etc.), and EMPEROR is no exception. The movie expertly builds to the final confrontation, which takes up nearly the entire second half (including an awesomely suspenseful imminent train collision). Also thrown in are atmospheric and flavorful set pieces such as hobo camps and trainyards where some great character actors have names like Hogger and Cracker, and a buddy subplot with Marvin mentoring a young wannabe, rather annoyingly played by Keith Carradine. The film can also be seen as a commentary on the state of things in America, then and now–the characters and even the trains could symbolize different aspects of society or government. But it is Marvin’s persona, in one of his best performances, that is the core of the film. Violent and cynical, witty and playful, philosophical and resigned, Marvin displays all of this and more, delivering some of the best lines of his career. The train is “my hotel,” he tells Carradine, “The stars at night — I put them there!” This rough and rugged film (devoid of women except for one brief humorous scene) is truly an underrated classic.

5.CAT BALLOU

In 1965 Lee Marvin had already made a name for himself on screen as a great Western villain most notably in 1962’s THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERY VALANCE. Perhaps he thought that it was time to poke some fun at that image by taking on a duel role in director Elliot Silverstein’s comedy-oater . That’s right, a duel role! Marvin is the evil hired killer Tim Strawn, dressed in black and sporting a silver fake nose. After gunning down Catherine ” Cat” Ballou’s daddy she sends for legendary gunfighter ( he stars in pulp novels! ) Kid Shelleen (also Marvin). He has one of the greatest movie entrances ever as he arrives via stagecoach ( in the luggage compartment). Thanks to his love of the bottle, Shelleae’s is far from his gun slingin’ best ( “He missed the barn!”). In those dark politically incorrect days you could still derive humor from the tipsy. Whether he’s about to fall off his galloping steed or ripping the towel off a pompous rich bather, Shelleen is a hoot! He’s even better when he straightens himself up ( with the help of trainer Tom Nardini ) and has a showdown with Strawn. After that Shelean strikes a classic pose as he and his horse lean against a building after a boozy night. CAT boasts a bouncy title tune performed by roving narrators Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye and an incredibly cute Jane Fonda, but it’s Marvin that makes it a classic. The Motion Picture Academy thought so and awarded him the Oscar for Best Actor.

4.THE BIG RED ONE

In his last decade as a movie star, the 1980’s, Marvin made just a handful of films. Sam Fuller’s 1980 epic war film stands out as one of the best of either man’s screen careers. Real life WWII vet Marvin plays the grizzled GI who’s only referred to as the sergeant ( we never hear his full name ) who leads an ever dwindling squad including Robert Carradine’s aspiring writer ( a surrogate for Fuller? ) and Mark Hamill ( in between his first two Star Wars gigs ) as a cartoonist through the last battles of the European combat theatre. Marvin’s terrific as the gruff, fatherly figure trying to keep these young men alive. His most memorable scenes, though, may be away from his boys. He’s introduced in a tense battlefield showdown with an unseen enemy at the start of the movie. Later the sergeant befriends a young refugee after a grueling fire fight. When the boy puts a helmet on his head, so he can play “soldier”, the sergeant gently takes it off and sadly tosses it aside. He’s seen too many young men, not much older than this boy, march to their deaths. In the film’s final sequence the sergeant desperately tries to save the life of an enemy soldier he had just shot. Seems the war had ended just moments before. With very little dialogue Marvin conveys such much of this weary fighting man’s emotion using only his tired, red eyes. We had gotten to see Marvin’s tough side many times before, but here we get a rare glimpse at his tender side.

3.THE DIRTY DOZEN

In THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967), the biggest boxoffice hit of his career, Lee Marvin played WWII Major John Reisman (a role turned down by John Wayne), leader of the unusual and top-secret mission to take twelve soldiers convicted of felony offenses, either serving prison sentences or condemned to death, and turn them into a unit capable of a tough suicide mission: attacking a chateau in France that’s a gathering for a large group of Nazi officers.THE DIRTY DOZEN remains one of the most popular and enduring war films of all time (a reputation that not even three crappy made-for-TV sequels, one starring Marvin, in the late ’80s could taint). Its enduring legacy comes partly from its ensemble cast, several of them actual combat veterans, which includes Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, and Clint Walker. But the film’s main appeal is Robert Aldrich’s direction, which delivers entertaining, big-scale action and macho posturing. With so many great actors competing for screen time, it’s an impressive feat for anyone to catch the audience’s attention. Given the prominence of his role, Marvin, who always gave 100% to any performance, certainly does. The actor’s legendary screen presence allows him to command the viewer’s attention any time he’s on screen. Other standouts include an understated Bronson, a despicable Savalas and wild-man John Cassavetes, who earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work as Franco, the most outspoken of Reisman’s convicts. THE DIRTY DOZEN easily stands the test of time, as entertaining today as I’m sure audiences found when it was released in 1967. The nature of war has changed, but the impact of THE DIRTY DOZEN has not.

2.THE KILLERS

THE KILLERS (1964) was based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway filmed previously in 1946. It was originally intended as a TV movie but when producers saw the opening scene where Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager, as two contract killers, walk into a school for the blind and cold-bloodedly murder John Cassavettes, they decided a theatrical release more appropriate. The story’s told mostly in flashbacks as an investigation by these hit men of why their target, a former race car and getaway driver, didnâ€™t run when he had the chance. This leads to a hidden million dollar stash from a heist years before by a mail robbery gang led by Ronald Reagan (in his last film – looking presidential despite bad hair and a nasty moment slapping Angie Dickinson silly!). Marvin was excellent in perhaps is most iconic role as Charlie Strom, a growling killing machine in a tailored suit and shades. He steals the show as the brains behind the assassination outfit, but he’s so confounded by the willingness of Cassavettes to meet his ultimate fate that his curiosity leads to his own. He and Gulager almost anticipate Travolta and Jackson’s similarly argumentive pairing in PULP FICTION thirty years later especially in a scene where they bicker over who is going to finish their steak first. Marvin is the perfect thinking man’s hit-man, never wasting a word, thinking ahead and planning his moves. He garners respect even when brutalizing a blind librarian. Director Don Siegel would go on to DIRTY HARRY among others and does a nice clean job setting THE KILLERS in a brightly lit, cheery L.A. that’s at odds with the grim story. It’s a film noir without the noir and one of the best crime films of the ’60s.

1. POINT BLANK

One of the most influential films of the 1960s, director John Boorman’s take on the crime thriller is perhaps Lee Marvin’s best film. Based on the novel THE HUNTER by Richard Stark (aka Donald E. Westlake), Marvin plays Walker (no first name, “not even for his wife”), a man betrayed during a heist by his good friend Reese and wife Lynne (screen debuts of John Vernon and Sharon Acker). Years later, Walker returns to exact his revenge, and reclaim his cut of the loot–the rather mundane amount of $93,000 – with the help of sister-in-law Chris (Angie Dickinson, who has never been sexier). Boorman tells this story using nearly every cinematic tool at his disposal. Rapid edits and jump cuts not only change locations but whip us from past to present. Sound effects overlap from one scene to the next, and dialogue or sounds from a previous scene play over an entirely different scene. Colors change throughout from muted, washed-out hues to bright, vibrant shades as the movie becomes more exciting or violent (note that even Marvin’s hair color changes!). In one striking sequence (which predates a similar one in Kubrick’s 2001), Walker goes from room to room as the decor changes, leaving us questioning both time and reality. Add in some great dialogue (mostly lifted right from the book), a tense musical score by Johnny Mandel, and a veteran cast (Keenan Wynn, Carroll O’Connor, Lloyd Bochner), and you have a constantly inventive film that’s full of surprising touches. Dickinson plays a tough cookie very well–when she finally loses it and starts beating on Walker, it’s a classic scene. Marvin met Boorman in England while shooting DIRTY DOZEN and became intrigued by the character of Walker. According to Boorman, Marvin had a great deal of creative input into the film and its structure, and Boorman believed Marvin saw some of himself in the story of a man seeking to reclaim his own humanity. One ongoing debate about POINT BLANK is whether the entire film is a dying man’s dream. Whether that’s true or not, it is definitely the stuff that dreams are made of for true lovers of cinematic masterpieces.

Lee Marvin made so many great films and runner-ups for this list would have to include THE WILD ONE, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, DELTA FORCE, and HELL IN THE PACIFIC. Here’s a wonderful illustration of Lee Marvin by our friend Paul Daly. More of Paul’s artwork can be seen on Facebook HERE

WAMG’s 10 Best Films Of 2017

A love story between a girl and a sea creature, a satire reflecting racial issues in today’s society, and two inspiring lessons of four weeks in 1940 during which Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s courage to lead changed the course of world history and one of the greatest suspense stories of all time where British and Allied troops, trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea, faced an impossible situation as the enemy closed in. Horror, fantasy, historical epic, comedy, drama… the motion pictures tales of 2017 had something for all.

Theater marquees were filled with familiar titles such as STAR WARS, INDEPENDENCE DAY, ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER, and KONG while Guardians, Superheroes and Wonder Women saved the day once again.

Cinema-goers were offered a fresh perspective on the parent-child bond, an insightful look as two giant newspapers expose a massive cover-up of government secrets, as well as a dark comic drama where a mother makes a bold move to solve her daughter’s murder.

As with every holiday season, critics groups are revealing their top 10 films of the year. Awards season is truly upon us.

Three hundred forty-one feature films are eligible for the 2017 Academy Awards in the Best Picture category. The St. Louis Film Critics Association announced as their best film of 2017 Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance, THE SHAPE OF WATER.

Tune in Sunday, March 4th for the 90th Oscars.

Here’s a look back at the motion pictures of the past twelve months.

WAMG presents the top ten films of 2017, along with our honorable mention and most awesome soundtrack.

Honorable Mention:

THE DISASTER ARTIST

Ironic that the creator of what many label the ‘worst film of all time’ gets one of the best Hollywood-themed biopics ever made about him. THE DISASTER ARTIST stands out as one successful outsider’s tribute to a failed kindred spirit. It’s the funniest film of 2017 and one of the best. (REVIEW)

Best Soundtrack:

BABY DRIVER

What might be the most astonishing feat but feels effortless, is the editing accompanied with each carefully selected song. The soundtrack, which runs the gamut from 60’s R&B like Carla Thomas, 70’s punk including The Damned, and a dash of modern hip-hop with Run the Jewels, is used throughout the film to coincide with the action, making the film the equivalent of an action movie musical. It’s one thing to listen to these songs, but it’s completely different watching how each drum beat and chord change matches perfectly with the film. (REVIEW)

10. COCO

After a trio of so-so features, Pixar breaks new ground with this visually stunning masterwork set “south of the border” and the Day of the Dead celebrations. An odd choice for “all ages” film animation, but this explores themes far beyond most “kiddie” flicks. Yes, the colors, from the after-life cities to the flourescent hybrid “spirit animals”, dazzle, but the movie’s real strength is its tribute to family legacies. And like the best of Pixar’s classic it packs a real emotional punch to the heart. (REVIEW)

9. DARKEST HOUR

Director Joe Wright reports, “Daytime meals for Winston would often be accompanied by a glass of white wine and/or scotch, and because of the hours he kept it was not unusual for him to hold meetings from his bed, or even from his bath. He’d dictate memos for the day from bed and receive visitors and talk about matters of state wearing his dressing gown and nightshirt.” This is only a partial glimpse into the man that saved the British Empire from almost certain invasion by the Nazis. This is what’s so great about DARKEST HOUR – establishing the character traits of the British Bulldog! He was the architect of the Operation Dynamo boat rescue at Dunkirk, where civilian crafts and everyday people were called upon to help get their countrymen home. One of best films on the eccentric PM, gloriously portrayed by Gary Oldman, it is a fine bookend to Christopher Nolan’s DUNKIRK. The other noteworthy performance is that of Dame Kristin Scott Thomas as Churchill’s wife, Clementine. Conveying class and distinction, intelligence and sharp wit, the Oscar nominated actress was the perfect match for Oldman on-screen. (REVIEW)

8. LOGAN

James Mangold has delivered an X-Men film unlike any that has come before it. After the initial shock of hearing the character use the f-word followed by the limb-severing visceral violence, what will hit the hardest for fans is witnessing Mangold slice open and get to the emotional core of this beloved character we have watched evolve for now eight films (nine if you count a brief cameo). LOGAN is a poetic journey that is about unexpectedly finding new life after giving up on cheating death. (REVIEW)

7. THE BIG SICK

A comedy that does not sound funny when you describe it, THE BIG SICK is a hilarious comedy that takes a potential tragedy, mixes it with cross-cultural romance and an American son coping with his Pakistani immigrant parents, to find a vein of unexpected comedy gold. Bitingly funny yet insightful, the story is partly based on the real life of comedian Kamail Nanjiani. THE BIG SICK has more twists than you can imagine, and a hilarious, jaw-dropping performance by a fierce Holly Hunter, in a tale that provokes hilarious laughs and deep thought on the meaning of love, family and the classic second-generation American tale. (REVIEW)

6. DUNKIRK

Sometimes when you have been through hell and back, there isn’t anything you can say to properly convey the emotions and the experience. Without saying much, Christopher Nolan tries to express the raw emotions of war by dropping the viewer into the scenario as opposed to explaining the how and the why of the situation. While some might be hoping for more from the story, perhaps Nolan is actually saying much more amid the cacophony of racing hearts, plane engines, bullet-riddled metal, and silent soldiers looking for hope as the waves and bombs crash against the beach. (REVIEW)

5. THE POST

Steven Spielberg delivers a fabulous film about the Nixon-era Pentagon Papers and the Washington Post’s 1973 decision to publish them, told as a gripping, intrigue-packed, period thriller, about freedom of the press and with a feminist undercurrent. Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks are outstanding as Washington Post owner Katherine Graham and editor Ben Bradlee, who defy the restraining order the Nixon administration placed on the New York Times to publish the secret papers about the Vietnam War that led to Watergate and Richard Nixon’s resignation. It is Spielberg’s best film in years.

4. GET OUT

This past February, Jordan Peele, half of a wildly successful cable TV comedy team, made his feature film solo writing and directing debut by taking movie audiences on a memorable journey to the “Sunken Place”. Originally promoted as a horror thriller, it turned out to be so much more, at times a rowdy comedy, but also a scathing satire on society that still has us talking today. And if you were fortunate enough to see it in a packed theatre, you know that Peele is an exciting new cinema voice. And I’ll bet he just breezes through the airport now thanks to this flick. (REVIEW)

3. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

With top-notch work from an imaginatively-assembled cast headed by Frances McDormand, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI combines sweet-natured cheer with twisted malice, and unspeakable grief with offbeat humor, all set against a familiar mid-Missouri backdrop. The result is a modern masterpiece. (REVIEW)

2. LADY BIRD

Just as with Jordan Peele’s GET OUT, this year we were stunned by the superb solo writing and directing debut of another actor, Greta Gerwig. She took the “coming of age”, “young person at a crossroad” comedy/drama and elevated it to a new level by giving us a throughly real, very complex main character. It helps that she’s brought to life by the exquisite Saoirse Ronan, who truly shines in the honest complicated relationship with her mother, played by the great Laurie Metcalf in a most memorable performance. It’s in those scenes that LADY BIRD takes flight and soars. (REVIEW)

1. THE SHAPE OF WATER

© 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

Magical, evocative THE SHAPE OF WATER blends Cold War thriller, romance, and monster movie genres in director Guillermo Del Toro’s best film since PAN’S LABYRINTH. Cinematically and as entertainment, THE SHAPE OF WATER exceeds on all levels. There is fine acting by an excellent cast, a story that offers a thought-provoking twist on the monster genre, beautiful moody photography, magical visual effects, and brilliant direction. Sally Hawkins is amazing in the lead role, creating an appealing and mysterious character we fall in love with, all without speaking a word. (REVIEW)

Films we can’t wait to see in 2018: DEADPOOL 2, MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, BLACK PANTHER, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM, WINCHESTER, ANNIHILATION, DEATH WISH, A WRINKLE IN TIME, PACIFIC RIM UPRISING, READY PLAYER ONE, THE NEW MUTANTS, SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, INCREDIBLES 2, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, THE PREDATOR, VENOM, HALLOWEEN, CREED 2, FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD, RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: WRECK-IT RALPH 2, MARY POPPINS RETURNS, and Damien Chazelle’s FIRST MAN (the riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong. Stars Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy. October 2018).

Check out our contributors individual picks for the year that was 2017.

Jim Batts

THE SHAPE OF WATER
COCO
LADY BIRD
THE POST
THE BIG SICK
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
PHANTOM THREAD
BRAD’S STATUS
GET OUT

Other Favorites: THE DISASTER ARTIST

Tom Stockman

DUNKIRK
THE DISASTER ARTIST
THE SHAPE OF WATER
COCO
BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99
KONG SKULL ISLAND
BRAD’S STATUS
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MO
LOGAN LUCKY
A DOG’S PURPOSE

Other Favorites: BLADE RUNNER 2049, MOTHER!, WIND RIVER, AMERICAN MADE

Cate Marquis

THE POST
THE SHAPE OF WATER
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
BLADE RUNNER 2049
THE BIG SICK
DARKEST HOUR
GET OUT
LADY BIRD
A GHOST STORY
PHANTOM THREAD

Other Favorites: THE BEGUILED, LADY MACBETH, FACES PLACES, DUNKIRK, FLORIDA PROJECT

Michael Haffner

THE SHAPE OF WATER
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
LADY BIRD
THE POST
THE BIG SICK
LOGAN
CASTING JONBENET
BABY DRIVER
GET OUT
DUNKIRK

Other Favorites: STEP, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Michelle Hannett

DUNKIRK
THE SHAPE OF WATER
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
DARKEST HOUR
WONDER WOMAN
LADY BIRD
BLADE RUNNER 2049
GET OUT
LOGAN
ATOMIC BLONDE

Other Favorites: IT, A GHOST STORY, SPLIT

Top Ten: The Best of PAM GRIER – With Foxy New Comments From Pam

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

After We Are Movie Geeks chose our ten favorite Pam Grier films, we called Pam and asked her for a favorite memory or to reflect on those films. Her responses are included here.

Pam Grier will be honored by Cinema St. Louis with a ‘Women in Film Award’ when she’s in town for this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Pam’s iconic movie career began when she moved to Los Angeles in the late ‘60s from her native North Carolina at age 18. After a tiny role in Russ Meyer’s BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970), she landed a job as a receptionist for American International Pictures where she was discovered by Jack Hill, an AIP director who cast her in a pair of women’s prison films: THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (1971) and THE BIG BIRD CAGE (1972). Soon she was known as the “Queen of Blaxploitation” at a time when film roles for African-American women were, as Grier puts it, “practically invisible, or painfully stereotypical”.

Pam Grier’s newest film BAD GRANDMAS will screen at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar, in ‘The Loop’) on Thursday November 2^nd at 8pm. Tickets include a SLIFF opening night reception. THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT! Director/writer Srikant Chellappa, Pam Grier, producer Dan Byington, and two of the film’s co-stars, Sally Eaton and Jilanne Klaus, will all be in attendance.

Then, Friday November 3^rd at the Tivoli, Pam Grier will attend a screening of Quentin Tarantino’s JACKIE BROWN at 8pm at The Tivoli. This will be preceded by a Pam Grier highlight reel and an on-stage, career-spanning interview and Q&A with Pam. Tickets are still available for this Friday night event. More information can be found HERE

Here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are Pam Grier’s ten best films and some comments from Pam Grier as she reflects on our choices.

Honorable Mention: GREASED LIGHTNING

Pam: “GREASED LIGHTNING was an historically precious film. Richard Pryor was just so wonderful in that.”

GREASED LIGHTNING is a biographical film about Wendell Scott (Richard Pryor) the first African American to drive in Nascar races. As you would expect, especially in a 1970s movie, the Anglo Americans are not too happy about Scott’s ambitions and do everything possible to stop him. Pryor is excellent in a rare dramatic role and Beau Bridges is good as a white mechanic who is open minded enough to help him out. Pam Grier does quite a lot with a role that could have been by the numbers, Scott’s wife Mary. She is nothing less than a tower of strength for Scott when the odds seem impossibly stacked against him. Greased Lightening was not a bit hit when it was released and it is pretty much forgotten these days. I saw it in a theater during my tour of duty in the Navy and showed it on my tv station, it was quite popular with the crew, black and white. It deserves to be better known.

10. MARS ATTACKS

Pam: “I had dreams of being in that comic book when I was a little kid. To work with Jim Brown as my husband, and to work with Tim Burton, It was the greatest gift that I could have received.”

Bouncing back from the lukewarm box office return of ED WOOD, Tim Burton decided to bring another beloved childhood icon to the big screen. But rather than grabbing up another character from comic books, as with his pair of BATMAN films, he turned to trading cards. These adored (by kids) “bubblegum” cards told the grisly story of alien invasion in MARS ATTACKS! Burton filled the movie with well-known names, an all-star cast in the tradition of Irwin Allen’s 70’s disaster epics. The main story locales were Washington D.C. and Las Vegas, and Pam Grier’s character was connected to both. In “sin city” we meet former prizefighter turned greeter/ entertainer Byron Williams (Jim Brown) at an Egyptian-themed casino. As his boss glares, Byron makes a call to DC, where his ex-wife Louise (Grier) is trying to pry their pre-teen boys Cedric and Neville away from a “shooter” video game. He assures her that he will be visiting them soon (still a lot of affection between these two). We next see Louise on the job, driving a public transit bus through the busy streets of the capitol. She spies her sons at a video arcade, and slams on the brakes. She will not tolerate them skipping school, so she drags them out of the arcade and loads them on to the bus as the very understanding passengers applaud and cheer. In this film, the glamorous action icon
gets to show her maternal side. She’s a concerned loving parent, and that love can be of the “tough” variety when crossed. The no-nonsense matriarch will set those two back on the “straight and narrow’, no doubt about it. Unfortunately she’s sidelined during the Martian attack on DC, pleading with Byron long distance while admonishing their sons to take cover (I’m sure she could wipe out a platoon of those bulbous-headed bums). When the invaders are vanquished, Louise enlists the boys in trying to tidy up their apartment (though the building’s missing a wall), just as Byron returns. Later that year Grier and Brown would share the screen more in ORIGINAL GANGSTAS (a nostalgic return to their screen roots), but both are a welcome addition to this sci-fi satire extravaganza.

9. FORT APACHE THE BRONX

Pam: “Working with Paul Newman! How could you not Love that experience?! Playing a psychotic, drug-addicted killer. Brilliant! It was Theater!”

As the 1970’s came to a close, Pam Grier entered a new phase of her prolific career. Using an academic metaphor, she graduated from Grindhouse High to Big Budget University. Perhaps the 1980’s was closer to baseball as Ms. Grier was called up to the big leagues AKA major movie studios from the quickie, but very entertaining, exploitation minor leagues. 1981’s FORT APACHE: THE BRONX was an “A-list” prestige picture from Twentieth Century Fox headline by a major movie star, Paul Newman, and a very hot TV star Ed Asner, grabbing big ratings as the lead of “Lou Grant”. Though she shared no scenes with either, Grier was an essential part of Daniel Petrie’s gritty modern-day police drama. She truly sets the tone for the story in the first scene, as drug-addled working girl Charlotte emerges like a tawdry phoenix from the rubble and filth of the Bronx. Sporting a cheap blonde wig and nearly bursting through a fluorescent print cocktail dress, she elicits chuckles from two cops having lunch in a patrol car, as she staggers toward them. Their laughter is soon cut short when their banter (she slurs, “Ahm’ on the job, too”) prompts her to unload her pistol into them. She stumbles back into the city’s squalor while human vultures descend on the squad car. We catch a brief glimpse of her later during a street riot. She returns in the dark of night when a middle-aged “joe’s” car has a flat . Appearing out of the shadows, Charlotte is a modern siren, luring the man to the rocks, actually a nearby rotting tenement, with the promise of free fleshy delights. In one of the film’s most memorable sequences, she begins a teasing dance of temptation, one that ends not in pleasure, but in slashing bloody horror from a razor blade, clenched behind her teeth, glistening as she smiles. Things backfire with her next prey, as Charlotte become yet another discard piled upon the urban trash heap. Grier’s screen time is far too brief, but her “angel of death” is a most compelling, charismatic presence.

8. SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM

Pam: “I love horror! To work with William Marshall was like taking a wonderful master class in acting.”

SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM (1973) was a funky and fun, if rushed, sequel to the hit BLACULA, which brought Vampires into Blaxploitation cinema for the first time the year before. The success of BLACULA spawned a bunch of other Blaxploitation/Horror hybrids, such as BLACKENSTEIN, DR. BLACK AND MR. HYDE, and ABBY – THE BLACK EXORCIST. SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM once again delivered a groovy 70s vibe, and the distinguished William Marshall was more than cool in the eponymous role. What makes this film especially worthwhile was the casting of the wonderful Pam Grier as Lisa Fortier who becomes the new voodoo priestess after her elderly predecessor dies, though not before using her skills to resurrect Prince Mamuwalde (aka Blacula). As in the first film, Mamuwalde is not really a villain, but merely a tormented soul who cannot help but satisfy his thirst for human blood in order to survive. Soon after his resurrection, he runs into Lisa, a beautiful young woman who has particularly powerful Voodoo-skills. The whole thing is strange and ridiculous and stupid and clever and terrible and wonderful, a movie that richly deserves its place on a list of Pam Grier’s best.

7. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

Pam: “Disney! Ray Bradbury chose me to play not only one character, but four. Bradbury spent a lot of time on the set. He was such a genius. I’d love to have been in his head”

The writing of Ray Bradbury is notoriously hard to capture on film. Some adaptations are almost complete disasters, Illustrated Man anyone? Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451 is one exception and Something Wicked this Way Comes (1983) is another. Bradbury was one of the first authors to realize the basic creepiness of carnivals and circus’s. Along with Jack Finney’s brilliant Circus of Dr Lao, Something Wicked This Way Comes tells of a carnival coming to a small town where in something sinister is happening. Among the attractions at Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show (I love that name!) is the Dust Witch, played with such elegance and grace by Pam Grier I found it hard to believe this was the same woman who made whupping ass an everyday activity. The Dust Witch has very dark magic at her command, but Something Wicked is the rare horror movie, especially from the 1980s, where good wins out over evil.

6. THE BIG DOLL HOUSE

Pam: “It was something I was not sure that I could do and act well in. I worked so hard just to make sure I wasn’t fired. I learned a lot from all the other cast members, especially the great Sid Haig. I would sing gospel on the set and I don’t think anyone else had heard true gospel songs. I think that helped me to be a better actor.”

In 1971, cinematic history was made with the release of THE BIG DOLL HOUSE, directed by Jack Hill and co-starring Pam Grier in her first feature role. Hill had been recommended to producer Roger Corman by Francis Ford Coppola, Corman’s first choice to direct the film and a friend of Hill’s from UCLA film school. Corman had just formed his New World Pictures studio and wanted proven types of stories with guaranteed box office. He got more than he bargained for with DOLL HOUSE, which not only was a huge financial success, but also established the blueprint for “women in prison” exploitation films for decades to come. Dispensing with the previous melodramatic storylines in such big studio product as CAGED and SNAKE PIT, Hill instead opted for more realistic, sometimes graphic situations. He also determined to put his women characters in roles of power, just as if the film starred Cagney or Bogart. These were real females who swore profusely, had a healthy regard for sex, and weren’t afraid of automatic weapons. Hill also gathered a memorable ensemble of young actresses to surround Pam: Roberta Collins (CAGED HEAT, DEATH RACE 2000), Judy Brown (WILLIE DYNAMITE, SLAUGHTER’S BIG RIPOFF), Brooke Mills (DREAM NO EVIL), and Pat Woodell (miles away from her role as the original Bobbie Jo on TVs PETTICOAT JUNCTION). The film hits all the obligatory exploitation marks (shower scene, torture scenes, girlfights, etc.) and Pam even gets to sing the main title song “Long-time Woman” for the movie. When Corman asked Hill to do a sequel to DOLL HOUSE the following year, there were already cheap imitators and rip-offs flooding the drive-in market (Grier herself had made WOMEN IN CAGES right after DOLL HOUSE), so Hill decided to create a semi-spoof of the genre and wrote THE BIG BIRD CAGE with a starring role for Grier (fun fact: the “cage” of the title was a working sugar mill designed by Hill’s father, who also designed the castle at Disneyland!). Whether seen as feminist manifesto (“All men are filthy!”) or no-holds-barred cult film with kick-ass women, BIG DOLL HOUSE is a blast from start to finish and required viewing of 1970s cinema.

5. DRUM

Pam: “I wish we could remake DRUM today with the intensity of someone like Quentin Tarantino or the courageousness of Ava DuVernay. It would certainly be a different film”

Any movie that finds Pam Grier in bed with Warren Oates has to be considered a must-see 70’s classic. MANDINGO, a 1975 movie about sexual shenanigans between masters and slaves on the Falconhurst slave-breeding plantation, was savaged by critics who saw it as nothing but degrading, big-budget exploitation. Roger Ebert called it “racist trash” and MANDINGO certainly had it all; brutal violence, interracial sex, rape, infanticide, lynchings, and abundant nudity. But of course it was a huge hit and inspired a brief run of “slaverysploitation” films such as PASSION PLANTATION (1976) and SLAVERS (1978). MANDINGO was overwrought melodrama to be sure, but it’s a model of subtlety compared to its official sequel, the more lascivious DRUM, a mean-spirited trash epic from 1976 that would never fly in today’s politically correct climate. DRUM’s tawdry story picks up about 20 years after MANDINGO. Hammond Maxwell (Warren Oates), the son of the late Falconhurst patriarch Warren Maxwell purchases a slave named Drum from bordello hostess Marianna (Isela Vega). Drum turns out to be the son of Mede (killed at the end of MANDIGO), the slave who had murdered Hammond’s father. Hammond uses Mede and his friend Blaise (Yaphet Kotto) to fight in ridiculous gladiator battles as entertainment for the ‘white folk’. Slave Regine (Pam Grier) is Hammond’s favorite ‘bed wench’ but develops a romance with Drum. Hammond’s bratty slut daughter Sophie (Rainbeaux Smith) stirs up trouble between Drum and Blaise by trying to have sex with both of them and then lying to her father that Blaise tried to rape her and a campy gay French slave trader (John Colicos) wants to bed black stud Drum as well. Tensions build, emotions erupt and by the end of the movie, a mansion is on fire, the black slaves have revolted against the ‘mastas’ wielding scythes and knives, while the white men battle it out with their muskets and rifles. Where MANDINGO was at least pretentious and literary (and had a dignified performance by James Mason as Warren Maxwell), DRUM makes no pretense at being anything except cheap thrills exploitation and ups the sleaze quotient by adding lesbianism, incest, castration, and a swishy gay villain to the mix. DRUM is more fast-paced and entertaining than its predecessor.

4. BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA

Pam: “That was a take-off of the Tony Curtis film THE DEFIANT ONES. I wanted it to be more comical, I wanted to be sort of a funny sidekick. That was my first experience with being my silly self.”

Inspired by Stanley Kramer’s THE DEFIANT ONES (starring Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis), BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA (1973) has no thematic pretensions concerning racism and social inequality. This is first and foremost a women’s prison exploitation film, and contains all the required elements that sub-genre is known for. The first third of the film takes place in the prison, where hot-tempered prostitute Lee (Grier) meets idealistic activist Karen (Margaret Markov), and the women take an immediate dislike to each other. So of course, they end up chained together for most of the film. However, they first have to deal with the usual women’s prison indignities including the wonderful Lynn Borden as a predatory lesbian guard. Soon, the jailbreak is on, and most of the film is Lee and Karen on the run from gangsters, dogs, revolutionaries, corrupt cops, and vile locals. Pam has some wonderful dialogue that she delivers with angry and bitter sassiness, and Markov balances the tone with her luminous political fervor. The inevitable fight between the two is a highlight of the movie, as Pam found with Markov another statuesque and strong woman who could match her physicality (the two actresses would work together again a few years later in THE ARENA, another ‘70s classic). Directed by Eddie Romero (the cult films SAVAGE SISTERS, BEAST OF BLOOD, TWILIGHT PEOPLE), the movie is a lean action treat with a darkly cynical ending.

3. FOXY BROWN

Pam: “Foxy Brown was my aunt. She was serious. In my family, all of the women were equal to men. My grandfather taught all of us girls to shoot and hunt and fish, drive the tractor, bring the boat in, everything a man could do. And that was Foxy Brown.”

FOXY BROWN (1974) is a wild story of sex, drugs, and vengeance featuring Pam Grier in probably her most iconic role. When drug pusher Link Brown (Antonio Fargas) loses half a kilo of cocaine worth $20k, his suppliers become irate and send two thugs to work him over. Desperately needing help, he calls his sister Foxy (Pam Grier) to rescue him from the two goons. She manages to get to him before they can grab him and puts him up at her place for a few days completely unaware of the exact nature of his predicament. In addition to that, her boyfriend (Terry Carter) is an undercover cop who has just undergone a face-lift and assumed a new identity because the same suppliers have a contract out on his head. Things begin to take a turn for the worse and Foxy Brown suddenly has a score or two to settle with some major league drug dealers. FOXY BROWN was written and shot to be a sequel to director Jack Hill’s previous film, COFFY where Grier played a nurse with a bad attitude and a penchant for taking her aggression out on mother**kers who wronged her. For some reason, the studio forced Hill to make Foxy Brown stand-alone at the last minute, changing… well, nothing really. The opening credits to FOXY BROWN are like a funked-out version of a 007 intro with Foxy dancing around in front of multi-colored backgrounds, all the while rocking her outfits from the film. The title sequence employs almost every trick in the title design book, from image rotoscoping and solarization to multi-layered optical animation and colorization. One of the best scenes in FOXY BROWN has to do with one of Foxy’s friends, who, though she is supposed to be laying low (people need to “lay low” often in Foxy’s world), wanders into a lesbian bar and Foxy has to get her out. This lesbian bar needs to be seen to be believed. All of the women dress like teamsters, only more macho. And in a wonderful endorsement of equal rights, these female bar patrons are just as violent, rude, and prone to fight over nothing as any beer-belching men.

2. COFFY

Pam: “Coffy was my mom. She was a nurse. She was always tending to someone, helping someone, standing up to the negative forces.”

When director Jack Hill was asked by American International Pictures to direct a “black woman’s revenge movie,” he immediately insisted on casting his favorite actress Pam Grier. The resulting cult classic was COFFY (1973), which was a huge hit and helped launch the “blaxploitation” films of the 1970s. It also contains one of Grier’s finest performances. Grier portrays “Coffy” Coffin, nurse by day and angel of vengeance by night. She is out to get anyone who was involved in turning her younger sister into a “smack addict at 11…..her whole life is gone!” And Coffy doesn’t care how high up the junkie food chain she has to go – even to the top dog himself. Along the way, she shoots, stabs, and fights her way on a one-woman rampage to rid the world of drug pushers and avenge her sister. Hill wisely created the role of a woman with no special skills—she’s not a martial arts expert or professional assassin. She is a strong, smart woman who relies on her wiles, intelligence, and, yes, her sexuality to help her achieve her goals. However, she’s not just a killing machine; she wonders throughout the movie if she’s in some kind of dream—an allusion to the “dream state” that ancient warriors achieved before they went into battle. In this early film, as she has her entire career, Grier shows why she’s a true star: her unique blend of physically imposing power with a natural ability to show vulnerability and raw emotion. At the end of the film, when she declares, “I loved you! I loved you so much!” your heart breaks a little bit.

1. JACKIE BROWN

Pam: “When Quentin said he wrote it for me, I didn’t believe him. When I first read the script, I thought my role was going to be Bridget Fonda’s role, which was a brilliant role. When he told me, no, that I was Jackie Brown, I was truly honored because I had seen his work since RESERVOIR DOGS. When he would shoot, his set direction was so timeless, you didn’t know what era it was in. You had old cars and wardrobe, he provided such detail that would take things to various levels of subtext. He would give you a lot to look at, a lot to do, a lot to respond to. That type of direction makes you a better actor.”

When JACKIE BROWN was released in 1997, expectations were off the charts. It had been three and a half long years since Quentin Tarantino had rocked the movie world with the one-two punch of RESERVOIR DOGS (1992) and PULP FICTION (1994). Tarantino had the clout to cast anyone he wanted for JACKIE BROWN (1997), the film he adapted from Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, and I’m sure most of Hollywood wanted to work with him, and he put together his usual imaginative ensemble of major players, 70’s comeback stars, and fresh blood. Pam Grier was the now-mature siren of Blaxploitation, the star of many wonderful 70’s urban classics such as COFFY (1973), BLACK MAMMA WHITE MAMMA (1973), FOXY BROWN (1974) and BUCKTOWN (1975). With her distinctive mega-fro, Grier was a statuesque, articulate ass-kicker in these films and Tarantino was a huge fan (she’s mentioned by name in his scripts for both RESERVOIR DOGS and TRUE ROMANCE). He’d originally considered Grier for PULP FICTION in the role ultimately played by Roseanne Arquette (which would have made her the mate of Eric Stoltz, an actor I can see Pam Grier breaking in half with two fingers), and changed the lead character in Leonard’s novel from a blonde Caucasian to an African-American in order to accommodate Grier (in the novel, her name is Jackie Burke. Tarantino renamed her Brown after her character from FOXY BROWN). Pam Grier was 48 when she starred in JACKIE BROWN (though her character claims to be 44) and she gives a strong world-weary performance, tough and believable especially when standing up to Samuel L. Jackson’s Ordell Robey. It’s been noted that JACKIE BROWN did not do for Grier’s career what PULP FICTION did for John Travolta but then, how many parts were there in Hollywood for black women pushing 50? Pam Grier did receive some choice roles after JACKIE BROWN including parts in John Carpenter’s GHOST OF MARS (2001), LARRY CROWNE (2011) as well as roles in the TV shows The L-Word and Smallville. JACKIE BROWN was the perfect mix of pulp fiction, Blaxploitation aesthetic, and film noir.

10. FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS

9. IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT

8. A MAGNIFICENT LIFE

7. TRAIN DREAMS

6. FRANKENSTEIN

5. A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE

4. 28 YEARS LATER

3. BLUE MOON

2. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

1. SINNERS

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1. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON – Cate Marquis

2. OPPENHEIMER – Cate Marquis

3. BARBIE – Michelle McCue

4. THE HOLDOVERS – Jim Batts

5. MAESTRO – Jim Batts

6. AMERICAN FICTION – Cate Marquis

7. ANATOMY OF A FALL – Cate Marquis

8. SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE – Jim Batts

9. AIR – Michelle McCue

10. PAST LIVES – Jim Batts

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Honorable Mention: THE SUMMER OF SOUL

10. WEST SIDE STORY

9. ENCANTO

8. NO TIME TO DIE

7. CRUELLA

6. TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

5. CRY MACHO

4. THE FRENCH DISPATCH

3. LICORICE PIZZA

2. SPIDER MAN: NO WAY HOME

1. BELFAST

STAFF PICKS

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BOYS STATE

10. THE OUTPOST

9. MANK

8. WOLFWALKERS

7. ON THE ROCKS

6. NOMADLAND

5. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

4. THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF

3. POSSESSOR

2. NEWS OF THE WORLD

1. THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

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THE DISASTER ARTIST

BABY DRIVER

10. COCO

9. DARKEST HOUR

8. LOGAN

7. THE BIG SICK

6. DUNKIRK

5. THE POST

4. GET OUT

3. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

2. LADY BIRD

1. THE SHAPE OF WATER

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