Sunday, May 1, 2011

FilmMattic's Great Alphabet of Films

Recap

*Tom Cruise' expression pretty much sums up how I feel.

      Over the past month, I have reviewed 26 films that I consider absolute required viewings (you can find them all HERE in a neatly organized directory). And with this post, I am listing them...because well, who doesn't like a list?

 Directors Represented: Francis Ford Coppola (2), Robert Zemeckis (1), Michael Curtiz (1), John McTiernan (1), Irvin Kershner (1), David Fincher (1), Fred Zinnemann (1), Steven Spielberg (2), Stanley Kubrick (1), David Lean (1), Christopher Nolan (1), Alfred Hitchcock (2), Sergio Leone (1), Quentin Tarantino (1), Robert Redford (1), Martin Scorsese (1), Akira Kurosawa (1), James Cameron (1), Clint Eastwood (1), Jean-Luc Godard (1), Alfonso Cuarón (1), Bryan Singer (1), Ruben Fleischer (1).

 Years Represented: 1942 (1), 1952 (1), 1954 (1), 1956 (1), 1958 (1), 1959 (1), 1962 (1), 1967 (1), 1968 (1), 1972 (1), 1979 (1), 1980 (2), 1981 (1), 1985 (1), 1988 (1), 1991 (1), 1992 (1), 1993 (1), 1994 (2), 1999 (1), 2000 (1), 2001 (1), 2003 (1), 2009 (1).

Many of the Actors/Actresses Represented: Martin Sheen (1), Marlon Brando (2), Robert Duvall (2), Dennis Hopper (1), Harrison Ford (3), Michael J. Fox (1), Christopher Lloyd (1), Humphrey Bogart (2), Ingrid Bergman (1), Bruce Willis (2), Alan Rickman (1), Bonnie Bedelia (1), Mark Hamill (1), Carrie Fisher (1), Alec Guinness (2), Edward Norton (1), Brad Pitt (1), Helena Bonham Carter (1), Al Pacino (1), James Caan (1), Gary Cooper (1), Lloyd Bridges (1), Grace Kelly (1), Karen Allen (1), Paul Freeman (1), Sterling Hayden (1), Vince Edwards (1), Elisha Cook Jr. (1), Peter O'Toole (1), Anthony Quinn (1), Omar Sharif (1), Guy Pearce (1), Carrie-Anne Moss (1), Joe Pantoliano (1), Cary Grant (1), Eva Marie Saint (1), James Mason (1), Martin Landau (1), Henry Fonda (1), Claudia Cardinale (1), Jason Robards (1), Charles Bronson (1), John Travolta (1), Samuel L. Jackson (1), Tim Roth (1), Uma Thurman (1), Ving Rhames (1), Eric Stoltz (1), John Turturro (1), Rob Morrow (1), Ralph Fiennes (1), Paul Scofield (1), Christopher McDonald (1), Hank Azaria (1), Robert De Niro (1), Cathy Moriarty (1), Joe Pesci (1), Frank Vincent (1), Toshiro Mifune (1), Takashi Shimura (1), Keiko Tsushima (1), Arnold Schwarzenegger (1), Linda Hamilton (1), Edward Furlong (1), Robert Patrick (1), Clint Eastwood (1), Gene Hackman (1), Morgan Freeman (1), Richard Harris (1), Frances Fisher (1), James Stewart (1), Kim Novak (1), Barbara Bel Geddes (1), Mireille Darc (1), Jean Yanne (1), Jean-Pierre Kalfon (1), Patrick Stewart (1), Hugh Jackman (1), Ian McKellen (1), Halle Berry (1), Famke Janssen (1), Rebecca Romijn (1), James Marsden (1), Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, Maribel Verdu (1), Emma Stone (1), Jesse Eisenberg (1), Woody Harrelson (1), Bill Murray (1). 

The Runner-Ups: A - Andrei Rublev B - Boogie Nights C - Citizen Kane/Cool Hand Luke D - Dazed and Confused E - Edward Scissorhands F - Fargo G - Goodfellas H - Halloween I - Inception J - Jaws K - The King of Comedy L - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring M - The Matrix N - National Lampoons: Animal House O - On The Waterfront P - Psycho Q - Quantum of Solace R - Road to Perdition S - Some Like It Hot T - There Will Be Blood U - The Untouchables V - The Verdict W - The Wild Bunch X - X-Men Y - Yojimbo Z - Zodiac

Apocalypse Now

Back to the Future

Casablanca

Die Hard

Empire Strikes Back, The (Star Wars)

Fight Club

Godfather, The

High Noon

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Jurassic Park

Killer, The

Lawrence of Arabia

Memento

North by Northwest

Once Upon a Time in the West

Pulp Fiction

Quiz Show

Raging Bull

Seven Samurai

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Unforgiven

Vertigo

Weekend

X2: X-Men United

Y Tu Mamá También

Zombieland

24 comments:

  1. Hey Matt
    Husband hated fight club and pulp fiction.. I liked.. I liked memento... I have not seen Zombieland... not a huge fan of horror.. but maybe I will check it out.. great recap.

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  2. are you still breathing after all this? :)
    Shall I send you Blake Lively or Olivia Munn to give you a little mouth to mouth CPR? :)

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  3. Wow, huge post! :) My favorite letters of your Cinematic Alphabet are: F,M,P,T,X,Y,Z.

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  4. Fabulous job with the challenge! I was very impressed by your reviews (you put a great amount of effort in!), plus you introduced me to some "new" movies that I'm looking forward to watching. Well done, sir! :)

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  5. Congratulations on finishing! That's a pretty fucking epic endeavor, especially since, like Liz said, you did all out reviews for each movie! Great choices, well done!

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  6. Did you sleep?

    Well done, Matty V. I read all your post, albeit on Google Reader and did not comment. Sorry.

    Busily pulling out my own hair trying to get my novel polished to a high shine before I submit. Or, do I mean before I'm committed. Hmm ..

    See you around :)

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  7. @ whisper

    Your husband might need to re-watch them both. Perhaps, his opinion would change. I absolutely love both those movies. And do check out Zombieland. It's not your standard horror fare. It's wildly funny and just plain cool. You'll laugh more than you think you'd look away in terror. And thanks for comment!

    @ Dezmond

    Haha, thanks. Just barely.

    But yes, please send me Lively or Munn for some respite. Only problem is, I'll never let 'em go. You know my taste in women too well, my friend. Thanks for the gesture!

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  8. @ Nebular

    Those are awesome letters to love. Yeah, I don't like to miss corners or important details. I figured this would be a good wrap-up of the Challenge. Plus, I wanted people to get an idea of what my runner-ups were. And thanks!

    @ Liz

    Thanks! Your Challenge was impressive as well. I loved your nostalgic posts. Visiting your blog took me right down memory lane. And mostly, good memories!

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  9. @ M.

    Thanks homie! Go big or go home, right!? I figured, if I'm going to review classic films, they deserve my complete critical eye. I can't half-ass reviews for movies that are too important to me.

    @ Wendy

    Nice to see you and welcome back! I'm glad you could tolerate my ramblings. Much obliged.

    And good luck with your novel. I'm sure it will be terrific :)

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  10. Thanks for the summary; neat to see how well-distributed your top alphabetic films were across both directors and years. And congratulations on getting through the Challenge in one piece! You've got 24 excellent choices there (and 2 others I'll need to watch before commenting... though based on your taste in movies I'm sure they'll be fantastic).

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  11. Thanks Nate Dawg! I apprecaite the support and your terrific commentaries. And you're welcome. It was a necessary breakdown, at least I think it is. Glad you thought so as well.

    You've almost seen my Great Alphabet. I'm impressed. You'll enjoy the two unseen films.

    And congrats for your completion as well. Your posts were witty and original. I enjoyed them.

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  12. Congrats on the big finish! I've seen all but one your films, I think and while we diverged on a couple, it was all good.

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  13. It has been a pleasure and joy getting to know you across the April 2011 A - Z Blogging Challenge, Matty! Top marks across the board and down the line! Hope we can continue checking out the movies across a cyberspace center aisle ala Siskel and Ebert...Cheers, pal!

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  14. Congrats on the big finish, buddy! You have done an impressive job! I don't know if I can survive this challenge :) Those are also great titles you have reviewed through the A-Z challenge.

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  15. @ Melissa

    Thank you so much. I am looking forward to reading your final challenge posts, particularly Z!

    And yes, while you were expressing some dissension for some of my picks, there was no cantankerous quarreling. Our disagreements were very civil.

    @ Craig

    Likewise. It's been my pleasure getting to know you as well. I always enjoy meeting new and interesting cinephiles. We'll definitely keep the "center aisle" open for discussion. FilmMattic is here to stay!

    And thanks for your thoughtful commentaries particularly your anecdotes. I greatly appreciate your insights.

    @ Jaccstev

    Thanks buddy! I did my best. Glad you enjoyed my picks. Plus, it was a fun month as I got to re-watch a lot of these films, in preparation for my reviews!

    And I'm sure you'd do a kick-ass job in the Challenge if you elect to join up next time around!

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  16. Nothing like an awesome list of movies! Glad you enjoyed the Challenge.

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  17. It was a fun challenge. I'm still wading my way through the blogs signed up. :)

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  18. @ Alex

    Absolutely! Thanks a lot for stopping by. You and the other hosts did a terrific job overseeing the Challenge. It was quite an undertaking, but worth every word.

    @ M Pax

    Indeed. Same here. I only visited about 1/6th of the total participants. Anyone who gets through all 1300 deserves an award.

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  19. Matthew, we did it! Congratulations! I have an award for you!!

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  20. Thanks Elizabeth! Congrats for finishing the daunting challenge as well!

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  21. Great list! I can run with that one. Nice approach to blogging the alphabet--most of us like best of's and movies, so it was a winning combo. Thanks for joining us for the 2011 version of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.


    Don't forget to pick up your Winner's Badge at my site.
    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  22. Thanks so much! You did a fantastic job co-hosting the Challenge. I'm glad you appreciated my idea and took the time to read some of my reviews.

    I'll check out the Badge!

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  23. Saw Y Tu Mama Tambien the other week. A delightful film. Is Zombieland that good? I'll havve to check it out.

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  24. That's awesome. Glad you liked it.

    Zombieland is quite impressive for a debut film. It's funny, thrilling, and most importantly, entertaining. It's not a thought-provoking film or a profound experience. It's just a good ol' fun time movie experience.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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