Look into your heart!

Was 1990 really the 90s, or was it just the hangover from the 80s? While you ponder that, consider that Nirvana and Tarantino were still a year away and a little show called Seinfeld was confusing a tiny audience before supplanting Cheers as NBC’s big sitcom property. There was also the little matter of Gulf War I, which bears the same relationship to Gulf War II as Caddyshack, Airplane!, Chinatown do to their respective sequels.

So, cast your mind back 20 years – here are the Best Movies of 1990:

25. Dick Tracy

Flawed? Absolutely… but like almost everything else Warren Beatty is involved with (Town and Country notwithstanding) there are fascinating bits to be found. Part of the first wave of comic book films in the wake of Tim Burton’s Batman, Dick Tracy takes it’s color scheme straight from the comics. The set design is mesmerizing, with scenes that seem as much from the paintings of Charles Sheeler as from Chester Gould’s classic strip. Then there are the plethora of heavily made-up star cameos by the likes of Pacino and DeNiro. Madonna is heavily made-up too but unfortunately it’s no cameo and not much of a performance. Yet it’s not enough to sink a diverting film. Don’t let the atrocious trailer (below) put you off:

24. Die Hard 2: Die Harder

Not a patch on the original, this sequel has it’s own charms as a sort of Airport ‘90 on roids. Willis is back in smirking form as New York cop John McClane and this time he’s fighting terrorists in a pre-9/11 airport. One plus is a bigger role for Bonnie Bedelia as McClane’s wife Holly, and some pretty gnarly plane crashes. Director Renny Harlin rode this film to next-big-thing status despite following it up with Andrew “Dice” Clay’s debut Ford Fairlane, and went on to a brief marriage to Gena Davis. Here’s Bruce Willis fighting the dad from TV’s Good Times:

23. The Witches

Nicolas Roeg’s adaptation of  Roald Dahl’s book captures the macabre grotesquerie at the heart of most of the best children’s tales from the likes of the Brothers Grimm. Anjelica Huston is majestically wicked as the head witch presiding over a witches convention at a nondescript hotel which two boys have the distinct misfortune of stumbling into.

22. Days of Being Wild

Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai took viewers back thirty years to 1960 for a tumultuous film that explores the ennui of a guy named Yuddy who is too preoccupied with searching for his mother to choose between the two women in is life, one a glamourpuss and the other more shy and down to earth.

21. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

Almodovar was still in his shock and awe period with this one, a film that asks the question “Who’s hotter?” Victoria Abril or Antonio Banderas? By any normal standards Banderas is a nutball stalker yet Almodovar works the audiences and Abril’s sympathy until it seems perfectly reasonable that she should fall for the man holding her captive.

20. Total Recall

Philip K. Dick likely never imagined that his highly cerebral sci-fi would  become re-purposed after his death as a slew of Hollywood action flicks but that’s exactly what happened. While this isn’t the best of the bunch it’s hardly the worst, with the mind-bending plot mostly left intact and augmented by Gov. Ah-nuld’s spectacular sparring with up-and-coming Sharon Stone.  Paul Verhoeven is in the directors chair for this one, but it’s rather tame considering what he gets away with in Robocop and Starship Troopers (not to mention Showgirls). Even so he manages to sneak in enough subversion and winks to make for an entertaining popcorn ride.

19. White Hunter, Black Heart

Typically maligned by critics, this film dates from a period in which Clint Eastwood’s directorial efforts were seen as an actor’s indulgence rather than a career in itself. What makes this so interesting is the fact that Eastwood tips his hand to a director and type of film he admired – John Huston – going so far as to play the Huston-based character. Yet as a director his one-take philosophy would seem at odds with Huston’s seeming nonchalance towards schedules and the orderly process of a shoot. Set around the filming of an African Queen-like epic Eastwood amiably chews the scenery and delivers more dialogue in each scene than in his entire spaghetti western career. This also previewed Eastwood’s coming interest in the underbelly of tough guy types like Huston, as the realities of Africa intrude on his fantasy of big game hunting. Here Clint and Lost’s Lapidus discuss the war with a not very nice lady:

18. Tremors

A superior b-movie if there ever was one, Tremors advances tongue in cheek across a desert landscape populated by tough, sometimes dim, but always determined characters who – as it turns out – may be wormfood for giant carnivorous slimies. This clever take on the cycle of life has great performances all around from Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward and Family Ties dad Michael Gross cast brilliantly against type as a survivalist. The special effects are on the right side of cheesy and assured directing by Ron Underwood keeps things tense and lively.

17. Blue Steel

Way before she became the first woman director to win an Oscar Kathryn Bigelow cut her teeth on clever thrillers like this and Near Dark. Jamie Lee Curtis has one of her best dramatic roles as a rookie cop who has to use her weapon on day one and pays a strange and twisted price for it at the hands of loony Ron Silver.

16. Wild at Heart

A letdown perhaps after Blue Velvet but Nicholas Cage’s overacting finds a willing partner in David Lynch’s embrace of the strange. Mixed in are Laura Dern and her mom, Harry Dean Stanton, Elvis, and the creepiest Willem Dafoe performance ever. And that’s saying something. Also, Jack Nance discourses on dogs.

15. Edward Scissorhands

A gothic fish out of water tale that set the “Tim Burton” tone to follow and established Johnny Depp as a rising star beyond being a 21 Jump Street pinup. A surprisingly touching story about a mechanical boy who finds himself in a plastic fantasyland suburb, taken in by a family that loves him even as they are baffled by him. The part of the film that works less well is the love subplot – Winona Ryder and Depp have good chemistry but her blond hair is a distraction, as is a newly muscled Anthony Michael Hall as her lout of a boyfriend. Still the set design and imagination is amazing and Vincent Price is magnificent in his last role as Edward’s father/inventor.

14. The Freshman

Andrew Bergman’s The Freshman is a movie-lover’s comedy, the centerpiece being Marlon Brando’s delicious send-up of his own iconic performance in the Godfather. Along for the ride are Bruno Kirby in excellent form and Matthew Broderick, before his fussy naif routine became ossified on Broadway.

13. Ghost

Is this the least likely film for one of Airplane!’s directors to have been involved with? A genuinely romantic delight, Demi Moore is at her most luminously beautiful as Patrick Swayze’s widow. Swayze makes good use of his sensitive brand of masculinity while Tony Goldwyn corners the market on best friends who bear watching. Even so the movie is nearly stolen by Whoopi Goldberg as the fake medium who discovers a very real ability to see dead folks.

12. House Party

The Hudlin brothers created a warm, funny slice of life with House Party which was a surprise Sundance discovery and box office hit.  Though it could be seen as a late entry in the 80s teen movie cycle, it also foreshadowed goofy fare like the Harold & Kumar series that sandwich a dollop of social commentary in between the good times and gags. Neither stars Kid, nor indeed Play, would find much success later on but Robin Harris, Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell and the Hudlins would all go on to bigger and better in the subsequent decade.

11. Reversal of Fortune

Not to be confused with the Bette Midler/Shelley Long epic Outrageous Fortune , this tells the true story of Klaus and Sunny Von Bulow who, if you lived in New York in the 80s like me, were all the rage. Specifically, did Klaus murder Sunny? Jeremy Irons gives a deliciously icy performance that’s expertly matched by Glenn Close and Hollywood conservative Ron Silver shows what ac-TING! is all about by playing lefty lawyer Alan Deshowitz to the hilt.

10. Cry-Baby

There is no question that John Waters began to mainstream his most outlaw ideas by the late 80s, yet his subversive kinkiness still gave a kick to more supposedly “friendly” fare like Hairspray and this film, which along with Edward Scissorhands helped to established Johnny Depp as a young actor willing to take chances. The film itself is a loving send-up of 50s rebel flicks – in some ways it’s a much more successful and less spoofy take on Top Secret! complete with great musical numbers – could a Broadway musical version be far behind?

9. Internal Affairs

Not to be confused with Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs, this too is a cop drama thriller but it features top notch performances by Andy Garcia and Richard Gere at his scuzziest. The bonus is a Baldwin brother and Roseanne’s sister in meaty supporting roles, and a top notch script aided by atmospheric direction from Mike Figgis.

8. Miami Blues

George Armitage has never attained the renown of fellow Roger Corman alums such as Jonathan Demme, but then he only has a handful of films to his credit of which this and Grosse Point Blank are easily the best. This is also one of Alec Baldwin’s best films, an underrated piece of work that harks back to 70s genre-bending pulp. Baldwin a charming violence-prone con man, Jennifer Jason Leigh is the sweet woman who loves him, and Fred Ward is the grizzled cop on his trail. Funny, fast-paced and surprising, this is an often overlooked gem.

7. King of New York

Could there be a more perfect combination of sensibilities than Abel Ferrara and Christopher Walken? This movie finds them both in peak form, with Walken playing a drug dealer just out of the pen and looking to reestablish himself. Lawrence Fishburne is terrific as his pal, and David Caruso reminds us why he was once considered an actor.

6. Pump Up the Volume

Oh Samantha Mathis, what happened? Christian Slater builds on his superior Heathers cred with the now-quaint tale of a teen with a pirate radio station. I can confirm that the soundtrack was standard equipment in many a freshman college dorm room even if the movie is a bit too much Footloose for it’s own good. Fun either way and Samantha Mathis, come back!

5. The Grifters

This is pitch black neo-noir with a great Oscar-nominated cast including Angelica Huston and Annette Benning along with John Cusack. Psychologically acute and satisfyingly twisty, this is one of Stephen Frears’ very best films and a great pulp classic. True to the feel of the Jim Thompson book on which is based, it also has a compelling sense of existing outside of time.

4. Europa Europa

A true story-based Holocaust film that is riveting and unforgettable – much more so than The Piano in my opinion. Much of this is due to a great performance by Marco Hofschneider as a young Jewish boy who so thoroughly hides his identity that he becomes a Hitler Youth member and is held up as a paragon of Aryan virtue. Julie Delpy is simply fantastic as the young woman who wants to fool around for the Fuhrer.

3. La Femme Nikita

At this point it’s hard to get past the endless strip mining of this material (a lousy American remake starring Bridget Fonda, not one but two TV shows) and director Luc Besson’s current status as the French Jerry Bruckheimer. Yet this film was a riveting blast of smart action upon release, prefiguring Tarantino’s work just a year later in it’s artfully staged violence, clever plotting, and woman as-action-hero stance.

2. Miller’s Crossing

The Coen Brothers followed the freneticism of their first two films with the more subdued but equally impressive gangster drama that is Miller’s Crossing. Stylistically audacious, this is the first cinematic taste of their thirties fetish with dialogue that crackles like His Girl Friday. Still the issues of allegiance and identity are explored through modern prisms of sexuality and creed. Gabriel Byrne is at the top of his game as a consigliere who has to think 5 steps ahead. Albert Finney and Jon Polito are evenly matched as rival gang bosses, Marcia Gay Harden is the moll who’s steppin’ out and John Turturro is her conniving weasel of a brother.

1. Goodfellas

The last out and out classic Scorsese flick? It’s beginning to seem that way. Goodfellas is in the top rank of the man’s work, a true story that is alive with vibrancy. As stylized in it’s own way as the Coen Brothers’ Miller’s Crossing buy visceral where the Coen’s go cerebral. You can smell the red sauce, the blood, the clean tablecloths. There are so many scene’s of sheer mastery from the tracking shot intro of the mobsters hanging out in the restaurant (“This is Johnny two-times ’cause he said everything two times…” ) to Pesci’s classic “Why am I funny?” to Ray Liotta getting trailed by a chopper. DeNiro does some of his most subtle work here and the control of the material, which span some 25 years, is unerring.

Children of Men

The decade that’s ending has the ignominy of following the 1990’s, an era that will be looked back on as a creative peak rivaling the 1970’s for cinema. This is not to say the 00’s sucked as there were some great films and wonderful talents that emerged all over the world.

Pixar proved that the Toy Story movies were merely the tip of the iceberg when it came to animation that was artistic and commercially successful. Judd Apatow may have faltered of late but he also found a way to freshen the comedy genre and inject a sometimes Cassavettes-like realism into broad can-you-top-this flicks. Superhero films were abundant but Sam Raimi with Spider-Man and especially Chris Nolan’s two Batman films showed a new level of complexity within an often two-dimensional genre.

Then there was the aftermath of 9/11 and the ongoing nightmare of the Bush presidency. The films that grappled with this best were the ones that did so obliquely, even sub-texturally. The Dark Knight comes to mind here as well with a Wall Street Journal editorial even claiming to see a vindication of Bush in the film’s vision of Batman as over-surveilling rule-breaking vigilante against an amoral enemy. Or consider the TV in the background of one of Sideways most discomfiting, riotous scenes as Paul Giamatti sneaks into the bedroom of an amorous, thieving couple while Donald Rumsfeld talks on the screen behind them.

While undoubtedly I missed a few trends here are the 100 films that I truly enjoyed this decade, in rough order of release. Let the arguing commence!

Aardman's Chicken Run skewered WWII escape dramas

1. Chicken Run


You Can Count on Me didn't let us down

2. You Can Count on Me


Best in Show was no dog

3. Best in Show


High Fidelity celebrated a lost world...and lists like this one

4. High Fidelity


Cameron Crowe's autobiographical Almost Famous put a band-aid on it

5. Almost Famous


Wonder Boys brilliantly adapted Chabon

6. Wonder Boys


Gladiator asked if we were not amused...

7. Gladiator


Harron's American Psycho taught us about business cards... and plastic tarp

8. American Psycho


Memento fractured and reversed narrative ... what was I saying?

9. Memento


Peter Jackson's Tolkein trilogy ruled them all, bringing the epic to new heights

10. The Lord of the Rings: Trilogy


Ghost World made the planet safe for nerd girls and the Buscemis who love them

11. Ghost World


Shrek was Eddie Murphy's best performance of the decade (yes, including Dreamgirls)

12. Shrek


The Closet was workplace farce at it's best

13. The Closet


Donnie Darko proved impossible for Richard Kelly to follow-up (though he keeps trying)

14. Donnie Darko


The Royal Tenenbaums was Wes Anderson's ode to family

15. The Royal Tenenbaums


Waking Life had us flipping light switches to make sure we were awake

16. Waking Life


Moulin Rouge mashed up styles of music and cinema into a sumptuous treat

17. Moulin Rouge


Spirited Away was a modern Through The Looking Glass

18. Spirited Away


Ripley's game suggested that Matt Damon might age to resemble John Malkovich

19. Ripley’s Game


About a Boy proved that Hugh Grant is best as a (lovable) cad

20. About a Boy


Talk To Her showed that Almodovar could combine a new maturity with a Volkswagen-sized vulva

21. Talk to Her


Adaptation had Cage's two best performances of the decade

22. Adaptation


The Kid Stays in the Picture made us feel bad for losing Ali MacGraw to that McQueen guy

23. The Kid Stays in the Picture


Spider-Man wasn't related to Morris Spiderman D.D.S.

24. Spider-Man


About Schmidt gave us a vulnerable Nicholson

25. About Schmidt


24 Hour Party People took us to Madchester with the brilliant Steve Coogan as ringmaster

26. 24 Hour Party People


The Bourne Identity proved action movies didn't have to be edited by a Benihana's chef

27. The Bourne Identity


Y Tu Mama Tambien was some sad, sexy, slyly political stuff

28. Y Tu Mama Tambien


Rivers and Tides let us into the genius of artist Andy Goldsworthy

29. Andy Goldsworthy – Rivers and Tides: Working With Time


Finding Nemo immersed us in an undersea world

30. Finding Nemo


Errol Morris' Fog of War lifted the veil on Robert McNamara

31. The Fog of War


Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation whispered in our ear and introduced us to Suntory time

32. Lost in Translation


Infernal Affairs was good enough for a Scorsese-helmed remake

33. Infernal Affairs


American Splendor bought multi-dimensional Harvey Pekars to life

34. American Splendor


The Triplets of Belleville pedalled us across the Atlantic

35. The Triplets of Belleville


My architect looked at the professional and very personal legacy of architect Louis Kahn

36. My Architect: A Son’s Journey


The Weather Underground supplied talking points for the Republican campaigns of '08

37. The Weather Underground


Whale Rider showed us how to make our warrior face

38. Whale Rider


28 Days Later showed us where monkey rage leads

39. 28 Days Later


The Kill Bill films kicked our asses in a tracksuit

40. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2


Brad Bird's The Incredibles was the American Beauty of the animated world. Think about it.

41. The Incredibles


Alexander Payne's Sideways burrowed into the heart of male middle-aged ennui

42. Sideways


End of The Century showed us the broken hearts of The Ramones and broke our hearts at the loss

43. End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones


Gondry and Kauffman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind taught us the difference between Pope Alexander and Alexander Pope

44. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind


Vera Drake showed that bravery doesn't always announce itself

45. Vera Drake


Shaun of the Dead introduced us to pale, lumbering Brits and the zombies who want to eat them

46. Shaun of the Dead


Who better than Alfonso Cuaron to introduce hormones into the Harry Potter universe in the best film of the series so far.

47. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban


Dig made The Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Masacre actually seem like interesting bands

48. DIG!


Tom Dowd and the Language of Music allowed us to hear classic soul and rock with new ears

49. Tom Dowd and the Language of Music


Team America introduced us to full-on puppet nookie- with strings attached

50. Team America: World Police


Wallace and Gromit get a full-length film worthy of their legacy

51. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit


Good Night and Good Luck made us mourn for journalism while marveling at Straitharn's masterful performace as Murrow

52. Good Night. And, Good Luck


Grizzly Man made us hope that Werner Herzog would steer clear of narrating our life story. Oh, and avoid bears.

53. Grizzly Man


After Innocence was a devastating look at the American judicial system

54. After Innocence


Kung Fu Hustle put the slap back into slapstick, and a few kicks too

55. Kung Fu Hustle


We couldn't quit Brokeback Mountain

56. Brokeback Mountain


World, Amy Adams. Amy Adams, meet world. Now play nice...

57. Junebug


A History of Violence repped a new era for Cronenberg

58. A History of Violence


Apatow's 40-Year-Old Virgin ushered in the Apatowization of American film comedy

59. The 40-Year-Old Virgin


Batman Begins was origin story as high adventure

60. Batman Begins


Kiss Kiss Bang Bang bought us our Robert Downey Jr. back, and Shane Black's cool factor

61. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang


Walk the Line was the best in a slew of music biopics

62. Walk the Line


Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room was a preview of coming attractions for the nation's Bush-era economy

63. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room


Pan's Labyrinth made fascism really, really scary

64. Pan’s Labyrinth


Casino Royale emerged from the surf, dripping wet, as the best Bond movie since the 1960s

65. Casino Royale


The Lives of Others eavesdropped on the menaing of art and surveillance

66. The Lives of Others


A Scanner Darkly had Keanu Reeves' most animated performance in the most faithful Philip K. Dick adaptation ever

67. A Scanner Darkly


The Departed was grand guignol drama from Scorsese

68. The Departed


Children of Men took us into a bleak future

69. Children of Men


Block Party took Chapelle to my old neighborhood to put on a star-studded show

70. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party


Borat showed us that Sascha Baron Cohen may not have the balls of co-star Ken Davitian

71. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan


Greengrass staged United 93 as a straightahead pseudo-doc - and it worked

72. United 93


Little Miss Sunshine showed us the clutchless running van start

73. Little Miss Sunshine


Tristram Shandy hilariously adapted the "unadaptable" post-modern classic

74. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story


Half Nelson was all good with a great performance by Ryan Gosling

75. Half Nelson


Ratatouille made the kitchen an acceptable place for vermin

76. Ratatouille


Persepolis told Marjane Satrapi's life with indelible imagery

77. Persepolis


The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men flipped a coin to decide our fate

78. No Country for Old Men


The Bourne Ultimatum was a series best

79. The Bourne Ultimatum


Juno taught us that in China they shoot babies out of t-shirt guns

80. Juno


The Diving Bell and the Butterfly could read our blinks

81. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly


There Will be Blood drank our milkshake

82. There Will Be Blood


Knocked Up suggested we consider a smashbortion

83. Knocked Up


Michael Clayton was just a janitor - a dreamy George Clooney janitor

84. Michael Clayton


Fincher's Zodiac nurtured a deep consuming obsession

85. Zodiac


3:10 To Yuma was a rare remake that bested the source

86. 3:10 to Yuma


Eastern Promises totally kicked our ass, naked

87. Eastern Promises


2 Days in Paris showed their family a compromising picture of us with a balloon

88. 2 Days In Paris


We were strung along by Man on Wire

89. Man On Wire


WALL-E was the sweetest post-apocalyptic movie ever

90. WALL-E


The Dark Knight asked why so serious?

91. The Dark Knight


Milk was here to recruit us

92. Milk


Iron Man needed a scotch

93. Iron Man


Happy-Go-Lucky taught us to drive

94. Happy-Go-Lucky


Synecdoche, New York created a smaller version of our lives in a warehouse

95. Synechdoche, New York


Inglorius Basterds demanded it's Nazi scalps!

96. Inglorious Basterds


Up broke our hearts in the first 15 minutes and named us Kevin

97. Up


In The Loop found new and creative ways to curse us out

98. In the Loop


The Hurt Locker defused our bomb

99. The Hurt Locker


Spike Jonze's adaptation of Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are began the wild rumpus

100. Where The Wild Things Are

One of these men is this year's Sexiest Man Dead

People Magazine just named their Sexiest Man Alive for 2009 (it’s Johnny Depp – so 2006!) which means it’s time in the name of all that’s symmetrical for us to announce our annual Sexiest Man Dead award for 2009. You can click here to see our previous winners.

It was a tough year with a lot of great, lifeless competitors on the filed but in the end only one moldering corpse can be the winner.  Sorry Twilight fans, Robert Pattinson is still not eligible as he only plays dead and is in fact very much alive in real life.

Here he is, this year’s Sexiest Man Dead, Marlon Brando:

Bringing the fun with him wherever he went – whether it’s onscreen in fizzy roles like Paul in Last Tango in Paris or at home with his family on their private Tahitian island is just one reason why Brando has joined this most elite of clubs.

He was  Hollywood’s most irresistible iconoclast; as one-of-a-kind as his beloved 15-year-old boots and as smoldering as his favorite Cuban cigars.

“Marlon Brando has magical powers. He’s unlike anyone else,” said actress Natalie Wood, who was married to Robert Wagener.  “He’s funny, generous and clever. It’s just a shame he’s so hard on the eyes.”

Our continued Flashbacks through pop culture history finds us landing in 1979, deep into the Carter malaise years of stagflation and diminished expectations. Here are  the best movies of 1979:

1. Apocalypse Now

It’s strange to put a film on a best of list when the last quarter of it is frankly lousy. Windy and pretentious, the climax the rest of the story builds to is more of an anticlimax, dominated by the lumbering, hammy hulk that was was once Marlon Brando. He is his own metaphor for the film’s Vietnam parable, like the United States a paragon of youthful vitality laid low by bloat and a clear loss of purpose. Thankfully the first three quarters are brilliant with highlights like Larry Fishbourne’s firefight acid trip and Robert Duvall’s near heist of the entire film as a surfing obsessed officer, the inspiration for The Clash’s “Charlie Don’t Surf.” Francis Ford Copolla had his own ‘Nam like experience making the picture for three years starting in 1977 but for the most part the results are onscreen. Pity about the ending. Avoid the director’s cut which adds superflous footage that does little to mitigate the inevitable letdown.

2. The In-Laws

Despite being poorly remade in a version starring Albert Brooks and Michael Douglas and cribbed from for the Meet the Parents movies the In-Laws continues to hold up as a delightful riff on middle class uptightness colliding with a certain kind of hustler who became all too common in the Nixon years. In it’s own way The In-Laws is a subtle riff on what happened when Americans like dentist Sheldon Kornpett (played to the neurotic hilt by Alan Arkin) were confronted with the slippery gray areas of their own government’s foreign policy embodied by Kornpett’s future in-law and possible CIA agent Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk at his charismatic best). The interplay of these two actors makes you wonder why they worked together so rarely, only teaming up again in the disappointing Big Trouble in 1985.  Part of what makes this movie so funny is the edgy realness to the humor – you do sense that anything could happen and are constantly thrown off guard either by a very real threat of violence or a lunatic performance like Richard Libertini as an unstable dictator with a fondness for Senor Wences.

3. Monty Python’s Life of Brian

My personal favorite Python film, this was criticized by religious groups for daring to poke fun at the story of Jesus. Oddly their portrayal of a Roman empire overrun with would-be prophets, saviors and messengers from god actually captures the historical reality of that time. Graham Chapman is wonderful as a put-upon Momma’s boy messiah and the “Bigus Dickus” sequence is priceless.

4. Manhattan

After the dour Interiors, Manhattan felt like the real follow-up to Woody Allen’s 1977 breakthrough Annie Hall, an omnibus love letter to the city he is identified so strongly with shot in luminous black and white by the legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis. Woody maybe gives more away then he needs to by playing a character who dates high-schooler Mariel Hemingway before falling for Diane Keaton (supposedly based on his relationship with actress Stacey Nelkin when she was a teenager). Rest assured the movie is very funny and genuinely romantic but the audience may share Woody’s sense of unease about the film. A real treat for lovers of New York City.

5. Alien

Alien is one of the greatest horror films ever made, juxtaposing scares with what Moon director Duncan Jones pointed out as a Cassavettes-like realism in the way characters talk and work together. There is no glamor in this vision of space travel, the antiseptic set design of 2001 shunned in favor of H.R. Giger’s Freudian nightmare alien designs and the stark industrialism of the Nostromo. Sigourney Weaver upends what had been the typical action adventure tropes, Ian Holm does one of his great creepy turns, and the likes of Tom Skerrit, Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton bring a distinctly blue-collar tinge to the crew of the alien menaced spacecraft. Then of course there is John Hurt’s unfortunate scene in the mess, which brings a tongue-in-cheek new meaning to bringing up your lunch.

6. Being There

Call this one Alienated – Peter Sellers in a tour de force performance as Chance, a semi-autistic gardener thrust into the world and mistaken for a wise font of wisdom. Jerzy Kosiński’s political satire is adapted into a pitch perfect film by Hal Ashby, which also features great turns by Shirley MacLaine and Melvyn Douglas.

7. Mad Max

The movie that made Mel Gibson a star – in Australia. Mad Max wasn’t even released in the United States  until after it’s sequel, The Road Warrior, became an unexpected underground hit in 1981.  Mad max posits that favorite of sci-fiers, a post-apocalyptic future where road-based gangs are menaced by and i turn menaced by the police. Gibson is the officer who loses a partner and his family and in turn enacts revenge against the motorized gang responsible. Brutal and eminently watchable.

8. Breaking Away

From cars and motorcycles in Mad Max, we come to competitive bike racing which in the sweet sleeper hit Breaking Away can be almost as brutal. This combines the slobs vs snobs ethos laid out in Animal House with some great quirky offbeat humor, particularly Dennis Christopher as a 19-year old who is so obsessed with racing in Italy that he tries to be Italian. Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley are all great as his buddies as are Barbra Barrie as his mother and particularly Paul Dooley as his put-upon father.

9. Nosferatu: The Vampyre

Who better to remake Murnau’s German expressionist horror classic than Werner Herzog and his “best fiend” Klaus Kinski who goes the distance as a creepy feral looking Count Dracula. Bruno Ganz is Jonathan Harker and the lovely Isabelle Adjani is his fiance who naturally catches the count’s milky eye. The opposite of today’s jump-cut scares through editing, Herzog builds atmosphere with stunning visuals while transforming the classic story into an allegory of fascism. The more people fall under Dracula’s sway the more monstrous he appears to become.

10. The Warriors

1979 found New York in the grip of a crime wave that would peak during the following decade. In that atmosphere Walter Hill’s absurd gang fantasia The Warriors was not greeted with open arms by civic leaders, nor by most movie critics. Nevertheless it’s a rollicking action b-movie populated by gangs in uniforms that make them look like escaped employees from every misbegotten theme restaurant ever devised.

11.All That Jazz

Bob Fosse’s egotistical tour through the recesses of his mind and his failing heart, with an amazing Roy Scheider as our alter-ego tour guide. Great turns by Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking and Ben Vereen, great dancing, and fluid directing make this a classic.

12.Time After Time

Silliness played with tongue in cheek makes for a sublime experience as Jack the Ripper is followed to 1979 San Francisco by H.G. Wells. Malcolm McDowell, miles away from his edgy Clockwork Orange persona, nails Wells as a Victorian geek and proto-steampunk hero. David Warner is uitably creepy and Amy Irving is a hoot as the modern day liberated chick Wells falls for. Great fun.

13. The Black Stallion

An old -fashioned high adventure story directed with verve by Carroll Ballard and gorgeously shot by Caleb Deschanel. The story of the love between a boy, a horse, and Mickey Rooney is relentlessly compelling and features unforgettable sequences including a shipwreck and the climactic race. Rooney was never better, young Kelly Reno carries his scenes effortlessly and Terri Garr is great as the mom. The horse is, of course, fantastic.

14. The Jerk

Before he became a neutered family friendly star of dreck, Steve Martin was a stand-up superstar. The Jerk was his first film, and it captured his off-key slightly surreal sensibilities perfectly – an odd blend of smart and dumb, innocence and knowing. As Navin P. Johnson, a man searching for his “special purpose”, Martin goes on the quintessential rags-to-riches American dream story, but one in which maniacs shoot at cans, inventions go very wrong, and dominatrix circus performers have their way with you. His first and probably his best.

15. The Great Santini

It’s military man Robert Duvall versus resentful son and future Jackie’s husband on Roseanne Michael O’Keefe in this flick that was badly handled by the studio until Duvall started to get Oscar buzz and recieved a best actor nom. Duvall challenges our sympathy for him as a guy who can handle every challenge except his own family. One of his best roles.

Carradine first found fame on television starting with the small screen version of the western classic Shane before the much-loved Kung Fu, which was revived by Carradine in the early 90s as Kung Fu: The Kegend Continues. Carradine’s underplaying in the show could sometimes be so minimal as to be nonexistent but he took martial arts and eastern philosophy fairly seriously.

The same year as Kung Fu, Carradine also starred memorably in Martin Scorsese’s first film Boxcar Bertha opposite Barbara Hershey as an almost Christ-like train hopping drifter. It’s a wonderfully charismatic performance. He also turned up in a cameo in the far-more acclaimed follow-up by Scorsese, Mean Streets.

Carradine played the role of Casanova Frankenstein in the wild 1975 Corman cult classic Death Race 2000, another great trashpile mistaken for gold in a cruddy Hollywood remake this decade. He flirted with automotive typecasting in Cannonball the following year, a film based on the same real race as Burt Reynold’s later Cannonball Run duology. He also received some of his best reviews ever as Woody Guthrie in the biopic Bound For Glory in 1976.

The 80s consisted of TV guest spots and cheesy (if often entertaining) B pics like Q: The Winged Serpent and Lone Wolf McQuade.

In 2003 Quentin Tarantino cast Carradine as the title character of his epic Kill Bill films, cannily using his stillness and craggy planar features to convey quiet menace. He’s a revelation in these films. Tarantino has said that he chose to cast Carradine based on his entertaining autobiography, having reportedly originally pictured Warren Beatty in the role.

He was subsequently rarely without work, filming several films each year of varying quality and often doing riffs on both his Kung Fu and Kill Bill personas.

Here’s Carradine trying to do us all a favor by kicking Rick Springfield’s ass:

A thoughtful, pensive scene from Death Race 2000

The trailer for Hal Ashby’s Bound For Glory

From the pilot for Kung Fu:

From Kill Bill:

The idea is to take advantage of one of Twitter’s best functions – link and information sharing – while also highlighting some great people to follow.

How to do it? It’s simple – just use the hashtag #RTTuesday and then RT as you normally would – including the handle of the original Tweeter.

See below for Template:

#RTTuesday  RT @mcancino reveals the truth about Oprah’s BF http://bit.ly/3opv5

It’s also acceptable to end with #RTTuesday

Chris Bangle, BMW’s controversial chief designer, has announced his retirement from the company and indeed the entire auto industry. While this is understandable considering the scarcity of good jobs in the autoverse right now, Bangle is simultaneously one of the most loathed and influential modern car designers.

The American born Bangle’s “flame surfacing” design had little to do with Burger King but everything to do with unusual curves, angles and lines. His 2002 7 Series was widely panned, as was his 5 Series, but both were sales successes. His 7 Series trunkline in particular can be seen in a whole host of luxury cars included the current Mercedes S-Class.

He also was a big influence on the first Rolls-Royce to emerge from BMW ownership, the brutalist moderne Phantom in 2003.

Before he was at BMW he was best known for creating the slashed-sided Fiat Coupe.

Love him or hate him, he pushed car design away from bland look-alikes and into more daring polarizing areas, surely a good thing. My favorite of his BMW tenure is the 6-series – to my eye the best blend of his big shapes and eye catching detailing.

Bangle is succeded by Adrian Van Hooydonk who did last year’s fantatsic Homage concept and the CS big sedan concept as well as the underwhelming new 7 Series. BMW has taken a turn back to conservatism of late – let’s hope they allow Van Hooydonk the same freedom as Bangle enjoyed.

Mickey Rourke’s face – puffed, spongy, semi-mobile, is like a relief map of failure in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, a sports drama that struggles semi-successfully to transcend it’s genre. To the degree that it succeeds Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and Aronofsky deserve the credit for sharply grounding the film in reality. Likewise, it’s shortcomings are again Aronofsky’s – who sometimes uses a staple gun when a thumbtack would do (quite literally) and screenwriter Robert Siegel who sometimes flounders against the mechanics of his plot and some clunky dialogue.

Aronofsky tones down the lyrical visual flourishes of The Fountain to shoot in a spare, hand-held fashion. There are some nice flourishes, the best of which is the constant soundtrack of 80s hair metal. When Rourke laments the rise of Kurt Cobain and the 90s, its the sweeping away of his dreams and his status as a cultural force he is railing against. It’s heavy meta, if you will.

Early on Tomei recommends Scorsese’s The Passion of The Christ to Rourke, jokingly calling his character “The sacrificial Ram.” Not surprisingly that’s exactly what he is, a piece of meat thrown into a ring as a lightning rod for his fans hopes and rage and passion – even as he slides down the ladder of his chosen profession.

Tomei, is his spiritual doppelganger, a stripper who equals him in bare chested and buttocked screen time. It’s a measure of how far she’s come that her high school drama class Brooklynese that inexplicable netted an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny is replaced here by an utterly believable Jersey girl. These are both sweet characters who absorb the blows of the world around them and find their power in the spotlight of the stage even as their bodies begin to betray them.

The real pleasure of this film lie in the backstage sequences – seeing the way younger wrestlers respond to Rourke’s Randy the Ram, the business of plotting out the rough action that will occur in the ring, the subtle signals the wrestlers give to each other while grappling, all speak to the film’s verisimilitude.

Less real are the scenes with Ram’s estranged daughter, played by Evan Rachel Wood. They both come across fine but the scenes feel sketched out rather than fully fleshed. This is true too of the climax which is designed to place Ram on his metaphorical cross. It feels like a bit too much in a film full of surprising subtlety.

Let me know what you think here, or on Twitter at @nmallin .