#10 Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back:

I don’t know what surprised me more: that there is a Star Wars in the top ten or that it’s not the first one. As a kid, I generally regarded The Empire Strikes Back as the least of the three original Star Wars movies. Now that I’m an adult, I can clearly see that Ewoks suck ass. But come on! I know it’s a classic and all and spawned an ertire race of geeks, but why? These movies really aren’t that good. None of them. George Lucas was insane. He was not a great filmmaker. The movie is full of plot holes and bad dialogue. I mean, are we to believe that Hoth, the asteroid belt and Lando’s place are all 5 minutes away from eachother? The Falcon never jumps to hyperspeed to go to any of these places! And it is just silly to think that you can travel between systems without hyperspeed!!!

I guess it speaks to the imagination more than to the pragmatic side. I really do love Star Wars. I’ve seen the originals countless times and even the godawful first two new ones have enjoyed many turns through my DVD player. It’s just funny to take a step back and look at them as just films and not legends. I really do hate Geoge Lucas though. Mark Hamil is crap too, the Wookie emotes better, unless you count being a whinny little shit, that he’s got a handle on. But he made a kickass voice for the Joker.

#249 The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

I'm back... reviewing another movie from well before my time.

I do not have a personality geared toward giving a movie such as this a proper review, as I take interest in politics/the history of politics to a degree best described as mostly disinterested.

The Day the Earth Stood Still is certainly a political statement movie, no doubt about that. A spacecraft from another planet lands in the middle of Washington DC, announcing non-hostile intentions but the 'alien' occupant (named Klaatu) is shot by a soldier by mistake. Klaatu's indestructible robot protector then shows some of its limitless power by melting guns and tanks with a stare. Klaatu wishes only to address a group of representatives from each nation of the world to give Earth an ultimatum.

Throughout the movie, nuclear weapons are the focus of the non-Earthly visitor - the other sentient planets of the universe have become aware of Earth's development of nuclear weapons and warn that any attempt to use these in a manner affecting other planets will result in Earth's elimination by the galactic police (robots like Klaatu's protector, Gort). A stiff penalty for something that I'm not really sure has ever been a realistic possibility... or has it?

The fact that this movie chooses to completely skip over the idea of Earth's residents disastrously using nuclear weapons to do what we do best - kill ourselves - and jumped right to Earth using these weapons in space is very puzzling. And against species we did not know existed until they landed on Earth and told us not to shoot nukes into space... Or else they would destroy our planet. :-/

Overall, this was a decent movie but don't expect any slick special effects, mind-blowing plot twists, or intense action scenes. The acting in places is somewhat shallow - modern child actors can act circles around the kid actor in this movie. If you get a chance, it is worth a watch but I definitely question its place on the IMDb Top 250 list.

#9 The Dark Knight:

Holy shit this is a good movie. My favorite so far on the list. Of course I’d seen it before. I have liked it since the very first time. But movies are a little different when you watch them alone late at night. You are drawn into them more and I think the experience is much deeper. This particular viewing moved me more than the previous ones. The acting, the suspense, the themes and messages were so vivid and clear to me. More on that in a minute. First, Maggie is a thousand times better than Katie. I personally have the hots for Kates, but as we’ve all seen since she signed the contracts with Tom, she can’t act. Maggie is cute as hell and really brought her character to life. Actually, that’s pretty close to the only criticism I have, that every actor brought their characters to life. Too well. I mean, you can’t blame them, most of the supporting cast have (or received) Oscars. But they were all so good and deep that Batman himself was overshadowed. Christian Bale is good, but not Oscar good. So at times, I really found myself thinking of Batman as a lesser character. More of a supporting part. Alfred is cheeky and wise, Lucius is super cool, and the Joker is threatening again. I know, I know, talking about the Joker is cliché. So much has already been said about Heath’s last complete role. But not enough has been said. There’s real viciousness in him. Things that I’ve only seen on real life videos of people being barbaric. Not things that are typically on TV or in movies. He tapped into the dark side. The Joker in movies and TV before this was kinda just comic relief. He wasn’t scary. He wasn’t really dangerous. This one is.
Towards the end, the theme became apparent in the form of Batman’s decision to do what is right, not what is honest, in taking the blame for Harvey’s rampage and going rogue. That the truly strong leaders do what is, in the end, right. Which isn’t always what society preaches. This is because not everyone is a true leader. You have to be right to lead. There are books and classes and techniques to leading people around, but that’s not the real deal. The real leaders know what is right and do it, ignoring the rules. It’s OK to lie to an entire city, if you really do know what’s best for it. The people would disagree. Say that their right to know has been violated. But that’s what makes them the people, and not the leaders. This part of the movie is what really puts it at the top for me. I’ve felt that way my whole life. It’s just nice to see someone else sees the world that way so I don’t look like such an asshole.