Every Film I Saw in 2004 Ranked

1. Life Aquatic, Wes Anderson-Didn’t fare as well as some of the other Anderson films at the time, but the theme of enemies and friends and estranged family members overcoming their detachments because of a need to belong is still prevalent in a very touching way and it’s a feast for the eyes.
2. Aviator, Martin Scorsese-Everything about this film feels grandiose in a good way. It’s a love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood from a man who’s arguably Classic Hollywood’s most prominent fanboy. The biopic is compelling, the hokey sentiment at the ending works, and I also like the lack of resolution. I went into the film knowing very little about Howard Hughes as well.
3. Sideways, Alexander Payne-The moment in history where Alexander Payne’s neorealist screenwriting style and critical tastes aligned. It’s a tense and funny story that treats its characters with gentleness and understanding.
4. Spanglish, James L Brooks-It’s high ranking with me is affected by the fact that it mirrors my own life story because I had a live-in Spanish-speaking nanny and her daughter stay with us when I was young. But seriously, I don’t understand the hatred for this film. Aside from that, I think it’s a very well-balanced story tonally and cleverly shifts audience loyalties between the neglectful wife, the nice guy husband, and the house interloper.
5. Anchorman, Adam McKay-My first bit of education that making a good comedy can entail the same degree of artistic difficulty as a good drama. The layers of absurdism, the strength of the characters, the timing of the jokes, everything clicked to the point that I was literally laughing throughout at least 80 to 90% of the film’s running time.
6. Ray, Taylor Hackford-The debate over whether to put Ray or Finding Neverland first was a tough one. Ray was a bit more of a known story, whereas Finding Neverland found a lot of nuance in the unknown. Ray was downright inspiring though and the redemption at the end (while not a complete redemption at all) was tear jerking. I remember leaving the theater thinking, “OK, I am not gonna let my disability hold me back.” The cast of characters rotated so often, the film felt like a series of vignettes but there was enough centrality to hold it all together.
7. Finding Neverland, Marc Forster-The film appeared a little stuffy but the theme of defining your own family resonated very well and, like, Ray, the film was quite a tear jerker.
8. Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore-Whether you agree with the politics or not, Michael Moore has really broken open the mold of a stale genre. Before Michael Moore, I wasn’t a fan of the genre at all: Talking heads, newsreel footage, self-satisfying photography. No thanks, I’ll go read a book.
9. Manchurian Candidate, Jonathan Demme-Yes, it’s a remake but the story’s one of my favorite of all time so I don’t mind seeing it again, it’s transported very appropriately to a new setting, it plays well like a thriller, and Denzel, Liev and Meryl are fantastic reinterpretations.
10. Kinsey, Bill Condon-A very interesting way to tell a story that’s largely about collecting data (even if it’s about very sexy data). The central conflict is about a scientist’s struggle to present a truth in the face of moral naysayers but it nicely meanders in talking about the man’s detachment from emotional love and his complexities. In delving into side characters, it’s an early template for so many of the great serialized shows (Dexter, Transparent, House of Cards, Orphan Black, Masters of Sex) that start with a subject and work their way out.
11. I Heart Huckabees, David O Russell-An extremely innovative and resonant form of comedy. The scene of Mark Wahlberg panicking about the state of petroleum in the world while he has a real-world problem right before him in the form of a wife leaving him, spoke to me so much as someone in my head. I didn’t know whether to laugh or scratch my head, but it was really something else.
12. Mean Girls, Mark Waters-The film that launched Tina Fey into the stratosphere still holds up very well as a quintessential teen movie. The dialogue is sharp, edgy and relatable to anyone who’s felt like an outsider in their adolescence. It also captures very well how all those cliques and aliiances that you’re obsessed with in high school seem to dissolve at some point and you realize what’s ultimately important.
13. Dodgeball, Rawson Marshall Thurber-Like Anchorman, this is a film that knows where to pin its jokes for maximum effect. It’s a brilliant sports parody, pure unadulterated fun and encapsulates Vince Vaughn’s screen persona better than any other film.
14. National Treasure, John Turteltaub-I probably would’ve ranked this more in the middle of the pack back in 2004, but it’s a more memorable film down the road and one I would rewatch in a heart beat. The premise is absurd but the marriage of history and adventure is done in a much tighter way than Da Vinci Code and it skates by on a sense of fun the whole way.
15. Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock-Morgan Spurlock’s grotesque piece of performance art is the only known example besides Michael Moore I’ve seen of a documentary breaking the mold and showing something you couldn’t get out of reading a book on the same topic.
16. Spiderman 2, Sam Raimi-Back in the day, this film got amazing reviews and topped (whatever would have been the equivalent back then of) the Rotten Tomatoes chart, and was even included in AFI’s ballot for the 100 Greatest Films of All Time. I’ve never been too keen on the Spiderman universe because the characters feel so rigidly drawn to archetypes (James Franco is the best friend but why? Can Kirsten Dunst be any more Girl Next Door?), but the story takes the hero into new territory, the special effects are very impressive and story relevant, and there’s a grandiosity to the whole film.
17. Silver City, John Sayles-A wonderful little satire and ensemble piece about government corruption and a peon in the system (Danny Huston) finding a little piece of political redemption.
18. Shrek 2, Andrew Adamson-Not sure if I loved this cartoon as much as Chadwick Bozeman’s recent SNL character but this was a great movie about how to deal with the aftermath of happily ever after. A thematically mature cartoon is pretty rare. The laughs weren’t AS strong as they could be because they were overly character-reliant and the characters -- an ogre who’s not that bad and a donkey who’s a vehicle for Eddie Murphy humor -- wore themselves out by the end of the first film.
19. Maria Full of Grace, Joshua Marston-I don’t watch foreign films nearly as often as I should because stuff like this does give me a nice insight into another part of the world. It was nice to see a protagonist like Maria here who wasn’t entirely helpless and could advocate for herself.
20. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michel Gondry-It’s hard to separate the film from the critical love for said film. You know why it’s a great film. I don’t remember it as much. I believe a major distraction of the film was the focus given to the Elijah Wood-Mark Ruffalo-Kirsten Dunst-Tom Wilkinson as a separate B-plot rather than just a framing device. The jumps in time gave me whiplash and not in a good way (“500 Days of Summer’ steps into and out of time more gracefully). But, yes, it has a lot of great stuff in it as well.
21. Day After Tomorrow, Roland Emmerich-It goes up several points based on how well I remember it. Even though it’s extremely implausible, the plot’s not nearly as flimsy as 2012. It fits well with Emmerich’s milieu of large-scale disaster and is a fine ensemble piece. Some of the visual imagery (such as the characters outrunning cold itself or the initial onset of the storm) is indelible.
22. I Robot, Alex Poyras-Like Kinsey, this is an extremely difficult story to adapt so I have to give the film credit for making a coherent story that’s somewhat thought-provoking (what the Asimov intended his work to be) and has a genuine element of mystery. The jaded cop angle was a little strained. There was also a bit too much exposition but it would be hard not to do with source material
23. Terminal, Stephen Spielberg-There were parts that were a little schmaltzy, but it played with some interesting cinematic and spatial space (re-thinking the airport as the setting of a movie rather than a transition point) and I found the film lined with quite a bit of philosophical depth if you consider the airport to be a purgatory of sorts. The film has a nice bit of tension between Stanley Tucci’s character and Hanks. One weakness is that Hanks is a bit Tom Hanksian in a been-there-done-that kind of way which is a shame since he’s based on an actual characterthis tough.
24. Wimbledon, Richard Lorcaine-It’s not a particularly ambitious film, but three things in the film’s favor: 1) A very endearing romcom 2) one of the few sports films dealing with staying in the game past your peak 3) making tennis (an already underrated sport) sexy and exciting through great action shots and the like
25. Welcome to Mooseport, Donald Pietrie-It has a reputation buoyed by its reviews of being bland and vanilla, and to make matters worse, it’s rumored to have scared Gene Hackman into retirement, but I don’t care. To me, the film is a pleasant throwback to the 90s era of wholesome family-friendly comedy. A bit of fish-out-of-water stuff and a nice love story
26. Merchant of Venice, Michael Radford-Hard to judge this super-objectively since I saw this for a literary class on Merchant of Venice and not really for pleasure. Al Pacino deserves accolades for going for broke here and doing Shakespeare. I’d much rather see him do this than a cop or mob member or robber. Visually nice.
27. Around the World in 80 Days, Frank Coraci-When I first saw this, I thought it was a shameful dilution of a great literary work simply to give Jackie Chan a vehicle for his blend of martial arts and children’s comedy. Then, I rewatched it and discovered how marvelously fun and virtuosic a Jackie Chan movie can be. The film’s humor can seem unimpressive at points but it’s consistently filled with the kind of jokes that would delight a 12-year-old and if you meet the material halfway, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to let your inner child out.
28. Troy, Wolfgang Petersen-When I first watched the film in 2004, I felt it was shameful that the film stripped the Iliad of its cultural specificity in favor of a more broad story. Looking at the irritating complexities of Game of Thrones or Westworld or Orphan Black, I don’t necessarily think simplifying a narrative is the worst thing you can do anymore. At the same time, the film loses a little by keeping this a tale only of humans when the source material was a more extravagant opera of Gods and humans on opposite sides of a battle. If you accept that this movie is just a watered-down Brad Pitt vehicle and lower your expectations as such, it’s an easily digestible epic.
29. 50 First Dates, Peter Segal-Not a fan of Adam Sandler’s man child screen persona but he occasionally puts his characters in solid enough plots that they cancel out the weakeness of his presence enough to make a good movie. The only three Adam Sandler films I liked were Mr Deeds, Big Daddy, and this one. Sandler films are juvenile in their jokes but they also are sincerely enveloped with a lot of heart. This is an interesting premise for a love story and it mostly works in spite of how little I like Adam Sandler as an actor.
30. After the Sunset, Brett Ratner-The film strikes just the right playful tone. Pierce Brosnan, who was as heavily associated with Bond as he would ever be, had an odd penchant for playing Bond-like figures in Tailor of Panama, No Escape, Matador, and this. All four characters are what I would describe as sleazy versions of Bond. This one is an interesting role for Brosnan because it’s laced with a playful sense of (very un-Bond-like) homoeroticism between Brosnan and Harrelson while simultaneously trying to aim for a monogamous love story. Like many of Bond’s most famous films, it’s also set in the Caribbean and has a chase scene in the Junkanoo just like Thunderball.
31. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Kerry Conran-My reaction is pretty much entirely neutral. It was pleasant and technologically innovative but the technological innovations were quite distracting.
32. Incredibles, Brad Bird-I just didn’t feel particularly inspired by this. I preferred “Sky High” or the underrated Ben Stiller vehicle “Mystery Men”
33. Taxi, Tim Story-One has to admit the scene of Queen Latifah breaking all laws of traffic (and perhaps physics) to get a passenger to Laguardia in fifteen minutes is pretty solid. And who doesn’t actively fantasize about a taxi driver (or perhaps an Uber) who actually cares about getting you somewhere on time? The premise is thin, the show is inoffensive and fun, and harkens back to the days when Jimmy Fallon didn’t make me want to stab someone. If he was better in films, he might not be imposing his annoying giggly fits on the late night landscape.
34. Stepford Wives, Frank Oz-A remake of a 1975 film starring Nicole Kidman is a burnt-out TV executive whose supportive husband moves her away from the city to a pleasant suburban enclave. This is an attempt at suburban satire that morphs into a Shyamalanesque eerie town mystery. The thru-line between the former and the latter is the peril of conformity but it’s a completely different picture in the second half which invalidates much of the first half’s thematic thrust. First, the film is about a woman learning to relax and open up; than bam!-- they’re all zombies or robots or something. The film does have a twist or two but by then it’s a little too late.
35. Garden State, Zach Braff-It’s an extremely typical coming-of-age story that doesn’t have a lot of forward momentum that is overly filled with quiet spaces. The protagonist has some issues to resolve but he’s so internal and broody, that it’s not translating on screen more than a guy voicing first world problems. Aside from an extremely typical romance with a young lady, who as far as I could tell seemed mentally ill (sorry Natalie Portman, you are an Oscar winner but I couldn’t swallow your interpretation here), basically amounts to a guy trying to decide whether to go off prescription medicine of not. There is one meaningful conversation he has with his dad and when I pulled the quote on IMDB, there was a sense of poetry to that one scene, but everything else was blah.
36. Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess-Napoleon Dynamite has some genuinely sweet moments between its central teenage characters but I don’t find the characters to be particularly iconic. I also don’t think Idaho (from my experiences in the state) deserves this portrayal as the capital of bland weirdness.
37. Catwoman, Pitol-It had some iconically cringe-worthy scenes (the basketball game choreographed by people who don’t know how the sport works) but it was moderately watchable. Not a high compliment, I know.
38. Ocean’s 12, Stephen Soderbergh-On the one hand, the film is crafted by Soderbergh with a genuinely impressive level of slickness that helps remind us why he won a Best Director Oscar in a competitive year. On the other hand, putting all the technical expertise in the world to an ending that basically says f--- you to the audience for caring about the story doesn’t absolve you. It’s also a self-indulgent mess. You think George Clooney and Brad Pitt are egoless actors? Nearly all of their dialogue is self-praise which is even more obnoxious considering that Pitt and Clooney are doing it on a meta-level and think it’s a wonderful use of our time to revel in their smugness.
39. Lady Killers, Joel and Ethan Coen-Part of my extremely low ranking here is high hopes. Like all Coen brothers films the sense of place is very strong and I very much enjoyed Tom Hanks’ acting here. His fast-tacking huckster is a delight and one of the best performances of the year. But no one else in the movie was remotely memorable (this was the second film that Spring I’d seen featuring a character who had IBM and I found it equally unfunny the first time) nor did the group have any discernable sense of banter. The pacing between the heist and the subsequent struggle against their landlady (Irma P Hall) was a bit abrupt which made their doom feel empty in a tragic way. The original felt less ambitious but the symmetry of the character’s success and demise made for an effective moral tone poem in its simplicity.
40. The Whole Ten Yards, John Lynn-I remember almost nothing about this film and what’s even worse news for this film’s chances of implanting itself into my memory 14 years later: I remember almost nothing about the original except that it features Amanda Peete naked and that Bruce Willis subverts the mold of a hitman by also being humorous and affable. When has Bruce Willis not been affable? I don’t even remember the decision that led to me thinking I want to put myself through a forgettable two hours.
41. 13 Going on 30, Gary Winick-I don’t believe in using the word chick flick because a movie with a female-centric character or a romance can always be appealing if made well. This is not one of those movies. The story, a gender switch on “Big” starring Jennifer Garner, is short on plot movement and overindulgent in a bath of cutesiness (makeover scenes, karaoke-filled sleepovers) that’s carried entirely on the back of Garner’s gifts for physical comedy. Garner is on screen nearly 100% of the time which gives the added disadvantage of denying us any narrative-breaking B story or plot meander.
42. Along Came Polly, Jon Hamberg-Philip Seymour Hoffman, you’re so much better than this. Why did you think channeling Jack Black was a good idea here? The film has little chemistry and the tension before the two get together was skipped which made me care less about these two. Also, could they think of nothing more sophisticated for a character trait than IBS?

My 65 favorite film quotes Part II

This is a continuation of Part I of my 60 favorite movie quotes.

33.   Miles Raymond: I was saving this for a special occasion

Maya: You know, the day you open a '61 Cheval Blanc... that's the special occasion.

-Sideways (2004)

The essence here is that there's nothing like doing that one thing you love and if you truly love it, does it matter if you have company for it?

34.   Michael O’Hara: I never make up my mind until it’s over and done with

-The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

This was one of the few quotes that wasn’t on IMDB so I’m not sure if I have it right, but the basic idea is that O’Hara is a man who doesn’t actually make conscious decisions about his plans. Life just happens and whichever way the current takes him is often where he ends up. His only agency, therefore, is allowing himself to be swept up in wherever life takes him.  I often find this sentiment comforting as so much of my stress comes from having to make a decision and I can view this as a worst-case scenario.

  

35.    Henry Drummond: Can't you understand? That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!

Judge: I hope counsel does not mean to imply that this court is bigoted.

Henry Drummond: Well, your honor has the right to hope.

-Inherit the Wind (1960)

I was torn between this and the breakdown between the alliance of Drummond (Spencer Tracy) and E.M. Hornbeck (a brilliant Gene Kelly) that left me feeling bittersweet at film’s end since it’s how the film chooses to close out. The two are both sides of the same coin. Drummond pushes for justice here and delivers another big “the reason you suck” speech, but there’s a danger that he’s in love with the principle of justice more than whether what he’s doing is good or bad.

36.  Woody Allen: I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs.

-Annie Hall (1977)

I’m not a humongous fan of Woody Allen relative to the average cinemaphile and, even then, find “Annie Hall” to be one of his less interesting films, but this line is profoundly true about relationships.

37.     Albert: Look, let me tell you something. We live in a terrible place and time. The American West is a disgusting, awful, dirty, dangerous place. Look around you. Everything out here that's not you wants to kill you. Outlaws, angry drunk people, scorned hookers, hungry animals,diseases, major and minor injuries, Indians, the weather. You can get killed just going to the bathroom.

I take my life in my hands every time I walk out to my outhouse. There's fucking rattlesnakes

all in the grass out there. And even if I make it, you know what can kill me? Cholera. You know cholera?

Edward and Ruth: The black shit

Albert: Yeah, the black shit. The latest offering in the frontier's disease-of-the-month club. And even if you survive all those things, you know what else can kill you? The fucking doctor. The doctor can kill you. I had a cold a couple of years ago. I went in there. You know what he said to me? He goes, "Oh, you need an ear nail." A nail in my fucking ear. That is modern medicine for you. "Yeah, Doc, I have a fever of 102." "Oh, you need a donkey kickin'." You know our pastor has shot two people? Our pastor.Honest to God. Shot a guy in a duel and then went back and

killed the guy's teenage son because he was afraid he would kill him out of revenge.

Edward: Wait, how do you know that?

Albert: Because he did a whole fucking sermon about it …..

Albert:: That is our Mayor, he is dead. He has been lying there dead for three days, no one has done a thing. Not moved him, not looked into his death, not even replaced him with a temporary appointee. For the last three days, the highest ranking official in our town, has been a dead guy.  [wolves drag the body away] Oh, look at that, look at that. Wolves are dragging the body away, as to illustrate my point. Bye! Bye, Mr. Mayor. Bye, have fun becoming wolve's shit, Bye. God! That, my friends is the American West

-A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)

This monologue from this unfairly maligned film is a complete detachment from any attempt at acting as a character in the Old West and more a stand-up routine as told from a guy living in the 19th Cenutry. 

38.   Joseph Palmi: Let me ask you something...
 we Italians, we got our families, and we got the church; the Irish, they have the homeland, Jews their tradition; even the niggers, they got their music. What about you people, Mr. Wilson, what do you have?

Edward Wilson: The United States of America. The rest of you are just visiting.

-The Good Shepherd (2006)

Matt Damon stars here as the enigmatic Ed Wilson who is a Forrest Gump of sorts for the CIA and the U.S.’s dark underbelly. Wilson is a blank slate of upper class white privilege: a man recruited straight out of Yale into the Skull and Crossbones Society and goes on to do bad things (torture, betrayal, a shotgun marriage, etc.) without ever really questioning his orders. We never get that much of a sense for what makes him tick but this is the closest we get to his views is in this exchange. Joe Pesci plays Palmi in a rare departure from retirement here.

39.    Loki: Easy for you to say. You get off light in razing. You got to stand there and read at Sodom and Gomorrah, I had to do all the work.

Bartleby: What work did you do? You lit a few fires.

Loki: I rained down sulphur, man, there's a subtle difference.

Bartleby: Oh, yeah, I'm sure.

Loki: Hey, you know, fuck you, man. Any moron with a pack of matches can set a fire. Raining down sulphur is like an endurance trial man. Mass genocide is the most exhausting activity one can engage in, next to soccer.

-Dogma (1999)

Kevin Smith’s extremely clever religious satire features two angels of death arguing with each other over who’s done more in service to God outside an arms store. All of this is being said as a befuddled store clerk is watching. I love the kicker “next to soccer”

40.   Todd Anderson: [stands up on his desk] O Captain! My Captain!

Mr. Nolan: Sit down, Mr. Anderson! Do you hear me? Sit down! Sit down! This is your final warning, Anderson. How dare you? Do you hear me?

Knox Overstreet: [climbs up onto his desk] O Captain! My Captain!

Mr. Nolan: Mr. Overstreet, I warn you! Sit down!

 

[Pitts climbs onto his desk, followed by Meeks, then over half the class, one by one]

Mr. Nolan: Sit down! Sit down. All of you. I want you seated. Sit down. Leave, Mr. Keating. All of you, down. I want you seated. Do you hear me? Sit down!

 

John Keating: Thank you, boys. Thank you. -Dead Poets Society (1989)

 

-Dead Poets Society (1989)

“Dead Poets Society” felt like a downer of a film to me when I watched it as a kid but as I grew up and realized the sometimes-cruel logistics of keeping the adult world afloat, I realized how unlikely it would be that Mr. Keating would get invited back to school. In that context, to have the students defy their principal with his biggest lesson is sadly probably the best this innocent man can get. And the way he accepts it with humility and absolves his students of guilt is quite beautiful.

41.  Sugarpuss O'Shea: [about Potts] Yes, I love him. I love those hick shirts he wears with the boiled cuffs and the way he always has his vest buttoned wrong. Looks like a giraffe, and I love him. I love him because he's the kind of a guy that gets drunk on a glass of buttermilk, and I love the way he blushes right up over his ears. I love him because he doesn't know how to kiss, the jerk!

-Ball of Fire (1941)

Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck) is deeply entrenched in 1930's slang and her jargon is even a plot point of this film. Naturally, every bit dialogue she utters is a lot of fun.

42.  Lorraine Running Water: Do you understand what Bronco Billy and the wild west show are all about? You can be anything you want. All you have to do is go out and become it!

-Bronco Billy (1980)

Bronco Billy is about a stranded heiress (Sondra Locke) who is forced to tag along with a Wild West Show run by Clint Eastwood. The line I also wanted to use from this underrated film was Locke’s character trying to convince Bronco Billy not to go stop a train robbery on account of him not being an actual cowboy. Bronco Billy tells her it’s even worse than that: He was actually a show sales men most of his life. This line is in the same spirit.

 

43.  Elwood P. Dowd: Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it.

-Harvey (1950)

44.   Griffin Mill: So, what's the story?

Walter Stuckel: Twenty-five words or less? Okay. Movie exec calls writer. Writer's girlfriend says he's at the movies. Exec goes to the movies, meets writer, drinks with writer. Writer gets conked and dies in four inches of dirty water. Movie exec is in deep shit. What do you think?

Griffin Mill: That's more than 25 words and it's bullshit.

-The Player (1992)

45.  Whip Whitaker: Katarina Marquez did not drink the vodka because I drank the vodka bottles on the plane. I drank the three bottles on the plane.

Ellen Block: Captain Whitaker, on the three nights before the accident, October 11^th---

Whip Whitaker: October 11^th, October 12^th, October 13^th and 14^th, I was intoxicated, I drank all of those days, I drank in excess.

Ellen Block: On the morning of the accident?

Whip Whitaker: I was drunk….I’m drunk now. I’m drunk right now, Mrs Block…because I’m an alcoholic

-Flight (2012)

This breakdown occurs during a hearing after Whitaker has been deceiving himself and others in a court of law. Shame on you IMDB for not having this up and making me have to transcribe this on YouTube.

46.  Harvey Milk: I ask for the movement to continue. Because it's not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power... it's about the "us's" out there. Not only gays, but the Blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us's. Without hope, the us's give up - I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and you... You gotta give em' hope... you gotta give em' hope.

-Milk (2008)

I find myself thinking this all the time when it comes to politics or causes. Hope is an underlooked ingredient when it comes to keeping people sane in a world beyond their control. Conversely, hope can be used negatively but I prefer the way the late Harvey Milk spoke about it with nothing but optimism.

47.  Woody Grant: Have a drink with your old man. Be somebody!

AND

David Grant: Well, why did you have kids, then?

Woody Grant: I like to screw, and your mother's a Catholic, so you figure it out.

-Nebraska (2013)

Woody Grant is not an easy character to like and that’s the whole point. This is a story about a son’s evolving question to bond with and serve his father on his father’s own terms. The second line is indicative of Alexander Payne’s rare bits of punchline-based humor.

48.  Dick Goodwin: 21 is rigged and I can prove it... I have Enright cold and that means I have you.

Kitner: Really?

Dick Goodwin: Really.

Kitner: Then how come you're the one who's sweating?

-Quiz Show (1994)

Robert Redford’s underrated “Quiz Show” is memorable (at least for me) because it’s a Moby Dick story of sorts with the proverbial white whale being a McGuffin. Who really cares if a quiz show isn’t on the level? I certainly didn’t, but this was an obsessed man.

 

49.  Katsumoto: And who was your general?

Algren: Don't you have a rebellion to lead?

Katsumoto: People in your country do not like conversation?

Algren: He was a lieutenant colonel. His name was Custer.

Katsumoto: I know this name. He killed many warriors

Algren: Oh, yes. Many warriors.

Katsumoto: So he was a good general.

Algren: No. No, he wasn't a good general. He was arrogant and foolhardy. And he got massacred because he took a single battalion against two thousand angry Indians.

Katsumoto: Two thousand Indians? How many men for Custer?

Algren: Two hundred and eleven.

Katsumoto: I like this General Custer.

Algren: He was a murderer who fell in love with his own legend. And his troopers died for it.

Katsumoto: I think this is a very good death.

Algren: Well, maybe you can have one just like it someday.

-Last Samurai (2003)

This is a film with great dialogue and this snippet displays pretty well Katsumoto’s tendency to talk circuitously through the cultural looking glass while also showing that Algren’s a very dynamic character. This conversation happens early in his development and foreshadows the way the two will go into battle together .

50.  M. Gustave: Get your hands off my lobby boy!

-Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

51.  Brick Tamland: I love... carpet.

[pause]

Brick Tamland: I love... desk.

Ron Burgundy: Brick, are you just looking at things in the office and saying that you love them?

Brick Tamland: I love lamp.

Ron Burgundy: Do you really love the lamp, or are you just saying it because you saw it?

Brick Tamland: I love lamp. I love lamp.

-Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

52.  Mr. Memory: Am I right sir?

-The 39 Steps (1935)

SPOILERS AHEAD:

In arguably Hitchcock’s best film from his British period, Mr. Memory is a genius who turns his memorization skills into a sideshow act by  answering esoteric audience questions. After each answer, he follows it with the phrase “Am I right sir?” But he’s more than that: He is used by saboteurs to transmit a secret message. The hero (Robert Donat) exposes the secret  simply by asking for the mysterious secret in front of an open crowd, causing Mr. Memory to get shot. As he’s dying, Mr. Memory asks “Am I right sir?” which is a deliciously macabre bit of irony.

53.  Kathleen Kelly: Last night I went to meet you, and you weren't there. I wish I knew why. I felt so foolish. And as I waited, someone else showed up: a man who has made my professional life a misery. And an amazing thing happened. I was able, for the first time in my life to say the exact thing I wanted to say at the exact moment I wanted to say it. And, of course, afterwards, I felt terrible, just as you said I would. I was cruel, and I'm never cruel.

-You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Even in a film that wasn’t particularly strong, the late Nora Ephron was extremely gifted at observational humor (it’s no surprise she was a best-selling author outside of the standard celebrity memoir genre) that she translated into very personal characters. This line is so relatable for two reasons: My life is filled with moments that I wish I could have redone ten minutes after the fact, and secondly, getting a moment right, often leads to rushing those words out in such a way that your morals or tact might not arrive in time.

54.  Verbal Kint: The Biggest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist

-The Usual Suspects (1995)

55.  Raymond Shaw: Are we friends, Ben? I wanna believe we were friends.

Ben Marco: We are connected and that's something nobody can take from us. You coulda had me locked up, but you didn't. That's proof that there's something deep inside. There's a part that they can't get to. And it's deep inside of us. And that's where the truth is.

-The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Yes, I’m referring to the remake, don’t laugh. I have plenty of fondness for this version even if it’s nowhere near the late Jonothan Demme’s high-water mark. The gravity of Denzel Washington’s performance makes this a very powerful moment upon which the third act hinges. 

56.  Jimmy Dugan: Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There's no crying! THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!

-League of their Own (1992)

What most people might miss who view this line out of context is that this moment represents a lot of growth for Dugan who started out being completely apathetic to his lady baseball players.

 

57.  Major Clipton: Madness! Madness!

-Bridge on the River Kwai (1958)

Without giving away the ending, let’s just say Major Clipton perfectly summarizes my baffled reaction at the end of this film’s climax.

58.  Carl Hanraty: Then why are you calling me?

Frank Abagnale Jr: I just wanted to say Merry Christmas

-Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Catch Me If You Can is a historical fallacy (Carl Hanraty didn’t really exist in real life) but a rather touching one at that. Hanraty is a Javert-like-figure for Abergnale Jr. but this exchange of dialogue shows that he might be the closest thing he has to a father in a messed-up way.

59.  Principal: Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

-Billy Madison (1995)
 

Make no mistake, this is a terrible film but even bad films can have a flash of comic intelligence here or there.

60.  Jerry Maguire: Help me…help you. Help me. help you. Help me help you!

-Jerry MaGuire (1996)

 

61.   Sir Charles Litton: No question about it. He was a fool, but he epitomized the eleventh commandment.

Marie Jouvet: The eleventh commandment?

Sir Charles Litton: "Thou shalt not give up".

-The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)

 

62.   Mia and friends: Someone in the crowd could be the one you need to know. The one to finally lift you off the ground. Someone in the crowd could take you where you want to go. If you’re that someone willing to be found.

-La La Land (2016)

63.   Mr. Glenn Holland: Let me ask you a question. When you look in the mirror, what do you like best about yourself?

Gertrude Lang: My hair.

Mr. Glenn Holland: Why?

Gertrude Lang: Well, my father always says that it reminds him of the sunset.

Mr. Glenn Holland: Play the sunset. Close your eyes. 1, 2, 3, 4 [motions her to play]

-Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)

What I love about this advice is very little could be inserted here that doesn't sound cliched and somehow the script finds a piece of advice that's pretty true to the apotheosis of a great educator. It is often said that musical perfection is achieved not just by rehearsing over and over again but through emotionally getting in touch with a song and while I've never conceptually grasped that (I would guess that a Julliard grad could play a line of music without knowing what it's about and it would sound just fine), it feels right in a setting like this.
 

64.  Vivian: Speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them workout a little first, see if they're front runners or come from behind, find out what their hole card is, what makes them run.

Marlowe: Find out mine?

Vivian: I think so.

Marlowe: Go ahead.

Vivian: I'd say you don't like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a little lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free.

Marlowe: You don't like to be rated yourself.

Vivian: I haven't met anyone yet that can do it. Any suggestions?

Marlowe: Well, I can't tell till I've seen you over a distance of ground. You've got a touch of class, but I don't know how, how far you can go.

Vivian: A lot depends on who's in the saddle.

-The Big Sleep (1946)

Exhibit B for why old movies can surprise you lest you think it was all “Leave it to Beaver” and “I Love Lucy.” When I first saw this film, my mouth was gaping open at what I had just witnessed. It helps, of course, that these lines are spoken by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall who became one of cinema’s enduring couples on and off screen.

65.   Charles W. Kingsfield Jr.: Mr. Hart, here is a dime. Take it, call your mother, and tell her there is serious doubt about you ever becoming a lawyer.

James T. Hart: [pause, as he is leaving the room] You... are a son of a bitch, Kingfield!

Charles W. Kingsfield Jr.: Mr. Hart! That is the most intelligent thing you've said today. You may take your seat.

-Paper Chase (1973)

This line of dialogue masterfully navigates the tension between the two characters as Hart is living in Kingsfield's shadow throughout the movie. The conversation between the two figures is extremely limited before this moment causing this to come off as an explosion of sorts.