Inventory of Non-Original Films From the Last Decade

My goal in selecting films (especially at the movie theater) is to generally support original films. This is a necessity in a moviegoing landscape in which there’s barely air to breath for non-I.P. films.

However, I don’t bat .1000 and there is certainly a certain amount of films that are worth seeing anyway. Chris Nolan was originally hesitant to direct the Batman series because he didn’t want to be hemmed in. He eventually decided that he could make Gotham anything he wanted it to be and didn’t have to be beholden Tim Burton’s vision. It’s under that attitude that a lot of auteurs take these projects, and there is the plus of bigger budgets and paychecks . Or at least say that in hopes of stomaching the bigger paychecks.

However, there are limits in terms of the absurdity of these concepts. Perhaps to my detriment, I would not see Lego Movie no matter how good people said it was. A franchise based on toys that openly admits in the title that it’s a cash grab for merchandise sales? No thanks.

I looked through every non-original film I've seen in each of the years since I started keeping track of my movie viewing habits around 2002.

It should also be noted that some very acclaimed films like The Joker, Anatomy of a Fall, All Quiet on The Western Front, Mad Max Fury Road, Star Wars the Force Awakenings, Departed and Chicago were all unoriginal, so it's not necessarily an indicator of bad quality and there are levels to which these are original or unoriginal.

2024:

Borderlands-Video game Adaptation

Gladiator 2-Sequel

Wicked-Broadway adaptation

Madame Webb-Comic book adaptation

Inside Out 2-Sequel

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire: Sequel

Dune 2: Sequel

Best: Wicked certainly capitalized on the technical capacities of cinema. The color palette, richness of sound, and technical effects are more than enough to justify this cinematic adaptation. Not to mention, the Kubrick-like task of hand planting every rose for the multi-colored theme in the opening scene.

2023:

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny-Sequel

Asterisk and Obelisk-Comic book adaptation

Super Mario Brothers-Video game/TV adaptation

Haunting in Venice-Sequel (Remake)

Mission Impossible 7-Sequel

Book Club 2-Sequel

Anatomy of a Fall-Remake (Anatomy of a Murder)

Best: I applaud Haunting in Venice for going in new directions with the same character and theme. But the winner is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny for doing so many things that one would think impossible for an action film with an 80-year-old lead. The film works with Harrison Ford’s age and continues to deliver realistic action scenes; it blends historical intrigue into its plot masterfully; it matches the tone of the original; it exhibits excellent chemistry between the leads; and it continues the motif of moving the film forward a decade and playing around in the entrapping of the 60s.

2022:

Enola Holmes 2-Sequel (Spin-Off)

Death on the Nile-Sequel (Remake/Literary)

Rosalie-spin-Off (Romeo and Juliet)

Dr Strange and the Multiverse-Sequel/Crossover

Valet-Remake

Top Gun Maverick-Sequel

Knives Out: Glass Onion-Sequel

Hotel Transylvania 4-Sequel

Batman-Reboot

Winner: Obviously, Top Gun. The film doesn’t aim for depth but feel-good summer fun with a dose of “USA Rules!” sentimentality, and it works. Tom Cruise never has to do much acting to simply be Tom Cruise, but the cast is a murderer’s row of younger stars and watching them have the time of their lives is where the party is.

2021:

Tick Tick Boom-Broadway Adaptation

Cruella-Live action remake

Space Jam 2-Sequel/Reboot

Legend of Shang-Tsi-Comic Book Adaptation

West Side Story-remake

Winner: Space Jam 2. The good-natured LeBron James can only carry the movie so far, but it’s really about these archetypic cartoons and the visual humor of the animators keeping up with them in the story. 

Edit: I forgot West Side Story, so yes, that. Remaking a classic is no easy task, and Spielberg and crew do an amazing job of reinventing each dance number with greater context and (I’m not going to say better; how can you top Jerome Robbins?) unique panache. The film is prescient and rich without feeling too bluntly political.

 

2020:
Bill and Ted Face the Music-Sequel

Rebecca-Remake

New Mutants-Spin-Off

Birds of Prey-Spin-Off

Prom-Musical Adaptation

Borat 2-Sequel (TV adaptation)

Enola Holmes-Spin-Off (Public Domain)

Downhill Remake (Force Majuere)

Sonic the Hedgehog-Video Game adaptation

Winner: Bill and Ted Face the Music is a sequel with a 29-year lag, so this was extra special watching it in a movie theater. It has a very unique sense of humor that harkens to the airheads of the 1980s with the twist that they are heroes on a cosmic scale: The fate of humanity somehow rests on them.

However, the American remake of Force Majuere is just the right combination of cringe humor and pathos to hit me in the right places.

2019:

Aladdin-Live Action Remake

Zombieland 2-Sequel

Men In Black International—Spin Off

Terminator Dark Fate-Sequel/Spin-Off

X-Men Dark Phoenix-Sequel (Reboot)

Jumanji Next Level-Sequel (Game Adaptation/Remake)

What Men Want-Remake

Joker-Spin-Off

Dumbo-Live Action Remake

Frozen 2-Sequel

If I went off my top ten list, it would be Joker, but is that really an intellectual property work. It’s mostly just a grand manifesto on the origins of violence marginally disguised as a superhero flick. I applaud it’s marketing and the fact that it could use the DC Comics banner to dupe a lot of low-literacy movie goers into seeing a more sophisticated film.

But in terms of a film that is riding the tails off a franchise, Zombieland 2 was a lot of fun. The chemistry of the gang, the comic relief provided by the Zoey Deutsch character, and in all honesty, I’ve never seen the zombie set-up done so well for a light comic relief angle.

2018:

Wreck It Ralph 2-Sequel

Tomb Raider-Reboot

Teen Titans Go to the Movies-TV Adaptation

Ocean’s 8-Reboot/Spin-Off

Ant Man and the Wasp-Sequel (Comic Book Adaptation)

Hotel Transylvania 3-Sequel
Solo-Prequel

Aquaman-Comic Book Adaptation

Overboard-Remake

A lot of serviceable entries here but no stand-outs. Solo has the epic feel of a Star Wars production and it’s not particularly bad. Alicia Vickaner, one of my favorite actresses, brings a certain credibility to Tomb Raider. Wreck It Ralph and Hotel Transylvania are among my favorite cartoon franchises. But the award goes to Aquaman. It’s so ridiculous (particularly from a science perspective), it goes back to being good again. This isn’t to suggest that Jason Momoa is as charming as he thinks he is, but he’s serviceable and doesn’t get in the way of the plot.

2017:
Cars 3- Sequel

Wonder Woman-Comic book adaptation

Kong: Skull Island-Prequel

Murder on the Orient Express-Remake
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - Sequel

Murder on the Orient Express is a thinking man’s tent pole. The original was directed by the great Sidney Lumet and the cast had no less than six Oscar winners along with the incomparable Tony Perkins and Jacqueline Bisset. This one also has an all-star cast with  challenging roles to sink their teeth into. It’s easy in an ensemble piece like this for the plot to become an afterthought, but I found myself more into the plot than before. Was the CGI a little overdone? Admittedly, yes. Was Kenneth Branagh a little hammy? Sure, but it’s his damn movie, so I’ll let it slide.

2016:

Inferno-Sequel (Book adaptation)

Star Trek Beyond-Sequel

Now You See Me 2-Sequel

Suicide Squad-Spinoff/Comic Book Adaptation

Magnificent Seven-Remake

Batman vs Superman-Crossover

X-Men Apocalypse-Sequel (Reboot)

Finding Dory-Sequel

Ben Hur-Remake

Dr. Strange-Comic Book Adaptation

Alice Through the Looking Glass-Sequel

Ghostbusters-Remake

I’m calling a  four-way tie.

1)      Now You See Me is my guilty pleasure. I’m sure every aspiring musician has dreams of not just wowing the audience but using his abracadabra to play robin hood, engage in ninja fighting, and be among the world’s most popular celebrities. It’s wish fulfillment at its most blatant, but I’m here for it.

2)      Magnificent Seven gives us the pleasure of allowing some acting giants (Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Chris Platt) to play on the same time for once. There’s something incredible about a Western with authentic special effects. I’m sure Sam Mendes and Christopher Nolan would be complimentary of the explosives work that went into these battle scenes

3)      X-Men Apocalypse is a battle royale that juggles multiple storylines and character arcs in a way akin to a great ensemble film. Seeing Storm’s roots in Kenya or the Callabas’s equivalent of the dark web for mutant acquisitions. Quite a lot to play with.

4)      Finding Dory-There was a definite worry in the first half that Dory was just a drag on Nemo and Marlin. She was just grating, unappreciative, and not worth the trouble. But, man, the film hit me somewhere along the way. I was cheering and crying for the eventual reunion and in the same way that Ellen DeGeneres stole the show in Finding Nemo, Ed O’Neill surprised me in a big way here. Not to mention, you never go wrong with underseas visuals.

2015:

Jurassic World-Sequel/Reboot

Man from Uncle-TV Adaptation

Star Wars: The Force Awakens-Sequel/Reboot

Terminator Genysis-Reboot

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2-Sequel

Hotel Transylvania 2-Sequel

Hot Tub Time Machine 2-Sequel

Pitch Perfect 2-Sequel

Ant Man-Comic book adaptation

Mad Max Fury Road-Reboot/Spin-Off

Not loving the aesthetic of Mad Max Fury Road, I’m tempted to go with Man from Uncle which oozed style and sophistication. However, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was another testament to the power of JJ Abrams as a storyteller. It seemed like the Star Wars story had come to a perfect conclusion, but JJ Abrams found a new angle on it.

2014:

Penguins of Madagascar-Spin Off

X-Men Days of Future Past-Sequel/Prequel

Into the Woods-Broadway Adaptation

Jack Ryan: CIA-Reboot

Captain America: Winter Soldier-Sequel

Into the Woods is definitely an unusually dark and playful musical even if there’s almost too much tragedy to take. Considering I feel like X-Men Apocalypse makes better use of its ensemble. Penguins of Madagascar is a weak entry in the field.

Top 25 Characters of 2024

 Another delayed listicle. I have long loved doing this 25 characters list.

You can see a couple of them here and another one here

1 Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn), Bad Monkey- Like the hard-boiled detective or the steadfast cowboy, Yancy marches to the beat of his own drummer. Yes, he would love to get it on with a hot detective, get his badge back, or enjoy tormenting his waspy neighbor (he’s more chaotic than lawful good), but not if it means letting a white collar criminal go free. It’s the archetype of the wayward American hero across multiple genres, but not many characters can walk the walk,  and talk the talk with such gusto. And it’s Vince Vaughn playing the part, so we know right off the bat, this guy can at least talk that talk.

2 The Goddess Deliria (Hannah Wadddingham) Krapopolis-Let’s face it. Most Gods have a hint of vanity. It’s sort of a requirement for the job, isn’t it? The difference between Deliria and your run-of-the-mill p is that she exists on pure vanity. And enough motherly instinct to make her recognizable for those of us with tough-love mothers. But not too much or the show wouldn’t be as riotously funny.

3 Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott), If Matt Damon’s snub at the Oscars for the 1999 film was one of the biggest tragedies of that era, it’s pretty remarkable that Scott can come in and fill those shoes with such fearlessness. Scott’s Ripley is somehow both more forcefully vindictive, and more understated than Damon’s creepy leech interpretation.

4 Jerry (Mike Patrick O’Brien), What We do in the Shadows-The key to adding a character late into the mix of a show’s run is they have to be rough around the edges. Jerry is a perfect foil in that he has the nerve to call out his fellow vampires on their sloth. Every character choice that went into to Jerry was a winner from his outfit as a Transylvanian butler, to his Pinky-and-the-Brainesque casualness about the task of taking over the world, to his aloofness to his role in a Nandoor-induced love triangle


5 Rogue, X-Men 97- If I were to rewatch an old episode of X-Men, it would be for the cringey puns based on ridiculous regional stereotypes. In other words, the Cajun Gambit, the Canadian lumberjack Wolverine, the Black Pantheresque Storm, and Southern Belle Rogue are the caricatures worth ironically laughing at, with a little bit of 90s child Jubilee adding some seasoning. In this attempt to mature the season to accommodate the aging of its primary fan base, the show has miraculously managed to keep Rogue cringe while giving her an actual arc.

6 and 7 Morgan (Justine Lupe) and Sasha (Timothy Simons), Nobody Wants This- I’ve been slowly learning that the difference between a romantic drama and a romcom is all in the supporting players. If there’s laser focus on the leads, then it’s the Richard Linklater Before series. Add the leads’ social circles as stand-ins for their romantic values, and add an extension a dose of quirk and it’s a party. That’s what you have here with a will-they-won’t-they-oh-no-they-can’t….can-they?

8 Amanda LaRusso (Courtney Henggeler) Cobra Kai- The bizarreness of a modern-day high school environment (with its emphasis on anti-bullying compared to the ‘80s), in which teenagers have to learn karate just to survive a Mad-Max-like dystopia of constant bullying, has had a strong need for a deadpan skeptic like Amanda. But at the end of the series run? Screw it. Amanda as the karate equivalent of a soccer mom feels like a more apt direction at this point.

9 Tindaro (Dougie McMeekin) The Decameron-My favorite show of the year was an upstairs-downstairs comedy set in a century where both sides of the societal divide were equally at the mercy of plague-carrying rats. And the bumbling hypochondriac Tindaro would probably not get very far in the “who lives longest” betting pool. But this rotund ball of delight proved full of mettle in a relatively dynamic arc.

10 Eddie Horniman (Theo James)The Gentlemen-In an era when nepobaby is a bad word, it’s not easy to root for anyone with such generational privilege. But it certainly helps that Eddie is never more than a couple false moves from having his head, the heads of those he cares about, and those under his employ blown off. As the title suggests, he’s a sly operator but also a class act.

11 Rufus Coatesworth, Death and Other Details-Considering there are so many takes on the eccentric, tunnel-vision. detective — whether modeled after Hercules Poroit, Sherlock Holmes or whatever the hell Daniel Craig is doing in Knives Out — it’s pretty remarkable for Mandy Patinkin to come up with such a unique creation here, as the detective entrusted with solving the murder of his protégé’s mother.


12 Dove Maloney (Siobhan Cullen), Bodkin- Fitting squarely in the category of female firecrackers who won’t let anyone put them in a box, Dove is the best of the trope. Of course, it helps for a hard-core journalist to have a great foil, in the hapless podcaster Bodkin (played with aplomb by the introspective Will Forte): A directionless and obtuse foreigner particularly with what she sees is a naive kindness.

13 Principal Cinnamon Scuttleworth (voiced by Phil Lord), Clone High- It was thrilling to see my favorite one-season wonder return to the airwaves but the sharp edges of these characters had been filed off and the new additions were pure vanilla. Except Scuttleworth. He has the hamminess of a cartoon villain with a couple ounces of pathos for good measure. You might enjoy seeing him blown up like a Looney Tunes villain, but you root for him to piece himself back together for his next crazy scheme.


14 Nadja, What We do in the Shadows-The best thing about the “Guillermo and the vampires become tech bros” arc is how enthusiastically Nadja assimilated. Her treatment of Guillermo and most other humans as pesky miscreants who are mostly useful for menial labor and meals, so she was always a good fit for the world of passive aggressive one-upmanship of Wall Street.

15 Dexter (Leo Woodall), One Day- What’s this, the thug from White Lotus is a sensitive heart throb underneath all those tattoos? Well, even as a straight guy, I thought Woodall was pretty hunky. But watching him sell this gender-flipped beauty and the geek romance. I’m impressed.


16 Dr Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) , Evil-The show gets a lot of mileage out of this extremely charismatic actress who telegraphs so much with her face.
17 The Bleacher Creatures, Clone High-We all know that the cool kids in school are never the most interesting. Giving Christopher "Topher" Columbus villain friends was the best thing the second season ever did.  
18 Det. Helen Chamberlain (Danielle MacDonald), The Tourist-A brilliant detective with a heart of gold. That successfully sets up a labyrinthine plot to get away from an evil captor and can't pull it off. That's an interesting choice.
19 Mr Beast (James Donaldson), Beast Games-The Beast Games were a disappointment, but it was an interesting glance into the mind of history's most successful YouTuber. Despite attempts at cancellation, he's one to root for.
20 Ethan Crum (Greg Larsen), The Tourist-Helen, Elliot, meet your comic relief. Now that that's out of the way...
21 Beatrice Worth (Brooke Lena Johnson), Cruel Intentions-If the show (like the movie) is centered against the two amoral step-siblings, then Beatrice is your sidelined hero. She had casual sex with one sibling (let's applaud her for sex positivity) and tried to pledge three times to the sorority of the other, but adolescents are complex and conflicted. She's still the right person to take down the elitism in my book.
22 Android SM 33 (voiced by Nick Frost), Star Wars: Skeleton Crew- Confession, I just li
23 Frank the Temp (I can't even remember; that's the point), Futurama-At long last! Someone who's less respected among the crew than Zoidberg
24 Colin Robinson (Mark Porsch), What We Do in the Shadows-Colin has always been a wonderfully jagged fit to the rest of the vampires, and I'll miss him tremendously. Who ever thought of a villain who's super powers were based off boringness. 
25 Heather (Edi Patterson), Resident Alien-Heather, the avian alien who visits Earth for a bureacratic check-up, has a resistant courtship and an epic whirlwind romance. It's thanks to Heather, we now know how Harry's gills are cleaned. We are eternally greatful.

Best TV Shows of 2024: Ten Runners-Up

I've been doing this every year since 2009, so no reason to stop now.

In alphabetical order:

Baby Reindeer (Netflix) Despite its bleak subject matter, this trigger tale of an Irish stand-up suffering sexual abuse, female-on-male stalking, and gaslighting from the police managed to catch the zeitgeist of Netflix’s viewership. Why? For god’s sake, it’s based on a true story, so are we sick voyeurs for being spectators? My take: I think the authenticity of Richard Gadd as a likable guy helps, but it’s more that through all the murk, it’s a life-affirming tale of overcoming that doesn’t cut corners. But, be prepared: Major trigger warnings.

Bad Monkey (Apple) Full disclosure: I recently read three Carl Hiassen novels and they were all better reads than this one. But considering this is what Apple chose to adapt and I have to judge it for what it is, let’s face it: Most, if not all, Carl Hiassen novels could be adapted to make great TV. This one has some superfluous plot lines, but it has a great maverick of a hero, a well-defined villain, and plenty of Florida quirk. In an era where there’s not enough real estate on the box office release schedule for comic stars, there’s something worth celebrating about Vince Vaughn being able to sink his teeth into such a fitting role, no matter the medium.

Death and Other Details (Hulu) An ornate whodunnit set in international waters with some solid late-stage twists. What’s most impressive here (not to discount Mandy Patinkin’s measured performance) is that it feels so classic. Despite plotpoints revolving around crypto, cloud storage, BDSM, nepobabies, this feels like it could fit into the repertoire of an Agatha Christie novel.

Life and Beth (Hulu) This tale of love and compromise is based on executive producer and star Amy Schumer’s own experiences in a marriage to a man who was later diagnosed as autistic. The show is shot like an indie dramedy with meandering stories and a camera that isn’t focused directly on the action.   It’s fitting considering this isn’t a typical Hollywood romance. It’s an eye-opening and reaffirming look at life alongside someone on the spectrum from the POV of a complete outsider. The wedding episode was one of the most beautiful episodes of the genre the second season contained a couple clunkers.

Manhunt  (Apple) - The aftermath of the Civil War is an interesting topic in a PBS/Ken Burns way but most tourists to DC delving into Lincoln tourism want to know the juicy saga of John Wilkes Booth, the conspiracy, and his escape route. Characters like enigmatic Dr. Samuel Mudd (though less so from the point of view of the series), Lewis Powell, Mary Surratt and Edwin Booth himself are great fodder for drama, and this series interweaves their fates with the larger currents. It also goes without saying that this is a period piece on Apple TV: There’s some great scenery porn here.

Mulligan (Netflix): From 30 Rock co-creator (the one who gets a LOT less attention than Tina Fey) Robert Carlock, this animated post-apocalyptic comedy borrows some of the same absurdist humor at the dialogue level. In the second season, the show proves it still has momentum. It will likely never achieve must-watch status but it’s great popcorn comedy, and it’s highly rewatchable.

Resident Alien (SyFy) The idyllic town of Patience had two welcome additions this season. It was highly amusing to see the emotionless Harry court and eventually get horny with an alien bird (Edi Patterson, a role she was born to play) this season. Enver Gjokaj also proved a menacing foe and provided a slight bit of situational comedy as a grey alien (I think?) who goes under the loosest of qualifications of a date with Asta to get to Harry’s DNA. On the other hand, the mythology started going backwards and looping inwards on itself. Is there anyone who’s not in on the secret of extraterrestrial life at this point? How did we go this far into the story only to discover two key characters are kidnapped on a nightly basis? And, I’ll admit, I don’t remember who is and who isn’t a grey, but blame the show: I don’t have a reason to care.  Still, this has long been one of my favorite shows on the air. There are few virtual worlds I’d rather live in than Patience, Colorado and a little backwards movement won’t keep me away.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (Disney Plus) It’s not easy to recapture the childlike sense of adventure of Star Wars and translate it to an audience that has now grown into adult sensibilities. But, by Jove! I think Star Wars has done it! Actually, I just wanted to use the phrase “By Jove!” somewhere. In reality, there’s an argument to be made that Star Wars has always approached its far away galaxy with a sense of sharing wonder and awe. Yes, it can lead to a massive overload of special effects, but when done right- a tense plot with escalation (kids being kidnapped), great actors (Jude Law, check, Kerry Condon, check, whoever is behind that robot with the pirate accent, check)- the second-to-none visuals are properly augmented with true vision.

Thank God You’re Here (Australia Network 10) You young’uns have to remember that back in my day shows being bought back from the dead didn’t happen very often. We would have to got together in the kinds of numbers needed to cure world hunger and mailed subway sandwiches to the studio. So yes, it feels miraculous that this mid-2000s Australian improv game show has found a second wind about 15 years after going off the air. The show’s format is one where comedic actors are thrust into an unfamiliar scene where non-cooperative scene partners try to trip them up. The show’s original featured a number of Down Under talents (Rebel Wilson, Rhys Darby, Angus Sampson, and Josh Lawson) before they were known to US audiences, as well as at least a dozen others who should get that privilege soon. The remake does little tweaking to the old formula with a new host. The vast majority of these episodes can be found on YouTube and the adventurous improver in you can even play along.

X-Men 97 (Disney Plus)-I'll admit to being thoroughly engrossed by the original X-Men cartoons as a child of the 90s. Upon rewatch as an adult, I was mostly amused by the cringe puns and awkward national stereotypes. I'm sure some comic book fans feel differently, but I think most of us can agree that the show did an impressive job of taking the contours of a child's cartoon (and yes, I'm likely picking a fight with comic book enthusiasts) and gaving the material a grown-up makeover. The characters are still cringe, but the arcs tie together more smoothly, actions are filled with  more consequences, and the stakes elevate so much each episode, it's almost like a Peak TV serial. Plus, who would have thought we'd see the day when Jubilee wouldn't be annoying? She even got her own episode and it wasn't awful.

Best Film Ensembles of All Time Part III: 11-20 Orrin's list

This is Part III of a series in which Adam Spector of Adam's Rib and I count down out top 50 film ensembles of all time. Part I is here and Part II is here. Because Adam and I went into so much detail, we split this entry into two with the other entry here.

Orrin’s List: 20. X-Men 19. Key Largo 18. It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 17. Double Indemnity 16. Bridge on the River Kwai 15. Back to the Future 14. The Great Escape 13. North by Northwest 12. Dead Poets' Society 11. Judgment at Nuremberg

Adam's Response:

Orrin, now that are getting near the home stretch, I’m going movie by movie to make sure each one gets the attention it deserves.  Here’s your #11-20: 

11. Judgment at Nuremberg – You mentioned that you had reservations about the film, specifically how Montgomery Clift took advantage of Clift’s condition by casting him as the mentally disabled castration victim.  Certainly when you watch his performance, you can’t help but thinking of Clift’s 

real life struggles (with alcoholism and mental degeneration following an accident), but I disagree that Clift was somehow exploited.  When director Stanley Kramer offered him the part, Clift offered to do it for nothing.  He ended up agreeing to the minimum salary.  Clift often missed his lines, but Kramer told him he could ad-lib, and frequently reassured him.  According to a Clift biography, Spencer Tracy told him “Just look into my eyes and do it.  You’re a great actor and you understand this guy.  Stanley doesn’t care if you throw aside the precise lines.   Just do it.  Do it into my eyes and you’ll be magnificent.”  Clift did just that, focusing on Tracy during his performance.  Not only was Clift not exploited, but his castmates had his back, another way of demonstrating a strong ensemble.  Clift garnered his last Oscar nomination for this role.  Maximillian Schell was largely unknown in America going into the film but won the Oscar.  In fact this is one of the rare films with two Best Actor nominations: Schell and Tracy.  Throw in Marlene Dietrich, Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, Richard Widmark, and a young William Shatner, and this film truly belongs on your list.  I may like your selection more than you do and am only upset that I didn’t include it.             

12. Dead Poets Society – An ensemble piece disguised as a star vehicle.  The film’s marketing focused solely on Robin Williams, as though this was a prep school version of Good Morning Vietnam. Williams is charismatic and funny, but the real stars here are the young men, led by Robert Sean Leonard, Josh Charles and a young Ethan Hawke.  These actors have a comfort and ease with each other that lends to their believability as classmates.   When I saw this in 1989 I didn’t realize that Norman Lloyd, who played the draconian headmaster, had worked in the Mercury Theater for Orson Welles and then later acted in two Hitchcock films.  Speaking of Hitchcock . . .  

13. North by Northwest – Ensembles don’t come to mind when considering Hitchcock’s films.  Many of them have characters who find themselves isolated, often only interacting with a small number of people.  North by Northwest may be an exception, even though the film’s signature scene is Cary Grant by himself running away from the plane.  Grant’s scenes with Eva Marie Saint sizzle with sexual chemistry.  James Mason serves as almost a mirror image of Grant, as though they were raised by the same parents but one turned bad.  Martin Landau gives his evil henchman so much more than what is on the page, even implying that he may be secretly in love with his boss.  Leo G. Carroll plays an American spymaster as the model of British efficiency.  Joyce Carroll Landis steals every scene she’s in as the overbearing, clueless mother (“Are you trying to kill my son?”)  Kudos, Orrin for digging deeper on this

14. The Great Escape – This is closer to what you traditionally think of as an ensemble film.  Effective mix of American (Steve McQueen, James Garner, James Coburn, Charles Bronson) and UK (Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Donald Pleasance, David McCallum) fitting for a World War II movie.

15. Back to the Future – Another one where I had to look twice, since I usually just think of Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd.  Still it’s Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson and Thomas F. Wilson who were funny and authentic as younger and older versions of the same character.  Wilson set the standard for playing mean, dumb bullies.  When Chuck Berry died earlier this year I also remembered Harry Waters, Jr. fine turn as Chuck’s fictional cousin Marvin Berry.   

16. Bridge on the River Kwai – This must be the World War II related section of your list, between this The Great Escape, and Nuremberg.  The film stands as a brilliant depiction of the madness that comes from war.  Still even though there’s a huge cast, the only ones that stand out are William Holden, Sessue Hayakawa, and of course Alec Guinness.  Guinness certainly deserved his Best Actor Oscar.  His scenes with Hayakawa work in part because they both let you see the grudging respect their characters have for each other underneath the enmity.  Just because it’s a great movie doesn’t always mean it has exceptional ensemble work.  

17. Double Indemnity – Case in point.  To this day, one of the archetype film noirs.  Exquisitely plotted, with crackling, biting dialogue.  Wilder is an underrated visual director, using light and shadow here to create an atmosphere of intrigue and eventually dread.   Still, I don’t remember anyone in the film besides Barbara Stanwyck, Fred McMurray, and Edward G. Robinson.   Yes, they are all at the top of their game.  Stanwyck remains the femme fatale that others are measured against.  But three standouts does not an ensemble make.    If we did that, why not Sleuth, with just Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine?  

18. It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World – The film that proves that just because an ensemble looks promising on paper doesn’t make it work on the screen.    It’s a Who’s Who of the top 50s and 60s comedic talent: Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, Jonathan Winters, etc.  Plus Spencer Tracy.  Too bad the story doesn’t give them much to do that’s actually funny.  The film is freaking 3 hours and I maybe laughed twice during that time.  They don’t seem to work that well with each other either.    Also, how can you cast the Three Stooges and not have them do anything?  There’s a reason Stanley Kramer didn’t direct a comedy before or since. 

 

19. Key Largo – You rebounded with this pick.  The confined space where most of the story happens tightens the pressure and brings out the best in the fine cast.   This was the last Bogie-Bacall film, and is less focused on those two then their prior three.  Seeing Bogart and Edward G. Robinson go toe to toe is a treat.  Lionel Barrymore gives the film dignity and moral weight.  But it was Claire Trevor that won an Oscar.  She excelled at playing women weighed down by bad luck and bad choices. 

   

20. X-Men (2000) – A superhero movie here?  Yes, and it belongs.  Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen bring dramatic heft and gravitas to Professor X and Magneto.  Hugh Jackman became a star overnight through this film.  Then add in Anna Paquin (who already won an Oscar), and Halle Berry, win one who would soon.  Much of the fun comes from the byplay among the mutants.  Jackman and James Marsden have terrific chemistry as frenemies vying for Jean Grey’s love.  Among the humans, Bruce Davison, one of the most underrated character actors around, brings heart and vulnerability to what could have been a standard villain role.  Unlike some of the future installments where some of the actors got lost or overlooked, this one gave all of the key players moments to shine.

   

Orrin's Response:

Adam, you nailed my reasoning in many instances.

Dead Poets Society is not just about how well the film accomplishes the difficult feat of creating a young group of actors in chemistry, but think of how impressive it is to have  simultaneously discovered Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles and Robert Sean Leonard while they were all in their late teens. Similarly, you're correct that Key Largo for me is about the greatest of different generations sharing the screen as much as it is about the classic Bocall-Bogart and Bogart-Edward G. Robinson pairings at their best. While I’m in agreement with the critical consensus that this isn’t the best Bogart-Bacall pairing or the best gangster movie of all time, it’s a great film and holds a special place in my heart (my grandparents lived not too far from the hotel where this film is set) and I’m glad you share an appreciation.

I think we also agree that Hitchcock doesn't always have a focus on acting--the documentary Hitchcock/ Truffaut emphasized that he wasn't particularly fond of listening to or collaborating with actors-- but North by Northwest is archetypal as far as I'm concerned: Eva Marie Saint is the empowered beauty (more Halle Berry than Britt Ekland if we were to go for a James Bond analogy), Martin Laundau (a personal favorite) is the most memorable of henchmen, Cary Grant's abilities at reactive physical comedy made him the best of Hitchcock's fish-out-of-water heroes, and James Mason is so denobair as the villain.

As for some of the ones you disapprove of:

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The Bridge on the River Kwai is a film that earns a place this high on my list because of the performances of four actors: William Holden, as far as I’m concerned, is the most exciting actor of his generation (and if I ever contradict this in past or future discussions, you have permission to beat me with a cane). Every leading man from Jimmy Stewart to Henry Fonda to Gregory Peck had a certain screen persona that they used to carry them through most of their movies with the occasional variation (like Henry Fonda in How the West Was Won).  Holden had leading man charisma but you have absolutely no idea what you’re going to get with him. To see him acting alongside Mr. Chameleon himself, Alec Guinness (in a very focused role, no less), is quite a treat. Additionally, Geoffrey Horne plays a green-eyed private with a palpable sense of fear and naiveté about killing another person. In an epic war movie (particularly one with a British styling), I’ve never seen a character like this: Typically, soldiers are just about marching onwards and forwards for the Queen and all that. Lastly, how can you not appreciate Sessue Hayakawa?  As someone who’s always talking about minority representation (along with nearly everyone else in film criticism), there’s a great deal of history of East Asians treated abysmally on screen that’s been overlooked. What’s more Hayakawa wasn’t a foreign import who had great success in Asian cinema (like Ken Watanabe or Michelle Yeoh) before coming to Hollywood. He had been acting in films since 1914 and experienced a lot of the casting bigotry first hand. He is tremendous here alongside Guinness.

Back to the Future is primarily about the fact that the five leads--Christopher Lloyd, Michael J Fox, Thomas Wilson, Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover-- all do great, great work here that, as far as I know, has never been matched in any of their respective careers (although Wilson has a couple great stand-up clips). Whether you’re next greatest film ranges from Who Framed Roger Rabbit to Howard the Duck (sorry Lea Thompson for bringing that up), I get the sense that Robert Zemeckis really took the care to pick the absolute best actors for these parts. Evidence of this meticulousness is also reflected by how sacrificed much of the wiggle room in their budget by replacing Eric Stoltz after filming had commenced.

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As for Double Indemnity and It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, I’ll just concede they were bad picks because your arguments were strong enough to convince me otherwise. I remember Jean Heather and Tom Powers as the rest of the Dietrichson clan in Double Indemnity and the shady underworld figures that populate film noirs, but maybe you’re right that it’s too reliant on just those three people. I think that Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson are all extraordinary here, but maybe we should try to have a minimum of four here (you don’t want to exclude, say, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, do you?), and to be fair, Robinson and Stanwyck are great in A LOT of films. I think it’s a pretty awesome achievement that Kramer was able to get all those comic actors in one movie, but you make a good point that he doesn’t necessarily utilize that dearth of talent other than simply putting them in bit roles.

Let me close out with a couple additional questions: X-Men is a film I picked because not just the actors are great, but because it feels like a turning point to comic-book/superhero movies being taken seriously and that is precisely because of the ensemble. To me, the difference between putting say Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando in Superman and Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, and Patrick Stewart in X-Men is that, in the latter, the actors were taking their parts as seriously as a prestige film. Perhaps you might have a bigger familiarity with tent pole movies than myself. Is that an accurate assessment?

Adam's Last Words:

Orrin, I was critical of some of your picks, but not Back to the Future.  In fact, I agree with every point you made.   I was merely stating that I did not immediately think of it as an ensemble film.  When I saw it on your list, I looked back through a different lens, past Fox and Lloyd.  With Glover, Wilson, and Thompson, even smaller bits by James Tolkan as the uptight principal (“Slacker!”) and Harry Waters, Jr, who I mentioned before, this truly belongs.  

With The Bridge on the River Kwai, Horne’s performance did not register for me the way it did for you.  However, I am on board with Holden, who you will see later on my list.  Holden was a more modern leading man, perfect for the 1950s.  He would seem one way on the surface, but always had something going on underneath.  Holden had a certain mischievous charm that blended perfectly into a more weathered, worn performance when needed.  

Intriguing question about X-Men.  Certainly before Stewart and McKellen you had big name stars in comic book movies.  Besides Brando and Hackman, you had Jack Nicholson, Tommy Lee Jones, etc.  In many cases they were playing self-aware villains who were having fun and they acted accordingly.  Yes, Stewart and McKellen played their roles as if they were serious dramatic parts, and that’s in part because they were written that way.  Professor X is part teacher, part civil rights leader, while Magneto sees himself not as a bad guy but as a freedom fighter.  That’s not to take anything away from their performances.   They helped pave the way for the Dark Knight series.    

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You have a valid point about Wes Anderson’s work, which are all fine ensemble pieces.  You can make a case for any one of them, and I wouldn’t argue.  In fact, it may be too much of a good thing, where to avoid taking all of them and having it be a huge chunk of the list, I stuck to one.  Granted, that’s not solid logic, and you could justifiably ask me why I picked more than one from other directors but not Anderson.  All of his films have wide ranging ensembles, and he has developed a stellar stock company over the years (Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston).  I picked The Royal Tenenbuams for two reasons.  First, it features Gene Hackman’s last iconic performance.    Second, it had the widest and deepest cast.  Not just the big stars, although it had plenty of those – Huston, Murray, Wilson, Danny Glover, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow.  Also lesser known actors such as Anderson mainstay Kumar Pallana.  He performed when he was younger and then Anderson (re)discovered him in his 70s.   Pallana conveyed a sense of having seen everything, while also displaying terrific deadpan comic timing. 

All 32 films I've seen in 2016 ranked from best to worst

1. Eye in the Sky, Gavin Hood-Extremely economic storytelling and theatrical in its execution, provocative in its dedication to showing the nuance of a military strike. If it was released at a better time of year, it could have been remembered years from now as the definitive film of the military-via-drones era.

2. Hello, My Name is Doris, Michael Showalter-Sally Field's sweet spinster character is the perfect remedy to check our own ageist tendencies but this is also a bit of a psychological thriller wrapped in a misplaced comedy of errors. This lady is really on a collision course with an embarrassing truth bomb and you can't look away.

3. Don't Think Twice, Mike Biribiglia-The film has a great balance between its ensemble and really captures that world (although why they couldn't just say "SNL" is beyond me). A very loving film with characters who organically reach their stories' endings in a variety of unexpected way.

4. Hidden Figures-An uplifting film but one that’s generally earned despite a couple moments where the film erroneously steers towards schmaltz. It walks that fine line between historically faithfulness, go-for-broke sentimentally and grittily realism. Taraji P Henson deserves accolades here

5. Hell or High Water-A great exercise in genre experimentation: Tackling the housing crisis by moving the Western forward in time 120 years.

6. Mascots, Christopher Guest-The best thing about this film is that it exists at all if you read the news article a few years back that Guest didn't feel he had anything more to give to the genre he practically created. This isn't a game changer but it's a joy to see so many rich comic stories merge together like this for the first time in a decade.

7. Lion, Garth Davis-The first half had a really dark look at life in the streets of a third world country like 1990s Calcutta. The second half could have done a better job or picking and choosing which scenes were most relevant and God bless Dev Patel for finally getting an overdue Oscar nom from Slumdog, but this felt like a casting mistake: He just had too much swagger and self-confidence to fit the narrative. I would assume what motivated him to find his family was a feeling of being an outsider but he seems like the most popular kid in class and picks up Rooney Mara as a girlfriend within minutes of meeting her. Still, this is the most emotional film I’ve seen regardless so the sentimental effect overflowed past any sloppy positioning.

8. Fences, Denzel Washington- Does Troy represent the popular image of the African-American man? Is he to blame for his ill fortunes or is he a product of society? The fact that he and his situation are complex enough that you can argue so well either way makes this such a provocative work of art. The film embodies what’s best about theatrical adaptations from the poetry in the dialogue to the thoroughness with which the actors do their legwork. The film also boasts the year’s best ensemble.

9. Star Trek Beyond, Justin Lin- Very much enjoyed the smaller scale in story as it allowed the characters more quiet moments of character development and pairings that showed new angles. This was balanced by special effects that wowed me in an era where every blockbuster has a budget larger than many 3rd world countries

10. La La Land-The romantic plot between the numbers felt kind of empty, but damn, the musical numbers were amazing. I still support it for a best picture win. It was extremely innovative and extremely thematically coherent and smart. Nearly every second is visually thoughtful and it is very clear that Damien Chazelle and his team used an encyclopedic knowledge of movie musicals to fashion its commentary.

11. Aquarius-It's a foreign film (I watch very few foreign films so this disclaimer is needed) about a woman in her 60's struggling in Brazil against a corporation who wants to tear her house down. A very solid character piece that like "Hello My Name is Doris" is a celebration of an elderly woman in defiance of the way society tries to (literally and figuratively) make her obsolete

12. Popstar: Never Stop Popping, The Lonely Island team- The film sails by more on cameos and side jokes than the character-based humor of Connor 4 Real but laughter speaks: It was just plain hilarious. Lonely Island can get random and scattered in 3-minute clips, so it works to their advantage to be able to develop their riffs over a longer running time.

13. The Lobster: Satirizing both the problems with pressure to couple up and overly conservative societies, the film has thematic currents against both sexual obsession and sexual chastity which is really interesting. Colin Farrell is really interesting and the ensemble is filled with all kinds of interesting characters. Has some wierdly dark moments.

14. Alice Through the Looking Glass: It’s kid-oriented, but surprisingly coherent and complex storyline-wise and works on a kid’s level. Visually quite wonderous.

15. Deepwater Horizon: I have a soft-spot for a good disaster film and consider the genre a form of art with a slightly higher purpose than the typical "things go boom" fare. Like "Captian Phillips"the film gets full-on emotional in the last act as its hero, Mark Wahlberg, starts suffering PTSD. Both films redefine the image of the hero in a larger way then the traditional view thats restricted to members of the military, inspirational teachers and fireman/cops.

16. Arrival-Didn’t appeal that much to me beyond the deep sciencey premise. If you buy Amy Adams’ performance, then you’ll feel the film on an emotional level

17. Now You See Me 2-Sleight-of-hand magicing is a great way to reinvent the heist genre (like adding history professors as in National Treasure). The story twisted and turned too much for me to care and the sexual chemistry between Lizzy Caplain and Dave Franco was forced (I don't think either of the Franco brothers has an easy time with romance) but it was pretty fun along the way.

18. Ghostbusters, Paul Fieg-Serviceably funny. It might be a bold statement here but a side-by-side comparion of this quartet of characters to the original shows how the UCB generation of comedy really goes a step beyond in developing comic characters from the inside out.

19. Tallulah-A Netflix film with Ellen Page and Allison Janney. I thought it's most interesting element was that this despicable character played by Ellen Page is unapolagetically the protagonist. The movie is kind of a ticking time bomb. You have no idea how long she'll get away w/this ruse of stealing someone else's baby but you're bracing for the explosion.

20. The Bronze-As an Olympics enthusiast, I enjoyed the exploration of what happens to Olympics stars after their big movement. The love story was sweet and I liked that Melissa Raunch's character had to grow but she never really had to bend her own personality that much to get to a happy place w/her dad, her gymnastics and her boyfriend. Some of the humor's bread and it had the grossest sex scene I've seen in a while

21. Special Correspondents-Ricky Gervais is curiously nowhere near as bold in film (Ghost Town, Invention of Lying, this) as he is with his TV work. I would be interested in reading an essay as to why, but I can't say that these films aren't pleasant if you don't take away the high expectations. Besides Gervais'

22. Sing Steet, John Carney: Not as memorable as the last Carney film I saw ("Begin Again") but a pretty sweet film about a kid reinventing himself through creating an 80's band. It has a strong sense of place backed by the authenticity of on-location shooting, and a sweet love story. The film has a bit more empty space (both in the band's logistical scenes and the love scenes) than ideal.

23. Captain Fantastic, Matt Ross-Stretches reality a little bit in the form of this superdad who can keep his kids extremely isolated and turn them into extreme geniuses with abnormal levels of obedience (except one of the six kids) but an interesting film. Some might call it artsy, but I found the camera work obnoxious.

24. Race: A pretty generic sports film but with a lot of chemistry between the characters and interesting historic detail

25. Batman vs Superman, Zach Snyder-I'd classify this as not awful. Tonally it was pretty consistent. Batman's kind of dark and Superman kind of got there too and Jesse Eisenberg was nice and playful with his part. I don't know if the film had much to say though but I've seen worse...

26. Eddie the Eagle, Dexter Fletcher-Pretty generic with a few sweet moments. The film curiously cares very little about history which is odd because the actual historical facts of Eddie the Eagle would have made a better movie. Taran Eagleton plays a mostly asexual klutz well and has just enough charm to keep this from being completely by-the-numbers. Also, Lake Placid is all wrong.

27. X-Men Apocalypse, Brian Singer-Because it is the sole superhero series I’ve ever gotten into as a kid, I watch every X-Men film as a general rule. Still, my loyalty doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to rip on it. Still, they are going through the motions here. Some of the criticisms of X-Men 3 (needing to decrowd the landscape) would hae been wise here and Apocalypse lacked personality. Why waste Oscar Isaac’s valuable time (as well as that of the make-up department) for something so lifeless. hey needed to decrowd the landscape a bit and have given Acopalypse some personality. Special-effects wise, Psyloche was one of the highlights.

28. Gold-The film's big twist had no foreshadowing and came way too late in the movie for me to care. The first hour of the film had no real point to make? The film could have at least tried to make the gold trade interesting but instead, it is capitalism porn: the stuff found in Wolf of Wall Street, Boiler Room and American Hustle.

29. Zootopia-I heard it had an interesting message but I wasn't really interested in being preached to by a Pixar-like cartoon. Found it uneventful with a few spare jokes here and there

30. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot-Is anyone else getting tired of Tina Fey playing Tina Fey? 40ish woman feeling down on herself bc she's on the verge of no longer being able to meet Mr. Right in time to have kids who is always surrounded by idiots. And this is supposed to be about a serious war film and not an episode of 30 Rock?

31. Keanu-I like Key and Peele a lot but this felt like swing and a miss for me. They've done stuff way more nuanced and complicated than here. So they're forced to act like gangsters?  That's a 5-minute skit, guys, not a movie.

32. Suicide Squad-Oh, the horror! Why did I watch this. It felt like a violent video game specifically made for 12-year-old boys. When the dialogue seems like filler to get to the action and the action seems like filler to get to the dialogue, you know you’ve got a problem. Still, Margo Robbie manages to dazzle and Jared Leto gives a brave performance.