Dances, Wolves, Smoke, Signals and Coyotes!

David Davick

Ted,

I'm a friend of Deb's and, after checking out your site and realizing that you're not really a biotech company - here's my top 15. Say hi to Sheila.

Braveheart (surprisingly absent from most of your lists - very disappointing)
Dances with Wolves
Life is Beautiful (requisite Foreign Language Film)
Red Violin
Karate Kid (oddly absent from your lists)
Seven
The Natural
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (edging out American Pie in the "makes men out of boys" category)
High Fidelity (best Cusack movie in a while)
Dracula (Bram Stoker's version, except for the parts that Keanu Reeves talks)
Swingers
Smoke Signals
Office Space
Orgasmo (not what you might think - actually a comedy)
The Full Monty

Worst movie I've seen in a long time:
Coyote Ugly (I should have known better)

David Davick

Well, Mr. Davick. First, let me say that the bit about saying Hi to Sheila was funny. That is a reference to Sheila in Customer Service here at tedstrong.com. Let's get down to brass tacks (I used to think it was "brass tax").

Braveheart: well made epic. But it doesn't do much for me. Dances with Wolves, same thing, but more so. Life Is Beautiful, same thing, but more so, plus there's still something wrong about that movie (see Jakob the Liar). Red Violin, interesting. My favorite segment was the modern part in Montreal. Karate Kid? ODDLY absent? Hmmm. That film started my crush on Elisabeth Shue, but that's about it.

Seven, your best film so far. Brilliant, frightening, dark masterpiece. I'd look forward to a retrospective of David Fincher 50 years from now. With flaws Alien3, Seven, The Game and Fight Club make for some pretty interesting filmmaking.

The Natural. Corny, but I fell for it in 84, and still now. The cast is really hard to beat: Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley, Barbara Hershey, Robert Prosky, Richard Farnsworth, Joe Don Baker, Michael Madsen and Darren McGavin.

I have tired of most of Fast Times, but the Sean Penn parts are still good. High Fidelity is funny and it could have been awful, but it works. Great cast. I, too, like Coppola's Dracula. Maybe his best film post-Apocalypse Now. Swingers is very good, even though it's been ripped off so many times since. Have not seen Smoke Signals.

In 1999, I saw two films in the theatre, where I just couldn't stop laughing all the way through, Office Space was one of those, brilliant. (The other was Austin Powers 2 -- MiniMe was amazing.)

Have not seen Orgasmo, but am familiar with it. From Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park). The Full Monty was good.

Coyote Ugly was only awful, if you expected it not to be. I expected it to be just what it was, and it was ridiculous, and not wholly entertaining, but not the worst movie of the year.

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