Amph Five Favorite Films with Ewan McGregor

I really liked the Crews picks. Not so much for the picks themselves -- though they were fine -- but because I actually got the feeling that I'd enjoy talking to the guy, which is not often the case when I read what these celebrities have to say about their picks.

 

Sofia Coppola's Five Fave Films:

"Rumble Fish (1983, 70% Tomatometer)
Rumble Fish

I love that it's an art film about teenagers. I just love the way that it's shot -- I love those old lenses, those Zeiss lenses; they have a softer feel. [Coppola and her DP, Harris Savvides, used the lenses from Rumble Fish to shoot Somewhere.] Roman [Coppola, her brother] and I are just sentimental about film.



Breathless (1960, 96% Tomatometer)
Breathless

The Godard version. [On the similarities between the moving car jump cuts in Somewhere:] I guess I was going through that whole New Wave thing... coming from a documentary background.



Sixteen Candles (1984, 87% Tomatometer)
Sixteen Candles

That was one of my favorite films when I was growing up, and I'll still watch it every time it's on.



Lolita (1962, 97% Tomatometer)
Lolita

I love Kubrick. I love the way he put that film together, the way it's filmed. Just some of the shots he did there, like the reverse shot in the car window with the monster.



The Last Picture Show (1971, 100% Tomatometer)
The Last Picture Show

It's just a beautiful film."

 

The Last Picture Show shares some common elements with Lost in Translation, mostly through understatement and minimalism. Very sad film overall.

Regarding Rumble Fish, I can't comment on the film or its look, but the bit about Zeiss lenses is a dog whistle statement to someone like me. Now I'll have to check it out just to see what it looks like. Lost in Translation has beautiful cinematography, so it doesn't surprise me that Coppola pays close attention to how a film looks.

 

Rumble Fish doesn't necessarily work, but it's certainly worth a look. The Stewart Copeland score is great.

 

"East of Eden (1955, 87% Tomatometer)

The first two, I'm gonna go with Elia Kazan, 'cause they're really the reason why I became an actor in movies. East of Eden, with James Dean, and A Streetcar Named Desire, with Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando. The performance by James Dean -- the scene specifically where he tries to give his father, played by Raymond Massey, the money from selling the beans on his birthday, and he's rejected -- it broke my heart; it was not like anything I'd experienced before, in terms of art, and I'd seen a lot of movies at that point. I was 15, and I'd seen Bergman's Seventh Seal and Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits and Welles' Citizen Kane -- great films, but when I saw Dean in that, it really put the hook in me because I felt like him and I knew then the power of film acting, and I knew then what I wanted to be, what I wanted to do to try to move people with motion pictures. So that's why I have to put that on the list.



A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, 98% Tomatometer)

Yes, I admired Marlon Brando and I know that he influenced James Dean and he really kind of changed the world of film acting with his naturalistic style, but it was because of Vivien Leigh's performance as Blanche DuBois that I would put that as one of my favorite movies; because of her dialog, the Tennessee Williams dialog, the music, Kazan's direction, and Vivien Leigh's delivery of lines like -- I?m paraphrasing -- but when she says, "the human heart, how can that be straight?", you know. It was such a powerfully vulnerable, tragic performance that I have to put that on the top five, because that movie held that performance.



2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, 96% Tomatometer)

Then I'm gonna go into Kubrick. 2001, because it is so enigmatic, it is so poetic, and it remains a mystery to me, even today where I can view it annually, three times a year, and still find something new in it. I'm still mystified by it. It achieved this status of being eternal in a way that didn't rely heavily on performance; it was the special effects, the music. The fact that it was a success, that it was a commercial success, and it challenged every critic -- many critics didn?t get it -- so it was really ahead of its time. Nothing's been ever quite like it again.



A Clockwork Orange (1971, 91% Tomatometer)

Because of Malcolm McDowell I'm gonna go into A Clockwork Orange, because that was the other great teenage performance, along with James Dean in East of Eden. Stanley Kubrick's treatment of the subject of violence and the mystery of nature and to go against out natures and what is or isn?t necessary, and what is the true evil, and all of these questions that came out of the absurdist and evocative film that is Clockwork Orange, again, is everlasting. And also his lighting: even today when you look at some of the stills from the movie, when they're in the Milk Bar, it looks like virtual reality and I don't know how he did it -- he was really a master of light.



The Wizard of Oz (1939, 100% Tomatometer)

Finally I'm gonna say The Wizard of Oz, because that movie, again, is not like any other film -- it's a completely original experience and it has stood up against the test of time. Children are still enchanted by it, adults are still enchanted by it, and nobody has ever been able to capture that feeling since; and it's a musical. Plus, that first introduction to color film, that doorway sequence and going in to Munchkin land -- it's just mind-blowingly beautiful. And her performance, her voice, Judy Garland -- you know, they don't make 'em like that anymore. So, I would say those would be the top five."

 

Zoe Saldana's choices:

The Terminator (1984, 100% Tomatometer)

"One movie that has always resonated with me is The Terminator. [laughs] I just loved it. Maybe it's the fact that I was five when I saw this movie, so I was very overwhelmed by it. I felt the passion between these two individuals. I saw the strength of a woman. From the music, the robots, the technology... that movie was big because I saw it through the eyes of a five-year-old. I'm not gonna judge Terminator now that I'm 32, because obviously I'm gonna have a different take. I've evolved, I've seen different things, and life and technology and the way we see films has evolved, so it wouldn't be fair to what Terminator represented when I was five. But that essence will never die. Terminator was very impacting for me. It really helped me a lot, to understand the kind of actor I wanted to be, and also the kind of movies and genres that I gravitate towards and absolutely love. That movie, seeing it at that age, was amazing.

RT: When you were filming with James, did you think, "Now I'm here channeling that essence of the Cameron female action hero?"

Oh my god, yes. Every day, and you're so embarrassed to say it, you know, because obviously it's going to make him uncomfortable. Maybe Kismet does exist: when you want something, when you're very specific about someone you like, for some reason you set out to look for it; but at the same time, if it's meant to be with you, it'll come and look for you. That's why I think that Avatar, working with Jim and calling him a friend, is something that I hold very dear and I don't take lightly, because it's something that was so important. Little did I know that when I was five I was gonna see a movie that would make me the kind of tough woman that I wanted to be, and make the films that I want to see. And then, 25 years later, to be working with James Cameron -- it's like, "What the ***k?", you know?


The Hunger (1983, 44% Tomatometer)

I loved it. I thought it was such a sensual movie. I've always been a very curious person when it comes to sensuality and sexuality. I was raised by a mother that always taught my sisters and I that the body is not what's tainted, it's the mind. Therefore there was a lot flexibility; she gave us a lot of responsibility. She trusted us with things that kids aren't supposed to be watching. My mom has a version of what censorship is, and it's quite different to what censorship means to a lot of societies and cultures. I was very grateful for that because it taught me so much passion, and it taught me to feel okay with the human body and wanting passion and love. And The Hunger was an amazing love story. I loved the performances by Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon and David Bowie.

The Goonies (1985, 63% Tomatometer)

The third one I would have to say is The Goonies. [giggles] What isn't there about it to love? Trying to find a treasure to save your parents when you're seeing them struggle -- which ***king kid wouldn't understand that or wanna do that, you know? [On who she identified with:] I think it was Sean Astin's character, the little dreamer. That monologue when they're all on the well and getting ready to go up and he's like, "Chester Copperpot!" My sisters and I get together and we drink wine and we watch The Goonies and we quote it... "The next time we see sky, it'll be in another town!" I love The Goonies.

Pandora?s Box (1929, 91% Tomatometer)

I think that -- and it's also related to the fifth one -- growing up as a dancer I primarily learned to channel emotions through other parts of my body besides my voice, therefore when I watch silent movies I'm touched on such a deep level. To me, it was a form of acting that I gravitate towards. It's so beautiful because it incorporates the body in such a way; your vocal chords have a great intonation but in reality it's so much more, it's about using the body, using the soul and all these things. So I love it. It's such a technical movie that I learned so much from. But that's just my approach as an actor. The storytelling was also ve

 

Five Favorite Films with Ben Foster

by Luke Goodsell | Monday, Jan. 24 2011

Ben Foster

"From hard drama to bruising action, Ben Foster's varied resume declares him an actor willing to go many places for a performance. He all but stole Nick Cassavetes' Alpha Dog, more than held his own against Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in 3:10 To Yuma, and earned some deserved acclaim for his turn as an American soldier in 2009's critical favorite, The Messenger.

This week, Foster stars alongside Jason Statham in the action thriller The Mechanic, a noisy remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson vehicle. Statham takes the Bronson role of the professional assassin double-crossed into murdering his boss, with Foster the dead man's son who becomes an apprentice to dad's killer. The talented actor brings an unusual level of edge and tension for this kind of film; in return, the movie gave him his share of physical souvenirs.

"I got pretty banged up," he admits, "but that's part of the fun. You get the opportunity to scare the **** out of yourself." Doing so involved performing many of his own stunts -- including a spectacular 30-story fall down the side of a skyscraper, attached to a cable. Statham, Foster says, spurred him on. "You wanna step up to his level of athleticism and stone-cold courage," he explains. "That guy's got some nuts, you know -- he does some scary ****."

Back in the relative safety of a hotel suite, we sat down with Foster to ask him his five favorite films. And here they are.


The Jerk (1979, 83% Tomatometer)

You couldn't get away with making that movie today. It's wild. It's a wild film, and it's the great American dream gone wrong. It's Citizen Kane on its ass. It's a man who comes from nothing and builds a world and loses an empire and finds love. I mean, it's a huge movie; and absolutely insane. I watch that several times a year -- it's a go-to on the road.


Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, 100% Tomatometer)

I would be embarrassed to begin to talk about Dr. Strangelove, because there has been so much written about it. It's so bleak. And Peter Sellers is perfect. He's just perfect. Terry Southern and Stanley Kubrick built this doomsday political satire, in the fists of the Cold War, and made the end of the world hysterical. We're bumbling idiots, all of us. We're all walking through dark rooms of our life, bumping into furniture, and it's shocking. I think we all enjoy watching people who are in authority positions act like bumbling idiots; it satisfies part of our ego, I'm sure, on some level. Sellers' commitment to those characters... the scene that stands out is when he's trying to get change to make the phone call to stop the bomb, and that security guard won't let him break government property to get the change. The frustration of that is as painful as it is hysterical.


Husbands (1970, 63% Tomatometer)

Male camaraderie, male love, is a difficult subject to show on film. What does it mean to have one of your best friends pass away? When that unit dies, how do you deal with it? I'm not a married man but I'm sure that when I?m married and have kids I'll see Husbands in a new light. It's regular guys trying to make sense of this life, having a good time while they're doing it; running from their own lives and trying to distract themselves with hookers and gambling and drinking, and they all have families to go back to. They just don't wanna leave the party. It's male camaraderie at its most loving and brutal: these guys are terrible to each other, but they'd do anything for each other, and that kind of friendship, those values, mean a lot to me. The way they shot the film, the way they lost funding -- there're these wild stories of how to make a movie that you care about. They lost financing. As the story goes, they put the last bit of money -- and they're half way through the film, they've been shooting for six months -- they put all the money to throw a party. They got dancers and girls and piano players and I think there was like an elephant, and they invited

 

Wow. Not only is Ben Foster a fine actor, but he seems to actually be able to think, too. Best five films since Terry Crews.

 

For Sergio Leone:

His favorite movies were reportedly (in no particular order) Yôjinbô (1961), Warlock (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), High Noon (1952), Shane (1953), and Vera Cruz (1954).

Yeah, I know it's six, just shoot me. Re: "Yojimbo"; yes, we could tell.

 

I think we could tell all of them actually. That's about the least surprising top five (six) in this thread.

 

What's really surprising is how they got his choices considering he's been dead for over 20 years.

 

I suppose that explains why there's nothing from last year on his list.

 

I found the picks on the internet.

 

Five Favorite Films with James Cameron

by Luke Goodsell | Tuesday, Feb. 01 2011

"Sometimes, amid the clamor of media junkets and their tight roster of promotional interviews, we don't always get a chance to pop our "five favorite films" question. Given that this was James Cameron, however, we couldn't resist sneaking the quiz into the conversation -- despite his being pressed for time.

Cameron was on hand, together with director Alister Grierson and writer-producer Andrew Wight, to promote Sanctum, the 3-D cave-diving thriller that arrives in cinemas this week. The film, set in the dark and sometimes terrifying labyrinth of a cave system in Papua New Guinea, deploys the camera technology that Cameron and Wight, a fellow diver, had pioneered on their ocean expeditions -- and would form the basis for the tools with which Avatar was shot.

You can read on for our chat with the filmmakers about Sanctum. Here, our conversation turns -- albeit briefly -- to all-time favorite films.

"I hate lists. I never do lists," Cameron protests. "But we?ll stumble through it."

"Not because he?s sitting here, but Terminator 2," offers Wiight.

"You liar," Cameron replies. "I've never been able to do this but I'll take a stab at it."


The Wizard of Oz (1939, 100% Tomatometer)

The Wizard of Oz is number one.



Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, 100% Tomatometer)


I can't order these, you know, but somewhere in the top 10 would be Dr. Strangelove...



2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, 96% Tomatometer)


...and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Anything by Kubrick.



The Godfather (1972, 100% Tomatometer)


Just about half of Coppola's films. ["Except for his last one," adds Grierson.] Hey, I said half. Okay -- Godfather.



Taxi Driver (1976, 98% Tomatometer)


Okay, Taxi Driver. I love Taxi Driver.

 

If Alister Grierson, of all people, is honestly dissing Tetro there, then I hate that man even more than I already do.

Cameron's list is boring. As expected.

 

I figured Cameron liked the Wizard of Oz, since he included one of it's most famous lines in Avatar. But this surprises me. Oz doesn't seem to me like Cameron's kind of film.

 

There's an element of Oz in Titanic in Cameron's use of color. All of the present day scenes are dry and desaturated with heavy usage of deep blue (as opposed to sepia), and there's a drastic change in the boldness of Cameron's palette when he switches to scenes in 1912. The transformation of the ship's wreck into the ship in Southampton may well have been directly inspired by Judy Garland's entrance into Munchkinland.

 

Ah, I see you corrected your error.

 

Five Favorite Films with William Fichtner

The ubiquitous character actor and star of this week's Drive Angry picks his all-time five.
by Luke Goodsell | Thursday, Feb. 24 2011

"Movie obsessives know him by name, while everyone else will definitely be familiar with his face: William Fichtner is one of Hollywood's finest and most prolific character actors, with supporting roles in dozens of films as varied as The Dark Knight, Heat, Black Hawk Down, Crash and Armageddon... to name just a handful.

In this week's deliberately trashy, neo-grindhouse actioner Drive Angry, Fichtner takes a co-starring role opposite Nicolas Cage and Amber Heard, playing a mysterious, black-suited pursuer known only as "The Accountant" -- a supernatural agent hot on the trail of Cage's hell-bent motorist. It's a funny, eccentric performance that near steals the film, and has already drawn praises (and some Walken comparisons) from early reviews.

"I had a great time doing it," Fichtner says of his role, "the best time I ever had, working on a film. Probably my most fun character. I just liked the guy." Curiously, for an actor who's played numerous parts across the moral spectrum, Fichtner's philosophy is, "If I don't like the character, if I can't find something, what am I gonna do with it? I can't play somebody I don't like."

Having discovered his co-star's Five Favorite Films recently, we decided to ask Fichtner to follow suit...

The Graduate (1967, 89% Tomatometer)

The Graduate, you know, it's just so frickin' romantic. I just love that. The music, the performances; everything about it. I saw it at a time in my life that was truly eye-opening.



The Godfather/The Godfather: Part II (1972/1974, 100%/98% Tomatometer)

Godfather one and two 'cause it's just... perfect.



The Deer Hunter (1978, 91% Tomatometer)

Deer Hunter -- the human experience was just so pointed; their journeys were so difficult, as life is sometimes. I remember after seeing it, walking down the street -- I actually went with a girl on a date and saw The Deer Hunter, and we left the theater and walked for like an hour and nobody said anything; we were just kind of stunned about that.



Strictly Ballroom (1992, 94% Tomatometer)

Strictly Ballroom -- again, such a romantic film. The ballroom dancing was just so exciting and Baz Luhrmann's such a genius.



Three Days of the Condor (1975, 86% Tomatometer)

Three Days of the Condor just seems to be one of those films that, if I'm flipping around the channels late at night and I land on that one, I just can't shut if off -- you just have to watch that whole journey with Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway. It's so good."

 

Oh, man, William Fichtner. He's been on my radar since Armageddon in which he was just awesomely terrible. He got, in fact, the two most hilarious moments in the movie: "He's got space dementia!" and "Oh, man, what are you doin' with a gun in space?"

 

Ray Stevenson has starred as a soldier in the HBO series Rome, and has a comic-book anti-hero in The Punisher: War Zone. Now he's got another lead role, this time as Irish mobster Danny Greene, in the new film Kill the Irishman. We got the chance to talk to him about the film, and of course, we asked him to tell us about five of his favorite movies. Although he admitted it would be hard to narrow it down to five, "I'm a Gemini - it's like asking what side of toast to butter. Bloody hell, ask me to solve world peace!" We also talked to him about working with Christopher Walken, and whether or not he'd return to Rome in the future.

Point Blank (1967, 95% Tomatometer)

Lee Marvin... That's a great movie. It kind of sets the benchmark, I think. It kind of puts it up there, because you really engage. And also every part is so well-written. Angie Dickenson... from the female roles to the male roles, the parts are so well drawn. And yet there's a danger to it, there's a rawness to it. It's like an expose of that world, you know?



Bullitt (1968, 97% Tomatometer)

I've got to say Bullitt. Just the coolest guy on the planet [laughing]. The chase scene... when they get burned out in that wreck in the end and that car horn is going... That's moviemaking, a great piece.



Queen Margot (1994, 77% Tomatometer)

It's Daniel Auteuil, Isabel Adjani... It's such an incredible piece. It takes place ostensibly in Paris around the time of the massacre of the Protestants by the Catholic ruling family. Basically under the auspices of bringing them in, in the guise of a joint wedding that's going to unite the Huguenots and the royal class, and this massacre takes place. And it's dirty, and you can almost smell the clothes, and it's just so well done. It's a great story, and I just love watching it.



The Fountain (2006, 51% Tomatometer)

I really enjoyed The Fountain, just because it appeals to another side of me [laughing]. The shamanistic, esoterical side.



Where Eagles Dare (1968, 88% Tomatometer)

You got Richard Burton, and Clint Eastwood. I love it.

 

Where Eagles Dare? Seriously. It's not much of a movie, really. Entertaining, I suppose, but nothing on the level of Bullitt as far as artistry and brilliance goes. Kind of a dumb action movie.

Though given that he picked The Fountain, I suppose he's just being honest.

 

Five Favorite Films with Ryan Philippe

Cool Hand Luke (1967, 100% Tomatometer)

The film that sort of made me want to be an actor was Cool Hand Luke. I watched it one Sunday when I skipped church, and I was home sick, and it was on TBS, and I was about 12 or 13 years old. I had never seen a man cry like that. [SPOILER AHEAD] When Paul Newman finds out his mother's died and he sits on the bed and plays "Plastic Jesus" on the banjo [END SPOILER], I was so fascinated by this masculine tough guy getting emotional, and that sort of started my interest in acting. Figuring out how one gets to that place, and why. And both he and Steve McQueen were the two people I first connected to or looked up to as actors.



The Sand Pebbles (1966, 88% Tomatometer)

The Sand Pebbles with McQueen is one of those films that shows more of his sensitivity. People tend to think of him as just the badass, and I love the fact that that film lets you see another side of him. And I also think it's beautifully shot. So that's another one on my list.



The Graduate (1967, 89% Tomatometer)

The remaining three are films that I just feel are nearly perfect. The Graduate, from top to bottom, visually, sonically, performance-wise, the energy, and the time when it came out, and what it represented - that whole Holden Caufield sort of aspect to it. I think the music, obviously; there are very few films where the music has been so married to the actual film itself, and I love that about The Graduate. It seems like that's the way it always should have been. It's just amazing to me how perfectly it complements the film.



Fargo (1996, 94% Tomatometer)

I have to go with a Coen brothers movie, because they are my inspiration as producers, filmmakers -- I want to direct soon. Again, I think that Fargo is a nearly perfect film. Visually, comedically; it manages to be tense, and it's smart. I love the fact that it's based on somewhat of a true story -- I think that's kind of where my interests lie, the idea of doing a true crime story that's darkly comedic; that's something that really appeals to me. I could name several of their films, but Fargo is the one that just... I always think about that shot in the parking lot in the snow, when he's just trying to scrape the window off and he just loses his mind. [laughs]



Raging Bull (1980, 98% Tomatometer)

And then one of the most inspirational films for an actor would, in my opinion, have to be Raging Bull. Just to see what De Niro went through physically, the span of time he takes that character through, the insecurity and the bravado and the anger. I think it's still a performance that's relatively unmatched in film history.


I was amused by the way he chose movies as providing a 'role for an actor'...

 

On the positive side, at least Ryan picked some very good films, and he picked some that are pre-1990, which is really saying something nowadays. Some people seem to think good filmmaking only began when Christopher Nolan made the Dark Knight.

 

[image=http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Jl1-wDXs7bc/0.jpg]

Who? Who are these people?