my movie page

My Movie Page

Ok, I am no movie expert, but my friends tell me that I'm pretty good at movie, so I guess I have to take their word for it.

Making a Top Ten List of movies and actors isn't the easiest things - they are good in different ways, and ranking them is often very difficult. So here comes some of my favorite movies and actors, not ranked. Summaries of the movies will be available soon.

Movies

The Fugitive	A good thriller. Tommy Lee Jones is the best actor in this one.
Prince of Thieves	Alright, I know, Costner have a broad american accent, but it's Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham that makes this movie good. The musical score is wonderful too. And of course, Sean Connery as Richard Lionheart in the finale.
Dead Poets' society	A GREAT movie. Very comic and very tragic.
The Commitments	Great dialog and story, great music. When I am down and wanna be cheered up, I watch this one.
Forest Gump	A beautiful movie. Great actors and superbly directed.
Recevoir Dogs	Yes, I actually think this one is better than Pulp Fiction.
Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail	This movie containts some of the most funny scenes I know. Here you have a Black (and very stubborn) Knight, you learn how to detect witches, and you meet a magician named... Tim.
Blues Brothers	This is a total Cult movie. Great music with the greatest soul / R&B artists.
The Terminator movies	Yes, I put these two together. "The Terminator" has a darker (and better) feeling, but the effects in "T2 - Judgment Day" is stunning. I am eagerly awaiting T3.
The Quick and the Dead	For some reason, this movie has caught me. It somehow have managed to get the feeling from the old Eastwood-westerns, and it is very smart done. Gene Hackman is one of my favorite actors, and Sharon Stone did well too. Di Caprio made a pretty good job too.

Just outside the Top Ten list I wanna put "Much ado about nothing", but that's just because I have acted in a theatrical version of the play myself (did a very passioned and not overly smart Claudio *grins*). The Star Wars trilogy should maybe have a given place on the list, considering the influence those movies have had on movies in general and SF-movies in particular, but to be truthful, I don't like them so extremely much. I will go and see the upcoming new trilogy with parts 1 to 3 in the saga though.

If you thought I would have "Titanic" on the list, forget it. Sure, it was a very good movie, but I can't for my life understand the hysteria around it. I don't think Kate Winslet is that attractive, and Leo DiCaprio isn't an exceptional actor in any way. (O'boy, am I gonna get hate-mails now...)

Actors/Actresses

Another hard assignment. Well, here comes (in no ranking order) my favorite faces on the silver screen.

Sean Connery	He has great charisma, no doubt about it. I heard he beat his wife and that's of course no good, but still, he is a good actor. My favorite is Henry Jones senior in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". And besides, Connery will always be *the* *only* James Bond there is. (Pierce Brosnan comes in a good second place, but still way behind)
Harrison Ford	My favorites are the Indiana Jones movies and the Fugitive. And of course, who can forget the ever-young adventurer Han Solo.
Anthony Hopkins	The very thought of Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs" raises my neckhairs. I also like his portrait of C.S. Lewis in "Shadowlands"
Mel Gibson	Seeing "Braveheart" made me change opinion about Gibson. He actually is a good actor (and a good director). "Maverick" is another favorite Gibson movie.
Tommy Lee Jones	A very powerful actor. His best performance is as the never-stopping marshal Sam Gerard in "The Fugitive", and he has done many other memorable movies; "Natural Born Killers", "Under Siege" and "Blown away" (now, is that a good title or what! grins).
Clint Eastwood	Still going strong. And he allows himself to grow old (although he still gets the young girl in the end). My favorites are "In the line of fire", "Unforgiven" and of course, the old classic - "High Plains Drifter"
Dustin Hoffman	Remarkable actor. My favorites are Raymond in "Rain Man" and his incredible small-time thief and loser in "Accidental Hero". Also made a short but very good job in "Dick Tracy". "Outbreak" is also one of my favorite Hoffman movies.
Jack Nicholson	Talk about charisma. Favorite roles are Col. Jessep in "A few good men", the Joker in "Batman" and the neurotic Melvin Udall in "As good as it gets". But he has done bad movies as well. "The Crossing Guard" is terrible, all he does is run around in slow motion... Avoid that one.
Robert de Niro	Another one of the real powerful actors. His character in "Taxi Driver" still makes me shiver, and his portrait of the autistic patient in "Awakenings" was very touching.
Glenn Close	My favorite is her countess (or something like that) in "Dangerous Liasons".

Seeing this list, I immediately get thoughts like: "But what about him? Or her? I GOTTA have that actor in the list as well..." and so on. For example, I don't want to leave Gene Hackman outside - considering his roles in "The Quick and the Dead" and not least, as Lex Luthor in "Superman". And there are so many other good actors/actresses: Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, John Malkovich, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Nicholas Cage, Sally Fields, Meg Ryan.... Want me to go on? But I guess you can only have so many names in a Top Ten List…

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Ok, this list was made on a whim, so I am not sure I'll keep it. If you read it, please email me and give me comments about it. Did I miss a very good movie, have I forgotten a great actor/actress? Let me know. And may the Force be with you!

/Robert Östberg 1999