My Top Ten Gary Oldman Movies

Happy birthday to Gary Oldman, who turns 59 today. I’m posting a Top Ten on a day other than Thursday! This is messing with my head. I think I’m actually just putting off reviewing that pointless remake of Beauty And The Beast…

Anyway, back to Gary Oldman! I must admit that I never really noticed Oldman until more recent years. But I don’t mean that in a bad way – I think it’s a great thing. I’ve seen him called a chameleon many times & it’s very true. It’s amazing how utterly & completely different he looks (and acts) from one role to the next. He truly becomes the characters he plays and not every actor does that. I mean, I feel like I pick on Tom Cruise too often for some strange reason but he’s just always Tom Cruise to me. Even in roles where he gives it his all, I still just see Tom Cruise. Tom Hanks is that way a bit too much too (but you still gotta love Tom Hanks). Okay – I barely remember JFK AT ALL now all these years later but I’ve stuck it in the top ten even though I didn’t realize Oldman was in it. Seriously. Then when looking for images of him from it, a lot were in black & white so I thought they were the real Lee Harvey Oswald. How can you look like Lee Harvey Oswald just as much as Sid Vicious???

Well, as always I’m ranking these according to how much I like the movies as opposed to the individual performances as I find that harder to judge. This is probably why I appreciate actors like Oldman – I care more about a movie’s story & its characters than who is starring in it so I like actors who become the characters as completely as Oldman does.

Here are My Top Ten Gary Oldman Movies (and, also as always, I cheat a little and count series films as one). 😉

**Updated Feb 2018 to add Darkest Hour**

The Three Extra I’ve Seen:

13. Hannibal
12. Air Force One
11. JFK

Top Ten:

10. Bram Stoker’s Dracula

9. Kung Fu Panda 2

8. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

7. The Harry Potter Movies

6. The Batman Movies

5. Darkest Hour

4. The Fifth Element

3. Léon

2.True Romance

1. Sid And Nancy

Saw But Don’t Remember:
Lost In Space

Not Seen:
Henry & June, Romeo Is Bleeding, Immortal Beloved, The Scarlet Letter, Murder In The First, Basquiat, The Contender, A Christmas Carol, The Book Of Eli, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Red Riding Hood, Lawless, Paranoia, RoboCop, Child 44, The Space Between Us

Hey UK people – remember that One2One campaign starring Gary Oldman in the commercials? I just remember how much I loved the music featured (Lovely Head by Goldfrapp) so I found the ad on YouTube to share. Still love the song. At least Sid Vicious selling mobile phone service isn’t quite as weird as Johnny Rotten selling butter… 🙂

My Top Ten Movies Of 2014

So yesterday I posted My Top Ten Movies Watched At Home In 2014 (you can see that list HERE). I often like the movies I watch at home each year even more than the ones I see in the cinema (theater, you Americans!). However, 2014 was actually a pretty damn good year for movies.

Here are My Top Ten Movies Of 2014 counting down from ten to one. Remember I’m in the UK so these go by UK release date – I’m aware a few of these were 2013 in America. Dammit – I hate when America gets stuff before us! At least we’re getting most of the Marvel stuff first, I guess. 😛 I wrote a bit about each movie in my last list but I’ve not had time for this one – I’ve reviewed them all anyway if you want to click the links to see what I had to say about any of them. 🙂

10. I Origins

9. Under The Skin

8. Boyhood

7. The Babadook

6. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

5. The Lego Movie

4. Edge Of Tomorrow

3. Her

2. Guardians Of The Galaxy

1. The Wolf Of Wall Street

Honorable Mentions:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dallas Buyers Club
Gone Girl

You can see my full, sad, ranked list of movies watched in 2014 HERE. 🙂

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (2014) Review

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (2014)

Directed by Matt Reeves

Starring:
Andy Serkis
Jason Clarke
Gary Oldman
Keri Russell
Toby Kebbell
Kodi Smit-McPhee

Running time: 131 minutes

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
In the wake of a disaster that changed the world, the growing and genetically evolving apes find themselves at a critical point with the human race.

My Opinion:

I’m sure everyone has reviewed this by now so I’ll just say this: Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is pretty damn spectacular. It isn’t perfect but any issues I have with it are pretty insignificant compared to the amazing special effects. WOW! Hey you WordPress whippersnappers – remember that I’m old. You’re all used to movies looking like this now & just expect it all the time. You’re spoiled!!! 😉 I mean, I’m actually still impressed by 1968’s Planet Of The Apes so, you know, maybe I’m more easy to please than some of you. But this film is REALLY freaking impressive.

The apes!!! I’d happily watch a movie with just the apes & no human actors on screen. There was so much depth to their characters. The only downside is that they did such an excellent job with the look and the character development of the apes that the humans in the film really do pale by comparison. It was actually easier to feel for the apes and their struggle than it was for the humans and all that they’ve gone through. However, (and this is something I loved about this film), there’s no black & white “humans are evil and the apes are innocent” (or vice versa). We see both sides and I thought the story worked really well & that the way things progressed was very believable. I was completely immersed in this film and that doesn’t happen as often as I’d like considering how many movies I go to.

Summary:

I don’t know what else to say that hasn’t been said by others. I thought Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes was pretty great and I love that Dawn manages to improve on it. Also, I’ll fully admit that I love that this movie turns into a full-on blockbuster at the end. This movie is proof that you CAN have an exciting, heart-pounding blockbuster as well as an intelligent script and well developed characters that you actually care about. I do wish the human characters had had as much time spent on making us care about them as the apes had but it’s really a minor complaint. This movie is very very good.

My Rating: 8.5/10

I STILL haven’t made my mind up on if Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is my 2nd or 3rd favorite movie of 2014. It’s between this & Her. See my full list HERE if you’re bothered. 🙂