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 John Hurt Movies

Happy Birthday (soon!) to John Hurt, who will be 77 on Sunday, January 22nd.

Wow – I didn’t realize just how much Hurt has starred in until I looked him up for this list. So this will be yet another Top Ten where at the end I’ll have to list some of his biggest films that I’ve not yet seen. But I won’t list everything since he’s been in 207 things!!! So here we go… Here are My Top Ten John Hurt Movies (as opposed to performances) counting down to my favorite (which is one of the greatest movies EVER):

Honorable Mentions:

16. Only Lovers Left Alive
15. Hellboy
14. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (Nuke the fridge!)
13. Thumbelina
12. The Skeleton Key (I actually quite liked this stupid movie)
11. Dogville

10. The Black Cauldron

9. The Harry Potter Movies

8. I, Claudius

7. 1984

6. Contact

5. Melancholia

4. V For Vendetta

3. TIE: Spaceballs & Watership Down

2. The Elephant Man

1. Alien

I Saw These But Don’t Really Remember Them:

– King Ralph
– Lost Souls

Some I’ve Still Not Seen:

– The Lord Of The Rings (animated) (This is on my list to watch soon)
– Midnight Express (I’ve been meaning to watch this for years… Maybe it can be a 2018 Blind Spot!)
– Rob Roy
– Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
– Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer
– The Oxford Murders
– Brighton Rock
– Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
– Sightseers
– Snowpiercer (This never did get a proper release in the UK. Still want to see)
– Jackie

**Post updated 26th of February 2017 to include Watership Down…

**Updated again 18th of June 2017 to include Dogville & Only Lovers Left Alive.

My Top Ten Helena Bonham Carter Movies

Happy Birthday to Helena Bonham Carter, who turns 50 today. 🙂

I’ll be honest – I’ve never paid that much attention to her work & I’ve not even seen her old period-drama-type films. So this Top Ten list will feel pretty incomplete (I’ve listed some big movies of hers that I’ve not seen at the end). I do respect her as an actress and like her zany style offscreen. I actually really liked her quite a lot in a very recent film (Suffragette) so I really should make an attempt to watch the remainder of her big films that I’ve not seen.

So, here are My Top Ten Helena Bonham Carter Movies (that I’ve seen so far) counting down to my favorite movie:

10. Planet Of The Apes
(Not saying this is good – I just liked the remainder even less)

9. Terminator Salvation
(Wow, I don’t remember this one)

8. Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(Apparently she had an uncredited cameo that I don’t recall but I thought this was a pretty decent movie)

7. Cinderella
(She was fun in this one)

6. Suffragette
(Loved her in this & liked the film far more than I was expecting)

5. The Harry Potter Movies
(I should really watch the final film one of these days)

4. Fight Club
(A defining role)

3. Corpse Bride
(Underrated)

2. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
(Love it)

1. Big Fish
(Athough, I badly need to re-watch this again sometime)

The Remainder That I’ve Seen:

Les Misérables (boring)
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (yuck)
Alice In Wonderland (hated it, so really not bothered about the sequel coming out tomorrow)

Some Of The Many That I’ve Not Seen:

A Room With A View
Hamlet
Howards End
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Mighty Aphrodite
The King’s Speech
Dark Shadows
The Lone Ranger

My Top Ten Hats In Movies

I’ve been lazy with these Top Ten Lists lately so it’s time to make a bit of an effort again. Here are My Top Ten Hats In Movies.

This is a pretty simple list & not exactly as creative as My Top Ten Carpets & Rugs In Movies but, thanks to discussing this one with my husband, he came up with the most creative answer (in the below Honorable Mentions). Other than that, I don’t think there are many big surprises – I’ve gone with some very well-known & iconic hats. I’ve also included one helmet but have drawn the line at full face masks, etc (so I’m not including things like Darth Vader’s helmet – that would open a huge can of worms).

As ALWAYS, these are my own personal favorites as opposed to what I think are “the best”. I like what I like. 🙂 But it means that some big ones will of course be left out. Feel free to add any more you can think of in the comments!

Here are My Top Ten Hats In Movies:

10. The Babadook in The Babadook

9. TIE: The Wicked Witch Of The West in The Wizard Of Oz & The Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films

8. Mei Kusakabe in My Neighbor Totoro

7. Pvt J.T. “Joker” Davis in Full Metal Jacket

6. Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Fantasia

5. All those hats in The Prestige…

4. The bras on the heads in Weird Science

3. Wayne Campbell in Wayne’s World 1 & 2

2. Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp in various films

1. Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones trilogy (& that other one…)

**Honorable Mentions:**

Woody & Jessie in the Toy Story films

Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare On Elm Street films

The Mad Hatter in Alice In Wonderland

Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange

Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins

Bonnie Parker in Bonnie & Clyde

And, finally…

Bonnie Rayburn’s ass in City Slickers

(Okay – I better include the quote for those who haven’t seen City Slickers. Which everyone should see, by the way!! Love it.) 😉

Bonnie Rayburn: [walking by] Good night! I’m going to bed.
Mitch Robbins: [smiling widely at her] Good night! Sleep tight.
[Bonnie smiles and waves]
Ed Furillo: [to Mitch] That was flirting.
Mitch Robbins: No, that was… politeness. That was “have a pleasant and restful evening.”
Ed Furillo: No, that was “I like your ass. Can I wear it as a hat?”

And, yes, I’ve left A LOT of hats out of my Top Ten. For the record, I did think of these…

Lawrence Of Arabia, Curious George’s man in the yellow hat, Dumbledore, V for Vendetta, Fargo, The Blues Brothers, Gandalf, The Mask, The Joker, Maleficent, Magneto, Audrey Hepburn’s various stylish hats, Elf, The Three Amigos, Dread Pirate Roberts, The Scarecrow & The Tin Man in The Wizard Of Oz, The Smurfs, Clint Eastwood in various Westerns, Fred Astaire in Top Hat, The Cat In The Hat, Oddjob’s bowler hat in James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Santa Claus in various films, Singin’ In The Rain, The Wild Ones, Jack Sparrow, Abraham Lincoln in various films, Robin Hood, Crocodile Dundee, The Seven Dwarfs, Rambo, John Wayne in various Westerns, The Pink Panther, Princess Mononoke, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Logray’s pig hat & Wicket’s balaclava

Now there’s really no other way to end this post than with the Tom Jones You Can Leave Your Hat On clip from The Full Monty: 🙂

My Top Ten Alan Rickman Movies

I did My Top Ten David Bowie Songs last Thursday so this week I figured I better do My Top Ten Alan Rickman Movies. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the Harry Potter films (I far preferred the books) but Snape was a great character & Rickman was perfect in that role. As always with these actor Top Tens, though, I’m ranking these according to how much I like the film. Maybe someday I’ll do these based on the actors’ specific roles.

R.I.P. Alan Rickman (1946 – 2016)

Here are My Top Ten Alan Rickman Movies counting down to my favorite (I’ve seen exactly ten of his films! But I’ve counted the Harry Potters as one):

10. Alice In Wonderland

9. Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

8. Love Actually

7. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

6. Dogma

5. Galaxy Quest

4. The Harry Potter Movies

3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

2. Sense And Sensibility

1. Die Hard

**This is a quick note to thank Luke of Oracle Of Film for once again running Fantasy Acting League, in which bloggers choose three actors & three actresses for the year and then earn points according to their starring roles and what star ratings are given to their movies by Empire magazine. You can see all of this year’s teams in Luke’s post HERE. I had a lot of fun with it last year (and came in at a very close second place!) so am looking forward to seeing how my team does this year. 🙂

My Choices:

Actors
Michael Shannon
J.K. Simmons
Woody Harrelson

Actresses
Rooney Mara
Teresa Palmer
Kristen Wiig

Help me win this year, Teresa Palmer!