But Stu IS red.

The most memorable thing from Chariots is the the theme, which I will forever associate with the obstacle course scene in Mr. Mom.

I'll forever associate it with Japanese Cowboy by Ween.

That house was probably mortgaged to the eyeballs.

Oh. The only Ween songs I know are Buddy Holly and Beverly Hills.

...

I deserved that. Far from my best work.

best?

Gandhi - Technically, I've seen this movie before. When I was in 6th grade, someone thought it'd be a swell idea to take a shitload of 11- and 12-year-olds out to the theater to watch a 3-hour epic about brown people negotiating over a big area of dirt. For a kid raised on Star Wars, Rocky, and Rambo, it was excruciating. Back at school, some kids tried to get better grades by saying they actually liked it, but they were just a bunch of kiss asses. For a good chunk of my teenage years, this was my immediate offering when the worst movies of all time were mentioned. Of course, maturity made me realize Star Wars had its flaws, only the first Rocky movie was any good, and the Rambo movies were jingoistic crap. I still avoided a second viewing of Gandhi even though I knew it couldn't be as awful as I remembered. I was right. It's not that bad, but it's not particularly great either. Ben Kingsley is undeniably great in this, and I thought the makeup which showed Gandhi's gradual aging was fantastic. Kingsley completely disappeared into this role. The makeup had a lot to do with it. But it's still a long 3+ hours of watching Gandhi's various protests, his fasting, endless weaving, etc. There's not a lot of tension or creativity in the storytelling. It's telling that for me it perked up during the Intermission. There was a blank screen and some dude wailed away on the tablas. He was rockin' the ashram. I found Gandhi's philosophies interesting, but in the end, I admired the man, but not the movie. This is one of those big David Lean-esque epics that the Academy loves, but few regular moviegoers do. It's an okay movie to watch once, but you don't ever need to revisit again, even if you were an 11-year-old shithead when you first saw it.

Did it deserve to win?: It was a weak year. E.T. was the big competition, but that for me was the opposite of Gandhi. I loved it as a kid, but it's not so great when you're an adult. There are other worthies like Diner, Tootsie, and Beastmaster. It was one of those year when the best film was probably something foreign, like Fanny and Alexander.

(out of 5)

Up next: Terms of Endearment

Speilberg was robbed that year.

E.T. is over-rated, popcorn crap. And even worse, until the end, it is boring as hell. The wife got it for me when it came out on DVD and I don't think I've ever watched it all the way through.

I bet you kick puppies when no one is looking.

Bigboy and the Tin Man have something in common.

Just 2 stars for Gandhi? Ouch.

I watched it recently. It's at least 3.

Oh look who's back in the Best Movie Thread to tell us what's what.

I was teetering between 2 and 3, but I don't do that half-star shit. I went with 2 because I really don't ever want to sit through it again.

I think it's borderline 4 stars, but I still don't want to sit through it again.

anything with curry sauces doesn't deserve more than 3

ET sucks.

I've given it more thought, and Gandhi deserves more than 2 stars. I'm upgrading it to 3 stars as I acknowledge that it's a well-made film that's given me some stuff to ponder after viewing. That said, I still don't ever want to sit through it again.

you must be a Democrat, damn flip floper

You must be a Republican since you lack the brain functionality to spell simple words.

What divisive rhetoric!

Wanna go coon huntin'?

Terms of Endearment - Yep, it's time to put away your wieners and get out your vagina things, because it's time for a chick flick. There are not two more dreaded words when it comes to dudes watching movies than 'chick flick'. The implication is you're gay and faggot if you like any movie of this kind. Well then, slap my ass and call me Tammy because this is a good movie and I like it. If you're a dude and you don't like it, guess what? It wasn't made for you. This is a mother/daughter relationship story. Women love it because it reminds them of the love/hate relationships they have with their own mothers and it makes them cry. As the film stands to those of us outside its target audience, it's gets over an uneven beginning to become an exceptionally strong drama. The beginning, to me, felt too choppy as it covers about 30 years in 30 minutes, going from Debra Winger as a baby to having her third child. There's a lot going on there and it's jumpy and episodic. When it finally settles down to focus on a single period in the lives of these two women, it takes off as it allows the characters to develop. Early on, Shirley MacLaine (still hot at 50) is a cold, self-centered bitch. As she develops, she reveals needs and soft spots, most of which are exploited by Jack Nicholson, who tears shit up and gives the dudes watching someone to root for. Eventually, someone dies and it's very emotional. I didn't cry, but it was very sad, and any tears it gets out of you, it earns. That's all, and thus end my vaginal monologue.

Did it deserve to win?: An acceptable choice in another weak year. They took us to see The Right Stuff that year at school and a shitload of 7th graders loved it. Haven't seen it since, so I don't know how it holds up, but it's either this or that.

(out of 5)

Up next: Amadeus

Call me a fag, too. I like it. I'm not much of a Nicholson fan, but he's damn good in this. This was also a movie almost completely sullied by a really bad sequel nearly 20 years later.

The Right Stuff absolutely holds up. I've lost count of the number of times I've stumbled across it on cable over the years and got sucked into watching all 3 fricken hours.

Call me a fag too! Shirley McClain rocks this film.

I apologize for this review. I lost interest and petered out at the end.

That was a pretty good movie and a good era for the Corvette.

Jeff Daniels was great as well. You really hated the narcissistic, self-centered son of a bitch his character turned out to be.

Shirley MacLaine was fantastic and her scenes with Jack are fantastic. They're a lot of fun to watch together. She won the Oscar because she had the more showy role (and she was overdue.) Debra Winger was just as good even though she didn't have an hysterical Oscar-baiting hospital freakout scene. She completely nails the scene where she says goodbye to her kids in the hospital, even overcoming the horrible acting by the older kid.

You're a fag as too.

Amadeus -To me, Mozart will always be the guy who rocked Falco. That's a lie. However, I've always thought it was cool how they portray Mozart as the coolest rock star of his day in this movie. Mozart was Springsteen to Salieri's John Cafferty. Maybe that's not a fair comparison since Springsteen's always seemed to have his head screwed on straight. Mozart was a genius composer, but a mess of a man. That mess is the heart of this story as Salieri battles not with Mozart, but with God over who should be the vessel to most greatly praise God through music. He questions why it should be this crass, crude manchild rather than himself, a patron of virtue. Salieri is one jealous prick. F. Murray Abraham is awesome in this. Tom Hulce is great too as Mozart and he has the more showy role, but Abraham is the one who keeps the film moving forward. As for the film itself, it is a great, complete piece of work barely any missteps (I've always thought the woman who plays Mozart's wife is terrible and completely out of place.) Great performances, great sets, great costumes. Great plot, great suspense, great music. And fart jokes. Never forget the fart jokes. Great film.

Twist: I watched the Director's Cut since I couldn't find the original version anywhere. It had about 20 minutes of extra footage. I don't know the original version well enough to know what the new footage was, but the movie seemed to drag a little more than I remember. I'm tempted to dock a star for this version, but that isn't fair. I've always thought this movie was brilliant and I'm sticking with that until I can see the original cut again.

Did it deserve to win?: Yessir. The Killing Fields was equally great, but this is one of those epic Oscar bait movies that deserved to win. The 80s loved them some prestige pictures. So far Chariots of Fire and Gandhi weren't great choices, but this one was.

(out of 5)

Up next: Out of Africa

Great review. Mozart's Requiem has always been one of my favorite pieces of music.

Worth noting that Salieri and Mozart were very friendly in real life. There's no evidence of the jealousy portrayed in the movie. Much like the Social Network isn't really about the founding of facebook, Amadeus isn't a Mozart biopic.

This is one of my favorite movies, too. Always fun to pull this one out in conversation as it may be the ultimate movie snob movie for my generation. The English Patient became the default for the next generation, but that just proves how much subsequent generations suck.

*sheepishly contributes "I've never really had a problem with The English Patient."*

ok, back up, here Mr Too cool for Cinema school.
WTF is wrong with The English Patient? It may not have been as good as the Oscars may have thought, but it did not suck.

True, The English Patient did not "suck."

When discussing a British film it is customary to use the British venacular. Therefore, The English Patient inhaled.

What, didn't like it because the soundtrack didn't have any Skynyrd?

I'm with Walt on this one. I never got why The English Patient got such a bad rap. There were plenty of stuffy British flicks that came before it that were worth all the derision. All haters are fags who think Jerry Maguire was robbed that year.