A Cinematic Top Ten... Er Seven: Christopher Nolan Edition

I have found in my cinematic travels through Middle Earth, Oz, and beyond that I thoroughly enjoy movies with ambiguity amongst the protagonists and antagonists. At times, this confusion bleeds into moral ambiguity. I prefer the former over the ladder, because discussions of morality get too intense and off the point. I like when traditional "bad" or "good" characters are not necessarily as they seem.

The example I most often use to illustrate this point is one of my top, if not favorite, characters in film history: Hannibal Lector. He is obviously a deplorable human being full of violence, cannibalism, and severe psychological problems. But in the Silence of the Lambs, he acts as a guide for the protagonist, though with heavy pseudo-sexual overtones that not only confuses Clarice Starling, but the audience as well. While he is disgusting and horrific, he is still an essential piece in finding and killing Buffalo Bill, a serial killer on the loose. Hence the protagonist/antagonist line blur.

Viva La Revolution!

Do you ever get the feeling that college football is like pre-Revolution France. Like your team is a peasant eating rotten fruits and vegetables like three star recruits, luke-warm fan bases, and coaches who use your college as a stepping stone rather than a destination? Do you picture Texas or Florida or Oklahoma as Louis XIV, hanging out at Versailles sitting on a golden toilet, sleeping on silk sheets, and playing catch with his pet peacocks? Do you pray and hope for an uprising, lead by the Jacobin-esque Boise State Broncos?

I know I do.

A Quick Analysis of the Harry Potter Movie Series

Currently, I am waiting around to go see the final installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise. I have always been of the opinion that the books are way better but the movies were always a nice way to relive the glory that was the books. And the movies become increasingly more important in the summer of 2007, when there were no more books to be read.

But I'm going to be brutally honest and say that, as far as movies go, the Harry Potter movies aren't all that good. Many may think this is blasphemy but lets look at a few points.

The Few, The Proud, The Lifers

They are the ones who stayed. They are those who have known one city, one fanbase, and one arena (usually) as home in their professional careers. In today's sports' world, full of greed, free agency, and egotistical athletes who insist on clashing with their coaches, GMs, or fellow players, constant movement from one franchise to the next is considered the norm rather than the exception. The exception now is staying with a team for one's entire career. In fact, it's a down-right rarity. So this post is dedicated to those players whether they fought to stay with their team or because circumstances allowed them to.

A Cinematic Top Ten: CROPCIMS Edition

Hopefully, this will be a continuing type of post which considers an interesting (sometimes unusual, sometimes pretty basic) top ten list concerning films, actor/actresses, directors, basically anything within the realm of cinema. I hope to mix it up so it's not always the same thing.

For the first rendition of this post series, I want to focus on an idea I came up with after hearing Baby Got Back while flipping through the radio. What the heck? That is what you are probably thinking right now. How does Baby Got Back relate to movies? Well, name one other song Sir-Mix-A-Lot has done. Waiting..... Still waiting.... Wait, you can't name another song he's done? Neither can I. Surprise, surprise. He's the epitome of the one-hit wonder in music. Now, this cinema theme relates to that. One hit wonder actors don't really exist because you can be really bad and still get jobs in Hollywood or an Indie film or on stage or anywhere really.