# 158 Gone with the Wind (1939)

Gone with the Wind is a movie about the life of a plantation owner's daughter, who is considered very beautiful, but also selfish and manipulative. She spends most of her life thinking that she's in love with one man, but it the end it turns out that all of her feelings were an illusion. Most of it is set in the days of the Civil War, and it also shows how the war changed people's lives.

I enjoyed the movie a lot, but just about as much as I liked the movie, I hated the main character, Scarlett O'Hara. I mean she is a very annoying person, and I don't think she's nearly as attractive as Melanie Hamilton. I guess spoiled people, especially women, really get on my nerves. She did grow as a person towards the end of the movie, but why did she have to go through all these things to realize something so simple? Does it really take that long? So basically I believe that she got what she deserved.

All the other characters, on the other hand, are a lot more likable, and I wish they life stories weren't so sad. Ashley and Melanie are very sweet, the latter doesn't even have any flaws, so I'm not sure if people like Melanie really exist. Clark Gable is a little too funny-looking for the role, but he after a while I got used to that.

The second part of the movie has more conversation and less action, which made me like it more, whereas my husband liked it less than the first part. The cinematography is good for the time, and so is the acting. I don't mean to sound like I'm trying to put it down because of all the flaws I've mentioned, but what I enjoyed the most about it is the story itself. I never finished reading the book, so may be that's what I should do.

Interesting fact: David O. Selznick begged Margaret Mitchell, author of the novel, to critique every aspect of the production. An intensely private person, Mrs. Mitchell gave one criticism of the facade of the design for Tara, which was ignored. Afterward, she refused to comment on any aspect of the film during production.

Favorite quote: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn".

# 157 The Terminator (1984)

The Terminator is a low-budget scientce fiction movie from the eighties about a human-looking and unstoppable cyborg assassin that came from the future in order to kill a woman, whose yet-unborn son will lead a resistance movement against cyborgs.

It's very hard to understand what's going on, and what the movie is about when you first start watching it. Who is Kyle Reese? Is he just a good-looking lunatic? And, like in any good movie with a twisted plot, we have a character who is completely unaware of the situation, and through that character we are introduced to the world of The Terminator. So basically we have Kyle Reese explaining everything to Sarah, just like in Inception Cobb explains everything to Ariadne.

It's a very dark thriller, both literally and metaphorically. I think one of the reasons it's shot in very dark colors is that they were unable to provide high-quality special effects back then, so that's what they did. I believe the same trick was used when filming Alien (1979). Of course, this technique also creates the right mood.

I liked The Terminator. Even Arnold's terrible accent didn't seem out of place here. The idea itself is very interesting, and back in the eighties I'm sure it gave many people nightmares. So I think this movie definitely deserves being on the list, and I'm glad I watched it again, now that I'm older and able to understand it.

Interesting fact: Near the beginning of the movie, when Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) receives a message on her answering machine breaking her date, the voice on the machine is James Cameron's. Years later, Hamilton and Cameron got married and subsequently divorced.

Favorite quote: Sarah Connor: So Reese is crazy?

Dr. Silberman: In technical terminology: he's a loon.

# 156 The Graduate (1967)

The Graduate is a movie about a troubled young man who has just graduated from college and is home for the summer. A one-night stand with his parents' friend Mrs. Robinson turns into a relationship, but things get even more messed up what he falls in love with her daughter. The whole story is told in a bitter-comic manner (that I like so much).

I can't find the words to describe how awesome this film is. The director masterfully depicts how it feels to be young and experience all the pressures and expectations from you parents when you don't really feel like doing anything with your life. Another thing I can relate to is being in a relationship with someone my parents would never approve of.

As you can see, this movie is very personal to me in many ways, and it's very very realistic. One of the things that contributed to it is the cinematography, and all the camera techniques used in this film. My favorite two scenes are the party at the beginning, and the seduction scene. I think they are shot perfectly, and this helps us understand what exactly Ben feels at the moment, it makes us feel as if we were there. The wonderful music of the sixties also compliments the film.

I probably would have thought that it's a Woody Allen film, if I hadn't known that it was directed by a different person. The movie is composed of two parts: before and after Ben's relationship with Mrs. Robinson is revealed. They are very different, even stylistically, and I liked the first part a little better, but the second part was good too.

Interesting fact: In Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft's first encounter in the hotel room, Bancroft did not know that Hoffman was going to grab her breast. When Hoffman did it onscreen, director Mike Nichols began laughing loudly offscreen. Hoffman began to laugh as well, so rather than stop the scene, he turned away from the camera and walked to the wall. Hoffman banged his head on the wall, trying to stop laughing, and Nichols thought it was so funny, he left it in.

Favorite quote: Mrs. Robinson: Isn't there something you want to tell me?

Benjamin: Tell you?

Mrs. Robinson: Yes.

Benjamin: Well, I want you to know how much I appreciate this. Really.

Mrs. Robinson: The number.

Benjamin: What?

Mrs. Robinson: The room number, Benjamin. I think you ought to tell me that.

Benjamin: Oh, you're absolutely right. It's 568.

# 155 Stand by Me (1986)

Stand by Me is a movie based on Stephen King's short novel about four friends who set out on a journey to the woods to find a dead kid who was apparently hit by a train. It came out the year I was born, but it's surprising how some things, like human relationships and stereotypes, don't change over the years. I think this is why old dramas look better than movies of other genres.

What this movie does is take you back in time. I can't say that when I was twelve I had the same type of relationship with a group of kids my age, or that I had the same kind of adventures, but I certainly do remember having similar feelings, laughing and crying over similar things.

I think that the writers did an amazing job, so it was easy for the actors to play so convincingly. Of course I don't mean to downplay the children's acting, as they all did good. I was amazed that River Phoenix played so well in the break-down scene; later on I found out that the director made the boy think of a time in his own life when an adult had let him down and used it in the scene. It always interests me what happens to child actors when they grow up, and, once again, Phoenix's death proved us that early fame can wreck lives.

Not so many of Stephen King's stories have turned into good movies. Surprisingly only one of them (The Mist) is a horror film, and the rest of them are dramas. I liked everything about this movie. I don't agree with the idea that we'll never find any friends that will be closer to us than the ones we had when we were twelve. Or may be it is true, except for I would replace the word "twelve" with the word "eighteen". Anyway, Stand by Me is a great movie, with a young John Cusack as a bonus.

Favorite quote: "Alright, alright, Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?"

Interesting fact: While practicing his lines, Jerry O'Connell was incredibly impressed that, as an 11-year old, he was being allowed to swear.

# 154 Sar Trek (2009)

Star Trek is the eleventh film based on the Star Trek TV series that came out not so long ago, so I got to see it at the movies and enjoy all the special effects. It tells us about the early days of James T. Kirk, the death of his father, and how he became the captain of the Enterprise.

My first question is about the title. How come the preceding ten films had "a little something in the end". So we have Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek Nemesis, and all of a sudden they shoot a movie and call it simply "Star Trek". Why? Does this movie stand out of the rest of feature films based on the same TV series? Well since it's the only one that made it to IMDb Top 250, may be it is the best one of them, but still I thought it was pretty stupid to call it this way, as if all these other movies had never existed.

The special effects were good. I liked the cast too, especially Eric Bana as the villain (Nero), and Zachary Quinto from Heroes as Spock. There is also a Russian actor, Anton Yelchin, playing a Russian Starfleet officer. Most of all I was impressed by the make-up. At first I didn't even recognize Eric Bana with such a huge nose.

So, basically, the movie is not bad at all. I liked all the twists with the time-travel, although it was nothing new. I just really don't see what was so special about it. I've seen a lot better science-fiction movies, like Moon that came out the same year, but it didn't make it on the Top. So is Star Trek really that good, or was it just a bunch of Star Trek nerds (did I say it out loud? I meant to say "fans") who made an impact.

Favorite quote: "Who was that pointy-eared bastard?"

Interesting fact: J.J. Abrams' only two choices for Nero were Russell Crowe and Eric Bana.

# 153 Trainspotting (1996)

Trainspotting follows a group of heroin addicts from Scotland that go through the same things a drug addict would normally go through in his life: trying to quit, adjusting to sober lifestyle, going back on drugs, and doing everything possible trying to find money for drugs. At first I didn't like the movie because it was so gross. I mean, of course there is nothing pretty about drug abuse, but some scenes in this film were unnecessarily disgusting (like the one where Spud defecated all over his girl's bed).

I started realizing that the movie is in fact not that bad when they all decided to go back to using heroin. From that point I liked everything about the movie. It's not all depressing, unlike most drug-related movies, parts of it are very optimisitc, especially the ending that shows us that there's hope for everybody, but if you don't start a new life, you might end up like Tommy who died of toxoplasmosis after being tested HIV positive.

Towards the end Trainspotting turns into a crime story. Actually I think the whole movie is not as much about the harm of drugs, as it is about bad influence. No matter how much you're trying to change you life, if you're still surronded by the same people, you'll go back to doing whatever everybody else is doing. The main character even goes to London and starts a job as a real estate agent, but his mates come and stay at his place, steal from him and wreck his apartment. After that he goes back to the life of crime. All he needed to do was tell his friends to leave him alone! But he didn't do it. Why? Those people were his "mates".

The cast was amazing. I seriously think that it was Ewan McGregor's best role, I never really liked him, but this time he did an awesome job. The support cast is excellent too. We have a funny guy, a violent guy, a smart guy, and a tragic guy here. Pretty stereotypical, but it all looks very natural on the screen. Trainspotting is not for everyone, and I'm even surprised that I enjoyed it so much, but, unless you have a weak stomach, it's worth checking out.

Favorite quote: "I chose not to choose life. I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?"

Interesting fact: Various options were considered to make the film more intelligible for American audiences. Subtitles were ruled out as they would spoil the effect of using them in the disco scene. Instead, the actors re-recorded the first 20 minutes of dialog, softening their accents to atune American ears to the Scottish dialect.

# 152 Finding Nemo (2003)

I was lucky to see Finding Nemo when it premiered in the United States. I remember it being so overhyped, they wouldn't stop talking about it on Disney Channel, and everybody I knew couldn't wait for it to come out. So I was somewhat sceptical about it, but the movie turned out to be great. Back then it represented a revolution in feature film animation.

The cartoon is about a clownfish that became tired of being controlled by his father, and decided to prove that he's grown up by swimming near the fishing boat only to be caught by a scuba-diver. He becomes an aquarium fish, and tries to find a way to escape while his father travels across the Pacific to find him. The plot is simple but far from being trivial.

The world of Finding Nemo is full of interesting creatures (I think that the baby turtles were the most adorable), it's so diverse, and the creators of this movie provide so much detail that you start forgetting you're watching a cartoon. Both animation and storytelling are on a very high level here, and I still enjoyed it a lot when I was watching it again, despite the fact that I am seven years older now, and the technology has moved on so much.

The humor in this film was brilliant. What we actually see is a parody of human society, with a lot of hilarious jokes, like a group of sharks starting a mutual aid club that's so much like Alcoholics Anonimous. Another good thing about it is that there are no villains in this movie. "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta eat" - everybody's doing what they are supposed to do. There's no good and no evil. Everynody should see this one, no matter how old you are.

Favorite quote: "What is it with men and asking for directions?"

Interesting fact: Animators studied dogs' facial expressions, paying particular attention to the eyes, to animate the expression of the fish.