favorite movie #45: rumble fish

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #45 - Rumble Fish (1983) - Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay for Rumble Fish with S.E. Hinton while they were filming the adaptation of her first novel, The Outsiders, on location in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Matt Dillon and Diane Lane appeared in both films. But where The Outsiders is an artful, yet faithful adaptation of the popular teen novel, Rumble Fish is truly an experimental film. Filmed almost entirely in black and white, with exaggerated camera angles that suggest everything from Rebel Without A Cause to The Cabinet of Dr, Calgari, Coppola is clearly having fun with the almost mythical tale of former gang leader The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke) and the younger brother who idolizes him, Rusty James (Dillon). The Police's Stewart Copeland provided the soundtrack, which incorporated real street sounds and a tick, tick, ticking rhythmic beat which emphasizes the "time" theme that permeates the movie. Beautiful, atmospheric, a classic.

favorite movie #30: rebel without a cause

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #30 - Rebel Without A Cause (1955) - There are only three movies that James Dean starred in before his tragic death in 1955 in a car crash, but boy, did he leave an impression. A few months ago the kid and I caught Rebel Without A Cause on TCM. I hadn't seen the film in many years, and I was not only surprised by how easily he sucked me right back in to his character Jim Stark's awkward attempts to make his way in the world, but how affected my fourteen year-old daughter was by his performance, too (and Sal Mineo's tragic turn as Plato). We also recently watched Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of S.E Hinton's The Outsiders, which was heavily influenced by this film. The technicolor is amazing too, with Jim's bright blood-red jacket an immediate icon of "dangerous" youth.

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favorite movie #14: bram stoker’s dracula

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #14 - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) - There are some clunky moments, but overall this is an amazing visual experience. Director Francis Ford Coppola channels Gustav Klimt and goth and splatters it all with buckets of blood. Gary Oldman has the time of his life and chews victims and scenery in equal measure. The Oscar-winning costumes by Eiko Ishioka are beyond memorable. They’re art.

happy birthday, gary oldman

Everyone loves Gary Oldman, right? Whether he is playing a super-villain or ... a super-villain. There are so many great Oldman roles to choose from — from some high-ticket features to little-known gems. There are even a few that are appropriate to watch with the kiddies. Here are some of my favorite Oldman movies.

Sid and Nancy (1986) — Oldman played the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious and made him both a caricature and human at the same time.

Nancy, "I hate my fuckin' life."
Sid, "This is just a rough patch. Things'll be much better when we get to America, I promise."
Nancy, "We're in America. We've been here a week. New York is in America, you fuck."

I have to admit that I found the much-lauded Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) a bit of a yawn (even with Benedict Cumberbatch), but there is no denying that Oldman's George Smiley is a brilliant performance.

The Harry Potter Series — Oldman brings both menace and poignancy to his role as Sirius Black. He also looks pretty darn cool in the beard and 'stache and longcoat.

1997's The Fifth Element is a love it or hate it movie for many. I love its crazy, over-the-top energy. Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, and Chris Tucker are all a lot of fun, but Oldman, as the villain Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (with very unusual taste in hairstyle and headwear) steals every scene he is in.

1983's Meantime, directed by Mike Leigh, may be hard to track down, but it is worth it. Set in Thatcher's 1980s Britain, it tells the story of a struggling family, most of them on the dole. It is really Tim Roth's film, but Oldman is memorable as the skinhead Coxy.

Francis Ford Coppola's stylized version of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) is probably Oldman's most well-known film. The actor pulls out all the stops and makes his Vlad Dracula evil and frightening as well as seductive and sexy.

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you."

Oldman plays crooked cop Stansfield who is after Mathilda (Natalie Portman), who is under the protection of hit-man Léon (Jean Reno), in Luc Besson's wonderful Léon: The Professional (1994).

Honorable mentions:

Oldman plays Carnegie, a post-apocalyptic Wild West-style outlaw who goes up against Denzel Washington (bad idea) in 2010's The Book of Eli.

1994's Immortal Beloved is full of music and romance, a wonderful Oldman as Ludwig van Beethoven, as the film chronicles his prodigious amount of lady-loves.

Oldman brings both delicacy and menace to his voice role as the evil (of course) peacock Shen in 2011's Kung Fu Panda 2.

Playing another corrupt cop, Oldman matches wits with gorgeous assassin Lena Olin in 1993's Romeo Is Bleeding.

Tony Scott's True Romance (1993, written by Quentin Tarantino) hosts a very eclectic cast of characters (Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer), but Oldman manages to stand out as pimp Drexl Spivey.

Time for another movie marathon?

these are a few of my favorite blogs ...

If We Don't Remember Me is a great tumblelog specializing in gifs made from classic movies. And when I say classic, I mean it — Stanley Kubrick's 2001, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, and Jean Cocteau's Orphée are a few of the great movies represented on the site.

But the gifs in the posts are not just favorite scenes cut and snipped from the movies. The gifs all have a stillness, a time stands still quality. Here is a lovely one, from Orphée.

This one is amazing, a Greek bronze statue come to life, from, surprisingly, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.

Not all of the posts are serious in tone. Some have a sense of humor, too, like this one from Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein.