Friday's Top Five - Best Movie Casts

Sorry to have gone so long without an update. Life's been pretty hectic as of late. Now... on with the list!

In my mind, there's little that can make a good movie even better than a fantastic ensemble. Some movies are lucky to have one or two good-to-great actors in order to bolster sales and increase viewership, but there is not like a plurality of those kinds of actors to make it an instant classic! Here are some of my favorite ensemble casts:

5. L.A. Confidential (1997)
Starring Academy Award winners like Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, and Kim Basinger (in the role that won her that Oscar), nominees like James Cromwell, David Strathairn, and Danny DeVito, and Satellite Award nominee Guy Pearce, L.A. Confidential is a story about love, loss, and betrayal in a town where such words are more commonplace than shamed actors. Each actor in the film is simply spectacular, particularly Crowe and Pearce, who play two sides of the same coin as the only honest cops in a crooked department. Easily one of the better casts assembled in recent years, it's amazing they lost the SAG 'Best Ensemble' to *shudder* The Full Monty.

4. A Few Good Men (1992)
In a cast led by three-time Oscar nominee Tom Cruise (in that cocky role he was born to play), three-time Oscar winner Jack Nicholson, and two-time Golden Globe nominee Demi Moore, A Few Good Men (directed by Oscar nominee Rob Reiner) also stars the ubiquitous Kevin Bacon, the amazing Kiefer Sutherland, the hilarious Kevin Pollack, and the incomparable J.T. Walsh along with cameos by Christopher Guest, Noah Wyle, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. Based on the Aaron Sorkin play, the story has it all - intruigue, murder, suspense, humor, and sharp banter and dialogue... all delivered by a truly capable and worthy cast. Though often one-dimensional, Cruise holds his own against Nicholson (no easy feat) and Sutherland lights up the screen, giving off a raw dislikability that few others can master.

3. The Usual Suspects (1995)
A film that, for me, became an immediate classic (particularly because of its amazing ending), The Usual Suspects has one of the greatest casts I've even seen. Think about it. Gabriel Byrne. Kevin Spacey. Chazz Palminteri. Benicio del Toro. Pete Postlethwaite. Kevin Pollack. Heck, even Stephen Baldwin turns in a decent performance (one of his only, that I've seen). The ensemble here performed so seemlessly and so brilliantly that there could be no doubt in anyone's mind that these men were all hardened criminals who would stab you in the face at a moment's notice. A brilliant ensemble cast!

2. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Based on a David Mamet play (which, in retrospect, should have made my list of favorite plays a couple weeks ago), this film stars Oscar winners Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Jack Lemmon, and Alan Arkin and nominees Ed Harris and Alec Baldwin, and Cannes Best Actor Jonathan Pryce... and they work together beautifully! Jack Lemmon called this cast the best ensemble he'd ever worked with. From a Hollywood legend of Lemmon's caliber, that's high praise indeed! If you don't like language, you won't like GGR, but if you can handle it, this movie is gripping, human, and brilliantly-acted!

1. Heat (1995)
One of the greatest ensembles I've ever seen. It's incredibly historic as well, being the first movie in which the legendary actors Al Pacino and Robert De Niro actually appeared onscreen together. Not only does this movie feature these two cinematic giants, but it also features Val Kilmer (The Saint), Jon Voight (Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance), Tom Sizemore (Black Hawk Down), Diane Venora (Romeo + Juliet), Amy Brenneman (TV's "Judging Amy"), Ashley Judd (Kiss the Girls), Myketli Williamson (Forrest Gump), Wes Studi (Last of the Mohicans), Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs, TV's "Monk"), Dennis Haysbert (TV's "24" and the All State commercials), Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta, Closer), Danny Trejo (Desperado, Con Air), William Fitchner (The Longest Yard, TV's "Prison Break"), Hank Azaria (Run Fatboy Run, TV's "The Simpsons"), Tone Loc (singer of "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina"), and even a young Jeremy Piven (TV's "Entourage")! With a cast like this, it's no wonder that Heat - directed by Michael Mann (Academy Award nominated director of Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, Ali, and Collateral) - ranks as one of my all-time favorite action movies and my all-time favorite ensemble film cast!

Honorable mentions: Hamlet (1996), Best in Show (2000), Pulp Fiction (1994), Reservoir Dogs (1992), A Time to Kill (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998)

So, what are some of your favorite movie ensembles?

Rantin' & Ravin': Is Originality a Liability?

Solomon perhaps said it best when he said, "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecc. 1:9). I know that, to an extent, this is true - at its basic core, everything has been done before... but should that stop us from trying to be original?

This whole idea didn't exactly germinate overnight... but was definitely set off this morning. While driving into work, I had the radio going and thought I heard something familiar. Ah, yes - the opening piano of Warren Zevon's classic "Werewolves of London". But NOO-OO-OO! Instead, I was offered Kid Rock's "All Summer Long" which not only borrowed from the great Zevon, but also swiped the background vocals and guitar licks from Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". Much as I may enjoy the occasional Kid Rock song, I was appalled.

This isn't a recent trend either. And I suppose that's what aggravates me. It's been a major problem since Vanilla Ice added a DING! to the end of Queen's "Under Pressure" in order to create his hit (yes, singular), "Ice, Ice Baby". But it's an epidemic now. From Gwen Stefani's "Wind it Up" (taken from The Sound of Music's "The Lonely Goatherd") to Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls" (which borrows the bassline from Ben E. King's "Stand By Me"), from Rhianna's "S.O.S." (the chords from "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell can be heard in the background) to the aforementioned "All Summer Long"... it's almost like we're rewarding artists for not creating.

And it's not even just music either. Ever since the late nineties, movies are created that are remakes of old sitcoms or (worst of all) other classic movies from a bygone era. Do we really need two "Dukes of Hazzard" remakes? Or another Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Can anyone really top the original casts? Not really...

I find it very frustrating to live in a society that not only praises mediocrity but also lauds unoriginality. Where are the Grammys for Sufjan Stevens, Rufus Wainwright, or Iron & Wine? Where are the bands waiting to take up the mantles of Bob Dylan, Led Zepplin, and other people who actually wrote their own music?

Is originality a liability?

Feel free to discuss.

Already off to a bad start...

I've had this blog a little over a week and already, I've gotten lax on posting promised things. I promise to make the Top Five up to you next Friday.

In fairness, though, this week has been quite busy. My buddy Matt got married this weekend to my friend Amanda. I was the best man... which was a LOT of fun, but also a LOT of work!

After the rehearsal dinner Friday night (at this great Italian restaurant in downtown Indy called Amici's), I had all the guys that came up for the wedding (9 in all) over to my place for the 'bachelor party'. I have to say... it was a blast! I made a bunch of my famous bacon-wrapped shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce (recipe to follow), which went really fast! I think everyone got their fill, though! Matt's brother Ben went out and rented Rambo which we 'watched' (I use the term loosely because most of the time, we were making fun of Rambo's unintelligible, monosyllabic speech patterns or the mindless violence dolled out so easily). All in all, we just hung out and enjoyed each other's company, which was SO much fun! We really got a chance to just relax.

After Rambo, Matt's three brothers split and the rest of us (groom, groomsmen, and Matt's friend Daniel) slept over at my place. The next morning, I got up and made homemade waffles with my Belgian waffle iron and coffee in my new French press! I also fried up the bacon that remained after the bacon-wrapped shrimp were finished. It was quite tasty!

Then... SET-UP! The males spent almost the entire day setting up for the wedding... and since it was an outdoor wedding, there was a lot to do! Putting in stakes to hang flowers from, putting up tents for shade, setting up chairs, filling up balloons... we were out there for about four hours or so! We got there at 10:45-ish (well, me and my group did) and pictures didn't get started 'til around 4:00-ish.

Outdoor wedding in August - HOT... but still not as hot as it could have been. The temp was around 90, which for an August day in Indy, isn't that bad. We wore our jackets (my fault - I told Matt I could handle it), but fortunately the ceremony was only about 10 minutes long. It was a really great ceremony too. Matt's dad officiated and was funny, endearing, and sniffle-inducing. He made Amanda cry, which is saying something.

The food was great, too. Matt and Amanda served all the guests personally, which I thought was a great take on the receiving line concept. They also had matching "Bride" and "Groom" aprons. There was chicken cordon-bleu (or chicken stuffed with cheese and broccoli), twice-baked potatoes, fruit, salad, Italian bread, and some awesome mixed veggies. There was a huge assortment of cakes as well, none of which I got to try because I was out...

DECORATING THE CAR! One of my favorite parts of being a groomsman has always been decorating the transport to the honeymoon! One of the groomsmen, Chris, and I went out Saturday afternoon and grabbed a bunch of stuff from Wal-Mart to decorate the car. I won't go into details, but the end result was quite humorous and (for the most part) enjoyed by all in attendance. A job well done, I think!

Got in late Saturday night and got up early Sunday morning. With the little sleep I'd gotten on Friday and the crazy hectic Saturday, I was really starting to feel the strain. Two Sunday School classes later, and 30+ members of the youth group are sitting around several tables at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Washington Square Mall to send off our summer intern, Jon Kundrat. When he first came to Indy First at the beginning of the summer, I took him out to B-Dubs as a way of welcoming him (the youth pastor was gone that Sunday, so I was in charge). So, someone thought it would be a good idea to send him off on his last Sunday the same way... only this time, invite the whole youth group! It was a great time of spicy wings, great fellowship, and competative trivia gaming! (I won two of the six games I played!)

After turning in the tuxes from the day before and stopping by the comic book store, I returned home at about 4:30 for a nap... which lasted only about an hour, but still managed to rest me. I got a call from Matt's older brother Dan (with whom I roomed for a semester in college) and his wife, Mary Kay (another dear friend from Olivet) who wanted to hang out. So, we went in style! We went to Stir Crazy, one of my favorite new restaurants. They serve Asian fusion cuisine - and have some great dishes! I tried the market bar for the first time... and have to say I really enjoyed it! It's basically set up Mongolian style... and you get to choose all your veggies and sauces and make a custom dish that's really quite a unique experience! I got some Szechwan shrimp with pea pods, squash, bell peppers, chili peppers, mushrooms, onions, ginger, and garlic. And, of course, we finished off with dessert! I got their signature Pyphoon while Mary Kay got the Chocolate Fondue - both awesome!

Then we decided to go see Baby Mama in the dollar theater in Greenwood. It was alright - very funny in places, but a bit formulaic and just not what any of us were expecting out of Tina Fey. Steve Martin was very funny, as were Amy Poehler and Greg Kinnear... but just not a great movie, all in all.

Well, that's all for my weekend. Hopefully, I'll be able to update tomorrow with a feature I'd like to call Hot Topic Tuesday!