New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

It now is right near the top of the Top 250 list at the Internet Movie Database, next to The Godfather. No, this film is not as sprawling, important, or all-encompassing as that Mafia saga, but despite its seemingly small goals — to prove to the film's narrator, Red (Morgan Freeman, in the role that made him America's Voice) that hope is not only real but important — it is a classic. The episodic nature of the film only helps, as we slowly but surely realize that every convict, not just Red or Andy Dufresne, is as familiar to us as the person sitting in the next seat. The big moments work as well as the small ones; it's hard not to be thoroughly moved at the film's close, as Red finally and completely gives into the wonders of hope.

The Princess Bride

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." Oh, the number of times it took me watch 1987's "The Princess Bride" to figure out what the hell Mandy Patinkin, as vengeful swordsman Inigo Montoya, was saying in that and many other dialogue exchanges with Wallace Shawn and equally marble-mouthed Andre the Giant. The weird thing is, as frustrating as it was to keep watching and watching so I could decipher each line of dialogue (the rhyming between Inigo and Fezzik is awfully difficult to understand when you're a little kid, to be sure), the movie just kept getting better and better. The story, ostensibly, of a dashing hero and his achingly beautiful princess, is far more enjoyable because of the colorful supporting cast created by screenwriter and novelist William Goldman. Sure, I wanted the two lovers to get together, but it wasn't nearly as much fun as watching Miracle Max (Billy Crystal) riffing, or even the run-up to Miracle Max.

Set up as, in some ways, the telling of a comfort story, the verbal version of chicken soup, The Princess Bride has something for everyone. For every man, there is a swordfight to end all swordfights. For every woman, there is a time-spanning romance filled with tragedy. There is comedy, there is drama, there is villainy, and there is even time for a minister with a voice like Elmer Fudd. It's perhaps the best film from director Rob Reiner; it's the highlight of Cary Elwes' career, and it may also be the only movie where Billy Crystal, Robin Wright Penn, and Peter Falk all appear, as randomly as it sounds. For all the times you feel like the young Fred Savage, hearing this story unfold, you will also fall for it and feel infinitely better.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

The songs are not particularly great (what, you don't sing "Cheer Up, Charlie" in the shower every morning?), the set is pretty obviously fake (Gene Wilder was chomping on wax when he chewed up that little yellow teacup at the end of "Pure Imagination"), and some of the child actors are...well, kind of bad. And yet, the 1971 version of Roald Dahl's novel, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a great movie to watch endlessly. Part of the joy comes out of Wilder's tour-de-force performance, part of it comes from anticipating when exactly Wilder will show up (he's absent from nearly 40 minutes of the film, and boy, does it ache when he's not onscreen), and part of it comes from the sly, edgy humor. Why do we see various people dealing with not having golden tickets and going to such lengths as abduction and computer fraud to get it? The quirks and intricacies are what make this movie unique; Wilder, the innumerable Oompa-Loompas, and all that damn chocolate are what make it great.

Continued:       1       2       3