Top 5 Thursday: Movies with a Number in the Title

There are a lot of great movies that have a number in the title (not counting sequels like “Back to the Future Part II”). I made a list and started ranking them. It wasn’t easy, because there are many good films that I love and are on my all-time favorites list. Here is my top 5.

5. 21 Grams

This is the movie that introduced met to Naomi Watts, my favorite actress, and Alejandro González Iñárritu, one of my favorite directors. It’s a story filled with characters that grab you and you start caring about. Such a fantastic film.

 

 

4. (500) Days of Summer

This movie I fell in love with after the first watch. It first looks like yet another boy meets girl story, but it’s anything but that. It’s a very unconventional romantic comedy, with great cinematography and acting.

 

 

3. 127 Hours

James Franco at his best. One of the best films of the last decade and definitely one of the best make performances ever. I love this movie, one huge adrenaline rush.

 

 

2. 50/ 50

It seems impossible, but it’s a movie about cancer that is brought with a lot of humor and wit. And exactly that is what makes this movie so great.

 

 

1. Seven

One of the best movies ever made, a film that still terrifies me every time and captivates me. “Seven” is a sublime and brilliant thriller.

 

 

They Almost Made the Top 5: 12 Years a Slave, 101 Dalmatians, The 40 Year Old Virgin, 28 Days Later, District 9, The Sixth Sense, Twelve Monkeys, 10 Things I Hate About You, Apollo 13, The Fifth Element

Best & Worst: Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts is a brilliant actress, who can hardly ever do anything wrong. So I’m not sure if I can pick a worst. But I have to, so I will. She is my favourite and here is my choice of best & worst Naomi Watts movie.

This is the movie that introduced me to her. Since then I wanted to see everything with Naomi Watts in it. She plays such a fragile role, so sublime! It’s that my other favourite Charlize Theron took home the Academy Award that year, but it’s definitely an oscar worthy performance. This movie is such a masterpiece.
Honorable mentions: “King Kong”, Mulholland Drive”, “The Impossible”, “The Painted Veil”

A very disappointed movie, not a lot happened here. Naomi Watts didn’t get enough screen time, maybe that’s why I didn’t like it. The plot sounded more interesting then the actual movie eventually was.
Dishonorable mentions: “Movie 43” (This seemed like the easy choice, because no one likes it)

Top 5 Thursday: Naomi Watts Movies

Somehow I realized just now that I didn't do a Top 5 Thursday last week. Well, here's one again. I decided to share with you my five favorite movies of my all-time favorite actress Naomi Watts. Now I have finally seen “The Impossible” I can make this list. Naomi Watts has been my favorite actress ever since I saw her in “21 Grams”. I don’t think many people share this favorite, but she captivates me every single time. She is so convincing and I think she is absolutely fantastic. Here are my favorites.

5. The Painted Veil
This movie didn’t make it to theatres here in the Netherlands, which proves again what a strange country this is. When I saw the trailer for the first time, I just had to see it. So when I saw the DVD in the store I just had to have it. Wonderful movie that not a lot of people know about.

4. The Impossible
I saw it recently for the first time. I was so ashamed, as a Naomi Watts fan, that I hadn’t seen it yet. But I was touched by this movie. This might even be Naomi’s best performance so far. Her second Academy Award nomination.

3. Mulholland Drive
This is one of those mindf*** movies. You think you understand it, but than you don’t and you’re surrounded by all sorts of weird characters. Mastermind David Lynch made a fantastic film and I thank him for letting Naomi star in it.

2. King Kong
Although Kong is the star of this film, I loved Naomi in it. The scenes with the two of them in it are so beautiful. This movie blew my mind.

1. 21 Grams
Like I said in my intro, this movie introduced me to Naomi Watts. This also got Naomi her first Academy Award nomination (it went to my other favorite Charlize Theron). After seeing her in “21 Grams” I knew I wanted to see everything she was in.

They Almost Made the Top 5: Eastern Promises, The Ring, I Heart Huckabees, Fair Game, J. Edgar

In the Picture: The Characters from "21 Grams"

Although normally I focus on films with at least five leading character, I decided to go with a somewhat smaller cast. “21 Grams” is one of the best movies ever made and it has complicated, strong characters. Only three important characters. Here they are.

Paul Rivers
Played by: Sean Penn
Paul is a mathematics professor with a fatal heart condition. Unless he receives a new heart from an organ donor, he will not live longer than one month. Paul's wife wants him to donate his sperm so she can have his baby even if he dies. The two are civil to one another, yet distant. Paul finally receives a heart, from Christina Peck’s late husband. After he found out about the donor, he wants to find Christina. When he does, the two develop a relationship. Though Paul has a new heart, his body is rejecting the surgery and his outlook is grim.

Christina Peck
Played by: Naomi Watts
Christina is a recovering drug addict and now lives a normal suburban life with a supportive husband and two children. She is a loving mother and active swimmer who has left her days of drugs and booze behind. When her husband and daughters are hit by a car, she wants to move on with her life but soon falls back into her old habits. As Cristina begins to dwell more on her changed life and the death of her girls, she continually focuses on a desire to exact revenge on Jack. She goads Paul into agreeing to murder him.

Jack Jordan
Played by: Benicio Del Toro
Jack is a former convict who is trying to better his life. He is using his new-found religious faith to recover from drug addiction and alcoholism. One night Jack hits a man and two little children, who are killed due to the accident. It’s Christina’s family and Jack is stricken with guilt following the accident. Despite his wife's protests to keep quiet and conceal his guilt, Jack tells her that his "duty is to God" and turns himself in. While incarcerated, he claims that God had betrayed him, loses his will to live and tries unsuccessfully to commit suicide. He is released after Cristina declines to press charges, as she realizes that putting Jack in prison will not bring her family back. When Jack is released, he is unable to reincorporate himself into normal family life, and instead leaves home to live as a transient, working a job of manual labor.

Favorite Character: Christina Peck

Movie Tip #8 - 21 Grams

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Starring: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo, Clea Duvall

Description: This is the story of three gentle persons: Paul Rivers (Penn) an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English emigré, Christina Peck (Watts), an upper-middle-class suburban housewife, happily married and mother of two little girls, and Jack Jordan (Del Toro), an ex-convict who has found in his Christian faith the strength to raise a family. They will be brought together by a terrible accident that will change their lives.

Review: In the beginning the story seems a little complicated (this director also made "Amores Perros" and "Babel") but in the end all the pieces come together. The performances of the actors are incredible and believable. Watts and Del Toro even got nominated for an Academy award in 2003. What is the movie's message? That people shouldn't be so quick to judge others? That could be one interpretation, but what's nice about the film is that it doesn't hammer this lesson into us. It just tells a moving and stirring tale about complex characters, and viewers can take from it what they please. It's definitly worth watching.