For those of you who have never heard of this movie, shame on you. Long story short, Thank You For Smoking is a sarcastic comedy about a tobacco lobbyist named Nick Naylor (alliteration is cheesy, I know, but the film is essentially a live-action cartoon). On the subject of Nick Naylor, his actor (Aaron Eckhart) is absolutely brilliant in his comedic timing but that's for a bit later, but before we talk about that, there is another terrific subject to mention: One of the best bits of the movie is something I occasionally rip on, the color scheme of the movie is almost nothing but orange hues which again makes it seem like an adult's version of a cartoon, which has almost a stunning effect on the eyes making it as fun to look at as it is to listen to. Getting on that, every line in this film will either provoke some deep thought or make you howl to a point that'll echo throughout whatever living arrangement you happen to be in and wake up most of your neighbors. In addition to all of this fantastic comedy, every last role is performed to the full extent of the law with spot-on comedic timing. Did I mention it was directed by Jason Reitman?
This film is a bit of an exception from the other films on the list, mainly because this movie is not in a deadlocked tie for my favorite film, this movie is mainly on the list because of the performance of one man, and that man is not Heath Ledger. This is no offense to the performance of the late Mr. Ledger, but there is a slower descent to madness compared to The Joker's uncompromising and unstoppable evil. In this slow decent to madness, a man I mentioned not one paragraph ago, Aaron goddam Eckhart. Just as Heath Ledger came right out of the page channeling The Joker, Eckhart brought the quintessential Two-Face to the table, and although there isn't really a lot to compare it with, I honestly don't give a damn. Where The Joker brings chaos and terrific lines, Two-Face brings about skill and range. But you know what drags these two masters of their art down? CHRISTIAN BALE'S STREP THROATED BATMAN
Another Jason Reitman film, and one very similar to Thank You For Smoking actually. Both pictures follow a short ride into the lives of two charming corporate anti-heroes, and although Up in the Air's travelling corporate downsizer, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), has much less finesse than tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor, he isn't just likable to the open-minded, smokers and tobacco farmers. With what Up in the Air loses in style (although I guarantee, this is a Jason Reitman film, it still has it in spades), it makes up for in sentimentality and substance. As opposed to Nick Naylor's love-him-or-hate-him nature, Ryan Bingham grows on you substantially as the film goes on and as he downsizes more and more people, especially in one scene in particular where Bingham meets with a man whom he has just fired (JK Simmons, Yup, this is a Jason Reitman movie alright) and gives him hope in a way almost magical. This movie is simply hard to describe, but like many other films on this list, it has an almost hypnotic effect and that remains for several watches.
I'm sure most of you have heard of Mr. Tim Burton's magnum opus, so I'll try to keep this bit relatively short, but I feel like this masterwork deserves a mention. Although this movie came out fairly recently (1990), it sadly is the most recent and perhaps the last great, untouchable fairy tale. This is not to say that Edward Scissorhands is better than every other entry on this list (though it is better than a fair few), it's just simply the way this story is written. Despite much of it's fairly adult themes, lies an innocent love and a simple metaphor for growing up. I love this movie and I thank him very much for creating this masterpiece, but I beg of him to either make a relevant movie (something he's failed to do since 2003 with Big Fish) or just retire. I'm sure Tim Burton is a wonderful person, but I'm confused with how after he can go from crafting such a wonderful timeless fairy tale to just ruining and mangling other timeless fairy tales.
love your eloquent critiques of these great movies. i look forward to reading the rest.
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