I’m actually in Las Vegas today helping organize Blogworld Expo, and one of the things happening tonight is a screening of The Kite Runner movie in advance of its national release. After the film, we’ll have film critic and nationally syndicated radio personality Michael Medved conducting a Q&A with The Kite Runner’s lead actor, Khalid Abdalla! Very cool.
More cool is that I am hoping to grab a beer with Michael afterwards, so I thought wouldn’t it be interesting to compare our favorite movies, so I went and looked at his list of his best and worst of 2006 and 2005 lists…
So let’s see… Michael has obviously seen more films than I have as he’s the film critic and I’m an aficionado. Nonetheless, I’m sure surprised that he disliked The Good German enough to put it on is worst of ’06 list, but put Flyboys on his best list. I thought The Good German was quite interesting but that Flyboys was dreadfully boring and gave up after about 15 minutes or so.
Michael’s 2005 list has a couple of additional surprises in that three of his “worst” list are actually pretty decent films: The Brothers Grimm, Sahara and The Interpreter. I admit, none of these three are great movies, but still, it’s surprising, given a year when so many dismal films came out, to see these three on Medved’s site.
What else came out? According to Films101, dismal films that were released in 2005 include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, House of Sand, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Polar Express, Sin City, and Sky High. Okay, you probably don’t agree with me on that list – and certainly Michael won’t – but what about best films?
If I had to skim the list of 2005 releases and pick my favorites? I’d choose: Batman Begins, Chronicles of Narnia, The Constant Gardner, King Kong (sort of), V for Vendetta and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit.
What I don’t see on Michael’s site, alas, is his list of favorite films, but perhaps we’ll have a chance to talk about that together. Given his current list, though, what would you guess are his favorite films? Maybe he’s like Roger Ebert and thinks The Warriors was one of the best films made (I kid you not!) but maybe not…
Remember the book, “The Golden Turkey Awards”? Michael and his brother Harry used to work together writing these type of books! As a teenager, I remember reading the ‘Turkey Award’ book and loved it. This is what breathed new life into, “Plan 9 From Outer Space” which won a special place in Michael’s heart for worst film, I guess. I get the feeling Michael loves films so much, he’s willing to review and emphasize even the ones he considers terrible. That’s Medved for ya. By the way, Michael stars in a documentary I directed entitled, “The Battles Of Tim Eyman”. Michael’s a great guy! Go Michael.
er, ebert gave the Warriors 2 out of 4 stars