Michael Hopcroft

The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974)
 
Director Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night) and a fantastic cast bring the Alexandre Dumas adventure masterpiece to vivid, vibrant life. A young country minor noble is sent to Paris to enlist in the King of France's elite Musketeers regiment, meets three widely contrasting fellow soldiers, and becomes involved in a court intrigue with international repercussions. This is perhaps the most-real looking portrayal of 17th-century Paris (and its contrasts between the glitter of the gilded court and the squalor of where most of the city's people live) ever committed to film, and the fight scenes are uniformly excellent. There are many great performances here, but the one that stands out is Charlton Heston as Cardinal Richelieu, one of the prime movers of the plot. His ruthlessness is contrasted with the fact that, as far as France's national interests are concerned, he is absolutely right about the Queen.
 
A note; Lester originally intended to make this as a single, epic film. When studio brass split it into two parts after shooting, the cast rebelled because they had only been paid for one film. In the end, the studio relented and paid them again (they must have been placed under serious pressure from the actor's union in the UK).

I'm inclined to agree. He started the fight and then escalated it. He tried to tear off Garrett's helmet and provoked him to respond in kind. Quarterbacks are supposed to be smarter than that.
 
Are there any circumstances under which referees can stop or even call off a game that gets dangerously rough (to the point that they need a lot of security people to protect the players from fans charging the field)?

I had to look up what that was.
 
 

"See You, Space Cowboy..."

Two notes related to that: when my parents and I saw Toy Story back when it was released, I wondered aloud if the reactions in the audience were like those to Snow White when it was released.  They thought it was a silly question. I seemed to know just what a watershed moment Toy Story was, and that film animation had been changed forever in one stroke. But Snow white really was that transformative  The difference between the rotoscoped human characters (Now, the Queen, the unnamed Prince) and the more "cartoony" hand-drawn ones (the Dwarves, the Old Witch) are jarring, but the experience obviously told the Disney animators what worked and what didn't (the Fleischer Brothers' Gulliver's Travels had the same problem). As a result, they found a much more natural compromise in Pinocchio, probably the first animated feature that could truly be described as a great film as opposed to just being a great animated feature.

A new movie about Vietnam is in production starring James Dean. There's just one catch -- he's been dead for sixty years. So the producers, with the cooperation of his estate, is creating a CGI version of the cinema icon to play the role in the film alongside human actors.
 
Needless to day, actual actors who are still alive are furious. People like Chris Evans, Elijah Wood, and Robin Williams' daughter Zelda have told twitter they are extremely concerned about resurrecting dead actors when there are innumerable living ones available. (Zelda has special cause to be worried, because her father was such a unique star that if it were possible to use his image many producers would be sorely tempted to do so.)
 
Of course, actors like John Wayne have been digitally inserted into commercials for some time. It was just as controversial then. And dialogue and photos of Laurence Olivier from early in his career were used to represent Dr. Totenkopf the villain of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, although no attempt was made to recreate Olivier in the groundbreaking CGI-heavy film.
 
I'm with the actors on this one. This possibility opens a can of worms that could have bad results for a lot of people on the creative end of Hollywood.

The Day of the Jackal 1973
After the OAS fail to assassinate President de Gaulle, the leaders of the OAS flee and decide to hire a professional assassin to kill the President. Thus begins a cat and mouse game between the French police/security services and the assassin. The viewer is shown the stages by which the assassin prepares his cover and procures and tests a weapon. The authorities find out that an assassin is on his way and begin to take steps to stop him. The end of the film is tense as the assassin tries to kill de Gaulle and the police rush to stop him. Edward Fox is the assassin and Michel Lonsdale is the determined policeman out to stop him.
Even though you know the assassin must fail it is still close and gripping. Unlike the remake with Richard Gere and Bruce Willis.

Elena of Avalor. Yes, we're going Disney Channel here. 41 years ago, Princess Elena was trapped in a magic amulet when an evil sorceress killed her parents and took over their kingdom. Now free (but technically still a minor), Princess Elena has driven off the sorceress and is now learning how to be an effective leader. She is helped by the Royal Council which includes her grandparents (who, with her little sister, survived the sorceress' reign when the Royal Wizard put them into a painting), her older, somewhat self-centered cousin (who has a connection to the Sorceress that none of the rest of the family knows about), and her teenaged best friend (the daughter of a local sea captain and her husband). She is also aided by the new teenage Royal Wizard (the grandson of the one mentioned above), a dashing young member of the Royal Guard (who is,at most, only a couple of years older than she is), and a number of magical beasts called jaquins (talking winged and feathered jaguars).
 
The show includes action, adventure, magic, strange creatures, spirit guides, extradimensional realms, evil wizards called Malvagos, and large doses of Latin culture, including at least two episodes dedicated to Dia de los Muertos. I always thought the universe of the show would be a great setting for a Fantasy Hero campaign.

A massive cosplay LARP of Stargate SG-1 with everyone carrying real guns and Foxbat (still dressed as Foxbat) playing Colonel O'Neill.

"There are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders. You acknowledge their sentience, but ignore their personal liberties and freedom. Order a man to turn his child over to the state? Not while I'm his captain."
 
"No, I am not dead. Because I refuse to believe the afterlife is run by you. The universe is not so badly designed!"
 
"Fortune favors fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise."

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) and subsequent seasons (until 1994)
 
Adapted from the Conan Doyle stories directly, this series sumptuously brought the late Victorian era to life. But the really great part was that played by Jeremy Brett, who seemed to have almost literally stepped out of  the pages of the books and brought Holmes to life. His mercurial nature, his arrogance and ego, his amazing talent, his mastery of disguise, even his drug issues -- he was the Platonic ideal of an actor playing Sherlock Holmes. I sincerely doubt that we will ever see anything quite like it again.
 
In addition, David Burke and later Edward Hardwicke redefined film/TV portrayals of Dr. Watson. Holmes would not suffer a fool, and Watson was no fool. He was still a perfect foil for Holmes, but practical where Holmes was whimsical -- firmly grounded in reality where Holmes often lived in his own mind.
 
I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Gojira(1954)- Though this is considered the prototype for all the "kaiju" films that followed(which really isn't true...1961's Mothra is a much more representative prototype of the Japanese kaiju film), it really is a masterpiece of cinema. More than just a metaphor for the atom bomb, the film is representative of war itself and of the difference even one person can make. It's all played straight...and....seen in its original Japanese form...is one of the most thoughtful and influential films of all time. The documentary style directing, black and white cinematography, and brooding powerful music all help to create a film that still impresses even today.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) and subsequent seasons (until 1994)
 
Adapted from the Conan Doyle stories directly, this series sumptuously brought the late Victorian era to life. But the really great part was that played by Jeremy Brett, who seemed to have almost literally stepped out of  the pages of the books and brought Holmes to life. His mercurial nature, his arrogance and ego, his amazing talent, his mastery of disguise, even his drug issues -- he was the Platonic ideal of an actor playing Sherlock Holmes. I sincerely doubt that we will ever see anything quite like it again.
 
In addition, David Burke and later Edward Hardwicke redefined film/TV portrayals of Dr. Watson. Holmes would not suffer a fool, and Watson was no fool. He was still a perfect foil for Holmes, but practical where Holmes was whimsical -- firmly grounded in reality where Holmes often lived in his own mind.
 
I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Speaking of Holmes --
 
The Seven-Percent Solution (1984)
 
A complete re-imagining of "The Final Problem". Holmes has been harassing an innocent mathematics professor and becoming increasingly paranoid. For Dr. Watson, the problem seems obvious: Holmes' cocaine habit has become full-fledged addiction and is making him paranoid. The great detective would not live very much longer if he kept this up, so Watson and Mycroft Holmes concocts a scheme to take Holmes to Vienna where he knows of a practitioner who can help him -- perhaps the only one who can.
 
That provider is Dr. Sigmund Freud. And once they arrived Holmes must confront his problem once and for all. during that period, he also comes to the aid of an actress in the power of an Austrian nobleman with sordid ambitions.
 
The acting is uniformly excellent: Nicol Williamson as Holmes, Robert Duvall as Watson, Alan Arkin as Freud, and near-cameos by Laurence Olivier and Charles Gray.
 
There is a heartbreaking scene that seems to have been cut from home video releases in which Watson and Freud discover that Holmes had been hiding cocaine bottles (cocaine was still legal in most of Europe) in his violin case is place of the instrument. Later in the film Freud finds Holmes another violin, and the detective plays it for the Freud family to their great delight.

Speaking of Holmes --
 
The Seven-Percent Solution (1984)
 
A complete re-imagining of "The Final Problem". Holmes has been harassing an innocent mathematics professor and becoming increasingly paranoid. For Dr. Watson, the problem seems obvious: Holmes' cocaine habit has become full-fledged addiction and is making him paranoid. The great detective would not live very much longer if he kept this up, so Watson and Mycroft Holmes concocts a scheme to take Holmes to Vienna where he knows of a practitioner who can help him -- perhaps the only one who can.
 
That provider is Dr. Sigmund Freud. And once they arrived Holmes must confront his problem once and for all. during that period, he also comes to the aid of an actress in the power of an Austrian nobleman with sordid ambitions.
 
The acting is uniformly excellent: Nicol Williamson as Holmes, Robert Duvall as Watson, Alan Arkin as Freud, and near-cameos by Laurence Olivier and Charles Gray.
 
There is a heartbreaking scene that seems to have been cut from home video releases in which Watson and Freud discover that Holmes had been hiding cocaine bottles (cocaine was still legal in most of Europe) in his violin case is place of the instrument. Later in the film Freud finds Holmes another violin, and the detective plays it for the Freud family to their great delight.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) and subsequent seasons (until 1994)
 
Adapted from the Conan Doyle stories directly, this series sumptuously brought the late Victorian era to life. But the really great part was that played by Jeremy Brett, who seemed to have almost literally stepped out of  the pages of the books and brought Holmes to life. His mercurial nature, his arrogance and ego, his amazing talent, his mastery of disguise, even his drug issues -- he was the Platonic ideal of an actor playing Sherlock Holmes. I sincerely doubt that we will ever see anything quite like it again.
 
In addition, David Burke and later Edward Hardwicke redefined film/TV portrayals of Dr. Watson. Holmes would not suffer a fool, and Watson was no fool. He was still a perfect foil for Holmes, but practical where Holmes was whimsical -- firmly grounded in reality where Holmes often lived in his own mind.
 
I cannot recommend this highly enough.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) and subsequent seasons (until 1994)
 
Adapted from the Conan Doyle stories directly, this series sumptuously brought the late Victorian era to life. But the really great part was that played by Jeremy Brett, who seemed to have almost literally stepped out of  the pages of the books and brought Holmes to life. His mercurial nature, his arrogance and ego, his amazing talent, his mastery of disguise, even his drug issues -- he was the Platonic ideal of an actor playing Sherlock Holmes. I sincerely doubt that we will ever see anything quite like it again.
 
In addition, David Burke and later Edward Hardwicke redefined film/TV portrayals of Dr. Watson. Holmes would not suffer a fool, and Watson was no fool. He was still a perfect foil for Holmes, but practical where Holmes was whimsical -- firmly grounded in reality where Holmes often lived in his own mind.
 
I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Princess Mononoke (1999)
 
Hayao Miyazaki made several great movies over the course of his career, but this one deserves special mention. In it, a prince fighting a curse that is gradually devouring him finds himself in the middle of a man-vs-nature conflict in the middle of a divinely-enchanted forest. His moral choices are not pat or easy -- the leader of the industrial center of Irontown has benevolent motives towards her people, but is willing to make accommodations and use ruthless methods to keep the town going, while the forest spirits opposing her are led by a young woman raised by wolf-gods who despises the entire run of humanity. The movie is beautiful to look at, rich in atmosphere, and morally complex. The protagonist is inserted into this situation with the ability to "see with eyes unclouded by hate".

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) and subsequent seasons (until 1994)
 
Adapted from the Conan Doyle stories directly, this series sumptuously brought the late Victorian era to life. But the really great part was that played by Jeremy Brett, who seemed to have almost literally stepped out of  the pages of the books and brought Holmes to life. His mercurial nature, his arrogance and ego, his amazing talent, his mastery of disguise, even his drug issues -- he was the Platonic ideal of an actor playing Sherlock Holmes. I sincerely doubt that we will ever see anything quite like it again.
 
In addition, David Burke and later Edward Hardwicke redefined film/TV portrayals of Dr. Watson. Holmes would not suffer a fool, and Watson was no fool. He was still a perfect foil for Holmes, but practical where Holmes was whimsical -- firmly grounded in reality where Holmes often lived in his own mind.
 
I cannot recommend this highly enough.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) and subsequent seasons (until 1994)
 
Adapted from the Conan Doyle stories directly, this series sumptuously brought the late Victorian era to life. But the really great part was that played by Jeremy Brett, who seemed to have almost literally stepped out of  the pages of the books and brought Holmes to life. His mercurial nature, his arrogance and ego, his amazing talent, his mastery of disguise, even his drug issues -- he was the Platonic ideal of an actor playing Sherlock Holmes. I sincerely doubt that we will ever see anything quite like it again.
 
In addition, David Burke and later Edward Hardwicke redefined film/TV portrayals of Dr. Watson. Holmes would not suffer a fool, and Watson was no fool. He was still a perfect foil for Holmes, but practical where Holmes was whimsical -- firmly grounded in reality where Holmes often lived in his own mind.
 
I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Fargo (1996)
 
A dishonest (and not very intelligent) car salesman in Minneapolis comes up with a hare-brained scheme to rip off his employer and father-in-law by hiring two goons to fake the kidnapping of his wife. This is only one of dozens of petty, stupid frauds he is indulging in (like cashing in fake loans from the financing company that backs sales of cars). But then something goes wrong, blood is spilled, and everything spirals out of control.
 
Enter Marge Gunderson, well-loved police chief of Brainerd, Minnesota (very little of the film actually takes place in Fargo, North Dakota). She is honest, but also kind and polite -- the recipient and deliverer of a thousand little kindnesses. These are the first murders to hit Brainerd in years, and she sets herself the task of finding out who is responsible -- a search that leads her straight to Minneapolis and the car dealership...
 
Evil isn't always brilliant. In the case of Jerry Lundegaard (the salesman), it's completely dunderheaded. Some of the things he imagines he will get away with are transparent to cursory examination, and it's not just a small-town police force that's closing in on him. And those frauds, when they spiral out of control, end up affecting everyone he pretends to care for. It's a perfect contrast to Marge, a genuinely good person looking for ways to help out in a situation where she should be in over her head -- yet strangely isn't.
 
The Coen Brothers made many good films, which can also compete for positions on this list (I need to see No Country for Old Men someday), but this is the one that stands out for it's depiction of how the struggle between Good and Evil is always with us, and that being a good person can be rewarded many times over without reward even being sought.

A Shot in the Dark (1964)
 
Jacques Clouseau,  a French police inspector (played by Peter Sellers) falls hard for the prime suspect in a murder at a magnate's estate.  Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, he is convinced she is innocent, and every time he lets her out of jail to seek the "real killer" the body count climbs higher. Each time it further infuriates Clouseau's superior, played by Herbert Lom, who gradually becomes more and more obsessed with punishing Clouseau's "incompetence". Eventually things come to a head, Clouseau tries a Christie-style "unmask the murderer" meeting despite not having the slightest clue who the real killer is, and chaos ensues.
 
This is the best of the Clouseau films by far, and a masterful parody of the mystery genre. Peter Sellers is at the top of his game, both with the verbal ingenuity that was his trademark (the Goon Show veteran was so good at so many different accents that Stanley Kubrick was able to cast him in three different roles for Dr. Strangelove) and with some of the most inspired physical comedy since the silent era. Herbert Lom's performance is also great as the chief inspector slides ever deeper into obsession and madness. (There is a brilliant scene at the very start of the film where Lom is talking endearingly to the mother of his children, only to be told his wife is on the other line). The one red flag for modern audiences is the complex interaction between Clouseau and his Chinese immigrant "houseboy", who he has instructed to attack him at random to hone his fighting skills. The racial implications are, to modern eyes, rather alarming.

Poirot (1989 -2013)
David Suchet portrays the sleuth over a 25 year period and they made all the stories that Christie wrote that involved him. It is hard to watch anyone else play the role now so thoroughly do Suchet make the role his own.
 
Similarly (1984-1992)
Joan Hickon played Miss Marple, the other great Christie staple. It is difficult to watch anyone else play the role particularly when they keep messing around with the stories or adapting other Christie works and putting Marple in them.
 
They did not do that with Marple and to a very small extent with Suchet's Poirot (Murder on the Orient Express being the prime example of meddling). 

Rathbone vs. Danny Kaye in "The Court Jester".  As mentioned, Rathbone is a trained fencer.  Kaye wasn't -- BUT he was such a quick study and excellent at mimicking others, in any shot where you don't see Basil Rathbone's face, Kaye is actually fighting a fencing master who was hired to be Rathbone's double. Rathbone had been an expert fencer since childhood, but he was twenty years Kaye's senior and couldn't keep up in a couple of the scenes. The fencing master himself, Ralph Faulkner, is said to have told Kaye to take it easy on him!

Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949
Alec Guinness plays nine characters in this dark comedy. Dennis Price plays the son of a disinherited member of an aristocratic family who murders his way to the title in Edwardian England. He writes his memoirs in prison as he is awaiting execution for the murder of one of his victims.   Also contains the deathless line 'I shot an arrow in the air: she fell to earth in Berkeley Square' after Price shoots down the suffragette aristocrat while she is in a balloon over London.