Viola Davis’s 10 Best Movies

Viola Davis has long been one of the best character actresses on TV and in film, going back 30 years.  Especially on television, there are few shows in the 1990s and early 2000s that didn’t get a powerful guest appearance from Viola Davis, but it wasn’t really until her Oscar-nominated turns in Doubt and The Help that she broke out in film.  Davis has an ability to be warm and funny but also astoundingly intense in both emotional and cold ways that rival the ability of any living actress.  She can be downright scary in her intensity at times.  You can pick apart a lot of Suicide Squad, but I don’t think anyone would disagree that Davis was a perfect Amanda Waller for the DCEU.  While continuing as one of the premier actresses in film, justly winning an Oscar for her riveting performance in Fences (a supporting actress Oscar for what was really a lead role), she’s also finally gotten a hit TV series of her own with ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder (for which she’s netted an Emmy).

2013 Movies I Liked that Rotten Tomatoes Didn’t

For years, Rotten Tomatoes has been the best measurement I know of to pre-judge the strength of a film.  In case you’re unfamiliar with the site, rottentomatoes.com takes the reviews of media outlets all over the world, converts their reviews into a 1-10 rating and then averages them to find the movie’s “percentage positive”.  Over 60% is positive for them; less than that it’s a rotten tomato of a film. 

Harrison Ford’s Latest 10 Movies vs. Greatest 10 Movies

Latest vs. Greatest looks at directors, actors and actresses and assess the state of their career as it stands.  We’ll look back at the last 10 movies the artist has done, give them a grade and then average them out to see where they stand today.  We’ll also rank their 10 best movies and give those the same treatment to see how they have been doing compares to their very best work.  (A quick side-note: if an artist is also a regular on a TV show we’ll grade the seasons as individuals and, clearly, artists need 10 projects to qualify).

Harrison Ford was, without question, the biggest star in the world in the 1980’s.  Ford owned the eighties.  It was the best run of work in his career and cemented not one but two of his characters into icon status reserved for few in the history of film.  Since, Ford has typically played the everyman character, whether this happened to be Jack Ryan, the President of the United States or a software designer.  It’s that quality that enabled him to rise from a career that began in carpentry to superstar  status.  He’s a movie star that doesn’t really seem like a movie star.

Ford and George Lucas will always be inextricably linked (whether Ford likes it or not).  Ford’s breakout role was in Lucas’ American Graffiti, he had a small part in what many forget was orignally Lucas’ brainchild: Apocalypse Now and then he became an international legend with two of Lucas’ best characters: Han Solo and Indiana Jones.

Though Star Wars is consistently one of the topics on which I post the most articles, I’ve not yet discussed any of the films from the standpoint of critical review.  I could write several thousand words on any of them, so let’s simply for now say: Star Wars and Middle-earth are the two most dominant fictional universes and pop culture frameworks of my life.  He’s Han Solo, for crying out loud!  He’s an awesome scruffy-looking nerf herder who DID shoot first (bad George, bad).  He’s the grounding influence of the whole original trilogy.  He doesn’t care about the Force.  He just likes his ship, his big furry friend and the princess doesn’t suck either.

Concurrent to the shaping of Han Solo into an international household name, was Ford’s embodiment of another character every bit as memorable and legendary (arguably more so since this one is the film’s main character): Indiana Jones.  How much different would the pop culture landscape be if Tom Selleck had taken Indiana Jones instead of Magnum P.I.?  When he couldn’t do it, Ford stepped in and the rest is history.  While there are certainly similarities between Han and Indy (the moment in Raiders when Indy shoots the scimitar wielding maniac is totally Han), Jones is very distinct.  How many kids went off to become archaeologists inspired by the thought of crashing through ruins wielding a whip only to become tenured class-bound alcoholics?  Random thought. 

The four Indiana Jones films vary wildly in quality compared to the three Star Wars films in which Ford participated.  I think Raiders and Last Crusade are pretty perfect and don’t care for Temple or Kingdom at all.  I may like the character of Indiana Jones though best among Ford’s roles.  In my opinion, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the greatest action-adventure film of all-time.  Discuss amongst yourselves.

Here’s something you may not know: Harrison Ford has an Oscar nomination.  A well-deserved Oscar nomination, I might add.  Ford rarely stretches himself, which can be maddening as a fan of his.  Rather than seek to test his talent, he’ll often make X film where he plays Y irascible, grumpy dude with a heart of gold.  As he’s done with so many other actors, Peter Weir directed Ford to a landmark performance as a cop hiding from corrupt colleagues amongst the Pennsylvania Dutch in Witness.  This, I believe, is Ford’s best performance of his career and as many people I know who love him and his films, I can count on one hand  the ones who have also seen him in Witness.  This is one of the most underrated films of the eighties so watch how good Ford can be.  Then wait nearly thirty years before he stretches himself that far again.

When Star Wars and Indiana Jones were done, Ford transitioned into Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.  He might hate to admit it, but Ford’s career has been waxed and waned with his proximity to franchises.  He’s one of the main reasons they dominate the box office today.  Patriot Games was a well-received first Ryan film, but Clear and Present Danger went nowhere critically or commercially and Ford lost interest in continuing with the character (who will be rebooted by Chris Pine on January 17th).

While the 1990’s were not a shadow of the 1980’s for Ford, he remained a top draw due primarily to his excellent work in two of the best action pictures of the decade: The Fugitive and Air Force One.  However, after 1997’s Air Force One, Ford walked in the desert for a long time before taking on anything of any quality again.  You could argue he chose poor roles, some might go so far as to say he’s lazy as an actor, but after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was largely panned by fans, Ford seemed done.  He’s in his early seventies now, after all.  Let’s look at his last ten films.

FORD’S LATEST TEN:
1. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)………..8.00
2. Ender’s Game (2013)…………………………………………………….8.75
3. Paranoia (2013)………………………………………………………………4.00
4. 42 (2013)…………………………………………………………………………..8.75
5. Cowboys & Aliens (2011)……………………………………………..5.00
6. Morning Glory (2010)……………………………………………………6.50
7. Extraordinary Measures (2010)………………………………..7.00
8. Crossing Over (2009)…………………………………………………….6.00
9. Indiana Jones  4 (2008)………………………………………………….6.75
10. Firewall (2006) ……………………………………………………………..2.00
HARRISON FORD’S CURRENT AVERAGE: 6.275

Barely above-average is Ford’s current score, but in 2013, Ford made four movies and three of them were very good.  Ford rarely does comedy, but I’ve always liked seeing his sense of humor (heck, I liked him in Morning Glory), but he’s rarely done any comedy since Working Girl.  Ford played a ridiculously pompous anchorman in Anchorman 2, Ender Wiggins’ mentor in Ender’s Game, and Branch Rickey in 42.  Rickey, the GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers who brought Jackie Robinson into Major League Baseball, is a legendary figure and Ford is so good as him that it’s a shame the movie came out in March.  If it had come out in the fall, he’d be getting Oscar consideration, which would be richly deserved.  Remember that stretching I told you we’d have to wait for after Witness?  42 is when Ford decided to really throw himself into a role for the first time in God knows how long and the result is fantastic.

FORD’S GREATEST TEN:
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)…10.00
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982)………………………….10.00
Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)………………………..10.00
The Fugitive (1993)…………………………………………….. 10.00
Witness (1985)……………………………………………………… 9.75
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)…  9.75
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)……………..  9.75
Air Force One (1997)…………………………………………… 9.25
42 (2013)…………………………………………………………………..8.75
Working Girl (1988) …………………………………………….. 8.75
HARRISON FORD’S GREATEST AVERAGE: 9.60
NEW HIGH SCORE FOR ACTORS!

Ford has been acting for forty years now and his body of work, unsurprisingly, puts his career average higher than any other actor we’ve examined in this column to date.  To be honest, it could be a lot higher, but unlike the majority of reviewers, I can’t stand American Graffiti, Apocalypse Now or Blade Runner (which is another iconic Ford role that I discussed more in-depth when we looked at Ridley Scott)

So what’s next for Ford?  Now that he’s proven he can act again is he going to take on some great role of- no – let me stop you there and just tell you the only thing on Ford’s calendar in stone is The Expendables 3 in 2014.  However, the popular assumption is that the next time we’ll see him on-screen following that is in Star Wars Episode VII.  Ford has been pretty categorical in his lack of desire to ever play Han Solo again.  He lobbied hard for the character to be killed off in Return of the Jedi.  Lately, though, there seems to be a thaw in his stance.  We’ve not gotten any concrete details from JJ Abrams and team yet, but the popular assumption is that the original cast will come back in some capacity in Episode VII and that the Solo name may very well live on with the protagonist being Han and Leia’s daughter.  With the script due to be finalized this month, one hopes something will be thrown to the geek mobs soon.

Regardless of anything else he does, Ford is one of the biggest movie stars of the modern age.  He’s created iconic characters and embodied the everyman for an entire generation.  His place in Hollywood history is more than secure, but I doubt I’m alone in hoping we’ll get to go with him one more time to a galaxy far, far away.

Ender’s Game DVD/Blu Ray Date and Details

One of the most overlooked films of the year and, unfortunately, I don’t think that bodes well for future entries in the franchise was Gavin Hood’s adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s classic: Ender’s Game.  I reviewed it initially here, but I remain very pleased with the film and if I did have one complaint it would be that they seemed to bank very heavily on future films being able to explain things that only hardcore fans of the world would understand.  

New Ender’s Game Books May Fuel Sequels to Movie

We’ve been talking on the site about what the future of the Ender franchise might be, what direction it might take, if it even HAS one after a fairly slow opening, but this may be the answer to all our questions and it comes straight from Geek Tyrant so props to them for landing it.  I know at least five people whose heads are about to explode.

Orson Scott Card is writing a series of new novels that will serve as a direct sequel to his first Ender’s Game book. According to direct Gavin Hood, these new books could pave the way for more sequels to the movie, which would be amazing!  

I loved Ender’s Game, and I was really hoping that we would see more Ender focused films. The problem was the book’s sequel, Speaker for the Dead, doesn’t take place until 30 years after the events of the first novel. 

The new novel that Card is writing is called Fleet School, and it will be the first of a new series of stories that will act as direct chronological sequels toEnder’s Game. I think Card might be writing these books as way for the studio to make some sequels to Ender’s Game that would feel more like the first film, but without the main character, Ender. After all, Ender is now on his own mission. I won’t get into any spoiler details if you haven’t seen the movie or read the book. Here’s what Card says about the book,

“It’s about what happens to Battle School after the International Fleet loses its purpose of war. A ‘fleet school’ will form and prepare kids to be commanders [and] explorers in the colonies that are going to be forming.”

Hood went on to talk to Hero Complex about how the new book could be the the film’s sequel,

It’s a great question, but I think it’s such a difficult one to answer, because the sequel “Speaker for the Dead” takes place 30 years after, so we’re in an interesting place. I think we have to hope that audiences respond to the film… And Orson is apparently writing something that’s more of a direct follow called [“Fleet School”]. Obviously, from the studio’s point of view, they’d almost certainly want to move the characters from this film into the next journey. So it may be that “Speaker for the Dead” is not the sequel now.

But to be perfectly honest, I don’t think we can count our sequels before they hatch. We’ve got a complicated film here. I hope that it does two things. I hope that it gives the audiences the visual excitement that they want from a big movie, but it does have the challenge of asking questions that films of this kind don’t usually ask. And we’ll have to see whether audiences embrace that. Most big popcorn movies are bad guy does something to good guy, good guy gets revenge on bad guy, sets the world right and moves on. And “Ender’s Game” is just not that simple, so it’s an exciting challenge. It’s a little terrifying, and let’s see how audiences respond. I hope they respond well so we can keep doing films that are not just goodies versus baddies.

If the books are good, that solves pretty much all the sequel problems/issues.  As much as I’d like to see the same kind of love lavished on Speaker for the Dead, it’s tough and it would mean diverging from the books already given how they ended the film.  What do you guys think?  Is this ok?  Do we need to grab weapons and head toward the Card compound?  Guide ME!  I’m on no sleep today, don’t expect the wit.