The Icepick Cometh

We're going to address the top films over the course of this blog (when I get to it, that's when, dammit). But we're going to pay special attention to films that are about (or are "said" to be about) the American Dream. Goodfellas ranks high on my list (perhaps the highest), because it is the pure American Dream: rising up from your own particular circumstances and background to reach The Heights, often through hard-work and cunning. It just so happens that Henry Hill's hard work is in theft, beating, cheating, drug-dealing, point-shaving, murder (or at least being an accessory to murder).

Just as important, Goodfellas is also about what the American Dream has become (and may always have been) — greed, back-stabbing, paranoia. Just as one critic said Scorsese's use of The Sex Pistol's version of My Way as a "fuck-you" to any do-gooding American, Goodfella's I see as Scorsese's "fuck-you" to the American Dream; much as the same way as HBO's The Wire is an update and a "true" vision of the modern American Dream.

Enter the Wu-Tang — You can't even argue this, not since this was declared a unanimous selection by me and Lord Jim on well-remembered midnight winter drive to a ski resort in a fart-filled P.O.S. (now that's redundant) Mitsubishi Precis. Revolutionary. Beats any of that shit by the Beatles.

Liquid Swords — OK, some might say it is overkill to put two albums by the Wu-Tang Clan as the top two on this list, but this goes deeper and may have more memorable lyrics; would probably be No. 1 if it was released before the ground-breaking "Enter the Wu-Tang."

G-Love and Special Sauce — Their self-titled album is their best-known and for a reason. G takes you back to hot summer fun in the mid-90s, and holds up long after then. Someone called it "timeless" on an I-Tunes review. Any debate? I thought not.

Let it Bleed — Sorry, the Stones, not the Beatles, are the rightful heirs of the ’60s rock. Put it another way, you don't see Scorsese cribbing from Abby Road or Sgt. Peppers in Goodfellas, Mean Streets or The Departed, do you?

Digression No. 1 — It would be criminal not to mention this one, in honor of the inspirational song that spawned a decade and a half of wild cookouts, beer, "philosophical" discussions, meat, beer, music, did I mention beer? And those are just the ones I know about.

Digression No. 2 — Don't know if it is where I was mentally in 1996, but that was like, Ground Zero for great albums. Along with the top three on this list, you had Fun Lovin' Criminals' Come Find Yourself, which I picked up recently and it took me back to parties in Poughkeepsie before it was Found.

To be revised, but will include...

Eight Men Out — A tragic look at a baseball team, also showcasing the beginnings of America's sports-obsessed culture that continues to this day.

Major League — At the other end of the spectrum. Forget the cliched plot about the underdogs winning the pennant and the love story (despite the gorgeous Rene Russo) and enjoy how it fetishizes the culture and quirks of baseball.

Bang the Drum Slowly — Yes, the pacing of the film certainly reflects the title, but works because of the touching friendship between Michael Moriarity's Henry "Author" Wiggins and Robert DeNiro's dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks dying back-up catcher. Also looks like a piece of early '70s kitchz, which always gets a few extra points in my book.

Not on the list:

That Minor League Film with Kevin Costner as Crash Davis and Susan Sarandon — Overrated. I don't need Susan Sarandon telling me about the lyrical joys of baseball. Nor do I need Susan Sontag telling me the same fucking thing. About the only good thing about it is that it helped usher in the late 80s/early 90s boom of rediscovering Minor League Baseball, which unfortunately morphed into putting a ball team in Staten Island while abandoning classic Minor League towns like Pittsfield, Mass. (OK, that was the Coney Island team, but that gets a pass for simply being Coney Island.) The abandonment of Albany as a maket can be forgive, since it is such a shitty sports town unless you're Siena hoops, UAlbany hoops (only in a winning season) or a Saratoga pony for 6 weeks. By the way, why the fuck is Troy's minor league team playing on a college campus away from any downdown shit to do before or after a game, or at least in a quaint rural setting. And where the fuck is "Tri-City"? Another great fuck-up by the locals here. Figures.
OK, I digress...

The Natural — Looked at now as some sort of a classic, it was never beloved earlier. And can't be forgive for changing the ending to Hollywood-uplifting.

Field of Dreams — Never saw it. I put this in the same category as Forrest Gump — two late '80s/early '90s beloved films that surely must be overrated because everyone fucking loves them. Forget it. Though if you ever find yourself in Dyersville, Iowa, (we did, once) the Field of Dreams site is more than worth the visit. The chance to walk into cornfields directly from the outfield, and the farm house overlooking the field make it worth the visit to the two sites (yes, there are two sites, since the field actually straddles a property line, and thus, there are two visitor centers).

I'm a mid 30s sometimes writer who grew up thinking politics was funny and cool based entirely on impressions formed by reading drug-addled Bill the Cat in the ’80s comic strip Bloom County. My first job out of college was for a small but respectable weekly where I had interned because the shitty liberal arts college I attended knew nothing about teaching journalism, to say nothing about their lack of help in placement or preparing you for a career in newspapers, but, like whatever. This led to an eventual job at a small, shrinking daily owned by a profitably cheap corporation, which I left (gasp) almost 10 years ago. I have since discovered the joy of blogging (golf clap). As in college, I am self- and peer-taught (and it probably shows). I live with my family in a city in the Northeast that retains much of its architectural and cultural beauty, though I wish some of our city leaders would see the beauty in this and other aspects of modern urban living and instead quit trying so hard to bring in yet another chain-store pharmacy with a drive-thru attached.