Requiem Aeternam

Pretty simple. The ten best movie villains (in my opinion), only I cheated and actually included thirteen villains in my top ten list. There’s just one rule to remember–I have to have actually seen the movie. This keeps guys like Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates (from Psycho) off the list (oops, I sort of cheated again–up to 15 bad guys now!)

Without further ado:

10. Ratigan (The Great Mouse Detective)

Disney has had some pretty good bad guys including Gaston, various wicked stepmothers, Cruella Deville (though she was mostly scary to animal rights activists), and Scar, but Ratigan takes the cake as the smartest and scariest of them all. Suave (until the very end) and utterly callous towards the lifes of others, he feeds henchmen and enemies alike to his pet cat–who is very fat. The intellectual and physical match of  Basil of Baker Street, he finally meets a Gollum-like end, falling from the Big Ben clock tower after a very intense and scary fight scene.

Quote: “You fool! Isn’t it clear to you yet? The superior mind has triumphed! I’VE WON!!”

9. The Balrog (Lord of the Rings)

For a story where evil is everywhere, LoTR has very few personal bad guys. Most are vague shadowy terrors, and the Balrog isn’t really an exception to that, but I picked him because of his sheer flaming awesomeness. Balrogs were some of the most powerful evil still living in Middle Earth. Servants of Morgoth, very few ever succeeded in killing a Balrog, and even fewer killed a Balrog and survived. A Balrog would be at least as powerful as the ring wraiths. Probably only the witch-king would even come close (yet another reason the witch-king should not have been able to defeat Gandalf the White in the movies *). Not just anyone can kill a powerful wizard like the Balrog did.

Quote: umm . . . “Rawr”?

8. Agent Smith (The Matrix)

It’s hard to explain the exact nature of Agent Smith to someone who hasn’t seen the Matrix. It would require a lot of explaining because the movie’s concept is so weird. An agent of the machines whose job it is to ensure that humans remain trapped in the matrix, Agent Smith is one of those scary bad guys who you know will always manage to turn up at absolutely the worst time and ruin everything. He also takes part in some of the most revolutionary fight scenes in movie-making. Not bad for a pointy-eared elf (Elrond).

Quote: “”You hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. That is the sound of your death.”

7. Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

Genetically engineered to be smarter and stronger than everyone else, Khan’s main weakness is his sense of pride  (a rather traditional weakness for bad guys). Like many other bad guys on this list, Khan places human life considerably lower on his list of priorities than whatever his goal happens to be. He’s very similar to Captain Nemo, but his hate and ambition have kept him from being the great man that he could have been.

Quote: “No. No, you can’t get away. From hell’s heart, I stab at thee. For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.” (quoting from Moby Dick)

6. Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine

My first cheat. But really, it is difficult to seperate these two. Darth Vader may have been the face and the muscle of the empire, but Palpatine was the greater evil and the impetus behind Vader. What makes them interesting is the tenuous control Palpatine exerts over Vader and their interactions with Luke Skywalker (not to mention the whole brutal world domination thing). Of course, in the great Star Wars climax, Darth Vader turns on the emperor to save his son, but for ninety-eight percent of the original trilogy, these two combine to form one of the baddest duos of bad guys around.

Quote (Vader): “Apology accepted, Captain Needa.” ( while using the force to choke him to death)

Quote (Palpatine): “And now, young Skywalker, you will die.”

5. Ben Wade and Charlie Prince (3:10 to Yuma)

These two make quite the contrast. Ben Wade is a Bible quoting, philosophizing, artist and killer, while his sidekick, Charlie Prince, is just a psychopathic gunslinger. Their relationship is similar to a father and his adoring loyal son (and it parallels and contrasts the relationship between the protagonist and his son). Like another evil duo on this list, one of them ends up turning on the other. Ben Wade’s character makes you think, and one big question is whether there’s any change in his character by the end of the movie. I say no, and that he and Charlie Prince are both as bad they come to the end.

Quote (Charlie Prince): “This town’s gonna burn!”

Quote (Ben Wade): Your conscience is sensitive, Dan. I don’t think it’s my favorite part of you.”

4. The Ghost and the Darkness (The Ghost and the Darkness)

This pair of almost supernaturally powerful lions terrorizes railroad workers in southern Africa. They’re not human, but they seem to display human levels of malice and cunning. They can’t be killed, trapped, or stopped. Every patch of rustling savanna grass and every shadow becomes terrifying in this movie. Not only are the lions terrifying, they are so beautiful and majestic they become thrilling to watch. The movie’s a bit bloody, but other than that, this is a great one to watch, and you’re never sure who’s going to end up winning.

Quote: umm . . . we’ll go with “Rawr” again.

3. Michael Corleone (The Godfather)

Michael Corleone starts as a very sympathetic character. He is a patriot, a WWII veteran, and someone who wants to get out of the family business to make an honest living.  Circumstances, however, inevitably pull him back into the mob, and he becomes a monster, ruining his own life and watching the lives of everyone he loves get ruined as well. You never stop feeling sorry for him, and in some ways even liking him, but in the end he makes all the wrong choices becoming just another murderer and gangster. There’s a reason the Godfather movies are considered among the best ever made, and Michael Corleone’s character is a big part of it. (Note, there’s also a reason I wouldn’t watch these movies except edited for TV).

Quote: “My father’s way of doing things is over, it’s finished. Even he knows that. I mean, in five years, the Corleone Family is going to be completely legitimate. Trust me. That’s all I can tell you about my business.”

2. The Joker (The Dark Knight)

The Joker lacks some of the complex personality and motivational attributes that make some of the other villains so good, but the portrayal by Heath Ledger is one of the best villain acting jobs you can find. The mannerisms, speech characteristics, and writing all combine to make an almost perfect pyschotic loose-cannon bad guy. He’s almost more of a demon than a normal villain thanks to his twisted goals.

Quote: “Do you wanna know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can’t savor all the… little… emotions. In… you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards?”

1. Commodus (Gladiator)

Commodus is a very complex and thoroughly despisable character. The heart of Commodus’s character is fear and ambition. His ambition forces him to strive to be great, but his fear forces him to paranoia and cruelty. He wants nothing more than to make his father, Marcus Aurelius, proud (except maybe for his sister to return the romantic feelings he feels for her–ick), so he hugs his father and smothers him to death in order to become emperor. He is manipulative and cunning and proud. Two of the most chilling moments in Gladiator contains no violence at all. In the first Commodus forces his sister to betray Maximus in the presence of her young son by telling the son a “story” containing veiled threats against the son’s life were she to refuse. Later, in the second scene . . . well . . .

Quote: “Lucius [her son] will stay with me now. And if his mother so much as looks at me in a manner that displeases me, he will die. If she decides to be noble and takes her own life, he will die. [To his sister, Lucius's mother] And as for you, you will love me as I loved you. You will provide me with an heir of pure blood, so that Commodus and his progeny will rule for a thousand years. Am I not merciful? [she does not answer, fighting back tears] AM I NOT MERCIFUL??”

*shudders*

I have no idea how he didn’t make it on AFI’s list of 50 movie villains. He should definitely at least beat out Cruella DeVille . . . or “man, in Bambi”

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* Apparently the film makers forgot Gandalf the White told Gimli “[I am] more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the Dark Lord himself.” That includes the witch-king!

I have had enough of frivolous blog posts for a while. Today’s post leaves behind childish things to explore a very mature and important subject which has serious implications for every American (and probably Kazakh) family. My subject has its roots in the great American and Canadian prairies where it is carefully cultivated and nourished, growing tall and golden until it is cut down in its prime, dried, sorted, processed, and shipped to millions of households across the world. I speak, of course, of cereal.  And here, for the very first time, I list the ten best cereals * available to mankind.

10. Honey Nut Cheerios

Normal cheerios taste good enough with milk and sugar, but it’s even better when the sugar has already been added! Honey’s one of the best tasting natural sweet flavors, and is well applied to these delicious little o’s. Equally good with milk or handfuls straight from the box!

9. Alpha-bits

Marshmallowy cereal at its best! Of course the little marshmallows are the all-stars of this cereal, but unlike lucky charms, marshmellow mateys, and other similar cereals, there’s something left to do with the remaining cereal once you’ve picked all the marshmallows out! See how many words you can find, write a story even since the marshmallows will be gone looooooong before the rest.

8.Golden Grahams

I haven’t had these for a while, but I like them much! They have the honey flavor fused with a little graham square. While some people I know have a distinct disregard for “SQUARES!!!!,”  squares in this instance are umm…not square.

7. Oatmeal

Plain but hearty, it’s perfect for cold northern mornings and gives some good lasting energy. Plus it’s healthy! At least that’s what it says on the canister. I’ll admit it doesn’t taste too good on its own, but there are lots of ways to spruce it up. My favorite is with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

6. Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Cinnamon and sugar toast was an integral part of my childhood. Almost as much as spankings and groundings, but much tastier.  This cereal brings back great memories and tastes, but is much faster and easier to make. Plus it leaves behind some of the best tasting milk.

5. Cinnamon Life

I must sadly make a confession: I terribly enjoy a good bit of cinnamon. Probably more than is healthy. In fact, I used to eat cinnamon sticks from my mom’s kitchen. In fact, I still would, but there seems to be  a distinct lack of cinnamon sticks in the guy’s dorms. There aren’t any cinnamon trees nearby either. I weep.

4. Frosted Mini-wheats (Maple and Brown Sugar or Vanilla Creme)

I still shudder at memories of mini-wheat’s predecessors. Big bricks of wheat that you had to break up by hand. We heated it with milk in the microwave and added sugar, but it was still rather wretched. These, on the other hand, are delicious bite sized crunchies with great flavor. The strawberry flavored ones are probably good too, but I’ve never had them.

3. Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds

Mmmmmmmm. Now we’re getting into the really good stuff. Sweet, nutty, and even a little healthy. I could eat it all day long just about.

2. Blueberry Morning

Beats out Honey Bunches of Oats by virtue of fruity goodness. The blueberries are vastly better than the fake fruitiness of Trix or Fruit Loops or Fruity Pebbles. On a similar note, Strawberry Special K is really good too, but I forgot about it until now and I don’t have room to put it on the list because the top spot is reserved for the one, the only . . .

1.  Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs

Calvin, the world cannot thank you enough. ^_^

* The committee has deemed grits inelligible for this list on principle. Also because it is corn rather than wheat based. Also because of your face. And because I said so.

It feels like time for another top ten list. I like movie soundtracks because of their accessible and emotive qualities, and a lot of the CDs I own are soundtracks. I looked up several lists of best soundtracks, such as Entertainment Weekly’s top 100, and realized that most of their picks I had never heard at all, so my list is relatively unaffected by other lists. This was still a hard list to make because, well, I like a lot of soundtracks.

*disclaimer* I have not actually seen all of the movies the soundtracks I mention come from. Some of them may not be suitable for everyone.

10. Gettysburg (Lala) by Randy Edelman

This is somewhat of a sentimental choice. Filmtracks lists Gettysburg as the third most overrated soundtrack of the 90s, but I like the music anyhow. It was the first movie soundtrack that I owned and one that’s been played many times. “Fife and Gun” is probably the song people hear the most, but my favorite is “Over the Fence.” The slow melancholy version of “Dixie” is a nice twist on the normally upbeat Southern song.

9.Master and Commander (Lala) by Iva Davies/Christopher Gordon/Richard Tognetti

I’m not entirely certain I should put Master and Commander on this list. I love listening to the soundtrack, but by far the best parts come from the classical and traditional music included instead of original film score music. I think the combination of relaxing beautiful classical music with the more tense original music gives the soundtrack a good sense of balance, but, with apologies to Davies, Gordon, and, Tognetti, they just can’t compete with the Bach, Vaughn Williams, Mozart, and music from other classical greats on the CD.

8. Edward Scissorhands (Lala) by Danny Elfman

The soundtrack to this gothic fairytale contains some of the most beautiful music you’ll hear on a soundtrack. The children’s choir music can be especially heartbreaking. I like how the love theme never resolves; “Elfman always ends the theme (and cue) on a longing note, never returning to its grounding key and thus drawing out the score’s tragic intent even further.” In “The Grand Finale,” the theme simply fades away. I don’t think Elfman has the technical skill of John Williams or some others (though I’m not really a music expert), but this soundtrack is certainly worth listening to.

7. A.I. by John Williams

The movie was weird and at times disturbing, but the soundtrack is haunting (in a good way). Williams borrows some minimalistic elements and does so quite well, resulting in passages that sound like something Philip Glass might write when he decides to write agreeable music rather than dizzyingly fast repetitions. The “For Always” song and theme lends a needed lyrical presence to the soundtrack as well. The only thing I really complain about is the techno-ish portions of “The Moon Rising” (I’m not really a big fan of the Josh Groban inclusion at the end either).

6. Schindler’s List (Lala) by John Williams

There’s not really much I can say about this outside of what the filmtracks review says. It’s an old favorite of mine driven by simple but beautiful themes. Appropriately for the movie’s subject matter, the soundtrack lacks any real heroic or triumphant music. This lack of real climatic sections probably makes me less likely to listen to the CD than otherwise, but this is still John Williams at the top of his game.

5. Kingdom of Heaven (Lala) by Harry Gregson-Williams

While Gladiator almost made this list on the strength of “Am I not Merciful” alone, Gregson-Williams’ soundtrack to a violent medieval movie is stronger and more interesting throughout. The soundtrack opens with a great medieval feel as a choir introduces the movie’s main theme. The soundtrack continues by blending medieval and Middle Eastern sounding themes with exciting action cues (that don’t rely on synthesized sound or plagiarism). It’s hard to put this above Gregson-Williams’ soundtracks for the Narnia movies, but I think overall it’s slightly better.

4. Star Wars by John Williams

Perhaps the most iconic film music in existence, from the original trilogy to the prequels, this is my favorite John Williams music. I’m not as familiar with the original trilogy’s music on CD form–I’ve only heard it in the films themselves–but from the imperial march to the lightsaber duel music at the end of Return of the Jedi, Williams produces legendary material. My favorite Star Wars musical moments are the dramatic choral pieces like the “Duel of the Fates” in The Phantom Menace, the aforementioned Return of the Jedi music, and much of the music in The Revenge of the Sith. If you can get past the corresponding film cheesiness, the love theme from Attack of the Clones is great music too. Overall Star Wars has just about perfect mix of fun, serious, and emotional music.

(I’m giving all the Star Wars soundtracks (and one other set) one spot because otherwise they’d take up most of the top ten list by themselves).

3. The Village (Lala) by James Newton Howard

After a rough day at work I love to get some tea or coffee and sit down, put headphones on, and listen to “The Gravel Road,” which may be my favorite single song from a soundtrack. The combination of strings and piano “that literally blow in the wind and swell and sway from bar to bar” in the main theme melts stress away. Tense moments occur occasionally in the soundtrack, but overall the soundtrack shares much more in common with the movie’s visual and emotional beauty than with the sense of suspense and fear. Oh, and did I mention the violinist is Hillary Hahn?

2. Lord of the Rings by Howard Shore

Shore brings Middle Earth alive with his fresh themes and orchestration. I like the Rohirrim theme best, but all of the themes are good. The Two Towers with the most frequent use of the Rohirrim theme, the Helm’s Deep music, and “Samwise the Brave” is my favorite CD, followed by the Fellowship of the Ring with “Of Hobbits” and “The Breaking of the Fellowship.” Overall, The Return of the King sits slightly below the others in my rankings, but it contains some great individual songs like “Twilight and Shadow” and Billy Boyd’s song at the end of “The Steward of Gondor.” At first, I didn’t like “Into the West” because the style seemed out of place; I still think that, but the song itself has grown on me.

1. Lady in the Water (Lala) by James Newton Howard

The fact that I’m putting this first despite its shortness (not even 45 minutes of film music) and the inclusion of four Bob Dylan covers at the end speaks volumes about what I think of the rest of the music. It’s beautiful like The Village, but with a little more variety and some interesting chord progressions that I can’t get enough of. Listen to “Prologue,” “The Healing,” “The Blue World,” “The Great Eatlon,” and “End Titles” for the best parts. As for the Bob Dylan songs, this version of “The Time They Are A-Changin” is pretty good, but the extra music on the Chronicles of Narnia soundtracks are better. I like this movie itself well enough, but I’d watch it over and over just for the music.

So that’s three for John Williams (seven if you count all the Star Wars films separately), a group of three for Howard Shore, two for John Newton Howard, and a big fat zero for Hans Zimmer? Well I do like Hans Zimmer a lot, but after a while all the bombastic synthesized action cues start to sound alike. I think the best Zimmer soundtrack is Hannibal (Lala) mostly because it’s a bit different from typical Zimmer. The incorporation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations is nice, and I love the inclusion of spoken parts performed by Anthony Hopkins. Additionally the last song, Vide Cor Meum, is stunningly beautiful (and ironically not composed by Zimmer) and the ending . . . is brilliant. The soundtrack has plenty of flaws though too. Other Zimmer soundtracks I like include Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Wits End, Thin Red Line, parts of Black Hawk Down, and the two Batman soundtracks, but none of them really stood out enough to make my list.

Top Ten lists are always a crowd pleaser (and something easy to write about). I was thinking about making this a WordPress page rather than a post so it would be easy for others to find and me to update, but there are too many other similar lists to make, so I will just make a whole category of posts for top ten lists.

Note: This doesn’t include book length poems, so no Divine Comedy, or Paradise Lost, or Iliad type poems.

1. The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins

The best poems combine great poetry with great evidences of Christianity, and Hopkins consistently does so. “The Windhover” uses the falcon as a picture of Christ’s effortless mastery and views with astonishment the self-sacrifice of Christ in light of his mastery over all things. I think the last line is beautiful and perhaps my favorite line in all poetry.

2. Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot

Another example of a great Christian poem. I put this ahead of The Waste Land because it represents Eliot’s post-conversion poetry. This group of four poems contains all of Eliot’s trademark complexity and difficultness, but I enjoy the challenge of reading poems like this. It’s like putting a puzzle together, finding all the allusions and meanings. I think if I could describe the Four Quartets in one word, it would be “elegant” (but I mean that in a much more positive way than Emma Woodhouse would).

3. Maud by Lord Tennyson

This is easily the longest poem I put on this list (Eliot’s are also quite lengthy). In case you’re wondering why I like this poem, here are some quotes from Encyclopedia Britannica

['Maud' is] a strange and turbulent “monodrama,” [which] provoked a storm of protest; many of the poet’s admirers were shocked by the morbidity, hysteria, and bellicosity of the hero. Yet Maud was Tennyson’s favourite among his poems. *

Maud (1855) assembles 27 lyric poems into a single dramatic monologue that disturbingly explores the psychology of violence.”**

It also explores the psychology of love. I’m not a big fan of the poem’s very end, but the overall story and the lyrical beauty of much of the verse (along with the subject matter), make it one of my favorite poems.

4. Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas

The perspective in this poem is that of an older person interjecting childhood memories with the mortality of which he is now much more aware. I love the rolling rythm of the poem and how it builds toward the last stanza. After all the green and youthful imagery, the last three lines hit with the force of a freight train. Those lines are some more of my most favorite lines in poetry.

5. The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot

This is another large difficult work by Eliot. It has a bit of an edge the Four Quartets doesn’t have because of its more negative nature. This is pre-conversion Eliot, and the poem is full of searching and trying to keep things from falling apart. It’s very fragmented, but with a purpose and in a way that makes the reader think. It also gets bonus points for having lines in German ^_^.

6. Among School Children by W.B. Yeats.

Yeats would be one of my favorite poets were it not for his peculiar religious inclinations which sometimes work their way into his poems. While his early poems like “Lake Isle of Innisfree” are nice, it’s his later more mature poetry like “Sailing to Byzantium,” “Second Coming,” and this poem that secures his place as one of the greatest 20th century poets. This is another poem about an older person having visions of youth, but I think the poem focuses on the platonic themes of image and nature which appear toward the end of the poem.

7. Home Burial by Robert Frost

This is my favorite Frost poem. It is a chilling discourse on the difficulties of communication. At first glance, the man in the poem appears to be a horrible callous person, but read the poem again and notice how much of the wife’s animosity is based solely on her interpretation of his actions–motives that she projects. What else could explain his actions? The husband has suffered emotionally as much as his wife over the death of their son, but the real tragedy is the different ways they deal with their loss and their lack of ability to clearly communicate what they feel in order to share the suffering that they have in common.

8. Spring and Fall by Gerard Manley Hopkins

I find this poem interesting both because of Hopkins’ style and the juxtaposition of the poem’s subject (a young girl) and subject matter (mortality and aging). It’s well-crafted poem that paints a bittersweet picture and strikes a universal cord.

9. This is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams

Williams is a master of implications and chilling situations (read The Young Housewife for another example). I like how his poems leave a sense that there is much more behind them. What is the relationship between the speaker in the poem and his (assumed) spouse. Is it strained? Apathetic? Negligent? Or so strong that this simple note is enough to repair the malefaction? This poem just scratches the surface, but does so in an ambiguous manner that implies the depths and complexities of human nature which lie far below, like a shadow passing below you through the water somewhere between the surface and the impossibly distant ocean floor.

10. The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens

As a person who has “a mind of winter” and has “been cold a long time,” I like this poem. Its evocative qualities fit my personality. However, beyond the wintry images, Stevens hides deeper meaning. Unfortunately, Stevens is one of the most difficult poets I’ve ever read, so I’m not exceptionally confident about finding and sharing a deeper theme from this poem. I think though that this poem is about associations and how long and strongly something (like winter with its beautiful “spruces rough in the distant glitter Of the January sun” etc) must be experienced in person before one can overcome associations which may not be valid (in this case the negative associations of misery). Only when associations have been vanquished can the viewer “behold nothing that is not there” i.e. only then can he see the “thing itself,” to borrow a phrase from William Carlos Williams.

* “Alfred. Lord Tennyson.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 27 May. 2009

**“English Literature.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 27 May. 2009