Newmark's Door

With the sequel to Top Gun delayed but still coming, it's a decent time to review a funny SNL skit, "Top Gun Auditions". (3.5 minute video.)

As usual with such rankings, I disagree with the precise order--either Real Genius (#6), Animal House (#7), or Revenge of the Nerds (#8) are far better than the top three--but there are some enjoyable films here. And I give a shoutout to an underappreciated movie which holds up really well, PCU (#23).

For instance, he 's just two years young younger now than when Brimley starred opposite him in The Firm.

Even without context these two video clips make the point. Start with "The Streak" (3 minutes) and follow with "Scott Hatteberg Walk Off Home Run" (3.6 minutes).

Yes, it's hard to see how anybody will ever beat this: 

The character actor only appeared in 5 movies before his death at age 42, but every single one was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

Kinda disappointing, but at least that's one mystery cleared up.

I've seen the great majority of these--I've missed the two 50's entries--and I enjoyed almost all the ones I've seen. (Lucky Logan not, but maybe I didn't pay enough attention.)

I'd count myself a (mild) rom-com hater, and I've seen half the films on this list. Of those, I enjoyed Broadcast News and--a little--Modern Romance, but the rest, not so much.

 "Being famous and broke is a shitty combination." If this is even half true, it's an amazing story.

Link courtesy of Michael Greenspan.