The Shawshank Redemption - #1

I finally watched the number 1 movie on IMDB's Top 250 list.

IMDB rating: 9.1
My rating: 9.3

I can see why The Shawshank Redemption is regarded so highly. I can't imagine a person not liking this movie. Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins were excellent.

I'm not sure I agree with it's position as the number 1 movie of all time, but it definitely deserves to be up near the top. The rating process gets a little political near the top since Godfather fans vote down Shawshank and vice versa.

Everyone should watch this movie, no exceptions.

Sin City - #91

IMDB rating: 8.3
My rating: 8.6

Sin City is definitely unique. The film style was a little over the top, but it wasn't too distracting. The action and dialogue were corny, but it managed to produce a very memorable experience.

As much as I like Jessica Alba, I don't think she was very convincing in her role. Also, the casting choice of Frodo Baggins (aka Elijah Woods) seemed odd to me. Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke made up for this with great acting.

Sin City was the first movie I've seen that successfully made it seem as though I was watching a comic book. Others have tried, like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, but they just ended up as crappy movies.

This movie is not for everyone, but I found it entertaining.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - #8

I watched this movie as part of my IMDB Top 100 Challenge.

IMDB rating: 8.8
My rating: 9

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was the best Jack Nicholson performance I've ever seen. There were also some great performances by a young Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd.

This movie was great to watch, but I'm not sure it deserves to be in the top 10. Nevertheless, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a classic and one that everybody should watch.

City of God - #17

This was the last film in my movie marathon yesterday.

IMDB rating: 8.7
My rating: 9.5

Wow. That's all I can say about City of God. This movie was incredible. It joined my rapidly growing list of potential best movies of all time.

Throughout the entire movie, I kept thinking of Slumdog Millionaire. The two movies use similar cinematic styles and have similar plots. I personally liked both movies, but I think City of God was way better. The storytelling style also reminded me a little of Quentin Tarantino.

City of God was a brutally honest look at Cidade de Deus, a slum outside Rio de Janeiro. It follows the narrator as he grows up in this city riddled with gangs, drugs, and violence.

This movie is not for the squeamish, but I highly recommend it.

Hotel Rwanda - #99

This was part 2 of 3 of my movie marathon yesterday.

IMDB rating: 8.3
My rating: 7.5

I thought Hotel Rwanda was good, but I don't think it should be on this list. It just didn't seem as powerful as it could have been.

Also, I usually don't complain about this, but the movie seemed a little short. It was 2 hours long, but a lot of that time was wasted. The plot didn't develop as much as I would have liked.

Despite my criticisms, I still recommend people watch it. It was better than most and an all around solid movie.

Goodfellas - #15

This was the first of three movies I watched yesterday.

IMDB rating: 8.7
My rating: 9

Goodfellas was a gangster movie. I don't really know what else to say about it.

The biggest thing that set it apart from others in the genre was the storytelling. The frequent voice overs made this movie very enjoyable to watch. It wasn't as cryptic as The Godfather and didn't make you think a lot. Goodfellas might have been easier to watch than The Godfather, but I don't think the two movies are quite at the same level.

Martin Scorsese directed this, along with several others on the IMDB top movies list (#199 Casino, #74 Raging Bull, #49 The Departed, and #37 Taxi Driver). The only other one of these movies I've seen is The Departed and I loved it. According to IMDB, he has 4 movies coming out by 2010. I'll probably give these a shot when they come out.

How the Web Changed my Life

The internets have had a huge impact on how I do things. The biggest impacts are in communication, entertainment, and work.

I used to have to call someone if I wanted to convey information to them, but now I mostly use email or text messaging. There are some advantages to calling, but for most cases, a text-based message works better. An email can't convey the same emotions as a human voice yet, but it might be able to in the future.

I used to sit on the couch after school and watch some TV. I only liked a few channels, so I was severely limited in what I could watch at any given time. If I wanted to watch a movie, I either had to go to Blockbuster or schedule ahead of time for HBO. Then, my family got a DVR. I now could record shows and watch them later. This was good, but I still had to decide ahead of time which shows I would want to watch. Now I watch most of my movies and TV online, through sites like Hulu, Justin.tv, and some sites of questionable legality. Now I have a virtually unlimited pool of entertainment options to choose from.

The only physical job I ever had was as a tennis instructor. I would drive to work at a set time and work for a set period. Now, I mostly work as a web designer from my home computer. I can work at 2 in the morning if I want, as long as I meet deadlines. While the vast majority of people go to a physical job, the number of people who can work from home, like me, is increasing at a very fast pace, mostly due to the internet.

I can't imagine life now without the web. I can't help but wonder what I won't be able to live without 10 years from now.