My 150 Favorite Movies - #49

The Grifters (1990)

Annette Bening made a big splash early on in her cinematic career with The Grifters, a terrifically creepy neo-noir directed by Stephen Frears, with a screenplay by Donald E. Westlake, based on the novel by Jim Thompson. Everyone brings their a-game, including Anjelica Huston and John Cusack, as mother and son con artists. The film was nominated for a number of Academy Awards, and won Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards.

My 150 Favorite Movies - #50

Wonder Boys (2000)

With a supporting cast that includes Frances McDormand and Robert Downey Jr., and a soundtrack that prominently features Bob Dylan, is it any wonder that Wonder Boys tickles my fancy? Michael Douglas stars as an English Professor who's blocked on completing his second novel, years after making a major splash with his first, and Tobey Maguire costars as one of his students who may just best him in the novel writing department. One of the best movies ever made about campus politics, it was filmed in Pittsburgh, in and around the Carnegie Mellon campus. Written by Steve Kloves, directed by Curtis Hanson, and based on a novel by Michael Chabon, this is one movie with an impeccable pedigree. Not to be missed.

My 150 Favorite Movies - #51

Chicago (2002)

The first musical to win the Best Picture Oscar since Oliver! in 1969, Chicago is based on the famed Broadway musical of 1975, which in turn was based on a non-musical play first produced in 1926. The story had also been filmed before, as Roxie Hart, starring Ginger Rogers. The story takes place in 1920's Chicago, as two murderesses find themselves in jail together, and fight to hang on to fame, and hopefully, their lives.The cast of Chicago is universally excellent, with Richard Gere as smooth-talking attorney Billy Flynn, Renee Zellweger as Roxie, John C. Reilly as her hapless husband, Queen Latifah as corrupt prison matron, "Mama" Morton, and by far, the real standout, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelly, who went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The score, by John Kander and Fred Ebb, has a number of outstanding songs, particularly All That Jazz, famously originally choreographed by Bob Fosse, and later used as the title of his biopic. Innovative, energetic and effervescent, Chicago is well worth watching on any screen, big and small, that you are lucky enough to catch it on.