For anyone who alphabetize their DVD or BlueRay collections (guilty), there’s always a certain level of insecurity when you’re about to buy a movie starting with a number. Knowing you might have to move your entire collection slightly to the right, you wanna make sure that the movie actually needs to be added to your collection. Nevertheless, here are a couple of movies starting with numbers that you shouldn’t miss.
12 Angry Men
Lee J. Cobb and Henry Fonda stars in this brilliant movie about the inner workings of a jury during a trial that could lead to the death penalty. Although most of the jurors are set to sentence the young suspect to death, one of the 12 jurors has doubts and demands further discussion. Set in one room, and in a sizzling heat (reminiscent of Spike Lee’s use of temperature in ‘Do The Right Thing’, this movie is truly a classic, and a very impressive film on many levels. The movie was remade as TV movie in 1997, with actors such as the late James Gandolfini, Jack Lemmon and Edward James Olmos taking on the roles of the jurors.
12 Monkeys
Post-apocolyptic movie from Terry Gilliam, with Bruce Willis and Madeleine Stowe. Willis is sent back in time to find a cure for the virus that has killed off most of the people on the planet. Not a movie for everyone, but Terry Gilliam does a wonderful job directing the movie, and the story is more intriguing and interesting then it sounds like when given the main plot. Brad Pitt shines as Jeffrey Goines, one of his most impressive characters ever, which says quite a lot. Also starring David Morse and Christopher Plummer.
Brad Pitt scene from ’12 Monkeys’
(500) Days of Summer
Joseph-Gordon Levitt has become an increasingly more featured man in Hollywood movies of late (Inception, Looper, Lincoln, The Dark Knight Rises), and does a great job in this flick. It’s a somewhat tragic feel good feel bad movie, but putting it in a genre is really not necessary. It’s just, as Paul Rudd’s character in ‘I Love You, Man’ would’ve probably dubbed it, “a delightful movie”. Zooey Deschanel plays the female lead, as the young woman who doesn’t believe in love. Also starring is the young starlet Chloë Grace Moretz. Only 12 years old at the time the movie was released, five years later she has garnered up quite an impressive list of movies to her name, including ‘Kick-Ass’, ‘Hugo’, ‘Let Me In’ and the brand new movie ‘The Equalizer’, also starring Denzel Washington. Worth mentioning is also the amazing soundtrack, which features artists like Regina Spektor, The Smiths, Simon & Garfunkel and even Zooey Deschanel herself as one of the members of duo She & Him.
Trailer
127 Hours
James Franco gives one of, if not THE, best performance of his career. As Tom Hanks did in ‘Cast Away’, James Franco carries the movie all by himself. In ‘Cast Away’, Tom Hanks had an island and a basketball. In ‘127 Hours’, James Franco has a cave and a videocamera. And much less room for moving around… Oh, and a big thank you to the sound effect-person on this movie for making a tough-to-watch scene almost impossible to watch. The cinematography is spectacular. Wonderful pictures all around, and an inspiring movie based on a true story.
Trailer
Other movies worth checking out in this category
8 Mile – Good entertainment, with quite a few funny moments. Also a sad reminder of the loss of Brittany Murphy, who died only 32 years old in 2009. Eminem actually delivers quite a good performance, unlike many other artists making a go at movies. Obviously, it does help him that he basically plays himself…
25th Hour – Monty Brogan, played by Edward Norton, has 24 hours left to spend outside of jail until he starts his 7-year jail sentence. Directed by Spike Lee, this movie also stars the wonderful Rosario Dawson, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anna Paquin and Barry Pepper.
21 Grams – Director Alejandro González Inárritu brings together an impressive cast in ’21 Grams’, as three people are brought together by a tragedy, one which will impact all of their lives. Powerful performances by Naomi Watts, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro, and well worth checking out.
Do you have movies to add to the list? Knock yourself out in the comments section!
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