Invictus

Morgan Freeman maybe America's greatest treasure. Freeman embodies the American perception of Nelson Mandela: a gentile leader determined to unify a land separated racially and economically for decades. Clint Eastwood did a superb job of telling a story that is captivating, dramatic, and enjoyable. Matt Damon also does a great job playing South African SpringBoks captain, Francois Pienaar. Damon does an awesome South African accent and odes a great job as the captain of the team. he delivers his speeches and lines with sincerity and the writing of the film demanded his character be a great leader and Damon does not disappoint.

Invictus follows Nelson Mandela's struggle to unite the nation of South Africa using the sport of rugby as a tool to unify his people and give them something to believe in: a South African victory. Mandela charges the South African team's captain Pienaar with the duty of winning the rugby world to cup to bring the country together.

Freeman shines as Madela. He makes every speech believable and enunciates them like a true politician. Freeman's performance is so convincing he could have audiences electing him President.

One of the film's most powerful scenes is the rugby team's visit to the prison where Mandela spent 27 years of his life. Eastwood also does a great job creating a side story within Mandela's security detail. He uses this group of men to reflect the nation's attitude throughout the movie. In the beginning the black and white bodyguards fear each other and do not trust each other. By the end of the film, these men have become friends and bond by playing rugby just like the rest of the nation.

Invictus receives a B+. This film like the Blindside focuses more on character development more than sports themselves. This makes the movie resonate with rugby fans and people who have no idea how the sport works. The film also does a great of job of not trying to confuse it viewers by trying to explain this relatively unknown sport in America. Both Invictus and the Blindside inspire audiences and are excellent additions to the sports movie genre. The two films are also some of the movies to hit theaters this past year.

Blind Side Review

The Blindside has reinvigorated the inspirational sports story. Through effective storytelling the film engages suspense throughout and helps you empathize with the characters. The film chronicles the real life story of Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman, Michael Oher. Oher was the ravens first round pick in this year's draft and according to the film had lived on the streets for most of his childhood. Oher's life turns around when the Tuohy family takes him in, feeds him, clothes him, and shelters him. The film shows us this story effectively.

Sandra Bullock (Leigh Anne Tuohy) gives the best performance of her career in the Blindside. Bullock builds upon the commonly dominating female character displayed in most Bullock movies and gives her a caring attitude, strong moral fibers, a generosity beyond that of most normal people. Relative unknown, Quinton Aaron gives a solid performance as the quiet and gentle Oher. Tim McGraw also delivered a surprisingly acceptable performance as Sean Tuohy. Jae Head steals several scenes as the adorable and enjoyable S.J. Head' character had a smile on his face at all times.

Fans of college football will love the fact that this film actually had the real football coaches from the majority of the SEC schools play themselves attempting to recruit Oher. This added to the realism of the film and is an excellent achievement because all the coaches in the film had departed the programs they were representing. These scenes were also enjoyable because S.J. would also try to get some perks out of each coach.

The Blindside receives a B+ for being an effective Sports drama that places an importance on character development. In fact, the film places the character development on a higher pedestal than the sports and this will help both sports fans and sports haters enjoy this great story of redemption. The slight negative aspect of this film is the negative portrayal of the black community. It shows that Oher's life only turns for the better when he is adopted by the Tuohys. Despite this message, the film is great and one of the better sports movies of the decade.

Bond Villains Countdown

The holiday season means that some channel will air a "007 days of Christmas." Therefore, we at the Movie Authority would like salute the greatest film saga in the history of cinema. James Bond movies have crossed the generational gap and continue to make money. Bond is arguably cinemas most compelling protagonist, holding the record for most appearances by any main character. There have been 22 official Bond films, two unofficial Bond films, and countless parodies of his exploits. While Bond is certainly an amazing protagonist, all good heroes are made stronger by intimidating, frightening, and threatening villains. After nearly a month of intense research by a team of villainy experts, including John Malkovich, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, and the ghost of Heath Ledger, has agreed upon this list ranking all the main villains in Bond films.

20. Dominic Greene

Evil Deeds: Quantum of Solace's main evil doer,Dominic Greene (Mathieu Almaric) takes the worst spot amongst the Bond villains. His main scheme is to steal all the water in Bolivia and secure some land in South America for Quantum. He also brags about having killed somebody at some point in time. Greene is incredibly egotistic and has the annoying personality that makes audiences wants to punch himself.

Why he the Worst Bond villain: In his fight with Bond, Greene's feminine grunts make him seem like the weakling it was clear he was the entire time. During this fight he hits himself in the foot with an ax and gives Bond no trouble. He is not intimidating and fails to cause fear for the safety of Bond and the Bolivian public. Greene is the worst Bond villain because he was unfortunately the Bond villain in the worst Bond film. Greene is a weakling and stealing the water of Bolivia does not compare with the other Bond villains that are trying to destroy the entire planet or at least destroy bigger countries. Greene is a weakling and therefore takes the cake as the worst Bond villain.

19. Col. Rosa Klebb

Evil Deeds: Colonel Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), SPECTRE's Number 3, oversees a fiendish plot to kill James Bond and steal Russian cryptograph machine, called a lektor. She also orders Tatiana Romanova to seduce Bond and manipulates the girl form the moment they meet. Klebb's cold persona and manipulation abilities make a her a the kind of person audiences would like to never meet.

Hurting Her Cause: She is hardly ever present on screen and functions almost as middle man between Blofeld and the SPECTRE leaders and their hitman henchman, Red Grant. Klebb's lack of screen time hurts her cause for being a strong villain. Another flaw with her villainy is that she makes excuses, showing weakness to Blofeld. Klebb also lacks a personality.

18. General Georgi Koskov

Evil deeds: While the main villain of the Living Daylights can be debated, General Georgi Koskov claims the spot on the countdown over his cohort in evil Brad Whitaker. Koskov (Jeroen Krabbe)beats Whitaker due to his weasel like actions and deceitful scheme. Koskov pretends to defect from the Soviet Union to the English and acts like he will give them information to aid the English in winning the Cold war. Koskov and Whitaker are collaborating in a plan to eliminate British and American spies. Koskov also gets villain points for attempting to kill his own mistress and using her as an innocent tool in his grand scheme. Koskov is a deceitful double crosser who will use anybody to achieve his own goals.

Hurting His Cause: Koskov splits villain duties with Brad Whitaker. Therefore he receives half of the hatred as a normal villain. Also Koskov's plan to kill all spies does not threaten the general public like almost every other Bond villain's plot.

17. Francisco Scaramanga

Evil deeds: Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) is the sharpshooting antagonist in the Man With the Golden Gun. The million dollar hitman with the third nipple's main plan is to test his assassin skills against the well respected assassin, James Bond. Scaramanga also kills a British scientist in possession of a breakthrough invention in the field of solar energy, which Scaramanga confiscates to use with his own solar innovations. Scaramanga kills his mistress for sleeping with Bond. His ability to kill anyone, anywhere, at anytime as the world's best assassin makes Scaramanga a threatening villain who posed one of Bond's toughest obstacles to overcome.

Hurting His Cause: Scaramanga has way too much respect for James Bond. When he shows Bond his island, he does so, not in the triumphant way that most Bond villains boast about their headquarted, Scaramanga gives Bond a tour of private the Island the way an elementary school child shows a new friend, over to his house for the first time, his belongings as way to try and befriend this person. His solar powered scheme has Scaramanga lacking in comparison to those Bond baddies hell bent on world domination.

16. Aristotle "Aris" Kristatos

Evil deeds: Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) is a deceiving and calculating criminal in For Your Eyes Only. Kristatos doubles as a friend to both England and Russia during the cold war. Kristatos, like Dr. Kananga in Live and Let Die runs a heroine smuggling operation, however, his main evil plot is to steal a British naval targeting system called the ATAc and give it to the Soviets. Kristatos beats his niece Bibi when she challenges him and orders his merciless goon, Emile Locque, to kill a countess who revealed Aristotle's plan to Bond. Kristatos earns villainy points for attempting to kill Bond his female associate Melina by dragging them through reef and shark infected waters.

Hurting His Cause: In For Your Eyes Only the plot centralizes on James Bond's investigation of the missing ATAC. Kristatos does not become a main character in the plot until mid way through the film and still does not appear to be the main villain until the final scenes. While his plan to give a British targeting system the Soviets, would give Russia a leg up in the cold war, Kristatos still is not quite as devious as the majority of Bond villains

15. Dr. Julius No

Evil deeds: Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman), the inaugural Bond villain, possesses a keene intellect and a lofty opinion of said intellect. His main criminal scheme is the disruption of the American space program, by jamming the radios of American rockets launching from Cape Canaveral. The mechanical armed maniac intimidates both the Jamaican locals and his henchmen through his power and intellect as well as his affiliation with SPECTRE. No is smart, cold hearted, and vengeful.

Hurting His Cause: The film Dr. No's main goal is introduce and endear James Bond to the audience. No plays a minor role in the film and does not appear until there are about 30 minutes left in the film. No's plan is especially weak and his motive for diverting rockets is never explained. This plan pales in comparison to his SPECTRE colleagues attempting to hold the world for ransom and start the next world war.

14. Gustav Graves

Evil Deeds: Gustav Graves/ Col. Tan Sun Moon (Toby Stephens/ Will Yun Lee) is a dastardly villain in the outrageous plot of Die Another Day. Graves and Moon (who it turns out are the same person after radical plastic surgery) is mad North Korean General obsessed with rekindling the Korean war. Graves uses a diamond smuggling scheme to get rich and build a satellite weapon that reflects the power of the sun onto the Earth with enough to detonate the land mind field separating North and South Korea. After conquering Korea, Graves would attempt to conquer the whole world. Graves also gains major points for killing his father, General Moon. Graves also gives Bond a good fight at the end of the movie. He also displays strong sword fighting skills in a very personal fencing dual with Bond. Graves/Moon is intelligent, psychotic, and incredibly dangerous.

Hurting His Cause: Goldeneye introduced the satellite weapon so Graves gave us nothing new. Having two satellite weapons in four Brosnan Bond films make Bond fans wonder what the writers of Die Another Day were thinking (Aside from the many other holes and fallacies in this movie).

13. Kamal Khan

Evil Deeds: Kamal Kahn (Louis Jourdan's evil plan is to detonate a nuclear bomb on a U.S. airbase in Germany. Khan also runs a major jewelry scheme with Octopussy who he double crosses leaving her to die in the nuclear blast. He also knocks out and kidnaps his female associate at the end of the film. The power crazy Khan seemingly has the high ranking Russian General Orlov under his command and his henchmen obey Kahn to the point where his main goon Gobinda climbs outside a plane at Kahn's request to kill Bond. Kahn hunts Bond like he was a deer at one point another example of true villainy. He also cheats at backgammon. Khan is a devious, double crosser arranging a nuclear holocaust for a payment of jewels.

Hurting His Cause: At times Khan seems to take orders from Octopussy and Orlov.

12. Elektra King

Evil Deeds: While the main villain in The World Is Not Enough could be debated, Michael Apted, the director of the film says Elektra King (Sophie Marceau, not Renard is the main villain in this movie. King's evil scheme is to blow up Istanbul which would force the world to utilize her family's oil pipeline exclusively. She blew up her own father for refusing to pay her ransom, when she was kidnapped by Renard. King is one of the most manipulative and deceptive Bond villains. King pretends to be innocent to both Bond and M, who is a family friend. An important aspect of King's plot is the murder of M who advised her father not to pay the ransom. Elektra also seduces James to help her seem innocent. Another incident that displays Elektra's insanity is that she cut off her ear while kidnapped. Elektra is insane, manipulative, seductive, and deceptive. She will stop at nothing to achieve her own ends.

Signs of Weakness: None. Elektra has no redeeming qualities and is a maniac determined to get revenge for her father's mishandling of her kidnapping.

11. Le Chiffre

Evil Deeds: Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson) is the banker for the world's terrorist. He was implicated in the 9/11 attacks or at least made a fortune for his terrorist clients by betting that 9/11 would happen and investing in stocks that would be helped by terrorist attacks. Le Chiffre also earns a high spot on the list because of his "simple" method of torture. In his torture scene with Bond, he continuously whacks the hero in the testicles with some sort of blunt instrument on the end of a rope. This method of torture alone earns Le Chiffre the 11th spot.

Hurting His Cause: One of the few Bond villains who never actually kills anybody and never successfully has anybody killed.

10. Franz Sanchez

Evil deeds: Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) is a dangerous drug dealer who plans to shoot down DEA helicopters interfering with his drug operation. The main plot, however, focuses on his attempted murder of Bond's CIA correspondent ad best friend Felix Leiter. Sanchez fed Leiter to a shark on Leiter's wedding day, but Leiter survived. His new wife, however, is murdered by Dario, the head henchman for Sanchez. Sanchez is extremely powerful and essentially runs his own country, the republic of Isthmus. Sanchez also kills people in more brutal ways than any other Bond villain. He throws one of his goons Milton Krest into a pressure chamber and raises the pressure until Krest's head explodes. He also shoots several of his other lackeys. Sanchez whips his unfaithful girlfriend, Lupe, and mercilessly kills any of her lovers. While his scheme may not be the most impressive, Sanchez's brutal murdering style, lack of remorse, control of a country, and attempted murder on Felix earn Franz a top 10 spot in the countdown.

Signs of Weakness: Sanchez actually seems like a very nice guy to those who are loyal to him. When he believes Bond is his friend. He treats him like royalty and throws some extra cash Bond's way. He also has too much love for his pet iguana.

9. Dr. Kananga/ Mr. Big

Evil Deeds: Live and Let Die's Deadly Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) diabolically decides to corner the heroine market in America. Disguised as Mr. Big he distributes the heroine for free to get them addicted and after he creates a monopoly on the market he will raise the price on his addicted customers. Kananga has a fortune teller that he beats and forces into a life of servitude. Mr. Big/ Kananga's empire ranges from the small Caribbean island of San Monique (where he reigns as president) to both New York City and New Orleans. This immense range of power make Kananga a very powerful villain due to his resources. Kananga's drug empire, forced slavery on Solitaire, and merciless plot make Kananga a top 10 villain.

Hurting his cause: Like many of the Bond villains, Kananga's respect for Bond combined with his desire to give James a very cool and unique death prove to be his demise.

8. Alec Trevelyan

Evil Deeds: Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean), Goldeneye's vengeful Lienz Cossack earns the 8th spot on our countdown of Bond baddies. Trevelyan's scheme is to blow up London using a satellite weapon. He is also attempting to steal hundreds of millions of pounds from the country. Trevelyan, former MI6 agent 006, hatches this plot in attempt to gain revenge on the United Kingdom for betraying the Lienz Cossacks following World War II. Trevelyan earns bonus points for giving James Bond the best fight he has received from any other villain. Alec Trevelyan's attempt to destroy one of the most populated cities on the planet and steal the money from the entire country show that he is a merciless and cunning foe who an actually give Bond a run for his money.

Hurting His Cause: We do not find out he is the main villain until halfway through the film. All the villains ahead of Trevelyan play a more dominant role in the film. Trevelyan also savors his chance to send Bond plummeting to his death that he loses his advantage and Bond is able to kill his former colleague by throwing into a 50 foot free fall.

7. Hugo Drax

Evil Deeds: Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale earns a high spot on the list for concocting one of the most evil plans to hit the big screen. Moonraker's main antagonist wants to murder every person on the planet by launching globes of lethal nerve gas to the Earth until all people on the planet are dead. Drax would live on with his hand picked examples of physical perfection to create a new master race in space. Obviously wanting to wipe out the world earns big points on a villainy countdown. The wealth and connections Drax has developed make him difficult to stop because he has infinite resources. He also kills one of his disloyal female assistants by sicking a duo of vicious dogs on her. Drax's plan to annihilate the entire population of planet Earth and his Hitler-like desire for a master race make him one of the most evil villains in cinema history.

Hurting his cause: Drax's plan would be more diabolical if Karl Stromberg had not unleashed a similar plan two years earlier in the Spy Who Loved Me. Like many of the other main Bond villains, Drax is no match for Bond physically and does not put up much of a fight before sends him into space. Hugo Drax is also completely devoid of a personality, therefore, he is the most boring Bond bad guy.

6. Elliot Carver

Evil Deeds: Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce, the antagonist of the film Tomorrow Never Dies, like many of his predecessors in the role of main Bond villain wants to start World War III. However, unlike people like Karl Stromberg and Hugo Drax, Carver has no moral opposition to the world. Carver, a media baron, wants to start World War III simply to boost his own ratings and wealth. This selfish attitude combined with Carver's narcissistic egotism make him very easy to hate (At one point Carver compares himself to God). Carver also encourages his wife, Paris, to rekindle her old relationship with Bond to find out more about the mysterious spy. Then Elliot has Paris killed for committing the infidelity he seemingly encouraged. Carver also murders one of his main henchmen during a stand off with Bond. Carver's aspirations for world wide media domination and attempts to start World War III added to the murder he arranged for his wife earn him a high spot on the list. The maniacal media mogul also played a stronger role in the movie then most Bond villains. Carver also may have suffered the most extreme death of any main Bond villain being sliced up by a giant drill.

Signs of Weakness: Physically Carver is no competition for Bond and is defeated easily in hand to hand combat.

5. Karl Stromberg

Evil Deeds: In terms of an evil plan Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens is second to none. In the Spy Who Loved Me, Stromberg decides to start nuclear warfare between the United States and Russia in an attempt to destroy the entire land area of the planet like Hugo Drax in Moonraker, however, Stromberg beat Drax to the punch. Stromberg's goal is to create a new world under the sea. He also scores points for feeding his assistant to his man eating sharks. He also blows up a helicopter with two associates in it for seemingly no reason. Stromberg's evil scheme to destroy the world as we know it earns him a top 5 spot.

Signs of Weakness: His age works against him and compared to other Bond villains, Stromberg goes down fairly quickly and easily.

4. Emilio Largo

Evil Deeds: Thunderball's Cycloptic antagonist and SPECTRE's Number 2 devises a scheme to steal a duo of nuclear warheads holding the NATO allies hostage for ransom. If they failed to pay he would launch one of the bombs into Miami from his base in the Bahamas. He tortures his mistress and started the killer shark trend among the Bond bad guys. He throws one of his lackeys into this pool of sharks after he "Let him (Bond) get the better" of him. He is also one of the few main Bond antagonists not killed by James himself. His plan is so intricate that it involves major plastic surgeon, hijacking a plane and hiding the bombs in the Ocean. Largo's criminal scheming, glamor pets, and attempts to launch nukes into a top Spring Break location land him at the 4 spot on his countdown.

Signs of Weakness: Invites James Bond over to his house for lunch and elects not to kill him.

3. Max Zorin

Evil Deeds: His supreme plan in A View To a Kill is to cause a massive flood that would wipe out the entire silicon valley to boost his computer chip business. While this not as severe as starting World War III, Max Zorin receives serious villain points for killing a significantly higher number of his own people than Bond does. Once his men have the valley ready to flood, Zorin starts the flood and drowns all of his own goons. Proving that people are merely objects for him to use and manipulate for his own personal gain. Unlike many Bond villains, Zorin also gives Bond a good fight in hand to hand combat. He also wins horse races by giving his horses a healthy helping of steroids. He is also played by the great Christopher Walken, a man who can always play a good villains. A psychotic, killer who believes people are nothing but objects Zorin has no conscience and is one of the most scary Bond villains.

Signs of Weakness: None, Zorin is totally insane

2. Auric Goldfinger

Evil Deeds: A plan to make the entire gold supply of the United States radioactive for the next 50 years. Thus making him much richer and crippling the American economy. This plan also involves killing thousands of American soldiers. He has a female assistant who betrays him painted gold until she died. He cheats at Golf and Gin Rummy. He double crosses his business associates killing all of them with nerve gas, except for the guy he has shot and compacted. He also attempted to kill Bond with a laser that would have cut him in the crotch and then slowly make its way up his sternum. Also has the best line of any Bond villain, "No Mr. Bond I expect you to die." A ruthless, selfish, greedy, double crossing cheater sounds like a evil villain.

Signs of Weakness: Letting Bond talk his way out of the aforementioned laser trap, however, he no redeemable qualities.

#1 Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Why he is the best villain: The ultimate Bond bad guy. Blofeld is the leader of SPECTRE and the only main villain to appear in multiple films. Aside from his behind the scenes work in 3 of the first 4 Connery films, the projects he undertakes are simply diabolical. In You Only Live Twice, he becomes the first of many Bond villains to attempt to start World War III. He also attempts to use biological warfare to destroy the entire world's agriculture. In this plan from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Blofeld takes 10 innocent girls and tricks them into almost spreading a bacteria that would kill all the world's agriculture starving many. In his final main scheme Blofeld uses a space laser made of diamonds to hold the world for ransom. This laser is positioned to destroy Washington D.C. Aside from his main plots Blofeld kills henchmen who fail him by having them kicked with a knife shoe, and dropped into a tank of vicious piranha. Blofeld has the power to hold the entire world for ransom and manage an evil organization that covers the entire globe. He is so powerful and intimidating that he forces people to undergo plastic surgery to have look- a-likes for Bond to kill. His ability to survive more than one movie also helps his cause a s the best Bond villain.

Signs of Weakness: Loves his cat way too much. Also since he appears in the most films, he has the most chances to kill Bond and therefore, fails at killing his archenemy more than any other villain.

Lucky Number Slevin

Paul McGuigan's Lucky Number Slevin is one of a few original ideas that come out of Hollywood these days. The 2006 film is a unique crime thriller that boasts an excellent cast that includes Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and beats actor winner Ben Kingsley. The films leads Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu hold their own against the aforementioned acting heavyweights and the film maintains the interest of the audience.

The film's plot centers around Slevin Kelevra (Hartnett), an unemployed man who just arrived at his buddy, Nick Fisher's place in New York to crash until he gets back on his feet. Two rival crime bosses, The Rabbi (Kingsley) and the Boss (Freeman), each kid nap Slevin thinking he is Nick Fisher, a hitman who was recently killed by a fellow assassin named Mr. Goodkat. The Boss wants Slevin to kill the Rabbi's son, The Fairy, in response for the recent murder of his son. The Rabbi wants Slevin to pay hima $30,000 gambling debt owed by Fisher. Now Slevin is faced with the dilemma of having to kill the Rabbi's son and how to do it without getting bumped off by Goodkat.

The negative aspects of the film are an obvious ending that may have seemed like a twist to some. I however, was not surprised and expected the ending that ensued. One of the key aspects of a good thriller is great surprise twist. Obviously Luck Number Slevin failed in this category. At some points the film is also a little dull.

The positive aspect of the film is the cast. Freeman and Kingsley each deliver excellent performances. Kingsley's performance may have been the best in the entire film. Willis is great as Goodkat. Stanley delivers a good performance as the detective investigating Slevin's involvement withe crime bosses. Liu is excellent as the bubbly Lindsey.

The film's story captivates through the majority of the film. The audience is forced to guess ask questions like: What will happen? Who is Goodkat working for? and What will Slevin do? The film receives a B-.It is original but nothing exceptional or outstanding. The cast is great but the ending is predictable.