RIP Tony Scott

Was pretty stunned on Monday morning when I read that famed film director Tony Scott took his own life by jumping off a Los Angeles bridge.  Why he did this is unknown; there were reports that he had an inoperable, terminal illness, but this has since been debunked by his family.  As a film buff, I have seen most of his movies, and inspired by a conversation that I had with my brother about him, I will list his movies and what I thought of them.


The Hunger:  Have not seen, but had heard from some that it is one of his best.

Top Gun:  His best, for sure.  What more needs to be said?  A classic.

Beverly Hills Cop II:  Underrated movie, one of the better sequels that I'd seen.  Murphy at his peak.

Revenge:  Had not seen this in many years, remember it being pretty good.  With Kevin Costner and Madeline Stowe.  Funny, Stowe is currently on a TV show with the same title.

Days of Thunder:  A lot of people ragged on this one, but I liked it a lot.  It's referred to by some as "Top Gun with Race Cars", but that isn't a bad thing, IMO.  Read that it's one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite movies.

The Last Boy Scout:  Definitely one of his better ones.  A great action movie, with plenty of funny one-liners.  Faltered at the box office, but is well-regarded today.

True Romance:  Like Last Boy Scout, was a box office flop, but gained a large following later on.  The fact that it was written by Tarantino didn't hurt either.  A fantastic movie, with one of the best scenes ever between Hopper and Walken.

Crimson Tide:  Another great one, saw this tons of times back in the day.  Hackman and Denzel at top of their respective games.  Appreciated that it was less action-driven and glossy than most of his movies.

The Fan:  One of his lesser efforts, especially for the year that it was released (1996) since this was his peak time as a filmmaker., but I still like it a lot.  No one does a sick fuck like De Niro.

Enemy of the State:  Only saw this a couple of times, remember it being a superb action-thriller.  Foreshadowed the national security state that we live in today

Spy Game:  Actually saw this for the first time not too long ago.  Was a lot better than I'd heard it was.  A solid spy thriller.

Man on Fire:  Real kick-ass action movie, with Denzel as a total bad-ass.  I did feel that his herky-jerky MTV-style direction (which is present in most of his works) did go a little overboard in this one, though.

Domino:  Liked it, but one of his lesser efforts.  Only saw it once, but felt his direction was even worse than in Man on Fire.

Deja Vu:  This one didn't work for me.  Maybe I have to see it again, but I found myself bored.  Found it was one of those films that required a serious suspension of disbelief in order to enjoy.

The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three:  Actually forgot that he did this one.  I found it kinda crappy, especially compared to the original with Walter Matthau.  That was a good caper movie.  In this, I found the violence to be overkill, there was no humor (one of the things I liked best about the original) and Robert Shaw was a much better villian than Travolta.

Unstoppable:  Ironically, another train movie.  Better than Pelham, but nothing really great.  Enjoyable enough though, and I thought the last 20 minutes or so was particularly tense.  This is officially his last movie.