It's A Pity To Waste A Whole Monte Cristo

I don't have a lot of time to blog this week as I am getting ready for the big move.  I would however like to point out that two of my three TV picks for this season will be debuting this week.  'Life' will premiere on Monday followed by another episode on Friday, and 'Pushing Daisies' will be on Wednesday night.

As for that ever-allusive third pick, well it turns out my third choice for a new show that really is an old show coming back for a second season has gained the awful "mid-season-replacement" status, so I feel I still have time to eventually blog about it.  But here's a hint: It involves a hardware store and the devil.

Many have heard that Paul Newman passed away over the weekend at the age of 83.  He was a very talented actor and gave many great performances over his long career.  So here they are, my top five picks of my favorite Paul Newman movies.

5.  Road To Perdition (2002)

One of the last film preformances I saw Newman give, it was good to see that her still had the stuff. Plus, it's always great when an actor who normally plays nice guys gets to be a cold-blooded killer. And in this film, we get both Paul Newman and Tom Hanks as ethics-defying mobsters.

4.  Hud (1963)

This is worth seeing if only for James Howe's Academy Award winning black and white cinematography. A classic american western, some say it was the last of its kind.

3.  The Sting (1973)

I love con-men movies.  Anytime I can get sucked into the wild world of grifters I consider myself lucky.  'The Sting' is really the grand-daddy of all modern confidence-game films.  From 'The Spanish Prisoner' to 'Matchstick Men' all the way to 'House of Games', they all took a page from this original, which always made the criminals fun and endearing.

2. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Probably my favorite Coen Brother's film.  Newman is great as Sidney Mussburger, a greedy business man who promotes an idiot (a proxy) in an attempt to lower the company's value so he can stage a corporate take-over.  This type of dry comedy always served Newman well, as is evident in my number one pick:

1.  Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

I know it's kind of a cliched pick, but I've always loved this movie.  The friendship and chemistry between Newman and Redford set the tone for who knows how many buddy pictures. 

A special performance of note, not on the list because Paul Newman doesn't actually appear on screen, is his 2006 role as Doc Hudson in the Pixar movie 'Cars'. 

He is the heart of that whole film (well him and the entire Route 66 highway).  He infused a cartoon with feeling and depth just with his voice.  All in all, a great talent with a great career.