KOA's 100 Films: 80-71 Thursday Trailers

By: Luke Florence

What was supposed to be a Tuesday trailer segment has quickly turned into Thursday trailers. Good thing the alliteration still counts. After this week we will have viewed 30 trailers and eliminated 21 from top-20 contention. As always, sit back, relax, and enjoy the next 20 minutes as we view the next batch of trailers.

KOA's 100 Films: 80-71

By: Luke Florence

One of the hardest parts about making this list was differentiating movies 50-90. It was quite difficult slotting those films for a variety of reasons. They all were movies that I loved, but weren't on all-time status. It was easy picking out my all-time favorites, but not so much on all the rest. Just so you know, there is hardly any difference in these next thirty flicks. The margins between them is minuscule to say the least.

KOA's 100 Films: Rapid Reaction To Barnes' 90-81

By: Luke Florence

We are two weeks in and neither Barnes nor myself has "fucked it up," yet. In Barnes' second unveiling he pounds out another cartoon flick, a drama about dinosaurs, and perhaps (and I never thought I'd say this) a worse selection than Jungle 2 Jungle.

Ladies and gentlemen, Matt Barnes.

KOA's 100 Films: 90-81 Thursday Trailers

By: Luke Florence

Here we are again with a new batch of trailers. This week we take a look at the movies that were ranked #90-81 on my list. The top three in each group will be eligible for my final ranking of twenty, which will be done when this massive list finally concludes. So sit back, relax and spend the next twenty minutes re-living these great films.

KOA's 100 Films: 90-81

By: Luke Florence

One week down, 19 to go. Might seem daunting, but the reality is that after this week, 1/5 of our lists will be complete. The reaction through one week was incredible. After reading just the bottom ten in our list, people are debating our picks, guessing as to what lies ahead, and some are even creating their own. It's been a pretty remarkable week. Here's to hoping that momentum continues.

There are a couple of new additions to the format this week. From here on out if you click on the title of any of my movies it will link to amazon.com where you can purchase that movie for yourself, or even better, for ME (blu-ray's are preferable, thank-you for caring). Also, I've added a stock-up/down option. This will let you know which direction each movie is headed on my list.

Enjoy.

KOA's 100 Films: Rapid Reaction To Barnes' 100-91

By: Luke Florence

Last night after bowling, Matt Barnes and myself began discussing among other things, our movie list. We talked about our internal processes compiling the list, what the list meant to us, and the reaction we received from our readers. The entire conversation could be summed up by a four-letter statement from Barnes.

"Don't fuck it up."

Strong words from someone who already did that by putting Jungle 2 Jungle in their top 100, but the mindset remains that this is the most important list either one of us have ever compiled and by falling short in our mission to post our top 100 would be a disservice to ourselves and to you.

KOA's 100 Films: 100-91 Tuesday Trailers

By: Luke Florence

For some, going to the movies is more than just watching the featured film. It's the smell of the popcorn, or the sound of a collected group of laughter. For others, the best part about going to the movies is watching the previews.

The two-minute trailer/preview gives you a brief look into a film, a small synopsis, and will ultimately leave one with a positive or negative impression on the soon-to-be-released movie.

Every Tuesday I will post the trailers for the ten movies I just finished writing about the previous Monday. I will rank them 10-1 with the final goal being a top-10 list of my favorite trailers. Hope you enjoy.

KOA's 100 Films: 100-91

By: Luke Florence

Couldn't say it any better myself.

KOA's 100 Films: An Introduction

By: Luke Florence

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." - Clark Gable, Gone With The Wind.

Six years ago the American Films Institute aired a three-hour special unveiling the top 100 movie quotes of the past 100 years. I mention this to show precedence for what I'm about to attempt. It'll take longer than three-hours and it won't end with anything even close to Gone With The Wind, but the thought process is similar.

Ranking my 100 favorite movies of all-time.

2011 Black History Month: #17 - #1 Black Actor Performance

By: Luke Florence

Where did the time go? We are already two days removed from February and my tribute to Black History Month is still stuck on #17. As with most things, life just kind of got in the way. My apologies. For those of you that are really pining to see the rest of the list, then the following will hopefully be satisfying. Here we go, with an abbreviated look at my top 17 Black Actor/Actress Performances.

#17 - Cuba Gooding Jr. as "Radio" in "Radio" - Didn't go full retard and after you get a look at the real Radio at the end of the movie, you realize how well of a job Cuba did in his portrayal.

#16 - Will Smith as "Chris Garnder" in "The Pursuit of Happyness" - This earned him an Academy Award nomination (his 2nd), and cemented him as one of the top actors of our generation.

#15 - Jamie Foxx as "Ray Charles" in "Ray" - Since we all know Ray Charles you can imagine the difficulties it would present to an actor. However, Foxx was excellent and picked up an Oscar for Best Leading Role in 2005.

#14 - Ray Allen as "Jesus Shuttlesworth" in "He Got Game" - This was a personal selection because Allen wasn't spectacular and this movie didn't receive any accolades. But I loved Ray Allen at UCONN, so I'm putting him on my list.

#13 - Michael Jordan as "Himself" in "Space Jam" - My favorite athlete of all-time stars in a movie, you better believe it's going to be on this list. Actually thought Jordan did a decent job, especially when you consider he was acting mainly in front of a green screen.


#12 - Cuba Gooding Jr. as "Frank Sachs" in "As Good As It Gets" - It's a top-ten movie (maybe even top-five) for yours truly, and Cuba was hilarious in his limited time on screen.

#11 - DeWayne Warren as "G-Baby" in "Hardball" - I always try to include Matt Barnes in these lists somehow, and this year this was the best I could do. He loves Hardball and G-Baby is the most memorable character in the film, so here we are.


#10 - Will Smith as "Bagger Vance" in "The Legend of Bagger Vance" - 2nd appearance for Will Smith as he tries to repeat from his 2009 BHM crown. Golf, Will Smith, and Matt Damon add up to a great movie

#9 - Whoopi Goldberg as "Sister Mary Clarence" in "Sister Act/Sister Act II" - 2nd female, and the first to ever crack the top-ten in my BHM lists. She is funny, smart, witty, and perfect for these films.

#8 - Doug E. Doug as "Sanka Coffie" in "Cool Runnings" - Favorite movie of all-time, it's a shame I didn't get around to dedicating an entire post to Sanka. (Head to the 3:30 mark for some great Sanka moments)

#7 - Eddie Murphy as "Prince Akeem" in "Coming To America" - One of those great 80's comedies that will never not be funny. Too bad Eddie got further away from these movies and more towards the Daddy Day Care variety.


#6 - Robert Downey Jr. as "Kirk Lazarus" in "Tropic Thunder" - He was absolutely hilarious in this film, and he deserved the Academy Award nomination he received. Yeah I know he's not actually black, but he played a black dude.

#5 - Cuba Gooding Jr. as "Rod Tidwell" in "Jerry Maguire" - Three appearances for Cuba, but this one is by far his best. He won the 1997 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, which ultimately led to lots of people showing him the money.

#4 - Denzel Washington as "Coach Herman Boone" in "Remember The Titans" - Denzel did not get nominated for any major awards with this performance, but it's one of my personal favorites. I loved the movie, and thought Denzel was an excellent high school football coach.

#3 - Will Smith as "Muhammad Ali" in "Ali" - My favorite Will Smith performance, as he does an absolute amazing job portraying the greatest heavyweight champion of all-time. He lost out on the Oscar for Best Actor, but as you will soon find out, he lost to another epic performance.

#2 - Denzel Washington as "Det. Alonzo Harris" in "Training Day" - Will Smith lost out on that Oscar to this performance by Denzel. It's the perfect role for Denzel and he knocked it out of the park.

It was very difficult putting these final three in order, but at the end of the day, I had to give the nod to ...


#1 - Morgan Freeman as "Red" in "The Shawshank Redemption" - It's my 2nd favorite movie of all-time and boasts the best Black Performance I've ever seen. He lost out on the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but like that entire Academy Awards, something tells me if they re-voted right now, Freeman would walk away the winner. As for now, he stands tall as the champion of this very prestigious list.

Until next time, "read it, roll it, hole it."