Top Five Movies of Kim Basinger

I really thought that I would have the easiest time selecting great Kim Basinger movies. It seems like she?s been around all of my movie life and looking at her movie credits, she has. However, being around doesn?t necessarily mean there are movies that I want to see again or watch for the first time. For example, there?s ?Cool World.?

Admittedly, it starred Brad Pitt before he became movie star Brad Pitt after roles in ?A River Runs Through It,? ?Kalifornia,? ?Se7en,? and ?Twelve Monkeys,? but it still had Kim and it had indie credit with Gabriel Byrne (fresh off of ?Miller?s Crossing?) and director Ralph Bakshi, another person I thought had a lot more cool credits. However, if your two big credits are the X-rated cartoon ?Fritz the Cat? and the ?scary as hell to a kid? cartoon version of ?The Lord of the Rings,? that?s plenty. (As creepy as the portrayal of Gollum is by Andy Serkis, seeing the cartoon version of him crawl around in my mind still gives me the willies.) It looked like a much more hard-boiled version of ?Who Framed Roger Rabbit?? and I loved that movie.

Only problem, it stunk. Looking through Kim?s filmography, I see a lot of high hopes with only a decent end product. ?Blind Date? with the fresh faced and charismatic Bruce Willis? Eh. The wonderfully titled ?My Stepmother is an Alien?? Ugh. I could go on, but I hope you already got the point. To be fair, I could have put the highly rated ?8 Mile? on this list and there would be five great, great movies, but I think I found five other movies that celebrate Kim in a very positive way. Was it a bit more difficult? Sure. However, I would watch all of these movies from Kim in a heartbeat and that?s a very good thing.

5. Never Say Never Again

When I have the chance to list a James Bond movie, I list a James Bond movie, especially one with Sean Connery. Not only does it have Kim and Connery, it also has Max Von Sydow (recently heard as the voice of Esbern in ?The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? and seen in many good movies) and Bernie Casey (from ?Bill and Ted?s Excellent Adventure? and ?I?m Gonna Git You Sucka.?)

4. Nine 1/2 Weeks

?8 Mile? could have easily been in this space instead of this movie famous for the steamy sex scene between Kim and Mickey Rourke (pre-ghouling.) However, because that scene is the inspiration behind the great eating sex scene of ?Hot Shots? between Charlie Sheen (pre-insanity) and Valeria Golino, I have to give it its props.

3. Batman

I haven?t seen this movie since it was in the theater. I recently listened to a podcast that says it doesn?t really hold up in comparison to the recent Christopher Nolan versions. Still, Kim, Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton all sit favorably in my mind and I?m not going to change that.

2. The Natural

I know that some argue this is the best baseball film ever made, and I won?t throw out their argument, though I disagree. (For me it is ?Eight Men Out? or possibly ?Major League.?) Robert Redford certainly looks like a star player in the twilight of his career.

1. L.A. Confidential

This movie has a superb cast, great source material and moves surprisingly fast considering it lasts over two hours. I look forward to rewatching it every time I press play.

Agree? Disagree? Which movies would make your Kim Basinger top five?