In honor of First Man, the story of Neil Armstrong that opens this week, this week’s Top 10 list is the Top 10 Space Movies.  Now, the key to this list is that there will be no fantastical aspects to the list. That means that there will be no Star Wars, Star Trek, Aliens, Guardians of the Galaxy etc.

There was a guest on this week’s podcast as Steve Morris, Rocha’s co-host on the Cinefiles, came to add his list.  He was very entertaining and made a nice addition to the guys.  Special guests on Top 10 never seem to fail.

#10.  Interstellar.  I almost made this the James Bond Moonraker, but I decided it was just too bad to make the list.  I am really not a big fan of Interstellar, because I believe that the final hour or so of this movie really takes this film off the track.  I did enjoy the first part of the film, but, once they arrived on Matt Damon’s planet, things really go downhill for me.  However, it is a stunning visual accomplishment and has wonderful music.  That alone should justify its inclusion on here.

#9.  Armageddon.  A really stupid movie that I kind of like.  I was always a fan of Bruce Willis and he is in all of his Bruce Willis-goodness here.  There is a great cast here and, if you do not think too much, you can have a lot of fun with Armageddon.

#8.  Space Camp.  A group of kids go to space camp and winds up accidentally launching them into space.  There is a group of well known actors here including Lea Thompson, Tom Skerritt, Kelly Preston, and Kate Capshaw.  John Williams does the music for the film.  There is also a robot here called Jinx who befriended Max, played by a young Joaquin Phoenix.

#7.  Hidden Figures.  Rocha mentioned this film but poo-pooed this by saying they never go into space.  However, the idea behind the film directly involves NASA and being able to launch John Glenn into orbit.  I found this very surprisingly good and I did not expect that.  There is a great cast here too with Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monáe.  Plus, this is a true story and a story that needs to be more well-known.  The story of African-American women coming into the world of NASA and race relations is really important.

#6.  Planet of the Apes.  The original from 1968.  Thanks to Steve Morris who put this film on his list and that made it possible for me to include it on my list.  I love this movie and it has so many iconic moments that it is a classic.  It is in the EYG Hall of Fame and it deserves it.  The film tells the story of how humans wind up destroying the world and losing their place at the top of the chain.  And the ending scene is as shocking and brilliant as any movie ever.

#5.  Gravity.  The Oscar winning film starring Sandra Bullock as a medical engineer astronaut who winds up isolated in space desperately trying to find her way back home.  Bullock is tremendous here as is George Clooney, who plays one of the other astronauts who winds up lost in space prior to his retirement.  The imagery of the film is amazing and the film is tense and anxiety-ridden.

#4. 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The Stanley Kubrick film that is an epic mind f###.  I saw this recently on the big screen and it was quite a bizarre experience.  The computer Hal is one of the great movie villains of all time, but it really felt like you needed to be stoned in order to truly understand what is happening in the screen.  It is another film on this list that is visually stunning, with colors and images flying everywhere.  It also has one of the strangest and most bizarre endings of any movie.

#3. Moon.  Sam Rockwell is wonderful in this great film that features him on the surface of the moon, working for an earth corporation that is trying to find a solution to the problems on earth.  Rockwell is preparing to retire and return to his wife on the planet.  However, he begins to have problems and some truths are revealed.  This is a great sci-fi movie and a great performance by Sam Rockwell.

#2.  The Martian.  Matt Damon is stranded on Mars, believed to be dead,  and, when they realized their error,  they have to try and rescue him.  He spends several years on the planet, growing potatoes and trying to survive until he could be saved.  The Martian was a Golden Globe winning film in the wrong category of Comedy/Musical (It did have its moments of humor).  That should not be held against it  Damon was tremendous here and the film was a real return to form for director Ridley Scott.

#1.  Apollo 13.  Houston, we have a problem.  This is a true story and tells the story of how NASA took the biggest failure of the space program at the time and turned it into its biggest success.  Starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Xander Berkeley, Apollo 13 is tense and nerve-inducing.  It is full of both humor and humanity.  It is exciting and thrilling.  It promotes intelligence and shows how the brains at NASA was able to do the impossible.  The chemistry of the three on the shuttle is great.  Directed by Ron Howard, Apollo 13 is a easily rewatchable film that is always enjoyable.

Honorable mentions:  As I mentioned, I considered Moonraker, but I came to my senses.   Contact was on my side list because I have not seen this in a long time.  Space Cowboys is another ridiculous one.  I actually have not seen The Right Stuff so I could not include it.  Mission to Mars is not that great either.

This week’s list is an interesting one.  I liked this topic as the list was Top 10 Musicians Turned Actors.  I found this a fascinating group of performers and listening to Matt and John is always a good time.

This has to be performers who were first musicians prior to being actors, which eliminates someone like Justin Timberlake.

I am also linking up an actor to a performance in a film, so it is not a compilation of a total number of films in his/her oeuvre.

Top 10 Musicians Turned Actor

#10.  Dolly Parton, 9 to 5.  Miss Dolly was wonderful in this 80s classic comedy.  Dolly Parton was very charming and engaging in this, her first film.  She works so well with the other two lead women, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda and she certainly held her own with those two huge stars.

#9.  Henry Connick Jr.  Copycat.  This is one where the film itself helped make this list.  I enjoyed the film Copycat as Connick Jr. was the serial killer stalking Sigourney Weaver.  Connick Jr. was downright chilling in the film and I was always a fan of serial killers.  This film brought some real tension and anxiety for the audience.

#8. Cher, Mask.  Cher loved that boy.  The film is based on a true story of a boy with disfiguring facial deformity called craniodiaphyseal dysplasia.  Cher played the mother of this boy and she fought for her son so much.  She brings a wonderful humanity to the role and creates a believable bond with her son.

#7.  Jerry Reed, Smokey and the Bandit.  The “Snowman” has his ears on.  Smokey and the Bandit is a fun film with some great silly situations.  Jerry Reed perfectly fits in as the sidekick of the Bandit, as they travel across Tex-Arcana to bring back a load of beer.  Sure, he was a criminal, but he was charming as all get out.  And I loved the song, “East Bound and Down”, sung by Reed himself.  That’s a big 10-4 good buddy.

#6.  Meat Loaf, The Mighty and Rocky Horror Picture Show.  This was the one I could not decide which of the films I wanted to use so I decided to use them both.  The Mighty is the adaptation of Freak the Mighty, a book by Rodman Philbrick and he plays the rotten Iggy Lee.  In Rocky Horror, he played Eddie and was able to sing Hot Patootie before winding up as supper.  The Mighty is more of a subtle performance but Eddie is a vital part of the craziness of Rocky Horror.  Meat Loaf brings a larger than life image to both roles.

#5.  “Weird Al” Yankovic, UHF.  His almighty weirdness makes this list for his cult classic UHF film that showcased the unusual talents of Al Yankovic.  There are so many iconic moments including Gandhi 2, Wheel of Fish, Spatula City as Weird Al tries to make a success out of a fledgling television station.  There is a great supporting cast as well including Michael Richards, Victoria Jackson, Anthony Geary, Kevin McCarthy, Emo Phillips, Fran Drescher and Dr. Demento.  Weird Al may not be the greatest actor, but he will always have a place on a list here at EYG.

#4.  Mark Wahlberg, Boogie Nights.  This was last week’s number one movie in the Mark Wahlberg’s films and it is well deserved.  I’m not sure counting him as a musician is fair considering he spent a long time trying to get past the identity of Marky Mark.  Still, this is a great performance in the true story of Dirk Diggler and the world of pornography and is a definite deserving actor for this spot on the list.

#3.  Madonna, A League of Their Own.  I love this movie and Madonna does a fantastic job as “All the Way” Mae.  Her pairing with Rosie O’Donnell is one of the highlights of the movie.  She does a fantastic job in a dance number at the local bar too, showing how much skills Madonna truly does have. I do like Evita as well, but A League of Their Own is one of my favorites of all time.  Plus, we made it through the entire movie without seeing her bosoms.

#2.  Frank Sinatra, The Manchurian Candidate.  This is a fantastic performance from Frank.  Frank was the investigator trying to figure out the Russian plot to assassinate the president.  Sinatra is great here as he is conflicted by guilt over his failure to stop the brainwashed killer.  The Manchurian Candidate is almost too on spot for these days.  Angela Lansbury is just tremendous in the role of the evil mother.

#1.  Will Smith, Enemy of the State.  This is a great movie and one of the first that really showed that the Fresh Prince himself could carry himself in a big time film against a real movie star in Gene Hackman.  Will Smith showed charm and energy as the lawyer who found himself in a government conspiracy.  This is a fantastic film.  Will Smith has had a lot of great films on his resume including Men in Black, Pursuit of Happyness, Concussion, I Am Legend, Independence Day, Hancock, and I, Robot.  Still, Enemy of the State is one of the first moments where Will Smith stepped out of the comedic roles and became an action star.

Honorable Mentions:  I found several other possible choices.  I had to struggle to make that final choice (which actually turned up at #9).  I debated Courtney Love in The People vs. Larry Flynt.  I considered Queen Latifah in Girls Trip.  I have always really like Latifah, but her list of films hurt her, despite as charismatic as she is.  David Bowie in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was a wild ride, crazy and very David Lynch-ian.  Mandy Moore’s voice over work in Tangled is great.  There were a couple of Barbra Streisand roles that I looked at.  Olivia Newton-John does some solid work in Grease too.

I saw this topic and I immediately thought that I was in trouble.  I actually considered changing the topic for the first time ever from Top 10 Mark Wahlberg Films to The Top 10 Worst Films with Mark Wahlberg.  I have never been a big Mark Wahlberg fan and I was not certain I could reach 10 films that I really liked.  I was also sure that I could easily find ten that I did not like.

In the end, I did have to stretch somewhat to get to 10 Mark Wahlberg films that I liked, but I also struggled with finding ten that I hated so I decided to just stick with the regular topic.  Here was the Top Ten Worst list anyway…

1.  Transformers: The Last Knight
2.  Planet of the Apes
3.  Transformers:  Age of Extinction
4.  Ted 2
5.  Daddy’s Home 2
6.  Contraband
7.  Ted
8.  Mile 22
9.  The Perfect Storm
10.  Entourage

Yeah, there are some films on this list that people like (aka Ted, Perfect Storm) but I just do not like either. And number 10 is a cheat really.  Numbers 8-9 aren’t terrible, so I did not feel I needed to readjust the topic (However, number one and two are two of the worst ever!)

So I went ahead to find the Top 10 Mark Wahlberg films.  I still had to cheat a little as you will see at number 10 and number 9.

#10.  Daddy’s Home.  I was about two-thirds of the way through this movie and was trying to figure out exactly what spot on the worst films of the year Daddy’s Home would occupy.  I am not a fan of Will Farrell either so this film had a double dose of trouble coming from me.  However, the third act suddenly found its voice and its humor and surprised the heck out of me.  It is not a good film by any accounts, but it did not end up making that worst films of the year list either so there is that.  This is one of the reasons why I try to sit through the entire film, even if I am hating on it so much because you never know when one might turn it around.

#9.  The Departed.  This is a film that lots of people love, but I have never been a huge fan of.  I have only seen it once on home video and it was a time of my life where I was not that into this type of movie.  My guess is that if I saw it again, I would probably see more in it as so many others have.  I still remember it being a good film though and being surprised by it.

#8.  All the Money in the World.  Another film that I liked but did not love.  The film got a bit of a push because of the Kevin Spacey stuff, but Mark Wahlberg is still very solid in it.  The film really became Christopher Plummer’s movie because of his dramatic entry into the cast, but Wahlberg is important in the film as the go-between with Plummer and Michelle Williams.

#7.  2 Guns.  You have to appreciate the pairing of Wahlberg with Denzel Washington.  Sure the film is, at best, an average film, but the relationship and the chemistry between Wahlberg and Washington elevated the movie to heights that other performers would not be able to accomplish.  Wahlberg and Washington were funny and entertaining and they made the movie better.

#6.  Patriots Day. We are getting closer to the true favorites of my list now.  Patriots Day was a really compelling film dealing with the bombings at the Boston Marathon.  It is a true story and, although Wahlberg does not play a real person (actually an amalgam of a bunch of people), he is an important piece to make the narrative flow well.  There is high drama and you connect immediately to Wahlberg and his “everyman” character who winds up at the most inopportune place and time.

#5.  Pain and Gain.  I might have moved this even higher up my list if not for one important detail.  This is a true story about a group of horrible people but the film makes these people funny and play the terrible things they do as a joke.  If not for that, this would be one of my favorite Wahlberg films.  I certainly love the Rock in here and pairing those two up makes for a lot of sense.  If this were a fictional account, it would be so much better but I almost feel guilty for enjoying this Michael Bay film.

#4.  Lone Survivor.  The biggest spoiler is right in the title of this movie.  A group of Navy SEALS head into Afghanistan on a mission that included both surveillance and the possible killing of the Taliban leader Ahmad Shah.  Again, by the title, you kind of know how that mission is going to end.  That does not take away from how dramatic, edge of your seat tense the film is.  This was the first film in the collaboration between director Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg.

#3.  The Fighter.  This is a great film with an amazing cast including Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams.  Wahlberg plays boxer Mickey Ward in this real life story of the early years of Ward’s career.  There is so much drama and excitement here and this is a remarkable film throughout.  Wahlberg chose the role because of his actual friendship with Mickey Ward and he provides, arguably, one of his very best performances.

#2.  Deepwater Horizon.  I almost made this number one.  I really considered it.  This is the third collaboration between Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg and this true story of a massive fire on an oil drilling rig and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resulting from that disaster.  This movie is completely engrossing and suspenseful from the first second until the final reel.  You are never sure what is going to happen and you are constantly amazed with what actually did.  I was absolutely surprised by how much I loved this movie and how much I was connected to the characters and their plights.  I knew there would be characters paying the ultimate price, but I felt for each of them as their time came.  It is a great film.

#1.  Boogie Nights.  However, no matter how much I wanted to put Deepwater Horizon at number one, the correct answer to this puzzle is Boogie Nights.  Playing Dirk Diggler, Mark Wahlberg was able to shred the “Marky Mark” image and show that he was a real actor.  The film was amazingly rich with other performances as well from Burt Reynolds, John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Heather Graham, William H. Macy and Don Cheadle.  And the film ends with one of the most iconic shots in Hollywood history.