So I've been "teasing" (as we say in the industry) (as though I'm in it) this for a week or two now, but it is time to finally let loose with my revised Top 100 Movies of all-time.
It took WAY more time than any such project should (thus my not going out on Saturday night) and I'm frankly a little embarrassed that I spend this much time on such garbage...but what's done is done...and we can move on...
So a little background...
History
I made this list for the first time last year, as I found many people (myself most notably) constantly throwing around the phrase "it's my favorite movie" when there is no possible way that Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls is your actual favorite movie. It's just not possible.
So I wrote down every movie I've ever liked (excluding Top Gun, which I felt to conflicted on at the time to write about---and Tombstone and Hoosiers which I just plum forgot) and started the ranking process.
My memory told me that I did this last year about this time, so it was probably time to do it again. Not true---I actually did it at the end of July of last year---but I'd already ranked this year's movies by the time I was done---so just humor me and continue reading...
The Process
Most movie rankings are done either by what they gross, or most-Oscar-worthiness, or social significance, or by genre---my list is a little bit different. I just look at every movie and say, "Okay--I like that one more than that one...it should be ranked higher." I include everything in that determination: entertainment, art, social significance, re-watchability, but more than anything---just the number of times I've thought or said, "that is one of my favorite movies."
Once I've compiled a list (this year's was last year's top 100 plus 31 movies that I thought needed to be included) I put all of the names on pieces of paper, mix them up in a bowl, pull one out and place it on the big board, ranking them 1-100. Eventually, changes are made, adjustments are completed and I come up with a list that I can live with.
This Year's List
Fourteen new movies came onto this year's list (including the aforementioned three omissions) which means that fourteen movies from last year's list are gone.
That's not enough for you to keep reading? (As though most of you haven't already hit the "X" in the top right corner of your screen---or dare I say the red-dot in the top left if you're truly hip...) There was a major shake-up in the top 20 as at some point you realize that you just like something more than something you thought you liked before... (If you understand that last sentence, I salute you.)
STILL NOT ENOUGH???
Somewhere in this blog, I've hidden the winning numbers to this week's MEGA MILLIONS drawing!
So...anyway...without further ado--here is the updated list (with last year's ranking in parenthesis...)
McFly's Top 100 Movies of All-Time
(Please read over the next 5-6 months...)
100. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (90)
Subconsciously, some of you may be thinking, "He rigged it so all six Star Wars movies would make the list." Not true. In fact I'd tossed this one, as I thought it was 101st--then realized my mistake.
That said--still a very good movie. Only glaring weakness is that Liam Neeson is about as believable as a Jedi as Jerry Rice is as a heterosexual. There HAD to be someone else out there to do it...
99. Tin Cup (78)
I can't be alone as someone who has, or has had, enough skill to give a beginning golf lesson and has wanted to use the poetic diatribe that Costner drops in the beginning of the movie. Of course I've never done it, because that would require a girl letting me touch her arm.
98. Big Daddy (73)
This is one that started tumbling down the list as I put it on the big board, but it held on with the strength of half-a-dozen one-liners that even girls can pick up...
97. When Harry Met Sally (50)
Just some foreshadowing: this year's list will not be favorable for Billy Crystal's (Billy ZABKA however...)
Okay--#50 was bold, but it is still one of a handful of "chick movies" that guys can stand behind without being completely outcast by their friends. (My friend Erik believes that Music and Lyrics also falls on that list. He also believes that jean shorts, hiking boots and a mustache are a good look...)
96. The Simpsons Movie (NR)
All told, I'm pretty much over the Simpsons. Much in the way that Seinfeld knocked Cheers forever out of relevance, The Family Guy has done the same to the Simpsons. That said---it is still phenomenally referenceable (is that a word? No...and it shouldn't be...) and was a very entertaining movie. Any movie where the characters have four fingers and still manage to flip off the camera gets on this list---lets just make that a rule...
95. Sleepless in Seattle (72)
Yes, it is a chick movie, but it has three major selling points:
1. Set (partially) in my home town.
2. Features the "Big Yellow S" Mariners logo.
3. Has Meg Ryan right near her peak, looking very elegantly yummy at certain points...
94. Billy Madison (55)
Can you believe that this movie is 13 years old? And looking back, do you have ANY doubt that Norm McDonald was ACTUALLY drinking all of those Daiquiris?
93. Se7en (87)
I think that Se7en gets the now annual "Spy Game Award" honoring the "Brad Pitt movie that will move way up in my rankings as soon as I take a moment and see it for the second time."
92. Six Days Seven Nights (74)
I'm looking at these tumbling-rankings for all of the chick movies...I think the last time I did the list I intentionally spread them out so people wouldn't say, "MAN this guy is a homo, I'm out of here." from the get-go...this year I was more courageous.
One of the most-widely-played TNT movies...for some reason I like it. And I REALLY want to go wherever the S it was filmed...
91. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (91)
Apparently comfortable at #91...
A lot of people knock this movie for being a "love story" but they seriously discount the ridiculous scene where an over-acting Hayden Christensen talks about killing all of the Sand People, saying something like, "I killed them. I killed them all. I HATE THEM. They're animals...and I SLAUGHTERED THEM LIKE ANIMALS!"
And it brought us this clip that you've seen 34 times, but probably need to watch again...
90. The Aristocrats (38)
This movie has fallen off a bit in my book, because people just don't like it very much when I play it for them. Apparently the "C-word" is offensive??? I normally dismiss the "you had to see it in the theater" mentality, but with this one, it may be true: they're all stand-up comedians, maybe having an audience around helps the movie's case???
Regardless--hasn't been my best DVD-purchase.
89. Hero (67)
This movie belongs higher on the list, but I'm not going to redo it. Immensely underrated movie and the only movie I know of that features a "Bubber Doll."
88. Liar Liar (62)
THE PEN IS BLUE!!!!!!!
87. Good Will Hunting (76)
To modify the most-bastardized movie line of the past two decades:
"DO YOU LIKE APPLES???"
"YEAH? Well we starred in this movie together, I'm one of the five biggest stars on the planet and you're collecting cans under the freeway. HOW YA LIKE DEM APPLES??"
86. Mission Impossible (69)
By the time the second and third (equally good) installments came out, Tom Cruise was so hated that they couldn't be appreciated---but they're all rock-solid movies. Speaking of couldn't be appreciated...
This movie came out in the spring of 1996, at the end of 9th grade for me. In my Geometry class with "Mr. R", I sat behind someone we'll call "Mike A." (who has an older brother named "Tim A." who is close friends with "Nick M." and "Ryan M.")...
ANYWAY...Mike A. saw the movie on its opening weekend...I for some reason couldn't and was looking forward to seeing it the following weekend. That following Monday (though I'm guessing it was a Memorial Day release and it was actually Tuesday) (you still with me?) we had the following conversation:
McFly: "So--how was Mission Impossible?"
Mike A.: "It was Mr. Phelps."
I still haven't forgiven him for that.
85. Sixteen Candles (54)
Added to the "four-finger-flip-off rule" we're going to make an automatic addition to any movie featuring a character named, "Long Duk Dong".
84. Dirty Dancing (79)
At this point I can actually hear Erik (yes, the same Erik who LOVED Music and Lyrics) saying as he starts spitting like Bill Cowher out of disgust, "OH, YOU ARE SUCH A ______ing ___ ___ __ ______ _________ ____ing and ___________ _______ of ________."
But screw him...if you don't like this movie, you aren't paying close enough attention. (And it was the first movie I ever made-out to.)
83. National Lampoon's Vacation (85)
"I french-kiss."
"So---everyone does."
"Yeah--but Daddy says I'm the best."
82. Heat (75)
Yes, it is entertaining, but could there be a more-overrated "epic" movie of our generation? (Oh--an epic is a movie with one very famous actor that last longer than 150 minutes.) "Dude--did you know it is the only time Pacino and Bob DeNiro have been together on-screen?" "Yes, I did know that. Did you know that being 1/16th Italian doesn't give you the right to speak like a complete douche?"
81. She's All That (68)
Until American Pie came out (six months later) it was the High School Movie World Champion of the World. (Thanks Rob Dibble.)
Answer me this: Why hasn't someone made a movie where Natalie Portman and Rachel Leigh Cook plays sisters (who are in love with me)?
80. Under Siege (70)
Skinny Steven Seagal, young-enough-to-be-believable Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, boobs, action, Navy Seals...what else could you ask for? A plot that isn't a rip-off of Die Hard? Oh...
79. The Truman Show (71)
Do you ever wonder if this is what your life is really like? I mean--not physically, but spiritually? And how do I know the color blue to you is the color blue to me?
78. Dances With Wolves (41)
I've probably spent about 3 hours (which is 2 hours 50 minutes too long) of my life trying figure out why this movie is so forgotten. The only thing that I can come up with is that Waterworld was Costner's follow-up and was such a tremendous let-down that it removed some of the luster of this phenomenal movie about why it is good to kill buffaloes.
77. Road House (64)
Answer me this: who would you least like to fight at their peak of toughness? Mike Tyson, Chuck Liddell or Dalton? I'd have to go with Dalton.
Not relevant, but Ron White once described an idiot bouncer at a bar as, "the type of guy who would watch Road House and beat off." I don't care if that is more than what I'd normally print---that is funny...
76. Body Heat (80)
Easily the least-known (amongst my readers) of any movie on here. Basically---it is a thriller starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner and therefore won the Academy Award for "Movie that Stars the Two People that More People From this Generation Have Heard of but Couldn't Identify".
75. The Breakfast Club (NR)
I'd honestly never seen it until a couple of weeks ago. Great movie that could be but shouldn't be redone every ten years with new actors with new problems.
It also gets points for employing the "Our Writers Didn't Have any Dialogue so we're Just Playing Music Over this Coming-of-Age Scene" that Footloose used for 3/4 of the movie.
(Oh--good time to mention that Footloose and The Goonies were the two movies that I got more complaints about than any other last year for not including. The Goonies I didn't see until I was 18, so it doesn't have the same luster--and Footloose is just exhausting...)
74. The Distinguished Gentleman (63)
SUMB*TCH!!!!!!!!!!!!
73. Porky's (77)
This movie was almost on the scrap-heap, as the Internet has made the shower scene a little G-rated...but I was reminded of the "Fly a Kite" scene and immediately put it back on the list. Seems like one of those Howard the Duck-esque overrated movies of the 80s, but it is really witty...
72. Spaceballs (The Movie) (93)
There are still a couple of scenes where I just wonder how they made it through editing, but (RULE THREE) any movie that sells its own souvenirs during the movie makes the list...
71. As Good as it Gets (60)
If a movie can feature Cuba Gooding Jr. in a moderately predominant role and Helen Hunt as a sex-symbol and still be tolerable, it has to be a pretty good movie. Best line: when Nicholson asks the Jewish guy from this season of HOUSE about his appetite.
70. Wallstreet (59)
No doubt that Wallstreet is one of the great guy-dramas of all-time...but it has been better than 20 years---can we get off Gordon Gekko's junk already? Probably the most overrated character of my lifetime and I'm appalled that that dead-looking guy who is banging the T-Mobile chick won Best Actor for it.
69. Maverick (45)
Am I wrong for thinking that Jodie Foster looks hot in this movie?
Oh--and for the record, I thought it was cool that I once thought of a card and cut directly to it. Turns out that there is a 1/52 chance that you do it---which really isn't all that remote. Just another knock on my self-esteem...
68. National Lampoon's Animal House (24)
I love this movie but I swear that if I see another "COLLEGE" sweatshirt, I'm going to start shooting...
67. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (NR)
I've been trying to work in an analogy saying that someone was more uncomfortable than Judge Reinhold in his parents' poolside bathroom since I finally saw this movie a couple of weeks ago...
66. City Slickers II (25)
As with all Billy Crystal movies this year, an absolute free-fall in the rankings. This movie is still holding off You've Got Mail as the best Godfather reference by another movie. Furthermore, it features Jon Lovitz, which is great for any movie (poise in caint: Little Nicky is ranked #2 this year.) (But not really.) HOWEVER...I'm afraid to watch it again because if my new-found hatred for its star.
65. Rocky III (88)
I can't decide what has more to do with Rocky III's dramatic rise in the rankings: the movie, or Bill Simmons' review of it...
64. Days of Thunder (53)
Here's a question: Is Days of Thunder more or less believable now that NASCAR is socially relevant? I'm not going to belabor this, but I think that if you beefed up the action, and put a slightly more masculine main character in the frame, this movie could be an absolute Goliath today.
63. The Godfather Part III (56)
How many times must I say (write) it? THIS IS NOT A BAD MOVIE. IT IS JUST NOT AS GOOD AS THE FIRST TWO!!!
62. The Karate Kid Part III (82)
Did I mention in my last post-San Francisco blog that my friend John figured out that the actor who plays Terry Silver is YOUNGER than Ralph Macchio? That could potentially be the most-ridiculous underlying Karate Kid fact I've ever heard...just priceless. (The actor's name is "Thomas Ian Griffin" by the way. Doesn't that sound a little too classy for Terry Silver? You'd think it would be something like "Chaz Diamond" or something...)
61. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (86)
While it has always been the most-appreciated of the Star Wars series by critics, for some reason, it has always been missing something for me. I think it is the inherent lack of key speaking parts for Brian Bosworth in the film...
60. Scarface (NR)
59. Saving Private Ryan (NR)
58. Gladiator (NR)
57. Braveheart (NR)
Four "epics" that I'd never seen until this year that I didn't really have many interesting things to write about.
Though I would love to see an alternative ending to Braveheart where someone dubs in Mel Gibson's anti-Semetic rant instead of the original final line. It would completely change the meaning and perception of an otherwise great movie---and I think it is ridiculous enough that even Jewish Dan would think it was funny...
56. Crocodile Dundee (66)
Easily one of Paul Hogan's top two or three movies...
55. There Will be Blood (NR)
I've probably written enough about how highly I think of Daniel Day Lewis' performance...but here is something that I didn't write: there are portions of this movie that are so overwhelming that the audience starts laughing because they don't know how else to respond. Just a unique experience...
54. Die Hard II (35)
53. Die Hard (36)
You can't really separate them because they're the same movie---with different enough settings to both be thoroughly entertaining. I need to say this though: Will people stop already in saying that the third Die Hard installment was superior to the first two? ARE YOU DRUNK? How many movies have copied Die Hard with a Vengeance? Zero by my count. How many have copied the model for #s I and II? Um...EVERY ACTION MOVIE SINCE????
52. Enemy of the State (30)
"You're either incredibly smart or incredibly stupid." If you think that this is the best movie of that guy who used to sing with Jazzy Jeff, you're incredibly smart. If you don't, you're incredibly stupid.
51. The Rock (31)
The first DVD I ever bought probably remains the most worthy DVD purchase I've made (save the Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson.) The only thing that bothers me about The Rock is that the "prom queen" line gets way more credit than Nicolas Cage's "Let's talk music...yo'ure the Rocket Man" line when the latter is almost inarguably Nic Cage's best line of his career.
50. Dumb and Dumber (28)
I'm going to get a lot of crap for this, but have we hit the point of diminishing marginal returns from Dumb and Dumber?
49. Ocean's Twelve (84)
At 49, it is the lowest-rated of the three Ocean's movies, but there needs to be credit given to any movie that can be this entertaining for two hours. John--why haven't we done a day of Miller High Life (5.5% alcohol by volume) and all three Ocean's movies? Let's put it on the list...
48. It's a Wonderful Life (48)
There are certain clips that I will link whenever I have a chance. This is one of them...
47. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (48)
I'm really jacked for the fourth installment of Indiana Jones---thought what I've realized is that this is the only one of the three I like.
46. Platoon (NR)
Tom Berenger was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Platoon.
Eight years later, he made Major League II.
45. Big (57)
I can't possibly be the only person that assumed that at 25 he'd be a Sr. Vice-President and have an apartment with plenty of balls to play with.
(Well...I accomplished the latter half...)
44. Tombstone (NR)
The best western of our generation. My favorite scene was undoubtedly the end, when Kurt Russell is visiting Val Kilmer in the hospital, and then, quietly, emotionally, Russell walks away from the last few seconds of Kilmer's career...er...life.
43. The Fugitive (47)
I don't know why, but I've never been more frightened before seeing a movie. For some reason, at 13, sitting in the theater petrified that The Fugitive was going to leave me wetting myself in my seat.
I don't know what could have led me to this fear...but it is a repressed memory that I worked out in AA this weekend.
42. Miracle on 34th Street (New) (51)
Here's one. Remember how Colonel Markinson brought the reindeer into the courtroom to make a fool out of Santa? And Santa said that he could only make it fly on Christmas Eve? Why didn't Dylan McDermott's type-cast ass just push that portion of the trial to the following day so Santa COULD make it fly??? I mean---yeah, it would kind of kill the whole "IN GOD WE TRUST" thing...but it could have worked.
Just a thought...
41. Field of Dreams (44)
Did I just think this or did I actually publish it?
Solid movie quote---if someone drops you off in the dark and has to make a u-turn to go the other way, stand in front of the car and project loudly, "MOONLIGHT GRAHAM!"
If they ask what you're talking about, releave yourself on their hood.
40. The Shawshank Redemption (34)
Remember a few weeks ago when I linked the Family Guy/Shawshank clip? Bill Simmons linked it the next day.
Now it's gone.
Thanks Bill---you ruined it for everyone. You really need to get your readership down to 3-4 people like me so this kind of things don't happen anymore...
39. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (40)
Why hasn't anyone ever questioned how Ferris got on the float and how the float happened to have the background music for the two songs that he wanted to sing?
And why do I keep trashing all of these movies I'm supposed to like?
And why don't girls not respond well when I mention that I'm attracted to them because they look like my mother?
38. Rocky IV (37)
Let's be honest---we miss communism. Honestly--we do. Gone are the days when all a casting director had to do was put a sicle on someone's hat, and we know instantly that they are the "bad guy".
Rocky took that and ran--pinning the guy who was already America's greatest athletic hero against a communist, steroid-pumping, high-tech-training, Arian Assault Weapon in Ivan Drago. It made cowboys and indians look like patty-cake.
What's amazing however is that the story-line still works---we still hate the Russians for killing Apollo, for using machines to train Drago, and at some point we blame them for living in a place covered with snow. It's a nearly-perfect sports movie.
37. American Pie (23)
I said it last year and will say it again: THIS MOVIE DOES NOT GET ENOUGH CREDIT. It brought the teenaged dramatic comedy back to chique--and did so in a racier fashion than we'd ever seen.
Also--if you feel like some semi-throwback tunes, download the soundtrack--very underrated.
36. Hoosiers (NR)
How did I forget it last year? And how have I reached 27 years old and not found a way to do a motivational act like the one where Coach Dale had them measure the baskets and free-throw line at Butler Field House? For some reason, measuring the cubicles on the new wing of the building just doesn't have the same luster...
And when I took the tailor's measuring tape to my secretary's chest I got in trouble for it!
(I can't decide which is less-believable---me committing such a blatant act of sexual harassment or me having a secretary...)
35. Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi (46)
I'm still not convinced that the original ending of this movie didn't have Obi Wan, Yoda and Anakin (Vader) watching an incestious three-way between Han, Leia and Luke...
(Yeah---tell me you haven't thought about it...)
34. Garden State (42)
The soundtrack remains unmatched, and while it seems like the exact movie that I should hate because everyone felates it so much, it is just a likeable movie...
33. The Big Lebowski (18)
Dear Big Lebowski,
I'm sorry I ranked you this low. I haven't seen you in quite some time, and live nowhere near anyone who can quote you to the point that you'd achieve a more-appropriate ranking.
Sincerely,
McFly
32. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (5)
Okay--so I DRASTICALLY overshot its original ranking. When I did the last list, I'd only seen it a) in the theater, b) on opening day c) on IMAX.
You understand why it was a touch overblown...
However--still in my mind the best story of the six movies...but an unpregnant Natalie Portman would have helped its case...
31. Love Actually (43)
The only chick movie I know of that I feel comfortable watching with other dudes. I don't see how this will ever be matched in its genre.
I didn't mean for this mark to fall exactly at 30, but at this point, we're entering the area where I've probably claimed (or will eventually claim) that the movies I'm referencing are my "favorite" movie. Obviously, when it comes down to it, I put some above others---but the rankings really aren't that important from here on out---these are simply the movies that I would reccommend to anyone...
30. Gross Point Blank (27)
I'm pretty sure that Ketchum is the only person I've ever known that appreciates the quotability of this movie---which is not only Cusack's best, but is also a phenomenal dark comedy...and is the precise reason I will not be attending my 10 year high school reunion...
29. The Usual Suspects (39)
Losing points for beginning the "let's blow Benecio Del Toro" craze, it is one of the hardest movies to see on your cable guide and pass by...
28. Ocean's Thirteen (52)
Again--I absolutely love this series. The first one was original, the second was more cerebral, and the third was just diabolical---but combined they are absolutely the movies I would most like to be a part of making...it just seems fun.
27. Crocodile Dundee II (13)
No, I'm not kidding---I mean---have you SEEN this movie? A crafty Australian who may or may not be retarded leading Columbian drug lords on an obstacle course through the outback with the help of his saucy 80s girlfriend and the Aborigines??? Find me a better basis for a plot and I'll be happy to move this one down in the rankings a notch.
26. We Were Soldiers (16)
I think the insertion of Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, and others into the list has diminished the relative significance of this phenomenal war movie. I had an Army Ranger for a golf coach in college, and he said that I should "be careful" when I went to see it because "it is so realistic that people are going to be having flashbacks all over the place..."
Just in case you don't follow the humor in this and you happen to have a list of "Places to Avoid" handy---go ahead and place "anywhere where Vietnam vets are having flashbacks" right near the top...
25. Old School (29)
"Hey Mike."
24. Home Alone II (21)
Clearly the tides have changed and it has fallen behind the original chapter of the Home Alone series...but I maintain that the tricks are better and the comedy is more adult. Just not quite as Christmasy as the original...
(Note--either one of two things has happened. Either a) my spell-checker is off and allowed "Christmasy" through---so if there are mistakes, I apologize--or b) "Christmasy" is a word---which is more than a little bit frightening...)
23. Blow (26)
While casting Johnny Depp to play George Jung was VERY generous to America's preiminent cocaine importer from a looks standpoint, after reading the book, I realize that he's about the only actor talented enough to pull off such a phenomenally dynamic character. If you are as ga-ga about this movie as I am, read the book. It was EASILY the best book I read in 2007.
22. Best in Show (19)
Clearly the champion of the Christopher Guest series and so many phenomenal Fred Willard lines that I'd be kidding myself if I tried to choose one...but okay...
"And to think that in some countries these dogs are eaten..."
21. The Departed (NR)
Okay--once and for all: This is a nearly-perfect movie---but Marky Mark had NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.
Wow...he played a bitter tough guy from south Boston. How on Earth did he find the time to research that role?
20. Karate Kid II (83)
Two words why this movie moved up 63 slots from a year ago: SA-TO.
I don't know how I've underestimated the significance of his crank-induced rant during the typhoon scene for the past two decades. "YOU ARE LOWER THAN DOG!!!!!!!!!!"
19. Caddyshack (20)
It is one of two top-20 movies that I've just seen too many times and quoted too frequently to really enjoy anymore. That said however, it was absolutely the best pure comedy of its generation, and may have been better than anything in the two or three generations that preceded or followed...
18. St. Elmo's Fire (17)
The king of:
a) 80s movies (not movies that just happened to be made in the 80s...)
b) Coming of age movies
c) Troup-acting movies
Oh--and it has the phenomenal subplot of Rob Lowe and his saxaphone, which is so beautiful that it makes that stupid plastic bag from American Beauty look like the garbage that it is...
17. Home Alone (32)
I'm pretty sure that at this point I've put more time into thinking about this movie over the past twenty years than Macauley Culkin has---and he's still probably making over a million a year from it...
16. Spy Game (22)
I used IMDB to try to formulate a theory as to why this movie isn't a superhit. Then I realized the sandwich of Brad Pitt super-hits that it was sitting between: Seven Years in Tibet, Meet Joe Black, Fight Club, Snatch, (Spy Game), Ocean's Eleven. So--despite it being better than all but one of those movies, and one of the best intelligent action movies of my lifetime, people don't even know that it exists...because there is only so much Brad Pitt that we can take.
I got a lot of crap about knocking Fight Club, and even more for publishing the letters that followed it---but if any of you haven't seen either Fight Club or Spy Game and are going to choose one, just do me a favor and see the latter---you'll thank me for it down the line.
15. Goodfellas (14)
Probably the movie I watch on television more than any other during the course of a year. I don't care what scene it is---if it is on, I'm hooked. Phenomenal movie from beginning to end. "You got a phone?!?"
14. Ocean's Eleven (8)
So if I love these movies so much, why does the original tumble a bit in the rankings? Don't know...same thing happened with a couple of my other favorite series...
Maybe that is another blog---my favorite movie series. I'll give you some time on that though---I have a feeling the several of you have already began to slit your wrists with a staple-remover this morning due to the length of this blog...
13. Apocalypse Now (NR)
A shockingly-high rating for a new addition...but this movie is a life-changer. It is absolutely every bit as relevant as it was when it was made (almost 30 years ago.) Marty Sheen apparently accomplished a little more than just spawning a junior hockey coach and a brothel-frequenter.
An absolute gem---I may need to own it.
12. Wedding Crashers (10)
The highest-ranked movie made in the past ten years--and WHY? Because it, like Caddyshack, is the best pure-comedy of its generation and is so socially relevant that it has probably (either directly or indirectly) been referenced at 80% of non-Mormon weddings over the past two years.
I still don't know anyone who has used, "I crashed a funeral today" as a confession of love---but when I meet the man, I will buy him a beer.
11. A Few Good Men (11)
With the exception of Jack Nicholson, who has had too many great performances to count, is it fair to say that A Few Good Men is at least arguably the best performance by each member of a phenomenal leading cast? Tom Cruise, Kevin Pollack, Demi Moore, JT Walsh, Kevin Bacon and...uh...Cuba Gooding Jr. I guess...
10. Top Gun (NR)
Last year I left it out because I could have placed it anywhere between 1 and 20 and just didn't know where it belonged. This year I decided that it had to go in, and was a little sad to see it down at 10th. Unfortunately, it has fallen to the same fate as Caddyshack---just been over-exposed for too many years. I still love it. I still start smiling ear-to-ear at certain points in the movie to the point that I feel like I look like an absolute freak----but I'm okay with it. It's like my high school (really ELEMENTARY school) sweetheart of movies...I still look back at it fondly despite it being whored out on several different continents...
9. LA Story (9)
Up there with Body Heat for the movie on the list that the fewest people have even heard of...but it is Steve Martin it his absolute best---just a pure satirical triumph. If there were a time capsule buried in 1991, this movie should be in it so the people zipping around in their flying cars in the future know exactly how absurd that period of American History was...
8. Trading Places (12)
Want a good halloween costume this year? Dress up as Santa Claus and walk around all night, pulling a full-sized smoked salmon out of your jacket, taking lionesque bites out of it periodically.
7. The Karate Kid (15)
I've decided that it, Top Gun and #4 have shaped my life more than any three movies...it has to be in the top ten---and were it not for the asterisk after "The Karate Kid Trilogy", it would almost certainly be my favorite movie series...
6. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (6)
The only Star Wars movie that remained in the top ten---the original and the best. I still can't figure out for the life of me (and him) why Obi Wan threw Vader a softball in their light-saber fight...but you know---destiny is destiny...
5. Groundhog Day (4)
Down a spot from a year ago, because I just wasn't being honest with myself about a few things...
But I watched it the other day, and it blows my mind as to how people don't see the absolute mastery in it.
It's like the Jennifer Connelly of movies--not a lot to it, but just done perfectly and improving over time...
4. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (7)
I still maintain that this isn't a "pure comedy" but it is the king of all Christmas movies---and as ashamed as I am to say it, I can say with a fair amount of confidence that "CHRISTMAS MOVIES" would be the runaway winner for my favorite genre of film.
I'm trying to think of one that I genuinely hate...
Has John Mayer made a Christmas movie? I'm sure I could hate that...
3. The Godfather Part II (2)
2. The Godfather (1)
Yes, you're reading correctly---the movies that have stood as my #1 and 2 since my parents finally let me find out that "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes" when I was 9 has finally been usurped.
I think when I was completely honest with myself, I realized that it may have been the case that I just WANTED them to be my favorite two movies. And after a while I realized that I'd been dating the wrong woman and it was time to move on to the one true love of my life...
1. Quiz Show (3)
Yes. QUIZ SHOW.
At the risk of sounding like a complete knob-job, it has the best dialogue of any movie I've ever seen. Every line is masterfully worded and every exchange has remarkable significance.
But there's more...
I'm going to confess something else---I've always maintained that the final scene of The Karate Kid was my favorite scene in movie history---but Quiz Show has it beat.
And not only that---it has it beat TWICE.
Both the entire scene at the summer house and the scene in Charlie's apartment after the show ends surpass it---and the exchange between Charles and his father at the end is damn close.
I just love this movie. Will someone please watch it with me???
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Two final notes:
1) I already thought of the movie that was on the tip of my tongue and left out of the first two lists somehow: Indian Summer. (I'd guess it belongs in the 25-40 range...)
2) I was going to include the list of "Movies that fell out of the list and why" but I've probably put in 10 hours this weekend and I'm exhausted...I'll try to get it done this week.
Thanks for reading---I love you all.
Feel free to pass along your comments and questions: mcflyblogs@gmail.com
1 comment:
Tom Hanks was 30 in BIG.
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