My All-Time Top100 (100-75)

I was thinking that a good way to kick-start this blog would be to have a list of my favorite 100 movies. It wasn't as easy to compile and order as I thought it would be. There were many movies that at some point were in the list, but then got bumped out. Some moved up, while others moved down. I'm well aware this list in kind of pointless, and might seem a little too random to some people. This is not a list about the best movies ever made, I am not a movie critic, or a film connoisseur. What this is, is some of my favorite movies.

As a general rule, the higher you go on this ranking, the more times I've seen that particular movie, or the more likely it is that I'd like to see it yet another time. If a movie is placed in place, say, No. 57, it doesn't mean I like movie No. 55 (or 54, or 53) a lot more than that one, or that I like No. 58 or 59 a lot less. What it might mean is that I like movie No. 30 considerably more. I think that the Top 10 movies are pretty much in definitive order, maybe even the top 20-25, but after that, things get a little blurry. I guess I should've limited the list to my top 10 movies, but where is the fun in that?

Anyways, here is the first part of the List:

75. Narc

This is one gritty cop movie. Both leads are great in it, but this might very well be the best acting of Ray Liotta's career. The story is gritty, the cinematography is gritty, the locations are gritty, you get the idea. It is like Training Day (another good movie) for adults.

76. National Lampoon's Vacation

This movie is so silly. The best thing Chevy Chase ever did. A highlight for me, is that moment, after they have crashed the car in the middle of the desert, and Clark Griswold sits down to talk man-to-man with his son, and he takes out his glasses from his front pocket, puts them on, and the glasses break apart, but he keeps blabbering like nothing... that's funny.

77. The Shawshank Redemption

I really don't know what to say about this movie that hasn't been said before a thousand times. It's almost like a heist movie in reverse. Two great performances and one of the ultimate feel-good endings for a film ever.

78. The Fugitive

I watched this again recently, and the movie it self is a little dull, I blame the direction, but Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford make up for it with some intense performances. This movie also brings memories from my friends in high-shool, when it came out I remember we all liked it.

79. Edward Scissorhands

This is a Tim Burton movie that is goth without being too in-your-face like many others he has done. There is a nice contrast between Edward and his place, and the very retro suburban community he is later brought to. I guess Edward is a goth/emo icon too, but it's not quite as bad as Jack Skellington. This is a nice, weird fairy tale.

80. Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm

It continues to be the best Batman movie ever made (yes, I said it), and one of the few good Superhero movies made. Not only that, but this, and the Batman animated tv series, helped launch the animated DC Universe, which means Superman, Batman Beyond and Justice League.

81. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

I find this movie hilarious. Especially Dr. Evil, his cronies and Scott Evil. Those bits when they show what happens to the families of low ranking goons once they receive the sad news that Austin Powers had killed them are so funny. You rarely think that those background characters that are so easily disposed might be head of a family.

82. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

They tried to capture some of the adventuring feel of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the rest of the Indiana Jones movies, and I think that for the most part they succeeded. The only thing is that some sword fights just go on for too long. This problem get worse with the sequels. The Cinematography and SFX are what elevates them... oh, right and Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow.

83. First Blood

This is an anti-action-movie action movie. For the most part John Rambo tries to resist all the provocations that the small-town sheriff and the rest of the police put in his way, until they push him too far and Rambo brings the vietnam war to the Pacific Northwest. This is one of those cases where Stallone's acting limitations work in his favor. The movie was followed by 2 regular action movies, that I think betrayed the John Rambo character. I'm not sure the John Rambo here would agree to participate in war again. I've heard the, more recent, fourth movie is better, but also insanely violent.

84. Beetlejuice

I used to like this one much more when I was little, I still appreciate all the inventiveness behind it, with all the different shapes and sizes the dead come with in Purgatory. A little like in Edward Scissorhands Burton plays with the contrast between the more old-fashioned newly wed/newly dead couple and the more goth Lydia and the rest of the undead characters. Who would've thought after seeing this that Michael Keaton should be Bruce Wayne? Well, we all know Tim Burton likes to stick with the same actor(s) from one movie to the next *cough*Johnny Depp*cough*

85. The Wedding Singer

Most of the time Adam Sandler plays the same character, the loud-obnoxious over-the-top guy that deep down has a big heart. Here he plays a slight variation of that, and it works. I was only a little kid when the 80's came to a close, so its not like I remember a lot from it, aside from school, toys and cartoon's of that decade... even so, one of the reasons I like this one is because it is set in the 1980's. Same thing happened to me with the Grand Theft Auto games, I only truly played Vice City because of it's Reagan era setting.

86. School of Rock

This is, in a few words, Tenacious D's JB thrown in a Sister Act-like situation. Much superior to the Tenacious D movie, for example, School of Rock is actually funny. Jack Black plays his usual self in this movie, but his typical hijinks work like a charm for this material. All the kids in this movie are good, and Joan Cusack is just as funny as Jack Black is here.

87. Beavis and Butt-head Do America

I will always have a place in my heart for this two losers. I just identify (sadly) with slackers too much. I've tried to like the kids of South Park, and while they are funny, you just know they are mouthpieces for adults that write the show. With Beavis and Butt-head I just feel like there really were teens almost like them back in the 90's. In my opinion Beavis and Butt-head just wouldn't work now days... not because teens are smarter, but because the pop music scene is just too different. The movie was good, and it was the most succesful of it's kind until South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut a few years later

88. Chasing Amy

The one Kevin Smith movie I've liked. I havent seen them all, I have to confess, but of those I've seen this is the one for me. It's like a very raunchy romantic comedy. It also has that comic book artists angle, that really helped sell the movie to me. All 3 leads, Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck are so good in this one. You have to wonder why Ben Affleck keeps picking movies like Gigli, Sum of all Fears or Surviving Christmas, when he is better than that.

89. Cast Away

Not many actors could pull off a movie with just 1 human character for almost the entirety of the length of the film, and also make it successful at the box office. It's funny, it's sad, it's adventureous, it was meant to be the third acting Oscar for Tom Hanks, but the academy had snubbed Russell Crowe the year before, so they decided to make up for it by giving Crowe an Oscar for Gladiator, which was a performance that was nothing to write home about.

90. Bridget Jones's Diary

91. The Goonies

One of those childhood classics for a kid of the 80's.

92. Memento

A great modern take on those film-noir films of yesterday. I've read some reviews that say the story isn't all that once you see it chronologically... why would you want to do that? The whole point of this movie is that it's character can't remember things chronologically, the idea behind this is that the audience shares the confusion the protagonist is going through.

93. Children of Men

A very gritty dystopian future sci-fi film that doesn't rely on heavy special effects and imitating Blade Runner. I like the idea of how things, like technology or architecture, in the future displayed here are basically the same that we have today, just ran down and worn out. Like humanity stopped caring to keep pushing it once babies stopped being born, and everyone understood it was all over, and now all they are is waiting hopelessly for the end. That last act, with the military invading the refugee camp was some of the best war footage since Saving Private Ryan.

94. Elf

I had to have a Will Ferrell movie in the list. For a long time I had Old School in this place, but ultimately I decided to go with Elf. Old Shool is funny too, in a different way, but I think Buddy the Elf is the character Ferrell was born to play. And it is a family-friendly movie, so it balances out this list much better.

95. Tarzan

Probably the most kinetic Disney movie done with traditional animation. The work done with the character of Tarzan and also with the gorillas is amazing. The 3-D background Jungle is incredible to look like too. It lacks the appeal for girls that the more traditional Disney animated movies have, it just doesn't have a princess. I like the Phil Collins Soundtrack, except for the musical centerpiece that the cartoon characters actually sing.

96. Hercules

This is one of the first examples of Disney trying to break away from the pattern they had created with their renaissance with Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. There were a couple of movies after these and Lion King that did not as good as they expected, so I guess they tried something different here. I think its funny, has that weird but appropriate greco-roman character designs, yet something is missing here to consider it part of the Disney Classics.

97. Snatch

98. Speed

One of the few successful "It's like Die Hard but in a..." movies. Maybe because Jan de Bont worked in Die Hard.

99. Signs

I'm not a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan, never have been. The difference with this movie is that I like the subject of this particular movie. Now, don't get me wrong, Shyamalan knows how to build suspense, and this movie shows that, but he also makes some very odd choices. I've skipped his last couple of movies, and I've heard no one that has seen them telling me I should give those movies a try. Back to Signs tho, I would've liked it more, if it had ended the moment lights go out when the family is hiding in the cellar, and leave it to the audience imagination what happened with the Hess family, and humanity. After that moment, those final 10-15 minutes are just wrong.

100. Final Destination

The men behind this movie wrote some of the best episodes from the early seasons of The X-Files. It might be the best post-Scream teen horror movies of the late 90's. The only thing I've never been convinced with, was the decision of making Death a "shadowy being", a creature. It should've been left as it is in reality... just nothing but events.