I am a list maker. I make lists for everything: grocery lists; works-in-progress at my job; books I need to read; errands I need to run; appointments I need to keep; music I want to download; presents Mr. Mouse should buy for me. So when Fletch over there at Blog Cabins posted his "Top 50 Films," I just knew that was something I had to do too.
Now, I don't pretend to be a film scholar and this list is absolutely not a Top Films of All Time compilation (I mean, it's got P.C.U. on it fer cryin' out loud). This list is of my comfort food movies, the ones that I watch over and over again because they're my favorites. These are the movies to which I am drawn like a moth to the flame: whenever I'm flipping channels and I find one of these, I am inexplicably and inevitably sucked in to watch them, no matter what. As the redoubtable Fletch says, they're my Desert Island 50 - if I were to be stuck on a desert island with a working DVD player.
Also, it should be noted that these are my favorites right now at this very instant. I'm sure I've forgotten one or two that I'll be kicking myself for tomorrow, and I expect that I will develop new favorites and have to reshuffle the list. With those disclaimers, here they are; how do they stack up against your top flicks?
300
Aliens
Animal House
Back to the Future
Blade Runner
Best In Show
Brazil
The Breakfast Club
Caddyshack
A Christmas Story
Clerks
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Dark Crystal
Die Hard
Dogma
Fargo
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Ghostbusters
Grease
Groundhog Day
Heathers
The Incredibles
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Memento
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
My Cousin Vinnie
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Ocean’s 11
P.C.U.
The Princess Bride
The Professional
Quest for Fire
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Reservoir Dogs
Road Warrior
Serenity
Shaun of the Dead
The Shining
Silverado
Sin City
The Sixth Sense
Slingblade
Snatch
Star Wars
The Sting
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Time Bandits
Unforgiven
The Wedding Singer
The Wizard of Oz
Posts
8 hours ago
I love that you put P.C.U. on here. Even somewhat appalingly unoriginal, but let's face it, some movies can stand to be "updated" for each generation, and this semi-version of Animal House holds up to the original just fine. Though I get seriously bothered every time I see a young Piven with less hair than he has now...
ReplyDeleteDon't know if there's a single one on here that I dislike, even if I'm not gaga over a few. Great list.
P.C.U. is a total guilty pleasure of mine, not least of which because I went to Wesleyan in CT, which is purportedly the college that inspired the movie - and honestly, there's not that much fiction in the film. I just can't help myself!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. I'm mostly proud that it's not a very girlie-list.
Great list for the most part - you don't like the Bourne movies? The first one was fantastic! And Princess Bride - of course. But I NEVER HEARD of PCU.
ReplyDeleteHey, Leah - thanks for stopping by! I saw the first Bourne movie in the theater and while I thought it was pretty good, I actually got motion-sick from all the frantic editing. I think the experience has made me gun-shy because I haven't even tried the next two.
ReplyDeleteP.C.U. is a very silly movie: like Fletch says in the comments above, kind of an Animal House for the '90s.
Great list FM. There's a couple I've never seen and 1-2 that might keep me flipping channels.
ReplyDeleteDoes Time Bandits have Charisma Carpenter? If so I've always wanted to see that - even if she was like 15!
Me and Ghostbusters are like this, son!
I don't think CC is in Time Bandits - I think it's all British people (she is credited with something called Time Warriors on IMDB ...?).
ReplyDeleteReally should check IMDB instead of relying on the brainpan. :-)
ReplyDeleteTime Bandits is a Gilliam flick, looks worth Q'n up.
no shawshank redemption? baldscull
ReplyDeleteI did say that the list was subject to change (Grease is on the cusp, frankly)... Shawshank Redemption is a great movie, plus the whole Stephen King tie-in.
ReplyDeleteAnd everyone should see Time Bandits, by the way - I remember seeing it in the theater when it came out and being just in AWE. So cool, and a little more accessible than the brilliant Brazil.
No Pulp Fiction? hehe... Princess Bride is a guilty pleasure too. :D
ReplyDeleteWatch latest movies in HD @ http://www.yayvideo.net
While Pulp Fiction certainly deserves a spot on an official Best Movies pantheon, I actually prefer Reservoir Dogs. Maybe it's the Madonna speech, I don't know ...
ReplyDelete