CRS
Chandler, Arizona, United States

There's an old saying. If you don't want someone to join a crowd, you ask them, "If everyone were jumping off of a cliff, would you?" Well, I have. So my answer would be "Yes". True story.
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My Top Twenty-Five Movies of all Time Part 1

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

this entry brought to you by the white stripes, "the truth doesn't make a noise"


I had originally planned on doing a favorite movies list years ago, in a long-ago incarnation of words and ramblings, but I very quickly ran out of steam. If you're serious about movies, listing your top anything is a tricky process. I started off with a pool of about 50 movies and started knocking them off one by one. There were movies that got knocked on and off the list multiple times (Being John Malkovich was there, then gone, then added back, and now, finally, gone; Goodfellas was on the list the entire time until I remembered Gattaca, which ended up knocking Scorcese's best off the list for good... and that hurt), and movies that got rearranged around, their position being tweaked and tweaked (Finding Nemo was originally in the #17 position, and kept getting pushed down until it almost didn't even make it). But after much scrutinizing, I've been able to come up with a list of 25 that I'm very comfortable with. Why 25? Because doing 20, or worse, 10, would've killed me.

So here they are. My definitive top 25 list. Starting from 25-15.


#25 Finding Nemo I consider myself a fan of animation and have never shied away from watching a Disney movie because it was "for kids". But, try as I might, I could not find an animated movie that I enjoyed more than Finding Nemo, one of the deepest, most poignant tales of fatherhood in the history of cinema, animated or not.

#24 Spaceballs Originally, the number 24 movie was going to be reserved for Young Frankenstein, when I realized, though critics call Young Frankenstein the funniest movie of all time, and I would probably agree, I've actually seen Spaceballs way more often. Young Frankenstein is hilarious, but wouldn't be my personal choice for this list.

#23 Gattaca My feelings toward science fiction is mixed. Fantasy sci-fi like Star Wars bores me. But science fiction that takes place more or less in our world I gobble up. Gattaca takes place in a future where people aren't birthed through natural means, they're made, combining parent's DNA and mixing and matching genes to create the perfect child. From birth, scientists know everything that will end up wrong with a child and can predict nearly their entire lives. However, a man born through natural means (and therefore inferior) manages to cheat the system to become what he always wanted to but genetically and therefore legally could not: become an astronaut. It's a powerful, thought-provoking movie on what makes humanity what we are.

#22 Clue There's a toss-up for what movie I've watched more, this or Beetlejuice. Plot-wise, it's a pretty standard murder mystery, that's, yes, based on the board game. Except it quickly gets complicated, just like the murder mysteries of the likes of Agatha Christie. It's hilarious, in the 1970's kind of way that they don't make anymore in movies, mixing every style of humor imaginable wrapped in a strong, suspenseful plot. You ever notice that comedies that aren't afraid to use physical comedy and sight gags as well as puns and snappy dialog but don't have plots anymore? Clue even has multiple endings!

#21 The Game Some people say that watching movies with a surprise twist ending can only be watched once. This is not true. With the best twist-ending movies, watching them again reveals layers of things you weren't paying attention to the first time. The Game (and David Fincher's later film, Fight Club), is like that. Watching it again, suddenly characters become completely fleshed out, odd details that you disregarded suddenly make sense, etc. What's interesting is that you're told up front that this is an elaborate game, so you already know what the twist is. The question is, what is the Game?

#20 The Shining There's a scene towards the end of the movie where everything is going completely crazy, and a door is opened, and there stands a man wearing a pig mask being fellated by another man. I've been told that, in the book, this scene is explained. But to me, what makes it scary is that I had no idea what was going on there, or even if I just saw what I really saw. It is singularly one of the most disturbing images in cinema, in a movie filled with disturbing images that seem to be random. It's what makes Kubrick's Shining so scary-- I honestly don't want to read the book, because I'm more scared not having any clue as to what's going on.

#19 American History X Racist skinheads are bad. We all know that. But what's so provocative is that American History does not portray race in a cut-and-dry fashion. It's not a case of "whites bad, blacks good". In fact, it shows the negative aspects of both sides of the track and pulls no punches, as the leader of a local skinhead gang realizes his anger and hatred was guided unfairly and in the wrong direction.

#18 Edward Scissorhands Kind of a typical story. Outcast is introduced to small town. Small town turns on Outcast. Outcast ends up stabbing the town bully with his freakish scissor-hand, then makes it snow by feverishly sculpting ice. Somewhere along the line you bawl your goddamn eyes out.

#17 Scrooged If you ever watched Lost in Translation or Rushmore, you may have been shocked to realize Bill Murray's a great actor, and you never realized it. Case in point: Go buy Scrooged at Target, it'll cost you five dollars. Pop it in your DVD player, and watch Frank Castle turn from a hilarious cartoonish supervillain to an honest-to-God stressed out man trying to sort through how bad his life is and how he's making other people's lives bad, and then into cartoonish happy guy who's found life. This is just another Christmas movie (not only that, but a retelling of Christmas Carol to boot) and Murray could've really done anything and been hilarious, but the range of emotion is, honestly, excellent. I dare you to watch the scene where Frank finds the homeless man frozen to death and not shed a tear.

#16 Back to the Future When you ask someone what their favorite movies are, no one ever says Back to the Future. You ever notice that? I have a theory for this. If you think about it, Back to the Future is my generation's great equalizer. Everyone in my generation has seen it multiple times, without exception. It's gotten to the point where we don't even think about it, because it's always been there. Think about it. If I were to ask you who your favorite person in the whole world was, you most likely would not say "mom". But of course your mother is your favorite person. It's just that she's always there. The same goes with Back to the Future.
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with love from CRS @ 8:21 PM 

1 Comments:

Overall I think you have made some really good calls. I would have ranked AHX much higher, Aliens much lower and left off T2(although the truth is I didnt even bother to see it... so maybe I am wrong.)

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