Pretty sweet top ten so far... lovveee Groundhog Day

EDIT - Well, I made that statement before The Prestige

5


(2000)

Hey look, another Christopher Nolan movie. How about that? This is another movie that a former friend of mine got me to watch after many prodding. (ok, so he was useful for two things) The movie really took me by a hell of a surprise, and quickly became one of my favorites.



The movie follows Leonard on his quest to find and kill the man who raped and murdered his wife. There's a catch, though, he has short term memory loss. After a few minutes, if he doesn't concentrate hard enough he will completely forget what he was just doing. "It's like waking. It's like you just woke up." To get past this he scribbles down endless notes, takes lots of pictures, and even gets tatoos to remind himself of the most important facts.



The real "hook" of the movie, I suppose, is that it is told backwards. You get one scene, and then you get a black and white scene, and then you get the scene that happened before the last color scene, and so on and so forth. It's really cool, but not exactly the reason why I love the movie so much. I love the movie because of its story and its characters. All the actors do a good job with their roles, and this is the movie that really made Guy Pearce one of my favorite actors. I wanted him to be two-face :sad:

Favorite Scene: How am I supposed to heal?

How hard did I cry? Somewhat during the reminiscing scenes.

Back-to-back Christopher Nolan movies in someone's top ten portion of their top one-hundred of all time. I'm not sure what organ/body part is going to explode, but one of them will.

I actually thought Memento would be top 3. Great great choice regardless.

Hopefully not your testicles.

Indeed!

4

Shawshank Redemption (1994)

"Get busy living or get busy dying"


So many movies that I have loved that I regretably did not get the chance to see in theaters, this ranks as the top. I only finally saw this movie thanks to TBS and thought "hmm, that was pretty good, I think I'll buy it." The movie stands up to all the rewatches. I have a soft spot for pretty much all the actors in this movie because I love it so much, heh.



Tim Robbins plays, quite well I may add, a Banker convicted of murdering his wife and the guy she was sleeping with. He is innocent of the crime but gets sent to Shawshank prison for 2 life sentences. The movie is often times depressing, but it doesn't drag the movie down with it. There are moments where a bit of sunshine manages to creep its way into the darkness, and what beautiful moments those make. We follow Andy's story along as he tries to survive prison, and then just tries to be content with it. With Red (played by Morgan Freeman, solid as usual) being a friend of his, sometimes it gets easier. But it's not living.



The score for this movie is great, adding to what already is a fantastic piece of film. Then throw in the best ending for a movie in the HISTORY of movies, and what you got is one of the best movies in the history of movies. The Shawshank Redemption shall always have a two story house in my heart.

Favorite Scene: "You were right, salvation lies within" and everything after.

How hard did I cry? Like a baby damn it.

3

Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (1977-1983)




A childhood favorite. Which then turned into an adulthood favorite. Just, in general, lots of favoritism on my part. And why shouldn't there be? They're funny movies, with cool special effects, cool costumes, and great underdog vs empire story. Not to mention the cool light Sabers. I would have listed all 3 seperately, but that would have made for quite a boring top 10. A New Hope is my least favorite of the 3, but still a fantasic film to live out fantasies vicariously through it. Sure, the lightsaber action sucks, but still....... hard not to like the film. Han Solo remains one of the coolest characters to grace the screen.




While the first film was just fanciful fun, the 2nd film takes the series to another level. It is deeper than its more shallow counterpart, especially when it comes to that ending, which is quite a downer to be sure. The characters were in trouble, they got hurt. With the first film you didn't really think that could happen to the main characters. Then of course there is the soap opera turn between Vader and Luke, but it works. Quite well in fact. Then there's the action, which is a lot better in this movie than in A New Hope, but chalk that up to favoring Light Saber fights over space ship battles. The Saber duel between Vader and Luke is quite well done. Sure, not as insane as the prequel Saber duels, but it's not crap either.




Most will disagree with me on Jedi, but I actually find it to be my favorite of the Original Trilogy, thanks in part to that powerhouse ending. Sure, there were Ewoks, but outside of worshipping C-3PO and killing storm troopers by throwing rocks at them (WHAT GOOD IS THEIR ARMOR IF IT CAN'T EVEN PROTECT AGAINST ROCKS?!), I didn't mind them much at all. Not when the ending is as good as it is. The most unfortunate part of this movie is how wussified the cool Boba Fett went down. I mean... so cool, and then killed by a blind guy who accidentally bumps into him. But oh well...

Favorite Scenes:

A New Hope: HAN SHOOTS FIRST DAMN IT!
Empire Strikes Back: Vader vs Luke
Return of the Jedi: Vader's Redemption

How hard did I cry? Not tooooo much.

Im also in the Jedi camp...

2

(2001)






Yes, this isn't technically a movie, but it is shot on film! I could not in good conscience leave this off my list, despite it being a 10 hour long mini-series. It has movie quality production values, a good cast, and is what I consider the best WWII production I have ever seen, by far. The 10 hours really lets you get to know and care about most of the soldiers that they spend time on. The mini-series follows a group of paratroopers as they train and then head into battle, all the way to the end of the war.







The screens above are from the battle of Bastogne, which encompasses 2 hours and is the best section of the mini-series. The paratroopers are surrounded by Germans (We're paratroopers, we're supposed to be surrounded) in the freezing cold with limited supplies. This is also the first I've seen where the Medic gets a lot of focus, with one episode in the series dealing directly with him, and is the best episode. Bastogne is also one of the most emotional parts, as soldiers who we've come to know well are tested, wounded, and even killed.





It hardly ever gets boring. The action sequences are extremely well done as is... basically just about everything else. Band of Brothers really blows every other WWII movie out of the water. It's thrilling, tense, funny, emotional and uplifting.

Favorite Scenes:

Taking Carentene
Spears reconnects

How hard did I cry? Real damn hard.

#1 should be obvious to anyone who has read 10% of my posts.

Deep Throat?

1

The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)




No surprise to anyone who, you know, reads any of my posts, I have been captivated by this trilogy since the moment I first saw it. Simply put, the most epic movie(s) I have ever seen. I put them all into one, yes, but just imagine how boring my top 10 would have been otherwise. 3 star wars movies in the top ten, then all 3 lord of the rings movies 3-2-1 respectively. Besides, this is almost like one full movie as it is. In fact, I even spent one full day watching all the Extended Editions back to back to back. 12 hours! Fellowship starts the trilogy off wonderfully. A bit slow at times, which is something that doesn't effect the next 2 all that much, but still awe inspiring to watch. From the lucious backdrops to the exhilerating battle sequences, not to mention spectacular special effects, the movie has everything to offer! Sean Bean gives what is my favorite performance of the entire trilogy as the conflicted Boromir. An exciting and sad ending leads into the next movie.





Two Towers continues the fantastic trilogy with a new character! Gollum! A technical marvel as one of the most realistic all CGI characters in a movie, wonderfully acted by Andy Serkis. Gollum is really the reason I ended up liking Two Towers more than Fellowship, as he is one of my favorite fictional characters in general. Then there is the great battle of Helm's Deep. Not the best battle of the trilogy, but one of them! 300 against 10,000. Underdog time!! The Gimli and Legalos banter is quite funny as well. (I especially love the added scene with the final tally) There is also the last march of the Ents. My only complaint with that scene is it wasn't long enough! Cause it was awesome!





The Return of the King ends up being my favorite of the bunch, especially after the extended edition. Finally we come to the conclusion. What will happen to all the characters? What will happen in the epic battle of Minis Tirith with siege weapons galore and hundreds of thousands of Orcs. Minis Tirith is my favorite action sequence of the trilogy, mainly cause I love siege weapons and crushings and all that, which there is a lot of. I love this series so much I don't even mind the 30 minute ending, during which I blubbered incessently. I don't see any movie overtaking The Lord of the Rings as my favorite movie for quite some time, or even ever. It's something that I had never experienced before, and haven't experienced since. A modern Classic.

Favorite Scenes:

Fellowship of the Ring: My Captain. My King.
Two Towers: The Last March of the Ents
Return of the King: For Frodo

How hard did I cry? Harder than getting hit with a hammer.

And that is my list. Onto the next scallywag

Very good list, one in which I have many in common.

Huzzah, someone who enjoys my work!

Good stuff Squee. Though I disagree with a lot of stuff you have up there, there are still some key choices that are just great and I was pleasantly surprised to see.

nice list..... I rank Lotr very high however its in my top 25.


Who's turn is next?

Technically it's Lecter, but he seems to be pretty busy lately. I'd love to see him go, though. After that it is zennier and then Jayhawk, but they have the same thing as Lecter -- both seem to be pretty busy. Then it's me, but I am not ready at all at this point. So, I guess it is up for grabs right now.

Someone take it!

[quote="Nebs"][
56. makeshift
57. Zingaling
58. Mannyisthebest
59. Flava'd‡

Best list ever Squee... Best. List. Ever!

so
either
56. makeshift
57. Zingaling
go!!!

As I said in just a couple of posts up, I am not ready yet.

Im worried now.

well i thought you'd list Star Wars and LOTR separately. Other ones I knew were Psycho, Prestige, Memento.

Good list