Sorry for the big delay. Been busy doing other stuff or watching more movies. But 60-51 coming up!

Title still needs changing, BTW.

60. Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (H. Selick, 1993)


The fanbase for this film (And Burton fans in general) have become increasingly annoying over the years, but that doesn’t tamper the joy I get from this film whenever I watch this, be it at Halloween or Christmas or any other time. The visuals are captivating and delightful, the story simplistic yet intriguing, and the soundtrack is one of my very favorites. How does Danny Elfman not have an Oscar, dammit???


59. Sherlock, Jr. (B. Keaton, 1924)


While I have only seen a few selected films from the filmography of Silent Great Buster Keaton, I have found immense delight in all of his films, and this isn’t the last of his films on the list. This film clocks in at only 44 minutes, but it makes every minute worth it, squeezing in hilariously inventive gags (His first entering into the movie is amazing, especially for the time period) with some action that somehow delivers the thrills more than 80 years later. The man knew his stuff.


58. Shaun of the Dead (E. Wright, 2004)


Upon first viewing, I found this to be pretty fun with good laughs and couple good jumps. Upon second, third and fourth viewing it became possibly my single favorite comedy of the Aughts, and one of my favorite comedies, period. Whereas most spoofs build their gags first then try to fit the characters in them, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg crafted two of the most pathetic yet charming movie heroes and surrounded them relatively typical zombie fluff, then watched the action go, making for a hilariously delightful time. It also doesn’t hurt that Wright brings more visual flair to the film than 98% of most comedy directors would dare try.


57. True Lies (J. Cameron, 1994)


When this was made it was the highest budgeted movie of all time, and it was worth every. The film delivers greatly in the action department with some pretty ludicrous action set pieces (The finale involving a jet and a skyscraper in particular), but what keeps me coming back to the film is the romantic dynamic between Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, which gives it a great comedic edge that helps it deliver in all spectrums. Bloated? Probably. Entertaining? You bet your ass.


56. Once (J. Carney, 2007)


One of the new decade’s smallest yet greatest treasures, Once is truly the anti-musical, with a world so greatly ground in reality and a visual style that gives it a true shot-on-the-run feel. And yet it remains more charming and more heartwarming than any musical to come out of Hollywood in years, with its two stars showing great talent for both singing and screen charisma, and an ending that lifts your spirit because it’s willing to not insult your intelligence. I absolutely adore it.


55. The Incredibles (B. Bird, 2004)


Seriously, Brad Bird is some sort of Demigod among animators. Here he brings oh so many more layers than one could possibly expect from not just an animated film, but from any kind of film. It has humor that’s both physical (The door gag with the mom) and verbal (The discussions about “monologuing”…tee hee). It has action that gives you the kind of adrenaline rush most action movies only wish they could match. And it has a political ideology that has left its audience in endless debate over whether its message is anti-conservative, fascist (Really!) or whatever. I just love to watch it.


54. The Lion King (R. Allers & R. Minkoff)


I don’t really have that much deep stuff to say about this film, I just adore it as a relic from my childhood that has held up. And the songs are all kinds of fun. Whee!


53. A Little Princess (A. Cuaron, 1995)


I think I kinda liked this film when I was younger, but never really sought out to watch it since well, it was a girl’s flick. Then I decided to watch it after seeing Cuaron’s brilliant Children of Men, and discovered an underappreciated gem of a children’s film. It darker and crueler than most kid film’s are willing to go, yet has such a pure and honest message about the power of imagination and truly appreciating the children of the world. And yes, the ending got me.


52. Faust (F. W. Murnau, 1926)


I personally don’t consider myself a fan of style over substance (I am one of the very few people in my demo that couldn’t find enjoyment in 300), but for whatever reason films of the silent era are an exception. Probably has to do with the lack of sound making it easier to embrace the power of its images, turning its style into the substance. Such is the case with this silent classic from Murnau (Better remembered for Nosferatu and Sunrise, the latter I unfortunately haven’t seen), with its flowing camera and wonderfully fake sets, telling the classic story of a deal with the devil.


51. The Purple Rose of Cairo (W. Allen, 1985)


Probably the most recent film on the list in terms of when I saw it, I put this on my Netlfix Queue on a whim, having heard some good things and being limited on my knowledge of Allen’s filmography. What I got was possibly one of the greatest testaments to the power of the movies I’ve ever seen. It’s incredibly charming for the first 70-75 minutes, but it’s the film’s decision at the end to stick to reality that gives it its depth. By denying Mia Farrow true love, leaving her heartbroken in that theater, and being cheered back up by Fred Astaire singing “Cheek to Cheek,” it shows what we expect from the movies: not reality, but a lovely escape from it. Damn.

This list is wonderfully all over the place.

Excellent list so far and nice to see True Lies there. Maybe the funniest action movie ever.

Nice list so far, incredibly diverse. Nice to see The Descent, The Breakfast Club, Memento, The Shining, Speed, Toy Story, Minority Report, and others.

Starting back up!

50. MASH (R. Altman, 1970)


This is actually a last-minute edition, and before last week I had almost hated the film, mostly having to do with the fact that I saw it years ago when I still infatuated with the TV show on DVD. I found it to be a cruel, unfunny film without a single character worth rooting for. Rewatching it earlier this week, I still didn't laugh much, but I don't think that's the point. The point is that these characters are humoring themselves to keep themselves sane, because when you're in such a depressing, bloody and isolated environment, you have to do some twisted, crazy shit to keep from going absolutely crazy and twisted. The ensemble is perfect, the technicals ugly yet fitting, and the humor works, and at least gives one genuinely hilarious episode: the football game, funnier than almost anything from the broader TV series I once loved.


49. Chicken Run (P. Lord & N. Park, 2000)


The British know their stuff. I loved this when I first saw it nearly eight years ago in its initial release at the age of 10, and at the age of 17 I loved possibly even more than I did then. It's a hilarious, wonderful comedy with more charm than most comedies you'll ever find, wonderful voice work, a villain that is actually frightening, some of the most ludicrously magnificent creations in any film I have seen, and a final escape that still manages to thrill me after many, many viewings. It's a shame that DreamWorks has broken off their distribution deal with Aardman, because they were (Are!) right up there with Pixar in the imagination department, and I honestly believe to be even better than anything they've turned out yet. Absolutely perfect entertainment.


48. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (C. Reisner, 1928)


Speaking of thrills in unexpected places, I rented this classic from Buster Keaton last year after deciding it had been a while since I treated myself to some work of his that I hadn't seen. What I got was some good comedy, and some of the most amazing movie destruction I have ever seen. The final third of the picture pretty much consists of a hurricane destroying a riverside town and a river rescue conducted by Keaton, and I never thought it was possible for a film older than 1960 to get me riled up in an action sense, but this did. If anyone wary of silent cinema due to its "dullness" has still been interested, used this as in introductory piece. It's worth it.


47. Psycho (A. Hitchcock, 1960)


When your secrets have become as well known as Psycho's, one would think that its power would lessen over time, and yet I've seen Psycho now at least three times, and have found it thrilling and entertaining on every viewing. That is the mark of a great film. Janet Leigh does well as the on-the-lamb secretary, but Anthony Perkins puts on one of the great performances of evil, leaving a sense of natural unease throughout every scene of his, and is a large part of why the film holds so much power after all these years.


46. Adaptation (S. Jonze, 2002)


I relate to the Charlie Kaufman of Adaptation far, far more than I should ever willing to admit. I would list off the reasons why, but it would probably be too awkward to, and kinda weird...a lot like this movie. Luckily it is all presenting in a twisty, entertaining package that deliriously turns the tables and camera on itself in an incredibly entertaining fashion, anchored by excellent performances from its three main players (Why can't Cage ever be even a fraction as good as he is here? What a performance!), and once again confirms that Kaufman is one of the very best screenwriters working today.

45. Fargo (J. Coen, 1996)


What an intense film. What a twisted film. What a touching film. What an absolutely hilarious film. So many things, so many moods, so many ways to compliment this movie. Praised by many as the Coens' masterpiece, and it's not hard to see why. It's screenplay goes through so many moods, yet it always feels natural, finding humor in the weirdest and darkest of places (I don't know why, but I couldn't stop laughing at the money dropoff gone horribly wrong near the end of the film, even though there was little to legitimately laugh at), and still finding a little room for humanity with Frances McDormand's Oscar-winning performance of Marge Gunderson. I definitely need to catch up on more of the Coens' work, considering how excellent this was.


44. The Silence of the Lambs (J. Demme, 1991)


In the 80 years of the Academy Awards, only three films have won the Oscars for Picture, Direction, Actor, Actress and Screenplay: It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Silence of the Lambs. For me, the last one is easily the best of the three, and one of the most thrilling films I have ever seen. It sets up the race-against-time cliche better than most films, with tight direction and expert writing, and excellent performances from all, including the two Oscar-winning leads and an underrated performance of creepiness from Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill. And those final moments in Buffalo Bill's house with him and Clarice? I knew the outcome, and STILL found myself gripping the armrest from Clarice entering the house onwards.


43. Sunset Blvd. (B. Wilder, 1950)


I saw the frequently compared All About Eve and Sunset Blvd. around the same time a while back, and while I can admire the crackling script and excellent performance by Bette Davis in the former, my heart lies with the twisted, crazed film noir story of fame and death in Hollywood. Gloria Swanson wonderfully chews threw the scenery, more or less playing a senile version of herself, endlessly hoping for a comeback, giving excellent line after excellent line ("I am big. It's the pictures that got small"), building to its tragic ending. Definitely one of my favorite movies about Hollywood, even if its not exactly an accurate portrait...possibly.


42. The Matrix (A. Wachowski & L. Wachowski, 1999)


Its reputation has been tarnished by an underwhelming sequel and downright back second sequel, yet for me this remains one of the most rewatchable films ever. Its philosophy was actually pretty cool and fascinating before being worn to death in the sequels, and the action is some of the best, EVER. From the opening chase to the kung fu battle to pretty much the entire final 30 minutes, it's all kinds of badass. Okay, so the performances (Outside of Weaving and maybe Fishburne) are kinda mediocre, and the love-will-bring-you-back-from-the-dead ending kinda signaled what we were in for with the sequels, but hey, it's all in good fun. Whee!

41. The Princess Bride (R. Reiner, 1987)


Without a doubt one of the most perfect pieces of straight-forward entertainment. What more could you want? Fights, battles, true love, awesome sidekicks, quotable lines (My name in Inigo Montoya....), all with a little wink in its eye? It's all here, performed to a tee with willing actors, narrated by Peter Falk to a wiseass kid, how can you NOT love this movie? Maybe you just prefer kicking puppies as a hobby if you didn't love this. I keed, I keed....kinda. Wheeeee!

40. Duck Soup (L. McCarey, 1933)


Oh, if only all Hollywood comedies, past, present or future, could be so willing to give up such non-necessities as plot, character development and emotional involvement for the sake of the ever-harder-to-grasp laugh as this near-perfect comedy of mayhem and anarchy. Some critics have tried looking at its take on government seriously and show what a smart political satire it is, but I find that sucks some of the fun out of simply enjoying its proud insanity. Plenty of wonderful gags, from the hat gag between the street vendors to the famous mirror gag, keep this ageless after 75 years.


39. Jaws (S. Spielberg, 1975)


I am not one to carry the fears of the movies with me after their over, so while I have never had a fear of the seas like some did after watching this, I still find it to be great adventure thriller, and one of Spielberg's greats from a long, great career. Its first half is a great work in restraint of editing (So hard to find nowadays), building its thrills from the fear of the unknown, and the second half (My favorite half), a high-seas adventure with three great actors on a boat, especially the crazed man-of-the-seas Robert Shaw. And the finale is an excellent one, one that shows that Spielberg once knew how to end a movie on a high note. "Smile, you sonofa...."!


38. Bicycle Thieves (V. De Sica, 1948)


I know this is a very Gullimont-like reason to put this on the list, but this depressed the hell out of me, and left an impression that has not quite let after all these years. It is a film with so much heart, so much humanity, that in that final scene, where the father tries to part from his son so he himself can steal his own bike, only to fail in front of his son anyway...it still hangs with me. Neo-realism is not a genre I have immersed myself in much, but De Sica's film is a reminder that I really should try checking it more, no matter how depressing the outcome.


37. Double Indemnity (B. Wilder, 1944)


Barbara Stanwyck was a bitch. Well, not really, but she played a damn good one, so despicable and crazed yet so sexy and (Initially) convincing that you could imagine even yourself wanting to commit murder for her (And some extra money). But Stanwyck's touchstone femme fatale is not the only reason this is such an excellent classic. The screenplay crackles with excellent if sometimes silly dialogue (In a good, pulpy way), and boasts one of the most ingenious schemes I've seen in any movie, making it all the more thrilling to watch ever-so-slowly unravel as the film reaches its end. But Stanwyck, oh my...


36. No Country for Old Men (E. Coen & J. Coen, 2007)


When he first saw this at the Toronto Film Festival last September, Roger Ebert Described this movie as "perfect." Granted, he also called Rendition "perfect," but I still agree with him on this movie. It's perfect in its performances (From the three main leads down to the desk clerk at the Moss' trailer park), in its story, in its technicals, in the way it balances thrills and sly humor, intertwining them in the same scene sometimes (On first viewing I gripped my armrest through the gas station scene; on second viewing I laughed through it (In a good way)). It's a movie that knows itself through and through, and that is hard to come by.

Nice choices

Bad hotlinking

Eve and Davis will always be > Blvd. and Swanson

Hey, all the images are up and visible, how is that not GOOD hotlinking?

Seriously though, I might convert the Top 50 over to my Photobucket, since IMP is so defensive of hotlinkers.

35. Edward Scissorhands (T. Burton, 1990)


Burton has become an increasingly divisive as time goes on (I think he still has some talent), but at least we can (Almost) all agree that he was running on all cylinders here, a modern-day fairy tale that gets the right amount of sweetness, bizarreness, and fright needed, all while somehow staying genuine and true to heart, making the beauty of the ice-sculpting scene all the more wonderful, the eventual tragedy all the more painful, and the ending all the more powerful, with one of my single favorites pieces of movie music (Oh how I love thee, Danny Elfman).


34. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (P. Jackson, 2001-03)


It's been ages since I've watched any of these movies, so this may be ranked a little lower than it deserves to, but I still remember loving the epic scope, the adventure, the emotion, and everything else enough to keep it this high, so it must've done something right.


33. Blazing Saddles (M. Brooks, 1974)


Like Duck Soup a few spots up, this is film that doesn't care much for plot or what-have-you, but boy does it want you to laugh. And it does, with amazing results. Even after multiple viewings it hasn't lost its bite, giving up any sort of possible taste for decency in search of a laugh, and it finds plenty. "'Scuse me while I whip this out." "Hey, where the white women at?" "Fine, we'll give some land to the niggers and the chinks, BUT WE DON'T WANT THE IRISH!" "Mongo only pawn, in game of life." "RAN-DOLPH SCOTT!" And that's just off the top of my head.


32. Back to the Future (R. Zemeckis, 1985)


It's amazing how a film can stand the test of time, not just time as in decades, but time from your childhood to teenhood. I loved the movie as a little kid, but when I rented the trilogy earlier this year I barely remembered any of it. Luckily it lived up to what I remembered of it. It delivers well as a sci-fi adventure (The moments leading up to McFly going to back to the future are wonderfully tense), yet also works as a teen comedy and social satire, showing how much more generations share then they would be willing to admit. The rest of the trilogy is fun, but can't quite match this classic.


31. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (M. Gondry, 2004)


Charlie Kaufman strikes again, giving me a lead character I relate way too much to wrapped in an even better story. Jim Carrey's social is such a sweet, fragile and slightly demented man that you can't help but fall for him and his painful story of love lost, destroyed and somehow found again, framed around a fun, trippy sci-fi cautionary tale of the problems faced by what happens when you erase memories so significant to who you are. It's powerful, and gives one of the greatest of bittersweet endings I've seen.

30. Batman Begins (C. Nolan, 2005)


Batman has always easily been my favorite superhero, DC, Marvel or otherwise. I'm not a comic book nerd or anything, but he's always had an appeal to me that most superheroes don't have. Maybe it's the vast, complete, fascinating world that Batman is in, or the dynamics of the lead character, or having easily the best villains of any superhero. While this film doesn't quite have the latter, it more than delivers in the former two, throwing us into Gotham City that feels real with little oddities, and explores the title character better than any of the previous Batman films ever did, while giving us some of the most badass action of any superhero movie (That half-hour...oh yeeeeeah). Bring on The Dark Knight, baby!


29. Jurassic Park (S. Spielberg, 1993)


The more time has weighed on, the more apparent the flaws have become. It's a little more proud about showing its secrets than it probably should be, and the ethical issues presented might be a little too obvious. And yeah, the kids are a bit much. Yet, I really don't care. That's probably (Nay, it IS) because I loved it so much as a kid, which isn't always a good reason to overlook flaws, but it's my list, dammit, and I'll apply my own logic to it, and my logic says that movie is AWESOME. Anyway, yeah, I still loved this.


28. Raiders of the Lost Ark (S. Spielberg, 1981)


More Spielberg awesomeness. Anyway, I haven't seen this one in ages (Weird, since I've seen all of the sequels recently), so it's hard to rattle off what I loved about this, but it IS a lot of good ol' fashion fun, and hey, how can you beat that opening? Yeah, I don't have much else to say unfortunately, but when it's Raiders, do you need to say a lot?


27. Young Frankenstein (M. Brooks, 1974)


The twin of Blazing Saddles from 1974, Young Frankenstein isn't quite funnier than Blazing Saddles, but it is perhaps Brooks' most expertly made film, sending up the Universal horror pictures of old with wanton kookiness and what seems to be a genuine appreciation for the genre, almost passing itself off as a legitimate potential follow-up to the great horror pictures of the '30s. There's plenty of room for great laughs though, from Cloris Leachman hamming it up to Gene Hackman's ingenious cameo as the blind man to "Puttin' on the Ritz," it's just a great time.


26. Gosford Park (R. Altman, 2001)


You can't watch Gosford Park just once and think you've seen it, especially if you are underwhelmed by it. I first saw at the age of 11 in the theater (Technically, it was actually my first R-rated movie in the theater, even if it was pretty tame), and barely understood it. Luckily, my mom loved it enough to buy when it came out on DVD, and I've seen it so many times now I can't help but love it. It's a complex web of a film, throwing in nice chuckles between stories of secret identities, illegitimate children, cranky maids, angry business men, murder, what have you. It's all anchored by an amazing cast of great British actors, and choreographed by the late, great Robert Altman, making for one of the very greatest films of this new century of film.

AWESOME list.. Indiana Jones, Matrix, BttF, LOTR, Eternal Sunshine, Adaptation, Silence of the Lambs,..

I think I can get 25-21 out of the way tonight, then continue tomorrow night. Let's see...

25. Metropolis (F. Lang, 1927)


While I haven't seen as much of the era as a real German Expressionism fanatic should, I do love the crazed, wacky, visual inventiveness of that great European country in the swinging '20s. There's a certain charm to the fakery of the sets that modern fakery can't quite match (Especially CGI fakery...blech). Maybe it's the way black and white/sepia tones help the sets in giving an other-worldly feel, whereas color is meant to be realistic, contrasting the bizarrities of a flat background...but I digress.

Of this era, my favorite film is probably Metropolis, for a number of reasons. First, the art direction is not only among the most influential in all of cinema, but simply among the greatest, period. I love simply staring at the film, without a care in the world. Second, the story, if hacky and obvious by today's standards, is nonetheless entertaining, and always keeps me interested. Third, the imagery Lang creates is truly awe-inspiring, from the worker turning those clock-like hands for some ungodly reason, to his destruction of the metropolis he has created at the end. And fourthly, there are some moments that are so bizarre I love watching them trying to figure out why they are there. The scene of the Robot-Maria dancing for the party of crazed males in particular comes to mind. But yes, there is so much craziness going on, I can't help but love it.

24. Star Wars (G. Lucas, 1977)


Come on, who doesn't love Star Wars? I think at this point even the snobs have decided that it wasn't the film itself that destroyed the auteur-tastic '70s, it was the movie's business, which should be considered separately when considering a film's quality. Yeah, it's cheesy, and the argument I guess could be made that it's no more cheesy and corny than the despised prequels that followed, but there's something about Star Wars that stands outside of those movies, that truly separates it from the prequels, and most other uber-blockbusters before and after.

From the opening shot, still a wow-inducer even to those that grew up on such scenes, to Han Solo, to the space battles, to the nickel-cheap-yet-so-inspiring wisdom of Obi-Wan (Thanks to British legend Alec Guinness), there's just so much to love and so little to genuinely hate. The film I think will and always remain a staple of stright-forward movie entertainment, as it should.

23. The Empire Strikes Back (I. Kirshner, 1980)


I have always gone back and forth between which is the better Star Wars movie - the original, or its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. The former is the one that so easily introduces us to this complex world with ease and whimsy, and the latter is the one that deepens it with bigger thrills and strong tinge of darkness. For this list I decided to go with the sequel.

Why? Well, again, it's easily the darker and more complex of the two, throwing our wonderful characters into even greater dangers, and even having the balls to throw one of them right into the jaws of our villains. Also, the action is probably even better than the original, with the battle on Hoth fulfilling all of my great fights-in-the-snow fantasies, the flight through the asteroid field, and of course that final battle. Plus, that twist is all kinds of badass. Finally, YODA. God I love Frank Oz. An all-around great sequel, and one of the finest ever.

22. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (T. Gilliam & T. Jones, 1975)


What a wonderful, unfocused, wonderful, no-hold-barred of a comedy. And yes, that sentence just might be as much of a mess of the film I'm talking about, but that's what makes it so wonderful (The movie, not the sentence). As you might be able to tell by now, I like my comedy to not give a damn what sane people might think, and this is pretty much perfect in that aspect. So instead wearing down the hilarity of it all with a big analysis, I give you, the Holy Hand Grenade:



And for good measure, Brave Sir Robin:



This movie is awesomeness, pain and simple.

Yay for Holy Grail

Have you seen Life of Brian : )

Holy Grail, now that is some real comedy....

Sorry I'm late to the party.

Great great great list Jon. Nice mix of new and old. Though it's getting a bit boring as it gets higher... mix things up!

Jon, are you gonna finish this?

Long time since an update.

I have to go somewhere soon, but I shall try adding a couple more before heading off, then maybe a few more when I'm back.