Bar the risable Titanic the past 10 choices have all been good movies, and rather diverse to boot.

Shack anoints movies like Clue, Running Scared, Forrest Gump.

KJ Chorus: "Awesome!" "Great!" "This, my friends, is a list!" (Paraphrased)

Shack lists Casablanca.

KJ Chorus: "Bah!" "Overrated!" "If this list has Lawrence of Arabia, I'll go on a rampage!" (Paraphrased)

And Magnus, friend, if you want to go around shouting to the heavens how awful Lawrence of Arabia is, be my guest. But you could also just walk around wearing a dunce cap for the same effect. And it would be a rather unique fashion statement to boot.

Keep it coming, Shack! Don't apologize for About a Boy; it's a wonderful picture, and does not really deserve to be lumped in with the Hugh Grant "fluff pictures". It's much sharper than those.

I have my own problems with Spielberg. He's made some classics of American cinema but, truth be told, I have not been completely satisfied with a Spielberg picture in 14 years. And that would be Schindler's List, even with the ill-advised ending. Catch Me if You Can seemed to have everything going for it, but I thought it was totally flat.

51.


Boogie Nights

Who knew a movie about the porn industry could be so, uh... deep? Boogie Nights is set around the XXX world, however in reality it is about the rise and fall of a star and industry, and the trip they take over the decades of their life. At the beginning Diggler and Rollerskate girl and Reynolds characters among others are all fresh, ambitious, on the rise and on top of the world, life is a blast. As they get bigger, things turn great for them... It is the spiral like in most industry movies that make this one though, culminating into the dual scene of the rollerskate beatdown/jerk off in the car moment, the defining moment of the film for me. Paul Thomas Anderson is one of this generation's bar none finest directors, and to date this is his greatest feature. As an introspective look at these characters and the life of stardom that takes them up and then down, he has created something much more than a witty porn based film. Wahlberg, Graham, Reynolds, Cheadle, Moore, Reilly, Hoffman, an amazing cast in this one too. PTA defines himself here, and I eagearly await what he does in his career.

Alright, top 50 now.

50.


Big Fish

Tim Burton is another director that I have some problems with. There is no question, the guy in imagination and visuals is creative and genius as all hell, however I feel that most of his films spend too much attention of the mad visuals, and not enough attention on making great movies away from that. Big Fish is a big exception to that.

I found that Big Fish, away from the gorgeous visuals, had so much heart that it nearly exploded. The story of this man was obviously a very interesting and event-filled one, and the way it unfolds in mythical and fantasical story-telling fashion is just great. The icing on the cake however, is the realization at the end of the movie that his story is based in reality, when telling it he exaggerated things like the giant, the diamond, the witch, the war, but these were all real events and real people that he just spiced up... It is an exercise in an imaginative way of looking back at your life. Away from that, the story itself is just great. I loved the town he discovers, with the shoes on the line and Buscemi, etc. as the community, but even better for me was when he came back to find it in ruins. The scenes with him courting his wife are very well done, the movie is not afraid to dip into that 'love!' area, I found it emotionally tugging. My favorite character in the film was Bonham Carter however, as the girl that he originally met decades before and had been waiting for him to return her whole life, only to be rejected and later turn into the old witch, it got to me. The present day father-son storyline also works very well, with a solid ending and touch. And oh yeah, Ewan McGregor as the lead does a wonderful job, one of his best. Big Fish is a great great movie that should stand as one of Burton's greatest achievements.

Please, please, please post it anyway. I want to see what true, unbridled madness looks like. I'm used to only the sugarcoated treatment provided by TV.

Big Fish is another movie that, for me, has all the elements but doesn't form an interesting whole. Just like every other movie Tim Burton has directed since Ed Wood.

Remains of the Day was good. It was pretty much the last Merchant-Ivory film before they they managed to squeeze their entire heads into their assholes.

49.


Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Now, I am not the biggest pimper of Lord of the Rings. For the large part, I feel that a large part of the series is overlong and yes, even a bit boring. I can't say I disagree with the statement that it is largely a film about people walking. However, those criticisms are completley directed towards the last two films in the series, as I feel the first is one of the world's most perfect fantasy films. In the Critics forum Archie states that the reason Fellowship is the strongest of the three is that is has a grace and fluidity to the quest, a sense of beauty that the other two don't, and I most definitley agree with that statement. While the final two films place their weight and overly huge battle scenes and troll war talk, the first has a simple plotline: Frodo, Sam, and later the Fellowship begin a quest across Middle Earth. Certainly the opening scenes of the Shire are done very well, and from there the introduction and joining of the Fellowship, the mineshaft scene, the mountain scene, the meeting of Aragorn and the first attack by the cloaked guys(forgot name, lol), and the ending including both Faramir's death and Sam and Frodo in the river, is just fantastic, it is definitive fantasy film for me. Jackson has created a world for these people, and it is in this movie that I feel he should've won the Picture and Director Oscar, for fantasy it is a quality high.

I believe it's pruned.

Well yes, that's the way it's supposed to go, hehe.

I'm not denying there'll be some more controversial worthy of bitching choices though, not that I'm ashamed of anything. The thing with a top 100 list for me, is that they're are a handful of films(still to be named), that I know aren't brilliant pieces of cinema, I know are strange for top 50, but are on there because of personal connection. There's a couple movies that I've seen 15-20 times, because they're just some I've revisited over and over since I was young, and still stand as favorites just to relax and watch out of random on days with friends, and for that reason they're easy choices to put up high.

enough epics! wheres die hard or batman!

Loved Boogie Nights, never even heard of it until i caught it late one night on TV.

Nice mixture of traditionally great films and personal faves. Don't let Magnus take you down for including an old film! Old films = Awesome

Go for it, magnus. I'm interested.

About A Boy isnt a Hugh Grant fluff piece. Its a great film and personally one of my top 3 of 2002.

I guess I should come clean in case some wrong ideas about my post in that thread comes out

LOA will not make it on here. Not because I don't love the film, but because I decided I hadn't seen in it recent enough time to properly judge it's place, especially if it was a film that was to place high. I think last time I had it in my top 10, but anyways, it was originally on here but since starting this list I saw a film that is good enough for top 50, so I decided to drop it out.

I was gonna trick Magnus at my #1 reveal by posting it first to get Magnus's reacton, then putting a just kidding after and revealing my real #1

hehe.

But you give it an A+ , it must show up in the top 50

It's the honorable mention/unranked film of the list. The truth is I know it's deserving enough of a high ranking, but I simply can't stack it up against the other films without a revisiting, I have no basis for that. The right thing would be to watch it again, but eh, I can't bump every film listed on on my list so far down one, so it'll just have to stay that way.

I know its difficult but just drop Pledge This to make room.

48.


Wedding Crashers

Wedding Crashers is one of the decade's best comedies because it works on two levels: It is a gut-bursting comedy, and it is a very good romance. A lot of people have criticized the final act of the movie because it slows down on the jokes, but I have no problem, because I liked the romance aspect of the film almost as much as the comedy, so when it switched over to focus on that, it was a shift but the film became no lesser. In fact I think I respect and like the film more for that final 30 minutes, it's just more meat to an already great story. While the writers have to be credited for their jokes of course, the actors probably deserve even more. This is Vince Vaughn's 'moment'... He will have a great comedic career, but I feel this may be his finest and most defining work ever, he is just unstoppable in this movie. The delivery of his lines, the reactions he has off the cast, all of it adds up for one of the finest comedic performances of this decade easily. Not to be outdone is Isla Fisher(where is she?), as the lesser appreciated sister, she is a romp and then some. The two play well off each other. Wilson and McAdams obviously deliver the other half of the film, the romance aspect, and as mentioned I thought it worked very well... yet another development in McAdam's growing resume. Walken and the rest of the cast also is solid. I feel that while almost the whole film is great, the stretch in the middle at the getaway is the best, from the football scene to the dinnertime scene to everything surrounding it, it's hard to stop in that area. For me, the 40 Year Old Virgin doesn't really compare when it comes to 2005 comedies: Crashers is the one, and it stands as my 2nd favorite film of that year overall.

Ah Wedding Crashers. Ignoring the 3rd act collapse its great fun.

47.


Jackass: Number Two

For me, the definition of a straight comedy, is a film that has the objective to make you laugh. Evidently some films insert romance, action, horror, any way to bring out the laughter. It is in that way that Jackass: Number Two blitzes out of nowhere to make my top 50 films of all time. It is not a quality piece of cinema, is it not filmmaking genius, it is 2 hours of a group of men trying to do one thing, and that's make the audience laugh. The truth is, Jackass: Number Two made me laugh more than any other film I had seen in a theatre, or maybe more than any other film ever, period. For that reason alone, the reason that I feel it's at least one of the top 3 funniest films I've seen pertaining to my admittingly juvenile stupid humor(which I gladly take pride in), it makes my list. As well, it didn't let down on dvd viewing either, it actually has stood as very rewatchable. I've mentioned that 06 at the top of the list is a near tie between the 3 films that made me laugh this year, between Jackass: Number Two, Little Miss Sunshine, and the third film which will be coming out shortly, I laughed lots this year. Jackass: Number Two is a film that I could see myself watching many times in the future, whether it be with friends or a social group, the movie is just so damn fun. It also stands as one of the better sequel to original improvements ever, for me.

46.


X2: X-Men United

X2 is for me, the best superhero film ever made. It is a film that in itself is not only a great comic translation, but able to stand as a great and often amazing film on its own. Bryan Singer has with this film done succesfully what no other superhero film has(and that includes you Batman Begins), insert a level of seriousness and immense quality to the translation, without disrupting any of the superheroes themselves, without stopping it from being a blast of a movie, without stopping it from being fucking cool in its superhero right all the same. This is Marvel's superhero film masterpiece. Though I still give credit to Ratner for making the most entertaining film of last year and ultimately outdueling Singer's Superman flick with X3, X2 is the best by combining quality and serious-ness with entertainment. Certainly, adding to that, the plotline of X2 is fantastic and the question of which side are the wrong ones is a great one. The cast is also top notch, with Stewart, McKellen, Jackman, Berry, Cox, Romjin, Ashmore, Paquin, Janssen, and the list goes on and on, all of them completley sink into their character, they become the comic creation. Action and Singer's direction is amazing, with the opening scene setting the tone for it early, and not relinqueshing anywhere along the way. Without a doubt the superhero sequel that came out of nowhere and became the best of the genre. Magnificence.

You need to watch more film.

Don't worry - I do, too

No, he just needs to watch less Jackass number 2. :O

45.


Vertigo

Alfred Hitchcock stands as a man most famous for suspense, obviously. Keeping you on the edge of your seat, mastering shadows, creating massive tension and excitement in what happens next. In most cases, crime, a killer, a horror, that creates the suspense. What makes Vertigo unique among his 'masterpiece collection', is that while he is still a god behind the camera in the film, the movie is not really about the suspense or a killer or a crime at all. While the aura of crime hangs loosely over the film, moreso than any of his other movies, Vertigo in its characters and subverse themes is just deep. While I haven't seen all his films, more than any of the other famous ones, it focuses completley on the characters, their spirals, their emotions, and what is sending them down this road. By using his lighting and suspense mastery in a depthy character study, Hitchcock has made a iconic combination, using both his brilliant style, and creating a movie of dramatic characterizations with it, to make a near masterpiece.

The layered obsession and character work in the film is as mentioned, incredible. Stewart begins as a man haunted by his Vertigo, after meeting Novak and becoming obsessed and in love with the person, watching him go off the rails is just bril. Novak is a woman with a cover, an identity put on, who ends up loving Stewart and trys to woo him as herself, is forced to lose her true identity completley, for not pleasing him breaks her mind. Stewart himself gives one of his most deep and darkest performances, and Novak is as excellent you can be as the female, now this is how you make an interesting female heroine, take note similar movies of the day. Vertigo is a film that gets better the more you think about it and dive into it, and while it isn't my highest ranked Hitch, in the future I could see it being a film that rises more and more on my list and eventually overtakes the highest spot for him.