Top Ten Favorite Movies

In response to a top 5 movie picks, I have a top ten because I'm way more indecisive. So I pulled some from a variety of genres. They're in no particular order (that's asking too much) and they're probably not what most people would expect.

1. The Sting (1973) This is one of the greatest movies ever made and I swear, sometimes I think I'm the only person in the world that's seen it, apart from family. It is a brain tickler and once is never enough. It has Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid beat all to pieces.  It's about con men conning other con men and it's brilliant. Not much smart writing like this goes on anymore.

2. My Fair Lady (1964) My list wouldn't be complete without at least one musical. I was raised on them. It's always a three way draw between this, The Music Man, and The King and I, but this one is my favorite, I think.  It's often compared to Gigi, but I think that's an erroneous comparison.  It's true that they have the same base story of transformation from girl to woman, but Gigi was about a girl who was being groomed by her meddling aunts to be the mistress of a wealthy playboy. A relationship that they knew could end badly for her as intrigued as they were by the other scandals that seemed so funny as long as it wasn't their girl.  Luckily instead of living as a kept woman, Gaston falls in love with Gigi and they marry.  In My Fair Lady Eliza sets out to improve her situation on her own and subjects herself to Henry Higgins' whims to that end. The audience can see that the characters fall in love, but it's never officially declared... do they continue their cat and mouse game indefinitely? or does Eliza eventually leave Higgins for another Freddy-like character who can offer her stability? One may never know.

3. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) See.. Another musical.. It was what I was raised on.  Big movie of my childhood and I have a total thing for Gene Wilder. Favorite movies are movies that capture your heart. It was also a unique way of teaching life lessons that seemed to be glossed over nowadays.

4. Sense and Sensibility (1995) This one surprises even me. I had it on as background noise and fell for it as hard as Marianne falls for Willoughby. It's gently worked on my girlie side.  It's also one of the few movies that I like more than the book.  The characters had more depth because in the book every character had a sibling who was their opposite in nature, so there wasn't an opportunity to delve into detail.  Also, I love the way the relationship between Marianne and Colonel Brandon is handled in the movie.  In the book it seemed like she was settling for second best and in the movie she was more grateful to have a love that she perhaps thought she didn't deserve after her previous behavior.  

5. Return of the Jedi (1983) Hard to pick a favorite, but there's nothing like a happy ending and I have no complaints about the changes Lucas made to the updated version to make the prequels blend in either.  I've written extensively on Star Wars stuff, so I'll not drone on.  This is still the best one.

6. Tombstone (1993) I think of a western to be in my picks and this is it. It could've been High Plaines Drifter; it could've been Open Range. But this one hooks me and stays with me. The makeup was unbelievable - everyone is a dead ringer for the parts they're playing. The cast was perfect from top to bottom. Not a moment was wasted.  It is sheer perfection for a western movie.

7. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Still one of the funniest movies of all time. It's so smart and so fast and so crazy and I love it so much.  It's actually always a toss up of this one or Bringing Up Baby with Grant and Hepburn, but the dark and outrageous humor of this one is so crazy. If you've never seen it, you must.

8. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982) Star Trek was designed for the small screen, not the big screen, so the movies have always been kind of hit-and-miss. This is the best one. Once again I'll have to talk about how it took chances that weren't common at the time (killing off a main character), the influence of this movie was still being felt in TNG series and I'm not so sure the franchise would've blossomed without it.

 

 9. The Princess Bride (1987) It may seem cliché for a person in my age group to deem this as a favorite, but what can I say... it's cinematic gold and if the shoe fits... It's perfect in every way.  It's one of the most quotable movies ever.  And the older I get the better it gets which is truly amazing since on the surface it seems like a kid's movie or a teenager's movie.

10. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) It's perfect too.  It was the original concept for the first movie, that is a Terminator sent to protect Sarah Conner from another Terminator, but the special effects hadn't caught up to the idea.  And even though special effects have evolved by leaps and bounds since then, there's a simplicity that can't be recaptured with this movie. 

 

 

Honorable Mentions:

 

In animation, I don't choose Disney, but Watership Down. It's not a kids movie and probably explains some of the reasons why I'm so weird, but it was a big part of childhood too. And it's one of the best film adaptations of a book ever.  It's very close in substance and spirit to the book.  I'll always love it.

 

Young Frankenstein: I love intelligent comedies and I'm always complaining that they don't win enough awards and then I find myself leaving them off this list, but it's not complete without it.  Did I mention I have a total thing for Gene Wilder?

 

Superman II - not just cuz I like Christoper Reeve's Superman, but there's no better Luthor than Hackman and Terrence Stamp's Zod is epic. I can't understand why anyone wouldn't like this movie.

 

Finally, Men in Black... "Hidden world" that takes place in modern times. It represented originality to me as Hollywood began to spiral into remake after reboot.

 

There are many others like The Fugitive and Open Range but these are the ones that stand out when I think of "favorites."  If you're wondering why I didn't include things like LOTR or Narnia... sorry! They were greatly done, but I feel a certain loyalties to the books first. And that's my list.