What If I Pegged My Top 10 Favorite Movies?
There seems to be some kind of theme involving triumph of the human spirit (or its inverse, in the case of Ran and Dead Poet's Society)
- Pleasantville
- Mary Poppins
- Ran
- Sandlot
- Lord of the Rings Trilogy
- Star Wars series (with apologies to all who are rolling their eyes reading this one).
- Dersu Uzala
- Dead Poet's Society
- One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
- Finding Forrester
This blog has been edited many times since it's debut, I keep adding stuff that friends recommend, etc. The top 10 has only changed a little bit, but everything below seems to change a lot. Further reflection seems to point to a top 100 as a more meaningful list.
Can't add them to the top ten, but my favorites always include Fred Astaire movies, including
- Top Hat
- Funny Face
- Holiday Inn
I've had as much fun collecting suggestions on this list as watching the films themselves. This is great sport, and one I recommend. Discussing movies is always fun.
As soon as you mention "top ten", it really forces one to sort by whatever gets the goose bumps or chicken skin going, and that moves the conversation to an entirely different level.
Here is how my son Jeff might start his
- Big Fish
- It's a Wonderful Life
Jeff had a number of other recommendations, that's how I remembered the rings trilogy, for example. I was driving when we discussed them though, so they didn't all get written down.
Mary and Ron from Tulsa thought Love Actually might be a candidate, didn't get me at the top ten level though.
Marcos Ferreyra suggested a ton of great movies as candidates, so the ones that I hadn't seen got added to my Netflix queue immediately.
- casablanca
- all that jazz
- the grifters
- hero (not the asian version)
- seven samurai
- memento
- castle in the sky
- betty blue
- peggy sue got married
- sorry wrong number - comment added after seeing it: This was not a movie that I enjoyed.
- diva
Worthy of consideration are many from the Walt Disney type of collection, such as
- Dumbo
- Jungle Book
- Fried Green Tomatoes
Obviously these don't have the juice for making it to the top ten, but they caputre a nice relationship between spirit and how I invest myself in my surroundings. Some of us are sappier than others, apparently. Fried Green Tomatoes really should have made it to the top ten, if only I could think of one to kick off and free up a slot.
All this conversation with others reminds me to at least see if not put on top
- thelma and louise
I'd love to get your recommendations, if this comment thing below can be made to work. It's mis-fired before, we shall see. Please feel free to send them by email to pete [at] couldbe [dot] net.
My sister recommeded these ones
- Mystic River
- Stand and Deliver
- The Visitor
My brother Paul recommended
- High Noon
- Murder on the Orient Express
- Adam's Rib
- Mr Blanding Builds His Dream House
- Woman of the Year
- August Evening" a recent release in art houses that may be hard to find. Very gratifying.
- "Still Breathing" also art house relase maybe ten years back. A reallly great find if you can.
Youngest sister Martha just sent me these films to add to the list:
- Bella
- Lars and the Real Girl
- Things We Lost In The Fire
We had a dinner party with Jeff and Alice and Skye and David, there were a bunch of interesting recommendations that came from that night:
- unbearable lightness of being
- huducker proxy
- clueless
- abyss
- black orpheous
- casablanca
- godfather 1
- lenny
- goodwill hunting
- its (?)
- wizard of oz
- american beauty
- eating raul
- primer
- basic
- the mission
- open water
- my green valley
- where the red f.... ?
- reuben reuben
- turner hooch
- boy and his dog [with some interesting commentary and grimmaces]
Allen Neff had these suggestions
- The Sting
- Toy
- Cool Hand Luke
- Shawshank Redemption
- Bull Durham
- What Dreams May Come
- Last Mohicans
- Bourne etc
- O Brother Where Art Thou
- The Dark Knight
- Dead Poets Society
- In America (except not for Paula)
- Brave Heart
- Rudy
- The Mouse That Roared
- Appollo 13
- Dr Strangelove
- Gettysburg
- Black Hawk Down
- American History X
- Godfather I
- Some Like It Hot
- City of Lost Children
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- Ghandi
- Nueva Rheina's 9 Queens
- Amalie
- Pans Labyrinth
- Last Temptation Christ
- La Haine
- Delicatesen
He also suggested these TV shows, though a bit off topic
- Intervention
- Studio 60 Sunset St
- Sportsnight
- Westwing
- Madmen
- Rome
- The Wire
Bob Mondello's Top Films for
Another interesting approach is to google best films of all time, which will bring up lists such as
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1953094,00.html
Dug up another list from an anoymyous friend from 2005 scribbling it down here
- Birth of a nation
- Best years of our lives
- Double Indemnity
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Sunset Blvd
- North by Northwest
- It Happened One Night - 5 stars
- Dr Shivago
- Treasures of Sierra Madre
- All About Eve
- African Queen
- Citizen Cane
- Close Encounters
- From Here To Eternity
- Gian
- Mutiny On the Bounty
- Ben Hur
- Patton
- Duck Soup ?
- Msoquito Coast
- Guess Who's Coming To Dinner ?
- City Lights
- Once Upon A Time in America
- The Conversation
- French Connection
- Searchers
- My Fair Lady
[EDITOR'S NOTE !!!!] Comments Still On Old Site
This blog was moved from it's original site where some comments still live !
