Top Ten Favorite Movies of All Time

The coveted Top Ten list. Many have sought to be on it and only ten will make it. In the end it's the films that got me early that make the "cut". The ones that shaped the way I look at any film after it and challenged me to see something new. These are my comfort movies on a bad day, a sanctuary from all those terrible films out there. My Rushmore.

Note: Rushmore is actually NOT on my top ten. 


10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)


History:  The film's based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit, which takes place in a surreal 1940's Hollywood where cartoons are pay or play contracted actors. The film rights were acquired by Disney in the early 80's with Steven Spielberg and his Amblin Entertainment brought on to help finance the film. Spielberg had suggested Robert Zemeckis to direct as he was tied up with several other projects. Richard Williams was hired to over see all animation sequences and collaborated with Chuck Jones for the use of Looney Tunes in the picture. The film is a result of one of the most ambitious collaborations between Disney, Amblin Entertainment, Industrial Light and Magic and Warner Brothers animators, eventually earning them a visual effects Oscar and a special achievement award for Richard Williams. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 

Why it makes the Cut?: An instant classic from my childhood this film had some of the greatest impact on what I like about movies and what I want from the movies I see. A classic example of having a little bit of everything, this film balances a shockingly dark Film Noir plot with clever dark comedy humor. Marked as too dark for Disney at the time, Michael Eisner insisted on releasing the film under Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner. This film doesn't stand as a technical landmark but a solid film to revisit.  You can't help but marvel at each shot, considering it took over 85,000 hand drawn cells to create the film without the use of computer animation. While I hold Film Noir as one of my favorite genres, most can be substantially harder to revisit than this fantasy noir hybrid.

Fun Fact: The "cloverleaf" subplot in the film was originally planned for the third film in a proposed "Chinatown" series. It's based on true happenings in the 1940's where private corporations conspired to put the public transit systems out of business in order to market the idea of a freeway.

Best Line: "I'm not bad I'm just drawn that way."  
   
9. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Why it makes the Cut?: It's Star Wars, and the best of the series at that. It's a long hard road realizing George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars might be the worst thing that happened to it. With Irvin Kershner at the wheel, that galaxy far far away has never looked so real. Full of humanity and life with some spectacular action scenes that hold up today, The Empire Strikes Back proves to be the rare sequel that one ups the original in almost every way. Comparing it to other Science Fiction I simply say it's everything great about Star Wars but better. Star Wars was the Flash Gordon episodic action that worked on a silver screen level. Empire simply takes it to the next step and isn't afraid to leave our beloved characters in peril just as the credits come. Not to mention the advancement of interpersonal intergalactic relationships. Han and Leia get heated only to have Han shipped off to his mortal enemy. Luke learns some sorted Skywalker family history that made everyone tilt their head a bit. It's a melodrama with a lot of laser fire, asteroids and Nerf Herders. Well, no actual Nerf Herders.

Fun Fact: Originally when Leia confesses "I love you" to Han he simply said "I love you too." This was thought to be out of character so Irvin Kerchner told Harrison Ford to say what came to mind. We taking the scene again he simply responded to Leia with "I know."  

Best Line: "You stuck up half witted scruffy looking nerf herder!"

8. Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Why it makes the cut?:  In the case of me, I remember my first viewing of every film, particularly ones on this list. Moulin Rouge I came across very accidentally. I could have easily seen Pearl Harbor on that day my father and I ventured to the theater out of boredom. It happened we saw Moulin Rouge, a visually electrifying and emotionally shattering roller coaster of musical numbers and Shakespeare-esque tragedy. Each song a cover used in a mix CD quality to convey the film's message, director Baz Luhrmann wields this power like a maestro. The film pendulum swings from extreme to extreme and has you laughing one moment and heart broken the next as we care for these very real characters in a hyper-real world set in a fictional version of Bohemian Paris, France. The Moulin Rouge acts as the dramatic backdrop for this jukebox love story as Nicole Kidman (at her cartoon best) and Ewan McGregor (snubbed of an Oscar nod here) serenade one another as the world crumbles around them. As a first time viewer this film challenged my very idea of what makes compelling cinema and visually what you can do with a movie. From then on, it remained a mainstay in my family. Each viewing better than the last. Our family would sit quietly through the end credits as if rehabilitating from a trauma. Since then Moulin Rouge has become a quality campy romp that still has a hold on me no matter how much I see it.

Link: I have no idea what the beginning of this video is but from 57 seconds on is one of the best scenes as Nicole Kidman's Satine tries to seduce Ewan McGregor who simply thinks he's there to recite poetry.  Moulin Rouge!     

Fun Fact:  Unsure of a name, Baz Lurhmann decided to name the antagonist simply, The Duke. The character is in fact only refereed to as The Duke even in casual conversation.

Best Line: "You expect me to believe that scantily clad, in the arms of another man, in the middle of the night, inside an elephant you were rehearsing?"

7. High Fidelity (2000)

Why it makes the cut?: It's an Annie Hall remake? It essentially is and that's why we love it. A hip update of Allen's classic replacing the neurotic Alvy for record store owner Rob Gordon, a curmudgeon at heart. We begin with Rob's girlfriend leaving him, where Rob proceeds by making a list of his most memorable breakups. Searching for answers in his past relationships Rob seeks to win Laura back. Credit has to be given to his two sidekicks and employees, Barry (Jack Black) and Dick (Todd Louiso) as they provide some of the film's best banter. Running amok through his retrospective love life, Rob uses list making and music to help cope with his break up and we cheer him on. I find this film highly addictive and quotable to boot. It's ideas speak true to modern relationships and how they can change with age and in Rob's case maturity. Side note: the soundtrack is one of the best in the last twenty years, easily. The following link leads to a re-editing of Rob's top five breakups: High Fidelity

Fun Fact: The book by Nick Hornby is actually set in London. For the film the location was changed to Chicago. 

Best Line: "Sometimes I got so bored of trying to touch her breast that I would try to touch her between her legs. It was like trying to borrow a dollar, getting turned down, and asking for 50 grand instead."

6. The Graduate (1967)

Why it makes the cut?: I didn't think much of this film when i first saw it. I must have been thirteen or so. I re-visited it my freshmen year of College and fell in love. The awkward story of college grad, Ben Braddock who starts an affair with a family friend, Mrs. Robinson, only to then fall in love with her daughter. Essentially  The Graduate can be admitted as "dated" and as a film that's voice has gone quiet. At the center of it, I feel it remains a beacon of quality comedy and drama with a group of solid performances that while maybe forgotten by most should be honored and appreciated as one of the best American comedies. It's use of Simon and Garfunkel gives a calm dreamlike quality to the chronicles of Ben's first post-grad summer. Setting a serene tone and adding humor to ideas that would be otherwise "creepy". Ben is presented as so off beat you can't help but side with him as he fumbles around getting a grip on what his future will be. Taking notes what not to do from his elders and chasing the girl of his dreams through Berkeley. Dustin Hoffman delivers every step of the way as Ben and Anne Bancroft simply sizzles as the object of his affair and their dialogue scenes are some of the funniest I've seen. See Link for example.

Best Line: "It's like I was playing some kind of game, but the rules don't make any sense to me. They're being made up by all the wrong people. I mean no one makes them up. They seem to make themselves up."

5. Back to the Future (1985)

Why it makes the Cut?: It's the most solid time travel movie to date. Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis pack the world air tight with their rules and know how to have fun with them as well. A comedy sci-fi at heart, this film is a pleaser every time. The bulk of the comedy deals in generational gaps as well as physical comedy provided by the brilliant Christopher Lloyd. Marty is thrown back into time from 1985 to 1955 where he accidentally attracts the romantic interest of his mother, then in High School. Marty has to match his parents up and get back to his own time with the help of Doc Brown. Back to the Future balances on a lot of clever ideas and performs each step of the way. Introduced to this film very early in my childhood I hold every Science Fiction film that poses "time travel rules" to this one and honestly,  I have yet to see a time travel movie as clever and well served as Back to the Future.

Fun Fact: Ronald Regan was so amused by the scene where Doc Brown protests to an "actor" like Ronald Regan being president, he had the projectionist replay the scene. He then referenced the film in one of his speeches claiming "Roads, where we're going we don't need roads."          

Best Line: "Yes. I'm George, George McFly. I'm your density. I mean... your destiny."


4. It's a Wonderful Life (1939)

Why it made the Cut?: I, like many Americans in my generation, was introduced to It's A Wonderful Life as a Christmas tradition. I have grown to see it's much more than that now. Unlike most films this improves with time and has the miraculous quality of holding up after re-watch after re-watch. Jimmy Stewart gives an outright perfect performance as a town hero shown an alternate world where he was never born. Sure it holds true to family values and love conquering all, but at it's core this film is a meditation on how we impact one another with Christmas acting as a backdrop while we explore the lighter and darker shades of human nature.
The link below leads you to one of my personal favorite scenes int he film and one I think portrays undeniable attraction at it's best. It's a Wonderful Life.

Fun Fact: Jimmy Stewart has stated George Bailey was his favorite role.

Best Line: "I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider."

3. Annie Hall (1977)

History: Originally envisioned as a murder mystery, Woody Allen later cut all the subplots pertaining to this and used them for a later film. The title comes from Diane Keaton's real name, Diane Hall with a nickname of Annie. Annie Hall. 

Why it made the Cut?: The original retrospective break up film. Before any High Fidelity or (500) Days of Summer, Woody Allen took a very neurotic look at the modern relationship with his character Alvy Singer. Oddly enough, much of the film's insight applies still today, despite it's original release being 1977. Allen creates an existential tapestry of love weaving between past and present all the while nodding to the camera every so often. He even goes so far as to compare his ex-girlfriend Annie to the Evil Queen in Snow White through an animated sequence. Non of this feels out of place in the one notch to the absurd world he creates. All the while there's a truth to the absurdity, especially as Diane Keaton and Woody Allen's characters make a first attempt at flirting and their true thoughts are read at the bottom like subtitles. Keaton and Allen make the most peculiar chemistry I have yet to see, but mind you it works and catches you as true to it's core. Keaton's floaty and bubbly Annie is a latching counterpart to Alvy's twitchy negativism. The film acts as a memory a recollection of everything positive and negative about loving someone. All cards are placed down in the first monologue. From then on every bit of information is in comparison or a result of his relationship. It's as if the film is that fleeting moment you miss a past lover then realize why you broke up with them in the first place, inevitably it's cause it's a dead shark.

Fun Fact: A scene where Annie and Alvy go to Hell was cut and reused in a later Woody Allen film, Deconstructing Harry.      

Best Line: "Grammy Hall? What did you grow up in a Norman Rockwell Painting?"


2. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Why it made the cut?: Wes Anderson, since this film, has become a hobby of mine. His serene and awkward style of pacing and deeply troubled characters created a wolrd I had never seen in a standard comedy. Then again Wes Anderson doesn't make standard comedies. Each world he creates transcends time and sometimes reason. Characters are driven to find themselves through random events given to us in the most diabolically off beat manner. He creates world's familiar enough to relate to but far enough to laugh at. The Royal Tenenbaums stands as my personal favorite in the world of Wes. It's a timeless New York City full of rich characters who persist in shooting themselves in the foot with their short comings and hubris. Wes populates his world with small side notes of information delivered through a pitch perfect narration by Alec Baldwin. In any other film the idea of a character breeding Dalmatian mice, is as absurd as it is unnecessary. In Wes' world it just adds to the richness of it's characters as if they occupied a novel instead of the screen. Wes chooses to place expanded detail on character's pasts with quick flashbacks and memorabilia from a time forgotten and places so little detail on the location, purposely not showing any major landmarks of New York City, creating a complete focused collage of this broken family with all their troubles exposed.

Fun Fact: Much of the Tenenbaums wear the same clothing throughout the film or slight variations on it adding to the surrealism of the film. 

Best Line: "I'm very sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman."


1. Jurassic Park (1993)


History:  Before the book was even published, Michael Crichton's cautionary tale of genetics was being bid on by four major studios. Each studio posing their director of choice up front. After meeting with all four, Crichton went with his first choice all along, Steven Spielberg. No stranger to summer action and movie monster spectacles, Spielberg brought a gravity to the film that would otherwise not be there. He places any arguments and smart talk in the foreground while withholding all his action and terror for a heart racing second and third act. After carful consideration Spileberg went ahead using Computer Graphic Imagery to create the dinosaurs and was so confident with it by the end he placed post-production in the hands of George Lucas while he started work on Schindler's List. Jurassic Park went on to become at it's time the top grossing film of all time and win three Academy Awards for sound editing, sound design and visual effects.  

Why it made the cut?: It is the cut. The influence this film had on me is innumerable. Comparatively there's no film I can return to with more easy. Other movies may be a cumbersome journey to relive (The Lord of the Rings), but despite it's length Jurassic Park maintains an old friend who you can't wait to talk to. A well paced methodical blend of a monster movie thrill ride and a study of man's reach scientifically exceeding it's limitations, this film carries it all. David Koepp provides not only sharp dialogue but intelligent argument for each character. Among the best is a scene revolving around lunch as each character expresses their concerns with altering genetics like "some kid that's found his dad's gun." John Williams respectively returning with Spielberg to create an adventure theme to top Indiana Jones, playing off the more summer blockbuster aspects of the film for a film score that's become a generation's Raiders March or Superman theme. Placed in the center of all the action is Mathematician Ian Malcolm who is a movie character not easily forgotten with more rapid one liners than a James Bond franchise and the intellect to challenge any argument that comes his way. Letting Alan Grant protect the kids and play hide and seek with the dinosaurs Ian Malcolm is the intellectual center to the film and is placed front and center with his argument before any dinosaurs set foot on screen, placing reason and method to any madness that may occur once those prehistoric terrors come about.

Fun Fact: Spielberg cast Richard Attenborough who beat out Spielberg at the 1983 Oscars for Best Director. Spielberg being nominated for E.T.: The Extra - Terrestrial and Attenborough for Ghandi. Attenborrough's film also beat E.T. out for Best Picture.  
 
Best Line: "But, John. If the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists."

There it is. I may change it in a year or so but I feel this represents my current taste very accurately. Sure you might complain about two Rob Zemeckis films and ONE Spielberg film. Maybe you're upset I didn't put Pulp Fiction up there. My answer to you is Get your own blog before you bash mine. Have a nice day. Side note: I would NEVER put Pulp Fiction in my top ten.