"What are you gonna do beam us up?"

A while back, when I only had one blog, Cerpts over at the Land of Cerpts and Honey tagged me to list my top ten favorite movies of all time. Which, as he points out, is hard to do. This is the list that at the time I made it are my top ten films. Ask me next week and it might be different. They are not in order of 1 - 10 just how I thought of them and wrote about them.




It’s A Wonderful Life - Some say Miracle on 34Th Street or A Christmas Carol is the ultimate Christmas film. For me it’s the 1946 classic directed by Frank Capra starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Henry Travers as Clarence the Guardian Angel. Although it was nominated for five Oscars it managed to win none of them. It is, however, on the list of AFI’s 100 top movies ever made, as well as being declared the number one inspirational movie of all time.




Braveheart - The film won five Academy Awards including best picture and best director for Mel Gibson who directed and produced the historic epic. It helped to revive the historical genre and was soon followed by Gladiator, The Patriot, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, Alexander, 300, and Mongol. The movie itself may be short on history and heavy on the action adventure but it is still a moving portrayal of one mans search for freedom of his people. The movie is art directed heavy (the paint on his face matches his eyes so well) and at three hours the movie doesn’t need to be any longer but some things do feel hurried. Nonetheless, the movie does at times flow by like a soft lullaby which is beautifully filmed. Even if you are getting hit in the head with rocks at the same time.




Reservoir Dogs - Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 debut film. The ultimate “guy” movie. The ensemble cast including Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madson, Chris Penn, and Steve Buschemi are all perfect in their roles. Tarantino also makes a small cameo appearance in the film aside from being writer and director. Sometimes called the greatest independent film ever made, the film incorporates all the things Tarantino would later become famous for: violent crime, pop culture references, memorable dialogue peppered with lots of profanity, and the non linear storyline. Unlike most people that saw this film after Pulp Fiction became such a big hit, I saw it shortly after it was released and spoke the praises of it long before Vincent Vega wore the black suit.



The Breakfast Club - The definitive 80’s teen film directed by John Hughes that would influence many coming of age films to follow. Possibly, if I was to see this movie for the first time now when I am in my forties it wouldn’t mean much to me. Seeing as how I was in high school when he movie came out it was a big influence on my teen years. Especially for someone like me who fit in several different categories back in high school, so I was able to see the story from two different points of view aside from the actors. The movie was shot in two months time and fully in sequence from beginning to end. The members of the cast are from the “Brat Pack” that was made up of Hollywood teens and 20 some-things were brilliantly cast. I don’t think there is a person alive under the age of 70 that couldn’t relate to at least one of the characters in the film which makes it all that much more believable. Is it perfect? Far from it. But a classic 80’s teen movie that teaches why it’s wrong to stereotype and that friends can come from where and when you least expect them.




The Usual Suspects - When writer Christopher McQuarrie first came up with the idea for the movie he thought it would be neat to see five criminals meet in a police line-up. The vision, he thought, would make a great movie poster. He was sort of right. The poster is pretty good but the movie is awesome. A modern day crime noir that has been said to have everything but Humphrey Bogart. Kevin Spacey, who won the Oscar for best supporting actor is incredible as “Verbal” Kint, the small town con with a limp. The rest of the actors are stellar as well including Kevin Pollak, Gabriel Byrne, Steven Baldwin, and Benicio Del Toro round out the rest of the five criminals. Chazz Palminteri is equally good as the investigating customs agent assigned to the case that tries to answer one question: Who is Keyser Soze?




Goodfellas - The mafia movie that spans three decades was nominated for six Academy Awards winning one by Joe Pesci for best supporting actor who doesn‘t seem to ever really be acting because he is Tommy DeVito! The two and half hour film flies by and when the time the credits start rolling you can finally relax. The film which is on AFI’s top 100 movies of all time, to me, is Scorsese‘s best piece of work. You can have your Godfather, which I also like but for me the mafia movie I want on my list is this one. Now, you gotta problem wid dat?



Pulp Fiction - The second film by writer and director Tarantino received seven Academy Awards nominations but was only able to win one for best screenplay. The film nearly single-handedly revitalized the career of John Travolta. The cast is smart and their chemistry sometimes make the movie hard to believe you are watching a movie and not looking right into the lives of the people you see on the screen. Slightly less violent than Reservoir Dogs but laced with just as much profanity, Pulp Fiction is one of the more recent films to create a cultural watershed where it’s influence has been felt in several other popular media. It is also on the AFI’s top 100 movies of all time list if it being on my top ten isn’t enough for you.



Field of Dreams - Burt Lancaster’s last film appearance is not a movie about baseball. Nominated for four Oscars, the movie is really about finding your dreams, whatever they may be and overcoming your regrets and doubts. If the movie was made in the 40’s you know Frank Capra would have directed it. Possibly James Stewart would have played the Kevin Costner role of Ray Kinsella as well. This one comes right from the heart and it still makes me cry every time I see it and I just love a movie that can do that.




St. Elmo’s Fire - The other 1985 coming of age story this time directed by Joel Schumacher. Another of the “Brat Pack” movies starring Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Demi Moore. Instead of high school, it’s college that they are all coming of age into. That last sentence didn’t make sense but it doesn’t have to. The film shows that even college graduates are sometimes afraid to “just let go” in order to grow up and mature. I guess you can call this one my guilty pleasure movie.




Se7en - The murder mystery film starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt who are both incredible and who both should have gotten at least an Oscar nomination, is named for the ways in which the murders are committed. One murder for each of the seven deadly sins and ass you can guess “Gluttony” is pretty ugly in this one. It also stars Kevin Spacey (unbilled, surprisingly enough) as the murderer known only as John Doe. The film has a brooding dark look that fits well with the story. The unnamed city is disturbing and dirty and after watching it you have to wonder where the line between the movie and our world blurs and it makes you question just what kind of a world do we really live in.