Monday, January 12, 2009

100 Best Movies of All Time (and 10 worth commenting on)

The following ten movies that I’ve commented on are by no means my favourites out of the list compiled a few years ago, but they do provide some food for thought regarding what people view as the most popular movies of all time.

Position 98. Toy Story (1995), dir. John Lasseter
This one’s a personal favourite. Woody and Buzz Lightyear star in a great animated classic; cartoons were once strictly the domain of kids--not any more.

62. (Monty Python's) Life of Brian (1979), dir. Terry Jones
Perhaps irreverent but still quite funny in typical Monty Python style. Python’s laughs do ensure; the same cannot be said for many funnies.

57. Field of Dreams (1989), dir. Phil Alden Robinson
How could we have a ‘movies best-of’ without a Kevin Costner film? Perhaps Dances with Wolves makes a case for this category but not according to this crowd. It’s good to have one dreamy story of achieved dreams in the list.

31. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), dir. Tom Shadyac
This one is a big surprise, and perhaps because again, like Costner, this is not Jim Carrey’s best effort; it did sort of launch his style of wacky comedy though.

30. The Usual Suspects (1995), dir. Bryan Singer
What rates this one is the plot and the quality of the cast.

19. The Wizard of Oz (1939), dir. Victor Fleming
Commentary on a movies best 100 could not be complete without at least one golden oldie. A movie born toward the height of WWII political tensions; certainly a very interesting time in history. “We’re a long way from Kansas, Toto.”

18. The Shawshank Redemption (1994), dir. Frank Darabont
An absolute bolter is this story. One could never be sick of a re-run of this particular tale. Again, without Morgan Freeman, how could a list be complete.

7. Schindler's List (1993), dir. Steven Spielberg
This movie amazed the world with its stark realism, shot in black and white to add to its authenticity. It helped again to raise awareness of socio-political times and Nazi atrocities during WWII.

6. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), dir. Steven Spielberg
Another Spielberg classic--the entire series actually. This series, like the James Bond and Star Wars classics simply endures.

3. Pulp Fiction (1994), dir. Quentin Tarantino
Tarantino is another very different director; this flick also featured some awesome actors in some equally awesome roles, and none too reserved at that. This is quite a shockingly funny film, and is certainly a moral head-turner.

The two lists of top 100 movies at the website provided below are very different. One list is from the purist’s viewpoint, the other is the popular vote--I have chosen the latter as I’m certainly no motion picture purist.

What do you think; what makes your top ten (to comment on) out of the top 100?

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