My
Top 15 best movies ever made.
Because one of the prerequisites of the list is that I must
have visually seen the movie in its entirety, a number of well deserving movies
got left out i.e. "Lawrence of Arabia", "Vertigo",
"Full Metal Jacket".
Since I LOVE all genres of film I will try to have a film from each category
represented on my "Top 15" list.
Finally I would like you to keep in mind that this is my NOT my top 15
"favorite" movies, but movies that I feel will never be out
done. So they will appear in no particular order.
• Epics/Historical:
"Ben-Hur" Not the original but the Charlton
Heston classic w/ Stephen Boyd as Messala. What I love about this film is
the direction of the events. How each predicament happened and the reason
why they happened. Friends turned to foe movies always intrigue me. Then
it is a movie about forgiveness and Love with enough action to satisfy.
The gorgeous landscapes and back drops for that film period are unmatched by
any other film around that time, and the music… The music, I feel, tops
any other film ever made. You get this 6 minute orchestral entrance
before the movie starts with the back drop of Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel in
the background. This movie can be remade but this one will never be
out done. Favorites: Troy, 300, Gladiator, V for Vendetta, The
Count of Monte Cristo, The First Knight, The Passion of Christ, The Last Samurai,
“The Ten Commandments”, and The 13th Warrior
•
Musicals: "Sound
of Music" "The Wizard of Oz" deserved this spot but so
did “The Blues Brothers” and “Singing in the Rain”. These four films
could easily make anyone else’s top 15 lists. Unfortunately, it is the
one top film for each genre that makes this list elite. How does the
“The Sound of Music” trump the other 3? For me, it’s the plight of
the family fleeing World War II as Germany begins to claim Austria… I remember
the first time I heard the Captain sing “Edelweiss”. I was too small to
know what it meant, I just remember it was one of the most beautiful songs that
I’ve ever heard and it was song by this highly over aggressive military
disciplinarian. By nature I HATE musicals but love music and
movies... Go figure! These four movies embodied everything I loved
about music and movies. Favorites: “Blues Brothers”, “Purple Rain”, and
“Black Snake Moan”
• Drama: "Casablanca”
I can see "Citizen Cane" being argued over 'Casablanca” but to no
avail. Casablanca is by far the best drama ever. I took me awhile to
appreciate it but I am here. This is truly one of the rare films that
actually looks better in black and white. Definitely has the whole film noir
look and the whole love nostalgia thing going. Certainly one of those
films that I love more as I continue to rewatch it. Favorites: “
Shawshank Redemption”, “Slumdog millionaire”, the whole “Silence of the
Lambs” anthology (except ‘Red Dragon’), “A Bronx Tale”, “Deep Impact”, “Love
Jones”,” Misery”, “Do the Right Thing”, “The Man in the Iron Mask”, “The
Barefoot Contessa”,“Titanic”, “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “SugarHill”
•
Crime/Gangster: "The
Godfather I, II, and yes even III” The third installment was misunderstood
by soooooo many people. To me, the way the director chose to end the
‘Godfather’ franchise was authentic and very true to life. This film
changed the ways we watched movies and also changed the ways films were made
ethically. Alfred Hitchcock's ‘Psycho’ (1960) help shred the Motion
Picture Production Code of 1930 (Hays Code) and replaced it with MPAA ratings,
so that movie producers can continue to push the envelope. In 1972
this movie stayed the course of film novelty then blew the doors off theater
and stayed on your mind decades after. Gorgeous film! Real quick;
the most daunting part was @ the beginning of Godfather II, when little Vito
Corleone was being quarantined. They stuck him in that little room (cell)
and he sat staring out the window looking at the Statue of Liberty singing a
song in Italian while swing his legs back and forth… That scene I will
never forget. Favorites: “Scarface”, “Casino”, “Pulp
Fiction”, “A Bronx Tale”, “ New Jack City”, ”Fresh”, “Menace to
Society”, “Boys n da Hood”, and “Belly”.
• Science
Fiction: "Star Wars"
To me, this was THE best movie ever made. For any reason you would want to go
the theater this movie had what you was looking for and more. If you are
not a Sci-fi person and can do without all the weird looking creatures and
things I can understand that. You have to appreciate the vision of
unknown worlds and the creatures that may inhabit them according to the George
Lucus’s mind. I love the Muppetering of the monsters instead of animation
mixed with motion picture images. I wish they would bring Muppets back
today instead of using this CGI all the blasted time. “I am Legend” would
have benefited from puppets tremendously!!! (Why didn’t they just use
live Lions for those two scenes? Anyway…) The struggle
between good and evil has never been detailed so precisely. I love
how the film shows evil as simply a different point of view. The last
Star wars made, “Revenge of the Sith”, actually being the 3rd chapter of the
franchise, exemplified evil perfectly. Both sides [Good and Evil] had to
resort to deception. The good used it to expose the truth but Anakin
didn’t know that. He was confused. I can honestly see how that can
happen and it’s important to the story’s development and how it finally ends in
“Return of the Jedi”. One of the best lines I ever heard in any
movie--- “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”-
yoda Favorites: “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “A.I”,
“2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Aliens”, “Robocop”, “War of the Worlds (2005)”,
“D.A.R.Y.L”, “The Transformers”, “Independence Day”, “Back to the Future”,
”E.T”, and “The Matrix”.
- Action: "
Terminator",
“The Dark Knight”, “The
Raid 2: Berandal” * list modified April 14, 2009 **modified again on 11/11/15
[TR2Berandal starts approximately 2 hours after the The RAID: REDEMPTION ends,
so you have to watch both to fully appreciate TR2B… http://worthwatchingblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-raid-2-berandal.html
] It pains me so very much to omit the original "Predator"
directed by John McTiernan with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Bill
Duke, and Jesse Ventura from the top, then turn around and demote Terminator as
THEE best action flick ever but this
last installment of the Batman legacy has been argued to be the best flick
ever… and I like that argument. Predator may be more a nostalgic
nomination but the more I see it the more ageless it becomes; truly a
masterpiece. Both “The Terminator 1 & 2” (especially 2) is as good as
it gets when it comes to action films. One type of film that I can’t
stand is one with a whole lot of meaningless action and no realistic
plot. Everyone that knows me knows that my favorite type of film is an
apocalyptic film. ** The Apocalypse happens to be the backdrop for a gorgeous
and very smart action riddled film. Terminator 1 is such a classic and
you are instantly involved with the movie as the film begins its character
development stage. The characters in film that you care about what
happens to them, you hope for them, and you never forget them. By the way, Bad
Boys II is the most slept-on action flick of all-time. The only ones that
would argue are the ones that have not viewed it yet. Favorites:
Predator, Terminator, All the “007’s”, “The “Bourne” franchise, “Bad Boys II”,
“The Professional”, “True Lies” “Rambo (2008)”, “Kill Bill”, “Metro”, “Speed”,
“Superman II”, “Con-Air”, “Mortal Kombat”, “Armageddon”, “Rush Hour”, “Pirates
of the Caribbean”, “Four Brothers”, all the “Mission Impossible” movies,
“Smoking Aces”, “Spiderman II”, “Batman”, “Waist Deep”, “The Fast and the
Furious” and “Death Proof”
See:
The
Dark Knight just murdered everything that you’ve seen thus
far... for my initial review of The
Dark Knight.
• Horror:
"
Dawn of the Dead (2004 version)” This is
the only film on my list that may get outdone sooner or later. Until it
does, “Dawn of the Dead” is paramount in the Horror genre! I had a
struggle with this one because “The Shining” could have taken tops; it is a
great horror film. Again, what does Conroy like? Apocalyptic
films!!! This one inserts you into the cockpit seat from the start!
Then it’s all about confusion and survival. Never been a Horror/Scary
movie type of person but I will watch it if it’s good… This film is great
and I feel Ving Rhames puts forward his best performance. Favorites: “The
Shining”, the whole “SAW” franchise, all the “Final destinations”,
the original “Dracula”, the first “ Blade”, “Spawn”, “The Ring”, “The
Sixth Sense”, “Carrie”, “Face Off”, “The Blair Witch Project”, “From Dusk
to Dawn”, “Vanhelsing”, “Interview with the Vampire” and “Cloverfield”
•
Comedy: "
O
Brother Where Art Thou?" Out of all the genres ‘comedies’ by far
was the most difficult. How do you gauge the best comedies? You
can’t go off which movie made you laugh the longest because those are rarely
good movies. For instance, I never laughed as often and as hard as I did
in “Friday”. I also recognize that this wasn’t the most carefully crafted
film but it definitely did its job. OBWAT (O Brother Where Art Thou)
succeeds in every way a motion picture can, especially in laughs. Very
rare will you find such a talented cast, loads of great cinematography, and a
great script work in a comedy but it does here. This film came out before
“Oceans 13” so the world hadn’t yet witnessed a vulnerable George Clooney
character. I must admit, that was a good chunk of what was so hilarious
about the film! ( Always worried about his hair) And the verbiage of all
the characters was extremely funny. Favorites: “Liar Liar”, “9 to
5”, “Ghostbusters”, “Raw” and definitely "Coming to America"!!!, “48
hours”, “Trading places”, “All about the Benjamins”, “Kings of Comedy”, all of
the “Fridays”, “Money Talks”, “Talladega Nights”,” Happy Gilmore”, “ The
Ladies Man”, “40 year old Virgin”, “ The Big Lebowski”, “My Cousin Vinny”, “
The Three Amigos”, “Vampire in Brooklyn”, “Norbit”, “The Ladykillers”, “The
Pineapple Express” and “Kingpin”
•
Adventure: “
Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom" “Lord of the Rings”
should have this spot but “Indy” is so iconic, so raw, and filled with so much
energy and great music that I have to give Indy this spot. Indian Jones
has also created a perfect adventure film blueprint/format that every adventure
film made from now on will be measured to. Both movies [Indy &
Lord of the Rings] have great scripts that allow the actors and actress to
shine despite all the action going on around them. However, at times
L.O.T.R (Lord of the Rings) slows down whereas Indiana doesn’t. The Indy
team does their own stunts where LOTR uses a good measure of great, no,
superior CGI. Harrison Ford to play Indiana Jones has to be argued one of
the best casting jobs ever!!! His character maintains class as a college
professor and researcher, while being able to convert to the rugged look at moment’s
notice. He’s able to be convincingly serious while being funny.
Remarkable. One of my favorite films ever. Favorites: The
trinity of “Lord of the Rings”, “Pan’s Labyrinth”, “The Mummy”, “The Game”,
“King Kong (2005)”,“Cast Away”, “Legends of the Fall”, “Clash of the Titans”
and “Forest Gump.
•
War: "
Saving
Private Ryan" "Letters to Iwo Jima" would
have easily replaced Saving Private Ryan and almost did. What saved
"Saving..." is the first 15 to 20 minutes of the film. These
moments were hailed as the “most authentic” portrayal of war by World War II
veterans. I mean as soon as the movie projector emits light on the screen
you are engaged. Then you have sit through the heart wrenching
drama of other soldiers protecting this one soldier while still wanting to
fight. It’s a tale of extreme lost, brotherhood, and sacrifice.
Love this picture.
I have to say this: “Crimson Tide” is the most underappreciated,
and one of the most important films ever and it was mostly all shot in a
submarine! Yet the setting never gets repetitive or monotonous. The
decisions that crew had to make were unbelievable and the ending… That
ending defined the meaning of the word tense. Lastly, the scariest part
is that the ending could happen in real life. Nuclear holocaust is
real and again, what does Conroy love? You should know by
now Favorites: “A Soldier’s Story”, “The Siege”,
“Firefox”, “TopGun”, “Pearl Harbor”, “Enemy at the Gates”, “The Last Castle”,
“Dead Presidents”(Another very underrated, very important film), “Behind Enemy
Lines”, "Letters to Iwo Jima", “Glory”, “Cold Mountain”, and “Three
Kings”
•
Western: "
Tombstone"
I’m not your typical Western lover that would be my Dad. However, I have
watched Tombstone so many times that I could probably recite every line
that Doc holiday so meticulously articulated in his immaculate southern accent
in this grand of a Western. I wasn’t around in that era but the
screenshots and settings of Tombstone just look so authentic. The movie
was easy to watch, and even easier to love. I really like Val Kilmer as
Doc Holiday! “Unforgiven” with the legend Clint Eastwood and “3:10 to Yuma”
with two more legends in there own right, Russell Crowe, and Christian Bale
could have been number 1. Tombstone has everything those movies have plus
Val Kilmer as Doc! Favorites: “3:10 to Yuma”, “Unforgiven”, ”Young
Guns”, and “Posse”
•
Animated Films: “
Jurassic
Park” I still remember the day my good friend LaMorris Bell came into class
raving about this movie. Until opening night, the only visual of the movie that
was released was the movie poster . So it looked like a kid movie because
it was well marketed as a family film. Well, I’m a junior in High School
and my boy comes in class early just crazed over this movie and won’t stop
talking about it for the rest of the day. “If you only seen what I saw.”
he kept saying. When I finally went and saw this masterpiece my mouth was
open the whole time. Talk about your jaw dropping literally, I couldn’t
believe how real everything looked. It was a superb adventure, it had a
good number of surprises and it was a very smart film. The reason I put
Jurassic Park under animated films is because of all the CGI that they
used. Let me note that they did the CGI just right and incorporated
robotic puppets and such so that the illusions of the dinosaurs were
seamless. Plus no way could I put JP in the adventure category and not
give that crown to Indiana Jones. Favorites: “Akira”, “The Lion King”,
“Beauty and the Beast”, both “Final Fantasy(s)”,”Animatrix”,”Cars”, ”Monsters
Inc”, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, “The Mask”,” Finding Nemo”, “Shrek”, “Toy
Story”,” The Fox and the Hound”, ” Ratatouille” and “The Incredibles” speaking
of The Incredibles…
•
Children/Kid/Family Films:
“
The Incredibles” This by far is the best kid’s movie ever; in
fact I don’t really consider it a kid film. Family film yes but
kids? Kids can enjoy it but adults really appreciate the adult
situations. This movie had the most fun out of all the films that I have
mentioned so far. Favorites: “The Grinch that stole Christmas”, “101
Dalmatians”, “Akeelah and the Bee”, “Chronicles of Narnia”, “Angels in the
Outfield”, and “Bridge to Terabithia”
•
Sports Films: “
Rocky”
No contest here. I think I was around 4yrs old when I saw “Rocky
II”. I remember me and my little sister up in the isles punching at the
screen along with Rocky. I was ridiculously shy back then so this was way
out the normal for me and especially my baby sister. Rocky is a great
film and so is the rest of the sequels. What more can you say? You don’t
even measure this by “Sports movies” standards, you gauge this among the best
films ever made. Favorites: “The Cinderella Man”, “The Gridiron Gang”,
“Million Dollar Baby”, “Any Given Sunday”, “Friday Night Lights”, “Undisputed”,
“Raging Bull”, “Rudy”, “Above the Rim”, and “Ali”
•
Documentary [style] Films:
“
Malcom X” This was Denzel’s greatest performance other than his
role in “Glory” and “A Soldiers Story”. Spike Lee really out did himself
with this one. I really wanted to put “When we were Kings” on the marquee
because the producers of that film did a heck of a job exploring every aspect
of the Ali-Foreman fight and the events leading up to and after that historic
event. I just feel like no other documentary style film will be able to
out perform “Malcolm X”. Favorites: “The Hurricane”, “When we were Kings”,
“City of God”, “The Lord of War”, “Tupac:Resurrection”, “Ray”, “Sicko”,
“Fahrenheit 9/11”, "42", and “Blow”
** Biggest disappointment in apocalyptic film history was “End of Days” with
Arnold Schwarzenegger
