Saturday, November 14, 2009

My Top 100 Movies, Ver. 3.0

My top 100 movies is an idea I like to have fun with more than anything. It's completely unscientific, and it's certainly not an AFI ranking of the "best" movies ever. It's just the movies that I enjoy the most. This is my third go round, I do one per year. Usually I do it in the summer, but this summer I never really got around to it. For the first two runs, check here and here. This year, not as many films broke through to the top 100, though the ones that did I think were well deserved, and I think I cut out some good fat from the previous year's list. Let's start there.

Movies That Fell Out of My Top 100 (Previous Year's Rank)
- i Robot (54)
- Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones (58)
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (66)
- National Treasure (74)
- XXX (the one with Vin Diesel) (78)
- Ocean's Eleven (new) (83)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (92)
- The Burbs (93)
- Knocked Up (98)

Looking back, the first three on this list were just not well acted. I had forgiven this point because the action is really first rate, and I enjoyed the plots, even if they are a bit far fetched. But there was no longer room for them, enjoy them though I do. National Treasure and XXX suffer from the same problem, with National Treasure losing points also for plot ridiculousness and for its putrid sequel. Is it fair to tie movies to their sequels? No, not really, but only in rare exceptions (like say taking 20+ years to make three prequels) do you get to separate them in my opinion. The final four on this list simply got bumped for better movies.

Movies That Jumped Into My Top 100
93. Se7en - For some reason, this movie had always evaded me. I finally saw it this year after my boss' fervent and frequent recommendation, and it didn't disappoint. It kept me on my toes the entire time, and if anything, I wish it had been a little longer, that we had more time to flesh out the back and forth between Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt.

92. Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino at his seat squirmingly finest. As it so often does in a Tarantino film, everything came together beautifully at the end. I was sort of hoping that the three daughters of the Frenchman in the opening scene would be some sort of expert killing team and would murder all of the Germans out in the car while Col. Landa was inside, chatting and drinking milk with the father. Brad Pitt was great in his role, and the only thing likely to keep from an Oscar win is the fact that he really wasn't on screen all that much throughout the movie.

91. Fletch - Another movie that had slipped through the cracks. I feel like if I have a hard time grasping how funny Chevy Chase really was in the '80's, and I at least have seen (and own) Caddyshack and Spies Like Us, then how will today's kids know? It's not going to be from his role in Community, as he is sort of one-dimensional on that show. But Fletch was teriffic, the way he always was flying by the seat of his pants yet seemed perfectly in control at the same time. If only he had been a Clippers fan instead of a Lakers fan. Oh well.

84. Zombieland - This movie is just too much fun. It may not have the most original plot (zombies want to eat us, kill them first) but it does have some great acting - in addition to the always solid Jesse Eisenberg and Woddy Harrelson, I am a big Emma Stone fan. With Superbad, The House Bunny, The Rocker and now Zombieland, she has put together a pretty solid comedy resume, and is pretty easy on the eyes to boot. Paired with the great acting was some great action, and a narrative plot device that was forgivable for its humor. And it had a great Bill Murray cameo. This is a movie I can easily see myself watching over and over.

81. Lethal Weapon - The first of the four part saga had somehow evaded my rankings. While I don't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Part II, this is a fantastic action movie and I had to get it into the ranking, bumping it just ahead of Lethal Weapon IV.

64. Star Trek (new) - You couldn't ask for a better reboot to the once proud franchise, unless of course you are a hardcore Trekkie, and then nothing was going to satisfy you. But I think hardcore Trekkies had sort of lost the right to complain about the direction of their favorite franchise. Prior movies like Insurrection and Nemesis had been completely forgettable footnotes in the Star Trek catalogue, and it was time for some new blood. And while I have heard that some things were changed - for better or worse is debatable I suppose - I have been going back and rewatching the original movies, and I have found that some things weren't changed. For instance, the scene in the reboot where Kirk defeats/cheats the Kobayashi Maru test is just the same as Kirk describes how he beat it in The Wrath of Khan. In all, for someone like me who remembers the existence of the glory days of the shows/movies if not the details, it was a job well done by J.J. Abrams and Co.

42. Slumdog Millionaire - I am happy to say that I was in on the greatness of this movie early. I read a lot about it before it was released, and scored tickets to see a screening of it before it was released as well. Unfortunately my wife was unable to attend that screening with me, so I ended up seeing it twice in the theatre. I enjoyed it so much that I even bought the soundtrack. It is just a fantastic romantic adventure, the likes of which are rarely seen in today's Hollywood. If you don't melt when Jamal kisses Latika's scar at the end of the movie, then you must be a cyborg, because you clearly have no heart.

34. Up - This wasn't a romantic adventure the same way Slumdog was, but it was a true adventure of fulfilling one's dreams, even if it came 40-50 years later than planned. It's the kind of movie that makes you cling to hope, and as we all know, hope is a good thing. I furiously debated whether or not to bump this ahead of Wall-E and crown it my favorite Pixar movie ever, but I just couldn't do it, slotting it in just one behind the lovable robot. Maybe next year after I have had a chance to watch Up over and over on DVD, but for right now, no.

28. The Hangover - This one loses points for sheer ridiculousness - as Bill Simmons points out in the Book of Basketball, it takes a pretty big leap of faith to think they did all those things during 10 hours. And it takes a smaller leap of faith to believe they could keep a tiger concealed in their room and then their car without anyone finding out about it.
I'm also getting a tiny bit tired of Ken Jeong's shtick, but it was still pretty funny. But other than that, this movie was absolutely hilarious. The Rain Man parody, the scenes with the baby, getting the wrong Doug, talking the cops out of being arrested, having the tux guy throw tuxes to them while driving, the re-tard, the wolf pack, Mike Tyson. Classic.

Biggest Movers (movies that were already in the Top 100, but moved around in it)
88 to 63 - Forgetting Sarah Marshall - This movie is permanently house on my DVR. You can pretty much pick it up at any point in the movie and get a good laugh. It keeps moving up the list (and may very well move up more next year) because even the sad, depressing parts are still a little funny. It doesn't bring you way down the way Knocked Up does.

35 to 65 - Transformers: The Movie - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was so bad that it knocked this movie down significantly. While the original is still pretty fun and still has Megan Fox leaning over a hood, the sequel was so god-awful that I can't imagine wanting to pop in the original as frequently anymore.

67 to 100 - Spider-Man 2 - The same thing has happened with Spidey. I just don't pop this one in anymore, and it's at least partially due to how bad part three was. I'm starting to see all kinds of stories about part four, but they are going to have to do a damn good job to take the bad taste of three out of my mouth. Spider-Man was one of my favorite comics as a kid, so that stayed the execution of part two from the list for one more year, but it may be a slow death in the end.

So that's it. A solid but unspectacular year at the movies. Nothing changed in my top 25, and only nine movies pushed their way in, as opposed to 11 the year before. Below is the full list, with the previous two year's rank in parentheses. Movies that I'm looking forward to seeing that may end up on the list next year include upcoming releases like Avatar, The Men Who Stare At Goats, Up In The Air, A Couple of Dicks, The Losers, Kick-Ass, Iron Man 2, The Expendables, as well as movies in my Netflix queue that I haven't seen, such as Sugar, Gran Torino, the Alien(s) trilogy, Hoosiers and Spirited Away.

Top 100 Movies (Ver 2.0 rank, Ver 1.0 rank)
100. Spider-Man 2 (67, 67)
99. Miracle (100, 95)
98. Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (94, 73)
97. Superbad (99, -)
96. The Girl Next Door (97, 74)
95. Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (96, -)
94. Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (95, 93)
93. Se7en (-, -)
92. Inglourious Basterds (-, -)
91. Fletch (-, -)
90. Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (86, 81)
89. Mallrats (89, -)
88. Slap Shot (91, 84)
87. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (89, -)
86. The Bourne Supremacy (85, 88)
85. The Silence of the Lambs (84, 80)
84. Zombieland (-, -)
83. Blue Brothers (87, 97)
82. Lethal Weapon IV (82, 76)
81. Lethal Weapon (-, -)
80. 48 Hours (81, 75)
79. Saving Silverman (80, 68)
78. Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade (79, 72)
77. Running Scared (75, 56)
76. Die Hard With a Vengeance (76, 69)
75. Back To The Future 2 (62, 65)
74. Mean Girls (77, 70)
73. Monsters, Inc. (73, -)
72. Ratatouille (72, -)
71. Rounders (71, 64)
70. Thank You For Smoking (70, -)
69. Wedding Crashers (69, 58)
68. Godfather II (65, -)
67. Rocky II (64, 63)
66. Rocky (63, 62)
65. Transformers: The Movie (35, 22)
64. Star Trek (new) (-, -)
63. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (88, -)
62. Aladdin (68, 98)
61. Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black (61, 60)
60. Bad Boys (60, 59)
59. Lethal Weapon II (59, 57)
58. The Bourne Identity (57, 53)
57. Menace II Society (56, 52)
56. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (55, 48)
55. Super Troopers (53, -)
54. The Departed (52, 51)
53. Back To The Future (51, 50)
52. Total Recall (50, 49)
51. The Fugitive (49, 47
50. Coming To America (48, 46)
49. Independence Day (47, 44)
48. Toy Story (46, -)
47. Goldeneye (44, 42)
46. The Rock (43, 23)
45. Beverly Hills Cop (45, 43)
44. Stripes (42, 40)
43. Enemy of the State (41, 38)
42. Slumdog Millionaire (-, -)
41. Batman Begins (31, 14)
40. The Program (40, 37)
39. True Lies (39, 36)
38. Spaceballs (38, 35)
37. Happy Gilmore (33, 33)
36. The Incredibles (37, 41)
35. Live Free or Die Hard (32, 27)
34. Up (-, -)
33. Wall-E (34, -)
32. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (26, 25)
31. Ghostbusters (30, 31)
30. The Godfather (36, 34)
29. The Terminator (28, 29)
28. The Hangover (-, -)
27. Trading Places (29, 30)
26. Top Gun (27, 26)
25. Ironman (25, -)
24. Goodfellas (24, 24)
23. The Princess Bride (23, 28)
22. Billy Madison (22, 45)
21. Casino (21, 18)
20. V for Vendetta (20, 21)
19. Die Hard (19, 20)
18. Animal House (18, 19)
17. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Extended Version (17, 16)
16.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Extended Version (16, 15)
15. Office Space (15, 13)
14. The Simpsons Movie (14, 6)
13. Scarface (13, 11)
12. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (12, 17)
11. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (11, 12)
10. Major League (10, 10)
9. Friday (9, 9)
8. The Dark Knight (8, -)
7. Gladiator (7, 8)
6. Old School (6, 7)
5. The Shawshank Redemption (5, 5)
4. Braveheart (4, 4)
3. Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (3, 3)
2. Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (2, 2)
1. Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope (1, 1)

Notes:
Nine Best Picture winners in Top 100:
- Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
- The Departed (2006)
- LOTR: Return of the King (2003)
- Gladiator (2000)
- Braveheart (1995)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Rocky (1976)
- The Godfather, Part II (1974)
- The Godfather (1972)

22 Movies in the
Top 100 of All-Time World Box Office in Top 100:
- LOTR: Return of the King (#2)
- The Dark Knight (4)
- LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring (18)
- Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (19)
- Independence Day (21)
- Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope (23)
- Spider-Man 2 (26)
- Transformers: The Movie (33)
- Up (36)
- The Incredibles (40)
- Ratatouille (43)
- Star Wars, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (52)
- Iron Man (53)
- Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (60)
- Wall-E (61)
- Monsters, Inc. (62)
- The Simpsons Movie (64)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (66)
- Aladdin (67)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (68)
- The Hangover (77)
- Gladiator (81)

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