Top Ten Favorite Movies in Alphabetical Order
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- DirectorMel GibsonStarsMel GibsonSophie MarceauPatrick McGoohanScottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in a rebellion to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.The greatest action movie I've ever seen! All the action you can ask for with a running time of three hours! It has the coolest action scenes I've ever seen! It all plays like it's really happening and the story is powerful about this one person who made a difference to get a country of his own. It's all the more incredible because there's no use of CGI during the battle scenes. It's all natural and as real as possible with wonderful use of jump cuts for startling effect. This is all the more amazing because Mel Gibson is not only the star, but the director and the movie seems like it's in the hands of a professional film maker, like the work of Akira Kurosawa in his samurai days. One of my top ten favorite movies!
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsKatharine HepburnCary GrantCharles RugglesWhile trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.The most perfectly made comedy I've ever seen! The jokes are not only hilarious, but every joke builds the story and sets up the next joke. It's like a domino effect. You can laugh at the same joke in terms of what the joke is, how it's performed, what the characters say, the tone they used to deliver the lines, how it affects the next scene, etc. It's a comedy on a level of dialogue, slapstick, situational comedy, mistaken identity comedy, screwball comedy, etc. Not only the funniest movie I've seen, but one of my favorite movies in general.
- DirectorTaylor HackfordStarsKathy BatesJennifer Jason LeighChristopher PlummerA big city reporter travels to a small town where her mother has been arrested for the murder of an elderly woman for whom she worked as a housekeeper.Dolores Claiborne opens with a powerful moment of a paraplegic woman in serious pain who may or may not be murdered by her longtime maid Dolores Claiborne. The case involves a newspaper reporter who happens to be Dolores' daughter Selena who they haven't seen in years. This leads to not only Dolores a possible murderer of a present tense situation, but also recapping a past tense one involving her abusive and alcoholic dead husband which also involves her daughter. Through wonderful movie magic in cinematography, makeup, lighting, hairstyles, costumes and production design, both tragic acts of murders are interwoven in a series of before and after segments showcasing the two actresses (and other characters) in various flashbacks and present scenes within 18 years apart. Like a jigsaw puzzle, there are many gripping edits through wipes, dissolves, match cuts and parallel cuts that keep the movie exciting throughout. It just works on all details.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsTom HanksRobin WrightGary SiniseThe history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.I really don't think you're looking carefully at Forrest Gump. Every scene plays like the most important part of the movie. He gets smarter and smarter from listening to his mom and Jenny. The feather symbolizes his life since he floats through life accidentally and realized that at Jenny's gravestone when he said "I don't know if Momma was right or Lt. Dan. I don't know if we all have a destiny or if we're all floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I think maybe it's both. Maybe both things are happening at the same time." It's also a movie of many genres ranging from comedy, drama, political, action, adventure, musical, etc. I loved everything about it because of the concept that one person can accomplish so many things.
- DirectorJoe DanteStarsDennis QuaidMartin ShortMeg RyanA test pilot is miniaturized in a secret experiment, and accidentally injected into a hapless store clerk.This is probably the least known and most unusual choice of my favorites, but it combines comedy, sci-fi, action, suspense, drama and romance as effortlessly as Back to the Future. The story keeps building as it goes along. A navy pilot named Tuck Pendelton has agreed to be miniaturized in a syringe once he's first placed inside a space pod. His goal is to discover the inside of a rabbit, but soon the syringe he is in is being held captive by a doctor who is being chased by scientists from another organization that want to steal the syringe and claim the experiment themselves. Soon, the doctor injects the syringe into an innocent civilian played by Martin Short and through complications is trying to get Tuck out of his body once they communicate through the monitors of Tuck's pod seeing everything that Tuck sees through the pupils of the Jack's eye and audio through his inner ears which are recorded through the speaker's of the pod. The attention to detail of the human body is extraordinary. It really looks like actual footage of the human body and it blends with the on set footage of Tuck cruising through it flawlessly. The movie won a well deserved Oscar for Visual Effects and it features some of the most timeless effects I've seen on film.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsTom CruiseJason RobardsJulianne MooreAn epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.Another movie where freedom to write and direct is endless is Magnolia. Here's the story of nine people who are all connected because of regrets in their past, they live in Magnolia and their sorrows lead to an extraordinary event which happens at the end of the day. The stories connect not just as a whole but in pairs: Two of the nine characters are dying of cancer, one produces and the other hosts the quiz show "What Do Kids Know?" and were bad fathers. Two women are on drugs. Two characters are quiz show kids, one currently on television, the other an unemployed wreck at thirty something. Plus, there's two caretakers, one for the dying man that produces the quiz show and a police officer helping one of the women on drugs, but doesn't know she's taking them. Plus the quiz kid on television is being embarrassed the same time as another character who has an interview and whose father, the producer dying of cancer, has left him. Oh and, the woman on drugs is the daughter of the quiz show host also dying. Plus, all nine characters sing a line from the song "Wise Up." Each line expresses what a certain character is going through. There are also paintings of the Magnolia flower throughout the picture. The surprise that brings the moral together through an act of god is also referenced throughout. Need I say more?
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartMary AstorGladys GeorgeSan Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.Nothing has aged in this terrific crime thriller! Humphrey Bogart plays a detective named Sam Spade whose partner Miles Archer was recently murdered and also finds out there's a jewel encrusted black bird that gangsters are in on. Soon, he is accused for the murder of his partner by the widow and is further in danger when the cops think he killed Thursby--a man whose widow met with Spade and Archer claiming he's missing with her sister. Soon, the murders are linked and the client is not only a suspect, but involved with Joel Cairo and Kasper Gutman in finding a statue of the bird which recently has been recovered after a ship arrived in San Francisco on fire. The movie has many memorable characters such as Casper Gutmann played by Sidney Greenstreet in his film debut and Joel Cairo played by Peter Lorre. The tone and pacing are gripping throughout and the lighting is a fascinating shade of detail (especially the night time scenes). Including a thundering music score, this one gets to the point and doesn't slow down.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.No list of favorite movies is complete without something from Alfred Hitchcock. I keep changing my mind on my favorite of his. Vertigo was one for a while, then I switched to Strangers on a Train, but the pieces add up best in Psycho. If someone has never seen an Alfred Hitchcock movie and would like to know why he's so important to cinema, here's a perfect introduction. The music by Bernard Herrmann is one of the most famous songs in the history of music. The scenes are memorable both in what they're about and how they're filmed. The casting is pitch perfect. The story adds up all the way through. The trade marks of Hitchcock are everywhere in this, especially the "twist ending", which he invented and never fails to shock me when I watch the picture due to it's realism.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowJeff DanielsDanny AielloIn 1935 New Jersey, a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world.This is my favorite Woody Allen movie! It's heartfelt, artistic, creative, funny, thoughtful and nostalgic. It's basically a love letter to movies about a waitress who is unloved by her husband, unhappy at work and only finds love in the movies. One day, she watches the latest movie The Purple Rose of Cairo and after watching it the fifth time, the main character literally leaves the screen of his black and white movie and enters reality in technicolor. Soon, the black and white actors are up on the screen screaming for him to return while the movie theater is in panic and the actor playing the character who left the screen tries to get him back on. What an exciting story told with art, thought and entertainment!
- DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDonald O'ConnorDebbie ReynoldsA silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.Nearly every top ten of the greatest movies ever made includes Singin in the Rain. The reasons are obvious. It's irresistible fun from beginning to end. The choreography is timeless. The songs are memorable. The jokes are hilarious. The characters are expressive and energetic. Part of the fun in watching Singin in the Rain is that some of the movie is the making of movies during the beginning of the sound age in the late 20's. It's a movie that's so hard to dislike, you have to be very miserable or boring to not find any joy in the picture.