Top 10 Movie Challenge . . .

Krazy Ivan has challenged me to post my personal top 10 favorite movies of all time.

Here they are as well as WHY they are.

10.) Armageddon – Hear me out. This movie is made of popcorn. Seriously. Not a serious moment in the whole thing and yet it manages to be extremely moving in that it shamelessly strikes your emotion chords. This movie is a picture of the America we wish we lived in. Asteroid headed to kill us all? Screw it – get some oil rig guys, stick em on a couple of space shuttles and blow shit up. What the hell do we pay for NASA for if we can’t land on a damn asteroid and nuke it right? Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thorton – everyone knows why they are there, everyone knows their part and I’ll be damned if I don’t cry like a bitch everytime Liv Tyler’s Dad pushes Ben back into the space ship.

9.) Superman 2 – Superman the Movie was too long. It was great, but that whole first act went on F O R E V E R. By the time Clark Kent tears his first buisness suit open, I’m ready for a nap. Superman 2 is a much different story. Clark is Superman and from the very first moment we are on a serious Superhero ride. Is this a perfect movie? Not by any stretch of the imagination. The effects are LAME and Gene Hackman is phoning it in, but the scope of Supes taking on the Kryptonian 3, making a huge selfish mistake giving up his powers and then redeeming himself in the Fortress of Solitude to John Williams incredible score has stayed with me for about 20 years now. I have seen the alternate cut by Richard Donner and while the history behind this one is very interesting (to me – most people could care less – ask me about it if you’re interested) the original holds up. I just identify this one with being a suburban kid in the late seventies who really wished he could fly.

8.)Raiders of the Lost Ark – Again the John Williams score ropes me in from the word go. I think John Williams may be my favorite actor. This movie is not a franchise. It’s not a lame sequel where the directors try to hit all the same notes that worked the last time. This movie is a love letter TO the movies. Raiders of the Lost Ark is an homage to all those 1920 serials that played 3 for a nickel. Only it’s much better than all of them because it’s so spot on perfect in every way. Every moment of celluloid is carefully crafted to be iconic and stick in your mind like a comic book panel. Harrison Ford is amazing in this movie and as much of a Star Wars fanatic I am, this movie is better in every single way.

7.)Reservoir Dogs- Quentin Tarantino has never come close to this good since. This is an awesome, funny, horrifying tale of bad guys BEING bad guys. Steve Buscemi perfected his creepy scumbag persona in this one.

6.)Chasing Amy- I am a huge Kevin Smith fan but everyone in every other Kevin Smith movie sounds like Kevin Smith. Chasing Amy sounds like him too, but with less self awareness and a lot more honesty. There is a moment in this movie when Holden and Alyssa have a huge fight in an alley in the pouring rain. It hurts to watch because anyone who has ever been in love with the wrong person has been there and the scene captures it with so much realism that you feel it yourself all over again. Even better is the fact that this love story does not have a Hollywood ending and Jason Lee has never been funnier.

5.)Batman- I’ll tell you a secret – I love Superheroes. Seriously. Probably my favorite genre in fiction. In 1989 we hadn’t had a good superhero movie since Superman 2. Batman was a sixties tv joke to most of the country, but those of us spending time in dusty geek filled comic book stores were not remotely surprised when Tim Burton showed us what a superhero movie COULD be. Michael Keaton shut up all the naysayers from the first scene and made you believe that he was crazy enough to dress up like a bat and fight crime. Jack Nicholson was very Jack and at the time, that was perfect. The sequels got worse and worse, but the first one holds up, Prince music and all. Is it as good as Batman Begins? Nahh, but it’s not the same thing at all. Someday soon I’ll write a whole post disecting the Bat films one by one – but not today. Back to the countdown.

4.)The Cooler- William H. Macy may be the finest actor of modern film. This is one of those movies that sticks with you. Alec Baldwin is great in this one and Maria Bello is absolutely beautiful. Make no mistake, this is a sad hard movie to watch, but the acting is amazing and I’m better for having seen it.

3.)Spiderman 2- Like Superman 2, when Spiderman 2 starts we all know who the players are and no time is wasted getting the action started. If your interests are such that you find yourself reading THIS blog, then I imagine you have seen this one, so I’m not going to go into plot synopsis. The team that made the first Spidey movie are back and they all give it a hundred and twenty percent. Peter Parker’s life is hard and every time you’re sure he can’t take anymore, it gets worse. But he goes on. The scene when he collapses afer saving the train and all the commuters protect him is well done and not as cheesy as it might have been in another director’s hands. The best line in the movie comes in this scene as one of the people he’s just rescued states what we’re known all along – “He’s just a kid…” Start to finish, this is the best comic book movie ever made. In my opinion.

2.)Glen Gary, Glen Ross- If you like movies, please see this one. This is not an action movie at all. This is a movie about Real Estate swindlers and the entire thing takes place in their office after some “hot sales leads” have been stolen. Sounds incredibly exciting doesn’t it? Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey are amazing. This movie is a modern day masterpiece of fine art. It gets better every time you see it and everytime you notice something you didn’t see before. Just amazing.

1.)Can’t do it- I can’t choose ONE favorite movie of all time. There are too many others that I love for many other reasons, but I can’t pick just ONE of them to be the Top. The Godfather, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Mallrats, The Fifth Element, Die Hard, Real Genius, Pulp Fiction, The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen, Saving Private Ryan, Night of the Living Dead, Terminator 2 . . . My taste is too eclectic and I am unwilling to filter it any further. Please fill the comments section with your own top 10 and spend some time seeing something you haven’t seen yet.

As a side note to those who actually know me personally- Isn’t it interesting that there is not ONE Star Wars Movie on this list? As it turns out, I guess I like the idea of Star Wars better than the actual Star Wars films themselves.

Hmm.

Learn something new every day.

Thanks for the challenge Ivan – It was fun (And Spiderman 3 still sucks)