My Favorite Movies

The most entertaining dysfunctional family drama ever filmed, made all the more interesting by the 12th-century backdrop and superb performances by O'Toole, Kate Hepburn, a particularly bright-eyed and young Anthony Hopkins, and a wonderfully scheming Timothy Dalton. The man might not be able to be James Bond, but his feigned-foppish King Phillip of France could have been written by Niccolo Machiavelli. The dialogue is tremendously clever. Hepburn won an Oscar, but O'Toole is still the pick of the litter in my books.

I can watch this movie again and again and again. Just hearing the soundtrack immediately sucks me into the screen. This is the ultimate story of stepping up and being a man in the face of adversity. Whether you love Westerns (which I do) or not, you can't help but empathise with Gary Cooper's desperate attempts to protect his town of unworthies. The romantic story with with new pacifist bride is a wonderful touch. This movie stands up against the test of time, even if the soundtrack places it as a 50s Western.

The original. Frank Sinatra prooves that his performance in From Here To Eternity wasn't luck and that he has real acting chops. An excellent Cold War suspense. I only caught the tail end of the Cold War, but this movie reminds me of how insidious the "bad guys" seemed. It really has a mood of fear and paranoia.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone's masterwork. So funny the first time I saw it I almost wet myself. Funnier than South Park. I laugh every time I see it, especially in the presence of someone new. It's remarkable how easy it appears to mirror nearly every action movie ever, but with puppets. Most action movie actors are wooden anyway. Trey Parker's songs and music is, as always, the highlight.

First: no, I'm not gay. Who can't fall in love with Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly. This is a wonderful romance: perfect, frayed, smart, neurotic, beautiful and messy.

Perhaps the ultimate tale of brotherhood and camaraderie. Mel Gibson is a rascal in top form, not yet the caricature he is now. The writing is superb and haunting. I well up almost every time I watch this movie.

Whatever! A childhood favourite. It belongs here. 'Nuff said.

Sure it's become a punch line for comedy skits, but this movie is a classic. I believe this is the best of Charlton Heston's dystopian 70s science-fiction flicks. Mind you it's hard to chose between this and the Omega Man and Planet of the Apes. Perhaps this is the best, because it's so disturbingly believable.

Anyone who doesn't love this movie has no soul. I actually know the one person who doesn't, and can attest to the fact he's a pod-person created in the early 90s as a full-grown adult. The script is fantastic. Try not watching this movie and subvocalizing along with the dialogue.

While some would argue, perhaps successfully, that this isn't John Carpenter's best movie. For my money it's his most entertaining. It's fun, funny and just a little smart. Yeah, I said smart. Carpenter uses a fun sci-fi motif to open our eyes--like Roddy Piper's Nada's--to the socio-economic inquities of the 80s. The world is not so different, and the themes are only truer in today's over-marketed world. Who knows what conditioning messages exist under the simple veneer of this Website? Deserves praise if only for one line: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." Sweet.

This movie lived up to everything I expected it to be, for good and bad. The acting was quite stiff, but what's to be expected. The combat, cinematics, style and costuming was remarkable. Overall an excellent movie that might be worth four stars.