The Next Fifty

In no particular order:

The Pianist – for a different look at the Holocaust, right BEFORE it started and what things were like in Poland outside of the concentration camps

Schindler’s List – probably would be in my top 50 if I had seen it more than once

Glory – Denzel. Morgan. Together. The end gets me everytime.

Clockers – a Spike Lee film about drug dealing with Mekhi Phifer and Harvey Keital. I saw it 3 times in the theater and bought the soundtrack.

In America – just a beautiful little film about an Irish family living “in America.”

Philadelphia – Denzel. Tom. Together. The end gets me everytime.

North By Northwest – I love the twists.

Psycho – I love the creepiness.

Rear Window – I love the humor.

Silence of the Lambs – I’ll never forget my surprise the first time I saw it when Lector sits up in the ambulance and takes off his “mask.”

About a Boy – I also really like Hugh Grant in Notting Hill and Love Actually.

Do the Right Thing – I haven’t seen it since I was in high school… maybe I oughta change that.

Mean Girls – plays like a 90 minute SNL skit, and really understands today’s teenager.

Saved – some Christians were offended. I was inspired.

The Game – the most underrated and underappreciated thriller of all time.

Seven – packs one heck of a visceral gut punch.

Braveheart – I’ve only seen it once, I’d probably like it more if I watched it more.

The Matrix – on imdb.com, the 1st Matrix movie scores a 8.6, the second- 7.0, the third- 6.4. I’d give the second 3.5 and the third a .1

The Iron Giant – you gotta love the Brad Bird movies (Incredibles, Ratatouille).

A Few Good Men – one of the most quoted movies of my generation.

Field of Dreams – never has a movie captured the love of baseball this well, except for maybe…

The Natural – the shmaltz works for me. Still can’t believe he strikes out at the end in the book.

Aliens – one of the top 5 action movies ever. Love me the Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn.

T2 – also in the top 5 action movies. To this day it is still a killer story with great effects.

Forrest Gump – it amazes me how many adults let their kids watch this movie though!

Hotel Rwanda – horrific, challenging, inspiring.

Reservoir Dogs – I’m a Tarantino fan. Good storywriting here.

Kill Bill 1 & 2 – so stinking cool.

Pulp Fiction – so stinking funny.

Jackie Brown – I have no idea why.

Sin City – the best job a movie has done at really making a comic book "come to life" on the screen. I was surprised by the chivalry of the men in this movie.

American History X – now this one is tough to watch.

The Sixth Sense – I'm still an M Night fan, despite Lady in the Water.

Joy Luck Club – makes me cry every time.

Best in Show – I like dogs.

Something about Mary – nothing is funnier in the entirety of cinema to me than Matt Dillon in those fake teeth.

Unforgiven – great “anti-western”. Saw it with my big bro at the UC theater on Shattuck in 1992!

City Slickers – dang funny movie... with the great Bruno Kirby.

Kramer vs. Kramer – much better than I thought it would be.

Gladiator – spawned so many lesser movies: Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, 300, etc.

The Emperor's Club – great lesson on integrity here.

Back to the Future – probably should have been in my top 50, but I can’t watch it anymore. I’ve seen it too many times. Yet another example instance where the sequels never happened.

The Untouchables – underrated crime flick with a great cast.

The Big Lebowski – the dude abides. And the Coen brothers score again.

Minority Report – it has a character named Danny who went to Fuller Seminary in it, along with great action and mind-boggling musings on predestination vs. free will.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – I wish it didn’t have to end the way it does… so sad... but imagine how sad it would be if we saw 10 more seconds?

Raging Bull – although I never feel like watching it again. We’ve owned it for 3 years and it is still in the wrapping.

Ratatouille – the first of 4 movies from 2007 on this list, it’s more for grown ups than kids.

Into the Wild – it just stuck with me.

Gone Baby Gone – kinda like Good Will Hunting meets Silence of the Lambs.

3:10 to Yuma – some good discussion on manhood here.

There you have it! If you feel like I left one out or you can't see why I included one you hate, put up a post! In the meantime, I will be trying to think up something to blog about now that I finally finished my movie list!