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25 of my favorite movies


On 03/16/2015 at 10:32 PM by Ranger1

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Movies. We've all got favorites. I have shelves full of favorites. And they're all over the place in terms of genre (no chick flicks, though). I was going to do a ten favorite list, but I couldn't decide what to kick out to pare it down to ten, so I said "what the heck" and made it 25. These are not ranked in any way, shape, or form.

  • Raiders of the Lost Ark - In my opinion, one of the best adventure flicks to ever come out.

  • The Princess Bride - Because it's brilliant. And ever so quotable.

  • Die Hard - Bruce Willis, explosions, witty one-liners, and Hans Gruber. Need I say more?

  • Mulan - Because it's nice to have a Disney flick where the girl saves the guy for a change.

  • Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail - Pretty much exactly what I said about The Princess Bride applies here, as well.

  • Henry V (the 1989 version with Kenneth Brannagh) - There's a reason this movie was nominated for a ton of Oscars. Top-notch acting, amazing sets,  costumes, and soundtrack. I actually owned the soundtrack before I ever saw the movie.

  • The Magnificent Seven - Possibly my favorite western of all time. I know it's a retelling of Seven Samurai (which I also love), but what can I say, I love westerns.

  • The Hunt for Red October - A rare case of the movie being ever so much better than the book. And it has Sean Connery in it.

  • The Avengers - Do I really need to say anything else here?

  • The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad - A favorite from my childhood. Corny, yes, but oh so fun. And Ray Harryhausen did the special effects.

  • Iron Will - plucky young hero and a long distance dog sled race. Of course it's one of my favorites!

  • Hang 'Em High - the first Clint Eastwood movie I remember seeing. I was four, we were at the drive-in, and I was supposed to be asleep. My grandfather looked back, and there I was, perched on the edge of the seat riveted to the screen.

  • A Fistful of Dollars - Best of the spaghetti westerns.

  • Dirty Harry - Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?

  • Highlander - Swords, immortals, the Kurgan, and clever scene shifts.

  • Lady and the Tramp - Fond favorite of childhood.

  • Star Wars -  I saw it in the theater when it came out. And Han shot first.

  • Shane - My second-favorite western of all time.

  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Just a fun movie. And it had Sean Connery in it. And I read most of the books that the characters in the movie came from while I was growing up.

  • The Blues Brothers - So many really, really funny scenes in that movie!

  • Young Frankenstein - One of Mel Brooks' best. Dr. Frankenstein: "I'm a doctor, I can help you with that hump." Igor: "What hump?"

  • Field of Dreams - This movie came out while I was estranged from my dad. It helped me bridge the gap, therefore, warm fuzzy memories whenever I watch it.

  • The Mummy (1999 version) - Because it's just a fun movie.

  • 101 Dalmatians - Another favorite from childhood

  • Red - Again, just an all-around fun movie with a great cast.

What are some of your favorites?

 

Comments

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/16/2015 at 10:44 PM
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark - Temple of Doom has my favorite Indie scene (the rope bridge) but Raiders is all around perfect like an old comic book.  

  • The Princess Bride - No more rhyming!  I mean it!

  • Die Hard - Now's I've got a machine gun, ho ho ho. 

  • Mulan - never seen this, if you can believe that.  

  • Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail - Seen parts.  Not a monty python guy.  

  • Henry V (the 1989 version with Kenneth Brannagh) -never seen this either which is insane.  .

  • The Magnificent Seven - I actually don't like this movie.  I know it's good... just overdosed on it somehow.  

  • The Hunt for Red October - I wish I could have seen Montana.  

  • The Avengers - Do I really need to say anything else here?

  • The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad - I'm more of a Clash of the Titans guy.  

  • Iron Will - Never heard of this.  

  • Hang 'Em High - Clint Eastwood is how me and my dad bond!  

  • A Fistful of Dollars - This is based on a samurai movie too.  Plus there's a prohibition gangster version with bruce willis.  I'm more of a good bad and the ugly guy, and I like Bronson's one too.  

  • Dirty Harry - I love when he's eating the hotdog and killing foolz.  

  • Highlander - Appreciated this as I got older.  

  • Lady and the Tramp - I like The Rescuers.  

  • Star Wars -  My favorite shit.  

  • Shane - Read the book, never saw the movie.  

  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Read the comic. Can't bear the idea of the movie.  

  • The Blues Brothers - We're on a mission from God.  

  • Young Frankenstein - I like the scenes with Frankenstein and the little girl.  

  • Field of Dreams - Read the book when i was very impressionable.  Did you know the author in the book (James Earl Jones character) was JD Salinger?  

  • The Mummy (1999 version) - Ug.  Sealed

  • 101 Dalmatians - I don't remember much of this one.  

  • Red - Good movie.  This was a comic too first.  

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 09:46 AM

Not a Monty Python guy?! Matt, I don't think we can be friends any more...

And yes, I did know that about Field of Dreams.

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/17/2015 at 12:01 AM

Cinderella Man - gets me every time

Chasing Amy - personal reasons, plus it's funny and incredibly 90s

Ruggles of Red Gap - saw it in a film class I took Freshman year and I'm glad the professor convinced us to watch it. One of the best comedies I've seen.

Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis didn't deserve that Oscar and everyone wants to shit on it now after critically acclaiming it upon release yadda yadda. It was the first movie I watched which was all about the drama and characters I remember actually enjoying.

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 09:46 AM

I haven't seen any of those movies, Joe. Just added them to things I ought to watch.

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/17/2015 at 11:07 AM

Ruggles of Red Gap is one probably no one has heard of. It's a movie from the 1930s people either don't know or have forgotten, but damn I thought it was charming. Ed Norton had it as #3 on his fave movies list for RottenTomatoes.

Chasing Amy might be too chick flicky for you, idk. It's a critically acclaimed Kevin Smith dramedy from the mid-90s before he did Dogma. 

Crash I have up there for reasons I mentioned. It's basically about how a series of events in L.A. revolving around race become connected to each other. It can be uncomfortable to watch and some people who've seen it think the movie itself can be racist. I don't necessarily agree as I think it depicts ugliness without condoning it at all, but you can decide if you watch it. 

Cinderella Man is unequivocally my favorite movie. Always wanted to be a family man and so the struggle of boxer JJ Braddock to fend for his family during the Depression gets me in the drama hole. And Ron Howard is a great director, since Rush was a favorite of mine from 2013. Guy knows how to play up the character relations and real life tensions in a sports movie and make sports I would never usually watch very entertaining and visually interesting.

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 11:34 AM

I'm a huge Kevin Smith fan, and it's not that I don't like chick flicks, they generally just don't stay with me for too long. That said, one of the movies that almost made the list is The Cutting Edge, one that my sister and I love to watch together. Jason always laughs at me when I watch it because it's so not the usual kind of movie that I watch.

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/17/2015 at 11:53 AM

Hadn't heard of it, but IMdB'd it. I do like Winter Olympics. 

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 12:23 PM

Toepick!

goaztecs

03/17/2015 at 12:49 PM

I like the Cutting Edge. The whole former hockey player turns figure skater. I dig it. Cutting Edge 2...not so much

goaztecs

03/17/2015 at 12:44 PM

Chasing Amy! I remember when my friend and I went to a preview screening on campus for it and Joey Lauren Adams was there to talk about the movie afterwards. She signed my Biodome CD. 

KnightDriver

03/17/2015 at 01:56 AM

That's a great list of movies. I like all of those. 

My all time favorite is the 1950 version of Cyrano de Bergerac staring Jose Ferrer. It has great language and it's a tragic love story that gelled perfectly with my High School psyche. I don't think a day goes by that I don't think about it. Today I was thinking about the part where Cyrano tells Vicomte, who has just insulted him, all the ways he could've said it, while he proceeds to school him in fencing. Cyrano is an idol of mine.

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 09:47 AM

John, that's a movie I've really meant to watch, but just have never gotten around to.

KnightDriver

03/18/2015 at 01:55 AM

I saw it in High School. Don't know where or how, but it really hit home for me. It's a little bit melodramatic now I guess, but I still like it.

Cary Woodham

03/17/2015 at 07:33 AM

I don't know if I can think of 25 movies I like, but some of my favorites include The Muppet Christmas Carol, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, The Fifth Element, Finding Nemo, Up, and Disney's Robin Hood.

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 09:43 AM

I went back and forth many times over 101 Dalmatians vs Robin Hood. The list is by no means set in stone, so on another day, Robin Hood might be on it.

mothman

03/17/2015 at 08:41 AM

I'll have to share some of your choices. I couldn't possibly pare this down and it's far from complete.

  • The Princess Bride I watch this one every time it's on. Inconceivable!

  • Monty Python -Holy Grail, Life of Brian, Meaning of Life - well pretty much their entire output. The Python team holds nothing sacred and to me they're the Beatles of comedy. 

  • Time Bandits, Adventure of Baron Munchausen, Fisher King, Brazil - Because they are Terry Gilliam films and I love what he does with camera angles and he's a Python. 

  • Clash of the Titans (original) - for the same reasons you have Sinbad on there.

  • Blade Runner. - I bought the Blu Ray set years ago and watched everything on it. I can watch Rutger Hauer's piece at the end of that film over and over and it still gets me.

  • Highlander - Who wants to live forever?

  • Lady and the Tramp - same as you

  • The Blues Brothers - Rawhide!

  • Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles - My two favourite Mel Brooks films

  • 101 Dalmatians - my nose is froze and my tail is froze

  • Spinal Tap - The best rock 'n roll mockumentary ever made

  • 3 Amigos - I hated this one the first time I watched it but something compelled me to go back to it and I wound up loving it. I think it had something to do with not being able to hate a movie with Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short in it.  It's still stupid but it's my kind of stupid. Would you say I had a plethora of pinatas?

  • Planes, Trains and Automobiles - My favourite John Candy film. Steve and John work so well together. Those aren't pillows!

  •  

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 09:52 AM

Baron von Munchausen was pretty close to making the list, too. As for Sinbad, I saw it well before Clash of the Titans came out. I didn't actually see Clash of the Titans until a couple of years ago, so no fond childhood memories there. Jason and the Argonauts, though, was also close to making my list. As for comedies...Steve Martin and John Candy just annoy me, as does Bill Murray.

mothman

03/17/2015 at 10:11 AM

Jason and the Argonauts would be another one and damn I forgot to put Lost in Translation, The Life Aquatic, Groundhog Day, Meatballs and a bunch of other Bill Murrary stuff on there. LOL

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 10:18 AM

I know, keeping my list to just 25 was hard! One of the few Bill Murray movies I did like was What About Bob, but not enough for it to be a favorite.

bullet656

03/17/2015 at 10:02 AM

Good list.  I'm a pretty big fan of westerns too.

I could never make a numbered list of my favorite movies, but a few that quickly come to mind are Chasing Amy, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Godfather, The Big Lebowski, Punch Drunk Love, The Princess Bride, Dazed and Confused, Stand By Me, Blade Runner, Star Wars, Serenity, Search for the Holy Grail... and few dozen more that I can't think of at the moment.

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 10:07 AM

It's a very fluid list, believe me. If I were to do this again next week, depending on my mood, some might change. Stand By Me is another favorite of mine, too. as for the westerns, I could cheerfully have listed all of Clint Eastwood's, as well a quite a few of John Wayne's, and a very cheesy one with Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe called River of No Return.

jgusw

03/17/2015 at 10:05 AM

I've seen many of the movies on your list.  It's hard for me to come up with my top favorite movies, b/c my tastes are all over the place.  I'll just come up with a few movies I like right off the top of my head.  1. Snatch, 2. The Toxic Avenger, 3. Clerks, 4. Labyrinth, 5. The Castle of Cagliostro. 

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 10:08 AM

That's a good quick list, James. I'll have to watch Snatch a few more times, but it made a very favorable impression the first time and it's my friend Shawn's favorite, too. And Clerks is just comedy brilliance for anyone who has ever worked in that kind of a job.

goaztecs

03/17/2015 at 12:53 PM

Awesome list. There are a couple of my favorites on there as well. As for my favorite flicks, a couple off the top of my head

Goodfellas (the continuous shot where they go through the back into the club is freaking awesome)

Godfather (I like the original the best out of the three)

Top Gun: I grew up with it

A Night At The Roxbury: It's a silly fun movie that I can watch everyday

The Right Stuff: When I was growing up I wanted to be an Astronaut and these were some bad dudes.

Segal flicks with three word titles: Hard to Kill, Out for Justice, Fire Down Below. 

Bloodsport: Van Damme beating everyone up

Best of the Best: More people beating each other up...this time its for National Pride

GI Joe The Movie: Not the crappy live action flick, but the one animated one with Don Johnson, Sgt. Slaughter, and Burgess Meredith

Fast and Furious 5: I love the series because they are fun movies, but this one is easily my favorite

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 01:34 PM

I like van Damme flicks. And Best of the Best was good. One of my ex-boyfriends was a big martial arts movies fan, so I watched a lot of van Damme, Segal, etc. when we were together. As for gangester flicks, my favorite would have to be Miller's Crossing. And my nephew Austin introduced me to the Fast & Furious franchise. Like you said, they're fun. I prefer the Transporter movies myself, but nothing wrong with Fast & Furious.

C.S.3590SquadLeader

03/17/2015 at 01:39 PM

Nice list!

In addition to some of the movies you listed, (like The Princess Bride, Highlander, and The Avengers) some of my favorite movies include RoboCop, Ghostbusters, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End.

Ranger1

03/17/2015 at 03:19 PM

Those are good movies, too.

avidacridjam

03/18/2015 at 06:14 AM

Good list! I also have the Henry V soundtrack. Very sublime.

My top 25:
Seven Samurai
Lawrence of Arabia
The Rules of the Game
Le Samourai
2001: A Space Odyssey
Apocalypse Now
Goodfellas
Once Upon A Time In The West
Vertigo/Notorious/Rear Window (a three-way tie for Hitchcock films since I can never decide)
The General (1926) (Buster Keaton was brilliant and this can still kill with an audience)
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
My Neighbor Totoro
Die Hard (agree with your comments; also beautifully shot and edited)
La Jetee (short film that inspired 12 Monkeys but this is gorgeous, thought-provoking and affecting. Also better)
JFK
Almost Famous
Hard-Boiled
John Carpenter's The Thing
Heat
The Three Musketeers/The Four Musketeers (1973) (because they're two parts of the same film and both are spectacular swash-bucklers, not to mention hilarious)
Blade Runner
Aliens
Monty Python's Life Of Brian (I love Holy Grail but I prefer this these days)
The Matrix trilogy (yes, even the sequels. Especially the sequels.)
The Empire Strikes Back 

V4Viewtiful

03/29/2015 at 04:06 PM

Nice list, I like most of them some i've yet to see.

I'd have gone Blazin' Saddles than Young Frankenstien but that's still a good one.

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