Entertainment Weekly's companion piece to its list of the 100 best reads of the past 25 years. What do you think of this list?
The movies in boldface are the ones I've seen. What are your ten favorite movies of the past 25 years? Mine (as well as some other scattered thoughts) are below:
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)
20. The Lion King (1994)
21. Schindler's List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998)
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1988)
29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
32. Fight Club (1999)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)
41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988)
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)
51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
53. The Truman Show (1998)
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)
60. Scream (1996)
61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. Broadcast News (1987)
71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986)
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)
81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001)
96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)
-My top ten: (1) Goodfellas, (2) Almost Famous, (3) Groundhog Day, (4) Pulp Fiction, (5) Lost in Translation, (6) The Big Lebowski, (7) Bullets Over Broadway, (8) Mystic River, (9) Back to the Future, (10) No Country For Old Men
-The next ten, in no particular order: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Saving Private Ryan, This is Spinal Tap, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Kill Bill vol. 1 and Kill Bill vol. 2 (counted as a one movie), Boogie Nights, Bull Durham, Dark City, Hannah and Her Sisters, Adaptation
-You know you are a Woody Allen nerd when you own Hannah and Her Sisters in more than one format. I am one such nerd. Its a great movie, and one of my all-time favorites, but even I would not rank it among the ten best movies of the past 25 years. It has some classic one-liners, winning supporting performances and one of the all-time great movie soundtracks, but relative to some of Allen's other films it just feels like a minor work. Crimes and Misdemeanors . . . now there's a movie I can get behind as being one of the best movies of the past quarter-century.
-Overrated: Jerry Maguire, Big, Risky Business, Scream, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Natural Born Killers
-Really, really overrated: Napoleon Dynamite, Menace II Society
-Sorely missing from the list: Almost Famous, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Kicking and Screaming, The Big Lebowski, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Kill Bill, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation
-The Lion King, The Incredibles and Ratatouille are three of the best movies of my lifetime. The fact that they are animated doesn't matter one bit.
-Are there two more underrated great movies than Dark City and Lost in Translation? I feel as if nobody discusses these movies when they are discussing the best movies of all-time . . . Almost Famous is 50 times the movie that Jerry Maguire is; the only reason Jerry Maguire made this list was because of Tom Cruise.
-Forrest Gump and Rain Man really haven't aged very well, have they?
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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6 comments:
how the hell haven't you seen The Naked Gun?
Clearly a lot of overrated movies on that list - The Departed feels like its already been forgotten, same with Sideways. I think Shrek is lame. Agree about Jerry Maguire's mediocrity. Ratatouille is awesome.
Seems like a lot of trend setting movies are nominally included, even if they're not that great themselves. I think Gladiator is one of those movies that's sweet when you see it the first time in the theater, but now I find it unwatchable. I'd rather have seen Braveheart on the list, which really rejuvenated that kind of ancient epic, and also aged poorly.
Even more than the book list, this one was created to get people talking, not to be authoritative. You point out plenty of crazy omissions or inclusions. The main thing I take from this, though, is that we as a culture care about and ingest a TON more movies than books. It's not a surprise, but it is interesting.
PS, I shameless stole this post and recycled it over here. Thanks for the material!
That list may or may not have been made by someone who hates movies, it's hard to tell. How else can the inclusion of Napoleon Dynamite and the exclusion of the Princess Bride be explained? I realize not everyone agrees with me that Napoleon Dynamite is one of the worst films ever made. However, there's no way in hell it was one of the best 100 films of even the last five years. Honestly, Swat was better. Funnier too.
While I'm bitching . . . Where are Major League, Hoosiers, and Bull Durham? Somehow Jerry McGuire makes it but those three don't? Also, I think High Fidelity belongs on their.
Lastly, I think it's wrong that Wade Garrett would fail to mention the omission of Road House. Clearly one of the best movies of the last 25 years. Road House II, not so much.
That should read "on there" not "on their." Goddammit, I really should start proof reading things.
kicking and screaming was garbajosa. S&W was the far superior baumbach movie. you really haven't seen toy story, wade? give your inner child some love. oh, and michael clayton was unremarkable.
and seriously, the Truman Show?? Really?
Also I don't know how Terminator 2 isn't in at least the top 15. That movie is the benchmark for serious action movies.
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