17. Star Wars (Trilogy) (1977-1983)
Okay, so these are probably the most written-about movies in the history of cinema. But they do deserve the bulk of the attention they get. They are just plain fun film-making. From start to finish, there’s always something new, some new world or species waiting to grab your attention. Absolutely everything is original – think about it: there are very few movies out there that do not take place on Earth or involve people from Earth.
Why not rate this one higher? Mark Hamill = lousy, whiny actor (at least in Episode IV). And Return of the Jedi? Too much Ewok.
16. Shine (1996)
Flashbacks were never so artistically put to celluloid. The story of pianist David Helfgott is at times touching, suspenseful, humorous; but at all times intriguing. Follow closely, the story fabulously uses mostly visuals to tell itself. The scene of Helfgott (almost) performing the Rach 3 is one of the best ever! And Mr. Rush does a top-notch job of portraying the pianist.
Why not rate this one higher? Some scenes are just plain awkward. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to laugh or feel pity. Weird stuff.
15. Super Size Me! (2004)
Here’s the highest-ranked documentary on my list. Director Morgan Spurlock takes his cues from Michael Moore by placing himself in the action and spicing up an important topic with loads of humor. Spurlock one-ups Moore, though, by not allowing his own agenda to overshadow the big issues. This film was informative, funny, moving and relevant. I haven’t eaten at McDonald’s since then.
Why not rate this one higher? The beginning of Spurlock’s 30-day experiment gets off to a slooow start. And though the segment about public school lunches was captivating, I didn’t see how it supported the main theme.
You haven’t had many comments lately, but I am sure there are lots of people reading and wondering which film will be number 1! How did you do this? have you taken notes from all these movies as you have viewed them, or do you have a fantastic memory?
Good question.
I wrote a little about this back on Feb 19 (click on the month to the right).
I don’t take notes from every movie, but I do add every movie I see to a very long list that I’ve been keeping for about 18 years now. Every movie is assigned a number from 0 to 10, with 10 being the best. So, when I add a movie, I already have some idea of the rating it deserves. If I see a movie I don’t really like, for example, I may feel it deserves to be rated a ‘3’. So then I can sort my list by rankings and see if I feel it was better or worse than the other 3’s. If I feel it was slightly better, I’ll give it a 4.
I hardly ever give a movie a zero, because if a movie is that bad I probably didn’t finish watching it, in which case I don’t feel it’s fair to add it to my list. And I hardly ever give a movie a 10, too.
The rankings can change, too. I used to have “Dead Poet’s Society” ranked as a 9, but after viewing it a second time, I knocked it down to a 7. Probably the biggest jump was “Amadeus”, which I had ranked as a 3, but a subsequent viewing made me change my mind – I now have it ranked as a 10 (so, yes, I will post about it soon).