07/16/2008
by James Donnelly
185 views, 4 comments
Part Two of my multi-part series continues!!
Ok, so yestereve, we did the runners-up and then 95-51 on the list. Tonight, it’ll be a little more brief because we’ll be doing 50-26.
And here we… go!
50. TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.
Rick Chance is one of the great anti-heroes in cinema. To Hell with Gil Grissom. THIS is true Billy Petersen. And this film also has one of the most shocking climactic moments ever.
49. DANCES WITH WOLVES
A great frontier epic that I don’t think was intentional Oscar Bait, but Oscar took it anyway. The only truly great film Costner will ever direct, that’s for sure, and MAN I couldn’t wait for him to kill those Union bastards.
48. AMATEUR
The best, richest, funniest and most complex of Hal Hartley’s oeuvre. Martin Donovan rules.
47. AKIRA
I didn’t know how cool Anime could be until I saw this mindscrew of a masterpiece. Tetsuooooo!!!
46. BROADCAST NEWS
Possibly the best moments of the careers of all three of its stars. Well, maybe not William Hurt. And the greatest of James L. Brooks’ work. “140 were reported injured; at least 12 people dead… I wish I were one of them.”
45. LA VITA E BELLA (LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL)
Yes, Roberto Benigni is a little off-the-wall, but I applauded like a big freak at home when he won Best Actor and this amazing film won Best Foreign Film at the Oscars that year. Too bad the rest of his career since then has been pretty sucky, because this film was just… beautiful.
44. LETHAL WEAPON
Some may say 48 HRS., but this is the gold standard of the Buddy Cop genre.
43. BACK TO THE FUTURE
Let’s face facts: George McFly punching out Biff Tannen is one of the great moments of cinema. How big-budget comedy should be and often isn’t.
42. STATE OF GRACE
I’ve got two words for you: Gary Oldman. If this film had Andrew McCarthy in the Sean Penn role, Kim Catrall in the Robin Wright role and Ted Danson in the Ed Harris role… as long as Gary is Jackie Flannery, this is one great film. Also… final shootout: one of the best ever.
41. MIDNIGHT RUN
We already knew that Martin Brest could craft a action comedy, but with De Niro and Grodin at the wheel, with a hilariously evil Dennis Farina riding along? It’s a no brainer.
40. THE OCEAN’S TRILOGY (OCEAN’S ELEVEN, TWELVE and THIRTEEN)
Appearances 2 through 4 of Soderbergh. This really counts as one film, because I enjoyed the hell out of all of them. Screw the nay-sayers. Screw the “vanity project” morons. I don’t care if it is. It’s great cinematic fun, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
39. THE PRINCESS BRIDE
Again, with another eminently quotable film. “There’s a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a shame to damage yours.” Pure imaginative entertainment.
38. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
Wow. All I’ve got to say is… wow. Anytime I watch this film, my eyes just want to pop out of my head with how amazingly well-made this film is. Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh are two of the great ass-kickers of all time.
37. FINDING NEMO
I might have been a little hasty with the comment about BROADCAST NEWS, because this is probably the best thing Albert Brooks has been involved with. Ellen… she is truly the heart and soul of this wonderful film. Damn, do I love Pixar.
36. SPIDER-MAN 2
This was the greatest superhero film since the original SUPERMAN. It works on every level, and surprisingly, Kirsten Dunst isn’t that annoying.
35. GROSSE POINTE BLANK
One of the great romantic comedies ever. Smart, fresh, with great performances… it just kills. No pun intended. “I half-expected you to show up in a fennel wreath and paper pants.”
34. BOOGIE NIGHTS
P.T. Anderson’s real masterpiece. Sure, it’s derivative, but it’s also originally derivative. And the scene with Alfred Molina is one of the great scenes in modern cinema. “Rick Springfield! He’s a buddy of mine!”
33. LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
I couldn’t count this one like I counted the OCEAN’S films because I really don’t care for the third film, but this film just kicks an inordinate amount of ass. The Battle at Helm’s Deep? It rocks my world.
32. A FISH CALLED WANDA
I honestly don’t know what to say about this film that already hasn’t been said. It’s just lightning in a bottle. They tried to catch it twice with FIERCE CREATURES… and failed miserably. I miss Kevin Kline being this great.
31. STAND BY ME
Other than BREAKING AWAY, this is the ultimate coming-of-age film. And who’d have thought that the only kid in this film with a career still is the fat kid? And let’s hear it for Kiefer.
30. GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
The heavyweight champion of male actor ensemble films. Every actor involved in this film should have gotten an Oscar. Even the bartender. And it’s just a joy to hear Jack Lemmon say some of the most extreme obscenities again and again.
29. EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN
This film needs to be summed up in only one word. Let’s all say it together… “Groovy.”
28. THE TERMINATOR
Again, another film series I couldn’t do as a trilogy since part three is lameish. But this was certainly set the standard for totally dystopian future epics. Cameron sure had it. Don’t know what happened to it, though.
27. PULP FICTION
A brilliant throwback to some of the great noir tales, and it proved not only that everything old is new again, but that QT is not a flash-in-the-pan. John Travolta is, though.
26. THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
Prior to Daniel Craig, Timothy Dalton WAS Ian Fleming’s James Bond. The best of the Bond films. You may disagree, but I don’t really care. The action sequences are great, the story is great, the performances are great.
And ok… tomorrow comes 25-11 of the Top 95. These are still not going to be ranked, but these top 25 films will be closer to my favorites than those that have come before. The day after will have The Top 10! But beginning soon, we’ll go to the Absolute Top 5 of the Last 25 years.
Stay tuned, and strike back in the comments! I want to hear what you think! Am I insane? Am I right (not that I need your validation, because I know I’m right)? TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS!
Posted by Christopher Valin on 07/16/2008, 10:40 AM
Another good list with very few disagreements from me. I also thought Dalton was closest to Ian Fleming’s Bond, although I still liked Connery better (I can’t even watch the Moore films any more—he just is NOT Bond to me).
I did my own top 20 list on my blog site and you have a lot of the same flicks.
Posted by Stefan Halley on 07/16/2008, 02:22 PM
To Live and Die in L.A. sure it’s a good film but not this high in the list. That’s just crazy. The Living Daylights it the best of the two Dalton films but it’s not #25. I honestly don’t see how you can justify that one. You’ve got half a dozen films on this part of your list that 100 times better. There is no way that The Living Daylights is better than Pulp Fiction, Evil Dead II, A Fish Called Wanda or Glengarry Glen Ross.
Posted by James Donnelly on 07/16/2008, 02:36 PM
Darn it, Stefan! How many times I gotta tell ya? This list is not a countdown per se. It’s just films that I have numbered for the sake of numbering them. You’re absolutely right. I don’t think that THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS is better than any of those other films… it’s just numbered higher because that’s how I kept track of what I had. I would take me a REALLY long time (like years) to rank all of these films with one being better than the other.
Now, with tonight’s list, that’s starting my top 25, which are better than the previous 70 listed here, and then when I get to the Very Top Five, those will actually be ranked, because in the last 25 years, those will be the films I am 100% sure are in the correct order.
Posted by Stefan Halley on 07/16/2008, 02:40 PM
Wha? You mean I’ve made an ass of myself yet again? Really enjoy this list. Lots of good movies I’ve never seen on a list before.