photo by ToastyKen
I was excited to watch the Super Bowl this year. I received a new flat-screen TV for Christmas that replaced my crappy old-fashioned, weighs-more-than-a-small-truck TV. One of my favorite teams was playing—the 49ers, and Beyoncé was singing at half-time. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
Come kick-off time, I kicked the boys off the X-Box, sat down with my dieting snacks (string cheese, sugar snap peas, and a cup of coffee) and switched to TV mode, only to find out I didn’t get CBS. I get NBC, ABC, and FOX, but NO CBS! Since I don’t watch TV, I didn’t know this beforehand, and obviously I don’t subscribe to cable, so…yeah. I felt like crying.
Of course, my son and his friends did a loud cheer and immediately resumed their X-Box play. So there I sat, in front of my laptop, munching on low-fat string cheese, which I noted, has the exact consistency of a rubber bike tire. After a while, keeping track of the score online seemed even too pathetic and sad for me, so I decided to while away my time coming up with a list of 100 best movies of all time.
Now granted, this is a list of MY favorites, which is why Citizen Kane is NOT listed. It’s also comprised of only movies I’ve seen, which is why it’s severely lacking in any films from the last 10 years. Literally, the last ADULT film I’ve seen in a theater was Monster’s Ball, and I was pregnant at the time. Every other foray to the cinema since has been to see G-rated movies. Yes, I’m aware my growth has been stunted, as well as my social skills due to lack of dating, but I’m going to have one hellava catch-up list when I’m a senior citizen. I chose these films either because of the impression they made on me, the fact that I can see them over and over, or the powerful, moving, and/or funny performances given by the actor (s). So without further ado…
Here are my 100 BEST FILMS in alphabetical order
1. A Christmas Story
2. A Fish Called Wanda
3. A Room with a View
4. A Streetcar Named Desire
5. Adaptation
6. After Hours
7. As Good As It Gets
8. Back to the Future
9. Before Sunrise
10. Big
11. Body Heat
12. Braveheart
13. Casablanca
14. Casino
15. Castaway
16. Chocolat
17. Christmas Vacation
18. Cinema Paradiso
19. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
20. Crash
21. Dangerous Liaisons
22. Despicable Me
23. Die Hard
24. Dirty Dancing
25. Dog Day Afternoon
26. Elf
27. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
28. Flashdance
29. Forrest Gump
30. Four Weddings and a Funeral
31. Glengarry Glen Ross
32. Gone with the Wind
33. GoodFellas
34. Grease
35. Groundhog Day
36. Halloween
37. Harold and Maude
38. Hitch
39. Home Alone
40. Impromptu
41. It’s Complicated
42. Jaws
43. Jean de Florette
44. Kramer vs. Kramer
45. La Dolce Vita
46. La Femme Nikita
47. Like Water for Chocolate
48. Living Out Loud
49. Love Actually
50. Moonstruck
51. Murder by Death
52. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
53. Office Space
54. Pretty Woman
55. Pulp Fiction
56. Raging Bull
57. Raiders of the Lost Ark
58. Rebecca
59. Risky Business
60. Romeo and Juliet
61. Saving Private Ryan
62. Schindler’s List
63. Shrek
64. Sleepless in Seattle
65. Some Like it Hot
66. Something’s Gotta Give
67. Stand By Me
68. Terminator 2
69. Terms of Endearment
70. The African Queen
71. The Age of Innocence
72. The Blind Side
73. The Bridges of Madison County
74. The Exorcist
75. The Game
76. The Godfather
77. The Godfather 2
78. The Kids Are All Right
79. The Lover
80. The Misfits
81. The Player
82. The Remains of the Day
83. The Shawshank Redemption
84. The Shining
85. The Silence of the Lambs
86. The Terminator
87. The Usual Suspects
88. The Warriors
89. The Wizard of Oz
90. Titanic
91. Tootsie
92. Toy Story
93. Toy Story 2
94. Trading Places
95. Vertigo
96. Waiting
97. What Lies Beneath
98. When Harry Met Sally
99. Young Frankenstein
100. 9½ Weeks
WHEW! Does anyone have any to add of their own?
Wow. Total disappointment on not being able to watch the Superbowl! Who doesn’t get CBS? That’s soooo weird! I thought that was one of the basic channels everyone got!
I would be hard pressed to come up with 50 favorite movies, let alone 100! Good job! Here’s some of my favs, in no particular order:
1. Beaches
2. Serendipity
3. All the Underworld movies
4. Most of the Resident Evil movies, minus the 2nd one
5. Hocus Pocus
6. The Fox and the Hound
7. Beauty and the Beast
8. Pretty Woman
9. Van Helsing
10. Memento
11. 15 minutes
And that’s all I can come up with so early in the morning. I’m not a huge fan of sitting in front of the boob tube, whether it be in my living room, or in a giant room full of people with a large screen. I don’t watch too many movies and there aren’t many TV shows I have any interest in. Now books, I could probably list off books like it was my job.
I assumed I’d get CBS, too, which is why I didn’t check beforehand. With my old TV I got only PBS, sometimes Fox, and a few Spanish channels, so when I hooked up my new TV and all these channels showed up, I thought I had all the basic ones. (sob)
A few of yours I haven’t seen–like 15 minutes, Van Helsing, the Underworld movies…Loved Beauty and the Beast. Made me cry. Loved Beaches, too. That one really made me cry.
I don’t watch football but we still had the man cave thing going on here while hosting a party. My adult daughter came over and we sipped on Skinny Girl cocktails and gossiped. I DID watch the commercials and of course got to see Beyonce’s FANTASTIC halftime show! Loved your movie list–I’ve seen most of these but I would add 2 more–Edward Scissorhands and The Secret Garden. I still cry when I watch that one!
I had to watch the good and bad commercials, as well as Beyonce’s show the next day. How anticlimactic is that? Beyonce rocked it! I went to download some of her songs onto my Ipod and all the ones she sang during half-time are listed in the top 200. So obviously lots of people thought she rocked, too.
Edward Scissorhands was a great movie, but believe it or not, I’m not sure whether I’ve seen The Secret Garden. I know it’s a classic though.
If you rent Secret Garden, make sure it’s the one that came out in the mid 1990′s. Also–just wanted to let you know I tagged you and several other bloggers today in my new blog post. I hope you are up for the challenge, but if not, no worries. Hop over when you get a chance, check it out and let me know if you are interested!
Challenge is my middle name, Menomama! Along with procrastination. So it’s perfect…I can procrastinate by doing the challenge. Hurray!
Happy Birthday, have a great day!
Thanks! It feels good to be 31. Again.
We have got to get you back in the land of the living, how can you write with movies like these in your head. It would be like having sex with only Barry Manilow on your playlist.
Some films to inspire you to greater heights, The Devil in Miss Jones, Deep Throat, Debbie Does Dallas, Bound, The Dreamers, or Unfaithful.
A new list for a new year, if those don’t get the blood flowing or trigger than clammy butterflies in the stomach feeling that requires several shots of tequila to start the night you have a problem. Hope the treatment goes well.
First of all, I happen to like Barry Manilow–”Mandy” is one of my favorite songs, and second, can I get some porn suggestions in the new milennium? No offense, but I don’t need to see Girls Gone Wild down there, if you catch my drift. Unfaithful I’ve seen of course, but after the Frenchman punched Halle Berry’s ex in the nose recently, he turns me on less.
I really like your movie picks, although I’m having issues with Titanic being placed before Young Frankenstein and Vertigo. Other than that, its Great!!
That’s why I put them all in alphabetical order! I would never, ever try to choose my favorite movie of all time and then have to work my way down. My head would explode from even attempting it.