You Can Blame Tom

Okay, so I'm now compelled to chime in on this, and while I could have just taken up a TON of his comment space, it's annoying to not be able to write as much as I want, so I'm gonna do it here. Yeah, just moments after I promised something else tomorrow. Well, now you get this and that, good for you.

So, Tom the Dog decided to debate his most favorite directors the other day. That led to a discussion of his favorite films. I'd be hard pressed to list directors, hardly any one person where I genuinely like all of their work, or even most of it. Woody Allen has become a recent favorite, within the last, oh five years or so. Haven't explored much of his earlier work but I've enjoyed his last five or six films, most haven't. His latest, Match Point is an extreme departure from the norm, and a brilliant film all around, highly recommended. I like all of Wes Andersons films, and would rank one or two among my all time favs, but he's made only four movies, hardly a career. I like Spielberg, most of the time, but in the end so many films he makes wind up being so-so with only the acting shining through. Give it up for the man for bringing out the best in his talent, but that's not all a director is responsible for. Ridley Scott? I could make a case for him, but I've really seen only a fraction of his work, but enjoyed all of it I have seen. Same with Terry Gilliam. Tom loves Altman, not so big on him though, but I do love The Player.

No, I don't think I can rightfully take part in that discussion. But the one it lead to? I could talk about that all day. All friggin week if you let me.

Favorite films. I've talked about it before, I'll talk about it again. I'm gonna talk about it right now.

It's a wide topic, and so very hard to narrow the field. Do you try to include something from all your favorite genres? Do you pick films that you think are classics, no matter what anyone else thinks? Do you still include the goofy movies you love undyingly? How do you narrow the field so that in the end you only have fifty? Twenty-five? Ten? One? Almost impossible. Tom tries, and fails, almost anyone would.

I have well over 700 movies on DVD. I've whittled (sp?) that number down quite a bit to get there and I enjoyed every one of them when I watched them. Most of them wouldn't even be tempting to put on a top 100 list, but it's very, very hard to walk to those shelves and pick ten movies I would consider my all time favorites. So, lets rattle off a few that would inevitably make the longest Top Ten list ever.

Let's start at the top, shall we?

Rio Bravo, Shawshank Redemption, Casablanca, Star Wars, Life Aquatic, St. Elmo's Fire, Three Amigos, Breakfast at Tiffanys, The Lion King, O Brother, Donnie Darko, Jurassic Park, The Crow, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Burbs.

Those last three will probably feel tacked on. Hell some people may think a majority of it feels wrong in some way. I wouldn't blame you. Want me to add some more? (Tom, forgive me for stealing your schtick)

Beautiful Girls, Big Fish, As Good As It Gets, Toy Story, The Incredibles, The Royal Tennanbaums, Forrest Gump, Halloween, Ghostbusters, Starship Troopers.

I could go on forever, I swear.

The Breakfast Club, Bad Boys, Con Air, Armageddon, Swingers, Groundhog Day, The Hidden Fortress, Clerks, Oscar, Lilo & Stitch.

That's 35, I could probably do an even fifty without really thinking too much about it. I barely touched on Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

Empire Strikes Back, Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 had it been allowed to go as planned...Serenity, The Princess Bride, Clash of the Titans, Back to the Future.

Coming of age?

No better than Stand By Me and Igby Goes Down I think..

What about sports movies? One of my favorite types of film!

Major League, Rudy, For Love of the Game...

One more to round out the list....let's say The Mexican.

All films I loved. Yeah, it'd be easy to pare that down, real easy, but why bother? I'd be more apt to add to it, there's tons more I love and didn't name. Tons of classics I didn't name either, one particular GLARING omission in Citizen Kane, one of the greatest films ever made. I could give an argument for its omission, but I'm not, it's just not in there.

It's too hard to settle on a definitive list, even if most of those fliks wouldn't even be an after thought on it.





But if I had to. I mean ABSOLUTELY HAD to, well, here goes...


Rio Bravo, Shawshank Redemption, The Lion King, Casablanca, St. Elmo's Fire, Breakfast at Tiffanys, Three Amigos, Beautiful Girls, The Crow, Princess Bride.

Turns out I'm a sentimental old fool. Bed time, I think I may actually talk more about these ten fliks tomorrow.