AFI's Top 100 Movies/Comparison

No matter what year you happen to have, or will, watch this movie in, it will draw you in completely. From the moment Kane mutters the word "Rosebud", to the very end, you'll want to start all over again from the beginning. Nothing overrated about this masterpiece.

I don't know there was just something about it...except for Butterfly McQueen. If the name doesn't say enough, her acting will, especially once your ears start bleeding.

A grand sweeping epic that can't be topped in shear awesomeness. Sure, there are better movies than this, but not many.

Complex love story done by Hitchcock that's just absolutely stunning. Made even better by a 2nd viewing, a sign of a masterpiece.

It's hard for me to write about Star Wars. I grew up on the original trilogy and have an obvious bias towards it. With that said, there's much more to this timeless film - it is a cultural icon of the '70s and all of cinema. Go try to find one person who has ever seen a movie and ask them if they have ever heard of Star Wars. You'll be hard-pressed to find someone that will say no. Between classic characters, a heartfelt and exciting story, and just plain awesomeness I can't understand why anyone would dislike these movies.

Lucas created a living, breathing universe. Dozens, maybe even hundreds, of projects and products have been split off and created even more amazing works (Knights of the Old Republic anyone?). Names and places get thrown at you left and right: Dantooine, Endor, Hyperspace, Yaven, etc. Bet you never heard of Yaven. It's mentioned like once but that's where the rebel base is.

More to be continued later...

Hitchcock is the master of suspense, but you can't help but laugh when the man is "falling" down the stairs. Gotta love the '60s!

1/3 comedy, 1/3 character study, 1/3 love story, this is an all-time classic. Simon and Garfunkel's music is classic/perfect and Dustin Hoffman is in the performance of his lifetime.

"You don't understand Orson, I'm a man!"
"Well, we can't all be perfect, can we?"

This is easily the best Vietnam war movie ever made and it's not even mainly focused on the war. It's more of a journey into the darkness of the human psyche and the soul, done very well I might add. Back in the time when Coppola made really compelling and important movies, this shines as one of his most important works. The whole cast is amazing, and you gotta love the appearance of an out-of-his-mind Dennis Hopper. Then again, does he really play any other type of character? Despite all the troubles of the production of the movie (nearly going bankrupt and an overly-fat Brando, to name a few), Coppola achieved his grand vision, despite how convoluted the Redux seems to be at times.

It's not as amazing as Part 1, but it sure as hell is amazing, with great performances by Pacino and Cazale. But what really makes the sequel hold up with me is the sequences with De Niro as a young Don Vito. They're brilliantly executed and show a beautiful and gritty 1920's where the mobs ruled in almost all impoverished areas. Fantastic.

It's ridiculous how amazing this movie is. Watching back some clips on Youtube, I notice the subtle things that just pop out at you without even realizing it. Woody Allen is a comic genius, and this is his masterpiece hands down.

The 2nd of the great Vietnam epics, Walken gives the performance of a lifetime and De Niro, Streep, and yes, even John Cazale, no matter how far he has a stick up his ass, give great performances as well.

Gets an "A" for Suicide is Painless, alone. An additional "A+" is added for the acoustic version sung by the black man. Classic.

Lots of singing and sex. And drugs. And Confederate flags. Good 'ol Nashville.

But apparently I must not have been in the right mood or "element"? I don't know, gotta watch this again.

Slap-stick comedy at it's best. Groucho Marx is amazing.

The King of B-movies and Spielberg's greatest achievement. It's no surprise that this was brought together by both Spielberg and George Lucas, two of the greatest director/writers ever. It doesn't hurt that Harrison Ford is perfect as Indiana Jones either.

Stunning, breathtaking, and very disturbing. Kubrick at his best. Like art, it just keeps getting better and better with each viewing.

This movie is so overrated! I can not, and will not, understand how anyone could love this film. But you can obviously tell from my 3 star rating that I did like the film at least somewhat and that is true. However, there are far too many flaws in the movie to be anything above what I've given it. And the biggest problem of all time in almost any movie (that has some people liking it, not you Monster Man, sorry) is the bitch of a woman, Jenny.

Jenny is a horribly constructed character. Throughout the movie your constantly thrown back and forth between hating her and sympathizing with her, and by the end of the movie you can't feel sad for her death. Maybe a little, but barely. I honestly do not know why Robert Zemeckis would make such careless decisions such as this (and I do love the man, he's made some great movies, especially Back to the Future). She's a whore, liar, drug user, and all around disgusting person. Do I think the actress who played her is at fault? No, not really. It's the fault of the screenwriter for creating such a useless person. My god. Anyways...

Tom Hanks, although maybe slightly overrated as an actor in general, gives a pretty decent performance as Mr. Gump himself. Yes, all his classic lines are tiring by now, and his portrayal of a mentally handicapped man is no where near as brilliant as Dustin Hoffman's performance in Rain Man, but he gets the job done. He provides some decent laughs, heartwarming moments with Bubba, and more. The man has clearly seen better days though (Big and Saving Private Ryan ring a bell).

One of the great performances in the movie I thought though, was by Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan Taylor. His career basically went down hill from here, but hey, at least he has this on his record. Throughout the movie he seems to almost play several stereotypes of Lieutenants or emotionally scarred war veterans, but beyond his initial skin lies a truly captivating performance that draws us into his character and why he acts the way he does.

Oh yeah and Haley Joel Osment's in this too. The robot child. It's clear he was always one, even at a young age. There's no way he's human.

I'll probably write a longer review, maybe later, but before I wrap up I have to mention the story, the plot, the inexcusable mess. I understand Zemeckis's purpose in having Gump live through the various decades of American history, but still, its too scattered and non-detailed that you really just don't care. Gump will fly through an event like his run across the United States, and several important events in history will be brushed over in about 5 to 10 minutes. It's pretty lame and should have been addressed by the director and the screenwriter, but hey, whatever. They made a whole bunch of money off the movie. Why do they care?

Pike Bishop: [talking about the railroad] There was a man named Harrigan. Used to have a way of doin' things. I made him change his ways. A hell of a lot of people, Dutch, just can't stand to be wrong.
Dutch Engstrom: Pride.
Pike Bishop: And they can't forget it... that pride... being wrong. Or learn by it
Dutch Engstrom: How 'bout us, Pike? You reckon we learned - bein' wrong, today?
Pike Bishop: I sure hope to God we did.

There are essentially three masterminds behind the Western genre: John Wayne, Sergio Leone, and Sam Peckinpah. All three of these men contributed greatly to the genre in one way or another. Wayne was the iconic figure for almost all Westerns until around the 1960's, giving the feel that Westerns were supposed to have, one of a more mythical approach. Leone created the Spaghetti western and to that extent, shaped Westerns for the next few decades. From there, other branches of the Western, like Dances With Wolves, started to appear in the 90's and to this day Westerns do not see the success they once have, but every once in a while a shining gem will appear. But in 1969, Peckinpah bravely came out with his new film that shattered the false fantasies that all of John Wayne films had in it, showing the true nature of the "Wild West".

The Wild Bunch released with a huge amount of controversy around it. The violence was unprecedented at the time in movies (boy did they have a surprise waiting for them in 2 years) and people like John Wayne discredited Peckinpah for breaking the myth of the Old West.

I SAVED MY REVIEW AND NOW ITS NOT HERE SO FUCK IT. The movie is great, not better than The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West, but still one of the best Westerns of all time that showed the world that the Old West was not so glorious. There was only chaos and destruction.

I hate Rednecks and the ending of this movie. Yep. This film starts to show its age, though Jack Nicholson steals the show half way through. Plus, Dennis Hopper is amazing and totally drugged out of his mind like always.

Need to see this again. Wasn't in the best of conditions.

A smart and tightly written script with a great cast. Fonda soars as the most reasonable of the 12 men in the jury.

UPDATE - After watching the original cut on a whim, all I have to say is...wow. Ford's VO is so obnoxious and stupid it ruins such a beautiful film. Thank God for the Final Cut.

The Sci-Fi genre is easily one of my favorite genres to watch. These movies usually offer one of two things: either a completely different world in which the director immerses the audience into full of wonder and excitement, or a futuristic look at the way our world is progressing and different possibilities of how certain aspects of society, if not all of mankind, could turn out to be. These type of social commentaries are always interesting to watch and give the audience an insight into the world of ethics. Blade Runner is one such movie.

Genius minds like Fritz Lang, George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick, and Ridley Scott have all contributed immensely to the Sci-Fi genre. Scott first made his impact with a little film called Alien. All throughout the 70's, many filmmakers were trying to bring back the classics that the 50's brought about like Forbidden Planet and The Time Machine, but attempts like Soylent Green and The Omega Man failed commercially and failed at what they were attempting to do. But at the end of the decade, Ridley Scott entered with his sublime masterpiece. How was he to top that after shaking the genre forever? With this of course.

From the get go however, Blade Runner was plagued with way too many production problems. Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott did not get along. Producers were pushing ideas on to the film that made no sense and dumbed the film down. Companies backed out of financing the movie. It seemed like a disaster. Scott did manage to salvage a great movie and managed to polarize critics, whether it was a masterpiece or just another sci-fi piece. And from there everyone knows the stories about the future releases of The Director's Cut and so on. Finally the Final Cut came out in 2007 and Scott's true vision fully realized. But enough about the history. Why is the movie brilliant?

The visuals from Blade Runner, much like 2001, hold up even to this day. They simply blew most people away and had a truly unique view of the future and how globalization will affect us all. The cinematographer knew what he was doing and the dark, surreal atmosphere is the stuff of brilliance.

Harrison Ford gives one of the best performances of his life here as the confused and torn Deckard. Without the stupid VO, he really shows that he has the acting chops to be a serious actor. All the supporting cast were great as well, especially Rutger Hauer who seems like he was born for this role.

The movie keeps up enough ambiguity to have viewers constantly questioning what is real and what is not. The obvious big moral issue is over genetic engineering, or cloning, and the religious and moral debates that ensue over the topic. It's definitely interesting to see these clones have some of the same feelings as real humans and how its unclear whether what our scientists are doing are moral or not. All these issues make Blade Runner as relevant as the day it came out, reinforcing its status as a classic.

I could go on all day about the magnificence of Blade Runner, but most of it has to be viewed for yourself. One of my closest friends watched this once and said it felt generic to him and he didn't see its significance. But I respect his opinion. You are either going to see Blade Runner as one of the best sci-fi movies ever or just another run-of-the-mill movie. If you find it as something special though, you will most likely have the same thought running through your mind: utterly mind-blowing.