My Favorite Movies

With its contemporary yet timeless emotional richness and wondrous scale, 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy is the reason I love movies. It is an endlessly captivating epic of impeccable craft and vitality, visually and audibly breathtaking with a magnificent score, cinematography and production design. Above all, it is a perfect match between a great story and a great storyteller. It is a monumental achievement, the pinnacle of modern cinema.

Along with the third installment, The Two Towers is the greatest fantasy epic ever made. It is darker and deeper than its predecessor and an equally literate, emotional interpretation of a great story with unparalleled scope.

Already a classic, and probably the greatest fantasy film ever made (after its sequels). It is the most ambitious, most breathtaking film since Gone With the Wind.

The production has a rare polish, and the story has contemporary complexity but an almost mythic scope. One could argue that the film has too much story, that it is either too long or too short, or that it is dark to the point of being a sadomasochistic pleasure. But the film's power to thrill, disturb, and move an audience is too much fun to be counted against it. This is a volatile superhero film in a class all its own, much less a comic book film than a crime epic; much less a product of trend than a modern classic.

How fitting that the most technically breathtaking film in recent years is a remake of King Kong, the original epic, eye-popping effects extravaganza adventure. This is a modern master's inspired retelling of a classic beauty and the beast fable, an appropriately ambitious and respectful valentine to all things cinema. Every frame glows with gorgeous detail and technical flourish that recalls the ambitious, grand style and showmanship of Hollywood's golden era. At once classic, modern, and timeless, the film actually transcends its own inspirations as a connector between the past, present, and future of cinema.

Anyone who tastefully values character and story over action should recognize the strong points of this movie as opposed to Vol. 1, making this the barely superior chapter. Both are fantastic, but neither is as good as the combined epic that the two films should be.

Most any movie buff who grew up in the 90s loves Tarantino. The people who hate this are the ones who do not understand it, because it is artistically (not intellectually) substantive as a reinvigorating homage. The film is organic, vital and beautiful, as sharp and light as a priceless katana.

Huge scope, microscopic introspection, and a beautiful examination of family and the human condition. Francis Ford Coppola and the incomparable Marlon Brando made the crown jewel of the greatest decade in film history.

Right up there with Jaws as one of Spielberg's best 'movie' movies, not for any human dynamic in the film, but because of what it achieved in its day. It audaciously met its grand ambitions in giving the audience the same sense of wide-eyed wonder as the characters in the story, forever changing the potential of the medium in much the same way King Kong and Gone With the Wind had done sixty years before.

The first true summer blockbuster, and one of the greatest creature features and thrillers ever made. It is powerful, dynamic, and unforgettable as a calculated attack on primal human fears. Even if it isn't quite as scary as it used to be, it's still a better film than most others in its genre before or since.

Possibly the most important movie of the 90s, next to Jurassic Park. Pulp Fiction revolutionized the crime genre and advanced new storytelling techniques for a new era of filmmaking. Its narrative and cinematic style are umatched, unless possibly by some of Tarantino's own work. This is destined to be the crown jewel of his exceptional career.

A personal favorite of mine, and Shyamalan's best. The screenplay is brilliant in its directness and simplicity, and all three lead performances compel the viewer to terror and heartbreak. It is the best horror film of the decade, and easily the most memorable.

The most mind-blowing film of the 1970s. It is not quite the best war epic I have ever seen, but it comes pretty close. In my mind, it solidifies Francis Ford Coppola's place in cinematic history at least as much as The Godfather did, and the same for Marlon Brando as an actor.

Probably my favorite horror film of all time because of Hitchcock and his characters. The creepy cinematography and Bernard Hermann's legendary score give the film an unforgettable atmosphere ranging from quiet fear to subdued panic to primal terror. I haven't seen the film in years, but I'd love revisit it sometime.

A refreshingly original and substantive achievement of visionary filmmaking and storytelling, and one of the best fantasy films ever made. It is 2006's greatest work of art in any medium.

A masterpiece of pop filmmaking with a rare emphasis on story over concept. The result is dramatically interesting and well-balanced between the mundane and the superheroic. It is the best superhero movie ever made and the quintessential summer blockbuster, the kind of cinematic miracle that comes from perfect synergy between a project and its cast and crew. There is substance of a different kind here, with unavoidable appeal.

I love a good classic, especially a monster flick. The years have made it quite dated, but as a vintage piece of 30s cinerama, this is one of the best. It is the first fantasy film ever made, and the first film to truly open people's eyes and suggest what the medium may some day be able to achieve; it has an old-fashioned ambition about it that inspires hope and love for the future of cinema.

Definitely one of the funniest movies ever made, full of wonderfully creative comedic effort.

Possibly 2004's best movie, and one of the most fine-tuned pieces of celluloid I've ever seen. The performances, gorgeous cinematography, and mellow score animate the screenplay like clockwork, and the whole film has a rare kind of passion and wisdom in its humor. Good to the last drop, it concludes with a perfect aftertaste.

The best comic book film of 2005 (along with Sin City) and one of the best ever as a solid and compelling vision of an iconic character. This is Batman done right, which says a lot for the screenplay, musical score, art direction, and actors.

The hype is true. See this film for its wonderful cast and direction, endearing story, pitch-perfect music, and dark emotional honesty. See it again because it gets better with each viewing.

Burton is best with his more personal work, and this film is clearly close to his heart. Though it has a feeling of lingering on a little too long, the film has a distinct, memorable personality akin to its main character and sports the best cast Burton has ever directed. Howard Shore's fantastic score elevates the film higher than a standard Efman score would have done, and Martin Landau's performance as Bela Lugosi is one of the greatest performances of a real person I have ever seen. It is an altogether strange and offbeat picture, but the talent is there in spades and its heart is in the right place.

A worthy telling of one of the best true stories in literary history. Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance is a transcendent portrait, but the power and subtleties of the amazing story are no less impressive. The dynamic external and internal conflicts of this film are wrenching and excitingly profound.

The consistently ingenious, focused direction of the Coen brothers is a perfect match for the plainly profound style and substance of Cormac McCarthy's novel. Their film is a modern classic, a thrilling reward for intelligent viewership and a thought-provoking parable of good and evil and fate. Perfected by a great ensemble, gorgeous cinematography, and a brilliant screenplay, this is one of the best films of the decade.

Like a live-action Dilbert feature, this film delivers its jokes as though waiting for a laugh, and luckily it usually earns one.

The quintessential comedic film: it's satirical, its screenplay is ingenius, it has cultural bearing (Brit humor!), and most of all, it's painfully amusing. As with the best comedies, it's difficult to discern which moments (and there are obviously many) were improvization.

I do not generally enjoy musicals (I get hung up on why they are singing all of a sudden), but as far as movie musicals go, Across the Universe is a joy to watch. Julie Taymor's inspired direction finds true meaning and emotion in the best songs of a bygone era, and her cast of phenomenal performers connects with the audience despite an occasionally spotty script. I say "spotty" because the story is flighty and unfocused, busy and all over the place. The film is a bit of a mishmash, an emotional roller coaster through the turmoil of the 1960s, but when the ingredients are this good, the product is ludicrous at its worst, magical at its best. If nothing else, the spirit of the film left me longing to go back in time and be a part of it all, and to see what The Beatles would say about the film. Or more interestingly, what they would have sung about today.

Seriously one of the greatest animated films ever conceived, largely due to the music and animation, which is really what animated films are all about.

In the pivotal action film of the twentieth century, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas combine some of their favorite elements of previous action films and shorts into a fine piece of action cinerama which, ironically, has gone on to inspire countless other action films since. Not to mention the undisputable charisma of the film and its hero who, literally and figuratively, is one for the ages.

I love Bill Murray, he's great in almost everything he does. This movie has a great premise that keeps its jokes close to the plot without overdoing it or missing any opportunities. It's a fun and good-natured film, an old-fashioned kind of fun we don't see anymore.