My Favorite Movies

Definitely my favorite movie of all time. Watching it has a significant place in my childhood memory. It's more than a coming-of-age tale; it's a timeless, simple, and emotional masterpiece, and the most accurate portrayal of friendship I've ever seen in any piece of art.

Best war movie ever made...easily.

Changed movies forever. The perfect film for film nerds.

I dare you to find a better performance than this one by Adrien Brody.

Has everything you could ask for in a movie.

An underrated masterpiece.

Mindless action at its absolute best.

Awesome

in my top 10 of all time

As good as action movies get.

dang so far this list has some good ones

I know this is an odd choice to give 5 stars to. Yes, I am aware of the cheesy dialogue. Yes, I am aware of the bad acting. Yes, I am aware of the absurd concept...so mother effing what?

This movie fulfills every desire that lies within the life force I possess known as the inner nerd. The visual effects were way ahead of their time, and still hold their ground even though it was released a decade ago. It also has some of the most amazing action and battle sequences I have ever seen. It's fast, it's violent, it's exciting, it's sexy, it's weird, it's awesome! This is the epitome of a "B Movie" rising up to the challenge, and maximizing on everything that it aims for. This is what I call a cult classic. Nerds of the world unite and rejoice in the awesomeness that is Starship Troopers!!!

Lately, for whatever reason, it hasn't been that difficult to make Jared cry...and apparently, "Schindler's List" got the memo.

I just recently saw this movie from start to finish for the first time, and I must say that it is the most emotionally challenging movie I've ever seen. It literally shows the absolute worst of humanity, and then shows the absolute best. It displays, in harsh, documentary-style realism, the horrors of the holocaust and the utter disregard for human life that the genocide movement possessed. But after showing such brutality, the film then delivers one of the most inspirational stories in the history of the world...and the most amazing part is that it is all true.

Oskar Schindler, played beautifully by Liam Neeson, was a member of the Nazi party who was trying to profit off of the war effort, and hires Jews to work in a factory that he controls. Throughout the film, you see him evolving from a money-hungry Nazi to an empathetic leader, as he later tries to save as many Jews as he possibly can from going to the death camps. It's one of the most moving character transformations I have ever heard of. By the end of the war, Schindler saved nearly 1,200 Jews from death. Absolutely amazing.

Spielberg so perfectly portrays the "matter-of-fact" way that the Nazis killed the Jews. When he could easily go for the moving orchestrated music, he simply points the camera toward the horror, and lets his audience take it in as it happened. His goal was not to entertain us, or move us (although we ultimately do get deeply moved), Spielberg simply wanted to tell the story of these people as it really happened. Nothing else is needed.

That's why, I think, that he chose to present the picture in black-and-white. It wouldn't have been the same in color. The b&w presentation puts a window between the audience and the characters on the screen, enforcing the idea that this movie is not for us as viewers, but this is their story; the ones who were killed, the ones who survived, and Schindler who delivered them. We, the audience, are expected to observe and respect what we are seeing. That aspect ultimately makes "Schindler's List" much more than a movie...it's kind of in a category all on its own.

Spielberg, too, is in his own category. I'm pretty sure that if you completely ignored his two best films (which I think are Saving Private Ryan and Amistad, but you might disagree), he would still be the best director of all time...actually, I know that for a fact.

When Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" came out, comparisons were immediately made with that and "Schindler's List". My take on it is that, as a narrative, "The Pianist" is a better "movie" in that sense, and Adrien Brody's performance is one of the best of all time. But as far as importance and inspiration, "Schindler's List" beats out pretty much every other film.

There are some films that are good, and others that are great. But there is only a select few that I would consider to be life-changing. "Schindler's List" is one of those few.

Classic. Classic. Classic!

This film is absolutely beautiful in every way imaginable. You don't have to be Christian, Jewish, or religious at all to appreciate the epic scope, the breathtaking animation, and the inspiring music of what I call the best animated movie of all time. Even the voice-work is brilliant; they got some good freaking actors to provide the voices. Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, and Jeff Goldblum, among others all do a wonderful job at bringing this beloved story to life.

Visually, this is one of the most amazing films I've seen. Its colors, backgrounds, fluid motions, and seamless combination of traditional and computer animation all add up to a beauty of a movie that puts most, if not all fully 3-D animated movies to shame. If you're jaw doesn't drop on the floor when you see the scene where Moses parts the Red Sea, then either you're dead or you don't have a jaw.

It's nearly impossible to capture the epic scope of the story of Moses on film, let alone an animated movie, but The Prince of Egypt does it perfectly. The only other animated movie that encompassed such epic capacity was The Lion King, and I think The Prince of Egypt is even more successful at delivering the excitement and emotion of its incredible adventure.

Combine that with some of the most inspirational songs you'll ever hear, and you've got yourself an animated masterpiece. If you think that Disney has a monopoly on animated gems, think again. Dreamworks delivered this one in spades.

My favorite comedy of all time, and the best comedic performance I have seen. Dudley Moore was very good at what he did.

The quirkiest, most involving, funniest, most quotable crime movie I think I've ever seen. This remains the Coen brothers' masterpiece. The score, the camerawork, and those hilarious accents all make the atmosphere to this movie so penetrating. It creates the perfect balance between drama, suspense, and comedy. And Frances McDormand's performance is the best performance I've ever seen by an actress. Definitely a modern classic.

Now, I'm not an expert on western movies, nor do I pretend to be. I wish that I've seen them all, but I've honestly only seen four or five. With that said, even if I took a couple days off to watch all of the westerns that have ever been made, I doubt that any of them would be as awesome as Tombstone. It's hard to make points as to why this movie is so good...but let me just start with the most obvious one: Val Kilmer. His portrayal of the famous consumption-infected bad ass (excuse my language), Doc Holiday, is a real scene stealer. To put it simply, he's just too cool. There's really no other way to describe him. He's just awesome, and that's it. The signature scene in this flick is the long walk through town that ends with the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral, and it is done perfectly. It doesn't stylize it in any way, it's just a gritty, messy, and realistic bullet fest. What I also love about this movie is its depiction of brotherhood and how important it is to have the backs of your homies...or "posse" in this case. The rest of the cast does a great job, and the memorable one-liners in this flick are too many to count. It's just awesome, and really really makes me want to strap on some boots, put on a hat, travel back a hundred years and blast some cowboys. Freakin' good stuff.

Probably seen it 100 times, and it never gets old.

This movie is imaginative, powerful, and has a story that's so perfectly told, it's almost scary. Easily the best movie of 2006.