Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Top 100 Movies of All-Time (39-30)

     Into the top 40 now!  We are getting into the movies I have no problem saying I LOVE and could really watch over and over.
100-90
89-80
79-70
69-60
59-50
49-40
*Editer's note, for some reason the spacing on two parts of this post are all screwy and I have no idea as to how to fix them.  Not like they take away anything from the post itself, my OCD just makes me want to acknowledge it*


39 - Grave Encounters (2011)
 
Ever wonder what those douchey paranormal shows on the Travel Channel would be like if they were real?  Like, what if those bros with the kick-ass Affliction shirts and fauxhawks actually came across some really pissed off demons and ghosts?  Grave Encounters is for you.  This movie is of the Paranormal Activity mold where everything is filmed from a handheld camera and of the first person point-of-view.  If you know anything about my tastes in movies, you'll know that those types of movies are a guilty pleasure of mine.  This movie is entertaining simply because of the fact that I've always wanted something to happen to the idiots who go rummaging around haunted places all night and try to taunt spirits.  I gained a motivation to see this movie for one reason.  While watching a trailer for Paranormal Activity 3 on Youtube, one of the suggestions was a trailer for this movie with the creepiest looking thumbnail I've ever seen.  I wasn't disappointed, glad I saw it, may even buy it on DVD in the future.
  
*BONUS* - Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
 
Please, you didn't really think I'd leave out Paranormal Activity 3, did you?!  I saw this movie this past Saturday and of course I loved it.  I compiled my top 100 list around a week and a half ago so it was before I saw this movie, but I figured I'd at least include it.  38 is where I would rank it, but to be fair to American Psycho (number 100) I didn't want to call it that and fuck up all the numbers.  So here it is, simply a bonus entry, because I care for my readers...okay reader...hi mom...and I go above and beyond!  Paranormal Activity 3 acts as a prequel to the 2 predecessors before it and continues the standard set by the first two.  Family living in a nice house, enjoying life, then some strange occurrences begin happening.  They start filming it and shit goes down.  This movie tells the story of the main characters of the first two movies, Katie (Katie Featherston) & Kristi (Sprague Grayden) are two young sisters trying to cope with a big ol' demon who just wants to play.  It's suspenseful, sometimes funny, and full of twists.  A big thumbs up from this Paranormal Activity fanboy.

38 - Ratatouille (2007)
Pixar shows up again on the top 100 with Ratatouille.  The story of a little mouse named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) with an impeccable knack for food, as he has an advanced sense of taste of smell.  He sneaks into a restaurant in France and begins cooking, making an absolutely delicious soup that newly hired garbage boy, Alfredo Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano) gets credit for.  Alfredo befriends Remy, who in turn decides to help Alfredo after he is made a cook in the kitchen when his soup becomes a hit.  Linguini, who can't cook at all, utilizes Remy to help him further his career as a chef.  Now then, it's widely accepted & known that Pixar makes some seriously gorgeous looking movies.  I credit Up as the most beautiful movie they've ever made, but I'll say Ratatouille is impeccable in the fashion that it makes me REALLY HUNGRY.  The animations of all the cooking is impressive and I swear I can smell all the deliciousness being prepared.
37 - Get Him to the Greek (2010)
 
Get Him to the Greek was a classic example of a comedy that had me laughing from the beginning to end.  It serves as a spin-off of Forgetting Sarah Marshall where Russell Brand's character Aldous Snow was introduced as the sober rock-star.  Get Him to the Greek re-introduces us to Aldous Snow, no longer sober and coming off a massive flop album, in need of a resurrection for his career.  Insert Aaron Green (played by Jonah Hill) who has the job of getting Snow from England to the United States to play his big return show in the Greek Theatre, a task he finds extremely difficult bestowed upon him by his boss at Pinnacle Records, Sergio Roma (P. Diddy).  I went into this movie fully expecting to laugh my ass off at Jonah Hill & Russell Brand, two of my favorite actors, but I have to admit that P. Diddy did a fantastic job as Sergio, he was just as hilarious as the other two guys.  Color me impressed.

36 - Superbad (2007)
  
Superbad is an example of a comedy movie that every single person makes me laugh in the cast.  Jonah Hill as Seth, Michael Cera as Evan, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fogell, Bill Hader as officer Slater, Seth Rogen as officer Michaels, & Emma Stone as Jules are all hilarious.  Their chemistry as a cast as a whole is extremely evident in the finished product and a lot of the credit goes to director, Judd Apatow.  Superbad, like The Hangover was another comedy that became massively popular in theaters though I never bothered to see (although, unlike The Hangover I do recall seeing previews and being intrigued, just never went out of my way to see it) once I heard friends telling me how hilarious it was, I gave it a chance and wasn't disappointed.  It's a simple story of 2 best friends pining for the girls they're in love with and trying to cope with the fact that they're about to attend a major high school graduation party with them.  It's an underrated movie to me, in the fact that I own it, love it, but don't watch it often.  It'll always be there for me, a reliable movie to make me laugh no matter what.

35 - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
 
This, along with Orphan, are two of the biggest surprises for me.  I love this movie so much and I really didn't expect to.  I'm not a musically talented individual, I am awful at instruments and singing, so I don't have that connection to musicals that others do.  I went to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in theaters and was blown away.  It's a delightfully dark movie and the theme & colorization adds an impeccable element to the film not often seen.  It's a gloomy movie with some seriously vibrant blood (and there's plenty of it) Of course, the goth master himself, director Tim Burton is behind it all and he did a grand job of casting the movie as well.  Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd is masterful while his new found love interest, Mrs. Lovett (played by Helen Bonham Carter) makes her meat pies along with little Toby (Ed Sanders).  Sweeney is obsessed with getting revenge on the judge who tossed him in prison (Alan Rickman) and caused the death of his wife & took in his daughter, Johanna (Jayne Wisener).  I can sit down and watch this movie and sing along with all the songs, I love them so much, they're on my iPod.  Easily my favorite musical of all-time.

34 - Jackass Number Two (2006)




There aren't many top 100 movies lists that are going to have Jackass Number Two within the top 40, but then again, my top 100 movies list isn't exactly the most prototypical.  I got to see this movie in theaters as it was my first experience watching Knoxville & the boys perform ridiculous stunts on the big screen.  This isn't just a bunch of dudes doing stupid things and hurting themselves, this is just a bunch of friends yucking it up and having an awesome time together.  The brotherhood & camaraderie amongst these guys is enough to make anyone envious.  One special thing about this movie for me is the fact that not only is the movie itself hilarious, but also the cast commentary on DVD is equally as funny.  I watch this movie more often than not with commentary on, it's just fantastic.  I would definitely suggest checking it out, a lot of people pass up the commentary tracks on DVDs, but I don't.  I'm a DVD nerd who often times LOVES commentary tracks.

33 - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
 
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a movie that has grown on me immensely.  I saw it in theaters when it came out and I enjoyed it, probably a top 65 movie.  Then I watched it again on DVD, then again, and again...and I fell in love with this movie.  The story of Scott Pilgrim (played by Michael Cera) as he tries to win over Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) all the while trying to deal with his high school girlfriend Knives (Ellen Wong).  Scott is in a band with one of the best names ever, "Sex Bob-omb" with Kim the drummer (Alison Pill), Stephen the singer (Mark Webber), & their friend Young Neil (Johnny Simmons) Scott has to go through a series of battles in the movie against Ramona's exes in order to win her heart and prove himself.  The way the movie is presented is that of a video game, which is so unique and intriguing, I fell in love with this idea instantly.  It was and remains my favorite aspect of this movie.  The creators did such an awesome job incorporating the video game aspects and making it work in a way I don't think could in any other movie.

32 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010)

Here's a fun fact about good old Michael Ryne.  I am a complete and utter Harry Potter NUT.  I'm not obsessive about the franchise, but God damn do I sure enjoy the hell out of it.  It all began back in 6th grade when I needed to read a big book to earn some Accelerated Reader points for my class and I decided to read the first Harry Potter book.  I was amazed by how quickly I read it and how much I enjoyed it.  Since then I have read the books & seen the movies.  In my humble opinion, I think the Harry Potter franchise is nothing short of epic.  I mean, it has its own theme park for God's sake in Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure (an AMAZING theme park I have been to twice since its inception) This particular movie, the 7th of 8 movies, absolutely blew my mind when I saw it.  I have been attached to these characters since 2001, when the first movie was released.  It's mind-blowing and beautiful to see how much the characters have changed in the past decade, most notably Hermione getting progressively hotter and hotter.  I just recently saw the 2nd part of Deathly Hallows in July and I cannot wait to go out and buy the inevitable Harry Potter box set of all 8 movies.  The day I get to watch parts 1 & 2 of Deathly Hallows back to back is the day that I can die happy.

 31 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011)
This is where this list begins to change from my original favorite movies list.  In that list, the first Deathly Hallows movie was ranked in the top 15 while this 2nd one was not ranked at all.  What I've done now is put the 2nd one above the 1st one and dropped them back a bit.  It's very hard to separate these two movies considering how integral they are to each other.  I ultimately decided this was the better of the two simply because it was the epic climax of over a decade of stories & movies.  It all came down to this movie, this final battle between Harry & Voldemort.  They do a fantastic job of living up to the hype and finishing the series off with a bang.  The ending of this movie is probably what propelled it over the 1st one for me.  I adore the way they ended the series and don't think there could have been a better one.  Huge credit goes out to the book's author, J.K. Rowling for coming up with a brilliant way to end the most iconic franchise of our generation.

30 - The Last House on the Left (1972)
  
As per usual, we have a case of the original being much better than the remake.  The remake of The Last House on the Left sucks ass if you ask me, the original is phenomenal.  It's such an interesting mix of emotions, one minute you're laughing at the goofy cops who can't do anything right, next you're screaming in horror as a young teenage girl is being violated.  The advertising for this movie makes me jealous that I wasn't around in the 70s to take it all in.  A lot of movies nowadays don't utilize good marketing for their movies anymore, Wes Craven was a smart man and made sure this movie had some hype behind it.  On a lot of the posters promoting this movie the saying "To avoid fainting, keep repeating - it's only a movie..."  Utterly fantastic way of creating a hype around your movie and making people scared before they even sit down to watch the flick.  It's an intense one, that's for sure, as it centers around two girls, Mari & Phyllis (Sandra Cassel & Lucy Grantham) go to a concert.  They come across a family who kidnaps them and terrorizes them in horrendous and downright uncomfortable moments that will leave you feeling squeamish and unable to sit still.  I love that Wes Craven established himself with a bang early on with this movie and still continues to dominate the horror world, even now.

No comments:

Post a Comment