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100.)
The Naked Gun (1988)
Director: David Zucker
IMDB: 7.6
A perfect marriage of absurd slapstick, goofball antics, and of course baseball. Based off the TV show of the same name, The Naked Gun is Leslie Nielsen at his finest as Lt. Frank Drebin. Drebin must stop the assassination of Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Los Angeles. Also look for appearances by Reggie Jackson, Weird Al Yankovic, and though it doesn't age well, O.J. Simpson.
99.)
Up (2009)
Director: Pete Docter/Bob Peterson
IMDB: 8.2
I remember watching this in theaters and welling up during the montage at the beginning of the movie when the show Ellie and Carl together, and then she dies. Years later before losing his house, Carl rigs it with balloons and sets sail for Paradise Falls, an exoctic South American location that he and Ellie dreamed about visiting. He then learns he has a stow away in the house, named Russell, who is now forced to join him on this adventure. Also the line "Kevin is a girl", did not bode well for me.
98.)
District 9 (2009)
Director: Neill Blomkamp
IMDB: 7.9
Aliens called "Prawns" come to South Africa in the early 80's, but find their presence unwelcomed overtime and they are placed in a ghetto, District 9, away from the rest of society and exploited by humans. Wikus Van Der Merwe is in charge of evicting the Prawns when he is injured by a mysterious chemicals and must rely on two Prawns to help him and discover the truth. An excellent Sci-Fi film that was in the running for Best Picture along with Up.
97.)
Moneyball (2011)
Director: Bennett Miller
IMDB: 7.6
I had a rare opportunity to see an advanced screening of this movie and loved every bit of it. Admittedly this is also part of a small number of movies where I have read the book beforehand, so I was familiar with the source material. I wondered how they would make such a analytics driven book, but they found a great balance. My one issue with this movie is the casting choice for A's Manager Art Howe. While Philip Seymour Hoffman is a fine actor, he's is not who I imagine portraying Howe.
96.)
Watchmen (2009)
Director: Zack Snyder
IMDB: 7.6
I saw this in theaters and everything looked amazing on the big screen. It's all the dark goodness that comes from the DC Universe and Jackie Earle Haley does a stellar job as Rorschach. He reconnects with his former Superheroes after a colleague is thrown out a window. Set in the backdrop of an alternate 1985, it's a gritty film that had me excited for Zack Snyder's Superman and Batman takes, but ultimately those fell well short of this. I read the graphic novel after watching this and I was amazed at how it is nearly a panel for panel adaptation, which works for me.
95.)
Black Swan (2010)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
IMDB: 8.0
Natalie Portman picked up a Best Actress Oscar for her performance as a dancer who gets the lead role in "Swan Lake". However, competition from a new dancer (Mila Kunis) creates tension and Nina (Portman) slows slip into insanity as she delves deeper into the duality of the role. This is not the final entry for director Darren Aronofsky, and he nearly had three movies on this list, but The Wrestler didn't quite make the cut.
94.)
The Hunt (2012)
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
IMDB: 8.3
Not to be confused with the controversial recent release of the same title, this drama has no political agenda, just a series of unfortunate events for a teacher accused of doing the unthinkable to a young student. Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) tries to clear his name in this uncomfortable film that earned a Best Foreign Language Film (Denmark) Nomination. The ending of this movie stayed with me for days after.
93.)
Skyfall (2012)Director: Sam Mendes
IMDB: 7.7
I love James Bond films, even the cringier ones like You Only Live Twice where Sean Connery wears makeup to become a Japanese man. As the owner of all 24 films I know that there are people out there who hate Daniel Craig as Bond, but for me he's great and it helps that he has better stories to work with, Quantum of Solace aside. A former MI6 agent (Javier Bardem) wreaks havoc on London to exact revenge on M (Judi Dench) after leaving him to die. With MI6 compromised, M can only rely on Bond to stop the deadly Silva. Also, Adele turns in one of the better opening songs.
92.)
Psycho (1960)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
IMDB: 8.5
Hitchcock will make so many more appearances throughout this list and it may come as a shock for some to see this movie this low, but it really speaks more about how much the other movies had an impact on me personally. This movie changed the way people went to the theaters because as I can attest, most movies have a whole lot of nothing exposition in the first 20 minutes. Here the film starts with Janet Leigh as our main character. She steals some money needs to get away and settles at the isolated Bates Motel. Then comes the infamous shower scene and just like that anyone who walked in late has no idea what's going. One of the better endings also brings a close to this one. "We all go a little mad sometimes."
91.)
The Princes Bride (1987)
Director: Rob Reiner
IMDB: 8.1
"As you wish!" So many great lines from this exciting adventure. Who doesn't love a movie that has Andre the Giant? Seriously, so many great lines. A grandfather reads a story to his grandson, who's home sick in bed. Westly (Cary Elwes) goes through a series of adventures to reunite with his true love, Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright). Along the way he meets Fezzik the Giant (Andre...the Giant) and his companion Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) who help him the evil prince and the six-fingered man.
90.)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Director: Stephen Chbosky
IMDB: 8.0
One of my favorite books turned into one of my favorite movies. Author Stephen Chbosky got a chance to write and direct the movie as well and I think it works in his favor. There were parts from the book that I didn't quite register when reading it that came across clearer on screen. Charlie (Logan Lerman) is an introverted Freshman in high school who connects with two Seniors, Sam (Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller). They introduce him to a world of culture that leads to love and dives deep into the battles of mental illness.
89.)
Clue (1985)
Director: Jonathan Lynn
IMDB: 7.3
The funniest murder mystery there is (apologies to Knives Out). Tim Curry is brilliant as the butler Wadsworth, who welcomes six guests to a mansion where they are invited for dinner by a mystery host. First the host is murdered and then several more bodies pile up before the classic ending, well multiple endings. Fun fact, the host, Mr. Body, is played by Lee Ving, who was the lead singer of the 80's punk band Fear.
88.)
Field of Dreams (1989)
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
IMDB: 7.5
Ray Kinsella begins to hear a voice that tells him to make a baseball diamond in the middle of his corn field. Then he goes see writer Terence Mann in Boston (somewhere in the crowd at Fenway Park are Matt Damon and Ben Affleck). Finally he stops to pick up a ballplayer by the name of Moonlight Graham, who is now an old man. All these events come together to make one of the greatest baseball movies ever. I tried to read this book, but I was put off by W.P. Kinsella's writing style.
87.)
War Horse (2011)
Director: Steven Spielberg
IMDB: 7.2
Look there are lots of movies that I have made me cry on this list because I've become an emotional wreck in the last ten years. I was such a wreck after this movie, I tried to explain it someone and started crying again. A boy has his horse sold by his father during World War I to be in the calvary. He later enlists in the British Army and becomes injured, but by fate is reunited with his horse. Steven Spielberg why did you do this to me.
86.)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Director: Steven Spielberg
IMDB: 8.4
Archaeologist Indiana Jones is sent to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can use its power for evil. Snakes, planes, and giant boulders are all featured in this epic adventure. Harrison Ford is perfect in the role and it begs the question, which character is cooler, Jones or Han Solo? Also Spielberg makes back-to-back experiences and is far from the last as his six movies are tied for the most with Christopher Nolan (apologies to Brockmire).
85.)
Rope (1948)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
IMDB: 8.0
Two friends commit a murder and then invite various people from the victim's life over for a dinner party, while the body is tucked inside an old chest. One of the guests is their old school teacher (Jimmy Stewart) who becomes suspicious of their behavior. What's cool about this is how its seemingly shot in one shot, much like the acclaimed 1917. There's really only one or two spots where a door opens and shuts that there might be a cut. It's also quick and to the point at just 80 minutes.
84.)
The Town (2010)
Director: Ben Affleck
IMDB: 7.5
Very few movies meet my expectations when I get this excited from a trailer. I love heist movies and there's even a tinge of baseball thrown into this Boston crime movie. A stellar cast, headlined by director Ben Affleck, earned Jeremy Renner an Oscar nom for Best Supporting Actor. Jon Hamm is an F.B.I. agent hot on the trail of Affleck's gang of bank robbers.
83.)
The Killing (1956)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
IMDB: 8.0
If The Town features a series of elaborate heists that go mostly well, The Killing is what it's like when all that planning gets executed horribly wrong. Sterling Hayden is stellar a leader of the gang selected to knock off a race track. Film noir is one of my favorite genres and when you pair that with legendary director Stanley Kubrick, you get one of the most devastating endings to a film.
82.)
Unforgiven (1992)
Director: Clint Eastwood
IMDB: 8.2
Talk about a great cast, Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, and Morgan Freeman lead the way in this Best Picture winner. One of the last great westerns, Eastwood plays Bill Munny a former outlaw enlisted to help track down the men who leave a prostitute horribly disfigured. He enlists his old friend Ned Logan (Freeman), but they run into trouble with the town's sheriff (Hackman).
81.)
The Green Mile (1999)
Director: Frank Darabont
IMDB: 8.6
Tom Hanks delivers, but is outshined by his co-star Michael Clarke Duncan, who plays John Coffey, a man accused of murdering a child, but himself has a child like innocence. The cast is amazing, but one of the more notable character is the despicable Percy Wetmore, who Doug Hutchison portrays as one of the most unlikable man in film history. The guards discover that Coffey is more than meets the eye when he displays supernatural powers. It is based off a Stephen King novel, whose work director Frank Darabont is very familiar, having directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist.
80.)
The Untouchables (1987)
Director: Brian De Palma
IMDB: 7.9
One of my favorite scores in a movie, The Untouchables is about the story of Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) who is tasked to bring down notorious gangster, Al Capone (Robert De Niro). He assembles a small team that includes Jim Malone who is played by Sean Connery, in one of his finest performances. The stair sequence is a nod to the 1925 film Battleship Potemkin, which was made by the father of film editing, Sergei Eisenstein.
79.)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
IMDB: 8.3
A group of Allied forces engage in a plan to assassinate Hitler at a movie premier. This movie obviously works in an alternate timeline and is like no World War II movie I have ever seen. It also introduces Americans to the Christoph Waltz, who wins an Oscar for his portrayal of the Nazi Col. Hans Landa. I find Brad Pitt's character of Lt. Aldo Raine to be hysterical and I often imitate his Italian accent that is marred by his underlying Tennessee accent. I'm also now self-conscious about how I hold my fingers when I say the number three.
78.)
The Matrix (1999)
Director: Lily & Lana Wachowski
IMDB: 8.7
I can't think of an action movie that forever changed the rules on how things should look. A great movie to hit right before the new millenium as people were becoming more reliant on a world through their computer screen. What's real and what's not and who's in control and who's not, are debated throughout. It's also got some amazing gun battles, as well as a killer soundtrack.
77.)
Casino Royale (2006)
Director: Martin Campbell
IMDB: 8.0
After several dud Pierce Brosnan Bond films, they decided to change Bond and bring back Martin Campbell who revived the series with GoldenEye in 1995. As previously stated with Skyfall, I love Bond films and enjoy Daniel Craig's performance. Casino Royale got me excited for the franchise again and did what The Force Awakens did for Star Wars. It brought back all the notes you enjoyed from the original movies, while adding some new elements.
76.)
Alien (1979)
Director: Ridley Scott
IMDB: 8.4
My argument for why CGI is overrated often includes this film. Its $11 million budget was a seventh of what they made Alien: Resurrection for. While not all were household names, the cast is an outstanding mix of actors led by Sigourney Weaver as the badass Ripley. The infamous chest burst scene was so authentic because they didn't tell the actors, aside from John Hurt, what was going to happen. This plays more as a psychological thriller compared to Aliens and most of the other sequels where they are geared towards action. Alien 3 tries to capture some of the psychological elements, but David Fincher wasn't quite up to the task. The isolation of space and the fact that they are thousands of miles away from anyone makes their fight against this unknown creature all the more dire.
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