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My top 100 movies: #1: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (2 Viewers)

Yankee23Fan said:
Your list.  Wouldn't be on mine but I won't argue that it's one of the best of King's movies in my opinion.  Just a fun ride.
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It's okay and I liked it but Christine wouldn't crack my top 300.  I think Keith Gordon ruined it for me.  I was never a fan of the guy for some reason.  

I think there were a lot of better King movies:  Green Mile, Shawshank, Stand By Me, Misery, The Shining, The Dead Zone, 'Salems Lot and Carrie just to name a few.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
#17 - Return of the Jedi

I never really minded the Ewoks. They were plucky little creatures and served the story's purpose enough - don't underestimate the little guy!

As much as Lucas tried, he couldn't destroy my love for the original trilogy. I fooled him! I have the DVD copies that have the movies as they're supposed to be - The pre-doctored ones. The ones where Vader silently tosses the Emperor down the shaft, and there's not some stranger ghost standing with Yoda and Kenobi - it's old Anakin.

The effects were awesome then and they still amaze today.

Oh, and it was Like that brought balance to the Force. He showed that you don't have to be emotionally void to remain on the Light Side.

Trivia:

During the shot in which Salacius Crumb is chewing off C-3PO's eye, Anthony Daniels had a panic attack while in the C-3PO suit. While filming, he didn't actually say his lines (all his lines were dubbed in post-production), but repeated "Get me up. Get me up." over and over. This take is the take used in the final film.

The Emperor's chair was mechanized so that it could rotate however, the mechanism never worked properly, so Ian McDiarmid had to make it move by shuffling his feet.

According to Gary Kurtz, the original treatment ended with Luke Skywalker walking off alone and exhausted like the hero in a Spaghetti Western, going into seclusion by walking out into the Tatooine desert. George Lucas opted for a happier ending to encourage higher merchandise sales.
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Now we're heating up.  I'm still amazed when I watch the space battle during the climax what they were able to do in the early 80s.  They went from TIE Fighters in A New Hope that appeared to move at 5 miles and hour in out space, to a large amount of fighters going at break neck speed through space.  Quite the jump in pre computer generated animation days.

Ewoks never bothered me either.  I think Lucas' explanation of needing an alternative to his original idea of having the wookies play this role appeases me.  I like the play on the two creatures name for some reason.

I don't recall the change in the scene where Vader drops the Emperor down the shaft?  It's been a while since I've seen this one...well, the original anyway.

 
Godsbrother said:
It's okay and I liked it but Christine wouldn't crack my top 300.  I think Keith Gordon ruined it for me.  I was never a fan of the guy for some reason.  

I think there were a lot of better King movies:  Green Mile, Shawshank, Stand By Me, Misery, The Shining, The Dead Zone, 'Salems Lot and Carrie just to name a few.
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I can see some of those.

But Green Mile always seemed so, I dunno, desperate for attention to me.

I like Misery and Stand By Me.

Carrie is just too over the top for me.

I don't know that I've seen Dead Zone or Salem's Lot.

 
Bull Dozier said:
Now we're heating up.  I'm still amazed when I watch the space battle during the climax what they were able to do in the early 80s.  They went from TIE Fighters in A New Hope that appeared to move at 5 miles and hour in out space, to a large amount of fighters going at break neck speed through space.  Quite the jump in pre computer generated animation days.

Ewoks never bothered me either.  I think Lucas' explanation of needing an alternative to his original idea of having the wookies play this role appeases me.  I like the play on the two creatures name for some reason.

I don't recall the change in the scene where Vader drops the Emperor down the shaft?  It's been a while since I've seen this one...well, the original anyway.
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Vader says, "No...NnnnnoooooOOOO!" as he picks up the Emperor. Lucas thought he was being clever, "echoing" the last scene in Revenge of the Sith.

 
#15 - A Christmas Story

I actually saw this in the theater during its short run. The "show mommy how the piggy eats" scene got the biggest roar.

This is more than just a "Christmas Movie", IMO. It's about being a kid, having a dream, getting along with friends, facing down bullies (I think I have a problem :unsure: ), respecting your parents, but most of all...trusting your dad.

Ralphie tells 3 grownups (his mother, his teacher, Santa) he wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, and they all turn him down. However, the one person he never thought to ask (his father) is the one who gave him the gift.

I think my favorite part is the Chinese Restaurant. I think the only person who knows how the scene is supposed to go is McGavin. Dillon can barely contain herself laughing and hers and Billingsly's reaction to the duck's neck chopping shows genuine surprise. It's hilarious.

Trivia:

According to Billingsly, the nonsensical ramblings that Ralphie exclaims while beating up Scut Farkas were scripted, word for word.

Bob Clark's success with the teen-sex comedy Porky's (1981) allowed him the ability to make a movie he wanted to make. Without "Porky's" there would have been no "Christmas Story".

 
Andy Dufresne said:
#15 - A Christmas Story

I actually saw this in the theater during its short run. The "show mommy how the piggy eats" scene got the biggest roar.

This is more than just a "Christmas Movie", IMO. It's about being a kid, having a dream, getting along with friends, facing down bullies (I think I have a problem :unsure: ), respecting your parents, but most of all...trusting your dad.

Ralphie tells 3 grownups (his mother, his teacher, Santa) he wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, and they all turn him down. However, the one person he never thought to ask (his father) is the one who gave him the gift.

I think my favorite part is the Chinese Restaurant. I think the only person who knows how the scene is supposed to go is McGavin. Dillon can barely contain herself laughing and hers and Billingsly's reaction to the duck's neck chopping shows genuine surprise. It's hilarious.

Trivia:

According to Billingsly, the nonsensical ramblings that Ralphie exclaims while beating up Scut Farkas were scripted, word for word.

Bob Clark's success with the teen-sex comedy Porky's (1981) allowed him the ability to make a movie he wanted to make. Without "Porky's" there would have been no "Christmas Story".
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All time great.  I watch this every December (and no. not on cable.  I have a DVD).

 
Andy Dufresne said:
The next entry will be a "WTH?" one, I think.
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the NEXT entry? this, after putting ewoks into the top 20?

eta: yep. Christine is more of a wth entry than ewoks.

 
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Not a word about the creator/narrator of Christmas Story, Jean Shepherd?! He's the whole reason that pitch-perfect basket of nostalgia exists and is probably the person most responsible for my singular way of communicating.

My dad took a teaching job in Queens out of college (between wars and saving the fam farm he was in his 30s by then and wanted to get away from Vt AND mom's hysterical immigrant fam in Boston) in the late 50s. My baby sister got croop a lot, so there were many nights of steam and crying trying to get her squared away. In order to zone it out, i would put the brand new transistor radio my auntie gimme under my pillow and twirl the dial for rock & roll songs.

'T'was then i happened upon WOR and the distinctive, midwestern, calm but declarative voice of the master. Shep came on @ 10;45 every weeknight and pretty much just talked for an hour & a half. Spun a couple disks, read straight from books & newspapers sometimes, but mostly told stories. Imagine hearing about the whole world in the voice you know exclaiming the virtues of the Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle.

For the first year, it was harder than hell for a 5yo to stay up til 10:45, but there wasn't a night i didn't try. By the time i was a 2nd grader, though, i had it down. Boy, did i panic when we moved back to Boston and my 1st daytime attempt to tune in WOR was unsuccessful, but he was there @ night and his matter-of-fact magic filled my head for over a decade. Miss him still when i need to make fun and sense of the world.

 
#14a - Beauty and the Beast

#14b - The Little Mermaid

#14c - Aladdin

What a run for Disney!

The Little Mermaid, with it's fun songs and good villain rescued Disney animation from oblivion.

Beauty and the Beast also had the music and villain with even better animation. The computer animated ballroom sequence presaged the Pixar revolution to come - and was breathtaking on the big screen. I don't care that the timeline for the prince's curse makes no sense.

Aladdin is just plain fun. And not just because of Robin Williams. The carpet ride out of the Cave of Wonders is incredible.

Deciding to watch one of these is kind of like thinking "I'm hungry for Chinese food". I'm hungry for the type, but I don't always want to eat at the same restaurant. There are times when I feel like watching a Disney movie. More often than not, its one of these three.

Trivia:

BATB - 

Computer technology was considered for the rooftop fight and the forest chase, but the primitive state of the technology only allowed time to use it for the ballroom scene. Even for that scene, they had a fallback strategy: what they called the "Ice Capades" version, with just a spotlight on the two characters against a black background.

LM -

This was the last Disney animated feature to use hand-painted cels and analog camera and film work. 1,000 different colors were used on 1,100 backgrounds. Over one million drawings were done in total.

Al- 

To capture the movement of Aladdin's low-cut baggy pants, animator Glen Keane looked at videos of rap star M.C. Hammer.

 
wikkidpissah said:
Not a word about the creator/narrator of Christmas Story, Jean Shepherd?! He's the whole reason that pitch-perfect basket of nostalgia exists and is probably the person most responsible for my singular way of communicating.

My dad took a teaching job in Queens out of college (between wars and saving the fam farm he was in his 30s by then and wanted to get away from Vt AND mom's hysterical immigrant fam in Boston) in the late 50s. My baby sister got croop a lot, so there were many nights of steam and crying trying to get her squared away. In order to zone it out, i would put the brand new transistor radio my auntie gimme under my pillow and twirl the dial for rock & roll songs.

'T'was then i happened upon WOR and the distinctive, midwestern, calm but declarative voice of the master. Shep came on @ 10;45 every weeknight and pretty much just talked for an hour & a half. Spun a couple disks, read straight from books & newspapers sometimes, but mostly told stories. Imagine hearing about the whole world in the voice you know exclaiming the virtues of the Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle.

For the first year, it was harder than hell for a 5yo to stay up til 10:45, but there wasn't a night i didn't try. By the time i was a 2nd grader, though, i had it down. Boy, did i panic when we moved back to Boston and my 1st daytime attempt to tune in WOR was unsuccessful, but he was there @ night and his matter-of-fact magic filled my head for over a decade. Miss him still when i need to make fun and sense of the world.
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This is terrific. :thumbup:

 
wikkidpissah said:
Not a word about the creator/narrator of Christmas Story, Jean Shepherd?! He's the whole reason that pitch-perfect basket of nostalgia exists and is probably the person most responsible for my singular way of communicating.

My dad took a teaching job in Queens out of college (between wars and saving the fam farm he was in his 30s by then and wanted to get away from Vt AND mom's hysterical immigrant fam in Boston) in the late 50s. My baby sister got croop a lot, so there were many nights of steam and crying trying to get her squared away. In order to zone it out, i would put the brand new transistor radio my auntie gimme under my pillow and twirl the dial for rock & roll songs.

'T'was then i happened upon WOR and the distinctive, midwestern, calm but declarative voice of the master. Shep came on @ 10;45 every weeknight and pretty much just talked for an hour & a half. Spun a couple disks, read straight from books & newspapers sometimes, but mostly told stories. Imagine hearing about the whole world in the voice you know exclaiming the virtues of the Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle.

For the first year, it was harder than hell for a 5yo to stay up til 10:45, but there wasn't a night i didn't try. By the time i was a 2nd grader, though, i had it down. Boy, did i panic when we moved back to Boston and my 1st daytime attempt to tune in WOR was unsuccessful, but he was there @ night and his matter-of-fact magic filled my head for over a decade. Miss him still when i need to make fun and sense of the world.
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Shep worked in storytelling the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.

 
Charlie Steiner said:
Shep worked in storytelling the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.
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Tru dat. There was nothing that didn't get its due when Shep talked about it. Got my love of the music of words, combined sense of mistrust and hope and probably a thousand other things from him.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
#15 - A Christmas Story

I actually saw this in the theater during its short run. The "show mommy how the piggy eats" scene got the biggest roar.
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LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie.  I saw it in the theater multiple times with family and friends, and was shocked to find out years later it wasn't a big box office hit. 

on my first viewing, the biggest laugh in the house was the flagpole, with "show mommy how the piggy eats" right behind it.

There's a successful local chain of Chinese restaurants where I live that got their name from A Christmas Story.  On the establishing shot from the street for the Chinese restaurant in the movie, above the window is a sign for a bowling alley with the "w" burned out.  

So it reads "Bo ling".  Hence the chain is named "Bo Ling's".

i think after three decades of watching this movie every year at Christmas I've finally seen every background gag.  But it took a long time.  

"YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT!!!"

 
I guess it's probably well known at this point, but I always got a kick out of two of the cast: The neighbor, Swede, who the dad brags to about his major award while he's in the street, is played by the director, which makes seeing the face with the director of Porky's fill us ugly people with hope of getting to work with young nude women, and the man that tells Ralph where the end of the line to see Santa is Shep himself. 

 
Now I know that some of you put Flick up to this, but he has refused to say who. But those who did it know their blame, and I'm sure that the guilt you feel is far worse than any punishment you might receive. Now, don't you feel terrible? Don't you feel remorse for what you have done? Well, that's all I'm going to say about poor Flick.

Adults loved to say things like that but kids knew better. We knew darn well it was always better not to get caught.

 
rick6668 said:
Now I know that some of you put Flick up to this, but he has refused to say who. But those who did it know their blame, and I'm sure that the guilt you feel is far worse than any punishment you might receive. Now, don't you feel terrible? Don't you feel remorse for what you have done? Well, that's all I'm going to say about poor Flick.

Adults loved to say things like that but kids knew better. We knew darn well it was always better not to get caught.
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Calling back to wikkid's eloquent post earlier... as soon as I got to the second paragraph I immediately heard it in Jean Shepard's voice.  And it sounded wonderful.

 
KarmaPolice said:
Yeah, I could die a happy man if I never had to see another scene from A Christmas Story.  Really dislike that movie. 
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wtf?

I missed out on it originally and for a lot of years after, so missed the had-to-be-there love and wouldn't consider it for any of my best of lists- but really dislike? totally enjoy the thing, even if I don't have the quotes or feel compelled to watch it again.

 
13a - The Incredibles

13b - Finding Nemo

13c - Toy Story

13d - A Bug's Life/TS2/Monsters Inc.

Just like the animated Disney movies, sometimes I feel like watching a "Pixar" movie. They are like a genre of their own. And the run from TS1 through The Incredibles is unmatched by any other studio. They are ranked according to my favorite, but I love them all.

I don't know what to say about these except that they're amazing. Things haven't been the same since Cars.

Trivia:

Incredibles-

The unusual architecture in the film was based on a distinctive style of 1950s space-age futurism known as Googie, most often seen in coffee shops and bowling alleys of the era. Tiki architecture, another 1950s pop style and often considered a form of Googie, is also exemplified in many of the island sets.

Nemo -

Pixar developed a very realistic look of the surface water, but had to make it look more fake so people wouldn't think it was real footage of the ocean surface.

Toy Story -

The carpet in Sid's house has the same Hexagonal pattern as the carpet in the Overlook Hotel from The Shining.

A Bugs Life - 

In the bloopers shown at the end of the film, Princess Atta is shown cracking up during her scene with Hopper, ruining take after take until Hopper goes to his trailer in frustration. This is a spoof of Julia Louis-Dreyfus being known to do the same.

Toy Story 2 - 

When Al hangs up the phone with the Japanese investor, he says "Don't touch my mustache." This refers to an English mnemonic for the Japanese phrase meaning "You're welcome": "Dou itashima####e."

Monsters Inc. -

It normally took 11 to 12 hours to render a single frame of Sulley because of his 2.3 million individually animated hair strands (Total number of hairs: 2,320,413).

 
I did the President's list like 50 times better than tim did.  You are doing the movie list like a 100 times better than he is trying to do.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
Vader says, "No...NnnnnoooooOOOO!" as he picks up the Emperor. Lucas thought he was being clever, "echoing" the last scene in Revenge of the Sith.
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Between the special editions in the late 90s and the incremental edits throughout the early 2000s, I thought I had seen all of the changes to the original trilogy.  At one point I even saw the edits to the end of ROTJ with the celebrations on Naboo, Coruscant and Tatooine along with Hayden replacing Sebastian Shaw, but I did not recall seeing the the "Nooooo!" part in the Emperor's chamber...

...that is until last week when I watched the Xfinity On Demand version of ROTJ (was and still is free for now).  I audibly gasped at that edit, then started cracking up.  My daughter didn't get it since she had no prior experience with these movies.

Lucas' tinkering for the sake of tinkering was really strange.  I wonder if he thought about tinkering with the final space battle, converting everything to CGI, but would have faced death threats from the guys at ILM that did that sequence...still the best pre-CGI (and perhaps post-CGI) special effects ever done, IMO.

 
I refuse to accept that any changes to the original trilogy were made.  I shun those movies when they are on.  Which means I haven't watched them in a really long time.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
13a - The Incredibles

13b - Finding Nemo

13c - Toy Story

13d - A Bug's Life/TS2/Monsters Inc.

Just like the animated Disney movies, sometimes I feel like watching a "Pixar" movie. They are like a genre of their own. And the run from TS1 through The Incredibles is unmatched by any other studio. They are ranked according to my favorite, but I love them all.

I don't know what to say about these except that they're amazing. Things haven't been the same since Cars.

Trivia:

Incredibles-

The unusual architecture in the film was based on a distinctive style of 1950s space-age futurism known as Googie, most often seen in coffee shops and bowling alleys of the era. Tiki architecture, another 1950s pop style and often considered a form of Googie, is also exemplified in many of the island sets.

Nemo -

Pixar developed a very realistic look of the surface water, but had to make it look more fake so people wouldn't think it was real footage of the ocean surface.

Toy Story -

The carpet in Sid's house has the same Hexagonal pattern as the carpet in the Overlook Hotel from The Shining.

A Bugs Life - 

In the bloopers shown at the end of the film, Princess Atta is shown cracking up during her scene with Hopper, ruining take after take until Hopper goes to his trailer in frustration. This is a spoof of Julia Louis-Dreyfus being known to do the same.

Toy Story 2 - 

When Al hangs up the phone with the Japanese investor, he says "Don't touch my mustache." This refers to an English mnemonic for the Japanese phrase meaning "You're welcome": "Dou itashima####e."

Monsters Inc. -

It normally took 11 to 12 hours to render a single frame of Sulley because of his 2.3 million individually animated hair strands (Total number of hairs: 2,320,413).
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I don't like what you are doing here, pick one DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!

 
Tom Skerritt said:
You almost reeled me in with A Christmas Story and Christine.  :thumbup:

But those animated picks are abominable.  :yucky:
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Okay, now you can get lost.

To say that Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo aren't masterpieces of movie making is being contrarian just for the sake of it. 

 
El Floppo said:
wtf?

I missed out on it originally and for a lot of years after, so missed the had-to-be-there love and wouldn't consider it for any of my best of lists- but really dislike? totally enjoy the thing, even if I don't have the quotes or feel compelled to watch it again.
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Mix in not really thinking it was enjoyable/funny for starters with the fact that it's on so much, people quote it so much, etc..   To be fair, I have never liked too many Christmas movies in general, so there's that too, but this is one that is very hard to escape during the holidays. 

 
It's no secret here that I'm a bit of a Disney enthusiast and historian. I was with you bundling Mermaid/BeautyBeast/Aladdin for what that run meant for the studio's present and future.  But bundling almost half the Pixar catalog?  Now that's a chicken#### move.  Besides, we all know Incredibles and Nemo are a clear tier above those others.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
Okay, now you can get lost.

To say that Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo aren't masterpieces of movie making is being contrarian just for the sake of it. 
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A Bug's Life?!? Are you kidding? That movie is horrible. They rushed the production of that movie so fast, it's a piece of junk. The mere fact that you include it in your top 20, much less top 100, proves that your selections are not very good. And I'm not being contrarian. Some of the animated movies are good, but in my top 20? GTFOH!

 
Bruce Dickinson said:
It's no secret here that I'm a bit of a Disney enthusiast and historian. I was with you bundling Mermaid/BeautyBeast/Aladdin for what that run meant for the studio's present and future.  But bundling almost half the Pixar catalog?  Now that's a chicken#### move.  Besides, we all know Incredibles and Nemo are a clear tier above those others.
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I'll agree that Incredibles, Nemo, and Toy Story are the cream of the crop. But as I said before, the idea is that I'm more likely to be in the mood for a Pixar movie and then pick one of them than I am to be in the mood for a specific one. Hence the grouping.

 
Tom Skerritt said:
A Bug's Life?!? Are you kidding? That movie is horrible. They rushed the production of that movie so fast, it's a piece of junk. The mere fact that you include it in your top 20, much less top 100, proves that your selections are not very good. And I'm not being contrarian. Some of the animated movies are good, but in my top 20? GTFOH!
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So because you disagree with one of them you go ape? Mmmkay. 

ONE selection means the rest are no good? That's brilliant.

 
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Andy Dufresne said:
So because you disagree with one of them you go ape? Mmmkay. 

ONE selection means the rest are no good? That's brilliant.
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It's that you lose any credibility from that ONE selection... so yes. I'll give you the opportunity to redeem yourself with the remaining 12 picks, but I am less than optimistic.

 
I think it is poetic that you did the grouping thing for the Disney/Pixar stuff.

When you stay at a Disney hotel there is a Disney advertisement channel (there is actually 7 of them) that you can watch or have on as background noise.  One of them is the "7 Must Do's that You Must Do" or something like that.  Basically the 7 most important things you can do at Disney to have a great time.  I don't remember the list verbatim but it goes like this

7. Disney Water Parks (there are two of them)

6. Disney photo pass - where you take pictures at certain spots in the park.  There are about 7,000 of those spots.

5. Fine dining in one of Disney's 57 food locations.  Yup, 57.

4. Fireworks shows/parades at all the parks - basically grouping about 23 different things into this one.

3. Everest/Test Track.Mission Space/Soarin/Rockin Roller Coaster/Tower of Terror - basically the biggest thrill rides there.

2. The mountains - there are 3 of them, Space, Big Thunder and Splash - so 3 here.

1. World Showcase in EPCOT - there are 11 lands.

So, the Disney top 7 must do list has about 7,101 different things on it.  Top 7.  Lists over 7,000 things.

So, you basically mimicked Disney.  Good job.

 
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