Top Ten _____ [Movies]

One of my coronavirus/staying at home activities has been listening to podcasts and working on my collection of jigsaw puzzles. So, business as usual. Recently I listened to a podcast where the hosts talked about their ten favorite movies, which got me thinking about what my personal top ten movies would be. I’m not a film student or a movie connoisseur, which is my way of warning you that you may think I have terrible taste. In reverse order:

10) A River Runs Through It – This could be replaced with a few movies I’ll list at the end, but I’m going with this one because of the score and fly fishing.

9) Harry Potter – I actually didn’t read the books or watch the movies until at least high school, but because they came out as I was growing up, I feel like this is one that has to be on the list. It’s been awhile since I saw the movies, so I’ll probably just go with Sorcerer’s Stone or Prisoner of Azkaban. I’m also a fan of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but I will say it doesn’t stand up to Harry Potter. Great soundtracks in both though.

8) Mean Girls – This might be another generational thing. Like Harry Potter, it’s not objectively amazing (see – lamp Ginny, “HARRY DID YAH PUT YAH NAME IN DA GOBLET OF FIYAH?” Dumbledore asked calmly, Voldemort’s disintegration), but there are so many great iconic moments. My roommates one year made me watch it and there’s something about it that captures the strange and wonderful world of public school in that time – math class, the cafeteria, talent shows, the mall.

7) The Princess Bride – After some thought, I decided to go with The Princess Bride in the comedy genre. It’s funny and smart without trying to be too clever. I thought about a true parody/mockumentary and will list some below, but I couldn’t justify one over The Princess Bride.

6) The Sound of Music – There had to be a musical. The Sound of Music gets the spot because of the number of times I’ve seen it, the songs, and its classic appeal.

5) Guardians of the Galaxy – After eleven years and twenty-two movies, I figured I should put a Marvel movie on the list. The Avengers is the best representative of Marvel (and is my second choice Marvel movie), but I’m going with Guardians because 1) talking raccoon, 2) talking tree, and 3) easily the best soundtrack album. The characters are great, it’s funny, and it’s not a standard superhero origin movie.

4) Finding Nemo – My choice for an animated movie. I saw it in the theater and the animation was stunning on the big screen. Also the soundtrack is excellent.

3) Miracle – I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this movie. It’s the standard gym class before break/between units movie and is one of two DVDs I own (the other is season 4 of The Office – it was $2 at the library book shop). If you don’t know, it’s about the 1980 US Olympic men’s hockey team and how they beat the Soviet Union on their way to the gold medal. Besides being a great story, team captain Mike Eruzione was from Massachusetts and attended Boston University; former Cornell goalkeeper Ken Dryden was in the booth with Al Michaels for his “Do you believe in miracles?” call; the game was played in Lake Placid, NY, just a few hours from Cornell; and thanks to the Cornell pep band I’ve watched dozens of hockey games. I have a lot of connections to this movie, except actually being alive when the game was played.

2) Star Wars – I’m not counting this as one entry. Ewan McGregor notwithstanding, I don’t think you can say that any one of the prequel movies is the best Star Wars movie. Similarly, the sequel trilogy just doesn’t stand out as the best. Besides the gratuitous fanservice, I found basically every single side character more interesting than Rey (nothing against Daisy Ridley). Solo was a great backstory prequel (how Han got his name, met Chewie, and earned won obtained the Millennium Falcon? Yes, please.). Rouge One is arguably the most well-crafted movie in terms of characters, plot, and anticipation. I have a special spot for A New Hope because it’s the movie that started everything off and I still remember the first time I saw it. However, The Empire Strikes Back probably has the strongest case for best Star Wars movie. It’s got the original characters, a solid plot, and one of the greatest plot twists ever in Vader’s “I am your father” line.

1) Lord of the Rings – Tolkien considered LotR one book, so this I am counting as one entity. I haven’t watched the LotR movies in years, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better adaptation of a book. Even the parts that were left out or altered generally make sense (hello, hundred pages of Tom Bombadil).

Other contenders for my serious movie were Dead Poets Society, Wind River, and Manchester by the Sea. Besides The Princess Bride, I also considered Spaceballs and Best in Show, and briefly thought about Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure or The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In the movie-based-on-a-real-life-event category – The King’s Speech, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Spotlight, and Apollo 13, but none of them beat out Miracle for me. Ocean’s Eleven is my favorite heist movie and the only movie I considered for cinematic merit was 2001: A Space Odyssey, but there are too many other movies I enjoy more. I’ll discuss musicals and animated movies separately. So there’s my list. We’ve got an actually serious movie, magic/fantasy, a high school comedy, a not serious movie, a musical, action/superheroes, an animated movie, a sports drama, a sci-fi space opera, and an epic fantasy adventure. Leave your favorite movies in the comments, where you can also let me know how scandalized you were that I didn’t consider [insert movie here].