100 Film Favorites – #63: “Wreck-It Ralph” (Rich Moore, 2012) This is the most recent film selected for the list, but it definitely belongs here. I’m going to make a somewhat controversial claim now, so excitable nerds get ready. I hereby declare Wreck-It Ralph the best “video game movie” ever made (though honorable mention is…
100 Film Favorites – #64: Galaxy Quest (Dean Parisot, 1999) Buzz Lightyear, Ellen Ripley, and Severus Snape crew a spaceship. That’s really all I should have to say to convince you to watch today’s selection. I first saw Galaxy Quest on the last day of Civics class in 8th grade. Well, I saw the first…
100 Film Favorites – #65: We’re Back!: A Dinosaur’s Story (Phil Nibbelink & Simon Wells, 1993) In 1993, Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment produced two dinosaur movies. One was an epic in which dinosaurs are reintroduced to the modern world, and terrifying action sequences alternate with tender moments of survival and enduring humanity. The other was…
100 Film Favorites – #66: The Adventures of Milo and Otis (Masanori Hata, 1989) Sometimes foreign films will be re-packaged for release in America, and get rather sneakily passed off as something more “home-grown.” This is a particularly frequent occurrence in entertainment media aimed at children. Films I remember from my childhood which were less…
100 Film Favorites – #67: The Road to El Dorado (Eric “Bibo” Bergeron & Will Finn, 2000) Sometimes Disney and Dreamworks release films with very similar subject matter at roughly the same time, and you have to wonder what’s up. A Bug’s Life and Antz. Finding Nemo and Fish Tale. Madagascar and The Wild. And…
100 Film Favorites – #68: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Gary Tousdale & Kirk Wise, 2001) Lots of colons in titles these last few days. Atlantis: The Lost Empire is one of the less-remembered entries in the Disney animated features canon from the last few decades. It may not be as obscure as The Black Cauldron,…
100 Film Favorites – #69: X-Men: First Class (Matthew Vaughn, 2011) Sometimes the conditions under which you experience a film for the first time can greatly influence your opinion of that film. I first watched this movie while eating complimentary barbecue chicken, so I like it a lot. It was the summer of 2011, and…
100 Film Favorites – #70: Bean: The Movie (Mel Smith, 1997) 30 entries down!
100 Film Favorites – #71: Jumanji (Joe Johnston, 1995) “A game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind.” The unstoppable ball of improvisational energy that is Robin Williams returns to our Countdown in Jumanji. Freely adapted from the short picture book by Chris Van Allsburg (author of The Polar…
100 Film Favorites – #72: Death at a Funeral (Frank Oz, 2007) Frank Oz: One of the first Muppeteers. The man who brought to life Grover, Cookie Monster, Bert and Yoda. And also the director of some pretty good movies. Death at a Funeral (the British original) is a farcical black comedy set at the…