100 Film Favorites – #14: Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994) “Cut! That was PERFECT!” Double Burton, all the way across the sky. What does this mean? While Zemeckis and Spielberg have more entries scattered throughout the Countdown, Tim Burton might have the highest concentration of list-makers this close to the end (there’s another still to…
100 Film Favorites – #15: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1985) “I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel. You don’t wanna get mixed up with a guy like me.” Ah, the directorial debut. To be sure, some directors gradually climb the studio ladder, and their freshman efforts in the director’s chair may not be particularly impressive…
100 Film Favorites – #16: Merlin (1998, Steve Barron) Warning: Exposing a child to the fantasy genre at a young age may result in the creation of a geek. Today, we’re starting off with a history lesson, to provide a bit of context for this selection.
100 Film Favorites – #17: Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter, 1999) “When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful. Every hour we spent together lives within my heart.” And so we come to the highest-ranking (fully) animated film of the Countdown. Let me be clear: I love animation, and could talk at length about many animated…
Rating: 3.25 stars (out of 4) I’m not sure another movie has produced a bigger disconnect between its teased images and final product than Spring Breakers. The advance buzz promised…well, let’s not sugarcoat this—a T&A film with a bunch of attractive, heretofore-innocent girls going sexy, plus James Franco as a BAMF gangster. And it’s not…
100 Film Favorites – #18: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009) “This just might be my masterpiece.” We’re now getting into movies where it’s almost hard for me to say anything about each selection beyond “OMG guys this movie is great.” I’ll keep trying, but I make no promises past #15. Inglourious Basterds is a war…
100 Film Favorites – #19: Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994) “I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze…but I think maybe it’s both.” I just realized that Robert Zemeckis has a really good track record on this Countdown. I may have to do…
100 Film Favorites – #20: The Court Jester (Melvin Frank & Norman Panama, 1956) “Get it?” “Got it.” “Good.” We’re down to the Top 20! Throughout this Countdown, I have generally tried to avoid assigning selections the distinction of “best ____ ever made.” Determining which films are “the greatest of all time” is a highly…
100 Film Favorites – #22: Back to the Future Part II (Robert Zemeckis, 1989) “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” Those words, spoken by all-time great “mad scientist” character “Doc” Emmet Brown, end 1985’s Back to the Future on a cliff-hanger. After Marty McFly’s time-trip to 1955 in the first film proved a…
100 Film Favorites – #23: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) Today’s entry is another family musical from the team of Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, the same pair that scored 1967’s Doctor Dolittle. Adapted from Roald Dahl’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the film tells the story of Charlie Bucket,…