This portion of
the list contains a few movies that some will wonder why they are on
a “Top 101” list. To this, I say: It's my list.
71. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory
The opening is a
little slow but once this movie gets to the factory, it's fun,
whimsical and just a little creepy. Gene Wilder steals the show with his benevolently deranged portrayal of the world's greatest
chocolatier.
I remember seeing
this movie at the great Paramount Theater in Abilene and being
scared-to-death of the boat ride. And how come the river doesn't
appear to be chocolate at the other end?
72. Edward Scissorhands
Director Tim
Burton has made a lot of movies, some better than others, and I have
always loved this particular film. Wild colors, bizarre sets, and a
perfectly-strange performance from Johnny Depp. Oh, and did I mention
the flawless score from former Oingo-Boingo frontman Danny Elfman?
“Cookie Factory” is evocative of the scene it's attached to, and “Ice Dance” is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music.
I had to do some
talking to get my wife to see this one when it first came out, but
she was pleasantly surprised and will even watch it occasionally with
me on DVD.
73. Dances with Wolves
I liked this movie
better when it first came out. I still like it, but ever since I went
to a museum on the Crow Creek Sioux reservation where I felt blamed
for everything wrong in the Dakotas, some of the luster has worn off.
The music is beautiful and Wind In His Hair will always be one of
film's best characters (for all the awards this movie won, the fact
that Rodney A. Grant wasn't awarded still bugs me).
The truth is,
there probably were louts in the US Army—then and now—but I've
come to object to the idea that the majority are/were that way.
74. The Final Countdown
The modern
aircraft carrier Nimitz gets caught in some kind of storm that sends
it back to December 6, 1941. Aboard is enough tech, armaments and
savvy to destroy the Japanese attack force. Kirk Douglas, commander
of the Nimitz, has to decide whether to obey his oath to protect the
U.S., when to do so will change history. Martin Sheen plays a
historian who isn't sure why he was invited on this cruise to begin
with, but has a better idea than anyone else on board what the
ramifications of their actions could be.
This is a guy's
movie: battle, blood, and Katherine Ross in short white shorts.
75. The Fugitive
My favorite actor
is easily Jimmy Stewart, but Harrison Ford shows up in 8 of the
movies on this list (could have been 9, but I just don't care for
Temple of Doom). In this one, Ford plays a skilled surgeon with a
beard who, when falsely accused of killing his wife, shaves and
becomes … Harrison Ford! From there, it's a cat and mouse game
times two as Ford chases the man who killed his wife, and Tommy Lee
Jones chases Ford.
It's been said
that Tommy thought this movie was a career killer, right up until he
won an Academy Award for his part in it.
76. Tron
Go back and watch
this movie and at least two things will strike you: the prescient way
it pictured and predicted the ubiquitous rise of computers, and just
how '80s it is. To some people, it looks like camp, but it was
actually the heigth of technology for it's day. It wasn't the
success Disney had hoped it would be though, but it's legend and
popularity grew as people began to realize just how spot-on it was.
What the heck were
the grid bugs in the movie for, though?
77. Tron: Legacy
I prefer the
soundtrack on this one to it's predecessor, and the special effects
are better, but the story is just one notch below the original, IMHO.
That and the actual character of “Tron” barely appears in the
movie.
There was talk
that, if this one had done better, they were going to turn around and
make a part 3 within a couple years. As much as I like both Tron
movies, I'm kind of glad that didn't happen. What I would
like to see happen is for a part 3 to be made about thirty years
after Legacy, just as it came 30 after the original. What will
computers be like then, and how might another generation of Tron be
called to fight?
78. Eight Men Out
The story of the
eight Chicago White Sox, including the great Shoeless Joe Jackson,
who were banned from baseball for life for throwing the 1919 World
Series. A tightly woven movie, with a bunch of young actors who would
go on to be big stars (like John Cusack, Charlie Sheen and Nancy
Travis), this movie is like a punch in the gut with a baseball
bat.You'll want to see it twice just to try and catch up with
everything that's going on.
I got a free DVD
of this movie a couple years ago for—I'm not kidding—sending in 5
proof of purchase seals from cereal boxes.
79. Ghostbusters II
Maybe it's not as
good as the original, but it's still a fun movie. And it has almost
as many quotable lines as the first one, but maybe that's the
problem: some of them feel like they were written to be quotable
rather than something that just came organically from the writing
sessions or even ad-libbed while performing.
“Don't
tell me, let me guess: all you can eat rib night at the Sizzler?”
80. The Hunt for Red October
After
all his years of fighting Ruskies as James Bond, Sean Connery becomes
one and commands an undetectable submarine. Realizing it could either
end the Cold War or start World War 3, he decides the only course is
to turn the sub over to the west. A great sub chase ensues, evocative
of “Run Silent, Run Deep”, “Wrath of Kahn” and every other
good submarine movie.
Some good ones on that part of the list that might make my top 100. Exception would be Edward Scissorhands...I can't stand Johnny Dep,and that movie was just too weird.
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