So the first format would have taken too long so let's do something different - the top AFI movies that i actually liked. In previous posts, i said i had a semi-epic TV on DVD collection, well i also have Blu-Rays of some of the top 100 AFI Films and the anniversary list (34 or so). Now i might spoil them for you...
What are the movies that i more than tolerated? Outside the top 10 (1,2,3,6,10)
11) Sunset Boulevard
An old washed-up actress gets into a relationship with a screenwriter. It doesn't end well as she kills him, leaving him floating face down in a pool. "Mr. Demile, i'm ready for my close-up"
14) Some Like it Hot
In the old days, a man dressing up as a woman was seen as a joke. Two musicians witness a mob hit, so they flee dressed up as women with an all-girl band. One of them falls for one of the girls, another one gets hit on. Hilarity ensues. Marilyn Monroe in this... dang.
15) Star Wars
Empire was better, but the start of the Skywalker saga. There would be two sequels and that is all, no horrible sequel or prequel trilogies exist. If you don't know what this is i don't know what to tell you.
16) Psycho
Once you see it a few times, it loses a lot of impact. In general, Hitchcock movies are slow burn, with too much set-up. Momma's boy Norman Bates killed his mother and developed a split personality who kills women he's attracted to. Starts slow, then you get the infamous shower scene. Then it gets slow again until the reveal on psycho Norman dressed like his mother.
23) The Maltese Falcon
Private detective Sam Spade takes on a case in this film Noir chasing a very expensive statuette of a Maltese Falcon, the stuff that dreams are made of.
25) E.T.
An extra-terrestrial is left on Earth. He ends with a kid named Elliott in California and then tries to get home. E.T. phone home. A much better movie when i was younger than it is today. Also my favorite ride when i went to Universal Studios (because it was air conditioned and i was having heat issues)
28) Apocalypse Now
A revision of Josef Conrad's Heart of Darkness set in the Vietnam war. Lots of violence and explosion (and apparently a colorful real-life backstory in filming). The Horror, the Horror.
40) North By Northwest
One of Hitchcock's fastest moving films. A case of mistaken identity leaves a man framed for murder and running for his life from spies. Culminating with him rescuing the girl and almost dying on a memorable seen on Mount Rushmore.
49) Snow White
One of Walt Disney's first films (1937) in the RKO era. Where is my sleeping princess? As a kid i found it kind of scary.
60) Raiders of the Lost Ark
After Star Wars, Lucas's next big thing was Indiana Jones. A swashbuckling archaeologist in search of the Holy Grail. His opponent in this, the Nazis. Some special effects didn't age particularly well. i would have put it higher on this list
66) Network
The tale of a veteran newsman who had a mental breakdown and decided he was "mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore". NETWORK, Sidney Lumet, 1976 - I'm Mad As Hell and I'm Not Gonna Take This Anymore! - YouTube . It kind of rings true today. The story of the first person ever murdered for bad ratings
71) Forest Gump
The story of a mentally deficient man living and running through some historical events in the 1960s-90s. "Run, Forest, run". It is a bit long though.
78) Rocky
The story of a wannabe boxer plucked out of obscurity to fight the champion Apollo Creed. The everyman mob tough trains and gives the champion a run for his money - he loses.
87) Frankenstein
The 1931 Boris Karloff (pre-Grinch) classic tale of a monster created by a man (though who was the real monster?). An early Universal monster film spawning several sequels. Though there are times i wonder if the sequel (Bride of Frankenstein) is better. Sometime i need a break from the more modern slasher/death horror movies to the older creepier ones (the silent Nosferatu is the most creepy Vampire movie). "It's alive"
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