|
Title
|
Year
|
Genre
|
Why I Love It
|
|
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
|
1975 |
Period Adventure |
Utter quotable ridiculousness; the Grail-shaped Beacon; a shrubbery!; the difference between African and European Swallows; it's only a flesh wound |
|
Star Wars (original trilogy)
|
1977, 1980, 1983 |
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure |
The original hero story; cool spaceships; I saw it before I knew that everyone
being related in the end was a cliche so the big revelation was the coolest thing ever; Darth Vader's breathing |
|
Dark Crystal, The
|
1982 |
Fantasy, Adventure |
Wonderful original story; fascinating otherworldy locale with beasts (Fizzgig!) and plants like nothing on Earth; Augra; can't believe they're puppets; intricate world full of its own written and spoken languages, architechture, rituals, and religion; gorgeous score (the DVD gives you the option of listening to only the score as you play the movie) |
|
Last Unicorn, The
|
1982 |
Animated Fantasy, Adventure |
A neat story with lovable but flawed protagonists; unique non-Disneyesque animation and nonDisneyesque story; music by America that dates it but brings back memories; Christopher Lee as the voice of King Haggard and all the rich voices in general |
|
Neverending Story, The
|
1984 |
Fantasy, Adventure |
Child of the 80s movie; good story within a story; beautiful people;
Falcor the Luck Dragon; lovely score; the Auryn (who didn't want their own double-snake symbol after seeing the movie?) |
|
Back to the Future
|
1985 |
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Drama |
Fast-paced, fun, and satisfying story; lots of energy; clever jokes galore; count how many times Marty McFly falls over |
|
Clue
|
1985 |
Comedy, Mystery |
Utterly silly and super quotable; not a bad murder mystery; Tim Curry!; Mr. Boddy's body, it's gone! |
|
Labyrinth
|
1986 |
Fantasy, Adventure |
Child of the 80s movie; simple and cute story; classic muppet humor; David Bowie in tights; addictive singable soundtrack; yay Hoggle, my favorite flawed hero! |
|
Princess Bride, The
|
1987 |
Comedy, Parody, Adventure |
This is the best movie in the world! Quotable; clever; funny; silly; has a classic fencing scene; a very satisfying story |
|
Willow
|
1988 |
Fantasy, Adventure |
Warwick Davis (I love this actor!); short people in general; classic fantasy tale; pretty scenery; strong female characters; Val Kilmer accidentally spilling Dust of Broken Heart |
|
Sneakers
|
1992 |
just clever |
Fun; clever; occassionally silly; every character in the ensemble has a distinct personality and is needed for the story; heroes who aren't perfect; problems solved by using one's head but sometimes winging it; great score; Be a Beacon? |
|
Strictly Ballroom
|
1992 |
Drama, Romance, Dance! |
The ending; the dancing; the accents; the outfits; Paul Mercurio's graceful gorgeousness; a neat, sweet story |
|
Maverick
|
1994 |
Comedy, Western, Adventure |
If you love poker, you gotta love this movie! It's fun, silly, and full of wists. Every character from the American Indians to the missionary nuns wants money, money, money and it's fun to see how far they'll go to get it. |
|
Speed
|
1994 |
Action |
A simple, clever idea brainstormed to its peak; sufficient stuff blowing up; Keanu in his manly police vest chewing gum; an actually interesting bad guy |
|
Mallrats
|
1995 |
Comedy |
Kevin Smith brilliance; witty dialogue; extremely unique side characters |
|
Pride & Predjudice
|
1995 |
Period, Drama, Romance |
A classic love story with colorful side characters; interesting and rewatchable; strong woman characters; classy Jane Austen dialogue; the Colin Firth swimming in the lake scene |
|
Contact
|
1997 |
Drama, Science Fiction |
A realistic Carl Sagan look at a likely way we would receive a message from space and
how we would react; very well done |
|
Mulan
|
1998 |
Animated Adventure |
Fun story, good mix of adventure and humor (Eddie Murphy rocks and the scene in the lake is classic); strong female character; the "Be a Man" montage alone is worth the price of admission |
|
Pleasantville
|
1998 |
Drama, Fantasy |
It's like the equal-rights history of the U.S. told in a clever way; very neat idea; I love what constitutes an open mind and how they portray it; Jeff Daniels' character is adorable; I have a thing for Tobey MacGuire |
|
Truman Show, The
|
1998 |
Drama, Fantasy |
Brilliant and original premise; solid and well-executed; funny; it moves me and makes me teary every time |
|
Matrix, The
|
1999 |
Science Fiction, Action |
Clever story told simply; cool fight scenes; well-done 'real-world' atmosphere; groundbreaking effects; strong female characters; any of Agent Smith's monologues (I refuse to let bad copycats, parodies, and disappointing sequels destroy the magic) |
|
Tenth Kingdom, The
|
2000 |
Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Adventure |
Original; vivid; consistently funny; clevery integrates classic fairy tales with modern-day realities |
|
Amelie
|
2001 |
Drama, Comedy, Romance (French) |
The most beautiful, quirky, warm and fuzzy, and clever movie ever! |
|
Lord of the Rings, The (trilogy)
|
2001, 2002, 2003 |
Fantasy, Adventure |
Rivendell; a very solid story; gorgeous scenery and architecture; gorgeous people; Rivendell; humor; phenomenal but not obvious special effects; wonderful dramatic shots; a beautiful score; the first battle scene ever where I understood what was going on the whole time and enjoyed watching it (Helm's Deep); the scene with the flaming watchtowers on mountaintops; excellent DVDs; did I mention Rivendell? |
|
Ocean's Eleven
|
2001 |
Caper, Action |
Clever dialogue; witty characters; Clooney and Damon in leather; a second/third watching adds more 'oh, I get it!' value; don't we all want to take the house in Vegas? |
|
Hero (Ying Xiong)
|
2002 |
Period, Drama, Adventure (Chinese) |
Simple story; the most gorgeous art direction ever; strong woman characters; awesome, laws-of-physics-bending, beautiful fight scenes, can't tell Jet Li can't act if he speaks in Chinese |
|
Pirates of the Caribbean
|
2003 |
Swashbuckling Fantasy |
What's not to love? Jack is the perfect pirate and how cool are the moonlight skeleton pirates? Cool ships; lots of fun, angst, and drooling over Orlando |
|
X-Men 2
|
2003 |
Fantasy, Action, Science Fiction |
Wolverine - damn, he's sexy; ensemble cast where everyone is memorable and useful; the scene at Iceman's house; Wolverine and his hot knife action; gratuitous angst; Patrick Stewart's suaveness; Magento's ambiguity; bonus: Peter Wingfield shows up, except without his British accent |
|
Spiderman 2
|
2004 |
Action, Superhero, Romance |
Finally, a movie that understands that revelation scenes are what the audience wants to see!; a great opening scene with the pizza; a somewhat sympathetic (and flawlessly special-effected) bad guy |
|
Team America: World Police
|
2004 |
Comedy, Parody (Puppetry!) |
Trey Parker and Matt Stone brilliance; America needed this movie; shameless parody of anything and everything; executing every cliche in the book without trying to hide it; funny as hell |
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