My Top 100 Movies: #100 - #91

#100

Across the Universe

Dir. Julie Taymor (2007)

Across the Universe, a musical based on songs by The Beatles, slips into this list if not only for its creativity and originality. The plot is nothing marvelous, but what makes the movie special is that it packs 33 Beatles songs into a 133 minute movie. Because the plot is secondary to the music, this movie is a must for any Beatles fan, but still accessible to those unfamiliar with their music. The re-imaginations of the Beatles songs are musically great and original, and range from perplexing to truly brilliant visually. My favorite numbers: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Strawberry Fields Forever"

*****

#99

The Grapes of Wrath

Dir. John Ford (1940)

The screenshot on the left says it all. This classic from the great John Ford incorporates the visual grandeur of his famous westerns with the starkness of John Steinbeck's literary masterpiece. The film follows the Joad family as they head west upon losing their home, struggling to find a place unaffected by the Great Depression. Especially for its time, this film was as dark as it could get, though the ending is notable for replacing the depressing tone of the book's conclusion with a more hopeful. This positive tone in the ending was actually required by a U.S. movie production code at the time, but I think it works great in this case (it did not in many other movies).

*****

#98

Duck Soup

Dir. Leo McCarey (1933)

Admittedly, it took a while before I was able to follow the Marx Brothers' lightning-fast humor. Groucho is shooting one-liner after one-liner, but that is exactly one of the things that makes this movie so full of substance even though it is just over an hour long. Among the many great scenes is the famous "mirror scene," where Harpo, dressed as Groucho, mimics Groucho's movements exactly, pretending to be a Groucho's reflection in a mirror when in fact Groucho is just staring through a doorway. Add scenes like this to the context of a political farce, and you've got what many consider the Marx Brothers' finest film.

*****

#97

The Phantom of the Opera

Dir. Rupert Julian (1925)

I've already written about this silent classic in my "Horror Movies to Watch" series, and it makes the cut in my list of top 100 movies of any genre. This silent film masterpiece foreshadows much of what is to come in the horror genre, with the famous Dracula, Frankenstein, and King Kong. While these three movies are historically significant and a huge part of our culture, none of them are quite as good as the original Phantom, which has since been bastardized by Andrew Lloyd Webber into a horrible musical (albeit with great music). Already love old movies and looking to get into silents? This may be a good one to start off with.

*****

#96

Adam's Rib

Dir. George Cukor (1949)

In general I'm not too much a fan of the old screwball comedy genre, but this is an exception. Chemistry between characters is also something I don't care for too much, but again, this is an exception. The plot is rather simple - a husband is prosecuting a case with possible sexist undertones and his wife is the defending attorney. Needless to say, their arguments in court, which get increasingly crazy, translate to their interactions at home. In the end - well, I won't say who wins in the end - but until I saw this I never knew that two characters annoying the heck out of each other could be so likable.

*****

#95

Children of Men

Dir. Alfonso Cuarón (2006)

This movie has settled in enough for me to consider it one of the greats of all time. Alfonso Cuarón, already established as one of the prime directors of the great Mexican film movement today (and also director of the third Harry Potter movie!), creates an intriguing image of the future, which is neither paradise nor high-tech. Instead, society is a dirty dystopia where no children have been born for eighteen years. In addition to being visually stunning, Children of Men is filled with a unique type of action that I personally like better than, say, the Michael Bay type, and is infused with a dark atmosphere throughout that leads to a much-discussed ending that I think is great.

*****

#94

Natural Born Killers

Dir. Oliver Stone (1994)

There are way too many adjectives that can describe this controversial modern classic. Crazy, trippy, funny, creepy, ____? Anyway, it is tragic that this movie has inspired a series of copycat crimes because it is not a message to be taken seriously at all, especially judging from the tone of the film. In the movie, the characters Mickey and Mallory go on a killing spree and somehow go on to become glorified nationwide celebrities for it. Again, it's sad that this has led people to do some horrible things because this movie is loads of fun.

*****

#93

The Right Stuff

Dir. Philip Kaufman (1983)

Name a movie that has to do with NASA. Bet you named Apollo 13, right? Although that movie is good in its own regard, nothing compares to the epic-ness, intrigue, and excitement of the film adaptation of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. The story revolves around the pilot Chuck Yeager (who was the first man to break the sound barrier) and the test pilots who eventually were selected for NASA's Mercury missions, culminating in the mission that launched an American (John Glenn) into space for the first time. There are not many three-hour movies that can keep you captivated for its entirety, but this is one of them.

*****

#92

Shane

Dir. George Stevens (1953)

The blueprint for this movie has since become a formula for making a western of any sort - a man with a gun walks into town. But Shane is set apart from other westerns in my opinion because it creates such a lovable hero in Shane and beautifully develops his relationship with the little boy Joey. Otherwise, this movie is filled with much of what you'd expect from a western - tons of tension between men with guns holstered at their sides, leading to the obligatory shootout. If you're unfamiliar with the western genre, there are many great ones out there, but this is one of the most accessible and lovable.

*****

#91

The Birth of a Nation

Dir. D.W. Griffith (1915)

It is such a shame that one of the greatest directors of all time - and probably the most influential one in terms of the development of film narrative and technique - did not realize how extremely racist this film was. In his recreation of the Civil War and Reconstruction, leading to the birth of the Ku Klux Klan, D.W. Griffith was glorifying a popular historical view of the time, and it wasn't until afterwards that he realized it was racist, leading him to make the film Intolerance, which shows the evil of intolerance (e.g. racism) throughout the ages. This film, regarded as the first feature length film, introduces many revolutionary filmic techniques, and if you can handle the racist undertones, it is surprisingly easy to digest for a three-hour long silent movie.

*****

For the complete Top 100 list, click here.