Top 50 at 50
My 50 Favorite Movies
The other day Stacey said, “I’ve got to get my 50 favorite movies figured out for when I turn 50.” What a fun idea, I thought. But she won’t be 50 for a couple of years yet. I’ll be 50 on January 31 (that’s tomorrow as I’m typing this)! So I quickly put together my list.
Are these my absolute 50 favorite movies of all time? Probably not. But I bet these are all in my top 75 or 80. So it’s a pretty decent list. Maybe I’ll think about it all year and do a revised top 51 at 51 list next year.
The Thing (1982) — John Carpenter’s goo-soaked masterpiece is my favorite movie. It’s also timely — thanks to a global pandemic, nobody trusts anybody now, and we’re all very tired.
The Third Man (1949) — Lately I’m thinking this might be the greatest movie ever made. It also feels surprisingly modern for a movie that is more than 70 years old.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) — Or maybe 2001 is the greatest movie ever made. I mean, it’s about literally everything, and more than 50 years later it still feels like it was shot on location in outer space. A staggering achievement.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) — Stanley Kubrick was a great, unique director. Before he made 2001, he made Strangelove. Strangelove is a vastly more modest movie than 2001, but it is brilliant in its own ways. It’s also hilarious — one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) — To paraphrase a friend, if you love movies, everything you love about movies is in Steven Spielberg’s Raiders. Action, adventure, comedy, suspense, romance, horror… Raiders does indeed have it all.
Star Wars (1977) — Before he created the hero of Raiders of the Lost Ark, George Lucas wrote and directed this seminal space fantasy film, the movie that made me love movies. That the original cut, with its revolutionary visual effects, isn’t officially available for home video or theatrical screenings is a damn shame.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) — The sequel to Star Wars, it might be even better than the original. The scene where the bad guys chase our heroes through an asteroid field is still a high-water mark for analog visual effects.
Escape From New York (1981) — Manhattan Island is a super-sized super-max prison, and a guy named Snake Plissken has to infiltrate the island to rescue the President of the United States. It’s the greatest “B” movie ever made and another John Carpenter masterpiece.
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) — I could probably put ten John Carpenter movies on this list, but I’ll just add one more to fill out Carpenter’s Kurt Russell trilogy.
They Live (1988) — OK, just one more Carpenter movie.
Ed Wood (1994) — Unlike John Carpenter, Edward D. Wood Jr. isn’t one of the great American film directors. But this movie, loosely based on Wood’s struggle to make his schlock masterpiece Plan 9 From Outer Space, is a hilarious and sweet tribute to outsider artists.
State and Main (2000) — Another movie about filmmakers, this one was written and directed by David Mamet, and the dialogue is amazing. Nearly every line is quotable. That dialogue is delivered by a terrific ensemble cast, too, led by the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Wag the Dog (1997) — Another movie with a terrific ensemble cast (including Willie Nelson!) and amazing David Mamet dialogue. It’s kind of crazy that Barry Levinson directed this movie during a six-week break from the production of Sphere.
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) — I have joked that Wes Anderson keeps making the same movie over and over, but it happens to be a movie I like. Of all those Anderson movies I like, this is the one I like the most. It’s another movie about movies, nature documentaries in this case, and it features another excellent ensemble cast, this one led by Bill Murray, who has rarely been better than he is here.
Lost in Translation (2003) — Bill Murray might be even better in Lost in Translation than he is in Life Aquatic, a movie that really captures the feeling of being a stranger in a strange land. I cry every time I watch the karaoke scene where Murray sings “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.”
Planet of the Apes (1968) — A guy who doesn’t much care for humanity finds himself on a planet run by apes and learns things can always get worse.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) — One of my favorite sequels of all time. It doubles down on the weirdness and pessimism of the original.
Jaws (1975) — Steven Spielberg is one of the all-time great directors, and he was great from the get-go. He made this amazing killer shark movie early in his career.
Jurassic Park (1993) — Another amazing Spielberg movie, this one broke ground with its blending of realistic animatronic and digital effects. The tyrannosaurus-attack-in-the-rain scene alone qualifies this one as a classic.
North by Northwest (1959) — Speaking of all-time great directors, Alfred Hitchcock made some pretty good movies, too, and this wrong man thriller is my favorite of his.
Miller’s Crossing (1990) — The Coen Brothers have made so many good movies, maybe more than any other modern director. But I always come back to this gangster flick, made relatively early in their careers.
The Big Lebowski (1998) — OK, one more Coens movie. Lebowski is the second funniest movie of all time.
Blazing Saddles (1974) — The funniest movie of all time.
Airplane! (1980) — Speaking of funny movies. “I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley” is my family motto.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) — This third sequel to the humble 1979 “B” movie Mad Max recasts the lead character and outdoes the other movies in the series, both in terms of action and story. Probably the most visceral, kinetic movie I’ve ever seen, and one of the great films of the 21st century.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) — Not quite as visceral as Fury Road, but kinetic and loud (the movie is full of fuzzy, grungy songs, many written by Beck) in the best ways, Pilgrim is a high-water mark for both comic book movies and Edgar Wright movies.
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) — The second greatest film of the 21st century (so far), this is a vampire film and also so much more than a vampire film. I can’t explain it, I can only encourage you to see it for yourself if you haven’t already.
Inglourious Basterds (2009) — The greatest film of the 21st century (so far), Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds reminds us that, under the right circumstances, a movie can literally change the world. Also, I’m hard pressed to think of a better needle drop in a movie than the David Bowie one in Basterds.
Jackie Brown (1997) — I could probably find a place on this list for every Tarantino movie, but I’ll just add Jackie Brown. It’s a surprisingly mature movie (it was only Tarantino’s third feature) filled with characters (portrayed by an incredible ensemble cast) struggling with the knowledge that their best days are likely behind them.
Alien (1979) — My second favorite sci-fi horror flick is atmospheric, tense, and scary, and features an ensemble cast that could give the Jackie Brown cast a run for their money.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) — Not necessarily the best Star Trek movie (that’s probably Wrath of Khan), but it’s the one I revisit the most. They made this movie to cash in on the success of Star Wars, but it has a lot more in common with 2001: A Space Odyssey. And it features one of Jerry Goldsmith’s best music scores, which is saying something.
Galaxy Quest (1999) — A loving tribute to both Star Trek and Star Trek fandom, Galaxy Quest is better than most actual Star Trek movies. A young Sam Rockwell almost steals the show until Alan Rickman (“By Grabthar’s Hammer, what a savings”) actually steals the show.
Die Hard (1988) — Another movie where Alan Rickman steals the show, Die Hard has become a Christmas tradition for Stacey and me. Die Hard’s plotting is famously clockwork-precise, so I was surprised to find out recently that the screenplay was kind of a mess and constantly tweaked during filming.
King Kong (1933) — A wonderful, revolutionary, heartbreaking fantasy adventure film.
King Kong (1976) — My gateway to Kong, I have fond memories of watching this as a kid on the ABC Sunday Night Movie. (That’s a thing that used to happen in the 1970s before everybody had a VCR.) This remake is not as great as the original, but it’s still pretty great. And still pretty heartbreaking.
Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) — In my book, the Creature is second only to Kong when it comes to tragic jungle monsters. This flick is also noteworthy for its stunning underwater cinematography. If you ever get the chance to see it in the original 3-D, do not hesitate.
Them! (1954) — The monsters in Them! are not tragic. They’re just big dumb mutated ants. For me, this is the pinnacle of Atom Age sci-fi horror flicks.
Flash Gordon (1980) — When I was a kid, I loved this movie because it was big, loud, and colorful. As an adult, I love it for the same reasons. But now I also realize it is surprisingly kinky for a PG-rated movie ostensibly made to cash in on Star Wars. And I love the rock music score by Queen even more than I did in 1980.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) — The South Park guys really let loose when they moved from TV to an R-rated feature film. And they made it a musical to boot!
Office Space (1999) — Between the South Park movie and Office Space, 1999 was a good year for instant-classic comedies.
Best in Show (2000) — Christopher Guest went from starring in what is probably the prototypical “mockumentary” film, This Is Spinal Tap, to directing some of the greatest examples of the genre. Like Best in Show, about people who are very serious about their dog competitions…
A Mighty Wind (2003) — … and A Mighty Wind, which is basically the folk music version of This Is Spinal Tap. Guest’s stuff is rightfully praised for the humor, but there’s a lot of heart in there, too.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) — I learned to read by reading Spidey comic books, so the character has always been special to me. There have been good Spider-Man movies and not-so-good Spider-Man movies, but Homecoming really captures the spirit of the character, not just the daring super-heroics but also the high school melodrama stuff when Spidey is out of costume and just trying to be a teenager.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) — As good as Homecoming is, Spider-Verse is even better. It tells a great Spider-Man story, and it does so with vibrant animation that breaks new filmmaking ground while paying tribute to the art style of classic Spidey comic books.
The Cabin in the Woods (2011) — It’s an amazing meta movie about horror movies that’s also a pretty great horror movie and also a pretty great workplace comedy.
Monsters, Inc. (2001) — Pixar basically invented the modern computer-animated family film medium. They’ve made a bunch of funny, sweet, clever movies, and Monsters, Inc. might be the funniest, sweetest, most clever of them all.
Below (2002) — It’s like a haunted house movie (cool) on a submarine (extra super cool). It features a great ensemble cast of character actors (led by Bruce Greenwood), and it was directed by David Twohy, who wrote The Fugitive (1993) and directed Pitch Black (2000) and is somehow still criminally underrated.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) — Shane Black was the king of action movie screenwriters for a while there in the 1980s/1990s. This movie was something of a comeback for him (his return as a writer, his first feature as a director) and actor Robert Downey Jr. (this movie came out a few years before Iron Man). Black and Downey both do some of their best ever work here, and Val Kilmer still manages to steal the show.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) — OK, just one more John Carpenter movie. He didn’t direct this one, a weird and wacky non-sequel to Halloween II about killer Halloween masks, but he did produce it and provide the excellent electronic music score.
Citizen Kane (1941) — So have you heard about this Citizen Kane movie? Some dude named Orson Welles directed it. It’s pretty good.
What, no Hide and Creep? Happy birthday!
Great picks!
So do you prefer ST:TMP original or director's cut?