Movies, we got movies....

Apparently a lot of folks are listing Top Twenty Movies Since 1980, and since I'm always on the prowl for stuff to post, here's my own list. (And to be fair, I'll confine myself to a single Star Wars movie.) In no particular order:

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981. The best of the Indiana Jones movies.

2. The Empire Strikes Back, 1980. Yeah, I personally rank A New Hope higher, but it came out in 1977.

3. Braveheart, 1995. Battle scenes galore.

4. Rob Roy, 1995. Even better than Braveheart, although the latter won Best Picture.

5. Pulp Fiction, 1994. A great film that spawned a lot of lame imitators, because those lesser filmmakers assumed that the film was remarkable for its jaded and hip tone and imitated that, without realizing that the film was really remarkable for its tight storyline and razor-sharp dialogue.

6. When Harry Met Sally…., 1989. Still my favorite romantic comedy.

7. Say Anything, 1989. The greatest teen romance ever filmed, period.

8. Beauty and the Beast. Disney's greatest film.

9. Bull Durham, 1988. The best baseball movie.

10. Princess Mononoke, 1997 (I think). My favorite Miyazaki film, although like every other blog post I've seen doing this, you could plug in any Miyazaki film at random here.

11. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, 2001. I flipped a coin between this and The Two Towers.

12. The American President, 1995. Lord, I love this movie.

13. Whale Rider, 2003. Wow. I literally just watched this one two nights ago. I'll have more to say about it later this week.

14. RAN, 1985 (I think). Kurosawa does King Lear. Stunning film.

15. Schindler's List, 1993. This is one of my "desert island" movies.

16. Amadeus, 1985 (guess). The best movie about classical music I've seen.

17. The Abyss, 1988. Still my favorite James Cameron movie. I prefer the Director's Cut, even though it takes the "preachiness" at the end a little too far.

18. Die Hard, 1988. This movie still gets the blood pumping.

19. Witness, 1985. Harrison Ford's best performance. I wish he'd get back to doing roles like that.

20. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, 1982. Magnificent story, magnificently told.

There you go.