My 100 Favourite Movies: Prelude

A long time ago, when I was a different person, I was goaded into making a list of every movie I'd ever seen. I've told the story before, so if you know me you've probably heard it, and if you haven't, sorry, the re-telling will dredge up unhappy memories. And when that list was compiled, I thought, "Finally! I have completed this time-intensive project with little-to-no value to the world! And now...I'm bored." So I decided to make a list of my top 100 favourite movies.

That was just over five years ago. And in five years, yours truly can rack up a LOT of new movie-watching experiences. So I decided to re-vamp the list back in December, and due to some procrastinating, some life stuff, and some repeated fiddling with the order, I finally completed it. It took quite a while to do; I whittled my master list (over 2000 distinct movies) into a shortlist of about 250, then whittled that down to a shorterlist of about 140, and then viciously cut the last 40 out. Then, in a process that took WAY too many steps to recount here, I finally ordered them into some semblance of an order. Due to the nature of this task, and the nature of ordering in general, if I was to do it another month from now, things might shift around a little bit, but generally everything's where it should be, plus or minus five slots. And I'm very happy with the top 20, and have almost nothing to change about those ones.

But I'm not here to talk about the new list. I'm here, for a moment, to talk about the old one. Some of the entries are a little embarassing now, but a number of them are still classics, and some of them are unfortunate but necessary casualties on a list where I've likely seen over eight hundred new movies since I first started it. So take a look. It's both a reminder of someone that I used to be and, when compared to the list I'll be posting over the next few weeks (few months?), an indication of someone that I may become.

My 100 Favourite Movies: 2006 Edition
100. Casino Royale (2006)

99. Edward Scissorhands

98. Shall We Dance?

97. To Kill A Mockingbird

96. King Kong (1933)

95. The African Queen

94. Babe: Pig in the City

93. The Killer

92. Die Hard

91. The Man Who Would Be King

90. Men With Brooms

89. The Shop Around The Corner

88. High Fidelity

87. The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari

86. Vertigo

85. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

84. Hellboy

83. Out of Sight

82. Dead Ringers

81. Hallowe'en

80. The Producers

79. Monty Python's Life of Brian

78. X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes

77. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

76. This Is Spinal Tap

75. The 40 Year Old Virgin

74. It's A Wonderful Life

73. Star Wars

72. True Lies

71. From Russia With Love

70. Spider-Man

69. Brazil

68. Kill Bill, Vol. 2

67. Alien

66. The Wild Bunch

65. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

64. The Great Dictator

63. Seconds

62. The Iron Giant

61. L.A. Story

60. Psycho

59. A Fish Called Wanda

58. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

57. Some Like It Hot

56. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

55. Man Bites Dog

54. Mrs. Brown

53. The Muppet Movie

52. Wings of Desire

51. Casablanca

50. Grand Illusion

49. Rushmore

48. Duck Soup

47. American Beauty

46. The Matrix

45. L.A. Confidential

44. The Manchurian Candidate

43. The Princess Bride

42. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

41. Fargo

40. When Harry Met Sally….

39. Leon

38. The Wizard of Oz

37. Frankenstein

36. Blade Runner

35. Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

34. Miller's Crossing

33. Dark City

32. M*A*S*H

31. Rashomon

30. A Hard Day's Night

29. Maltese Falcon

28. The Kid

27. Battleship Potemkin

26. Touch of Evil

25. Raiders of the Lost Ark

24. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

23. Bride of Frankenstein

22. Roxanne

21. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

20. Apocalypse Now

19. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

18. Pulp Fiction

17. The Usual Suspects

16. The Empire Strikes Back

15. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

14. Life is Beautiful

13. Mallrats

12. Unforgiven

11. The Last Temptation of Christ

10. Singin' In The Rain

9. The Searchers

8. It Happened One Night

7. The Rules of the Game

6. The Godfather

5. Dr. Strangelove

4. City Lights

3. The Godfather, Part II

2. Citizen Kane

1. Seven Samurai