Closing Time

As the year comes to a close there is an abundance of top 10 best - whatever lists produced. Here are some of my favorites and even some of the worst lists I can come up with.

I saw 4 movies in the theater this year. The first, and only grown-up film, was at Sundance. I can’t remember the title, because honestly I spent most the time wondering how and when I was going to explain to my friends sitting beside me that I wouldn’t be able to join them for lunch or snowshoeing the next day due to the biopsy scheduled for the enormous space invader growing in my chest. Nevertheless, it was a comedy and a fairly good one at that.

The next 3 were animated shows, not too bad either. One confirmed my longtime theories that Vikings did indeed have a Scottish accent and a dragon would make a fine pet. Another was a classic good vs. evil between superheroes voiced by the comedic genius Will Ferrell and an all too short appearance by Mr. Pitt. Finally, there was Disney’s latest fairytale adaptation, Rapunzel. It was cute and seemed cleverly influenced by The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White.

Considering my limited exposure to the movies of 2010, I thought it better to present my All-Time Favorite Movies instead. I didn’t choose these based on brilliant screenplays or breathtaking cinematography, but movies I that watch over and over again.

10. Trainspotting

  9. Dead Poet’s Society

  8. Napoleon Dynamite

  7. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

  6. Return of the Jedi

  5. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

  4. Raiders of the Lost Ark

  3. The Goonies

  2. Better Off Dead

  1. Amélie

Honorable Mentions:

L.A. Confidential

Big

Toy Story II

Shrek I & II

The Full Monty

The Shawshank Redemption

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)

E.T.  (I still cannot believe my parents brought my, then 2 year old, brother along with us to the old Trolley Square theaters to

watch this movie.  Perhaps it explains a lot about the alien-related phobia he has today.) 

Consequently, here are some of the worst movies I have ever sat through:
5. Lord of the Rings
4. Any and all James Cameron films
3. Ghost
2. Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom
1. Star Wars I, II, III (Jar Jar Binks?  What the hell were you thinking George?!)