Tele's 100 Favorite Movies aka "Comfort Food" (complete)

[Plain Old Tele]

Aight, let's do this.

 

This is not a list of 100 Best Movies of All Time (though there's a certain amount of crossover between my BOAT and Faves of All Time). Some of the ones on my list probably aren't that great, objectively. But I dearly love them nonetheless, warts and all. 

 

I reserve the right to realize I've left a favorite off. (It won't change the list, though.)

 

Let's get it on!

[Kalo]

Here we go boys brace yourselves.

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzrXGAwXV0M

[Plain Old Tele]

100. Dr. Zhivago (1965)

 

A cut below David Lean's major triumphs, but still a wonderful broad, sweeping epic in every sense of the word. They don't make 'em like this anymore... in fact, they can't.

 

Edited March 7, 2015 by Telemachos

[Dark Jedi Master 007]

Well, this list will be bookended nicely.  

Edited March 7, 2015 by Dark Jedi Master 007

[Plain Old Tele]

99. The Rocketeer (1991)

 

One of the best comic book adaptations ever. It plays like a younger-skewing Indiana Jones. Charming, fun entertainment with great visual effects by ILM (in the final years before the CG boom). Pretty star-studded... you'll recognize plenty of faces that were either already famous or have gone on to bigger things.

 

[Plain Old Tele]

98. How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)

 

Brilliant and cutting British satire, starring the hugely under-appreciated Richard E. Grant. Speaks volumes about contemporary society and our obsession with material things and surface appearances. Very absurdist.

 

[Plain Old Tele]

97. Tremors (1990)

 

One of the best thriller-comedies in the last twenty-five years. Under-appreciated in its time, but it grew a big fanbase on home video and ended up being a straight-to-video franchise with four(?) sequels and a TV series.

 

Edited March 7, 2015 by Telemachos

[Plain Old Tele]

96. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

 

What needs to be said? The movie that unleashed Keanu Reeves upon the world.

 

Edited March 7, 2015 by Telemachos

[Plain Old Tele]

95. Groundhog Day (1993)

 

It shows up all the time on people's lists, but for good reason. It's a great movie with a clever hook and more quiet insight than you'd expect. It's held up really well over the years. It starts out as a straight-up comedy, with Bill Murray playing a classic Murray character, and slowly but surely a sweet romance gets mixed into the equation. Setups and gags are repeated (and riffed on) very cleverly, keeping the whole "live the same day over and over" concept fresh no matter how often we revisit the same moments.

 

Edited March 7, 2015 by Telemachos

[Plain Old Tele]

94. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993)

 

One of the most beautiful and brilliant visual feasts you'll ever see. While staying very faithful to Stoker's novel, Coppola reimagines the story as an homage to the birth of cinema and modernity. Aside from one CG effect at the end, pretty much everything on screen is accomplished using old-school movie techniques: rear-projection, playing the film in reverse, double-exposures, giant soundstages, miniatures, hand-cranked cameras, the whole works. The movie also has one of the great casts in recent memory.

 

[RobinHood26]

So far I'm digging it. Surprised and pleased to see Bill and Ted on your list.

[#ED]

[Kalo]

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure & How to Get Ahead in Advertising. yet more films to add to my watchlist.

[Plain Old Tele]

93. JFK (1991)

 

Another brilliant visual masterpiece, this one being an astonishing accomplishment in editing. Stone and his editor Pietro Scalia mix formats -- everything from 8mm to 70mm -- and cut in a frenzied, MTV-inspired style that stitches together moments in patchwork. The movie's over 3 hours long and yet it feels like it's less than an hour. It just screams by in an overload of information. Yet another movie with an amazing cast.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwfI93JFyUY

[Fancyarcher]

Good list so far. I like all of the movies that you've listed thus far, at least of those that I've seen.

[Empire]

Great start to your list!

[DeeCee]

93. JFK (1991)

 

Another brilliant visual masterpiece, this one being an astonishing accomplishment in editing. Stone and his editor Pietro Scalia mix formats -- everything from 8mm to 70mm -- and cut in a frenzied, MTV-inspired style that stitches together moments in patchwork. The movie's over 3 hours long and yet it feels like it's less than an hour. It just screams by in an overload of information. Yet another movie with an amazing cast.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwfI93JFyUY

You posted this over 30 minutes ago and baumer hasn't liked it yet. What's going on?

[Kalo]

I think Baumer has gone snooze snooze. 

[Plain Old Tele]

92. Fight Club (1999)

 

Another movie that I don't think needs much explanation here. I remain astonished that a major corporation decided to spend $70m to make such a gleefully savage diatribe against corporate materialism (among other things). Brad Pitt is his usual charismatic self but the real stand-out (at the time) was Edward Norton, who gives a fantastic performance that's even better in retrospect. Palahniuk's bleak satire is perfectly suited to Fincher's sensibilities, and the movie is tremendous on every level, including the highly un-cinematic score. It wasn't well received upon initial release but it's now considered a modern classic.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2015 by Telemachos

[Plain Old Tele]

91. Ronin (1998)

 

Old man Frankenheimer shows the kids how it's done: old-school style. Car chases with no CG, just guys driving cars really fast. No-nonsense gunfights. No slo-mo walking away from explosions. No glam. No forced romance because that's what the audience feedback was during the test screenings.

 

"Ronin" is a Japanese term for wandering master-less samurai, and here it refers to all the central characters: former spies and covert agents for the East and West who've become free-agent mercenaries after the fall of the Soviet Union. They're recruited for a mysterious job by a mysterious employer, and the usual twists and double-crosses occur. The real pleasure (aside from the excellent cast) is watching how Frankenheimer effortlessly ramps up suspense and tension, how he really utilizes every inch of that 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and how brilliantly he manages to condense small amounts of time without exposition.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TqaVEIUw4U

Edited March 7, 2015 by Telemachos