As you might expect given the nature of this site, I watch a LOT of movies & TV. I can't expect you to give my analysis any credence unless I demonstrate that I'm not the sort of person who think's that Pauly Shore is the pinnacle of American film making (The tragedy is that so many people believe that he IS. The real tragedy is that they may be right). I am not listing things in any particular order other than the order in which they popped into my head. |
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| Movies--before 1990 | |
| These are not necessarily the movies I think are "the
greatest," but they are the ones that I find myself watching the most.
If I stumble across one of these late one night while channel surfing, I'm
going to stay up even later, even if I already have it on tape (I figure the fates wanted
me to watch it again). I'm limiting myself to ten or so, else I'd go on for awhile.
If I did these lists a week from now, they'd probably be
completely different; I just want to give you an idea of my standards. |
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| My Favorite Year | Definitely one of my personal favorites. Peter O'Toole does a brilliant parody of either Errol Flynn or himself, depending on who you talk to. |
| Amadeus | The priest as surrogate audience . . . everything about this movie is simply brilliant. Watch the priest's transformation through the course of the narration. |
| Lawrence of Arabia | The all-too-rare perfect blend of epic saga and character study. |
| Casablanca | Because a kiss is just a kiss. Right. |
| Rear Window | Actually, I could have just as easily put North by Northwest, Vertigo, or To Catch a Thief here, but I limited myself to just one Hitchcock film. |
| Brazil | Every time I watch this film I feel as though someone's caught me upside the head with a 2x4. |
| The Godfather Saga | Mainly because Showtime recently ran I and II back to back. It has that same combination of epic grandeur and character study that makes Lawrence of Arabia so effective. |
| Vertigo | OK, so I put another Hitchcock film in the list; just deal, OK? Besides, the newly restored version makes the film more powerful than ever. Now I have to go watch 12 Monkeys again . . . |
| Movies--after 1990 | |
| These are the movies that look like they may be the "New Classics" that TNT keeps talking about. Fresh, original, and utterly unforgettable. | |
| The Shawshank Redemption | The best of the Stephen King movies, because it never loses sight of the core of the story, crystallized in Morgan Freeman's final speech--taken almost verbatim from the text. It should have done better at the Oscars, but was a victim of Gump Fever. |
| Fargo | I just keep watching it . . . and I'm not even sure why; there's just something about this movie (actually, there's just something about any movie made by the Cohen brothers. And it's always something different.) You betcha! I must admit, though, that this movie's inclusion in AFIs list of the top 100 American made movies stumps me completely. |
| Henry V (Branagh) | A religious experience . . . Just hearing Derek Jacobi begin "O, for a muse of fire" sends a chill down my spine. |
| The Remains of the Day | I'm not sure that I've ever seen a more amazing performance that Anthony Hopkins'; In addition, it's interesting to compare the book to the movie: Everything is the same, only everything is different. |
| The Usual Suspects | Keyser Soze made me do it. I saw it again just a few nights ago, and I was still enthralled by everything about this movie. |
| Television--syndicated | |
| (Yes, I watch so much TV that I have to subdivide. Sad,
isn't it?) |
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| Night Court | One of my favorite sitcoms. At one point I had the first six seasons all on videotape; they were great when I had to stay up late grading papers. Unfortunately, while A&E now shows it, they show it at 9am. I have a very understanding boss, but he isn't THAT understanding. |
| Barney Miller | Because there has been no greater sitcom character than Detective Arthur Dietrich. I'd love to see a cross-over episode of Taxi in which Reverend Jim drives Dietrich to the annual Goethe festival. |
| Law & Order | The only show to make both TV lists, thanks to the good graces of A&E. The other drama primarily want you to feel; this show wants you to think. |
| M*A*S*H | I like to use the "Propaganda Bomb" episode when teaching people how to write instructions. |
| Chef! | A magnificent comedy from British television; Chef Gareth Blackstock turns both cooking and insulting into art forms. There's a third season, but it hasn't made it to Birmingham yet. Anyone with tapes . . .? |
| The Muppet Show | Just because . . . |
| Television--network | |
| This list has been getting much smaller in recent years
as once-great shows either end or go on life-support. |
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| Law & Order | There is something compelling about watching the legal procedure from start to finish, almost as though we are ourselves participants. And has a show ever gotten away with so many major cast changes? |
| The Practice | I was happily stunned that the Emmys recognized just how damned good this show is. |
| Ally MacBeal | I like The Practice better, but at the same time, it's reassuring to see so many people who are so much more neurotic than I. |
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Buffy is one of the most intelligently-written shows on TV. "Hush" was one of the most amazing shows I've seen on TV in a while. |
| Frasier | This entire season was a delight, culminating in a heart-wrenching season-finale. |
| The Drew Carey Show | Guy's just want to have fun. |
| The West Wing | Hey, I get to see Martin Sheen every week. What other reason do I need (That was my initial attraction to Picket Fences, as well--getting to see Tom Skerrit every week.). |
| Sports Night | ABC just never decided get get behind this show, and it recently got cancelled. Rumors abound that NBC is interested in picking the show up, perhaps setting it up as a lead-in for The West Wing. Now that's intelligent programming. It'd also work well following Frasier |