My Top 20 Movies

Everyone has a handful of favourite movies, ones that they've watched many times and love to quote to anyone who will listen. Casual movie viewers might be able to rhyme off a Top Five or Ten faves if they are pressured, but more invested film fans like me could easily list a Top 100 or more. And who else would actually take the time to make such a list? It's actually more of a curse than a blessing to have so many movies under your belt, and to have so many favourites. This makes it really tough - first to even think of the best of the many you've seen, and then to rank them.

Somehow, Scarlett Johansson appears in a couple of my favourite movies

of all time. Not a great actress, she does a fine job in just the right kind of role,

which she did in Lost in Translation

As you will see, I've got tastes that cross the genres and eras, from old-timey horror to artsy-fartsy films, and from action/sci-fi romps to goofy comedies. Have fun dissecting this strange assortment of all-time picks.

To make this a bit easier on myself, I won't rank all of these in order. It will be enough of a struggle to sort out my Top Twenty, so what I will do here is rank the Top Twenty in order, as best I can, then a bunch of honorable mentions will appear in no particular order (or as close as I can get them for now). This won't be easy, but here goes... enjoy!

1 - Lost in Translation (something about this really hits home... Bill and Scarlett... the chemistry)

2 - Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (do I need to explain this one?)

3 - The Wolf Man (my fave horror movie of all time... it set the standard for werewolvery flicks)

4 - From Russia With Love (for me, the best of the Bond movies - fun action and spy-craft)

5 - Three Colours: Red (director Kieslowski captured magic in a bottle; a quiet, moody art film)

6 - Double Life of Veronique (another Kieslowski picture, possibly interchangeable with Red)

7 - Casablanca (classic Bogart/Bergman, great cast, music and story... hard not to make this #1)

8 - Black Swan (a modern gem, dark, creepy, and surreal... and Natalie Portman excels)

9 - Prometheus (higher than Alien, you ask? Flawed, yet the vision here appeals to me)

10 - The Howling (yet another werewolf story, more graphic and intense and darkly funny)

11 - The Terminator (more of a horror film, if you think about it... and yes, I like it more than T2)

12 - Terminator 2 (a fun and wild ride, perhaps the best action movie of all time)

13 - Alien (hooowheee... the greatest alien picture of all time... the greatest alien, for sure)

14 - The Thing (otherworldly menace and tension you could cut with a knife. Stunning visuals)

15 - Apocalypse Now (moody and gripping, terrific performances, locations, and music... wow!)

16 - A Clockwork Orange (my fave Kubrick film - everything is perfection, especially the music)

17 - Eyes Wide Shut (another Kubrick masterpiece, a close second to Clockwork Orange)

18 - The Wizard of Oz (you have to ask?)

19 - Creature From the Black Lagoon (a fave Universal horror classic; super cool monster!)

20 - The Empire Strikes Back (more Star Wars magic... best sequel ever made?)

Irene Jacob in Three Colours: Red, a mesmerizing

art film from Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

The Before Trilogy, by Richard Linklater (I can't separate these three films, and they should have a place here):

Before Sunrise

Before Sunset

Before Midnight

Under the Skin (a modern sci-fi classic, weird, creepy, unique... and Scarlett)

Ip Man

Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Return of the Jedi
Let the Right One In

Ex Machina

The Witch

Planet of the Apes (1968)

North By Northwest

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Logan's Run

Jason and the Argonauts

Jurassic Park
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Thing From Another World

Help!

Them!

Up in Smoke

The Third Man

Rock Star

The Punisher (2004)

Wayne's World (1 & 2, a tie, if that's allowed)

Rear Window

American Werewolf in London

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs