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Movie Lists

Remember back in the day? We used to do lists like crazy. My favorite, the Mt. Everest, if you will, of movie lists was the Top 100 Favorite Movies list. It was bad-ass. Well, John and I re-did ours last year and I’ve continued to update mine every few months. Here’s the current edition.

Incidentally, here’s the text that accompanied my original list. The note is from John; the list was originally posted on his site.

Below is a list of my 100 Favorite movies of all time. (EDITORIAL NOTE: 101. The boy just can’t do anything the same as anyone else.) Note the word “favorite”, I didn’t say “best” or anything else critical, just “favorite”. I’d love to hear responses to this and to see others try to come up with similar lists. I have tried this before, but then they weren’t in order. Also, a few movies have joined or left the list since then. You’ll note that it’s heavy in movies from recent years. I don’t know know if that says anything other the fact that I’ve seen more movies recently.

Oh, Josh. Toy Story 2 was, like, number 101. Tough luck, huh? He he heh.

Slay’s All-Time Top 100 FAVORITE Movies
Last Updated 1/09/06

  1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
  2. The Star Wars Trilogy
  3. The Adventures of Antoine Doinel
  4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  5. Manhattan
  6. Do the Right Thing
  7. American Splendor
  8. Magnolia
  9. Sense and Sensibility
  10. Traffic
  11. Annie Hall
  12. Life is Beautiful (La Vita Bella)
  13. The Royal Tennenbaums
  14. Untitled
  15. Hours, The
  16. American Beauty
  17. Shakespeare in Love
  18. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  19. 8 ½
  20. The Godfather
  21. Pelishky
  22. Amelie
  23. Pi
  24. Waking Life
  25. Fight Club
  26. About a Boy
  27. Goodfellas
  28. Pulp Fiction
  29. Kicking and Screaming
  30. Oceans 11 (2001)
  31. Trainspotting
  32. Waking the Dead
  33. Chasing Amy
  34. I ♥ Huckabees
  35. A Very Long Engagement
  36. An American In Paris
  37. The Usual Suspects
  38. Singles
  39. Big Night
  40. Grosse Point Blank
  41. High Fidelity
  42. Angels in America
  43. City of God
  44. Malcolm X
  45. Adaptation
  46. You Can Count On Me
  47. Memento
  48. Requiem for a Dream
  49. Ran
  50. The Constant Gardener
  51. Le Trou
  52. Frida
  53. Brazil
  54. Swingers
  55. Boogie Nights
  56. Fargo
  57. Before Night Falls
  58. The Squid and the Whale
  59. Gosford Park
  60. East of Eden
  61. The Apartment
  62. Hillary and Jackie
  63. Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai
  64. Stone Reader
  65. Train of Life (Train Da Vie)
  66. The Motorcycle Diaries
  67. Closely Watched Trains
  68. Spartacus
  69. Bamboozled
  70. Dark Days
  71. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
  72. Tadpole
  73. Spanish Prisoner, The
  74. Flirting with Disaster
  75. Cool Hand Luke
  76. Punch Drunk Love
  77. Deconstructing Harry
  78. Noises Off!
  79. Ghostbusters
  80. Donnie Brasco
  81. Minority Report
  82. Slam
  83. Breathless
  84. Pollock
  85. Stop Making Sense
  86. Sin City
  87. Withnail & I
  88. Sideways
  89. Bowling for Columbine
  90. Brief Encounter
  91. Back to the Future
  92. The Rock
  93. Bulworth
  94. Primary Colors
  95. The Daytrippers
  96. Good Will Hunting
  97. Igby Goes Down
  98. The French Connection
  99. Donnie Darko
  100. Fanny & Alexander

Top “Ten” by Year

2010
True Grit
Animal Kingdom
Winter’s Bone
The Town
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Inception
Catfish
Please Give
Cyrus
Honorary mention: Toy Story 3 [I really didn’t like this movie, but the moment where all the toys accept the inevitability of their own deaths was astonishing and unique.]

2009
Che
The Dark Knight
Milk
Synechdoche, NY
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Rachel Getting Married
The Wrestler
4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days
Be Kind Rewind

2008
The Hurt Locker
District 9
The Princess and the Frog
Revanche
Moon
Star Trek
Watchmen
Gomorrah
Passing Strange

2007
I’m Not There
Once
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
No Country for Old Men
Michael Clayton
Gone Baby Gone
Lars and the Real Girl

2006
Half-Nelson
So Goes the Nation
Brick
When the Levees Broke
An Inconveniant Truth
Who Killed the Electric Car
Friends With Money
Children of Men
Fateless
I Am a Sex Addict

2005
The Constant Gardener
The Squid and the Whale
Jarhead
Sin City
King Kong
Good Night and Good Luck
You and Me and Everyone We Know
Shopgirl
Syriana

2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Motorcycle Diaries
A Very Long Engagement
I (heart) Huckabees
Sideways
Hotel Rwanda
Super Size Me
Before Sunset
Fahrenheit 9/11
Metallica – Some Kind of Monster
Ray
Control Room

2003
American Splendor
City of God
LOTR: The Return of the King
Angels in America
Spellbound
The Triplets of Belleville

2002
The Hours
Frida
Adaptation
About a Boy
Bowling for Columbine
Tadpole
Igby Goes Down
Minority Report
Punch Drunk Love
LOTR: The Two Towers
Talk to her

2001
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
Memento
Waking Life
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
The Royal Tenenbaums
Amelie
Moulin Rouge!
Monsters, Inc.
Life as a House
Ocean’s Eleven

2000
Requiem for a Dream
Traffic
Bamboozled
You Can Count On Me
Judy Berlin
Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai
Before Night Falls
The Contender
TimeCode
Girlfight

1999
Magnolia
American Beauty
Pelishky (Cozy Dens)
Train Da Vie (Train of Life)
The Insider
Being John Malkovich
Dogma
Fight Club
Summer of Sam
Man on the Moon
South Park
Mystery Men

1998
Pi
Pleasantville
Life Is Beautiful
Shakespeare In Love
The Spanish Prisoner
X-Files
Bulworth
The Truman Show
Primary Colors
He Got Game
Rounders
The Mask of Zorro
The Big Lebowski
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Prince of Egypt

1997
Chasing Amy
Boogie Nights
Grosse Point Blank
Donne Brasco
Good Will Hunting
Deconstructing Harry
LA Confidential
The Ice Storm
Wag the Dog
Waiting for Guffman

1996
Fargo
Trainspotting
Big Night
Swingers
The Crucible
The Daytrippers
Flirting with Disaster
Secrets & Lies
Slingblade
The Rock
The English Patient
Beavis & Butt-Head Do America
Mars Attacks

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