Top 5 Holiday Movies

'Tis the season...to watch amazing holiday movies. There is just something about the holiday season that brings a tremendous amount of joy into everyone's lives, and something that helps, is watching movies that capture that same emotion. No matter what life throws at you, you can always count on these holiday movies to make you laugh, make you cry, and help you find that joy that seems to get thrown on the back burner until Christmas time.

The other night, Meggie and I curled up with hot chocolate and our wonderful Bugsy (our beautiful black lab) and watched, what I consider the best holiday movie, It's a Wonderful Life. This movie brings nothing but joy and happiness when you watch it...and it will continue to do that forever. It's a timeless movie which will probably be considered the 'Feel-Good-Movie-of-All-Time.' So, without further ado, I give you my Top 5 Holiday Movies (in order).

1. It's A Wonderful Life - What more can I say about this movie that I haven't said already? This movie is a classic example of a timeless movie...a movie that stands the trial of time. 'What do you want Mary? Do you want the moon?'
2. A Christmas Story - 'You'll shoot your eye out!' If there's one line in a movie that every little boy thinks of (especially when you try to convince your parents to buy you a BB gun), it is this one. This movie captures everything you would want in a holiday movie. It shows you not only the kid's perspective on Christmas, it shows you the parent's perspective too. Every little kid goes through what these kids go through. Neighborhood bullies, tongues stuck to frozen flag poles, a Dad that knows how to fix everything, and of course, dropping your first curse word in front of your parents (Tyler Durden says, 'Use Soap').
3. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - This is the Caddyshack of holiday movies. It is stupid, but absolutely hilarious. It is a tradition in the Abendschein family to watch this movie every Christmas. Clark Griswald captures the typical 'American Dad' that wants his family to have a wonderful Christmas. 20,000 lights on the house...check. Family members catching on fire...check. SWAT teams raiding the house...check. Oh, and of course, a metal sled covered with non stick spray...check.
4. A Charlie Brown Christmas - Charlie Brown goes out to try to find the true meaning of Christmas, and he does...spending time with family and friends. Every time I look at a Christmas tree now, I think of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. It is tiny, ugly, and not decorated very well. However, that does not matter...it was made with love, and that is all that counts.
5. Mickey Mouse's Christmas Carol - Three very funny skits before the main movie. The first one is Donald Duck and his three nephews, battling it out with an epic snowball fight. The second one is Mickey Mouse and Pluto decorating the tree...with no help from Chip and Dale. The third (my favorite) is Goofy trying to learn how to ski. Finally, the main movie is Mickey Mouse and the gang acting out the timeless tale, A Christmas Carol. At only 20 minutes, it is an absolute classic. If you don't shed a tear for Tiny Tim at the end of this, check to make sure your heart is still beating.
   

Top 10 Movies of All Time

Well, this is the big one...the big kahuna...the top gun...the one list to rule them all. If you ask anybody that knows me, they will say that I have a Top 10 list for everything (beer, food, tv shows, cities, etc...). My favorite Top 10 list, however, is movies. I absolutely love listing off my favorite movies, because I know nobody else has the exact same list as me.

It's a lot more difficult than you might realize to put together a list of your favorite movies...let alone a top 10 list. That means you can only pick 10 of your favorite movies, out of all the movies you have seen. It actually takes a bit of strategy (nerd alert). You have to write down a list of all of your favorite movies, then decide, in order, which ones belong in the top 10. I guess that is not much of a strategy, but, it takes time. It probably took me an hour to put together this list. So here it is, in order, my Top 10 movies of all time.

1. The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece. It is almost impossible to NOT like this movie. It is the ultimate 'guy movie'. Everything from the music, the acting, the cinematography, is amazing.
2. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - OK, I know, this is technically not one movie. But, if you watch all three in a row, it is like watching a very long movie, so to me, it is one movie (plus I don't want to take up three spots for all three movies). Peter Jackson did the almost impossible...he brought one of the most creative and mind blowing fantasies to life. A classic tale of Good vs. Evil, friendship, love, and honor. Never have I been so captivated by a story quite like The Lord of the Rings.
3. Goodfellas - A movie that can take both the beauty and brutality of the Italian-American mafia. A perfect movie in every way. Scene for scene, this is a good look at perfection. Martin Scorsese literally grabs a hold of the audience and throws them into the life of a foot soldier. The music, the drama, the violence...everything in this movie deserves the recognition that it gets.
4. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - The ultimate in black comedies. Peter Sellers is absolutely hilarious as the German Dr. Strangelove (also two other characters), with a strange abnormality in his right arm that forces him to salute in the Nazi fashion. I also consider the scene in which Major Kong rides the nuclear weapon down to the target to be the best scene in movie history. Stanley Kubrick was able to transform the Cold War into a harsh comedic reality with the doomsday machine, nuclear warfare, and the political satire.
   
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey - What an absolutely beautiful movie. It takes multiple viewings to fully appreciate it (it also takes a very long and patient attention span). This movie takes a good look at human curiosity. In a sense, this movie digs deep into the human soul. It asks the big question, 'Why are we here?' It bends reality with imagination. It distorts human logic with machine intelligence. It is, by far, the best science fiction movie ever made.
   
6. A Clockwork Orange - Can conditioning truly work? What happens when you condition a person to be good, when deep down they are truly bad? They become a clockwork orange. The first half of this movie is considered to be one of the most artistically and creatively shot movies ever. Stanley Kubrick beautifully combined Beethoven's best work, the 9th, with a satanic and corrupt young man.
   
7. On the Waterfront - Marlon Brando's best performance. 'I could have been a contender.'
   
8. Fight Club - Tyler Durden says 'use soap'. Tyler Durden is inside all of us. A person that is sick and tired of the materialistic society we have created. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton both shine as the main character(s). The movie is fast paced, in your face, and has one of the best twists since The Sixth Sense.
   
9. There Will Be Blood - Daniel Day Lewis, as the greedy and corrupt oil man, gives one of the best on-screen performances I have ever seen. This movie is shot as if Stanley Kubrick were directing it (which, if you can't tell by now, is my favorite director). The ending actually reminds me of exactly what Kubrick would do...end abrupt, end with style, end with confusion, but end with a bang.
   
10. American Beauty - 'Sometimes there's just so much beauty, in the world...I feel like my heart is going to explode.' What a great line. This movie is about the things that people take for granted...their family, their home, their jobs, etc.... Kevin Spacey plays the boring middle aged dad that finally realizes that he has wasted 40 years of his life trying to abide by what society tells him to do. The last year of his life is lived to the fullest. The message of this movie is very powerful, the acting is superb, and the movie is shot beautifully.

*Note worthy movies

• Silence of the Lambs
• The Shining
• The Godfather: Part II
• Apocalypse Now
• Pulp Fiction
  

Top 20 Movies Everyone Must See

I absolutely love movies. In fact, I would consider it a passion of mine. It's such a passion that I want everyone around me to love movies just as much as I do. I want everyone to quote movie quotations with me. I want everyone to laugh at the parts I laugh at. I want everyone to analyze movies with me. However, movies are just as subjective as any other entertainment genre out there. I have my opinions, you have yours. Still, it is still an absolute blast conversing with other people about your favorite movies.

Have you ever asked someone 'Have you seen 'such-and-such' movie yet?' Of course you have, everyone has. If their answer is 'Yes', then you can analyze and quote it all you want. If their answer is 'No', a typical response from me is 'What!?'. My top 20 movies everyone must see is the list in which the response 'What!?' would come after someone saying 'No' to the question above. This is not my 'Top 20 Movies of all Time' list (we'll get to that later). This is simply a list of 20 movies I believe everyone must see in their lifetime. By the way, this is in no particular order either.

• The Wizard of Oz - Everything about this movie screams 'Classic'. Seriously, if you haven't seen this movie yet, rent it, buy it, do something...just see this movie!
• The Godfather - 'I'll make him an offer he can't refuse'. This quotation has been welded into every movie-goer's head. This, to me, is the best movie ever made.
  
• Caddyshack - Not only is this an amazing sports movie, it's also one of the greatest comedies ever made. It has become a cult classic among the younger generations for a reason. Nanananannana.
• Dr. Strangelove - Eddie Murphy's got nothing on Peter Sellers. This movie defines 'black comedy'. With Peter Sellers playing three roles (Dr. Strangelove being the funniest), the war room scenes, and the infamous Major Kong riding the nuclear bomb, this became an instant classic.
• The Matrix - 'Do you know, what, the Matrix is?' I still don't know EXACTLY what the Matrix is, but who cares?? This is one of the coolest movies ever made. This movie revolutionized action scenes with bullet-time.
• It's a Wonderful Life - No other movie has captured the human heart quite like this one. The Feel-Good-Movie-Of-The-Century may turn into the Feel-Good-Movie-Of-All-Time.
• Forrest Gump - Ok, so this is another movie that captures the human heart, but in a different way. I have never watched an actor 'become' their character quite like the way Tom Hanks does with Forrest Gump. I watch this movie and see Forrest Gump, not Tom Hanks.
• Requiem for a Dream - Anybody that is thinking about doing hard drugs, watch this movie. It is a graphic tale of people caught in the world of hard drugs. It starts out bright and happy, but ends in sorrow. The movie is a downhill emotional ride for the audience, so be warned.
• 2001: A Space Odyssey - Capturing the imagination of a typical person is one thing, but doing so with only 25 minutes of dialogue in a 150 minute movie is another. The visuals in this movie are the most realistic I've seen, and yet, it was made over 40 years ago. Unless you've read the book, the ending will dazzle and confuse the hell out of you. But, therein lies the magic of the movie...the ability to stimulate a thought process I once thought was lost in movies.
• Jaws - One word has haunted millions after watching this movie...Shark! Who needs a villain with a 20 minute monologue at the end of the movie when you have a 20 foot shark with razor sharp teeth terrorizing a small Rhode Island town?
  
• Star Wars - Coming in a close second for my favorite Science Fiction movie is Star Wars. Light sabers, the force, Jedis, the Dark Side...enough said.
• The Big Lebowski - How do you combine a mystery with a black comedy? Well, throw in an unemployed bowler, a rich pornography producer, a millionaire, and a case of mistaken identity and you have a recipe for success. The Dude definitely abides.
• Toy Story - You can thank this movie for all of the animated movies that have come out in the past 10 years.
  
• Schindler's List - Do I even have to explain why this movie must be seen? I have never loved and hated a movie as much as this one. I loved it for Steven Spielberg's vision and guts to make such a horrifyingly accurate portrayal of one of the worst events in this world's history. I hated it for the very same reasons. It's difficult to watch, but it must be seen.
  
• Memento - One of the very few on my list that most people probably have not seen. However, it is one of the most unique thrillers I have ever seen. Who would have known that seeing the beginning of the story instead of the end could be so satisfying. Wait, where am I again?
• The Terminator - 'I'll be back'. Three words that will haunt Arnold Schwarzenegger for the rest of his life. Can you get any better than the biggest action star playing a killer cyborg sent back in time to kill the mother of a revolutionary hero in the future? I think not.
• The Shining - 'Here's Johnny!' My God, this movie still scares the shit out of me every time I watch it. Stanley Kubrick had a way of sucking the audience into his movies like no other director. Slow moving, wide-angle cameras in long narrow hallways. Page after page after page of the same line written over and over. The camera following the axe ever so gracefully, yet so hauntingly. And the music. This, to me, is the scariest movie ever made.
• Hoosiers - A movie about a very small high school basketball team from Indiana that goes on to win the championship. Sure, every single sports movie you see now revolves around this very same concept (I call it the 'sports-slasher movie virus', which I will also get into later), but this movie does not scream cliche, it screams classic!
• Rudy - Yes, another sports movie about a small boy with a very large dream...to play for the Notre Dame fighting Irish football team. If you don't shed a tear for Rudy every time they carry him off of the field at the end of the movie, you have no soul.
• Bullitt - If not for the movie, at least for the best car chase of all time put onto film. A 1968 Mustang Fastback vs. a 1968 Dodge Charger...it's almost too much 'awesomeness' to handle.