My 25 Most Influential Movies

This is inspired by my good friend, Charlie Forrester, who really got to the core of why we love the movies and how they help shape who we are. With that it mind, it comes as no surprise that most of these choices come from the decades of my youth, the 1980s and 90s. I had no idea how difficult a task this would be, but it was, made even tougher since I have put these movies in order based on how much they impacted me.

Here's the fun part...each one is represented by a screen shot, and it's up to you to guess each movie. Some of them will probably be obvious, but I've done my best to be tricky. Let's see how well I did...

-Lee

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Complete List:

25) The NeverEnding Story (1984) dir. Wolfgang Petersen
24) Kingpin (1996) dir. Peter and Bobby Farrelly
23) Eraserhead (1977) dir. David Lynch
22) Delicatessen (1991) dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro
21) RoboCop (1987) dir. Paul Verhoeven
20) Blood Simple (1984) dir. Joel and Ethan Coen
19) Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) dir. John Carpenter
18) Natural Born Killers (1994) dir. Oliver Stone
17) The Player (1992) dir. Robert Altman
16) Freaks (1932) dir. Tod Browning
15) The American Astronaut (2001) dir. Cory McAbee
14) The Incredibles (2004) dir. Brad Bird
13) City Lights (1931) dir. Charles Chaplin
12) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) dir. W.D. Richter
11) Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987) dir. Sam Raimi
10) The Empire Strikes Back (1980) dir. Irvin Kershner
9) Rear Window (1954) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
8) The Killer (1989) dir. John Woo
7) The Exorcist (1973) dir. William Friedkin
6) Synecdoche, NY (2008) dir. Charlie Kaufman
5) Apocalypse Now (1979) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
4) Rushmore (1998) dir. Wes Anderson
3) Die Hard (1988) dir. John McTiernan
2) Do the Right Thing (1989) dir. Spike Lee
1) Pulp Fiction (1994) dir. Quentin Tarantino



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(c)Hell and Beyond, 2011

We're Halfway There...

I've seen so few movies this year, I didn't know if there would be enough for a halfway Top Five. Thankfully, the last week changed that! Here are the strongest the year has offered so far, which, to my surprise, includes one masterpiece and another that could garner the same praise as it grows in my mind.

-Lee







5) Source Code dir. Duncan Jones







4) Rango dir. Gore Verbinksi







3) Cave of Forgotten Dreams dir. Werner Herzog







2) Midnight in Paris dir. Woody Allen







1) The Tree of Life dir. Terrence Malick



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(c) Hell and Beyond, 2011

Raimifest

Get ready for the Raimifest, hosted by Bryce Wilson at http://thingthatdontsuck.blogspot.com/2011/02/raimifest-announcement.html

I am planning to contribute...just don't know what it's going to be yet. Updates soon...


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Smashing Through the Flood Gates: The Best Movies of 2010

The first year of the decade is down, and after a rather rocky start, the movie year turned out to be something special. It's the first movie year since 2007 where I've had a great deal of trouble putting my top five in order (it literally took about three days). The best movies of the year each impressed me visually, but even more so, they each found a way to say something about where we were in 2010, for better or for worse. If I don't feel like I need to say more about it than that, it's not because I'm lazy. Hell, I want you to watch these movies so you can ask me why I loved it when you hated it and vise versa. The flood gates of the new decade in film have been opened, and after the interesting progression of the last decade, it'll be fascinating to see how this one pans out. Hope to see you there.

-Lee

Dishonorable Mentions: Alice in Wonderland, Cemetery Junction, Green Zone, Leaves of Grass, The Losers, MacGruber, Micmacs, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Honorable Mentions: The A-Team, Best Worst Movie, The Book of Eli, Buried, Cyrus, Everyone Else, The Expendables, Faster, Greenberg, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Human Centipede (First Sequence), Jackass 3D, The Last Exorcism, Mother, Paranormal Activity 2, Piranha 3D, Somewhere, The Town, Wild Grass, Winter's Bone, and Youth in Revolt.

20-11

20) The Crazies dir. Breck Eisner
19) Valhalla Rising dir. Nicolas Winding Refn
18) Shutter Island dir. Martin Scorsese
17) The Illusionist (L'illusionniste) dir. Sylvain Chomet
16) Animal Kingdom dir. David Michôd
15) The Kids Are All Right dir. Lisa Cholodenko
14) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 dir. David Yates
13) Kick-Ass dir. Matthew Vaughn
12) Blue Valentine dir. Derek Cianfrance
11) Vengeance dir. Johnnie To

The Top Ten


10) Exit Through the Gift Shop dir. Banksy




9) Dogtooth dir. Giorgos Lanthimos




8) Let Me In dir. Matt Reeves




7) I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) dir. Luca Guadagnino




6) The American dir. Anton Corbijn




5) True Grit dir. Joel and Ethan Coen




4) Black Swan dir. Darren Aronofsky




3) Scott Pilgrim vs. the World dir. Edgar Wright




2) Toy Story 3 dir. Lee Unkrich




1) The Social Network dir. David Fincher



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(c) Hell and Beyond, 2011