 | Almost Famous
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $3.31 Another coming-of-age story, this one about a 15-year old kid writing a story on an "almost famous" rock band for Rolling Stone. Funny and moving. Philip Seymour Hoffmann is brilliant in a supporting role as the editor of Creem magazine and mentor to the main character.
|
 | National Lampoon's Animal House (30th Anniversary Edition)
Buy new: $17.49 / Used from: $9.99 Toga! Toga! I think they like the idea, Hoov. This is on the list cuz it's just funny as crap.
|
 | Apollo 13 (Widescreen Collector's Edition)
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $2.98 If you're an engineer (which I am), you are required by federal law to love this movie.
|
 | Casablanca
Buy new: $12.99 / Used from: $4.71 Amazing how well a wartime propaganda piece can hold up.
|
 | Cool Hand Luke (Deluxe Edition)
Buy new: $17.49 / Used from: $10.79 What we have here is a failure to communicate. Rowdy, funny, at times brutal tale of a rebellious chain gang prisoner.
|
 | Fight Club
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $4.83 Dark, profane, funny, violent (there's a shock), subversive, convoluted and really cool. Oh, and there's sex and nudity, too. So, something for the whole family.
|
 | Forrest Gump (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)
Buy new: $8.49 / Used from: $3.49 This is like 10 movies rolled into one. Tom Hanks is fantastic, and Gary Sinise gives the performance of his career as Lieutenant Dan.
|
 | Four Friends
Buy used from: $2.74 Probably the most awesome movie you've never heard of. Saw it on cable years ago (and taped it), but have never run into another person who's seen it unless I showed it to them. It's about love, friendship, finding yourself, coming of age, all that kinda crap. Best bar fight in a movie EVER.
|
 | The Godfather (Widescreen Edition)
Buy used from: $2.74 Leave the gun. Take the cannoli. If you are (or want to someday be) a man, it is required that you love this film.
|
 | High Fidelity
Buy used from: $1.73 A brilliant film adaptation of a (slightly more) brilliant novel. If you've ever had a relationship that failed, or ever looked down on someone because of their taste in movies, books, music, or whatever (and since you're reading a top 20 list, I'm guessing you have), you should see this film.
|
 | Inherit the Wind
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $5.74 What is it about courtroom dramas set decades ago in the south that puts two of them on my favorite movies list? Hell if I know, but they both belong here.
|
 | Legends of the Fall (Special Edition)
Buy new: $14.94 / Used from: $1.10 Probably the most poorly marketed movie in history (the trailers made it look like a chick flick), it's got romance, but also WWI, bootlegging, tragic death, revenge, insanity, and it's all pretty awesome.
|
 | The Matrix
Buy new: $12.98 / Used from: $1.13 Despite a few (gaping) plot holes, this movie is just cool as hell. But for the love of God pretend the two sequels don't exist because they suck. They suck hard. They suck with commitment.
|
 | The Mission (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Buy new: $22.99 / Used from: $12.98 Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons as Jesuit missionaries to South American Indians in the 18th century. Riveting, moving, beautiful, tragic.
|
 | Platoon (Special Edition)
Buy new: $12.49 / Used from: $1.68 Probably the best war film ever made; definitely the best film on the Vietnam war. Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger, both cast against type, are brilliant, the supporting cast is strong. The story is riveting, overwhelming, and heartbreaking.
|
 | Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (Special Edition)
Buy new: $16.49 / Used from: $8.67 Best adventure movie ever. This is another series where it's best to forget that the original has a sequel, since the other films are sad by comparison.
|
 | Shaun of the Dead
Buy new: $11.99 / Used from: $3.96 How's that for a slice of fried gold? Despite the fact that it's a comedy, this is my favorite zombie movie. If you don't like zombie movies and don't wish to see a parody, don't worry; this is not a parody. It's a romantic comedy. With zombies.
|
 | To Kill a Mockingbird (Collector's Edition)
Buy new: $17.99 / Used from: $10.49 What do you get when you make one of the greatest novels of all time into a movie, and actually do it right? One of my favorite movies.
|
 | The Usual Suspects (Special Editon)
Buy new: $15.99 / Used from: $3.99 Difficult to describe, this is an amazing, twisting, darkly humorous caper film with a superb ensemble cast and a storyline that pops your brain with a wet towel.
|
 | The Way of the Gun
Buy used from: $0.89 Violent and cool as hell. Another movie that not a lot of people seem to have heard of. Two lowlifes kidnap the surrogate mother of a wealthy couple, triggering a series of double crosses and ultraviolence. James Caan is brilliant in a supporting role.
|
|
Listmania!
