My Profile: Favorite Movies

Alright…

How do I scale down my favorite movies? Like my music, the collection is deep and wide. There are some definite top shelf medal winners in music though. With movies it’s just a lot of stuff I really like, not one all that significantly more than another.

There are the series. The Bourne trilogy…wow. Action films that don’t feel completely impossible using primarily hand-to-hand combat instead of people simply shooting ridiculously sized weapons at each other all the time. There were a few moments in the third film where I said "Wow!" outloud after a particularly intense and exhausting scene. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies were a lot of fun as was the Austin Powers trifecta (though the first one’s not my favorite). And then there are the classics like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones flicks.

I love a good comedy and usually the less sophisticated the better. I rank Tommy Boy with Chris Farley as my all time favorite and am saddened that we weren’t able to see more of Farley after his bad habits caught up with him. I'm also shocked that the movie did not win any Academy Awards. Dumb and Dumber? Love it! Caddyshack? Fantastic.

As a sports nut I’ve seen most anything worth seeing (and too many that were not). They are admittedly formulaic more often than not but who doesn’t love to see the underdog triumph even if you saw it coming…again? Of the bunch I would not only rate Field of Dreams at the top but also rank it among my favorites of any genre. It probably doesn’t hurt that it gives some love to Iowa but I find it unique and worthwhile even without that heartwarming element. I’ve even been to the site of the film and played a little ball among the cornstalks.

I really liked the remake of Oceans Eleven with George Cloney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. They all just seemed like a cool bunch to hang out (or steal large sums of money) with. I’m a big fan of films with clever and witty dialogue and the eleven interacting makes for some humorous interactions.

And how about some recommendations? Best movies you’ve never seen (or maybe you have). Read the summary of Frequency and you’ll think you’re in for the cheesiest two hours of your life. “Man talks to long deceased father via radio” sounds like a snoozer but it turns out to be very interesting. What would you do if you had information that could change the course of your family’s history and what would altering your own life do to others? Want one that plays with your head? Try Memento which starts with the last scene and works backwards scene-by-scene as a man with short-term memory loss tries to solve the mystery of who killed his wife. I could feel my brain working overtime while watching this one.

One thing I missed being in school again was no time for movies. It’s hard to catch up and keep up but I’m hoping to find the time if not in the theaters on DVD.

So what's your favorite flick and what's the best movie I've never seen?