My Top 10 Movies

Sure, these may not all be the movies I enjoyed the most, but they are ones that spring to mind when I think of as my top 10. They may not be the best movies of all time, but I am going to give reasons for all my choices. So let’s begin the countdown.

10. Spider-Man 2.

This sequel to the already great Spider-Man, this movie improves on it in almost every way. With its amazing special effects and incredible fight scenes, it works as a great action movie, but at the same time is more than that. It shows Peter as a flawed human being with real problems, and not just as a superhero who will save the day without question. It makes you ask yourself how long somebody can really put everyone else first? It took risks by making certain changes, but they all worked out well in the end product. It had a good cast, with Alfred Molina being a fantastic choice as the movie's villain "Doctor Octopus." The train battle scene remains one of the coolest scenes in all the Marvel movies (certain scenes from X2 would also make that list). With this movie Sam Raimi once again proves what a good director he is. I hope he gets to take on Spider-Man 4.

9. Kung Fu Hustle.

I love a good action/comedy. This is basically the definition of the genre. With its fantastic fight scenes and its hilarious cartoonlike humour, it was a really nice surprise seeing as I knew hardly anything about the movie, and it's probably the only movie I've ever gone to see just to pass the time. Stephen Chow was brilliant as the main character Sing (and as the director of the movie, aswell), and was backed up by lots of colourful characters who all had their own charms. The fight scenes were very well choreographed and a whole lot of fun. In fact, the fight scenes alone would have been enough to make this a great film, but it also had an abundance of hilarity. Sure, the humour was pretty immature, but I thought it was all genuinely funny. I don't think I have ever laughed as hard in the cinema as I did with the knife throwing scene and the Roadrunner style chase. This is a movie that I really hope we get a sequel for.

8. Dogma.

You have to love a good religious comedy. With a movie like this you have to ignore all the bullshit contoversies that people create from either a basement or a position of power that they are really too uptight to have. You have to enjoy it in the way it was intended. It's an intelligent comedy with a good story that points out some pretty interesting facts about the bible. I would have to say this is Kevin Smith's smartest movie, and is obviously my favourite. It's hard to hate a movie with Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, Jason Lee and Kevin Smith involved. That alone makes a movie awesome. I thought Matt Damon and Ben Affleck worked together great as the fallen angels. And of course you have a lot of people getting killed and the possible end of existence. How can you go wrong with that? And of course it's hilarious. Jay and Silent Bob are great in it, as always, and it's they have good roles in the movie. I would have to say this is the ballsiest movie that Kevin Smith has made so far, and it pays off with the end product. Get me a... Holy Bartender.

7. Shaun of the Dead.

Zombies! If you don't love zombies then get off my blog. No not really, but seriously, this movie is pure undiluted awesomeness. It is the kind of movie that is able to be funny without a script full of jokes. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright work so well together that almost everything they say and do in the movie is funny. But it also serves as a good horror movie, with scenes that are genuinely scary. This is not a spoof movie, it's a comedy movie with horror aspects, as the director said himself. There are great effects on the zombies, and lots of awesome blood splatter in what I see as being the most entertaining zombie movie ever made. All the acting is great, and most work with the roles in ways that I don't think many other actors could. A suppose you could call this the movie that really got me into the zombie genre. I pray for the day they announce the movie that can only be called "Day of the Ed." I would also recommend you check out Hot Fuzz, another movie from the director of Shaun of the Dead.

6. Ed Wood.

This was one that I would never have imagined would make this list before watching it. Looking at the movie, it really didn't seem like my kind of thing. The whole arty, biopic thing doesn't really interest me, but I thought I would give it a try, since I'm a fan of Tim Burton (not an "OMG THE GUY WHO MADE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS" fan, the type of fan who grew up with movies like Beetlejuice and Mars Attacks!) and Johnny Depp, I would give the movie a chance. I was really surprised at how much I liked it. It's hard to explain why I love this movie the way I do. Maybe it's just the fact that the movie is about a person so genuine, a person that didn't want to make movies for money, he wanted to make them because that's all he wanted to do. Was the way Ed Wood was portrayed in the movie the way he was in real life? I'm not sure, but I am sure that I enjoyed this movie a lot. It doesn't matter if it was biased in Wood's favour, it was a movie that was pleasant to watch. All the acting was brilliant and deserves all the praise it gets. I also think it had one of the best coolest sequences around.

5. The Green Mile.

What a beautiful movie this is. This one makes it on my list by the sheer emotion of the movie. Oh, and I also like movies with faithful animals, and Mr Jingles is certainly an amazing little mouse. The story of the movie is just so.....how do I word it..... great, and at the same time sad. I think that this is the only movie to get me teary. The movie was 3 hours long, and remembering it, it seems like only half that because it was so great. The acting was great, which is no surprise considering how good Tom Hanks is. And it was an achievement how Michael Clarke Duncan came across so sweet and sympathetic, considering I'd only really seen him in villainous roles before that. There's not really much more I can say on this movie, other than it is just an incredibly moving film.

4. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

The transition from a television show to a movie is not an easy one. This is one movie that got it right in every aspect. The movie doesn't come across as a long episode or anything. It comes across as a movie. It's probably the movie I can watch the most without getting bored of it. It's got a good (and of course ridiculous) plot. America takes Canadian comedians Terrence and Phillip hostage for making a smutty movie, which all the kids saw and picked up bad habits from. If they get executed, Satan and his gay lover Sadam Hussein will be able to take over the world. South Park Humour at its best. And the songs are just fantastically funny. And not just funny but very catchy as hell. The movie basically pokes fun at many different things. It pokes fun at the way things get blown way out of proportion. It pokes jun at how uptight people are about smutty stuff, and the fact that violence is a lot more accepted. It serves as a great political satire. And of course there are an abundance of gay jokes about Sadam. And if I'm right it's also poking fun at the way America sees other nations. I'm sure many people find this movie offensive, but it's all just good fun. I would have to say it's probably my favourite comedy ever, and I can watch it heaps without being bored with it.

3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Of course this sci-fi movie of infinite awesomeness makes the list. I see this as being one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever. It's completely groundbreaking with its visual effects, which James Cameron seems to be pretty good at. The new T-000 makes an awesome villain with his liquid metal characteristics. And Arnie as The Terminator makes a great hero. There are plenty of fantastic action scenes and great (and of course cheesy) quotes. "Hasta La Vista, Baby." And when it gets down to it, when you have two cyborgs fighting with effects as good as they have, you can really do no wrong in my eyes. The Terminator was a good movie, but I see this as being in a whole different league, with its amazing effects, humour and what I see as being a much deeper story. It's a great movie, and would be my favourite science fiction movie, if it wasn't for what comes next....

2. Aliens.

Another James Cameron classic. It was not easy to pick between my two favourite science fiction movies... Terminators or Xenomorphs.... how can one make that decision? But in the end Aliens won just barely. Normally while watching a movie from the 80s, you would have to remind yourself of what the special effects were like at the time. The effects of this movie still hold up today. The aliens in this look better than they did in Alien 3 and even Alien Ressurrection, which came out over a decade later. The action scenes were awesome, and are what helps this movie be the second on my list, since I'm a simple minded action lover. The aliens are really awesome creatures and work well as one of my favourite movie villains (if you can call an entire species a movie villain). Also, Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley is a lot cooler than she was in Alien (which was a great movie aswell) and Weaver her really well. She makes for a good hero. I hope some day we will have another great movie from this franchise. To ask for something as good as this is a bit much, but just something awesome. At least we're getting Avatar from James Cameron next year. More sci-fi from him can't be a bad thing.

1. The Dark Knight.

Wow, big surprise. Yes, this is my number 1 movie, and that's not just the hype talking. Never had a movie had me as involved as this one did. I was absolutely absorbed in the movie the whole time. And of course it had The Joker, which certainly helps make it my number 1. You have to love the Joker. The acting was at the top of the ranks. Christian Bale has once again proved that he is made for the role of Batman and Bruce Wayne. Maggie Gyllenhaal served as a great replacement for Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine both played their roles just as good as before, which is all anyone can really ask, is it not? I think Gary Oldman was even better as Gordan than he was in Batman Begins. Harvey Dent was played really well by Aaron Eckhart, as well. But I guess in the end what people want to know is about is how the late Heath Ledger played the Joker, easily my favourite Batman villain, and maybe my favourite villain of all. Well, he was perfect. I feel that the role will go down in history as one of the greatest villainous portrayals of all time. Give him the Academy Award and any other awards that he could possibly qualify for. Hell, invent a new category just for him. He was The Joker. May he rest in peace. I loved the way the film was shot, whether it was the hotel scenes, the scenes of Gotham City and especially the action scenes in the movie, which I felt was another improvement made on Batman Begins. I guess you could say it was a lot more fun, since a common complaint about Begins was the lack of that. I thought the blue colour scheme of Gotham was really great. The movie also had some great wit throughout it, which rarely seemed cheesy or out of place. The score was really something as well. It is probably one of my favourite ones around. One of the best things about the film, for me, was just how dark the movie was. If Batman Begins pushed Batman and Robin to the back of your mind, then The Dark Knight will be the movie that pushes it out. The film was made to really let The Joker be what he was truly meant to be, without restraint. I am amazed that it got away with the rating that it did. The costumes and make-up in the movie were, big surprise, just great. I thought The Joker's makeup was really cool, because it didn't just take the easy way out and make it perfect throughout the movie. They went into detail with it. Batman's new suit was also pretty cool. I guess all I can say to sum all this up is that I loved this movie, and I thought it was incredible. This is way more than a Batman movie or a summer blockbuster, it is just incredible. Thank you Mr Nolan.

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Other movies that only just missed the list were-

John Carpenter's Halloween-This movie surprised me with how litte violent it showed, but even without the violence it had an eery atmosphere that so few horror movies are able to achieve. To me it is the movie that defines the slasher genre.

Reign Over Me- This movie was incredibly touching. I thought it was a great story that was told fantastically. And it was good to see Adam Sandler prove that he isn't just a silly comedy actor.

Stranger Than Fiction- I see this as being similar to Reign Over Me, by the fact that it stars someone (Will Ferrell) who generally stars in silly comedies, only this time they are playing a more dramatic role which they play really well. It's a very different story, and it really worked. I was glad I watched this without reading any overviews, because it was a great movie to watch without knowing anything about.

Grindhouse- Mostly because of Planet Terror, which I thought was an awesome movie (You know...zombies!). I thought it was a whole lot of fun, but it was partly held back to my indifference to Death Proof. Death Proof was an alright movie, but the parts I found entertaining were too far in between. Planet Terror was great, but it just wasn't enough to make it to the Top 10 on its own.

Shrek- I just think this is a really funny movie with a lot of great characters and basically everything you could want from an animated movie.

The Incredibles- A great take on the superhero genre, this is my favourite of the amazing Pixar movies. With its great animation and character interaction, it was almost like watching a live action movie.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan- I love the sort of movie that shows people for what they really are. And even with a lot of crude humour, it holds up as a great comedy.

X2- I think this is one of the most exciting comic book movies around. I also think it is one of the best cast ones aswell. This one was probably the closest to making the list, and it was a difficult to choose between this and Spidey 2. I think it would be a tie, actually. Wolverine!

The Muppet Movie- I am a huge fans of the Muppets. I just love everything about them, from their humour to the way they look.

Labyrinth- Another Jim Henson one... Great Story. Great Puppets. Great Music. Great Villain. All that needs to be said.

There are many more, but sadly I can't list them all if I ever want to get this finished.