Movie Silliness

For some reason, I have decided to come up with a list of my sixteen favorite movies of all time. After about five minutes of research, here's what I've come up with.

16. Ben-Hur: I love watching this movie. I love how Charlton over-acted. I remember as a kid being very confused by the Leper scene. Why were those people all bundled up and living in a cave? The chariot scene was rather bloody. Strangely, I rather liked it.

15. The Sting: I learned the art of the con. These lessons served me well in my career as a weight guesser and carney.

14. The Mission: Another world. Another time. Such an epic, thrilling, and sad tale. It's a movie that teaches a timeless lesson that we'll never learn.

13. Braveheart: Another movie where I was transported back to another time and place. Always interested in English history, I enjoyed the portrait from those times, especially the early Welsh scenes.

12. Gladiator: A similar tale to Braveheart and to Ben-Hur to a certain extent. No movie has ever captured the eternal bond of love better.

11. Patton: Ballsy. George C. Scott became Patton in one of the greatest acting roles of all time.

10. Dancing With Wolves: For me, this movie, which lasts seemingly forever, is pure escapism. The scene is so authentic. I've traveled to North Dakota and Montana, and the pure expanse of beautiful desolation captured on film is what I remember about my visits there.

9. 2001: A Space Odyssey: I've had many conversations with HAL. I find him to be so logical; yet so frightening.

8. The Last of the Mohicans: Daniel Day Lewis pounds away at the screen with a relentless driving saga that ends in tragedy and despair.

7. The English Patient: Such a love story. Powerful and lasting. Gut wrenching. This movie builds and builds like the climax of a great orchestral piece. Some say the movie drags. I beg to disagree.

6. Monty Python and The Holy Grail: Goofiness at its best. Later it spawned my current favorite play, SPAMALOT.

5. Platoon: If everyone saw this movie, there would be no more war.

4. The Shawshank Redemption: Morgan Freeman delivers a stunning performance in perhaps the best all-around story ever filmed.

3. The Lord of the Rings: I wish I could go back in time to anticipate these three great movies one more time. Turning such a powerful, rich, and beloved book series into a successful, quality movie series was perhaps the greatest directorial achievement in cinema history.

2. Life of Brian: Goofiness with an edge. The Pythons handled a volatile topic with clever adroitness. It's a movie where Loretta (Stan) espoused his (or her) right to have babies and where Pontius Pilate lisps his was to "kwoosifiction?"

1. Noises Off!: What? Noises off!? never heard of it. Your loss. This tiny movie starred Michael Caine, Jon Ritter, Carol Burnett, Marilu Henner, Nicollette Sheridan, and Christopher Reeve. The plot is simple. A drama troupe works to get a play ready for Broadway. We see the rehearsals, the backstage shenanigans, and snippets of the real play. By the end of the movie, you pretty much have the script memorized if you can unroll yourself from the floor.