Best Movies Ever

From my old website, this was never updated but I may update now that I’m moving to this new site design.

These are the Best Movies Ever. At least as I originally composed this list several years ago.
Harry [Knowles] had another, more considered opinion than I do, but I can’t find it on his site. Maybe some day I’ll put up his and the AFI’s list, or links to them I mean.

So far these movies are my all-time favourites for the Following Reasons:

Apollo 13

Two reasons:

“We can put a man on the Moon…”

Never…say…die…

Braveheart and Contact

Both demonstrate the true nature of mankind and provide great examples of politics.

Citizen Kane

I didn’t quite get this in film school. But I think it was hailed because, like Star Wars, Orson Welles had to Invent some technology to get the film made. Like, he cut a lens in half to get one of the shots with a Long Depth of Field and he did some Magic to do a crane shot through a sign, skylight and down into a room. Stuff that had never been done before. However, unlike Star Wars, this was his First Film! Also, he took on William Randolph Hurst (and suffered the consequences) while making a sweeping epic of passion, power and the means and motivations that drive someone to rise to The Top of their profession. Much, in my opinion, like Julius Caesar, or Bill Gates today. So these are the reasons I list it here. He not only accomplished a few technical miracles, but he also stood up and made a social statment and a good one that was well done and well told. The fact that this was his first try and filmmaking only exposes his genius. One of my great professors, Charles Ramirez-Berg, said that one of Orson’s mistakes was that he said he was going to make the best film ever made. He did. This Really made some people mad.

Star Wars, True Lies, Forest Gump

These represent ground-breaking state-of-the-art technological advances in Film. Star Wars demonstrated clearly that movies could do surprising things. It foreshadowed that some day movies would do “anything.” True Lies and Forest Gump did do “anything.” Anything (OK in two dimensions anyway) can now be done on film.

Metropolis, Singing in the Rain

Both demonstrate Movie history. Metropolis was a state of the art Silent Film. VERY impressive. Singin’ in the Rain explains how the coming of sound affected the motion picture, which should be all the more evident if you’ve just seen Metropolis. This is my “movie history lesson.” I should probably add The Jazz Singer but I am not familiar with it. I suspect it would make a great illustration of “Great State of the Art Silent Film vs. New Groundbreaking Sound Film” but I can not be sure.

Harry Knowles’ Aint-It-Cool-News as advertised on Earthlink Billboards for example. A Great site for TV and Film reviews, opinions, and news. He was once the 101 1/2 most powerful person in Hollywood according to Entertainment Weekly magazine, and he lives right here in Austin, Texas. Halelujiah!