100. Big
THE PLOT
After a disappointing night at an amusement park, 12 year-old Josh Baskin makes the simple wish to be “Big” and awakens the next morning as a fully grown adult. Josh soon finds himself in the big city where he quickly finds that everything he dreamed of as 12 year-old isn’t quite as simple for a man in his thirties
WHY I LOVE IT
Big, for the most part is every kid’s dream; the job at the toy store, the game filled apartment, and of course the hot girlfriend who can stay over when ever she likes. It’s simple to see why kids love it and why you loved it when you were their age. Watching it as an adult though, you can see that the real point of the movie is that children should be children and not grow up as fast they wish they could. When I was little I used to think the end of the movie was kind of a downer – I mean he’s leaving all that cool stuff behind right? I wish I could go back in time and tell myself that Josh’s wish being cancelled out is the real dream come true; which of us doesn’t wish they could be a kid again?
TRIVIA
Tom Hanks was the first choice to play Josh Baskin but was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts with the films Dragnet (1987) and Punchline (1988). Robert DeNiro was then offered the lead role, and was rejected because his salary demand ($6 million) was too high. Tom Hanks then became available and accepted the lead role for $2 million.
99. Airplane!
THE PLOT
After some bag fish fells the crew of a passenger airplane only an ex-war pilot with a drinking problem and fear of flying can save the day.
WHY I LOVE IT
The Greatest Spoof of All Time™ is based of the disaster movies of old such as Zero Hour and Airport 1975 and is without a doubt one of the greatest comedies of all time. No matter how dated the joke’s you are still guaranteed plenty of laughs even after multiple viewings. The crucial difference in this spoof movie as compared today’s poor efforts is that it took some very serious movies and made them very funny.
Scary Movie fails as a spoof because although they send up a very popular movie – Scream – The brain trust and plague on society that is the Wayne’s brothers failed to realise that said movie was already a spoof of horror movies. Similarly, most resent titles such Date Movie, Not Another Teen Movie and Superhero Movie cannot seem to grasp that you cannot spoof comedic material. All they achieve is making good comedy into bad comedy.
Airplane! is rightfully single minded in it’s parody and rather that steal the big laughs of other comedies in creates big laughs in making the tense absurd, and the serious silly. Surely that’s what comedy is all about… though, don’t call me Shirley.
TRIVIA
The film's title in Germany was "The Incredible Trip in a Crazy Airplane".
98. Superbad
THE PLOT
Soon to be separated by collage, best friends Seth and Evan are determined to lose their virginity before their senior year ends. With the help of their geek friend Fogal and his fake I.D. they set out to supply the booze for the cool kid’s party, a task that meets with unexpected difficulty.
WHY I LOVE IT
The comedy is excellent and well thought out guy chat full of crass and gross jokes that are not as easy to pull off as they seem. The central protagonists mask their sadness over their impending separation in a casual fained apathy which I think many young men can identify with (we don’t talk about feelings and stuff) . Hill's aggressive and crass Seth is funny but it's Cena's brand of deadpan subdued comedy that is the really hilarious. Lest I forget McLovin; a character sure to be a comedy icon for years to come.
TRIVIA
Writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg started this script when they were just 13 years old citing the reason as being "we just wanted to see if we could write a movie."
97. The Goonies
THE PLOT
A group of kids calling themselves The Goonies find an ancient treasure map and embark on a quest for treasure to save their homes from a greedy developer. All along their adventure the kids are dogged by bumbling criminals the Fratelli Family who want the treasure for themselves.
WHY I LOVE IT
The definitive kid’s movie of my generation, even the detestable Cory Feldman can't ruin the fun of this adventure classic. Who can help but love Sean Astin's naively determined leader of the pack Mikey, kid genius (and shameless Asian stereotype) Data, The Truffle Shuffle dancing fat kid Chunk and, of course, the hideously deformed but inescapably lovable Sloth.
TRIVIA
Sadly, four years after completing the film John Matuszak who played Sloth died in 1989 from heart failure, allegedly due to his long term use of steroid drugs.
96. Blood Simple
THE PLOT
A bar owner hires a shady Private Investigator to kill his adulterous wife and her lover but nothing quite goes to plan.
WHY I LOVE IT
The Coen Brothers film debut is closer in tone to their latest and critically beloved modern day western No Country for Old Men than their still excellent but somewhat zanier fare like The Big Lebowski or O Brother Where Art Thou? This is a mystery where you know what is going on but none of the characters do. You can’t keep your eyes off the screen the characters stumble on to one deadly misunderstanding after another.
TRIVIA
Frances McDormand’s film debut, McDormand would go on to win Best Actress in the Coen Brothers Fargo 12 years later.
95. Ed Wood
THE PLOT
Based on the life of Edward D. Wood Jnr, a man celebrated as the worst director of all time. This biopic focuses on Wood’s film making, his private life, and in particular his relationship with ageing star of the 30’s Dracula movies Bela Lugosi in the 1950’s.
WHY I LOVE IT
Without a doubt Tim Burton’s best movie to date, no matter how many time’s I see it you can’t help but be captivated by the enduringly positive ill-received, yet cult, director played by the always brilliant Johnny Depp. While Burton’s zany leanings are as ever present as in his other works, here he manages to bring them down to earth and also be genuinely moving, particularly in the scenes with Martin Landau in his Oscar-winning role as Bela Lugosi. This movie could have been easily snide about the long dead director in his truly awful catalogue of films, but so obvious is Burton’s love for the man and his work that his affection can’t help but be contagious.
On a side note, this film also boasts, I believe, one of Bill Murray’s finest and funniest performances, as Wood mainstay Bunny Breckinridge and is a master class in comic subtlety.
TRIVIA
This film cost more to produce than all of Edward D. Wood Jr.'s films put together.
94. The Insider
THE PLOT
After being persuaded by the producer of US TV network CBS show 60 Minutes to break a confidentiality agreement, Jeffrey Wigand, a former head researcher for a tobacco gives an interview regarding development within the company to make cigarettes more addictive. The price of this truth is that Wigand’s life gradually falls apart due to intimidation and family pressures, following which he discovers that the interview will not air due to corporate pressure from the show’s network.
WHY I LOVE IT
So awful are the actions of big business in this film they can only be true. Pacino gives a career best performance as the tenacious and uncompromising producer/reporter, Lowell Bergman and Russell Crowe is mesmerising as man who is slowly falling apart under the strain of doing the right thing. The script and director Michael Mann deliver the potently complex and dull subject as a quick paced and easily digestible tense drama. This is smart cinema at its finest.
TRIVIA
The real Jeffrey Wigand asked for two concessions from the filmmakers: that they change the names of his daughters, and that there be no smoking anywhere in the film. Both requests were granted.
93. Alien
THE PLOT
The crew of the Nostromo, a commercial towing space ship, receives an SOS signal from a nearby planet. When the crew investigate one of their crew is attacked by a creature hatched from an egg found within an alien spacecraft, the man survives but the worst is yet to come.
WHY I LOVE IT
The excellent cast, including Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Yaphet Kotto, Ian Holm and John Hurt is top notch as the scared and tired blur collar space workers who encounter what remains as cinema’s greatest killer. The tension is high even when you know what is coming, the test of an enduring thriller. It’s also amazingly designed by H.R. Giger who created in the alien the most intricate and truly terrifying creatures ever to appear on page or screen.
TRIVIA
Yaphet Kotto (Parker) actually picked fights with Bolaji Badejo who played the Alien, in order to help his onscreen hatred of the creature.
92. Forrest Gump
THE PLOT
Slow but big hearted Forrest Gump runs through life interacting and effecting great events and people in history and changing the lives of those he encounters. No matter how hard he runs though he can never quite reach Jenny, his troubled best friend and love of his life.
WHY I LOVE IT
So endearing is Hanks’ portrayal as the dim witted Forrest that like many of the characters’ you can’t help but love him. Forrest is just the right amount of dumb which stops you being frustrated by his constant cheer and childlike recollection of his extraordinary and decidedly charmed life. It’s the movie you watch on holiday weekends and lazy Sunday afternoons, and though the laughs may not be as powerful it’s guaranteed to make you smile.
TRIVIA
Gary Sinise's lower legs were wrapped in a special blue fabric that allowed them to be optically removed from the film by computer later.
91. On the Waterfront
THE PLOT
Would be prize-fight contender and longshoreman Terry Malloy witnesses a murder by underworld thugs working for corrupt union leader Johnny Friendly. After meeting the victim’s sister Terry decides it’s time to stand up for the little man and struggles to take on Friendly and his crew.
WHY I LOVE IT
Brando’s Oscar winning turn as Terry is compelling viewing but the real reason I love this movie is the idea that a man stands up to be counted. Tired of being pushed around and terrorised by the gang land thugs that run the dock union Terry Malloy decides enough is enough. Had this film been made in the 80’s or 90’s Terry might have been envisioned as Bruce Willis gunning though the docks with a hand gun and some one liners, crucially this film show’s that to be a man all you need do is hold your head high and refuse to be bullied.
TRIVIA
Marlon Brando's Oscar for Best Actor was either lost or stolen. The award did show up later when Brando was contacted by a London auction house, intending to sell the item.
