I’m trying to figure out my list of favorite movies, after Slim asked me what they were. I’m not really sure. I’m pretty sure of my top 3: Shawshank Redemption, Pleasantville, and It’s A Wonderful Life. After that it’s a jumble. The Matrix is up there. So is Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. As is Airplane and Singing in the Rain. The Sixth Sense is actually pretty high on the list. As is (yeah yeah I don’t care what you think) Titanic. Also the Rock.
So I realized there are two things that put a movie on my all time favorite list. One is when I can watch a movie over and over again and never get tired of it. There are few movies that are like that for me. The other is when the movie has a strong message that’s important to me.
There are a lot of movies that are one but not the other. Like, I can watch Dragon endlessly. Love that movie. But it doesn’t really have a strong message or anything. I mean, there is a message that I like (Asian men can get white women) but it’s not important to me. Same with the Rock, or Singing in the Rain.
Conversely, there are movies with strong messages that I like a lot, movies like The Mission, that I’m not sure if I could watch it endlessly. The movies at the very top of my list are those that are both.
So, I think this is my preliminary list.
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Pleasantville
- It’s A Wonderful Life
- The Matrix
- Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
- Titanic
- The Sixth Sense
- Singing In The Rain