10. Damage (1992)- Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche star in this tragic story of a well-to-do British government official (Irons) who has an affair with his future daughter-in-law (Binoche). It's a tale of obsession and its consequences that you can't look away from.
9. Titanic (1997)- I've always loved this movie and it works on every level; as a love story and as a visually stunning action epic. Painted in broad strokes with passion, it puts a large dose of humanity to a disaster that could've been avoided.
8. Tombstone (1993)- The ultimate good vs. evil story in which one side must totally obliterate the other to win. It is bloody, violent, and riveting. What happens to the bad guys in this one shouldn't happen to a bug on a windshield.
7. Goodfellas (1990)- Memorable mobster movie that transcends that genre to become a fascinating story of a gangster who spends decades in the mob only to wind up in the witness protection program, far away from the dangerous, yet alluring world of organized crime.
6. Field Of Dreams (1989)- The ending still causes me to tear up. It is a fantasy that is both otherworldly and touchingly human. "If you build it, he will come" is a promise and boy does the movie deliver that.
5. Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1994)- An HBO movie starring James Woods about a family that operated an LA preschool unjustly accused of running a child molestation ring. The McMartins' innocence is obvious, yet the city of Los Angeles continues to pursue the case mostly for fear of embarrassment and a public fear caused mostly by media hype. It is a film that challenges and angers, but it is a great entertainment all the way through.
4. Schindler's List (1993)- A stirring character study of an industrialist who saved a thousand Jews during World War II by employing them in his factory, a factory that produces nothing of any real value to the Nazis. Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is a con man who did more than most nations to save the lives of others during the Holocaust. The film is Steven Spielberg's complete masterwork, with an ending that packs an emotional wallop.
3. The Godfather (1972)- Whenever this movie is on, I watch it, no matter how or early or late into the movie it is. There are so many things going on in it that it takes several sittings to catch them all.
2. JFK (1991)- Did Lee Harvey Oswald kill Kennedy alone? Did he even partake in the assasination plot? Who did it and why? JFK is a film that powerfully examines a belief that what we were told happened on November 22, 1963 wasn't correct and more answers are out there. Is the conspiracy theory correct? We'll never know, but it's very convincing.
1. Ordinary People (1980)- There are so many people who say that Raging Bull should've won Best Picture the year this one did. But I completely disagree. Raging Bull was good, but one-dimensional. This film is a visceral and absolutely wringing work by director Robert Redford, about a suicidal teenager coming to terms with the horrible truths that may destroy him or set him free. Timothy Hutton's performance as the teenager won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and may very well be the best screen acting performance I've ever seen.
Here's a bonus from almost 20 years ago:
I came across some notebook recently that was a journal I had to keep for my senior year English class. One entry involved my 10 favorite films of all time, circa the summer of 1988. Here they were. Laugh if you must:
10. Revenge Of The Pink Panther
9. Dragnet
8. Tootsie
7. Rocky III
6. Moonstruck
5. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
4. Return Of The Jedi
3. Amadeus
2. The Sure Thing
1. The Graduate
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