60: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
A few weeks ago I re-watched this film for the first time in almost ten years. Literally the next day a fellow nerd randomly said to me in mid-conversation, "the first two Lord of the Rings movies don't hold up." Agreed... and disagreed. This one's action sequences and battles hold up well enough for me. It's the mundane parts in between that might cause you to lose interest.
59: Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
Rod Serling, who was the creator of "The Twilight Zone" and was an overall screenwriting BEAST wrote the screenplay for this film. Anthony Quinn carries it as the sympathetic burnt-out boxer protagonist that Robert Deniro didn't pull off quite as well in "Raging Bull." Jackie Gleason, who I will mention again later in this list, provides more proof here that he was possibly the best character actor ever-- I would put him in a dead heat with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Peter Lorre.
58: Casablanca (1942)
When I was 20 my dying professor Dr. Martin introduced this film (his favorite) to me and the rest of the class during the final day of the semester. He died several years later, and now I feel like I must carry the Dr. Martin torch and shine the light for the herds of morons who think that "Avatar" is the best movie of all time. Although Humphrey Bogart was an outstanding actor, given his unhealthy appearance no one would use him as a leading man today, which just adds this film's appeal. Near-perfect screenplay.
57: The Deer Hunter (1978)
That movie poster just screams, "FAMILY FUN!" right? I might even rank this film higher if it wasn't quite so dark. But I defy you to find something in which Christopher Walken was better. You can't. Also, it was John Cazale's final film. He was well worth watching.
56: The Hustler (1961)
Some of my favorite lines in this game are from Paul Newman as Fast Eddie as he watches Jackie Gleason play pool: "Boy, he is great! Jeez, that old fat man. Look at the way he moves: like a dancer... And those fingers, them chubby fingers. That stroke... it's like he's, uh, like he's playin' the violin or somethin'." Scorsese is the best director of all time, but not even he could make a proper followup ("The Color of Money") to this film.
55: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
If "Apocalypse Now" is one of your favorite films (and it's #3 on this massive list) then this documentary is a must-see. It details everything from Francis Ford Coppola's pecuniary crisis to Marlon Brando's standoffish and bizarre nature. Coppola's wife, who obviously had unlimited access, covers the incredible story of how their family almost sacrificed everything to bring an adaptation of the book "Heart of Darkness" to the screen.
54: Wall Street (1987)
My favorite Oliver Stone film and favorite Charlie Sheen film. Whenever I bring up "Wall Street" to people I get the inevitable, "sooo overrated" or "soooo dated." Bullshit. It's just as topical now, if not just a reminder of a nostalgic era when the Gordon Geckos of the world were actually being jailed (watch "The Big Short" to get an idea of how we deal with them today). Michael Douglas delivers an historically iconic performance as Gecko.
53: Paper Moon (1973)
When I met Tatum O'Neal (the little girl in this movie) just a few days days ago I told her that when I met Peter Bogdanovich last year he was surprisingly kind to me. She replied, "he is an extremely nice man, and one hell of a fucking director." She won an Academy Award for this film. Like Alexander Payne, Bogdanovich had a genius for imprinting the American experience onto film. "Paper Moon" doesn't feel like a period piece of art. It feels like an historical document.
52: Chaplin (1992)
Robert Downey, Jr. is one of the best actors of all time, and according to a magazine poll that I saw post-Iron Man many years ago, most people think that this film is his best ever. You bet your ass that it's going to be on this list. The only detraction from this otherwise brilliant film is Dan Ackroyd's attempts at acting. Otherwise, it covers a timeless legend's career in a real way.
51: Taxi Driver (1978)
Can any woman in the history of Earth touch '70s Cybill Shepherd hotness? My god. It's easy to see how a disturbed man who is predisposed to acts of insanity might be pushed over the edge by such a goddess. Fun fact: I recreated the scene in which De Niro's character takes Shepherd's character to a porn screening with a few student actors in Universal Studios' backlot. My directing teacher loved it.
50: The End of the Tour (2015)
David Lipsky, whose interviews with David Foster Wallace inspired this film, said, "Among other things, it’s a movie about being young, and when that starts to stop." The fact that Jason Segal wasn't nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Wallace in this film just makes a joke of The Academy Awards. A lot of its quality is ineffable-- it either affects you tremendously as a slice of life or you just don't get it.
49: The Last Picture Show (1971)
"The mass of men [and women] lead lives of quiet desperation." -Henry David Thoreau. This film is a beautiful illustration of that quotation. It's Bogdanovich's other masterpiece. Unfortunately, he could not rekindle the magic when the '70s ended.
48: Downfall (2004)
When I think about this film I hardly even consider Hitler-- I think about the scenes of people who were trying to keep the delusion of a flourishing nazi empire alive when it was so clearly imploding around them. Those moments are sadder and more disturbing than almost anything else in the film. When they released this film they should have retired any other depiction of Hitler on film across the board like Jackie Robinson's #42 because no one will ever touch Bruno Ganz's performance.
47: Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Yes, it's true that George Romero didn't necessarily invent zombies, but he invented the modern zombie genre-- and that is the genre that dominates all things horror today. "Night of the Living Dead" is a more complete story and movie than most modern zombie films, and it explores more of the humanity of such an apocalypse probably because Romero needed to take baby steps with explaining it to people. No one took an understanding of zombies for granted during the '60s.
46: Dirty Harry (1971)
It defined the solo action hero, which survives to this day. Even though people most know Clint Eastwood for either his five Dirty Harry movies or his westerns his best acting was in a film that probably will not be in my top 100 - it's titled "The Beguiled."
45: The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Let's put this out there now: Wes Anderson will almost certainly never touch this film, and every film that he has made since 2001 seems like a cheap knockoff of it. Last year I listened to a podcast with Paul Simon in which he said that he loves this film, and his song "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" was used perfectly in it. Agreed. Aside from its outstanding cinematography and story, its soundtrack is on par with "Trainspotting" and "Stand By Me."
44: Inception (2010)
Movies in which Leo Dicaprio acted better than in "The Revenant" (Academy Award winner..?): "Inception," "The Aviator," "The Departed," "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," "The Wolf of Wall Street." But anyway.... I stated that "Dom Hemingway" has the sort of dick-swinging male protagonist that I wanted to create when I enrolled in film school. Well, this movie caused me to feel like I completely missed out on making the sort of mind-bending psychological thriller that I also wanted to create. Christopher Nolan at his finest.
43: Barry Lyndon (1975)
Stanley Kubrick's most underrated movie. I read that when this film tanked at the box office it rattled his confidence and sent him into a deep depression because he thought (at the time) that it was among his best work. Outstanding cinematography, a fascinating and comedic protagonist, and a great story that ends with my favorite title card ever: "It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarreled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor they are all equal now."
Unforgiven (1992)
My favorite Western is from the '90s. Its script is so solid that I studied it in a screenwriting course. It's one of at least twenty films that make you wish that Gene Hackman would come out of retirement, if even for just a few years. Who can forget the scene in which Sheriff Daggett challenges English Bob to shoot him from his jail cell?
The Fighter (2010)
If you think that Mark Wahlberg is the lead in this film then you're a moron. Like Jamie Foxx in "Django Unchained," he had enough sense to hang back and let other people play a collective lead. At the time Christian Bale reminded us that he is much better than a mediocre Batman long after we had forgotten about "American Psycho," "The Machinist" and "The Prestige." It deserves all of its Academy Awards. Sometimes I wonder if David O. Russell will ever come close to replicating this movie's success. Since 2010 all signs point to NO.
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