Spike's 50 Favorite Movies

Since John asked -

This is a list that I've been working on for a few years and it evolves as time progresses.

The requirements for it are fairly simple - 1)Limit the list to 50 (just because that makes it more fun); 2)Only one movie per personally defined "category" (note that there is only one Marx Brothers movie and only one Meg and Tom movie, both of which would see more representation on the list if that limit weren't in place); 3)I must have re-watched the movie at least twice (at least 3 viewings total) by myself, by which I do not necessarily mean "alone" (though that does tend to point out movies that I really like) but "of my own volition or impetus."

These are NOT necessarily the movies that I consider "Great." These are NOT the movies that I think should go on "the Ark" to be preserved for future generations (though a few of them are). These are the 50 movies that, if I was stuck on the Ark for who knows how long, I think that I could handle watching exclusively and repeatedly.

I still don't think that it's 100% honest. Right off the bat, I can tell you that my favorite Charlie Chaplin is not "The Gold Rush" it's "The Immigrant," but "The Immigrant" is a short and, in this configuration of the list, only full length movies are allowed, and I didn't want to get stuck on the Ark without any Chaplin, so "Gold Rush" which is my favorite Chaplin feature length (though not most respected, that'd be "City Lights") made the list even though it's probably only a personal 2nd tier.

There are some movies that I have loved intensely for a while and would have easily made the list a few years ago but, for one reason of another, don't seem to stick at the moment ("Fearless," for example, my second favorite Jeff Bridges movie). Maybe they'll return later. Maybe they'll fade entirely. There are some currently on the list that I'm m not sure if they'll last another year ("Mumford," - but I do love it so and it's my only Kasdan...).

There are so many other things to talk about that go into making a list like this. I could go on for several more paragraphs discussing just my "personally defined categories," and someday, I'd like to write about each movie in depth, but for now, this is just the list and how it stands today.

And so in chronological order and with little further ado, here are...


Spike's 50 Favorite Movies:

1925 – The Gold Rush
1930 - Animal Crackers
1934 – The Thin Man
1938 - Bringing Up Baby
1940 - The Philadelphia Story
1952 - Ikiru
1955 – The Trouble with Harry
1957 - Wild Strawberries
1960 - L’ Avventura
1960 - La Dolce Vita
1961 - Last Year at Marienbad
1965 - Sound of Music
1968 - 2001: A Space Odyssey
1970 - M*A*S*H
1975 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1975 - Picnic at Hanging Rock
1977 - Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
1978 - Gates of Heaven
1979 - Alien
1981 - My Dinner with Andre’
1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
1983 – The Big Chill
1984 - A Sunday in the Country
1986 - Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
1986 – Stand by Me
1987 - Evil Dead II
1987 - Moonstruck
1989 - Crimes and Misdemeanors
1989 - When Harry Met Sally…
1990 - Joe Verses the Volcano
1993 - Groundhog Day
1993 - Much Ado About Nothing
1993 - The Nightmare Before Christmas
1994 - Clerks
1994 - Pulp Fiction
1994 - The Shawshank Redemption
1995 - Before Sunrise
1996 - Microcosmos
1998 - Dark City
1998 - The Big Lebowski
1999 - Mumford
1999 - Office Space
2000 - High Fidelity
2001 – A Knights Tale
2001 - Spirited Away
2001 - The Royal Tenenbaums
2001 - Waking Life
2002 - Lilo & Stitch
2003 - Finding Nemo
2004 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind