This Hot Fire

I
promise I’m not going to sell out and cater to the critics by giving
answers like the Wizard of Oz, Casablanca or Citizen Kane simply because
they were inventive and original 60 years ago. I will also promise that
I have actually seen every movie I’m putting on here and giving my stamp
of approval. I have seen movies from every decade back to the 20′s, and
seen every film on Imdb’s top 250 films, Time magazines top 100 and will
give you the best list of 30 I can give.

I should give mention to a couple that are pretty legit though. City
of god, Metropolis (1927), Raging bull, There will be blood, Gran Torino,
Full metal jacket, Back to the future, A clockwork Orange and Gladiator.

This movie is a personal favorite that could make a grown man cry, or
build him up with the intensity to attack someone with a sharpened
stick. The movie was made before the CGI abilities of Lord of the Rings
or the new Star Wars movies so all the thousand man battle scenes were
filmed with real people in full costume which adds a dimension no movie
can match today. FREEEEEEEEEDOOOOOM!! 

The classic that made Spielberg a name. This movie would build suspense
for so long when the action actually happens you’ve already pee’d your
pants. Although the shark doesn’t come close to the CGI effects of
today, when you see that thing rip the boat in half you still get goose
bumps.

In this prohibition era movie you get to ride along with Elliot Ness
from his first days fighting Al Capone to the end. De Niro plays a
gangster… again. Yet this movie is awesome. You’ve got the grizzled
veteran in Sean Connery, the straight edge Kevin Costner, the rook Andy
Garcia and a nerdy expendable guy you can kill off. It’s the perfect
group of good guys out to stop Al Capone and its got a soundtrack that
fits it like a glove.

This is Clint Eastwood at his damn finest. It’s a morally gray western
where everyone has some good and bad and puts all of Eastwood’s old
spaghetti westerns on trial. There is no black and white, good and bad.
It’s a mix up, especially with Eastwood’s character who was a cold
blooded killer in his past, robbing trains and killing at will but was
reformed by a woman who he had 2 children with and became a good man with a conscience. Then at the beginning of the film she dies, and leads to the story of him digging up his old bad guy ways.

A classic for any kid or adult. Top notch special effects for its time,
and a great story that still holds up today. Its got the most awesome
80′s soundtrack you’ve ever heard, and has Bill Murray in top form,
delivering a classic comeback line "Its true… this man has no dick".
God that’s awesome.

This wasn’t a financial success in theatres and not necessarily
critically acclaimed, but I thought it was a great movie.  It’s a great
story that helps show that people of any race have the capability of
good and evil, and living with hate will not help yourself or your
world.  It’s a pretty graphic depiction of violence and racism that’s
set to show how hate breeds more hate.

Quentin Tarentino’s ultimate movie. With the incredible dialogue,
underworld reality, and gritty violence this movie will be a classic
forever. I still remember the first time I saw Samuel L. Jackson
delivering the verse from Ezekiel and then blowing the guy away. Cold
blooded shit son.

This one appears on a lot of critics top movies, and regular moviegoers.
I’m not one to follow the crowd, but with this one I have to. This is a
bad ass movie about the power of fear and money in the Mob. As a
goodfella you could do whatever you wanted and nobody messed with you. You got women, money, drugs, power and all the respect but when you get sloppy your either gonna get a bullet or be forced to turn squealer.

What can I say about Star Wars… it has defined an entire species of
human known as the nerd, and it has influenced movies for decades. If I
had to choose just one it has to be Empire strikes back. You just cant
beat it. Classic quotes, you find out Darth Vader is Lukes father, its
darker than the others, Bulba Fett, and you meet Yoda. This is a classic
film and with Lucas tuning it up every ten years, it will probably last
forever.

This is the oldest movie on my list but it deserves mention. It’s the
story of a bunch of P.O.W.’s in WWII Germany who have to live in a
prison camp and survive however they can. Eventually you come to find
out one of the prisoners is a spy from the Germans and the group points
fingers at everyone, and eventually they come to find it’s the chiseled
blonde hair, blue eyed guy… who would have figured? Great black and
white movie.

This comic book, turned graphic novel became an amazing film adaptation.
The film was altered from the novel in several ways especially with the
government being the ones to cause the events that led it to fascism. I
thought that change made it even better and more thought provoking with 9-11 so close behind. The movie was amazing in all facets of filmmaking especially dialogue and bad ass to boot.

Writing doesn’t get much better than this, and doesn’t deliver so many
different levels.  Although the main character is a supergenius, his subconcious has blamed himself for his gloomy childhood and turns the
self-loathing into self destruction.  Then comes Robin Williams as the
psychiatrist… He wins an Oscar and helps to make the movie as great as
it is.

Morgan Freeman can narrate better than any human being alive.  This film
does a great job of showing hope and how a person can be free, even in
prison, based solely on a persons outlook. And can be trapped, even in
the freedom outside of prison. The movie is amazing although it did not
make much money in the theatres, and was overshadowed by Pulp Fiction
and Forrest Gump which came out that year but its something every person should see.

One of the ultimate movies of all time.  From the vicious punch sound
effects to the cool treasure hunter story this movie is remembered by
anyone of any age.  Good guys vs bad guys, cowboys vs Indians it’s the
formula anyone can love.  Pay no attention to kingdom of the crystal
skull… that was the antichrist of Indiana Jones.

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti" {slurp slurp
slurp}Anthony Hopkins barely had 15 minutes in this movie, but he
made it the classic it is.  This movie spawned dozens of serial killer
knockoff movies but none compare to this flick, and you’ll never think
of the song White Horses the same ever again.

One of the most visually deep movies I have ever seen.  On top of being
a great story of a man going through a mid-life crisis, the visual
attention to detail is beyond anything I can think of.  The clothing,
environment, shade of film, the set up of objects on screen, are all
subconsciously set up to effect our perception and reinforce the movie. 
Basically it fucks your eye sockets out.

Who doesn’t love an innocent retarded man?  This movie does something I have never seen done so well… It shows the world through a persons perspective, but because the character is slow the significance of the events in his life are all skewed in unusual ways.  He knows just the bare minimum of information and lives only worrying about the base needs, while the story of present day America happens around him.

In one of Robert De Niros best, he plays the lonely and pretty much
psychotic taxi driver Travis Bickle.  He gives the ol "You talking to
me?" speech that will be remembered forever and ends the flick with a
bloody gunfight that had to be toned down just to keep it R rated.  The
movie was so spot on to a sociopath, that the legal defense for John
Hinkley used the movie to help prove his insanity.

This movie has been considered so important to American culture, and
history that in 2000 it was selected for preservation in the U.S.
National Film Registry.  In 1976, there was no reality TV, no Springer,
no shock TV, yet this film embraced the idea that a media company in
trouble would sink to any level to get its ratings.  Almost prophet
like.  The acting is by far the greatest piece to the movie and its
scary how its predictions have come true.

Yea that’s right DIE HARD.  I chose this movie because I love action
movies and think some of them deserve a place in critical awards, and
this movie was the catalyst for the action movies we see now and one of
the best ever made.  Who hasn’t ever said "Yippee Kay Yay mother
fucker"??

Its difficult to choose a movie having to do with Sylvester Stallone
because the guy has no respect for the art or craft and will beat a dead
horse until its red paint.  Yet the original Rocky was a great movie and
well written.  The nobody underdog against the champ… and who doesn’t
love a montage to Eye of the fuckin Tiger??

It might be too soon to throw this movie out there as one of the best
films ever, but im doing it any way.  Comic book movies may never be the
same again, and this movie has one of the most amazing soundtracks I can
think of, one of the best performances I can think of, and its epic
every time I see it.  Its amazing on so many levels, and an amazing move
from regular comic book movies to a gritty and real piece of art.

JFK quite possibly has the best editing Ive ever seen in a movie. Oliver
Stone exaggerates many things to create a stir as usual, but the movie
is such an amazing combination of styles and great acting.  It’s a long
film but the information touched on is scary realistic, even using the
real Zapruder film in a courtroom scene.

With one of the most amazing scenes in movie history I had to put this
movie in my top films.  If you didn’t get a chance to see the movie in
theatres, you missed out.  The D-Day scene in the beginning is 30
minutes of the most unreal footage I know of.  The movie also helps to
show the loss in war no matter what you do, but also the heroes that did
the craziest damn things you can think of for their country.

As a kid I didn’t think anything got more badass than the terminator. 
As I grew up I started to understand more of the story and how
technology can be the most dangerous thing humans have.  Whether it be the atomic bomb or the terminator, humans are set up to self destruction.  It’s a grim realization when coming from the love of the amazing special effects and cool stunts. Terminator salvation will fuckin own you.

This is a great movie that captured a lot in its timeframe.  Characters
were allowed to grow and become something new, there was an amazing
amount of detail to the time period and slang etc. and on top of that
the acting was top notch and the story was an awesome mystery and
conspiracy.  Cinematography and editing was some of the best.

This could be Stanley Kubricks best work and many critics see it as the
best movie ever made.  I think its an amazing movie, and unbelievable
for a film to encompass humans from the dawn of man to our future in
2001 and dealing with extra terrestrials.  This movie does something Ive
never seen a movie do, (besides silent films) it has absolutely no
dialogue in the first and last 20 minutes.  Its completely run on music,
actions, images and sound effects. It may seem very surreal but its an
amazing movie.