Friday, January 3, 2014

Johnny Fro's Favorite Movies of All Time

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I know this is John Frascella Sports, but I've decided to expand to movies. In this installment, I'll be listing my favorite movies of all time, by category. Please note that "favorite" doesn't mean "best." A film can be truly great (9/10 or even 10/10) but have low replay value. For many of us, our favorite movies are those we can watch over and over and over again. 

Often these films with low replay value are either (A) too long or (B) too heavy. One viewing is sufficient in some instances. Feel free to comment or debate as you read along. So, without further ado...

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DRAMAS

1. GoodFellas
2. Training Day
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Inglourious Basterds
5. Crash
6. Mr. Holland's Opus
7. All the President's Men
8. Good Will Hunting
9. A Few Good Men
10. Forrest Gump

Honorable Mention:  American Beauty, Glory, The Godfather, City of God, Braveheart, Sideways, A Bronx Tale, Gone Baby Gone, 25th Hour and Mystic River.

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COMEDIES

In this category, it's difficult to differentiate between comedies, romantic comedies and romances. I believe the following list of "Comedies" were written more for the laughs than the inherent romances. My top choice really walks the line...

1. Knocked Up
2. The 40-Year Old Virgin
3. The Hangover
4. Happy Gilmore
5. Meet the Parents
6. Wedding Crashers
7. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
8. Wanderlust
9. Men In Black
10. Tommy Boy

Honorable Mention:  My Cousin Vinny, Analyze This, Office Space, Anchorman, The Grand, The Other Guys, Step Brothers, 21 Jump Street, The Hangover Part II and Vegas Vacation.

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ROMANTIC COMEDIES

1. Almost Famous...this was a tough one to categorize. I almost placed it under Dramas, but I don't think that's quite right.
2. [500] Days of Summer
3. Shakespeare in Love
4. Definitely, Maybe
5. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
6. Midnight in Paris
7. Juno
8. Hitch
9. Clueless
10. Love, Actually

Honorable Mention:  Pretty Woman, Crazy Stupid Love, 50 First Dates, The Holiday and When Harry Met Sally.

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SPORTS

1. Moneyball
2. Cinderella Man
3. Jerry Maguire
4. Bull Durham
5. 61
6. Major League
7. He Got Game
8. Hoop Dreams (documentary)
9. Remember the Titans
10. All In: The Poker Movie (documentary)

Honorable Mention:  Harvard Beats Yale 19-19 (documentary), Any Given Sunday, Cool Runnings, White Men Can't Jump and Blue Chips.

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CHILDHOOD

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Home Alone
3. Aladdin
4. Little Giants
5. Toy Story
6. Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
7. The Parent Trap
8. Rookie of the Year
9. The Adventures of Robin Hood
10. The Sandlot

Honorable Mention:  Beauty and the Beast, Angels in the Outfield, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze, Dunston Checks In and Peter Pan.

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ACTION

1. Independence Day
2. Sin City
3. I, Robot
4. Tombstone (since I will not have a "Western" category)
5. Face/Off
6. Die Hard: With a Vengeance
7. Jurassic Park
8. The Matrix
9. The Fugitive
10. 300

Honorable Mention:  The Negotiator, Spider-Man 2, Enemy of the State, The Dark Knight and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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SUSPENSE/HORROR

1. Rear Window (the original, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Jimmy Stewart)
2. Se7en
3. Cloverfield
4. Shutter Island
5. World War Z

Honorable Mention: Poltergeist, Signs, Arlington Road, The Birds and Strangers on a Train.

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"CREW"

These are the films I've watched most often with my best friends. It began as a list of five with two honorable mentions, but Jimmy Kelly suggested I expand it to 10. Shout to Jelly!

1. Rounders
2. Major League 2
3. Blue Streak
4. Boiler Room
5. Fight Club
6. The Social Network
7. The Fast and the Furious
8. The Boondock Saints
9. 3 Ninjas
10. Dumb and Dumber

Honorable Mention:  Black Sheep, Finding Forrester, Air Force One, The Last Samurai and Snatch. 

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SLEEPERS

Enjoyable films that haven't received enough credit. 

1. Game Change
2. Lucky Number Slevin
3. 50/50
4. The Terminal
5. Thank You For Smoking
6. Stranger Than Fiction
7. Stay (starring Ryan Gosling)
8. Before Sunset (also Before Sunrise and Before Midnight)
9. Insomnia
10. The Sessions

Honorable Mention:  The Ox-Bow Incident, The New World, Running Scared (starring Paul Walker), Shattered Glass, Promised Land, Everybody's Fine, Find Me Guilty, Just Looking, Defending Your Life, Going the Distance, Adventureland, Away We Go, Little Manhattan and Dan In Real Life.

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COPS AND ROBBERS

This category was a late request by Donald J. Toby aka "Captain Live." This one's for you, Donny J. Please note that the following cop films have already been ranked in other categories, therefore they will not be included a second time:  Training Day, I Robot, Die Hard With a Vengeance, The Fugitive, The Negotiator, Se7en, Blue Streak and Insomnia. 

Here's my favorites of the leftovers:

1. The Town
2. The Departed
3. The Usual Suspects
4. Catch Me If You Can
5. L.A. Confidential
6. Inside Man
7. The Untouchables
8. American Gangster
9. Rush Hour
10. Die Hard (the original)

Honorable Mention:  In the Line of Fire, Naked Gun, Out of Sight, Bad Boys and Out of Time.

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SCIENCE FICTION

This category was a late request by Mr. Tim Ehrens (aka "T-Bone"), a former colleague of mine at The Daily Campus, UConn's favorite newspaper. I'm hardly a Sci-Fi expert, so please forgive me if I'm stretching with some of the following selections:

1. Donnie Darko
2. The Prestige
3. Minority Report
4. E.T. 
5. Knowing
6. K-Pax
7. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
8. Back to the Future
9. Inception
10. Star Wars

Honorable Mention:  The Matrix Reloaded, Batteries Not Included, Armageddon, War of the Worlds and Twelve Monkeys. 

And that's that. Feel free to continue commenting and debating!

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