John Weber

Money's Worth Movies



Posted: Sunday, May 10, 2009

by John Weber
http://screambucket.com/

You work hard all week, it's Saturday night, and all you want to do is relax and watch a good movie without paying ten bucks for a box of popcorn. Seems simple, but it's not. More times than I care to remember, I've wandered the aisles at Blockbuster only to be faced with a series of disgusting slasher movies, puerile "comedies", empty-headed "chic flicks" and action films that defy belief. As a community service therefore, I've compiled my list of must-see movies, ones that stand the test of time (or at least ensure you don't waste your hard-earned money).

"How can I repay you," you ask?

Forget it. I'm a nice guy. I can't help it.

Romance

Looking to make inroads on a first date, seal the deal on a third or maybe patch things up after an argument? Pick up one of these sure-fire romances: As Good as it Gets (with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt); Spanglish, (Adam Sandler and hottie Paz Vega); Against All Odds (Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward) and my wife's favorite, Sabrina (a modern day Cinderella with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormand).

Romantic Comedy

Want a little less romance and a little more humor? Hitch (with Will Smith, Eva Mendes and Kevin James) is a great date movie while Tin Cup offers romance, golf, and a stupid, stupid guy (Kevin Costner). Romance with a sexual edge? Try Risky Business (with a young Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Morney).

Sci-fi/Action/Violence

Your girl's gone away or she's up for some Sci-fi action? You can't go wrong with The Terminator, Terminator II, The Matrix or The Island, great storylines and action that never lets up. If you're less into sci-fi but like movies with violence, try Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs.

Scary

If you like scary movies with plenty of substance, Silence of the Lambs (starring Anthony Hopkins) is the best. Hopkins also stars in The Edge, with Alec Baldwin andthe biggest Grizzly bear you've ever seen. Julia Roberts faces her fears (and a creepy husband) in Sleeping With The Enemy while James Caan stars with an even creepier enemy in Misery. Finally, there's Alive, the scariest (true) story I've ever seen.

Crazy Funny

Want a good laugh? Some of my all-time favorites include The Odd Couple (with Walter Mathau and Jack Lemmon), The Pink Panther (with Peter Sellers) and A Fish Called Wanda and Monty Python's Holy Grail (with John Cleese). A little less dated but equally funny are Jim Carrey's Dumb and Dumber, Steve Martin's Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Ben Stiller's There's Something About Mary, Meet the Parents and Tropic Thunder.

Outstanding Dramas

If drama's your thing, golden oldies include Cool Hand Luke (Paul Newman), Chinatown (Jack Nicholson), Three Days of the Condor (Robert Redford), Sand Pebbles (Steve McQueen), Straw Dogs and Marathon Man (Dustin Hoffman). More modern but equally commanding are Steven Speilberg's Munich, Russell Crowe's L.A. Confidential and Leonardo Dicapprio's Catch Me If You Can, Blood Diamond and The Aviator. Tom Cruise's A Few Good Men and Collateral are also great.

Best Docu-dramas

Russell Crowe and Al Pacino in The Insider (incredible), Michael Douglas in Traffic (scary), Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth (sobering) and Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 (revealing). All of them excellent.

Historical Drama

Michael Mann's Last of the Mohicans, Crowe's Master and Commander, Peer O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Kingsley's Ghandi, Ron Howard's The Right Stuff and the violent, computer-graphic 300 are the best of the best.

Quirky Great

The Wonderboys (with Michael Douglas); Crash (with Matt Dillon); Magnolia (with Tom Cruise); The Great Labowski and Fargo (by the Cohen Brothers).

Best Westerns

The Shootist and True Grit (starring John Wayne); Unforgiven and The Outlaw Josey Wales (starring Clint Eastwood).

Best Movies You've Never Heard Of

The coming-of-age classic Breaking Away (with a young Dennis Quaid); the heart-rending Starman (with Jeff Bridges); the disfunctional Miami Blues (with Alec Baldwin), the Clint Eastwood-Kevin Costner collaboration, A Perfect World; the hilarious, socio-political satire Wag The Dog (with Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman), the brilliant Parenthood (with Steve Martin); the understated Nobody's Fool (with Paul Newman and Bruce Willis); the eccentric Black Heart, White Hunter and sentimental Honkeytonk Man (both with Clint Eastwood).

Awesome Movies (but done to death on TV)

Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Titanic, Forest Gump, Jurassic Park, The Untouchables, The Shawshank Redemption, The Bodyguard, Dances With Wolves, Braveheart.

Worst Movies Ever

E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Moulin Rouge, The Village, The Duchess, The Gauntlet .

John Weber is a husband and father, Ryerson University Journalism grad, Communications Technology teacher, former television and radio news reporter, and the author of two books, The Point, and Letters Home

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