70. Saving Private Ryan (1998)Directed by Stephen Spielberg; Written by Robert Rodat
Starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Vin Diesel, Paul Giamatti & Giovanni Ribisi
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award winner for Best Director
One of the most visually stunning war films ever created, Spielberg's World War II drama sets a group of American soldiers with the task of saving a man who lost all of his fellow military brothers. Against many well-known battles, this question - whether it's right to save one man while others die - is so very profound and rattling. In the end, the answer is not right and wrong or morals, it's being courageous and believing in a greater good.
One of the most visually stunning war films ever created, Spielberg's World War II drama sets a group of American soldiers with the task of saving a man who lost all of his fellow military brothers. Against many well-known battles, this question - whether it's right to save one man while others die - is so very profound and rattling. In the end, the answer is not right and wrong or morals, it's being courageous and believing in a greater good.
69. Singin' in the Rain (1952)Directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly; Written by Adolph Green & Betty Comden
Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Rita Moreno & Jean Hagen
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress - Jean Hagen
It seems that 1952 treated "Singin' in the Rain" the same way I did. It was a fun musical with a great cast, but not one of the top films ever created. This film is the one of the few films in top of AFI's 100 that doesn't have an Oscar nod for Best Picture. It's as if it takes time for the movie to grow on you - the music, the people, the fun. Afterwards, I consider it one of the best movie musicals and really enjoy every minute of the film.
It seems that 1952 treated "Singin' in the Rain" the same way I did. It was a fun musical with a great cast, but not one of the top films ever created. This film is the one of the few films in top of AFI's 100 that doesn't have an Oscar nod for Best Picture. It's as if it takes time for the movie to grow on you - the music, the people, the fun. Afterwards, I consider it one of the best movie musicals and really enjoy every minute of the film.
68. Match Point (2005)Written & Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Johnathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Brian Cox & Emily Mortimer
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award nominee for Best Original Screenplay
Oh, Woody Allen. Though I haven't seen every Allen film, I know enough to say that he's one of the most egotistical, narcissistic, compulsive, destructive writers in the business - which is why he's amazing. However, it's great to see him put himself aside, allow the story to unfold without nagging (though hilarious) monologues and arguments, and provide the actors with a script made for characters. "Match Point" is just that. It's modern, sexy, and has a jaw-dropping ending. Who doesn't want to see Scarlett and Rhys Meyers go at it?
67. Cidade de Deus "City of God" (2002)Directed by Fernando Meirelles & Katia Lund; Written by Braulio Montovani
Starring Alexandre Rodrigues, Phellipe Haagensen, Leandro Firmino & Alice Braga
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award nominee for Best Director
A surprise of a film that is extraordinarily compelling in its ability to give a story and shed an idea of what life is like in third world countries. It's a look into the slums of Rio de Janiero, the gangs compiled there, and a young man's quest to make something of his life, rather than falling into the usual pitfall of drugs and gang wars.
66. Braveheart (1995)Directed by Mel Gibson; Written by Randall Wallace
Starring Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Catherine McCormack & Brendan Gleeson
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award winner for Best Picture
If anything is epic, this movie is. Gibson puts forth the true story of William Wallace: the rebel, the outlaw, the lover, and the hero. It's triumphant how one man can and did change a millions of lives across numerous countries and heart-breaking in that the man who changes rarely sees his transformed world. The battle scenes in "Braveheart" are beyond anything of its time in realism and Gibson was not holding back.
If anything is epic, this movie is. Gibson puts forth the true story of William Wallace: the rebel, the outlaw, the lover, and the hero. It's triumphant how one man can and did change a millions of lives across numerous countries and heart-breaking in that the man who changes rarely sees his transformed world. The battle scenes in "Braveheart" are beyond anything of its time in realism and Gibson was not holding back.
65. The Little Mermaid (1989)Written & Directed by Ron Clements & John Musker
Voiced by Jodi Benson, Pat Carroll, Christopher Daniel Barnes & Samuel E. Wright
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award winner for Best Original Score - Alan Menken
What kid didn't watch Disney movies? When I saw this in theaters when I was four, I fell in a deep loving crush with the red-headed mermaid, Ariel. This movie is so entertaining and full of songs that will never die. "The Little Mermaid" is certainly the best Disney film produced in its prime fairy tale era. Then everything went computerized.
64. Jaws (1975)Directed by Steven Spielberg; Written by Peter Benchley
Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw & Richard Dreyfuss
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award nominee for Best Picture
Dun-dun. Dun-dun dun-dun. It sends shivers down my spine. With the combination of Spielberg, William's music, and a man-eating shark, it's no wonder people of the 70s were terrified to go to the beach! Benchley's script is an obvious tribute to Melville's masterpiece "Moby-Dick," Shaw, of course, being Captain Ahab. Pure and utter blood-thirsty revenge is what drives the men to seek the sea creature and kill him. It's hubris at its best.
63. Moulin Rouge! (2001)Directed by Baz Luhrman; Written by Baz Luhrman & Craig Pearce
Starring Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent & Richard Roxburgh
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award nominee for Best Picture
Luhrman brings to life a musical of contemporary songs, assembling them in a beautiful mosaic of a film with Bohemian France for a back-drop and the faces of Kidman and McGregor to fit the molds of the Juliet & Romeo-type Satine & Christian. Visually, this film pushes the envelope of usual Hollywood hits and creates something indulgent and enticing. Besides romantic, endearing and dramatic, "Moulin Rouge!" is so much fun and very funny.
62. Sophie's Choice (1982)Written & Directed by Alan J. Pakula
Starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline & Peter MacNicol
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award winner for Best Actress - Meryl Streep
Meryl, Meryl, Meryl. This is the performance of a lifetime. This is one of the greatest performances ever in the history of Hollywood. Streep captivates every single frame as Sophie Zawistowski, both as the foreign, Jewish, blond bombshell wildly in love with Kline's Nathan and as the oppressed version of the same woman, trying to survive the wrath of the Nazi Empire. Her choice is both between the two men she fell in love with in America and something so unfathomable that it's nearly impossible to ponder what you would do in Sophie's shoes.
Meryl, Meryl, Meryl. This is the performance of a lifetime. This is one of the greatest performances ever in the history of Hollywood. Streep captivates every single frame as Sophie Zawistowski, both as the foreign, Jewish, blond bombshell wildly in love with Kline's Nathan and as the oppressed version of the same woman, trying to survive the wrath of the Nazi Empire. Her choice is both between the two men she fell in love with in America and something so unfathomable that it's nearly impossible to ponder what you would do in Sophie's shoes.
61. The English Patient (1996)Written & Directed by Anthony Minghella
Starring Ralph Fiennes, Kristen Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Naveen Andrews & Colin Firth
Greatest Award/Nomination: Academy Award winner for Best Picture
At the beginning winning streak of Miramax films, "The English Patient" focuses of memory, love and war. A tale of a man who transformed into something horrible and his road to the sick bed. The performances in this movie are incredible - especially Binoche - and it's raw directing by Minghella renders a look into the lives of several characters at the end of the second World War.
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