Secondhand-Reviews: Top 10 All Time Films

After posting the best and worst of 2009 last week, I just figured "why not" to this one. I should state up front that this does not pretend to be anything other than a TOTALLY subjective, personal list of the movies that have moved me the most one way or another, and not an objective assessment of the absolute best by some totally impersonal standard. Plus, the list is not numbered, but in alphabetical order. It was difficult enough to narrow down the list to ten films, to rank them in order would have been completely impossible. ********************************************************************************************************************

CASABLANCA. (1942) Yes, the one virtually everyone has seen. But the Bogart/Bergman classic about war, sacrifice and so much more still does it to me every time I see it. And it has the single greatest hallmark of a classic, at least for me: each time I see it, I see something I never noticed before. Plus, for a dramatic film, it's often surprisingly funny.

CHUNGKING EXPRESS (Hong Kong, 1995) Proof positive that Hong Kong movies aren't ALL about martial arts (not that there's anything wrong with that). Director Wong Kar-Wai is one of the real artistic masters of world cinema, and in this movie has made quite possibly the best movie ever made about loneliness and how we surivive and even prosper in spite of it.

CINEMA PARADISO (Italy, 1989) What kind of movie makes me cry? This one, for starters, every time I even just listen to the soundtrack (which, by the way, is my all time favorite music ever written for the movies). A young boy in a small Italian town grows up with and has his life's direction changed by his involvement with the local movie theatre and its projectionist. Possibly the best movie ever about why we love the movies.

DUCK SOUP (1933) Couldn't have this list without a couple of Marx Brothers films. Probably their best movie, this was intended (according to Groucho) as nothing more than a funny film, but wound up as such a biting satire on war and government that it didn't get truly appreciated until years later... it was that far ahead of its time. Plus it's just plain wonderfully silly.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH. The 1939 adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel remains much more relevant than it should be 71 years later. Emotionally involving, realistically inspiring, and both brilliantly acted and directed, this story about the poor and the downtrodden has as much to say in 2010 as it ever did.

IKIRU (Japan, 1952) My personal favorite work of the Japanese genius Akira Kurosowa. A minor government bureacrat who discovers he's dieing of cancer attempts to accomplish one good deed before he dies that will justify his life. A surprisingly non-depressing story about the power of the individual. The title translates as "To Live", which is really what the film is about.

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (England, 1975) King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table search for the Holy Grail in possibly the single silliest movie ever made, and sillyness has never looked so good. More classic bits in 90 or so minutes that would seem humanly possible. I know virtually every line by heart and I still crack up every time I see it.

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935) The Marx Brothers invade and destroy the dignified world of the opera in a movie that's second only to "Duck Soup" in their career. Another collection of all time classic moments... watch, in particular, for the crowded stateroom scene and Groucho and Chico negotiating a contract.

TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948) One of Bogart's all-time classics, a story about what extremes greed will drive men to. Walter Huston (father of the film'd director John Huston) got an Oscar for his role here, and Bogart deserved one too. Would a movie that's this honest about the dark side of human nature even get made today?

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) The absolute peak of both Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder's careers, this gentle, affectionate spoof of the 1930's Universal Pictures Frankenstein saga is insanely funny and still looks and feels PRECISELY like the films it's spoofing. Highlights include the "Putting On The Ritz" dance number and Gene Hackman's blind hermit, but really, the whole movie is one long highlight reel.