Top 50 Movies of All-Time (#30-21)

We are approaching and passing the halfway point of my 50 greatest movies ever!  Make sure that you have read up on my honorable mentions and #50-31!

Honorable Mention:  http://t.co/v85d8L17a9

#50-41:  http://t.co/J9gALKkZpc

#40-31:  http://t.co/S3IgVOVBG3

Now to get into the top 30!

#30:  The LEGO Movie (2014)

This is the greatest animation I have ever seen.  While it was marketed as a kid’s movie (and let’s be honest it’s one huge commercial), The LEGO Movie was just as enjoyable for adults as well.  I would list the star-studded cast, but we would be here forever.  Just go to IMDB and prepare to be stunned by just how many celebrities were in this movie.  I still can’t believe it was snubbed for Best Animation at this year’s Oscars.

#29:  It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

The oldest movie on this list, It’s a Wonderful Life is the best Christmas movie out there (with Elf as a close second).  It is such a feel-good movie and the perfect one to sit down to with the family on Christmas Eve.  This Frank Capra film is a classic and will never be forgotten.

#28:  Star Wars (VI): Return of the Jedi (1983)

As the conclusion to the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi did a great job wrapping up the best movie trilogy out there.  The passionate lightsaber battle between Luke and Darth Vader kept fans wondering if Luke would fall to the dark side all the way to the very end.  It was also the first time that we got to see an extensive look at the Emperor and force lighting.  The second Star Wars movie to crack the top 50, Return of the Jedi is the perfect way to cap off a “trilogy night” with the guys.

#27:  All the President’s Men (1976)

A grossly underrated movie, All the President’s Men is a film based on the two reporters who investigated the Watergate Scandal during the Nixon administration.  Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford portray Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward as two Washington Post investigators that pull and pry at every source or leak they can get their hands on.  We get a behind the scenes look at how these two men unraveled one of the biggest political cover-ups in US history.

#26:  The Social Network (2010)

This historical flick was a nice variation of director David Fincher’s string of thriller crime movies.  While it had all of the typical “Fincherisms” like dark lighting and low-key but powerful soundtrack, The Social Network was a lot different than Fincher’s usual movie.  It won three Oscars and was nominated for Best Picture.  We got to see the breakout of two up and coming actors Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield.  Both of them gave strong performances in The Social Network and have definitely ridden the wave of fame they got from the movie.  Who ever thought a movie about Facebook could have a trailer this cool? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RB3edZyeYw

#25:  Captain America:  The First Avenger (2011)

Captain America was the first time we got to see Chris Evans suit up as the famous superhero.  I love how Marvel decided to keep him as more of a “boy scout” than giving him a new gritty persona.  It also was the final movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before the first Avengers movie.  It is a great movie to benchmark as the halfway mark of the top 50 movies.

#24:  Lord of the Ring:  The Two Towers (2002)

The first installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy to crack the top 25, The Two Towers was primarily a movie to bridge the first and second. That being said, it is still a great stand-alone film.  We see the fellowship get broken up and the role of Gollum grows enormously.  Whether it is Aragorn preparing his army for the Battle of Helms Deep (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXC-jJhFaUI) or Frodo and Sam slowly working their way to Mount Doom,  The Two Towers is definitely one of the top 25 movies out there.

#23: The Naked Gun:  From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

The Naked Gun is probably the funniest movie I have ever seen.  Based on the short-lived TV series Police Squad, The Naked Gun follows detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) and his mission to protect the Queen of England on her visit to the United States.  The dry humor and satire are similar to the humor found in Airplane!, but it carried over better in The Naked Gun. The movie is filled with random cameos and celebrities like O.J. Simpson, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Reggie Jackson, Dick Vitale, Jim Palmer, Dick Enberg, Tim McCarver, and the USC marching band.  It’s scenes like this that make the movie so great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPEnaz0Qm8

#22:  Iron Man (2008)

The second Marvel movie to crack the top 25, Iron Man changed the game for superhero movies in 2008.  It was the flagship for Marvel’s Cinematic Universe which has grown to encompass a ridiculous amount of comic books and superheroes.  Without the success of Iron Man, the whole thing would have fallen flat on its face.  The soundtrack was exciting, Robert Downey Jr. gave a great performance as Tony Stark, and the movie was pretty realistic for a comic book.  Plus, there has never been an end credits scene that got people more excited than the one at the end of Iron Man.

#21: Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

This David O. Russell masterpiece was one of the best films of 2012.  Bradley Cooper stars as a former teacher with slight mental issues trying to win back his ex-wife before he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who agrees to help him if he helps her win a dance competition.  It shows just how great a celebrity couple Cooper and J-Law would be but we can only dream.  Silver Linings Playbook deals with romance, mental instability, lying, death, and overcoming adversity while still maintaining a positive vibe throughout.  It is a definite must-see for movie fans everywhere.

Top 5 Contemporary Movie Directors

The movie industry is constantly growing and changing.  One moment you can be the top of the A-listers, the next you are completely irrelevant.  Here is a list of the top five contemporary movie directors.  To be considered a contemporary movie director, you cannot have directed a feature-length movie before 1990 (sorry Spielberg, but I wanted to keep it competitive). You should be able to recognize at least one or two of their movies that have come out in the last 25 years.  Without further ado, here are the best of the new wave of Hollywood Directors:

#5: Quentin Tarantino

Best Movies:  Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Django Unchained

I will admit a little bit of bias here.  Personally, I am not a big Tarantino fan.  I do, however, understand that he does have a ton of fans out there and it would be almost criminal to exclude him simply because I don’t like excess violence.  Tarantino directed his first big movie in 1992 when he released Reservoir Dogs.  He instantly became a cult favorite as he released his most recognizable movie, Pulp Fiction, just a few years later.

Tarantino is known for his stylized violence and occasionally going a little over the top in his movies.  He has definitely garnered a huge fan base as he works on his next project The Hateful Eight that is set to drop in 2017.

#4:  Joss Whedon

Best Movies:  The Avengers, Serenity

Known for his great work in television, Whedon has recently made the transition to the big screen.  The mind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, Whedon showed his commitment to his work before directing the culmination of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe in The Avengers.

Firefly fans are left wondering what could have been had Fox not cancelled the series so soon after its release.  While it was nice to get the wrap up with Serenity, Whedon’s legacy could have been extended even further had Firefly been a cultural mainstay.

#3:  David O. Russell

Best Movies: American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook, Anchorman, The Fighter

David O. Russell is one of the most underrated of the new generation.  He has already been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times in the past five years.  He was a potential favorite for the 2013 and 2014 Oscars for his work with Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle–two of the best movies of their respective years.

With his new movie Accidental Love set to come out in theaters later this month, we will have to wait and see if O. Russel can finally win his first Oscar.

#2:  David Fincher

Best Movies:  Gone Girl, The Social Network, Seven, Fight Club

Fincher has been known for directing darker movies (he even filters out a ton of the light from each of his films).  Thrillers like Seven, Panic Room, Zodiac, and Gone Girl have propelled him to national recognition.  His Facebook biopic The Social Network earned him a nomination for the Oscar Best Director.  While Fincher has never won an Oscar, he will definitely have a few by time he steps down.  Also behind movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fincher has shown that he has a wide range of directing talent.

Fincher has also dabbled in television.  He got Netflix’s House of Cards off the ground by directing the first season before signing a deal with HBO to direct three new TV shows.  We have only seen the beginning of Fincher’s career and I cannot wait to see the rest of what he has to offer.

Honorable Mention:

J.J. Abrams

Ang Lee

Zach Snyder

Michael Bay (just kidding)

#1:  Christopher Nolan

Best Movies:  The Dark Knight, Inception, Memento, Interstellar

Nolan has stolen the directing scene of the 2000s.  His breakthrough came with his second movie:  Memento.  Shortly after the movie industry saw his potential, he was offered the role as director of Batman Begins.  From there, Nolan has skyrocketed his career with the gritty The Dark Knight, mind-bending Inception, and visually stunning Interstellar.  While all three of those movies were some of the best of their respective year, Nolan has never been nominated for a Best Director Oscar.  I think he is in the same camp as Leonardo DiCaprio for best members of the movie industry to never win an Oscar.

While I understand that it is hard to win an Oscar, the fact that Nolan has never even been nominated is quite disturbing. He has taken a unique perspective on directing.  He hates using CGI, green screens, and 3D.  A famous scene in Inception shows Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character fighting in a hotel within a dream.  He is actually in a car so the hotel spins as the car moves.  Instead of using special effects, he funded the creation of a 100-foot long hotel wing to be built on a rotating scale to make it more realistic.

Here is the hotel scene:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvDba2nMv_U

Here is Nolan and Gordon-Levitt’s description of building the hotel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PhiSSnaUKk

Nolan also managed to film Interstellar without using a single green screen (computer monitors that reflected space were placed inside the ship).  In The Dark Knight Rises opening plane crash scene (watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNUSDu-Tehg), Nolan legitimately had a plane crashed and filmed the scene in the air (actors had hidden safety parachutes).

It is dedication to his craft like this that makes Christopher Nolan the best of this new generation of directors.

Who is your favorite contemporary director?  Do you hate Nolan films?  Let me know what you think.