The Top 100 Movies of All Time (A Very Biased List): 55-53

55. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke
Starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, and William Sylvester with the voice of Douglas Rain
Oscar Nominations: 4 Oscar Wins: 1 (Visual Effects)

Possibly the most parodied movie of all time and definitely one of the most iconic. The movie is visually stunning. Today it may look a little less but that's just taking it in that context. Then it was a work of art and it still is. I don't quite feel that the movie is perfect, there are many points where it is downright dull, but it still it worthy for showing that science fiction can be more than giant monsters attacking beautiful women. It can also be something that makes you think. Still, my main reason to watch this movie is for the visuals and the music. Worth tracking down a Blu-Ray copy of the film if you can.


54. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Directed by David Hand, William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen
Written by Ted Sears, Richard Creedon, Otto Englander, Dick Rickard, Earl Hurd, Merrill De Maris, Dorothy Ann Blank, and Webb Smith
Starring the Voices of Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Pinto Colvig, and Roy Atwell
Oscar Nominations: 1

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Trailer 1937 | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

The one that started it all. This was a huge technical achievement back in it's day. Today we take it for granted that something like this can be done. It was a huge undertaking and one that animation aficionados like myself will always be grateful. Because of it's historical significance, it's easy to overlook that character depiction is kinda two-dimensional but even that is negligible compared to it's beauty. It wouldn't be a few years before we get an animated picture half as good and it really is, more even then Mickey Mouse, the thing that built Disney.


53. The Philadelphia Story ( 1940)
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Written by Donald Ogden Stewart from the play by Phillip Barry
Starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, and Ruth Hussey
Oscar Nominations: 6 Oscar Wins: 2 (Best Actor James Stewart, Best Adapted Screenplay)

I love movies from the forties. Everyone talked so fast, the dialogue was thrown like knives and no movie demonstrates this quite like The Philadelphia Story. A movie about a woman's remarriage, it's cast is just sublime. Hepburn was one of the golden stars in the heaven of Hollywood and Jimmy Stewart proves himself to be a perfect actor. The film does seem stagey at times but there are others that it breaks free of it's stage trappings. Special note should be paid to the fact that up until this point, Hepburn had been considered Box Office Poison. From this point on, she proved herself to be a star and no one would ever dispute that again.


Next Time: " I AM THE EVIL MAHA RAJA! YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!" "I still think it would be wonderful to have a man love you so much he'd kill for you." "When this kind of fire starts, it is very hard to put out. The tender boughs of innocence burn first, and the wind rises, and then all goodness is in jeopardy."