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After four years of reviewing movies, it seems fitting to sign off my beloved post by providing a list of my 50 favorite films. This list is by no means a “best of” list (mainly because those are almost completely pointless), nor is it a listing of the Top films in order of their quality (example: Mallrats is in no way a better film than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Rather, this is a list of movies that have had a large impact on me in some form or another, and have helped shaped the moviegoer I Picks am today. Were you to ask me about this list tomorrow, it would with Gary Sundt probably be different.

When I was a kid, my grandfather would let me borrow 6 Eternal Sunshine seter, Ash Brannon, Lee World (2010, Edgar a movie from his house every week. More often than not, the film I chose to borrow was the 1933 black-and- of the Spotless Mind Unkrich) Wright) white King Kong. I watched this film so many times, (2004, Michel Gondry) 22 36 Spider-Man 2 (2004, the tape began to get all static-y, and we eventually 7 Fight Club (1999, Da- (1991, John Singleton) Sam Raimi) had to replace it. I was very happy, about a year before his death, to give him King Kong on special edition vid Fincher) 23 Apocalypse Now 37 Sleeping Beauty DVD. He smiled1 knowingly, probably regretting he had 8 Pulp Fiction (1994, (1979, Francis Ford Cop- (1959, Clyde Geronimi) doomed his grandson to a lifetime obsession with . ) pola) 38 Being John Malkov-

My dad took me to the theater to see Kill Bill Vol. 1 9 The Exorcist (1973, Wil- 24 The 400 Blows (1959, ich (1999, ) when I was 15. He sat through the opening scene, saw liam Friedkin) Francois Truffaut) 39 Fear and Loathing in Uma Thurman get shot in the head, and walked out to 10 Jaws (1975, Stephen 25 The Trilogy Las Vegas (1998, Terry go watch a movie about dogs. When I walked out of the theater, I was sure I wanted to make movies, and Speilberg) - Episodes IV–VI (1977– Gilliam) I have since produced one film and directed two oth- 11 No Country for Old 1983, George Lucas, Irvin 40 Citizen Kane (1941, ers. Anyway, Quentin Tarantino has never made a bad Men (2008, The Coen Kershner, Richard Mar- ) film, but the kung fu/western opus of The Bride as she Brothers) quand) 41 A Clockwork Orange hunts down the people responsible2 for her attempted coup de grace is some of the best repeated viewings I’ve ever had. 12 The Godfather (1972, 26 Pan’s Labyrinth (1971, Stanley Kubrick) Not only is this Pixar’s very best film, but it also show- ) (2006, Guillermo Del 42 Harold and Kumar cases my absolute favorite onscreen couple: Wall-E 13 Taxi Driver (1976, Mar- Toro) Go to White Castle and Eve. Andrew Stanton did something very special tin Scorsese) 27 Ed Wood (1994, Tim (2004, Danny Leiner) when he created that little trash compactor: He crafted an utterly timely story about our fragile ecosystem 14 Where The Wild Burton) 43 Terminator 2: Judg- and filled it with more sweetness than any movie has Things Are (2009, Spike 28 Dawn of the Dead ment Day (1992, James a right to have. When that little robot lost his (its?) Jonze) (1978, George A. Rome- Cameron) memory at the end of the flick, it was enough to make a 20-year-old3 college film critic nearly cry. 15 The Dark Knight ro) 44 Bonnie & Clyde (2008, Christopher No- 29 Clerks (1994, Kevin (1967, Arthur Penn) P.T. Anderson’s landmark film is an ensemble master- piece. Sure, it’s about a guy with a 13-inch penis, but lan) Smith) 45 The Harder They so is every Liam Neeson movie (or so I’ve heard; think 16 Halloween (1978, 30 Aliens (1986, James Come (1972, Perry Hen- about that the next he’s talking about midichlorians). John Carpenter) Cameron) zell) Burt Reynolds is a porn director, Julianne Moore is his cocaine-addict wife, and Marky Mark, John C. Reilly, 17 Silence of the Lambs 31 Bowling for Colum- 46 (1999, The Don Cheadle and Heather Graham are porn stars. Does (1991, ) bine (2001, Michael Wachowski Brothers) it sound very strange? It is, but it is also one of the 18 Nixon (1995, Oliver Moore) 47 Slither (2006, James most honest and insightful4 films ever made. Kevin Smith’s sophomore effort was not loved by many Stone) 32 Evil Dead 2: Dead By Gunn) upon it’s initial release in 1995. However, it found its 19 Chasing Amy (1997, Dawn (1987, Sam Raimi) 48 Crumb (1994, Terry audience on VHS and DVD, and I was one of those fol- Kevin Smith) 33 Serenity (2005, Joss Zwigoff) lowers. I was 13, and I remember watching Brody Bruce (Jason Lee) talk about comic books, his sexual desires 20 Adaptation (2002, Whedon) 49 True Romance (Tony and the many idiosyncracies of popular culture, and my Spike Jonze) 34 Se7en (1995, David Scott, 1993) mind was absolutely blown. I not only realized I wasn’t 21 The Toy Story Trilogy Fincher) 50 King Kong (2005, alone in my mindset, but that movies were allowed to (1995–2010, John Las- 35 Scott Pilgrim vs. The ) be made however a filmmaker5 wanted to make them. Dec. 9 - Jan. 20, 2010 | The Lumberjack 25