MovieBUFFering's 101 Favorite Movies - 2019

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55

The Lion King - 1994



"Hakuna Matata"
If you are anywhere near my age and The Lion King is not on your countdown you are doing life wrong. What was I? I believe 7 years old when this hit theaters. It was the first movie I vividly remember being an event. I remember my family tried to go see it once and the line was out the door and around the corner. I remember thinking wow this is a big deal. I also vividly remember looking over at my mom crying when Mufasa got killed. First time I ever saw her cry. It's crazy the things you retain .

This movie was just one of those cultural touchstones. For whatever reason it just resonated with people. It had fun characters for kids but felt like adults could enjoy it too. I think a big key to it's success was the music, but that was true of a lot of Disney movies during that time period. It just has some absolutely timeless songs. "Hakuna Matata", "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", "Circle Of Life", "Just Can't Wait To Be King.". All of those songs are still well known today. I feel like Elton John gave the movie a level of respect by joining it and Hakuna Matata sort of elevated the characters of Timon and Pumbaa to iconic status.

I am disappointed the new Lion King did so well because it just seemed like a soulless money grab of a movie. Heard it was really bad because it was like watching an animal documentary instead of a film with the animals unable to show no emotion. I really wish they would stop rebooting these animation movies into live action but it's hard to blame them when they turn such a profit. It's hard to describe the importance of the Lion King to a new generation of kids that will grow up with the live action being their version. I am just not certain an animated movie has had a bigger impact ever before or since then Lion King, maybe Toy Story or Frozen. However, I still don't think they were as big as the Lion King when it first came out.

Director - Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff
Best Performance - James Earl Jones as Mufasa
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 93%
Factoid - The team working on the film was supposedly Disney's "team B," who were "kept busy" while "team A" worked on Pocahontas (1995), on which the production had much higher hopes. As it turned out, "The Lion King" became a huge critical and commercial success, whereas "Pocahontas" met with mixed reviews and a much lower box office.
Stock In Countdown - Sinker

Memorable Scene
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101 Favorite Movies (2019)



For some reason I’ve just never gotten into the Lion King that much, maybe I should give it another rewatch sometime.



For some reason I’ve just never gotten into the Lion King that much, maybe I should give it another rewatch sometime.
Yea it probably should be higher for someone my age. I've kind of retreated off it as well. But there was no denying it's impact to me.



54

Up - 2009



"That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most."
Back to back animations. Pixar is at its undeniably best when they throw out an original idea that you would think has no way of working. I feel like they like the challenge of making something work that shouldn't. A 80 something year old man as the lead with a house that floats by balloons. Challenge accepted I guess. Challenge passed because this movie is fun as hell. This movie has a ton of heart, hell makes you cry within the first 10 minutes. It is also an awesome adventure/action movie.

Pixar was in their best stretch to date to me. They made some of their best original movies that was capped off by this flick. They sort of went on after this to get sequel happy and I think their level dropped a bit, minus Inside Out. When I first saw Up I was sort of underwhelmed but every viewing since it has gotten better for me. It is just a good time watching a movie and makes me smile all the time just thinking about it. It is most definitely one of Pixar's strongest showings.

Director - Pete Docter
Best Performance - Edward Asner as Carl Fredricksen
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 98%
Factoid - When Carl and Ellie go picnicking, their destination is a spot under the same tree from A Bug's Life (1998)
Stock In Countdown - Riser

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IDK If I could put any 3D animated film over The Classic Lion King film. But this is this dudes list and all for what a person would want on their list. When say 3D am talking not the Glasses kind of 3D. All original Animated films hand drawn where known a 2D animation and 3D is Shrek, Up , Kung Fu Panda and that style.



53

Goon - 2011



"Kid, you got this thing. The stuff. The sh*t. The f*ckin' grit, you got it, like me. But like me, that's all you f*ckin' got. And like me, you're no good to anyone doing anything else. All I'm saying is don't go trying to be a hockey player. You'll get your f*ckin' heart ripped out"
This movie jumped up and surprised me when I first saw it how much I liked it. I don't really care for hockey, that's what you get when you are an American born and raised in Florida. . However, I can appreciate the hell out of this movie. It can be really damn violent and sort of gory at times, but at it's core it has a huge heart to it. I think that can be attributed to Sean William Scott's performance. He plays this big block head who isn't the sharpest tool in the shied and finds out he is good at being a goon on a hockey team. He is really good at beating people up but he is actually a really kind hearted person. Scott's performance really sells that he is actually a sweetheart.

Liev Schreiber is also a stand out as an old veteran goon who Scott's character looks up too. He plays him well as a wise old player who is respected by everyone. The rest of the movie can sort of be a cliched sports movie, Scott helps his team bond and become good, yada, yada, yada. But the performances just make the film work for me. You can't help but love Scott's character to death and root for him. It's suppose to be a comedy and it has a few laughs but the heart to this movie really makes it work. The sequel was ok, worth a watch if you liked this film, but didn't work nearly as well as this movie did.

Director - Michael Dowse
Best Performance - Sean William Scott as Doug Glatt
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 82%
Factoid - The film is based on the book "Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey" by Adam Frattasio and Douglas Smith. Footage from Smith's career as a hockey enforcer is shown during the films credits.
Stock In Countdown - Neutral

Memorable Scene



52

Wonder Woman - 2017



"It's not about deserve, it's about what you believe. And I believe in love."
I think this movie would have been a disaster if Patty Jenkins wasn't hired for the job. She could have made this into a big unapologetic feminist movie like Captain Marvel was. Instead all she cared about was making a great film and it's all the better for it. Just show me how bad ass Wonder Woman is and then I'll think girls are cool superheros too. I don't need to hear No Doubt "I am Just A Girl" as Brie Larson fights to prove to me women can be superheros too. . Patty just showed how badass Wonder Woman is without shoving feminist propaganda down my throat. The feminist stuff that was in the film felt natural because of how chauvinistic the time period was. So I salute Patty for her light touch.

Also Patty is an insanely talented film maker. The No Man's Land scene down below is already an iconic scene in film history I think. If that doesn't give you goosebumps I don't think you have a pulse. Now on too Gal. Is she a great thespian? Nope. But damn is she perfect as Wonder Woman. Her acting is just adequate enough for you to believe her but her height and her foreign accent really sell Gal as WW. It gives her this mystique of a powerful, exotic woman. Also it doesn't hurt that Gal is breathtakingly beautiful, which WW is suppose to be.

Another thing Patty does is she makes Pine not just a damsel in distress but makes Steve Trevor just as integral to the story as WW, which makes the end really earned. Makes Steve and Diana feel like an iconic duo now. Also Steve being a fish out of water on Themyscira and Diana being out of her depth in Europe adds humor and interest to the story. I didn't think the bad guy was as bad as everyone made it out to be either.

I really was surprised how well this movie turned out. It feels like a film not a superhero spectacle and I think that's why it shines. I am looking forward to the sequel but I don't think they will reach what the first one did at all.

Director - Patty Jenkins
Best Performance - Gal Gadot as Diana Prince
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 93%
Factoid - Director Patty Jenkins was originally in talks with Warner Bros. to direct this film back in 2005, but due to her unexpected pregnancy, she had to step down. Jenkins claimed that Wonder Woman (2017) is the film she has been wanting to do her whole life and that she was fortunate to come back to it.
Stock In Countdown - Sinker

Memorable Scene



51

Me, Myself & Irene - 2000



"What are you staring at, f*cker? You wanna start me up? Just open the choke and pull the cord, pal. I'm due for a seismic event and you're dancing on the fault line."
I always thought this movie was a bit underappreciated. I think it's one of Carrey's best acting jobs of his career. The scene where he finally snaps into Hank down below is amazing . You can see the very moment he can't control it anymore, plus it's a great gif . Maybe I always enjoyed this movie because I have a bit of a passive personality and tend to get stepped on occasionally. I am always looking to be polite when I probably shouldn't and Charlie has that problem X10.

You can think the movie is dumb and too silly but there is actually a well crafted journey for Carrey's character in the flick. He has to over come his passive nature which brings out his split personality. So now he has to overcome his passive nature and his evil alter ego Hank when Irene, played by Zellweger, needs saving. He learns to become more assertive by the end. Plus Carrey's performance just sells it as two completely different guys in the same body. It always makes me laugh. Also I always dug the soundtrack, the movie came out in 2000 so it was like the culmination of the soft rock 90s . Third Eye Blind, Foo Figheters, Hootie, Smash Mouth and some other 90s songs. It was like waving the 90s good bye. Plus in the scene where Hank tries to fight the guy for flicking his cigarette you can see gas was 1.13....those were the days

This movie came out when I was 13 so it was just in the sweet spot. Maybe I wouldn't have dug it as much if it came out towards my 20s but the dumb stuff worked on me and the performance and the story did enough for me to love it. I think it deserves more love

Director - Farrelly Brothers
Best Performance - Jim Carrey as Charlie/Hank
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 47%
Factoid - Besides the obvious reason for using the name Irene in the title, it is the Greek name for "peace." Irene is always trying to make peace between Charlie and Hank.
Stock In Countdown - Sinker

Memorable Scene



IDK If I could put any 3D animated film over The Classic Lion King film. But this is this dudes list and all for what a person would want on their list. When say 3D am talking not the Glasses kind of 3D. All original Animated films hand drawn where known a 2D animation and 3D is Shrek, Up , Kung Fu Panda and that style.
I agree there is something about a hand drawn cartoon over computer animated. However, I just prefer Pixar's original stories more than the classic Disney of my childhood like Lion King or Little Mermaid. There was sort of a formula to the old Disney movies, these new Pixar ones really have no rules. There is not 15 to 20 minutes then a song. There isn't a generic villain the hero must over come. I appreciate all those old hand drawn animated movies, especially of my youth, hey who knows maybe some are still on my countdown . I just think Pixar has been much more risky and daring in their pursuits than a safe formula like animations of the past.

So if say Inside Out or Up switched to the early 90s and were hand drawn and Lion King switched to computer animated.....well I guess it did ...I'd still prefer Pixar's riskier story telling.



I think Lion King Was Merger Of Both because i saw a Documentary or animators sketch drawing Lions and drawing characters in the Lion King DVD release. I think the Computer parts was the Mufasa Rolling Spirit cloud deal and the Wildabeast stampede.



50

V For Vendetta - 2005



"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
I wasn't ready for this movie when I first viewed it back when I was a teenager. What drew me to the movie when I first saw it was obviously the mysterious V character in the provocative mask and man does Hugo Weaving kill it as V. Just an absolute charismatic turn without ever revealing his face. His opening V speech is classic. Natalie Portman also has a great turn as Evey. Everyone was shocked when she actually shaved her locks off for the movie. She is great as V's understudy.

This movie has gotten better the older I have gotten and the more I've grasped it's meaning. Giving the government too much power is a no-no. It may be an extreme version but governments can grow out of control and this is a great reminder of that. This movie definitely had balls to be sympathetic towards a "terrorist" only 4 years after 9/11. It was just an unconventional story and has developed this cult like following since. The V mask has definitely become an iconic cinematic symbol.

Someone a lot smarter than me can break down the themes and meaning of over reaching governments. But the way they present these topics is entertaining as hell. This movie definitely gets better the older you get.

Director - James McTeigue
Best Performance - Hugo Weaving as V
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 72%
Factoid - The domino scene, where V (Hugo Weaving) tips over black and red dominoes to form a giant letter V, involved 22,000 dominoes. It took four professional domino assemblers 200 hours to set it up.
Stock In Countdown - Sinker

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Welcome to the human race...
I've seen the film twice and it's awful. The book is way better.
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49

WALL-E - 2008



"I don't want to survive. I want to live."
It seriously annoys me when I had friends that wouldn't give this movie a chance because there was no talking for the first half of the movie. It's another example of Pixar taking a risky plot and turning it into gold. A cartoon about a robot that doesn't have any dialogue until about half way through the movie? Yea that should work out great. But it actually does. Again. This is Pixar at it's best. Riskier the better.

This movie's biggest strength is the heart it brings mainly from it's main character Wall-e. Wall-e could make the coldest cynical person smile. It also has a fair bit more laughs then I was expecting. It mostly comes from how fat and lazy people are portrayed in the future . The movie is absolutely stunning visually as well. Some of the space sequences are orgasms for your eyes.

I just really hope Pixar goes back to this sort of risky, original story telling. They flex with these movies. I'd encourage anyone who doesn't want to give this movie a chance to do so. It's beautifully unique.

Director - Andrew Stanton
Best Performance - Wall-e as Wall-e
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 95%
Factoid - The first Pixar film to be nominated for 6 Academy Awards. This ties it with the only other animated film to garner this many nominations: Beauty and the Beast (1991).
Stock In Countdown - Neutral

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I haven't seen Goon, Wonder Woman, or Me, Myself & Irene but I doubt I'd like any of them. I hated the parts of V for Vendetta that I didn't sleep through.

Love Wall E.