MovieBUFFering's 101 Favorite Movies - 2019

→ in
Tools    





I think Goodfellas is a solid film, but I don't love it and have no real desire to watch it again. I thought Gone Baby Gone was very good, despite my dislike of Casey Affleck, but it is also not a favorite.



70

Jerry McGuire - 1996



"Show me the money!"
Jerry had me at hello. I haven't seen this movie in a really long time but man is it chalk full of memorable scenes, lines and performances. This movie is kind of like Titanic in a way to me. Thick with melodrama but it just seems to work. Plus I think I hate to like it . But I love me some sports so adding sports into this movie sucks me in. They could probably do a really good sequel to this movie with how much more greedy professional sports has gotten .

Tom Cruise is a damn movie star isn't he? He carries this movie just fine. Cuba Gooding Jr won his Oscar for this flick. Renee Zellweger was in the middle of her moment. Somehow Crowe made a movie that produced memorable lines and scenes galore. "Show me the money" and "You had me at hello" are both on the top 100 AFI's movie quotes of all time. Cruise was I believe characterized from this movie for a good 10 years or so. Whenever someone did a Cruise impersonation it was from this movie. If I were to rate this movie on my next countdown it will probably drop a bit but 70 is probably good for this one.

Director - Cameron Crowe
Best Performance - Tom Cruise as Jerry McGurie
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 83%
Factoid - Jonathan Lipnicki showed up on the set one day telling everyone that "the human head weighs eight pounds". Cameron Crowe liked it so much he wrote it into the script.
Stock In Countdown - Sinker

Memorable Scene
__________________
I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused

101 Favorite Movies (2019)



Great job so far, @MovieBuffering! Love the thoughtful presentation and the stats. We're too deep into the list for me to comment individually, but I'm happy to see so many comedies popping up since they don't often get much respect around here. Napoleon Dynamite, Austin Powers, Big Lebowski and Superbad are some of my go-to favorites when I want a laugh. Very few of your choices would make my own list, but I like pretty much every movie that's appeared so far except Anchorman and Super Troopers (just don't find either movie particularly funny). Remember disliking Bowfinger as well, but I was a kid at the time so who knows how I'd feel about it now.

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of the list plays out.
__________________



Great job so far, @MovieBuffering! Love the thoughtful presentation and the stats. We're too deep into the list for me to comment individually, but I'm happy to see so many comedies popping up since they don't often get much respect around here. Napoleon Dynamite, Austin Powers, Big Lebowski and Superbad are some of my go-to favorites when I want a laugh. Very few of your choices would make my own list, but I like pretty much every movie that's appeared so far except Anchorman and Super Troopers (just don't find either movie particularly funny). Remember disliking Bowfinger as well, but I was a kid at the time so who knows how I'd feel about it now.

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of the list plays out.
Thanks. Are these comedies the best movies made? Nope. But they are in my wheel house ha. I appreciate most of the classic movies that are in high regard around here and in cinema history but this is my list . Generally to make this list it has to be really rewatchable to me. A lot of comedies fit that for me I think making someone genuinely laugh is the hardest thing to do in entertainment.

It's all basically a wash until I get to the top 50 - top 30. I like all these movies but they could be in a big range. Probably around the top 30 it's pretty solidly in order of my preference. Then the top 10 is basically nailed.

But anyways thanks for that support. I'll feel better when this is done. Hopefully I can be done around labor day but August is always pretty busy for me.



69

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - 2005



"Look up "idiot" in the dictionary. You know what you'll find?"
"A picture of me?"
"No! The definition of the word idiot, which you ****ing are!"
I couldn't think of a better spot to put this movie at than 69. That eccentric number fits this quirky movie to a T. This flick is just straight up entertainment. It just constantly keeps you guessing. It doesn't keep to conventional story telling. You are constantly on your toes from scene to scene. Combine that with slick visuals and with 3 leads who are charming as hell and you have one of the most underrated flicks I've ever seen. Kilmer as Gay Perry probably has the most laughs as sort of a gay cocky private detective. Glad this movie was made when it was because the PC police probably wouldn't approve of Kilmer's role now. Monaghan goes toe to toe with Downey and she is sexy as hell in this movie. However Downey is the one who really shines in this film.

This is the movie that changed Downey's life really. He was just getting sober and on the comeback when he got this film. You can see why Favreau named this movie as to why he was inspired to cast Downey as Iron Man. You can see Tony Stark all over this performance. Without RDJ this film might not work as well as it did. His natural quirkiness feeds into the quirkiness and unpredictable nature of the movie. Quirky really is the word to describe this movie. It just brings a fun energy. Worth a viewing if you haven't seen it.

Director - Shane Black
Best Performance - Robert Downey Jr. as Harry Lockhart
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 85%
Factoid - Val Kilmer's depiction of Gay Perry is generally considered to be the first openly gay character to front a Hollywood action movie.
Stock In Countdown - Neutral

Memorable Scene



Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang was good and fun with a great cast. I haven't seen Jerry McGuire, but I probably should. I usually like Cruise's older movies.
Jerry McGurie reminds me a lot of Titanic. Heavy on melodrama and I shouldn't like it...but it just works.

It's worth at least a viewing for the quotable lines



68

Memento - 2000



"We all lie to ourselves to be happy."
Oh hi Hollywood. Meet Christoper Nolan. He will be around for a long time. Hard to believe next year will be 20 years since this movie came out. Seems like Nolan is still a fresh director on the scene. I mean he isn't even 50 yet. Feels like he should be in his 60s or something. He to me is just a once in a generation talent and this movie was his introduction to the world.

This movie is a foreshadowing to how much ambition and care he puts into his work. This movie would be difficult for a grizzled old veteran like a Spielberg to pull off and Nolan did it with his first full length feature. Nolan did it in his freaking 20s. The care and detail given to the story is wonderful. I'll add a video of Nolan breaking down the film at the end. It's worth your time to watch to see why this man is on a different level.

Pearce is pretty damn impressive in this film. He has to play a man who forgets anything about 30 seconds after he is told it. He can't form new memories. Movie doesn't work without him pulling it along. (Interesting enough Pitt was offered the role and had to turn it down with a scheduling conflict. Think he would have killed it too.) This movie is an absolute mind f***. It's going backwards. It's going forwards. It's color then it's black and white. Then it's another story. It's wild. It's a story about revenge and trust. I haven't seen it in quite a long time but I will always be grateful for it because it put Nolan on the map and gave us so many more awesome movies. #NolanMark

Director - Christopher Nolan
Best Performance - Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 92%
Factoid - The medical condition experienced by Leonard in this film is a real condition called Anterograde Amnesia, the inability to form new memories after damage to the hippocampus. During the 1950s, doctors treated some forms of epilepsy by removing parts of the temporal lobe, resulting in the same memory problems.
Stock In Countdown - Neutral

Memorable Scene


Nolan Breaking Down The Film
(Worth your time)



67

Dumb and Dumber - 1994



"She gave me a bunch of crap about me not listening to her, or something. I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention."
This movie is so stupid it turned into a classic comedy. I remember watching this when I was young for the first time thinking, "man that was a waste of my time". As the years went by I found myself laughing more and more at this dumb comedy. I don't know what to tell you. Is the movie stupid? Hell yea but it just works for whatever reason. It's weird how some movies just catch fire and are never forgotten. 1994 was a kind year to film (I contend the best ever.)

Carrey is obviously the biggest reason this film works. He was in the midst of his prime and could do no wrong. Think he had 3 number one movies in 1994. I think the best thing this movie did was get a drama actor to be his co star. Daniels holds his own comedy wise the best you can with Carrey but he just seems to ground Carrey's character and prevent him from becoming too far out there. It's just one of those silly comedies that grabbed America and never shook loose. So many memorable scenes and quotable lines. This was lightning in a bottle and they should have left it alone. Both the sequels suffered from what the original should have suffered from being too dumb of a movie. Movie business is weird. Anyways I always stop for awhile when it's on tv to smile

Director - Farrelly Brothers
Best Performance - Jim Carrey as Lloyd Christmas
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 67%
Factoid - Jeff Daniels claimed he was at a golf course one day when Clint Eastwood told him that he had just seen the movie. Daniels braced himself for a negative reaction, but to his surprise Eastwood wanted to tell Daniels that the bathroom scene had happened to him once when he was on a date. Daniels later co-starred with Eastwood in Blood Work (2002).
Stock In Countdown - Sinker

Memorable Scene



66

Hoosiers - 1986



"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen."
I played basketball my whole life. Played in college, sort of outrageous I can call myself an NCAA athlete . Still try to play today. Also my mom was born and raised in Indiana. Anyways I say all that to say it would be absolutely sacrilegious to not have this movie on my countdown. This is a love letter to basketball in the state where basketball is king. Makes me fall in love with basketball all over again anytime I see it.

There is nothing really outstanding about the movie. It's an underdog story told many times before and since. It's just handled with such care you can't help but to fall in love with it, especially if you are a basketball nut like me. The basketball scenes just feel and look poetic. Dennis Hopper is awesome in it as a drunken dad to one of the players who is also a great basketball mind. "Don't get caught watching the paint dry" . Hackman is nothing revolutionary but he does a great job as the coach. Oh and Jimmy Chitwood is the most Indiana white boy basketball player name ever . He is the man.

Maybe I am just so attracted to it because of the underdog basketball narrative. I am a 5'10 white kid who plays basketball. Safe to say I've always been an underdog on the court. I have to gain respect, it's never given its earned. I'll just always have a soft spot for this flick.

P.S. Lebron is going F*ck up Space Jam

Director - David Anspaugh
Best Performance - Gene Hackman as Coach Norman Dale
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 89%
Factoid - For the scene where Dennis Hopper walks onto the court drunk in the middle of the game, Hopper wanted a ten-second notice before calling action. At the ten-second notice, he spun around in circles until action was called, allowing him to stagger onto the court in an awkward fashion in order to appear drunk. He remembered James Dean in Giant (1956) asking George Stevens for 30 seconds so he could spin around to better feel the inebriation.
Stock In Countdown - Neutral

Memorable Scene



Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
Really nice layout. And enjoyed your write-ups detailing why you loved the films you do. Some of my own personal favourites that have made an appearance so far are Bowfinger, Austin Powers, Back to the Future, Saving Private Ryan, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Dumb & Dumber



65

Rush Hour - 1998



"DO-YOU-UNDERSTAND-THE-WORDS-THAT-ARE-COMING-OUT-OF-MY-MOUTH?"
Rush Hour is actually an unremarkable movie when you think about it. Just a buddy cop movie. However, this is what can happen when you have charismatic leads in your movie. It elevates rather mundane material into entertaining memorable films. Tucker and Chan just have an easy chemistry and skill sets that compliment each other's talents. They were both at the peak of their powers. Tucker is one of the rare famous actors who feels like he has gotten his sh*t together after fame. Every interview I see him in now he just seems to radiate a man content with himself and life

I think this movie works so well also because there are so many different conflicts going on. Chan vs Tucker with two different agendas at the beginning. The language barrier. You see their relationship and trust evolve. Then you have the FBI vs Chan. Tucker wanting to impress the FBI. The kidnappers vs them. What crazy stunts is Jackie doing. A lot of different threads going on within the movie that keeps you invested. Even the sequels are pretty entertaining because of Chan and Tucker. But the original is always a fun watch.

I also want to say I like this movie because this is an example of organic diversity in film. This film would be paraded around into today's climate like it deserved a Nobel Peace Prize because they put two minorities together as leads in a film. It's just putting two talented dudes together regardless of race. Movies like this are so much better for diversity in film when it's just about the quality of the film and not who is in it like today

Also this movie has the distinction of jump starting Rotten Tomatoes. I always think about that. The guy who started RT was a fan of Jackie Chan's Hong Kong movies and gathered up all the reviews to those movies. Then he launched the site in anticipation of Rush Hour coming out. So you can thank Jackie Chan coming to America for Rotten Tomatoes

Director - Brett Ratner
Best Performance - Jackie Chan as Lee
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 60%
Factoid - According to Director Brett Ratner, this movie was the first movie to be released in the U.S. featuring Jackie Chan in an English-speaking role without any kind of dubbing. According to Ratner, before this movie, Chan always had his voice dubbed over in his English-speaking roles because of his uncertainty in speaking the language. For this movie, however, Ratner convinced him to forgo the dubbing, as it would lend to the authenticity of his character.
Stock In Countdown - Sinker

Memorable Scene



64

The Departed - 2006



"I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me."
This was the first real gangster film I really got into. Came out a year after I graduated high school. My taste was starting to come around to good movies . I remember buying it on dvd on a whim at the Gainesville Wal Mart in college. Knew nothing about it really. Man did I enjoy it though. It feels more accessible than Scorsese's prior gangster films if that makes any sense but it doesn't lose that grit of his other films at the same time.

It's pretty crazy this is the film that won Scorsese his only Academy Award for directing. It probably helped he had a ludicrously talented cast to work with. Dicaprio, Nicholson, Damon, Baldwin, Whalberg, Douglas, Vera Farmiga, Anthony Anderson and Ray Winstone. Freaking Whalberg and Baldwin were actually really funny in this movie to me . It's tough to pick the best performance out of Jack, Damon and Leo but I went with Leo. Jack's is probably the most memorable and Damon's is good but I think Leo does the heaviest lifting here.

Oh man and that end. . Wowey.

Director - Martin Scorsese
Best Performance - Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 91%
Factoid - The only remake of a foreign film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
Stock In Countdown - Neutral

Memorable Scene



63

Office Space - 1999



"So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life."
Mike Judge is probably the most prolific director/creator in Hollywood that most people have never heard of. He has created King of the Hill, Beavis and Butthead and Silicon Valley. He made Idiocracy and Extract (both painfully underrated). Office Space may be his comedic masterpiece however. Every damn character in this movie is memorable. Seriously though just about everyone who shows up on screen you don't forget. It's thanks to Mike Judge's ridiculous ability to write normal everyday situation and make them entertaining as hell. He just has an ear for funny dialogue.

This movie also hits painfully close to home once you enter the work force. This is a giant middle finger to the 9 to 5 jobs . I was the Lumbergh character one year for Halloween. I wish I could find the pictures but unfortunately I can't find them. Got the Initech mug and suspenders the whole 9 yards. The whole cast is really good and Judge got Aniston before she blew up on Friends. However the real stand out of this movie is Stephen Root's Milton. "Have you seen my stapler". He is more of a side character but he is the most memorable character in the movie. Judge did a cartoon short years earlier with MIlton and Lumbergh character and designed the movie around that short. You should seek out that short if you are a fan of this movie.

Judge is the man. If you have ever been stuck in a 9 to 5 job this movie is a must watch


Director - Mike Judge
Best Performance - Stephen Root as Milton
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 80%
Factoid - The iconic red stapler coveted by Milton was created for the film by the prop department. They needed a bright enough color to be seen on film and chose red. After the film was released, Swingline began to receive requests from customers for red staplers. Having stopped offering red several years before, they made the decision to start offering the color once more.
Stock In Countdown - Neutral

Memorable Scene



62

Jumanji - 1995



"You think that mosquitos, monkeys, and lions are bad? That is just the beginning. I've seen things you've only seen in your nightmares. Things you can't even imagine. Things you can't even see. There are things that hunt you in the night. Then something screams. Then you hear them eating, and you hope to God that you're not dessert. Afraid? You don't even know what afraid is."
I just always thought this movie was a lot of fun. Thought that this would actually be a really cool movie to remake since the special effects sort of don't hold up as well. Then I watched the new one. meh. Maybe they should have just left it alone. The stakes just weren't as high in the new film. It sort of makes the old 95 Jumanji a lesser film because they explored the jungle itself and it wasn't as threatening as they made it seem in the first. It did some alright things but I think it shouldn't have been attached to the original but what you going do.

Robin Williams was a lot of fun in this movie. I thought the story itself was entertaining and kept me really entertained. I always stop when I see it on tv. The end always get in my feels as well . Not much else to say about the film. Surprised it wasn't fresh on RT but it was before the site was established. Is it a masterpiece? No. But figured it would be fresh at least.

Director - John Johnston
Best Performance - Robin Williams as Alan Parrish
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 54%
Factoid - According to author Chris Van Allsburg, the word "jumanji" is Zulu for "many effects," which alludes to "the exciting consequences of the game" as mentioned in the film.
Stock In Countdown - Sinker

Memorable Scene



61

Wind River - 2017



"Luck don't live out here."
This was my 2nd favorite movie from 2017. I wasn't excepting to dig this movie as much as I did. I was just invested from beginning until end in this flick. Renner gives probably the best performance of his career. He should have been nominated for his work in this movie. It's an understated performance but man does he run the gamut in this movie. Also I think I developed a crush on Olsen after this film. She does a great job, she isn't given as much as Renner but she is more then fine...I mean that in more than one way . Kind of ironic she is the Olsen sister making it big in Hollywood. Also Gil Birmingham wasn't give a ton of screen time but is amazing in this movie. Everyone in it is amazing really.

Taylor Sheridan is 3 for 3 with movies IMO. He wrote Sicario, wrote and directed this as well as Hell Or High Water (which was very good but I wasn't as high on). He has a knack for these type of movies. I'd like to see him tackle an old western, think he would nail it.

The setting itself feels alive and like a character in the movie. It really is a bleak place to live and you feel it. The performances and the mystery keep you invested in the drama but then the end hits you like a ton of bricks. It's one of the coolest scenes I've seen in awhile. This movie is aces though. It's one of the newer ones on the countdown but I could see it rising even further on repeat viewings.

Director - Taylor Sheridan
Best Performance - Jeremy Renner as Cory Lambert
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 87%
Factoid - Wind River Indian Reservation is the seventh-largest Indian reservation in the U.S.
Stock In Countdown - Riser

Memorable Scene



Love The Departed. I don't like Rush Hour and didn't care for Office Space or Jumanji. I haven't seen Hoosiers and don't think I've ever heard of Wind River.