My 25 favorite movies. Some of these movies are on here for sentimental reasons.
I’m a picky movie critic. Everyone loved Gladiator. Couldn’t stand it. I hated the shaky cam action scenes where you can’t really tell what’s going on. It made me feel like they were hiding bad fight choreography by making the viewer sick. Bourne Ultimatum had great action scenes but I couldn’t stand the female love interest so that got left off the list. I love the original Star Wars trilogy but hated The Force Awakens and subsequent films. I grew up reading comic books and Marvel films make the list but I don’t care for the direction DC is going. I even had issues with Wonder Woman.
25. IP Man
When I think of great martial arts movies with good fight scenes IP Man is definitely is one of the top. Donnie Yen showing off his Wing Chun skills. Every time after I watch this movie I want to learn how to use a wooden Wing Chun dummy.
24. The Witch: Subversion, Part 1
It’s possible this just makes the list because I just recently watched it on Netflix. The beginning is good but a bit slow and then suddenly it takes off into another gear. A Korean film that combines a bit of a mind F*** with some great action.
23. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Abe Froman. Mia Sara. Danke Schoen. It’s a classic.
22. Beverly Hills Cop
One of my favorite Eddie Murphy movies. This and Trading Places are pretty great. I only want one on this list so this one pulled ahead. Banana in the tail pipe and “Trust me”. Definitely one of my nostalgia picks.
21. The Untouchables
You have Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia, and Robert Deniro in and old school cops and gangster movie. “Got him?”, “Yeah, I got him”.
20. Die Hard
Nakatomi Tower. Yippee Ki Yay. Every now and then I still scrunch my toes on a carpet.
19. Enter The Dragon
Bruce Lee. Nuff said.
18. Back to the Future
This might be another nostalgia pick. Such a great classic though. Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson, melting brains, and “Make like a tree and get out of here”.
17. The Raid: Redemption
The action scenes in this movie are so good and so cringy. I’ve recommended this movie to many people when talking about great action films. Go into the bad guy building and fight tons of baddies that are carries machetes.
16. Léon: The Professional
Gary Oldman as a unhinged bad guy. Leon is a bad ass assassin and sniper rifles are for amateurs.
15. Aliens
Aliens take over a space colony and impregnate humans. Another sequel that was great. “Game over man”.
14. Terminator 2
Whenever people say that sequels are never better than the original this is the first movie that pops into my head to disprove it. You have a ripped Linda Hamilton kicking so much butt. Liquid metal, Guns ‘N Roses and “Easy money”.
13. Top Gun
It hurts me a little bit to put Tom Cruise this high on the list cause he’s crazy but this movie is such a classic and the dog fighting scenes are great. “We were inverted” and “I’m gonna hit the brakes and he’ll fly right by”.
12. Usual Suspects
Another actor that’s fallen from grace. Such a talented actor. Still a great movie. I enjoy where the main character has narration in the movie much like the #1 movie on this list. Bring together a bunch of criminals and make them pull a job.
11. Heat
You have Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro sharing a screen. That diner scene is so good. So many other big names in this movie. Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight and so many others. This is how heists should be done. Don’t get attached to anything you can’t walk away from if you feel the heat around the corner. The action scenes with no music where you just hear the guns blazing.
10. Kill Bill 1 & 2
A few of these top movies include multiple movies. Uma Thurman in a modern day revenge sword fighting movie. The extended action scenes with amazing fight choreography and oh so much blood.
9. Good Will Hunting
Best Original Screenplay, set in Boston, Matt Damon and Robin Williams. “How you like dem apples?”. Such a good movie.
8. John Wick 1 & 2
Such a simple and silly revenge premise but I think that was the point. This movie doesn’t pretend to be complicated. It’s all about the action. It doesn’t bog itself down with the story line. Assassins, guns and head shots. I had some issues with John Wick 3 so that is intentionally not included. It was still good but not top 25.
7. Indiana Jones 1, 2 & 3
Probably heavily influenced by nostalgia. Harrison Ford as a bad ass archeologist with a whip. Indiana Jones 4 was so awful. Shia LaBeouf, aliens and a bow legged geriatric Harrison Ford wtf made me so mad.
6. Star Wars Original Trilogy
I mean this started it all. There are tons of books, movies, cartoons and toys for a reason. As I mentioned at the start I have so many issues with the other movies.
5. Avengers Movies
TBH I probably could have said all the Captain America, Iron Man, Tom Holland Spider-Man, Thor, Dr. Strange and Avengers movies. I was a big comic book dork as a kid and I thought a great job was done bringing them to the movies and how the Avengers movies managed to juggle so many big names and bring it to a cohesive whole.
4. Matrix
Such groundbreaking special effects. The action. The cinematography and the fight choreography. You could tell the actors had some intensive training for this movie.
3. The Princess Bride
This was the first DVD I ever bought. Gradpa Peter Falk says it all. This has “Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…”. So many great quotes. It’s really too many to list.
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse
I really was surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. I actually bought the soundtrack which I don’t think I can say about any other movie. So many original songs. I’ve also watched it multiple times on Netflix. Sometimes I just have it on in the background. It has such a true comic book turned animated movie feeling to it.
1. Shawshank Redemption
Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman movie, narrarated by Morgan Freeman, about hope.