Falcon’s Eyrie

I know, I know – I’m a copycat.

Hey, I can’t help it if Mrs. Chili comes up with great ideas! 🙂

Oh, and be warned, this may take a while to load because of all the YouTube clips.

And awaaaaayyyy we go!

1) The 13th Warrior – I didn’t really care for the movie the first time I saw it – which was in the theater, no less – but it has become one of those movies that the more I see it, the more I like it.

2) 48 Hours – remember when Eddie Murphy used to make good movies?

3) 300 – sure, it looked like a video game (hey, it was based on a graphic novel, what do you want?) and was over the top, but it was good!

4) Above the Law – I know what you’re thinking – “What?! A Steven Seagal film?!” Hey, this was Seagal’s first movie, so nobody knew how bad of an actor he was, and it was the first time I’d ever seen aikido, so it just blew me away. For a Seagal film, this was pretty good.

5) Ace Ventura: Pet Detective – don’t bother with the second Ace, but this was hilarious!

6 & 7) American Pie I and II -oh my god were these movies funny! I couldn’t believe the second was as good as the first. The franchise has gone downhill since, but the first two were excellent. I saw the original at a bachelor party, and it couldn’t have possibly been a more perfect movie to see for the occasion.

8 )  Bachelor Party – remember when Tom Hanks made funny movies? How come James Lipton never asks him about this flick?

9) Back to School – we miss ya, Rodney!

10) Bad Boys I – the second one wasn’t bad, but I much prefer the first one.

11) Batman Begins – I’ll take this over Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, or George Clooney any day.

12) Beverly Hills Cop I – probably the best movie Eddie Murphy ever made. II wasn’t bad. Don’t waste your time with III. I’ve heard they’re going to make a IV!

13) Black Hawk Down – brace yourself before you sit down to watch this one. Gritty. Intense. Violent. Thought-provoking. This is not light entertainment!

14) Black Rain – it never fails to amaze me that Andy Garcia didn’t become a big star…

15) Blade I – how many people realize that Blade is actually a Marvel comics character? How many people knew Wesley Snipes was an accomplished martial artist?

16) Blue Thunder – forgot that Roy Scheider did something besides Jaws, didn’t you? Recognize a very young Daniel Stern as JAFO?

17) The Bourne Identity – the best of the Bourne films. I love watching Bourne trying to piece his life back together. The fight scene between Bourne and Castel is one of the best – if not the best – and most realistic in Hollywood history.

18 ) Braveheart – an instant classic. The best medieval battle scenes I’ve ever seen.

19) The Cannonball Run – Jeez, how many stars are in this balls-to-the-wall comedy, anyway? Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Farrah Fawcett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Roger Moore, Jackie Chan, Jamie Farr, Adrienee Barbeau, Jack Elam, Terry Bradshaw, Mel Tillis, Joe Klecko, Tara Buckman…

20) City Slickers I – this has a little more resonance to me now that I’m approaching 40… 🙂 Don’t bother with the second one.

21) Clear & Present Danger – up until they brought Ben Affleck into the mix, they did a great job with those Clancy movies.

22) The Delta Force – yes, it’s cheesy, but it’s fun, and watching Chuck Norris kick the snot out of the terrorist leader (about 1:55 into the vidclip) is a guilty pleasure of mine.

23) Desperado – ultra-violent, and Salma Hayek is HOT!!!

24, 25, & 26) Die Hard I, II, & IV – the first is an instant classic. The second one holds up surprisingly well. Live Free or Die Hard stunned me with how good it was, given my expectations. Don’t waste your time with III (it amazes me that a movie with Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jeremy Irons could be that bad!)

27) The Dirty Dozen – anybody else miss Lee Marvin?

28 ) Down Periscope – an often overlooked little comedy starring Kelsey Grammer, Rob Schneider (whom I normally disdain), and Lauren Holly. Grammer plays a US Navy officer forced to take a decrepit old submarine and a screwball crew and go up against a nuclear submarine in a wargame.

29) Excalibur – easily the best movie version of the Arthur legend I’ve ever seen.

30) Executive Decision – whoever decided that Steven Seagal should have died in this flick needs to be hung. 🙂

31) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – if this isn’t an 80’s classic, I don’t know what is!

32) First Blood – this was a good flick. The series didn’t become useless action schlock until II and III. I haven’t seen IV yet.

33) The Fugitive – yes, Harrison Ford is the title character, but Tommy Lee Jones steals the show. He gets all the best lines, is funny, and Gerard is just a kick-ass character.

(the funniest part of this clip – to me, anyway, starts at about45 seconds in and lasts for about 15 seconds)

34) Ghostbusters I – noticing how the original films are almost always better than the sequels? God, but Ghostbusters II was a piece of merde!

35) Gladiator – remember when Joaquin Phoenix wasn’t a nutjob?

36) Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone – easily the best of the series, imho.

37) Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets – this was almost as good as the first one. The third was just dismal to me. IV and V were much better than III, but still not up to I & II.

38 ) Heartbreak Ridge – Clint’s certainly done much more critically acclaimed films in his time, but this one was pretty darn entertaining.

39) Highlander – just another example of the first film being the best of the series (I can’t believe Sean Connery lowered himself to doing II. He must not have even read the script…). I thought the TV series was quite good, too.

40) Hudson Hawk – I know the critics panned this to high heaven, but I thought it was frickin’ hilarious.

41) The Hunt for Red October – the best of the Tom Clancy flicks. Anybody who wants to argue that can just take it up with Mrs. Chili! 🙂

42) Indiana Jones & the Raiders of the Lost Ark – one of the best films of all time. II didn’t thrill me much. I haven’t seen IV yet, though I have it lying around the house.

43) Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade – as great as RotLA is, I think I like this one better. The relationship between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery is just terrific.

44) Jaws I – just plain flat-out one of the best movies ever (though Cookiemaker is too afraid of sharks to ever watch it 🙂 ). II wasn’t bad either. III and IV were just horrendous, especially IV.

45) Jurassic Park I – from what I remember, this movie actually stayed fairly close to the book, though it mercifully stayed away from being too technical with the chaos theory stuff. They played a little fast and loose with the dinos (velociraptor was much bigger and dilophosaurus was much smaller in the movie than they would’ve been in real life), but it was a fun, entertaining ride.

46) A Knight’s Tale – sure, the history’s pathetic, but what a ride!

47) The Last of the Mohicans – as a former English major, I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never read this book. The movie was visually stunning, though I felt the story was a bit lacking…

(the music playing in this scene is just amazing! Anybody know what it is?)

48 ) The Last Samurai – one of the best films Cruise has ever done. This may be the first time he’s played a character that wasn’t arrogant.

49) Lethal Weapon I – the first LW was easily the best, imho. The last three became comedies, while the first one was a gripping drama. I loved the character of Martin Riggs, and the fight scene between Riggs and Mr. Joshua was outstanding.

50) Lone Wolf McQuade – perhaps even cheesier than The Delta Force, if that’s possible, but not to be missed for the fight between Norris and David Carradine.

51) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – all three of the LotR films were great, and I know The Return of the King won all those Oscars, but I like FotR the best. I think it deviated from the books the least, and I had waited for it for over twenty years, so it resonated with me the most.

52) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – my least favorite of the trilogy, as Peter Jackson took the greatest liberties with the book. Still good, though.

53) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – glad to see this one pick up all those Oscars, but I still think FotR was the best of the three.

54) Major League – very funny. Full of stars (Charlie Sheen, Dennis Haysbert, Weslie Snipes, Corbin Bernsen, Tom Berenger). The final big ball game against the Yankees gets the adrenaline flowing. The baseball is fairly accurate. And Rene Russo looked hot.

55) Marked For Death – Above the Law and Under Siege were better movies, but this one is my favorite Seagal film.

56) The Mask – this was the best Cameron Diaz ever looked. Nice to see the late, great Richard Jeni get a bit part. Carrey, pretty much as always, is side-splitting.

57) The Matrix – damn shame that Reloaded and Revolutions couldn’t live up to the original. Oh, sure – they were visually amazing too, but did either of them make any sense?

58 ) Mission Impossible II – there’s just something about the style of a John Woo flick…

(sorry about the music playing over the scene 😦 )

59 & 60) The Mummy & The Mummy Returns – I just thought these two movies were great little entertaining time-wasters (the fact that Rachel Weisz looks great in them doesn’t hurt, either 🙂 ).

61) My Fellow Americans – terrific, relatively unknown political comedy with the late, great Jack Lemmon, James Garner, Dan Akroyd, Wilford Brumley, and a few other faces you’ll recognize.

62) Navy SEALs – as cheesy as it gets, but there are worse ways to kill a couple of hours.

63) No Escape – anybody remember this one? Set in the near future, Ray Liotta is an ex-special ops soldier imprisoned for killing his commanding officer and sent to an ultra-high security prison set on an isolated island. He needs to escape not to prove his innocence, but to reveal the truth behind what his commanding officer made him and others do.

64) The Peacemaker – a pretty good little thriller with George Clooney (in fact, this may have been his first major motion picture) and Nicole Kidman.

65) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – the PotC flicks are like the Matrix movies to me – the first one was great, the sequels had loads of potential but just got insensible.

66) Point of No Return – an American remake (virtually shot for shot) of the French film (and later made in to a USA Network TV series) Le Femme Nikita. Starred Bridget Fonda, Dermott Mulrooney, and Gabriel Byrne.

67) Predator I – this may be the only movie where Arnie gets his ass kicked. Sure, it’s by a 7-foot tall alien, but he gets his ass kicked!

68 ) The Princess Bride – this just one of the best films of all time. Action. Humor. Love. Rodents of Unusual Size. What more could you want?

69) Quigley Down Under – the scene of Quigley proving just how good of a shot he is is awesome.

70) Rapid Fire – remember Bruce Lee’s son, Brandon? He made some good action films, and this may have been his best.

71) The Replacement Killers – I’m a sucker for action flicks, ain’t I? 🙂

72) The Replacements – this is just one of the funniest, most entertaining movies I’ve ever watched. Keanu Reeves is a replacement quarterback and Gene Hackman is his coach as the Washington Sentinels try to make the playoffs after the “real” players go on strike.

73) Road House I – yes, they actually made a sequel to this! It’s a shame about Patrick Swayze and what he’s going through now.

74) Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – when hasn’t Alan Rickman played a great bad guy?

75) The Rock – this may be the only movie I can tolerate Nicolas Cage in.

76) Rocky I – ok, yeah, I’ll be honest – I like all of the Rocky films (well, to be honest, I haven’t seen VI yet), but the first was the classic.

77) Ronin – a little confusing to follow, and loose ends are never tied up, but a good watch nonetheless.

78 ) The Saint – all right, who remembers this one? Val Kilmer as a cat burglar-turned-hero thanks to the charming innocence of Elisabeth Shue.

79) Saving Private Ryan – do I even need to explain this?

80) Scrooged – I know a lot of people don’t like this movie, but I thought it was funny and a nice, quirky take on the “Christmas Carol” theme.

81) Shooter – I gotta credit Mrs. Chili for this one. She recommended it, so I rented it and poppped it in one day thinking it would be background noise while did chores around the house. WRONG!!! This flick had me hooked from the get-go.

82 & 83) Shrek I & II – I know these are the only animated films on this list, but that’s likely because they’re a bit more adult-oriented than most. Rest assured, when Little Man watches Disney or Pixar, I’m right there with him.

Oh, I’ve seen III, btw, once, and it was ok.

84) Silverado – if I were to be listing these films in order of preference, this would be right near the top. The cast, the cinematography, the score, the cast, the acting, action, comedy, drama – what more do you want?

85) Speed I – I honestly didn’t think this would be a good movie. Keanu Reeves generally doesn’t thrill me and, after all, just how much can you do with a bus? Damn, was I wrong!

86) Spiderman I – all three of these are good, but I’ll take the first one because it explains the birth of the hero.

87) Stakeout – another one that would be right up at the top if I were doing this by preference. Richard Dryfuss is just a hoot in this!

88 ) Tango & Cash – the best part may be in the shower when Kurt Russell makes fun of Sylvester Stallone.

89 & 90) The Terminator I & II – “I’ll be back!” 🙂

91) The Three Musketeers – this is the 1993 Disney version with Keifer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Chris O’Donnell, and Oliver Platt (who plays an awesome Porthos!). Oh, and Tim Curry. Don’t forget Tim Curry. He plays a bad guy almost as well as Alan Rickman in this flick.

92) Top Gun – now this is the arrogant s.o.b. Tom Cruise that we’re used to! 🙂

93) True Lies – easily Arnie’s best film, in my opinion. Funny, plenty of action. Tom Arnold almost steals the movie, and Jamie Lee Curtis’ stripper scene was hilarious and yet hot at the same time (she looked pretty damn good in that bra and thong for a woman her age!).

94) Uncommon Valor – far and away the best film based on the “Let’s bring back the Vietnam MIAs” theme.

95) Under Siege I – is it somehow wrong that I have this many Steven Seagal films in this list?

96) The Untouchables – aside from Highlander II, has Connery been in a bad movie?

97) Weird Science – ah, another 80’s comedy classic. Can you believe Kelly LeBrock used to be married to Steven Seagal?

98 ) White Men Can’t Jump – Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson were just perfect in this.

99) Who Framed Roger Rabbit? – all right, I’ll admit it – I’d do Jessica Rabbit! 🙂

100) X-Men I – better than II, which was better than III. I’ll still don’t think they got Wolverine right, all due respect to Hugh Jackman. I’m very interested in seeing X-Men Origins: Wolverine when it comes out in a few weeks.

As you may have noted, this list is in alphabetical order. Please don’t ask me to put this list in any kind order based on preference or favoritism, ‘cuz it ain’t f#*kin’ happenin’! 🙂

Oh, btw, lest you think I just blew this list out, it took me the better part of the day today. Thank god for days off, huh? 🙂