Top 100, T-Z

The Terminator  - The Terminator shocked us all in ’84.  Who would have thought that a lower-budget sci-fi piece with Conan the Barbarian as a killer robot would end up as a landmark of its genre?  In the movie, Reese explained what reached the gut of the audience from the first scenes: “ Listen and understand, that Terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with, it does not feel pity, or remorse, or fear and it absolutely will not stop ever, until you are dead."  Writing that quote just scared me all over again. Director: John Cameron, Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton. 1984

Terminator 2 Judgement Day  - Yes, its true! Back-to-back top 100 movies.  And yes, the second is better than the first.  Arnold is a “good” Terminator and Linda Hamilton is buffed out as the new-look Sara Connor.  A new Liquid-metal Terminator and a young John Connor,  but its still the same pounding theme - Terminators “will not stop until you are dead”. A perfect sequel.  Hasta la vista baby! Director: John Cameron, Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton. 1991

3:10 to Yuma   - The western is back!  This remake (see Glenn Ford in the 1957 version) has all the right ingredients and the resulting flavor of this psychological western does not disappoint.  From the hoof-pounding hold up at the start to the bullet-filled run of the gauntlet to the "3:10" at the end, Yuma is superbly executed, and simultaneously mind-engaging and hugely entertaining. Bale’s and Crowe’s characters make memorable examples of the western good and bad and all the grey in between. Director: James Mangold Cast: Christian Bale, Russell Crowe. 2007

Tootsie - Sure, this shtick has been done before but never better than in Tootsie. Besides, it’s got an in-her-prime Jessica Lange in it.  Although that fact alone places it in contention for the top-100 slot, the movie pays off in many other categories. Hoffman, in drag, is Dorothy. As you watch you begin to forget that it is a man playing a women and begin to accept Dorothy as a real person... a real women.  And underneath it all is a touching love story (and a short but great piece by Bill Murray). Director: Sydney Pollack Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange. 1982

Toy Story - What happens when you leave your toys in the room?  Toy Story answers the question and, and in doing so, showed us breakthrough animated film making that crossed all age categories. Technically, nearly a perfect movie - ingenious concept and structure.  But its not all about the technical and the technology. The movie is made in e story, characters, and humor. We all had these toys. The personalities given to them by the great cast seem to fit what our imaginations would’ve had them be. This movie is magic... “To infinity and beyond!” Director: John Lasseter, Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen. 1995

Trading Places  - One of the best of the 80‘s comedies.  Trading Places is a modern Prince and the Popper with Dan Aykroyd playing a snooty commodities broker and Eddie Murphy as a street con man. The two switch places as part of a bet between two Wall Street bigwigs.  Perfect casting all around.  One of the better endings for a comedy also - commodities scam, new-years eve party on a train, and an aroused gorilla. Director: John Landis Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy. 1983

Tremors   - A 50‘s B-movie setup, but Tremors is actually a high-end, very clever and funny modern horror film.  Flawless tongue-in-cheek monster/comedy with the perfect cast battling a set of underground-traveling, flesh-eating worms (It doesn’t get much more campy than that premise).  You need to check this one out if for nothing more than to see Michael Gross and Reba McEntire as gun-loving survivalists in a fire fight with one of the worms in their amazingly-armed basement - “broke into the wrong rec room, didn’t ya...”  Director: Ron Underwood, Cast: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward. 1989

True Grit   -There is something about the term “grit” as a description of character.  It’s hard to put the quality into words but you know what it is in a person. In Coen’s brother’s remake of this 1969 western, you can sense the grit coming out of the screen... smell it... feel it rough on your skin.  The sensation is a tribute to the Coen’s expert film making.  The process they use to generate their works of art seems to have had a purifying effect on this tale to the point that you cannot imagine how it can be told any better. What was already a classic, True Grit has been distilled to its purest most satisfying form. Director: Ethan and Joel Coen, Cast: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfield. 2010

Unforgiven - If not his best western, then certainly his deepest. The film is a complex morality tale studying the guilt that hangs on a violent past and the courage to move on. The film has a methodical pace that builds extreme intensity as typical western genre roles are reversed and revised.  Great supporting cast.  Top of the hill western that should have appeal beyond just the fans of the genre. Director: Clint Eastwood, Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman. 1992 

The Untouchables - I have not looked at my Louisville Slugger baseball bat the same since seeing this movie. Well-crafted gangster flick.  It’s the real live good guys (well, based on real guys) against the Capone-led thugs. Costner is adequate as Elliot Ness, but DeNiro and Connery are the big hitters (literally in the case of DeNiro’s Capone). Lot’s of attention to period details. its just a very well done piece of work. Director: Brian De Palma. Cast: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert DeNiro, Charles Martin Smith. 1987

War of the Roses - Dark, dark, really dark comedy about a long-married couple in the throes of divorce. Directed by Danny DeVito, the film is simultaneously wacky funny and oddly disturbing.  Relentlessly nasty, the movie moves from dark, to pitch black as the Roses slowly heat up their battle to keep the lion’s share of their substantial possessions.  DeVito captures the war in bizarre camera angles as the emotional bludgeoning moves from simply cruel to the shocking and surreal. Truly a unique comedy.  Director: Danny DeVito, Cast: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner. 1989

The War of the Worlds - I had to put this one in here. This thing mesmerized me as a youngster sitting in front of the ol’ Zenith console.  This was the first sci-fi film I’d seen where the space ships actually looked like they might be from space.  The whole feel, as they floated down city streets, blasting the humans away, was all dark and dreadful. Sure it’s dated and carries with it a somewhat stiff cast - but the look and feel is lasting classic.   Director: Byron Haskin, Cast: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson. 1953

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - Weird and wonderful. Truly a “world of pure imagination”. Gene Wilder is just perfect as Wonka, presenting a controlled, calculating, but brink-of-madness candy maker.  Contains all the Dahl strangeness, but the movie is incredibly warm as a whole.  Creative, deep thinking, strange, and... a musical. Its all there. Director: Mel Stewart, Cast: Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson. 1971

Witness - “Its 4:30, time for milking.” Harrison Ford is John Book, a cop who poses as a member of an Amish community to hide from his murderous colleagues. Easily one of Ford’s best dramatic performances (garnering him an Oscar nomination).  Cop thriller, love story, and study on the clash of peace versus the defensible necessity of violence. Director: Peter Weir, Cast: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Alexander Godunov. 1985

The Year of Living Dangerously - Yes, I’ve seen Casa Blanca.  Is good but really not that good.  Oh. now I’ve made folks really mad.  I’ll take this political intrigue thriller over Bogie and the gal with the over bite  (I do like Blanca, but it is a little stiff).  A journalist is unexpectedly thrust into an ant hill of political turmoil.  Well crafted with great chemistry between its leads, Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver. Factually based and biting tense. Director: Peter Weir, Cast: Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt. 1983

Young Frankenstein -  Mel Brooks’ best film.  This was a staple from my early teens and its ridiculous gags quickly became the source a good percent of my gang’s young joke vocabulary. Its unmistakably Brooks, but the movie has a sort of reverence and control about it.  Its zany but intelligent zany. The film is highlighted by wonderful authentic sets and shot in black and white. A classic comedy. Director: Mel Brooks, Cast: Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle. 1974

Zoolander - Truly the best of the dumb-fun comedies. The stuffy and up tight among you wont like this - that’s ok, you guys might try Meet the Fockers instead (but its not nearly as fun). But there are many (those that take crazy pills and identify ourselves by flashing each other the “Blue Steel” look) that rank this off-the-wall send-up near the top. Super funny stuff, with Derek (Ben Stiller) looking “really, really good” as a top but aging male model, and his rival Hansel (Owen Wilson) who is “so hot right now” strutting their stuff in this fashion-world spoof.  Too bad some don’t quite get this because its good for your health to laugh and this is a very healthy movie. Director: Ben Stiller, Cast: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrel. 2001