60. Wayne’s World (1992)
My life changed a little when I saw Wayne’s World. It was one of those movies I had been wanting to see for years but unlike American Beauty, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or Blade Runner, it’s the one example of those films that truly exceeded my expectations. It’s just a stupid, goofy, but ultimately irresistible film.
Wayne and Garth make for one of the great duos of film history. They’re both hilarious and every time I see the movie, I come out of it with a different idea as who I like more. As of now, I’d say it’s Garth.
There are so many great moments and this is just a fun movie that leaves you with a good feeling afterwards.
59. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
One of the many classics from 1939, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is the improbable story of a local hero being appointed senator after a senator’s death. Jefferson Smith, in one of James Stewart’s finest performances, ends up being the one incorruptible person in Washington.
This film is filled with great performances. There’s Stewart, of course, but I also love Claude Rains as one of the corrupt senators fighting against Smith. The highlight of the film is certainly the filibuster at the end, which manages to point out everything that is great about this country.
58. Toy Story (1995)
This film captures the imagination of every kid on earth, but it’s still very entertaining to me at this age. It’s overwhelmingly likable, filled with great characters, subtle humor, and rich emotion. To me, this first film by Pixar is still their best.
A highlight is certainly the end, as the toys all team up to fight the evil neighbor, Syd. It’s both humorous and exciting. And the scene that follows, as Woody and Buzz attempt to make it to the moving van, is classic.
57. The Terminator (1984)
This is one of the best action movies of the 1980s, a decade that produced some great ones like Die Hard and the Indiana Jones movies.
The story is that a machine from the future, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, comes back in time to kill Sarah Connor, future mother of the general that defeats the machines. It’s an engaging story and showing Sarah Connor as just a regular person really helps the audience sympathize with her in the situation she’s in. She finds out what’s going on when Kyle Reese comes to her aid, sent to the past from her future son.
This film is filled with some great action, from car chases to the shootout in the police station. It’s very violent and entertaining. The climax features a dated stop-motion machine chasing after Sarah. Despite the aged special effects, this scene still works very well because of all that’s at stake and the overall tension of the film.
Highly recommended, though inferior to its sequel.
56. The Natural (1984)
Robert Redford initially attended the University of Colorado on a baseball scholarship, though they no longer have a baseball team. I begin this review by saying that because Robert Redford plays a baseball player in this film and he is very convincing. Often times sports movies cast good actors who don’t look like they can play the sport, like Robert De Niro in Bang the Drum Slowly. Redford truly is a natural, however.
He plays Roy Hobbs, a young pitcher destined to become one of the greatest to ever play the game, before he is shot and comatose. The film picks up twenty years later when the forgotten Hobbs joins the New York Knights and literally hits the cover off the ball. It’s not realistic, but it does a great job of capturing the mysticism of the game of baseball. It’s a nostalgic and fantastical look at America’s pastime with some outstanding performances from a great cast that includes Glenn Close, Barbara Hershey, the dad from A Christmas Story, and Robert Duvall.
It’s a movie that certainly has its flaws. But if you’re a baseball fan or someone who cheers for the underdog, you will probably like this.
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