By my count, I’ve seen 86 of the 1000 best movies ever, as listed by the New York Times. There is much discussion to be had concerning this list, but I’m going to take a swing at the low-hanging fruit and ask how Star Wars can be listed when The Empire Strikes Back is ignored. Okay okay, just because I’m bored, here are the ones I’ve seen.
A A.I. (2001) (lame ending) Airplane! (1980) Aladdin (1992) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Amadeus (1984) Amélie (2001) Apollo 13 (1995)
B Back to the Future (1985) Bambi (1942) Beauty and the Beast (1991) Beetlejuice (1988) Being John Malkovich (1999) (trippy) Ben-Hur (1959)
C Casablanca (1942) Chariots of Fire (1981) Chicago (2002) Chicken Run (2000) Citizen Kane (1941) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (overrated)
D Dead Man Walking (1995) Dirty Harry (1971) Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Doctor Zhivago (1965) Dumbo (1941)
E Empire of the Sun (1987) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
F Full Metal Jacket (1987) The Full Monty (1997)
G Gallipoli (1981) The Godfather (1972) The Godfather Part II (1974) Goldfinger (1964) Gone With the Wind (1939) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968) The Good Earth (1937) Goodfellas (1990) The Graduate (1967) Groundhog Day (1993)
H Henry V (1989) High Noon (1952)
J Jailhouse Rock (1957) Jaws (1975)
K The King and I (1956) King Kong (1933)
L L.A. Confidential (1997) A League of Their Own (1992) Lovely and Amazing (2002) (How the hell did this make it onto the list? I must have missed something …)
M A Man for All Seasons (1966) Mary Poppins (1964) Monsters, Inc. (2001) Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
O One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
P A Passage to India (1984) The Pink Panther (1964) Pinocchio (1940) Pulp Fiction (1994)
R Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Reservoir Dogs (1992) The Right Stuff (1983) RoboCop (1987) Romeo and Juliet (1968) (Call me gouche if you must, but I liked Baz Luhrman’s version better)
S Saving Private Ryan (1998) Schindler’s List (1993) The Searchers (1956) Sense and Sensibility (1995) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) Shakespeare in Love (1998) Shrek (2001) Some Like It Hot (1959) The Sound of Music (1965) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Star Wars (1977) (Where’s Empire!?) Starman (1984)
T Thelma and Louise (1991) This Is Spinal Tap (1984) To Kill a Mockingbird (1963) Toy Story (1995) Traffic (2000) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
U The Usual Suspects (1995)
W West Side Story (1961) When Harry Met Sally (1989) The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Y The Year of Living Dangerously (1983)
I can’t believe AI was on there. The end wrecked the whole thing.