I'm making the most definitive list of favorite movies ever.

For every year, I'm listing every movie I've seen and compare them all to each other asking one question; Which movie do I like more. Movies that score in the 80th percentile or higher, advance to the next round: Favorite of the Decade. After each Decade is done, an All Time list will be formed.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Favoritest Movies of 1997


Creating these lists is like taking a personality test.  We know who we are, but we can still learn from self examination.  To that end, I was a little shocked when I sorted the results, and Contact came away on top.  I saw Titanic 17 times in the theater, no exageration.  My father and I would go to the movies every week in these years of the nineties and for the end of 97 and first few months of 1998 it was Titanic.  I remember us standing, looking at the movies at the box office of Des Peres 14, probably in February of '98, and couldn't see a reason to not see Titanic.  Eventually, my father and I one weekend, Titanic was on such a small screen, and was so scratchy and dirty it just couldn't hit VHS soon enough.  Thinking back on a thought that honestly didn't occur to me the whole time looking at all of these movies; I didn't buy Titanic on Laser Disc, I did buy Contact.

This might be a good moment to say that These are not "best" lists.  I'm going to be making a page explaining how these lists are made, but the simple explanation is I look at two titles, and ask myself which one do I [presently] enjoy more?  With such a question there's no way to filter out guilty pleasures.  1997 required making 4,278 title to title comparisons.  Spice World came to a rank of .7258  compared to Good Will Hunting getting a .6398.  I know Spice World isn't "good", it's pop stars running around in mini skirts.  I just don't know a definition of 'good'.  I think "good" when syntactically modifying the noun 'movie' means that is of a quality approaching Oscar worthiness.  I'll contemplate that further the next time we take the family to an Annie Hall Celebration  with the kids doing some Diane Keaton cosplay, or when I stand in front of the Wii to play Lego Chariots of Fire.

Here's the list...

  1. Contact
  2. Titanic
  3. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
  4. Starship Troopers
  5. The Devil's Advocate
  6. Tomorrow Never Dies
  7. The Fifth Element
  8. Gattaca
  9. Evangelion: Death and Rebirth
  10. The Saint
  11. L.A. Confidential
  12. Men in Black
  13. Hercules
  14. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
  15. Grosse Pointe Blank
  16. Air Force One
  17. MouseHunt
  18. Cube
  19. Clockwatchers
  20. Private Parts
  21. Out to Sea
  22. The Game
  23. Perfect Blue
  24. Kull the Conqueror
  25. A Life Less Ordinary
  26. Spice World
  27. Boogie Nights
  28. Fools Rush In
  29. Face/Off
  30. Flubber
  31. Wag the Dog
  32. Good Will Hunting
  33. The End of Evangelion
  34. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
  35. Scream 2
  36. Absolute Power
  37. The Postman
  38. In & Out
  39. Event Horizon
  40. Alien Resurrection
  41. George of the Jungle
  42. Murder at 1600
  43. Chasing Amy
  44. Jackie Brown
  45. Addicted to Love
  46. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
  47. Dante's Peak
  48. Anaconda
  49. As Good as It Gets
  50. Mimic
  51. The Full Monty
  52. Picture Perfect
  53. Seven Years in Tibet
  54. Volcano
  55. My Best Friend's Wedding
  56. Spawn
  57. The Relic
  58. Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
  59. Conspiracy Theory
  60. Liar Liar
  61. Batman & Robin
  62. The Edge
  63. Fierce Creatures
  64. Warriors of Virtue
  65. Anastasia
  66. Con Air
  67. I Know What You Did Last Summer
  68. Selena
  69. Kundun
  70. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
  71. The Peacemaker
  72. Home Alone 3
  73. The Jackal
  74. Breakdown
  75. Donnie Brasco
  76. Red Corner
  77. Kiss the Girls
  78. Turbulence
  79. Metro
  80. U Turn
  81. Vegas Vacation
  82. Playing God
  83. Speed 2: Cruise Control
  84. The Devil's Own
  85. Bean
  86. The Apostle
  87. Steel
  88. Air Bud
  89. Good Burger
  90. City of Industry
  91. Gone Fishin'
  92. One Night Stand
  93. Fathers' Day


Legend: Onto the next Round! In the middle. I do NOT enjoy.

Special Honorable Mention:

Picture Perfect!
At 52nd on my list, this movie did something for me I will eternally be grateful for.  On the soundtrack, was the song "Say What You Want" by Texas.  I enjoyed the song quite a bit, so I bought the album, not the movie soundtrack, but Texas White on Blonde.  

If I were to do these lists for musical album, it just might win... yeah, over Achtung Baby (doubtful there...) or more definitely The Joshua Tree.  Thank you for my (probably) 2nd favorite album of all time.*






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