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...
- Contact
- Titanic
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- Starship Troopers
- The Devil's Advocate
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- The Fifth Element
- Gattaca
- Evangelion: Death and Rebirth
- The Saint
- L.A. Confidential
- Men in Black
- Hercules
- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
- Grosse Pointe Blank
- Air Force One
- MouseHunt
- Cube
- Clockwatchers
- Private Parts
- Out to Sea
- The Game
- Perfect Blue
- Kull the Conqueror
- A Life Less Ordinary
- Spice World
- Boogie Nights
- Fools Rush In
- Face/Off
- Flubber
- Wag the Dog
- Good Will Hunting
- The End of Evangelion
- Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
- Scream 2
- Absolute Power
- The Postman
- In & Out
- Event Horizon
- Alien Resurrection
- George of the Jungle
- Murder at 1600
- Chasing Amy
- Jackie Brown
- Addicted to Love
- Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
- Dante's Peak
- Anaconda
- As Good as It Gets
- Mimic
- The Full Monty
- Picture Perfect
- Seven Years in Tibet
- Volcano
- My Best Friend's Wedding
- Spawn
- The Relic
- Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie
- Conspiracy Theory
- Liar Liar
- Batman & Robin
- The Edge
- Fierce Creatures
- Warriors of Virtue
- Anastasia
- Con Air
- I Know What You Did Last Summer
- Selena
- Kundun
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
- The Peacemaker
- Home Alone 3
- The Jackal
- Breakdown
- Donnie Brasco
- Red Corner
- Kiss the Girls
- Turbulence
- Metro
- U Turn
- Vegas Vacation
- Playing God
- Speed 2: Cruise Control
- The Devil's Own
- Bean
- The Apostle
- Steel
- Air Bud
- Good Burger
- City of Industry
- Gone Fishin'
- One Night Stand
- 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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