100 Reasons We Love The Movies
Is it a classic line, an amazing entrance or teary death scene? Is it killer comedy, high drama or simply explosive action fare? For everybody it will be different, although I think a few of my choices below will probably make it into many a 100-list for this meme, but it’d be interesting to see what you guys all come up with. We sat down and managed to come up with perhaps the 100 best reasons why we (or, rather I!) love films. Now, your challenge is to do the same.
I’ve mentioned this before, and I know I’ll mention it again in the future, but we don’t normally get involved in too many internet meme’s around the fernbyfilms.com offices. One, they take up too much time I could be spending watching and reviewing films, and two, they’re often silly little things that don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. However, the following meme seems to be doing the round of the interwebs in the last few months, and we thought we’d take a stab at it – 100 reasons we love the movies.
Is it a classic line, an amazing entrance or teary death scene? Is it killer comedy, high drama or simply explosive action fare? For everybody it will be different, although I think a few of my choices below will probably make it into many a 100-list for this meme, but it’d be interesting to see what you guys all come up with. We sat down and managed to come up with perhaps the 100 best reasons why we (or, rather I!) love films. Now, your challenge is to do the same.
Here’s our list of the 100 best reasons we love films – and we must stress these are in no particular order.
100 – Kermit riding a bicycle.
99 – Fat Bastard & Mini Me.
98 – “Carla was the prom queen.”
97 – Every frame of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.
96 – Tarantino’s joke scene in Desperado.
95 – “Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer…. dooooooooo”
94 – Showgirls. For real.
93 – Ellen Bursten’s performance in Requiem For A Dream.
92 – Tom Hank’s breakdown in Saving Private Ryan.
91 – Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.
90 – Helms Deep.
89 – “Jane, you ignorant slut.”
88 – The shower scene. You know the one.
87 – Rita Hayworth.
86 – Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
85 – James Dean starred in three films.
84 – The end of The Bridge On The River Kwai.
83 – Charlie Chaplin.
82 – “Don’t cross the streams.”
81 – Nino Rota’s Godfather theme.
80 – ET bringing that flower back to life.
79 – Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Made in 1927 and still awesome.
78 – The Mines Of Moria.
77 – John Debney’s score for Cutthroat Island. Have you actually listened to it?
76 – Ed Harris willing Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio back to life in The Abyss.
75 – Bill Pullman’s last-chance speech in Independence Day.
74 – Jack Nicholson’s creepy performance in The Shining. “Here’s Johnny!”
73 – John Williams’ score for Jaws.
72 – Who’s on first?
71 – The Great Escape.
70 – Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
69 – Helen Hunt’s white singlet in Twister.
68 – Mischa Barton making us shit ourselves in The Sixth Sense.
67 – John Hurt as The Elephant Man.
66 – Liam Neeson’s “I’ll find you, and I will kill you” speech in Taken.
65 – Captain Jack Sparrow.
64 – Watching Anthony Hopkins act.
63 – “Ode to Joy” sequence in Immortal Beloved. A perfect mix of sound and vision.
62 – Studio title cards.
61 – Don LaFontaine saying “In a world….” in a trailer.
60 – Watching Phillip Seymour Hoffman out-act everyone he’s ever been on-screen with.
59 – Opening musical number of The Lion King.
58 – A little bit of Ultra-Violence. To Beethoven.
57 – Red Dress Girl in Schindlers’ List.
56 – “That’ll do, Pig. That’ll do.”
55 – Denzel Washington in Glory.
54 – Ben Kingsley in Gandhi.
53 – Mary takes Bert and the children into a chalk drawing.
52 – The moment Wilson floats away….
51 – “One point twenty one giggawatts?”
50 – Opening battle sequence in Gladiator.
49 – George C Scott’s opening speech in Patton.
48 – Tippi Hedren sitting on a bench, having a smoke, outside the school in The Birds, while the children sing a song.
47 – Die Hard.
46 – Citizen Kane. It’s famous for a reason.
45 – The car chases in Ronin.
44 – Gollum’s argument with himself in The Two Towers.
43 – The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.
42 – Oliver Stone’s JFK – for sheer breadth of information disseminated.
41 – “Shane!”
40 – ED209 vs RoboCop.
39 – Bullet Time.
38 – Jamie Lee Curtis dancing “sexy” in True Lies.
37 – Eddie Murphy’s iconic donkey-like laugh.
36 – Ellen DeGeneres as Dory.
35 – “Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is good…”
34 – The nudity and violence in Starship Troopers.
33 – Bruce Willis’ teary farewell to Live Tyler in Armageddon.
32 – The opening sequence of Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
31 – Harry Callahan.
30 – Graham Chapman is not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.
29 – Frank Sinatra’s performance in The Man With The Golden Arm.
28 – Lobby shootout in The Matrix.
27 – “You’re like the Diet Coke of Eh-vil!”
26 – Nuclear explosion sequence in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
25 – Christopher Walken’s cameo in Pulp Fiction.
24 – John Williams’ score for Star Wars.
23 – Kevin Spacey in American Beauty.
22 – “The first rule of Fight Club….”
21 – “Roxanne” in Moulin Rouge.
20 – Das Boot.
19 – “I’m Spartacus”. “No, I’m Spartacus.”
18 – Gremlins watching Snow White.
17 – Lawrence of Arabia. All of it. Awesome.
16 – The most amazing chariot race ever filmed, in Ben Hur.
15 – “Welcome, to Jurassic Park.”
14 – John Hurt’s last breakfast in Alien.
13 – Amelie falling in love.
12 – “I think you’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
11 – Babel. Amazing film. Profound.
10 – Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino.
9 – Tami Stronach’s turn as The Childlike Empress.
8 – “Doe, a deer, a female deer…..”
7 – A trip down the yellow brick road.
6 – Clarke Cable not giving a damn.
5 – The final five minutes of Se7en.
4 – Optimus Prime’s first on-screen transformation in Michael Bay’s Transformers.
3 – The moment Buzz realizes he’s a toy.
2 – “There’s a bomb on a bus.”
1 – The fifteen minutes after “Pull your team out, Gorman”.
Who wrote this?
Great that you decided to participate, this was a really fun read as these usually are! And a massive yes to 5!
Thanks Anna, glad you could drop by! Sounds like somebody is a massive David Fincher fan…?
Dakota Fanning kissing Kristen Stewart in The Runaways. Oh yeah, "The End" in Apocalypse Now. Oh yeah again, "The Cry of The Valkries" in Apocalypse Now. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like victory," from Apocalypse Now. Ok, pretty much anything from Apocalypse Now. Ben Stiller proving Steve Coogan's corpseless head was a special effect in Tropic Thunder.
i have a hundred more but it's time. Thanks for the food for thought, brother.
I really do have to get around to watching The Runaways.
Really.
I did this about two months ago.
Very fun and interesting list.
@ Sam – Thanks man, I'll have to skip on over and check out your list!
@ Dan – I watched Aliens again a few weeks ago while the wife was away, I still think it's one of the most awesome films ever made. It still holds up today, which for a film made nearly 30 years ago, is a wonderful testament to James Cameron's inventive production design and film-making skill.
As to the cricket, well, the less I say about that, the better. 😉
I'm going to have to get round to doing this too. What a wonderful number 1 Rodney! That makes me want to stick Aliens on (but I can't right now because I'm watching the cricket – guess what, England are winning AGAIN!).
Love the idea of the 'nudity and violence of Starship Troopers'! And just the thought of ET bringing the flower back to life immediately warms the heart.