Top Ten Movies of All Time

We all have our favorites. Be your favorite movie from a horror film to a romantic tear jerker to even the most sarcastic spoof of a real movie ever, these movies leave a lasting impression in our minds and never, not even once get old. I was curious, so, I decided to ask the general public what they felt were the best movies of all time. It was amazing to see the results, as some were surprising and others ... not so much. However, below is a current listing of what many felt are the best movies of all time.

10. The Godfather

"The Godfather" originally started out as a novel, but the screenplay was also written by the same author: Mario Puzo. While Mario may have written both versions, it was Francis Ford Coppola who directed the movie and who many felt (and still feel) brought "The Godfather" to life. The movie was released in the spring of 1972, with two movies following up several years after.

Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) has just returned home from World War II and is attending a wedding for his sister, Connie (Talia Shire) to Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo), who is a member of another Mafia in New York. Michael's entire family is part of a Mafia, with his father, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) the Don of this organized crime group. However, with Vito aging, it's a given that the family wants Michael involved, but he just wants to live a plain, normal life.
A drug dealer named Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), has been seeking out protection from Mafia Families in exchange that the family receive a cut of the drug money. He approaches Vito with the offer, which is refused due to the fact that in spite of his Mafia link, he is adamantly against drugs. This spurs Virgil into hiring hit men to shoot the aging Don, who barely survives. It is then that Michael dives in, starting an extremely violent mob war against Sollozzo, which may end up tearing his own family apart.

9. Memento

"Memento" began it's journey to movie-dom by first being a short story entitled "Memento Mori" which was written by Jonathan Nolan. The story was adapted to screenplay by Christopher Nolan, who also directed the movie, which was released in the fall of 2000.

The interesting aspect of Memento is the fact that it tells a story and a back story at the same time. In the current story, Leonard (Guy Pearce) who is an insurance investigator, has been affected by a head injury after trying to stop his wife's(Jorja Fox) murder, which renders him without the ability to make new memories(short term memory). However, the last thing he can clearly remember is his wife's murder. With this new disability, the only way that Leonard can live life is by taking polaroid pictures and making notes on them, as well as tattooing important facts on his body so that he can remember them clearly. Along this journey, we discover that Leonard is told by various people that revenge for his wife's unjust death would be moot if he wouldn't remember it shortly after.
Along the way, Leonard meets Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), who is a barmaid who swears she can help and Teddy Gammell (Joe Pantoliano). Leonard also speaks of a man named Sammy (Stephen Tobolowsky), who was afflicted with a condition much like Leonard's. While somewhat confusing, it becomes a case of wondering who is manipulating who and finding out exactly who killed Leonard's Wife.

8. The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring

A long time ago, a man named J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, along with other books. However, it was Fran Walsh who adapted the book into a screenplay and Peter Jackson who brought the first movie in the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings to life. Released at the end of 2001, it brought the world of Middle Earth to life for many, many people.

Without diving too much into the movie and giving away spoilers that defeat the purpose of even watching The Fellowship of The Ring, the basic synopsis is fairly simple. In the Shire (Home of the hobbits), a young hobbit named Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), is set on a very difficult quest by Gandalf the grey (Ian Mckellen) after discovering that the ring Frodo inherited from Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) is the One ring - the ring of power from Sauron which was forged so that he may control all with just one ring. Frodo meets and is accompanied along the way by various characters, including Aragorn, Legolas Greenleaf, Gimli, Boromir, along with his three curious hobbit-friends Samwise, Merry and Pippin. The goal of Frodo is simple in words, but hard in task: take the ring of power to Mount Doom and toss it in the cracks to be destroyed once and for all.

7. The Big Lebowski

"The Big Lebowski" came to the big screen in March of 1998, having been written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, which the latter of the two, Joel, also directed the film.

Basically, "The Big Lebowski" is a movie about a case of mistaken identity. Jeffrey "Dude" Lebowski(Jeff Bridges), the ultimate slacker, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski(David Huddleston), who happens to be a millionaire with a wife who owes a nice chunk of change to some not so nice people. One day, Dude's house is broken into and two men urinate on his rug in an attempt to reclaim the money owed, which he obviously knows nothing about any money. The wealthy Jeffrey offers Dude a one-time job which will pay him a nice sum of money in itself -which throws Dude into being a go-between for the captors of The Big Lebowski's wife, Maude (Julianne Moore), and The Big Lebowski himself. However, Dude will not go into this task alone. With the assistance of his friends, Walter (John Goodman) who happens to be an angry, gun-toting Jewish convert and fellow bowling buddy Donny (Steve Buscemi), Dude becomes entangled in a very tricky plot.

6. The Princess Bride

It was William Goldman who wrote the original The Princess Bride, which was a book, and it was also William Goldman who wrote the screenplay to the now cherished movie, "The Princess Bride". However, if it weren't for Rob Reiner directing the movie, I don't feel that it would have been remotely the same or touched my heart, amongst others, so deeply. It was the fall of 1987 that the world was introduced to The Princess Bride.

The Princess Bride is a beautiful story written about a beautiful girl named Buttercup (Robin Wright) and her farmerboy, Westley (Cary Elwes) and the love that developed between the two by her constant demands and his only response of, "As You Wish" which truly meant, as you learn in the movie, "I love you". Westley and Buttercup profess their love for each other and in order to make more money for the two, Westley leaves the farmstead and goes to the Americas to seek his wealth. However, while away, his ship is attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts and it is presumed Westley killed.

It is only a few years later that Buttercup, who had sworn she would never love again, is crowned The Princess Bride and is betrothed to the snobbish and utter fraidy-cat, Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon). Prince Humperdink only has one thing in mind and it isn't Buttercup. In fact, it's starting a war with a neighboring continent, which involves Buttercup. He hires three men, Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) the mastermind Sicilian, Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) the sweet, yet skilled swordsman bent for revenge against his father's murderer and the loveable giant Fezzik (Andre the Giant) to kidnap Buttercup, take her to the enemies shores and murder her.

However, shortly along the way to the shores to kill Buttercup, the Dread Pirate Roberts catches up to the three, defeating the swordsman with skill, the giant with his strength and the Sicilian with his brains to rescue the princess. It turns out the Pirate is Westley, returned from sea. He ultimately befriends Fezzik and Inigo, and with help from various people along the way and a visit to the Fire Swamps and a fight with a very unfriendly R.O.U.S. (Rodent of Unusual Size). The foursome must stop Humperdink and his partner in crime Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) before Buttercup is forced to wed Humperdink and ultimately murdered in a "Plan B" attempt to start the war.

5. The Shawshank Redemption

Originally, when Stephen King wrote this short story, it was called Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption. However, when Frank Darabont wrote the screenplay, it was shorted to just "The Shawshank Redemption", but, he did not just write the screenplay. In fact, he was also the director, leading this movie to make is debut in September of 1994.

What I would consider one of the most emotion-filled and dramatic movies of its time, "The Shawshank Redemption" takes place in the 1940's, with Andrew Dufrense (Tim Robbins) having been wrongly accused of murdering his wife and her lover. It was then he was sent to Shawshank Prison, to serve out two life sentences for the crime. However, prison turns out to be hellish, with Andy being a victim of several rapes, until at last the rapist is put into the hospital - ending Andy's fears. While in prison, Andy befriends a man named "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman)- a long time convict himself. Andy keeps hope with him, which is one of the only things prison couldn't take away.

Andy becomes employed by Warden Norton (Bob Gunton), who has created a plan to embezzle funds by starting a program where men work on contract projects such as building roads and other hard labor duties. We learn that Andy, who was a banker when he was free, creates fraudulent documents so that he can embezzle for Norton. Within the year, the prison library has been expanded and Andy takes it upon himself to teach his fellow inmates so that they can pass as a high school graduate.

Time passes and in 1965 a young man is sent to Shawshank and can vouch for Andy's innocence. Norton has Tommy(Gil Bellows) killed and this drives Andy to requesting solitary confinement. However, it's only for two months and shortly after his release, Andy turns up missing.

He has escaped and sends notes of his time in prison to a local paper, and then escapes with Norton's wealth. Norton, who is afraid of being arrested kills himself. Upon Red's release from prison, he follows a note Andy had left him, following that to another note under a tree and ultimately to being reunited with Andy in Mexico.

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return Of The King

Written and Directed by the same individuals as the Fellowship of the Ring, The third installment, entitled The Return of the King ends the tale of Frodo and his companions as they travel to destroy the Ring of Power. This final movie was released in December of 2003, leaving many fans sad that the movies ended, but, giving them closure into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings.

Without giving away any spoilers, if you want action, Return of the King is definitely the movie to see. What we do already know upon entering "RotK" as it's known as, we rejoin Frodo and Sam, who are being led by Gollum towards Mount Doom, their final location to throw the ring into the fires and destroy it once and for all. However, Sam and Frodo are unaware of the path that Gollum is leading them through. Meanwhile, the fellowship separates into three groups. Gandalf and Pippin have traveled to Minas Tirith to assist in defending Gondor. Eowyn and Merry remain behind - to stay with the other Rohan Warriors. Aragon, Gimli and Legolas have saught help from those that live in the Cursed Mountains. All three groups have one main goal in mind with all the fighting: distracting Sauron's Eye and give Frodo the time he needs to complete his task.

3. Fight Club

When Chuck Palahniuk wrote Fight Club, I don't think he envisioned it becoming a very popular and idolized movie. However, Jim Uhls (screenplay) and David Fincher (director) made this 1999 movie a big hit among guys, as well as girls, including many a Palahnuik fan.

The first rule about fight club is you do not talk about fight club. What is "Fight Club"? This movie weaves you into the world of one mostly known as The Narrator (Edward Norton) and his perfect life becoming distracted after a chance meeting with Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) during a plane flight. When the Narrator gets stuck at the airport, he decides to call Tyler for a little help. What ensues is a lot of mischief and mayhem. The two hit it off as friends and become housemates in a dilapidated shack after the Narrator's ritzy apartment blows up. What we learn along the way is the Narrator has trouble sleeping, so to acquire some sort of therapy he takes on various names and goes to different group therapy meetings, where we meet characters like Chloe, the near death skele-woman who just wants intimacy one more time, Bob(Meatloaf), who grew breasts after prostate cancer and even a tb meeting. These made him cry and in that release he found comfort. However, shortly after he meets a leech named Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), who strikes up a sexual relationship with Tyler.

The Fight Club develops when Tyler tells the Narrator to hit him as hard as he can. This became the Narrator's new release instead of attending therapy. Along the way, a 'terrorist' organization is developed in part by Tyler and our Narrator is left with one important choice at the end: destroying himself to destroy Tyler once and for all.

2. The Matrix

"The Matrix" was written and directed by the same people: Andy and Larry Wachowski, who are brothers to each other and wrote all the Matrix movies that followed the original. In 1999, we were all introduced to the world of the Matrix.

It's 1999. Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is living what most anyone would consider an average life. He makes his living by illegally hacking into computers. He's living the normal hacker life. However, one day he meets a man only known as Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who teaches Thomas as their friendship develops that the 1999 he's living in is nothing but a lie. In fact, it's two hundred years later and the world is exxtremely different than what he thinks it is. Of course, Thomas has a hard time believing this until he meets a woman very much like him known as Trinity (Carrie Ann Moss). The fake world has been created to fool the human race into believing all is all right in the world, however, in actuality, the world has been taken over by AI (Artificial Intelligence) machines.

The AI machines get all their power from the human slaves, who have no idea that this is even going on in the world. Anderson is considered "The One" by the Oracle (Gloria Foster) who will be the one to lead the humans in a fight to reclaim the world as their own. However, along the way, Anderson and his team will be persued by Agents (computers that take a humanoid form and infiltrate into the Matrix) who will attempt to stop him. Two questions carry throughout the struggle to free the humans. Is Neo (Anderson's name) is truly "The One" and will the humans ever be free from their AI controllers?

1. Star Wars

On May 25th, 1977, George Lucas introduced us to the movie that still, to this day, has an insane-sized following. Not only was he the director of this fabulous movie, but, he was also the writer. This movie introduced us to something not used too often then: the special effect. In fact, this movie won 8 oscars and is still considered one of the best movies of all time.

While Star Wars is the first movie of the Star Wars movies, it isn't exactly the first. It's actually known as Star Wars IV: A New Hope. The movie follows the adventures of the simple farmboy Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) who lives with his Uncle Owen(Phil Brown) and Aunt Beru(Shelagh Fraser). However, the movie begins with a mere rebel ship being boarded by the evil Darth Vader (David Prowse, voice by James Earl Jones).

Without going into a long, drawn out story plot and ruining it for those who haven't seen it, I'll try to stray from giving too many spoilers and go with what was described to me the first time I was going to view it. Vader and the emperor have built this gigantic weapon known as the Death Star, which is capable of killing off an entire world in a split second. The plans are captured by the Rebel Alliance and are stored in the maintenance robot known as R2-D2 (For those who don't know, he's the short, white trash-can like one!) R2 and his taller, copper-toned robot named C-3PO escape to Tatooine.

Luke aquires these two robots after a small series of mishaps. After Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are killed by stormtroopers who were dispached to find the plans. After the murders, Luke meets Obi-Wan(Alec Guinness) who intends to return the plans to Alderaan. They contract a pilot named Hans Solo (Harrison Ford) and his tall, hairy companion, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and discover that the coordinates for Alderaan show nothing. It's been destroyed by the Death Star.

Along the way they get pulled into the Star, have to rescue a beautiful girl named Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), as well as figure out a way to destroy the Death Star before it destroys them.

We all have a favorite movie list. Some are popular like Star Wars and some are less popular. Sometimes, we even wonder how some movies get high rankings when we, ourselves, didn't fancy them. However, when one creates a poll, one must understand that it's the general public speaking - not oneself. What we learned from this poll is that Star Wars is still a favorite among many and that some of these movies listed might just be worth giving a try. Happy viewing to any who feel inspired to view one of these movies if they haven't seen them.