Beginnings

Welcome friends! I have started this entry in the global technosphere because I have been in love with books since the age of 2. Among the busy business of being a new teacher, this is my outlet for sharing thoughts on a love of reading a wide variety of books. My inspiration can be summed up with a yearbook quote from a teacher written when I was 8: "To the only girl at recess I see reading a book. Good for you!"
My blog title is quoted from a classmate who asked me this once. Believe it or not, I've also heard it as a teacher :D

My 100 Favourite Movies

Movies are a favourite pasttime of mine--I love all kinds:  in colour and black & white, lots of genres, such as comedy, drama, action, western, animation, and different eras, from the screwball comedies of the 1930s to romantic comedies of the 1990s.  There is rarely a movie I will not see at least once; the rare exception being the most obviously awful ones you can smell a mile away.

My list is in a favourable order, starting with #100 & working down to my #1 favourite movie.

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#100- K-PAX
2001, dir. Iain Softley, starring Kevin Spacey & Jeff Bridges
Adapted from the novel by Gene Brewer
#99- Speed
1994, dir. Jan de Bont, starring Keanu Reeve, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper & Jeff Daniels
#98- Gorillas in the Mist
1988, dir. Michael Apted, starring Sigourney Weaver & Bryan Brown
Based on a true story






 

#97- Big Fish
2003, dir. Tim Burton, starring Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter & Billy Crudup
Based on the novel by Daniel Wallace



 
#96- Steel Magnolias
1989, dir. Herbert Ross, starring Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Olympia Dukakis, Daryl Hannah, Tom Skerritt & Sam Shepard
Based on the play by Robert Harling




 
#95- The Poseidon Adventure
1972, dir. Ronald Neame, starring Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons & Jack Albertson
Based on the novel by Paul Gallico



#94- Ratatouille
2007, dir. Brad Bird, starring the voices of Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett & Janeane Garofalo




#93- The Odd Couple
1968, dir. Gene Saks, starring Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau



 

#92- Spaceballs
1987, dir. Mel Brooks, starring Bill Pullman, Mel Brooks, John Candy & Rick Moranis


#91- Harvey
1950, dir. Henry Koster, starring James Stewart & Josephine Hull



 




#90- Shrek & Shrek 2
2001, dir. Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson
Starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz & John Lithgow

2004, dir. Andrew Adamson & Kelly Asbury
Starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, John Cleese & Julie Andrews
Both based on the book by William Steig


#89- Catch Me If You Can
2002, dir. Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Walken, Amy Adams & Martin Sheen
Based on a true story and on the book by Frank Abagnale Jr.


#88- The Sixth Sense
1999, dir. M. Night Shyamalan, starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment & Toni Collette



#87- Lethal Weapon
1987, dir. Richard Donner, starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover & Gary Busey


 


#86- Moulin Rouge!
2001, dir. Baz Luhrmann, starring Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent & John Leguizamo


 


#85- Toy Story, Toy Story 2 & Toy Story 3

1995, dir. John Lasseter, starring the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn & Annie Potts

1999, dir. John Lasseter & Ash Brannon, starring the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Wayne Knight, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Estelle Harris & Annie Potts

2010, dir. Lee Unkrich, starring the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger & Estelle Harris



#84- Rio Bravo
1959, dir. Howard Hawks, starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, Rick Nelson & Angie Dickinson


#83- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2005, dir. Steve Box & Nick Park, starring the voices of Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes & Helena Bonham Carter




 

#82- A Simple Plan
1998, dir. Sam Raimi, starring Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda & Gary Cole
Based on the novel by Scott B. Smith



#81- Million Dollar Baby
2004, dir. Clint Eastwood, starring Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood & Morgan Freeman
Based on stories by F.X. Toole


#80- M*A*S*H
1970, dir. Robert Altman, starring Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall & Rene Auberjonois
Based on the novel by Richard Hooker


#79- Cast Away
2000, dir. Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt & "Wilson"


 

#78- JFK
1991, dir. Oliver Stone, starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Sissy Spacek, Jack Lemmon, Donald Sutherland, Walter Matthau, Gary Oldman, John Candy, Kevin Bacon & Ed Asner
Based on the books by Jim Garrison & Jim Marrs



#77- Full Metal Jacket
1987, dir. Stanley Kubrick, starring Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio & R. Lee Ermey
Based on the novel by Gustav Hasford


#76- Boogie Nights
1997, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Mark Wahlberg, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle & Luis Guzman



 #75- Field of Dreams
1989, dir. Phil Alden Robinson, starring Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan & Ray Liotta
Based on the book by W.P. Kinsella



#74- The Breakfast Club
1985, dir. John Hughes, starring Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez & Ally Sheedy




#73- Little Miss Sunshine
2006, dir. Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, starring Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Abigail Breslin & Paul Dano





 

#72- Big
1988, dir. Penny Marshall, starring Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, Mercedes Ruehl & John Heard



#71- Good Will Hunting
1997, dir. Gus Van Sant, starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Robin Williams, Minnie Driver & Stellan Skarsgard



#70- Chaplin
1992, dir. Richard Attenborough, starring Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Hopkins, Geraldine Chaplin, Dan Aykroyd, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Kline, Moira Kelly, Milla Jovovich, Diane Lane, Penelope Ann Miller & Kevin Dunn 


 
#69- Memento
2000, dir. Christopher Nolan, starring Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Stephen Tobolowsky & Jorja Fox
Based on the short story by Jonathan Nolan


#68- Up
2009, dir. Pete Docter & Bob Peterson, starring the voices of Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Delroy Lindo, John Ratzenberger & Jordan Nagai




#67- Almost Famous
2000, dir. Cameron Crowe, starring Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Billy Crudup, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk & Philip Seymour Hoffman


#66- Dave
1993, dir. Ivan Reitman, starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella, Kevin Dunn, Ben Kingsley, Ving Rhames & Charles Grodin


#65- Rear Window
1954, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr & Wendell Corey



#64- The Shining
1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd & Scatman Crothers
Based on the novel by Stephen King


#63- Grand Hotel
1932, dir. Edmund Goulding, starring John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore & Wallace Beery
Based on the novel by Vicki Baum and the play by William A. Drake







#62- Jerry Maguire
1996, dir. Cameron Crowe, starring Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, Cube Gooding Jr., Jonathan Lipnicki, Kelly Preston, Jerry O'Connell, Jay Mohr, Regina King & Bonnie Hunt





#61- Edward Scissorhands
1990, dir. Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Alan Arkin, Anthony Michael Hall & Vincent Price






 

#60- Chicago
2002, dir. Rob Marshall, starring Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta Jones, John C. Reilly, Queen Latifah, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs, Lucy Liu & Mya


#59- Planes, Trains & Automobiles
1987, dir. John Hughes, starring Steve Martin, John Candy, Michael McKean, Kevin Bacon & Dylan Baker



#58- Working Girl
1988, dir. Mike Nichols, starring Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Cusack, Alec Baldwin, Philip Bosco, Oliver Platt, Kevin Spacey, Olympia Dukakis & Amy Aquino


#57- Galaxy Quest
1999, dir. Dean Parisot, starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Daryl Mitchell, Sam Rockwell & Justin Long


#56- The Lion King
1994, dir. Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, starring the voices of James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson & Whoopi Goldberg


#55- Caddyshack
1980, dir. Harold Ramis, starring Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O'Keefe & Brian Doyle Murray


#54- Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1986, dir. John Hughes, starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Grey, Edie McClurg, Ben Stein & Charlie Sheen



#53- The Fugitive
1993, dir. Andrew Davis, starring Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pantoliano, Sela Ward & Julianne Moore


#52- Victor Victoria
1982, dir. Blake Edwards, starring Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren, John Rhys-Davies & Alex Karras



#51- Stranger Than Fiction
2006, dir. Marc Forster, starring Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Tom Hulce & Linda Hunt


#50- Twister
1996, dir. Jan de Bont, starring Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cary Elwes, Jami Gertz, Alan Ruck & Lois Smith 







Top 50...

49- WALL-E
2008, dir. Andrew Stanton, starring Fred Willard and the voices of Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger & Kathy Najimy



#48- Stand By Me
1986, dir. Rob Reiner, starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, John Cusack, Kiefer Sutherland & Richard Dreyfuss
Based on the short story "The Body" by Stephen King


#47- The Fisher King
1991, dir. Terry Gilliam, starring Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer & Michael Jeter



#46- The Terminator
1984, dir. James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield & Lance Henriksen



#45- Die Hard
1988, dir. John McTiernan, starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson & William Atherton



#44- Blazing Saddles
1974, dir. Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cleavon Little, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman & Alex Karras





#43- Groundhog Day
1993, dir. Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky & Brian Doyle-Murray


#42- Rain Man
1988, dir. Barry Levinson, starring Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise & Valeria Golino





 

#41- Forrest Gump
1994, dir. Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise & Mykelti Williamson
Based on the novel by Winston Groom


#40- Dead Poets Society
1989, dir. Peter Weir, starring Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles & Kurtwood Smith






#39- Blackboard Jungle
1955, dir. Richard Brooks, starring Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Vic Morrow & Sidney Poitier
Based on the novel by Evan Hunter


#38- Bowling For Columbine
2002, dir. Michael Moore


#37- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
1966, dir. Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach & Lee Van Cleef



#36- Jaws
1975, dir. Steven Spielberg, starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss & "Bruce"



#35- The Great Escape
1963, dir. John Sturges, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasance & James Coburn
Based on the novel by Paul Brickhill


 
#34- The Maltese Falcon
1941, dir. John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet & Ward Bond



#33- His Girl Friday
1940, dir. Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell & Ralph Bellamy
Based on the play "The Front Page" by Ben Hecht


#32- Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
1974, dir. Martin Scorsese, starring Ellen Burstyn, Diane Ladd, Kris Kristofferson, Alfred Lutter III, Harvey Keitel & Valerie Curtin


#31- The Truman Show
1998, dir. Peter Weir, starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Ed Harris, Noah Emmerich, Holland Taylor & Natascha McElhone

 
#30- The Big Lebowski
1998, dir. Joel & Ethan Coen, starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott, John Turturro & Tara Reid


#29- Ghostbusters
1984, dir. Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson & William Atherton





 
#28- L.A. Confidential
1997, dir. Curtis Hanson, starring Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell & David Strathairn
Based on the novel by James Ellroy


#27- Born Yesterday
1950, dir. George Cukor, starring William Holden, Judy Holliday & Broderick Crawford




#26- When Harry Met Sally...
1989, dir. Rob Reiner, starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher & Bruno Kirby




#25- The Wizard of Oz
1939, dir. Victor Fleming, starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton, Bert Lahr & Jack Haley



#24- Some Like It Hot
1959, dir. Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, Joe E. Brown, George Raft & Pat O'Brien


#23- Harold and Maude
1971, dir. Hal Ashby, starring Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort & Tom Skerritt



#22- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1975, dir. Milos Forman, starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Danny DeVito, Scatman Crothers, Brad Dourif & Will Sampson


#21- All the President's Men
1976, dir. Alan J. Pakula, starring Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Robards, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook, Jane Alexander, Meredith Baxter, Stephen Collins & Ned Beatty
Based on the book by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein


Top 20...


#20- Bringing Up Baby
1938, dir. Howard Hawks, starring Katharine Hepburn & Cary Grant





 #19- Hannah and Her Sisters
1986, dir. Woody Allen, starring Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Michael Caine, Barbara Hershey, Max von Sydow, Carrie Fisher, Sam Waterston, Maureen O'Sullivan & Julie Kavner


#18- As Good As It Gets
1997, dir. James L. Brooks, starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Shirley Knight, Cuba Gooding Jr., Harold Ramis, Skeet Ulrich, Yeardley Smith & Lupe Ontiveros


#17- Alien
1979, dir. Ridley Scott, starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton & Yaphet Kotto


#16- North by Northwest
1959, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason & Martin Landau






#15- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2004, dir. Michel Gondry, starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo & Elijah Wood



 



#14- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1982, dir. Steven Spielberg, starring Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace Stone, Peter Coyote & Robert MacNaughton

 


#13- It's a Wonderful Life
1946, dir. Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Ward Bond & Gloria Grahame




#12- Tootsie
1982, dir. Sydney Pollack, starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Charles Durning, Dabney Coleman, Sydney Pollack, Bill Murray & Geena Davis


#11- City Lights
1931, dir. Charles Chaplin, starring Charles Chaplin & Virginia Cherrill




Top 10...


#10- Raiders of the Lost Ark
1981, dir. Steven Spielberg, starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott & Alfred Molina


#9- The Sting
1973, dir. George Roy Hill, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Harold Gould, Eileen Brennan & Robert Earl Jones


#8- 12 Angry Men
1957, dir. Sidney Lumet, starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Martin Balsam & Jack Klugman

#7- The Green Mile
1999, dir. Frank Darabont, starring Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell, Patricia Clarkson, Bonnie Hunt, Jeffrey DeMunn, David Morse, Michael Jeter, Graham Greene, Doug Hutchison, Sam Rockwell, Barry Pepper, Harry Dean Stanton & Dabbs Greer


#6- The Usual Suspects
1995, dir. Bryan Singer, starring Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Benicio Del Toro, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak, Pete Postlethwaite, Suzy Amis & Dan Hedaya


#5- Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope)
1977, dir. George Lucas, starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, James Earl Jones & Peter Cushing


#4- Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2
2003, dir. Quentin Tarantino, starring Uma Thurman, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox & David Carradine


2004, dir. Quentin Tarantino, starring Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox & Gordon Liu



#3- Goodfellas
1990, dir. Martin Scorsese, starring Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco & Paul Sorvino
Based on the book by Nicholas Pileggi


#2- Aliens
1985, dir. James Cameron, starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser, Jenette Goldstein & William Hope





 
and...*drumroll please*...



1- The Shawshank Redemption
1994, dir. Frank Darabont, starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Gil Bellows, Clancy Brown, Mark Rolston & James Whitmore
Based on the short story "Rita Hayworth & the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King


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