Jeff's Favorite Movies

As of today, I've watched and rated 2,800 movies, assigning each a numerical rating 1 (a waste of life) and 10 (loved it). Of course, this rating took place over many many years and I can't claim that my ratings have been consistent over the long haul; I'm sure that my tastes have changed during this journey. But although I'd like to, I can't watch all 2,800 movies over again to try and be more consistent, so for what it's worth, here is the list of the 70-or-so movies I've rated 9 or 10, followed by the 320-or-so-next-best films I've rated as 8.

I generally favor movies that are heavy in the plot department; there are many movies which are highly regarded on the Internet Movie Database or by critics which I don't like at all. Breathless is one such example. To me, it felt like nothing happened, and I rated it a 4 (I've since re-rated it as 7, because I now better appreciate it's allure, but it's still not a favorite). Even the highly-regarded Citizen Kane falls into that category; I rated it a 7 since although it might have introduced lots of new film techniques and had many interesting perspectives, the plot itself was totally boring to me. I didn't ever really care what "Rosebud" meant, so the rest of the film's goodness was lost on me. So those are two movies that don't quite make it onto my list of favorite movies. If you strongly disagree with both of these non-recommendations, you might as well stop reading here because my tastes don't align with yours. But if you tentatively agree, keep reading.

To rate a movie highly (that is, rate it as if I'd really enjoy watching it again, which is what my rating of 8 means), it has to have at least one of the following: a great plot, gorgeous photography, be a musical, contain beautiful music such as the way Kubrick used music, be a great science-fiction movie, or include anything about Italy, or especially Rome, for which I'm a total slut. I'm not at all adverse to non-American films; many of my 300-or-so-next-best films are black-and-white subtitled films. So if you're still reading and these things also tickle your fancy, here are my favorite 300-or-so movies out of the 2,319 I've watched.

I welcome you to email Jeff.Bondono@gmail.com with any comments on my choices.

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My Favorite 60 or so Movies, listed alphabetically

1. Alien: Terrific sci-fi horror film. A distress signal brings a spacefaring crew to a planet where the horror begins. Be sure to watch this one, and at least the first sequel, Aliens.
2. The Birds: A classic Hitchcock horror flick. It'll leave a lasting impression on you that you'll contemplate whenever you see an electric power line where a flock of birds are perching. Yikes it makes me shiver just to think about it. Watch this movie!
3. King Kong: Great sci-fi, the way it used to be made.
4. The Shining: A family man / author takes a winter job as the caretaker in a huge lodge-type hotel that will probably be snowed-in for the winter. Writer’s block and family problems ensue. One of the best horror movies ever. Be sure to watch it.

In case you agree with my list of favorite movies, here are my 300-or-so-next-best films that you might also enjoy, again listed alphabetically
(The best 34 in this bunch are in bold font)

1. Aliens: A sequel that's as good as the original!
2. The Conjuring: A modern haunted house / exorcist-like movie in which a couple moves into a house that seems haunted and asks paranormal investigators to check things out.
3. (subtitled) Les Diaboliques: The wife of a brutish schoolmaster and a teacher who was his former lover, join forces to drown him in a bathtub then dump him in the school’s swimming pool. But when the pool is drained, he is not there. A police inspector keeps hounding them for clues to the man’s death.
4. Don't Breathe: An intense suspenseful thriller / horror movie set in an abandoned neighborhood of Detroit.
5. The Exorcist: That kid's got the devil in her.
6. The Fly: Superb sci-fi horror movie with great character development, great acting, a love triangle, and a super-intense last half hour. A scientist has developed a teleportation machine that works great for inanimate objects. He must make adjustments to let it work on living flesh.
7. Get Out: Daughter entices black boyfriends, then brings them home to meet Mom & Dad, whose job it is to supply new bodies for aging relatives.
8. Hour of the Wolf: Great horror movie about an artist who suffers a nightmarish mental breakdown after he and his young wife move to a sparsely populated island. Great soundtrack, great special effects, brief scenes remind me of Eraserhead, Dracula, and The Birds.
9. It: The kids of Derry face Pennywise during summer vacation
10. Paranormal Activity
11. The Phantom Carriage: The last person to die on New Year's Eve before the clock strikes twelve is doomed to take the reins of Death's chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year in this groundbreaking silent film. I like the first soundtrack best.
12. Psycho: Really a very good horror movie that grabbed my interest from start until near the finish. Norman Bates or his Mother murders a woman who’s stolen $40,000 from her boss, then a detective who came around searching for the woman, then perhaps the couple who came around searching for the detective.
13. (subtitled) Sleep Tight: Cesar, a miserable man who works as an apartment concierge, takes a special interest in an attractive woman who lives there. He goes to great lengths to trouble her and several other people who live in the building.
14. Spring: A young man, down on his luck, visits Italy and has an intense love affair, but then it seems like she changes... An oh, the Italian scenery...
15. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
16. 10 Cloverfield Lane: A woman is held in a basement without her consent, for her own good (?), and then escapes into a totally different genre of a movie.
17. (subtitled) Timecrimes: A man becomes caught in a time loop with various copies of himself, and has to figure a way out so he can rejoin his real life.

And finally, a few TV series which I've especially enjoyed, again in alphabetical order

1. The Handmaiden's Tale