Father's Day Top 10

After I made my mom pick her 10 favorite movies, I thought it was only fair to subject my dad to the same treatment. Lucky for me, dad and I have already talked about our favorite movies enough that I knew he'd be able to come up with a list without me coaxing it from his soul. He even ranked them for me! Thanks dad!

• 10 - The Mexican (2001): If it didn't have so much cussing in it, dad would undoubtedly find a way to show this in his classrooms every year as a "treat." In my opinion, it's pretty funny, perhaps overly maligned by critics, Brad Pitt is actually really funny and should play comedy more often - he's good (see Burn After Reading), and I love the James Gandolfini/Julia Roberts dancing, handcuffed together, to '80's classic "Safety Dance" scene - you know, "you can dance if you want to..."?
• 9 - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969): It's been a lotta years since I was familiar with the early James Bond catalogue (I used to regularly watch my dad's collection and even though they sucked, I had a fondness for Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun) but my dad and I have always liked the sole George Lazenby entry the best. The plot is equally ludicrous, but hey! Telly Savales was Blowfelt and Diana Rigg was Bond girl Tracy, whom Bond MARRIED. I loved that. Apparently it's still dad's favorite Bond movie (although his favorite Bond will always be Connery). As for me, Casino Royale blew the other Bond movies out of the water for me. I still think Connery was the best, but I never wanted to sleep with him the way I do Daniel Craig. Brosnan didn't do it for me either.
  
• 8 - Quigley Down Under (1990): Never seen this one though dad frequently talks to me about it as though I have. Just yesterday, actually, he started talking about how much he likes Laura San Giacomo's character in this (you know, the awesome Kit DeLuca in Pretty Woman?) and he started being all, "you know" about specific scenes, and I had to remind him for the zillionth time that I've never actually seen this movie. Very similar to his music quizzes: he likes to ask my sisters and I random classic rock/pop questions when certain things come on the rasio, but then completely forgets having already asked about that song before. Example: without fail, everytime "Incense and Peppermint" plays he will quiz, who sang this one-hit-wonder, and we'll roll our eyes and respond, "Strawberry Alarm Clock, duh. You've asked this question a million times. I know this answer better than my social security number." But it's sweet.
  
• 7 - Notting Hill (1999): Yes, my dad really likes romantic comedies. That Reese Witherspoon.Mark Ruffalo bomb Just Like Heaven? Probably in his top 20. But Notting Hill is definitely number one. Loves Julia Roberts. Loves Hugh Grant. Really loves Rhys Ifans. Favorite scene: probably the dinner party where they all tell their sad stories to win the last brownie. He also really likes the scene where Anna asks Will if he wants to come up to her hotel room because she's so nervous and vulnerable, but asks him twice anyway because that's what she really wants. He also psycotically loves the songs "She" by Elvis Costello, and "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone," as well as the visual scenes changing scene that accompanies it.
  
• 6 - Live Free or Die Hard (2007): I can't believe this is here instead of the original Die Hard, which is vastly superior, but never underestimate my dad's love for Justin Long. Bruce Willis is the man, and dad loves the character of John McClane, but this one wins because he thinks Long is hilarious. (I kind of agree, my crush on Justin Long is definitely coming along and I love those Mac/PC commercials despite being a proud PC user.) Personally, I think Kevin Smith is awesome in this, because you know in real life he's totally that guy, sitting in his Lazy Boy in the basement, lamenting the end of Star Wars. But, hot as he is, Timothy Olyphant is no Alan Rickman. Too bad.
  
• 5 - Gattaca (1997): I've written about this before (see it here) and dad pretty much agrees with me. Great atmosphere, interesting futuristic premise, asks a lot of good questions, Jude Law as Eugene is awesome, fantastic montage at the end with triumphantly sad score and good voiceover. If I had to guess, his favorite scene (excluding ones with Law) would be Vincent's nighttime swimming race against younger, genetically superior brother Anton. Anton can't believe Vincent's winning and he asks him how he does it. Vincent's reply: "You wanna know how I did it? This is how I did it Anton. I never saved anything for the swim back."
• 4 - Blade Runner (1982): Confession time: I have never particularly warmed to Blade Runner. I get it's visionary qualities and the way it has influenced all future sci-fi flicks, and the story is interesting, but I just always come aways thinking, "Is that it?" However I won't deny the awesome cinematography and set design, or the great performance of Rutger Hauer as replicant Roy Batty. The final fight between him and Harrison Ford in the rain is touching and cuts to the heart of the material. I also enjoy a younger and skinnier Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) as this mysterious figure in a trenchcoat, dropping origami all over the place. And remember when Sean Young had a promising career?
  
• 3 - A Hard Day's Night (1964): Ah, the Beatles. Dad's a huuuugggge Beatles fan. They are gods. Can do very little wrong. He has all the cartoons and decorates his classroom walls with posters and clippings of their careers (he still has the original "McCartney Quits" article from 1970), so of course he adores their first feature. I do too. There are no bad scenes in this movie. All of the songs are lip-synched but the Beatles still perform them with joy. The train, the "clean" grandfather, Ringo's lonely montage, George at the ad-man's, John in the bathtub, it's all gold.
  
• 2 - Arsenic and Old Lace (1944): Most critics would consider this one of Cary Grant's lesser films. It's a little too broad and slapstick for their sensibilities, but I suspect that's why dad loves it: it is so very ridiculous. There's a criminal who looks like Boris Karloff and uses Peter Lorre as a sidekick, two dotty aunts who are sweet as pie but poison people, and have their mentally impaired brother, who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, bury them in the basement, which he thinks is the Panama Canal. Cary Grant is the poor nephew who's just trying to introduce his fiance to this mess of a family and cover up all of their misdeeds before anyone finds out. It's a mad scramble and very funny.
  
• 1 - Dances With Wolves (1990): I've talked about this one plenty too, both in my Top 100 and my best Bromances list, so I don't have much to add. Let's just say that dad used to play the soundtrack for this movie ALL THE TIME. I think John Barry's a great composter too, but damn, did I get sick of this one. To this day I still get this score confused with his score from Out of Africa - they are remarkably similar. Kind of like how all of Rachel Portman's (Emma, The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, etc.) scores use the same instruments and rhythms. Lately I've run into a lot of criticism of this film from writers I respect, but I still get choked up watching this movie, so I'm just gonna take that con-crit with a grain of salt.