Top Movies 65-67 in Brief

67. Strangers on a Train (1951) 
The premise of this story is actually terrifying. It may be the scariest one Hitchcock ever told. You can understand psychos killing you in the shower, or neighbors trying to cover up a murder, but a random stranger forming an unwilling murder pact with you… how can you fight that?

67. Wargames (1983) 
Speaking of scary. A.I. might be the end of us. Well, that combined with crazy war-mongering. Both seem to be on the rise today, making this 80s film as relevant as ever.

67. The Pirates! A Band of Misfits (2012) 
Or, “An Adventure with Scientists.” Or, “Una Loca Aventura.” Or, “Ein Haufen merkwürdiger Typen.” They couldn’t make up their minds what to call this thing, or what they wanted to emphasize. In any case, this is Aardman, and that means fun. Sure, they may have smarter, more meaningful films like “Chicken Run,” or more iconic stuff like “Wallace and Gromit,” but this is silliness at its best.

66. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 
I really think this film has a bit—no a lot—of an Emperor’s New Groove thing going on. But, there are moments where the greatness matches the iconic: HAL 9000, for one. Uhh, A.I. again.

66. The Hunt for the Red October (1990) 
I never was able to get into the Jack Ryan books, and I can read just about anything! But the films have all been good, and this is the best of the bunch.

66. Mad Max: Fury Road (2016) 
I’m not as enamored of this film as my son is, but it is a visual feast. Once I started to see it as more of a western a la “Stagecoach” it started working more for me. (Stagecoach still ranks higher.)

65. The Magnificent Seven (1960) 
This film is just outside the top ten westerns according to this new ranking of mine. But it is my boys’ favorite western. It has inspired so many retellings that it has got to be considered iconic.

65. Ghostbusters (1984) 
This was the first movie I ever saw in the theater without my parents. It was also my first horror-comedy, a sub-genre that contends for my favorite. It also came out my own personal “sweet spot” for movies: the 1983-1987 that seemed to do no wrong. And it is a great story that still holds up.

65. Hail Caesar (2016) 
A “minor” film in the Coen Brothers’ filmography, I still find it amongst my favorites. And it deals even more than most with one of their pet topics—morality and religion—even more explicitly than usual.

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