Vince's Top 10

Ok, so over the next few days I'm hoping everyone will put up their top ten films and a little info on why they like 'em. I'll start thigs off with these choice moving pictures:

(The Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies are not included in this list because they occupy that special place in my heart that cannot be numerically evaluated, and yes, they're both TRILOGIES.)

10. Blazing Saddles: I have to include a film with Gene Wilder in it, and as much as I love his Willy Wonka (shame on you, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, for thinking you could top it), this movie is so inappropriately hilarious that it never gets old. Seriously, is there anything funnier than a black man baiting Klan members by asking "where all the white women at?"

9. City of God: Every time I watch this, I have to grimace when Lil'Ze forces one little kid to shoot another... Incredibly violent but thrilling at the same time, "City of God" works because each character gets under your skin, for better or for worse. Plus, the cinematography depicting the slums of Rio is downright amazing. The best "based on a true story" movie out there.

8. Starship Troopers: Go ahead, laugh. Done? Now read carefully: this is one of the most intelligently made films I've ever seen. I won't go into it here, you'll have to ask me in person, but don't worry, I'll convince you. I will. In the meantime, go read the source material, the seminal sci-fi book of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein.

7. Dumb and Dumber: While "Blazing Saddles" is all about satire and the lambasting of stereotypes, this vintage Farrelly Brothers masterpiece is the only film I can quote from front to back. Literally every line is hilarious, and major props to Cam Neely (of Boston Bruins fame) as lonely trucker Seabass. "I think I just... yeah. I had an idea." Classic.

6. The Jungle Book: Maybe it's just because I watched it every day when I was a child, but it's still the best traditionally-animated film Disney made, with the best Disney song ("The Bear Necessities," obviously). Shere Khan still scares the crap out of me.

5. Aliens: The best war movie made (did you know it's about Vietnam?) and the best sequel ever. James Cameron really knew how to make 'em back then, as he sandwiched this one in between "Terminator" and "T2: Judgement Day." Ellen Ripley's "get away from her you bitch!" gives you shivers, and Bishop saving Newt even though he's CUT IN HALF is amazing.

4. Bicycle Thieves: Italian Neo-Realism at its best, this film inspires me every time I watch it because it was made with no budget, non-professional actors, and an absurdly simple story yet still ends as tragically as anything else ever shot on camera, proving that money does not a good film make.

3. Back To The Future: This should be painfully obvious, buttheads.

2. Wall-E: Someday critics are going to look back and realize that "Wall-E" is one of the greatest love stories ever told. And the telling... the film is virtually dialog free, yet communicates more than the most verbose character dramas. Pixar took a huge risk, and the result was the first movie I walked out of the theatre and claimed a masterpiece.

1. The 400 Blows: The brutal honesty at the heart of this, François Truffaut's first film, reflects his own life and his love of film; as a critic he saw countless features, and he, like any good film student, recoginzed what makes movies great entertainment. We've all felt lost like Antoine Doinel at some point, and we all hope that we might also reach the coast and look out into the open sea, somehow contented.