Best Movies by Category

Andrew and I were out with friends gorging at Applebees last weekend (half-priced appetizers after nine you know) and the group got into a good discussion about favorite movies by genre. You're free to chime in with your two cents, here are my picks with a few editorial comments from the group thrown in:

1. Best romantic comedy: While You Were Sleeping. For sheer quotability alone. In fact, if I ever attend a family dinner without someone saying "These mashed potatoes are so creamy . . . Argentina has good beef . . . Caesar Romero was tall" I'll then know my family has been abducted by replaced by alien pod people. But Sandra Bullock and what's-his-nose-romantic-lead are terrific. Love that show. Anyway, it's the best though we agreed Return to Me was also a contender. I thought Runaway Bride was at the top of the list too but no one was with me on that one.

2. Hardest cry: Dead Poet's Society. Took me four or five theater viewings and enough Kleenex to supply a funeral home before I could get through it without sobbing. Not sniffling. Sobbing. Ask Andrew about his Simon Birch experience. I won't humiliate the man here, not in front of the world.

3. Best "heist" movie: I'm going to go with The Italian Job on this one. Though Ocean's 11 and Sneakers are both good too. Oddly enough many of these great films are remakes . . . any other's you'd nominate?

4. Best action movie: Tough one here. I know Carinne would say the "Bourne" series (she's a fan) but I think I may have to go with Casino Royale. Nope, I'm changing my mind. Even my love for the new James Bond can't get past my love for Raiders of the Lost Ark. I still love watching that one. Classic, funny, entertaining, everything's great but Karen Allen.

5. Most inspirational movie: This one's a difficult category. Kendall suggested Ghosts of Mississippi and Andrew said Gandhi, both of which are which are terrific. I think Gandhi nudges out the other by a neck.

6. Best mystery: Dial M for Murder which is perfect in its plot and development though I'm also a fan of M. Knight Shyamalan's movies, with Unbreakable being my favorite.

7. Funniest movie: O Brother Where Art Thou? Every time. And if this movie doesn't convince you the Cohen Brothers are hilarious, then see Raising Arizona. Though (forgive me Carinne) Napolean Dynamite is right there with them.

8. Best animated movie: Finding Nemo. Ellen Degeneres and Al Brooks are the perfect combo and coupled with the parenting-theme I could watch this over and over. And have. That turtle scene gets me every time . . . "takin' on the jellies." Heh.

9. Scariest movie: Putting aside my childhood feelings for Malificent from Sleeping Beauty (what was with those horns??) I'm going to have to say Wait Until Dark. Not because it still scares me but because it's so artfully done and scared me so much the first time I saw it. The movies that really bother me I won't watch (I couldn't make it through Silence of the Lambs even edited on t.v.) so I'll name this Hepburn classic. Poltergeist and Jaws were scary when I was a kid and are both pretty good scares.

10. Best romance: Out of Africa. Though this could also qualify as the Worst Romance too. Worst meaning most tragic, but I love this story. The music, the biplane, the countryside, the accents, everything. Also The Scarlet Pimpernel (the old 80s version with Anthony Edwards and Jane Seymour), Pride and Prejudice (the A&E version of course) could be contenders but they were never regular feature-length releases so they might not count.

11. Best fantasy: This isn't really fair, because Lord of the Rings takes up the top three spots with no competition, but after that I'd say Ron Howard's Willow for--once again--quotability and also because the two brownies are totally Lenny and Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley.

12. Best musical: The Sound of Music. Even Andrew loves it. I still remember having the 8-track cassette in our old rust-colored Chevy Impala station wagon. That and a Dione Warwick album. I liked The Sound of Music soundtrack better, doesn't every kid love the goat-puppet scene?

13. Best sci-fi: Setting aside Star Wars (the obvious choice) I suppose it depends on your definition of science-fiction. Anything with aliens? Probably Close Encounters of the Third Kind (can you even eat mashed potatoes and not think of Richard Dreyfus?) Anything with science? Back to the Future or Contact. I like those too. This is probably the toughest category.

14. Best classic (pre-1980): Charade. Or maybe Rear Window (in my dreams I dress like Grace Kelly did in that one). Though Roman Holiday gets me every time.

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