101 Most Watchable Movies Part 5

Planet of The Apes

• The best shocking, twist ending of all time. John Chambers wins an honorary Oscar for Makeup - Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter are still my favorite chimpanzees. Michelle McCue
• It's the original, " Oh Snap!" ending movie. Christian Collins
• Okay, "damn dirty apes," Statue of Liberty, blah blah blah... The coolest thing about this movie? I'm not afraid to admit that I have a little bit of a crush on Zira, and maybe even Cornelius. Brian Saner Lamken
• Charlton Heston. Kisses. An. Ape. On. The. MOUTH. Had Taylor stayed with Zira, we may have found the missing link... Ryan Ferrier
• Awesome Mego action figures! Molly B Denham
• Favorite moment, the Human is walking through the desert and he sees a flower, and comments how it seems to be the only living thing around... So, he fucking PICKS it! And, he's surprised to find out that humanity destroyed the world? Heather Kenealy
• Okay, the reason I love this film so much is because Charlton Heston's legendary overacting. But more than that, it takes me back to my old home on Pine Street in Napa, when my brother and I were allowed to stay up past our bedtime to watch it on "Creature Features." We'd spend days calling my father a "damned dirty ape." Tom Beland
• Deep impact - I drew apes for three years after seeing it. Mark Drop
• An AMAZING metaphor on racism! DJ Crystal Clear
• Wait... that was Earth? John Teehan
• Sometimes, making paper airplanes is a skill you should keep to yourself. Robert Meyer Burnett
• The nine year old me had his mind blown by the final shot. Richmond Clements
• Few movies fill me with an actual sense of dread like the Apes movies. Frankie Thirteen

Singing in the Rain

• Donald O'Connor deserved more money. John Teehan
• Thanks to Comden-Green’s knowing screenplay, which sharply satirizes Hollywood types and hilariously parodies the industry’s awkward transition to talkies, Singin’ in the Rain is the best movie about movies ever made, whether in the musical genre or not, and thanks to Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s incredible musical numbers, most of which are among the genre’s most memorable moments, including, of course, the ebullient title number, Singin’ in the Rain is the greatest musical ever made, and thanks to the combination of that superb script and those fantastic musical numbers, Singin’ in the Rain is not only the best movie about movies ever made and the best musical ever made, but also simply one of the best movies ever made. Mat Viola
• Great stuff. Mike White
• My greatest regret in the entertainment industry is that I never got to meet Gene Kelly. I lived in Hollywood toward the end of his life, and even had the chance to attend screenings at which he was present. In retrospect I probably was even in the same room with him at one point, but I never got to shake his hand and tell him how thankful I was (and still am) for Singing In The Rain. This is the quintessential musical from the the genre's greatest star. I still have a crush on Jean Hagen, and like to think in moments of megalomania that I'm "bigger than Herbert Hoover -put together!" Matt Kennedy

John Carpenter's The Thing

• The Kurt Russell/John Carpenter combo is wickedly good and this is one of their best. Elizabeth Young
• Yes, you really should believe all that voodoo bullshit. Robert Meyer Burnett
• I love this movie. I love the cast. I love the setting. I love the pervasive paranoia and the visuals. Most of all though, I love that ending.. Richmond Clements
• This film marks a paramount in sci-fi story-telling and special effects. And beard growing, courtesy of Kurt Russell. Apparently, there is a director's cut of the film in which Wilford Brimley confronts the thing at the end about the dangers of diabetes. Ryan Ferrier
• I swear that when the head sprouted spider legs and skittled away, it crawled under my bed. I didn't look under there for weeks. Heather Kenealy
• One of the best remakes EVER - I barfed during the blood check scene. DJ Crystal Clear
• In spite of the scary many-tentacled beastie, the real fear in this is generated by what the poeple do to each other. Perfect setting for an astute and chilling observation on human nature. Danie Ware
• All Jack Burton references aside, Kurt Russell is as close to John Wayne as our generation's going to get, and his performances for John Carpenter are the proof. Frankie Thirteen
• John Carpenter and Kurt Russell together means only one thing: you're in for a hell of a ride. Toss in a score by Ennio Morricone and you've got yourself two hours of cinematic badassery. Sheridan Cleland
• One of the best remakes ever. The dynamics between characters just gets better with subsequent views. “I said watch Clark!” Mike White
• It's not often that a remake can stake a claim at being an improvement on the original, but John Carpenter's version is so much better than Howard Hawk's that I can't even watch the original anymore. The Arctic has never seemed so desolate, nor the cold so menacing. The minimalist score is perfect -and groundbreaking; a barely-there flourishment for images and dialog. Rob Bottin's special effects in this film haven't aged a day, nor have they been bested in my opinion. And if anyone ever thought spiders were scary, how about a spider sprouting from a severed head and scurrying across the floor. Eegah! Matt Kennedy
• One of the most chilling, disgusting, riveting sci-fi horror films that I never tire of—Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, Ennio Morricone, and a weird and pissed of replicating alien... What’s not to like? “The first goddamned week of winter.” Don Roff
• A remake better than the original and the effects still hold up well today. Kyle Jackson
• One of the most disgusting, disturbing, and completely fascinating horror movies ever made. Joseph Wade

True Romance

• Must be white-boy day. Stefan Blitz
• If only I could find someone willing to kill my pimp for me. Now that’s real love. Elizabeth Young
• What's best..? Gary Oldman as a white guy who thinks he's black or the amazing conversation between Walken and Hopper? Or is it Brad Pitts uber slacker? I dunno, but it's great! Richmond Clements
• Three words: Gary Oldman's hair. Nicolette Baffoni
• I still get choked up when Clarence reads to Alabama from "Sgt. Fury And His Howling Commandos". Dutch Southern
• Overstylized fanboy crap. Mike White
• The brilliance of the scene between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper cannot be denied. Sheridan Cleland
• What a script! Kyle Jackson
• I don't often relate so well with the anti-heroes in seedy crime movies, so I was caught off guard by how much of myself I saw in the misguided, slightly delusional, and hopelessly romantic Clarence Worley the first time I saw this movie. It makes me wonder what I'd be capable of doing for love. (I guess whatever Elvis tells me to do, eh?) Matt Bergin

The Warriors

• Such a great movie, and at the same time so in need of a remake, with kung fu and parkour. Steve Ahlquist
• Walter Hill created such a unique, alternate New York that the film remains timeless. Stefan Blitz
• The Tarantino film before Tarantino. Dig it. Ryan Ferrier
• "Come out and plaaaaaayyyy!" DJ Crystal Clear
• This movie was ahead of its time and most audiences weren't ready for it-- they still might not be. John Teehan
• If you meet a gang of girls who call themselves "The Lizzies", don't go back home with them. Robert Meyer Burnett
• I heard Tony Scott is remaking this flick using real gangs set in LA. Please, please don’t ruin this cult classic...also bring back the Baseball Furies, they are badass. Kyle Smith
• If it was me, I'd have hailed a cab rather than walk, it would have prevented a lot of trouble. Richmond Clements
• A Greek drama retold in a stylized NYC. Love it! Mike White
• I really wanted to own a brown leather vest. Oh, and be in a gang. Scott Richard
• Clown make-up never looked creepy than when the baseball gang was chasing you down the streets of New York. Eugene Johnson
• More action movies need to be this freaking weird. Frankie Thirteen
• Anytime I get lost while walking around in a city or lost while trying to find my way somewhere, I like to think I’m in “The Warriors.” Jay Williams
• Rollerskating Gangs? Baseball Furies!? Yes, I can dig it. Kurt Jansson

Predator

• Arnold Schwarzenegger matches wits with an ugly alien monster who's not Maria Shriver. David Monsterburg
• I never, ever get tired of watching this. The best mix of war and horror, besides maybe ALIENS, out there. “I ain’t got time to bleed.” Don Roff
• Two Governors came out of this movie, perhaps Carl Weather has a chance at a State Treasury position. Elizabeth Young
• Hands down the most quotable movie in history... and one of the most homo-erotic! Glorious fun from start to finish. Richmond Clements
  
• There's something about Ahnold fighting an unstoppable alien in the jungle that gets me every time. Just a great film that surpassed the sci-fi moniker and made it straight into action. James McCormick
• Vagina dentura monster stalks beefy men in the jungle. Steve Ahlquist
• Extreme close up of biceps when Weathers and the Governor shake hands... hysterical! Kyle Jackson
• One time years ago, a friend of the family let me watch this on TV while babysitting me. Suffice it to say, he never babysat me again. Frankie Thirteen
• "Get to the Choppah!!!" and "If it bleeds, we can kill it." Love the dialogue! Arnold Schwarznegger at his height of popularity. Michelle McCue
• Humanized the monster, which was great. DJ Crystal Clear
• Made me into the man I am today. Me and Governor Carl Weathers. John Teehan
• If it bleeds, I will watch Arnold kill it! Katarina Hill
• One of the most homoerotic action films ever, it seems at times to be a metaphorical dance through the tangles of desire, sexual power, and the rampage of the Id, until something blows up and you realize the filmmakers didn’t intend any of that stuff. John Ginsberg-Stevens

A Christmas Story

• Shooting my eye out never seemed so fun. Mark Wensel
• My dad's actual time and place - so it's like a home movie. Mark Drop
• The original antidote to all the feel-good holiday cheer that, even when I was a kid, seemed so phoney and sickly sweet; and it even has a positive moral about BB-gun safety. Matt Bergin
• Thanks to this film, to this day, I refuse to stick my tongue on anything cold. Wait, that sounded wrong. Sarah Grace McCandless
• Darren McGavin steals the film away from Ralphie and his Red Ryder BB Gun. Michelle McCue
• I was at a party years later with the kid who got his tongue stuck to the lamp post... he does porn now. His tongue is sticking to stripper poles now. Heather Kenealy
• I can't think of this film without thinking of the Leg Lamp... and I'm not sure what that means. Molly B Denham
• In my house, it isn’t really Christmas unless this is playing on my television 24hrs straight. Elizabeth Young
• Between all the fifteen to thirty minute TBS Christmas Day marathon chunks I've watched, I've probably seen this about a million times total, even though I don't think I've ever actually seen it straight through from beginning to end. Nicolette Baffoni
• Growing up with this movie, it was interesting watching how it snuck its way into "Holiday Classic" status. It'd be on a few times one year, then a bit more the next, then a bit more the next. Finally one of the cable channels started airing nothing BUT this movie for 24 hours a day on Christmas. Kevin Cafferty
• I interviewed Peter Billingsley. He’s just as cool as a grown up. Jenna Busch
• I don't know what Ralphie was thinking, all the ladies love a man in a bunny suit. Kelly Whyte
• There's a reason they show marathons of this on Christmas; it's timeless, it's hilarious, and it wouldn't be Christmas without Ralphie. Joseph Wade
• Nostalgic, witty and beautifully narrated by humorist Jean Sheppard, whose voice-over narration perfectly captures the essence of those magical childhood days when one’s life may well be devoted to an obsessive quest to acquire a Daisy Brand Red Ryder Ranger Model Air Rifle, "A Christmas Story" has become the discriminating film buff’s holiday viewing alternative to "Home Alone" (if not "It’s a Wonderful Life"). Mat Viola
• This just hit all the right notes and captured the right tone. Lightning in a bottle, or in a lamp leg. Mike White
• The acting in this movie is amazing across the board. I have never seen a movie so well done where the entire cast is acting in the same heightened style consistently. Hilarious. Emma Bates
• Free of cynicism and filled with joy, "A Christmas Story" is probably the most perfect family movie ever made. Bill Machon
• Indelibly burned the term, "You'll put your eye out!" into the American consciousness for all time. Kas DeCarvahlo
• Who knew that a movie about self-mutilation would become a beloved holiday classic? John Ginsberg-Stevens
• You can’t even miss this one. TBS plays it all day long every year. It holds up. It really does. Chris Mancini
• I’m so glad they changed the original ending; the one where Ralphie finally gets his BB gun takes it to school and goes on a rampage. Ross Dannenberg
• I was that kid who was bundled up so tight in his snowsuit that I could barely walk outside. Eugene Johnson
• This film is a staple in my house. Whenever I go back home to Oregon for Christmas, my mom and I watch "A Christmas Story". Deane Ogden
• Dude! I cannot go through Christmas without watching this movie. It's so "true" in the best fictional sense of the word that even though I was born in the sixties and not the forties I identify with decoder rings, radio shows, BB guns, cereal box tops, ugly lamps and large dogs who ruin the dinner. Bill Cunningham

A Clockwork Orange

• Excellent movie, some nice commentary and makes you forget all about Malcolm McDowell’s unfortunate involvement in "Star Trek: Generations". Chris Mancini
• The first time I saw "A Clockwork Orange" was at the Egyptian Theater in Seattle and while I know have viewed in many times and appreciate it for what it is, when I saw it in the theater, I thought I was going to throw up. Michelle Taylor
• Don't forget to drink your milk. Robert Meyer Burnett
• Figures that Kubrick would the the pioneer for movie/music mash ups. David Postma
• Brilliant and disturbing film, which is watchable in the sense that when I want a kick to the psyche I watch it. John Ginsberg-Stevens
• Any movie where Darth Vader is a body guard is friggin' cool. Kurt Jansson
• My mother kicked me out of the room the first time I tried to watch this movie, so I knew right away that Alex and his droogies must be super cool. Of course, there's nothing cool about rape, manslaughter, or wearing jockstraps outside your pants. I eventually grew to appreciate Alex in a different way--as a great sympathetic villains. Matt Bergin
• Certainly a different interpretation of "Singin' in The Rain". Stefan Blitz
• Not the best movie to watch on a first date, or to make out to… Elizabeth Young
• The eyelid jammers that they shoved into his eyes reminded me of what it felt like during the Fall of 1993, when, for some reason, I was somehow forced to watch "Field of Dreams" three times. Molly B Denham
• The first time I saw it I was 10 and I'm still scarred for life. DJ Crystal Clear
• You've never seen this movie until you've seen it on a big screen, with at least 12 people who have no idea what to expect. Todd Sokolove
• I can think of two things wrong with this title. John Teehan
• When I worked at Blockbuster Video a group home would drop off patients once a week. One guy rented and re-rented this film without fail. Mike White
• Who doesn't like rape and depravity? Actually, most people. But I'm a sick fuck. Scott Richard
• Watch this movie again; it’s amazing how often it’s ripped off. Ross Dannenberg
• Viddy well, droogie. Viddy well. But re-watchable? I dunno. Mark Wensel

Alien

• Top in my list of movies that should never, ever be remade. It's fine the way it is! John Teehan
• No classic has done more for heartburn metaphors and android-hating since "Creation of the Humanoids". John Ginsberg-Stevens

• Has there been a franchise monster since in the last 30 years that even compares? I defy you to think of one. Jackie Cruz
• If you like this one, definitely check out Bava’s "Planet of the Vampires." Mike White
• No one can hear you scream in space, but my wife can hear me scream like a little girl in the living room. Ryan Jackson
• My father took me to see this in the theater when I was seven. Not the best idea. Stefan Blitz
• Crap your pants. Christian Collins
• I see something different with each watch. Kurt Jansson
• Still the best suspense sci-fi of all time. Kas DeCarvahlo
• It wasn’t until I saw Sigourney Weaver kick alien ass as a nine year old that I realized how incredibly awesome being a girl was. Elizabeth Young
• My favorite horror film, and there was no way a sequel could live up to it... Steve Ahlquist
• The attention to detail on the interiors of the Nostromo are so Ridley Scott - 30 years later it still looks fresh...and the hero, the one who keeps the shit together....is a woman!!! Damn Straight!! Michelle McCue
• That's a nasty stomach virus, dude. Molly B Denham
• I can't watch this film now without seeing the "Hello My Baby" Alien from 'Spaceballs'. Heather Kenealy
• AMAZING! DJ Crystal Clear
• The first and best horror/sci-fi hybrid. Mark Wensel
• I can't watch "Alien" or "Aliens" without wanting to see the other. Despite the difference in tone, the slow approach of dread in both films is sublime and makes for a fantastic double feature. Joshua Selle
• Great suspense, convincing monster, proof that rubber suits are better than CGI, takes on a whole new level of horror after you've had a baby. Danie Ware
• One of those rare sci-fi films that holds up well over time. Cinematography is gorgeous still. Sheridan Cleland
• Yes, it's just "Halloween" on a spaceship, but a brilliantly stylish, oppressive and superbly acted version. It's fair to say this movie changed cinema. Richmond Clements

Better Off Dead

• A lovely piece of surreal beauty that will always be one of my favorite films. Ben Sweeney
• Made me actually question the street value of snow, and laugh at attempted suicide. God I miss Savage Steve Holland’s teen romps. Elizabeth Young
• "I want my two dollars!" Also, the soundtrack was composed by the guy from The Fixx. Molly B Denham
• Savage Steve Holland forever, baby! Bill Walker
• Even Van Halen can't ruin this movie. This is the way high school feels when you're actually there. Mark Wensel
• One of the best high school movies ever made. Put this in with "The Breakfast Club", crank up Tears for fears, and your children will think you’ve lost your mind. Chris Mancini
• Whatever happened to John Cusack? With this, "One Crazy Summer" and "The Sure Thing" he was one of my favorite actors. I guess "Say Anything" happened. Mike White
• And to think, John Cusack hates this film. Why?! Sheridan Cleland
• Green bacon, yummy. Eugene Johnson
• This movie is so great that Savage Steve Holland eventually realized he could never top it. So, he stopped trying. He hasn't made a film since. True story. Dutch Southern
• I love how this movie managed to parody all of it's contemporary films while pretending to be one of them. A spoof in sheep's clothing. Matt Bergin
• Sometimes I wish Spider-Man had been made fifteen years earlier, with John Cusack as Peter Parker. Frankie Thirteen
• “Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that.” And you know what? That’s still true. Jay Williams
• I stayed up waaay past my bed time on a school night the first time I saw this movie, and I still do, and always will. Christian Collins