101 Most Watchable Movies Part 7

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987, dir. Sam Raimi)

• This film did more to change the way films looked than any movie since "Citizen Kane". Steve Ahlquist
• Tracking shots from hell. Gloriously wonderful. Mark Drop
• Woodshed. Stefan Blitz
• It's what "Evil Dead I" should have been and what "Evil Dead III" wishes it was. Karen Desrocy
• I think I probably own about four different versions of "Evil Dead II", an "EDII" poster signed by Bruce Campbell, and once went as Ash for Halloween complete with removable chainsaw hand. I'm pretty sure I'm where the term "fanboy" came from... Ben Sweeney
• Pure genius! Kyle Jackson
• Love the other two, but this is the best of Raimi's demon trilogy. Swallow your soul, indeed. Mark Wensel
• Made me into the man I am today. Me and Bruce Campbell. John Teehan
• My dad introduced me to "Evil Dead II" when I was 14, and it's been my favorite horror movie ever since. Joseph Wade
• A perfect blend of horror and comedy. Ross Dannenberg
• This movie still leaves me flabbergasted. The editing changed the way I think about movies. Mike White
• The first twenty minutes or so, with Bruce Campbell largely on his own, contains some of the most uproarious and psychotic physical comedy I've ever seen. Frankie Thirteen
• No other movie can make me laugh, scream, and throw up a bit in my mouth all at the same time. Elizabeth Young
• So ridiculous and unexpected in the way it blended horror and comedy, and Bruce Campbell's slapstick performance was like watching Jack Tripper dropped into the middle of a George Romero flick. Such a good time, this movie never disappoints. Matt Bergin
• Can't say enough about it. DJ Crystal Clear
• Pant wettingly funny and scary at the same time? How does that work? Richmond Clements

Wizard of Oz (1939, dir. Victor Fleming)

• Please don't remake this, please don't remake this, please don't remake this. Evan Gore
• My six year old daughter is obsessed with the tornado scene. She actually will only watch the movie up until it turns to color. Michelle Taylor
• A family tradition from when I was a kid, every year, I still watch it. Now with my own kids. Ryan Jackson
• Those flying monkeys scare the pants off me. Clara Mathews
• For a while, there was actually a greeting card picturing the flying monkeys. When you opened it, the card read, "Each year, birthdays get a little scarier." Nice. Molly B Denham
• True Story, this movie gave me a phobia about tornados. Every major life changing trauma was preceded by a dream about tornados, until my therapist pointed out that everything the tornado brought Dorothy wasn't bad, and after that the dreams were no longer frightening, they just prepared me for the next trip to Oz. Heather Kenealy
• Realized while writing my latest movie story that, damn, every movie is "Wizard of Oz"! Mark Drop
• Green is good. Mike White
• Ever watched this synched with Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"? Try it. It's trippy. Sheridan Cleland
• It’s a staple flick that one should have on hand at all times…kind of like the peanut butter and jelly sandwich of movies. Elizabeth Young
• Totally spellbinding. Plus- flying monkeys. Flying Monkeys! Richmond Clements
• There's no place like Kansas...you sure? What about Nebraska? Kelly Whyte
• Whoever thinks this is a movie for kids needs to get back on their meds. Christian Collins
• Flying monkeys!!! Woohoo!!! Jenna Busch
• "The Wizard of Oz" owes its enduring appeal not only to the captivating fantasy world created by its eye-popping Technicolor photography, imaginative set designs, memorable special effects, colorful costumes, catchy songs, and wondrous characters, but also to the film’s reassuring message which teaches us that, like Dorothy, we too can take control of our own destiny and successfully navigate down the yellow brick roads and through the haunted forests and poppy fields of life. Mat Viola
• I have owned countless pairs of red shoes thanks to this movie. Emma Bates

National Lampoon's Animal House (1978, dir. John Landis)

• I've seen this masterpiece more than any other film in my life and it has become my blueprint for living. Robert Jaz
  
• I was in high school when this originally premiered to great success. I had to sneak in because I wasn't 18 and it made me want to go to college. I can watch this movie over and over and pick out new things every time. I later had the chance to meet and shake hands with John Landis the director and I could barely get a word out. I'm sure he thought I was autistic. Bill Cunningham
• The influence of this film on American comedy is monumental, but imagine if you will how awful it might have been with Chevy Chase as Otter, Aykroyd as D-Day, and Bill Murray as Boon as originally envisioned. Stefan Blitz
• John Belushi Genius, the end. DJ Crystal Clear
• I graduated from National Lampoon's High School Yearbook Parody to revel in bad behavior! Mark Drop
• A colossal failure in that the American youth picked up the wrong message and decided to imitate the preppie frat snobs instead of the fun, sloppy Delta House dudes. John Teehan
• WAY funnier in retrospect than when you're actually watching the movie...except for Belushi. He's always funny. Mark Wensel
• This was first movie I watched with my dad, (a huge Belushi fan and a subscriber to National Lampoon magazine) and to this day I always think of him when I watch it. Elizabeth Young
• College. Not until I got to college and saw every one with the name of their college on a sweatshirt did i get the infamous joke. Christian Collins
• I used to watch Blutarsky's voyeurism scene a lot as a pre-teen. Boobs! Mike White
• "Animal House" secured my wishes to never live in student housing in college. Devon Moos
• I always wanted a pad half as swank as Otter's. Molly B Denham
• Zero point zero. Kurt Jansson
• John Belushi was a genius. His brother gave us “According to Jim”. ‘nuff said. Chris Mancini
• Vote for Senator Blutarsky in 2010. Mike Callahan

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986, dir. John Hughes)

• Ferris, shmerris. Stick a boy in a Detroit Red Wings jersey and signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours, Cameron. Sarah Grace McCandless
• A delightful postmodern fairy tale with a hero who, if he really went to your high school, would get punched in the face every single day by everyone for his smugness. John Ginsberg-Stevens
• I love the Wayne Newton song during the parade scene. DJ Crystal Clear
• I too have aspired to be a fry cook on Venus. Kelly Whyte
• Yes, I had a keyboard that made cough sounds, and I know you did too. Christian Collins
• My personal anthem. Kas DeCarvalho
• The ultimate teen fantasy "I own the world!" Mark Drop
• Ferris really could have used a good punch in the snoot. John Teehan
• Classic. Is there any other way to describe it? Sheridan Cleland
• I’d like to meet Beuller and punch him in the face. Smarmy slacker. Mike White
• Everybody wanted to be Ferris Bueller. But, realistically, maybe if you were really lucky, you got to be Cameron, his best friend. Molly B Denham
• Ferris was the kind of cool that you dreamed of being, even if there was not a chance in hell of that ever happening. Elizabeth Young
• This movie tapped into my adolescent boy id. And it never let go. Yeah, dammit! That’s what I want to happen in high school! Get the girl and then sing on a parade float. Chris Mancini
• One of Matthew Broderick's best movies. I skipped school but never had this much fun. Clara Mathews

Heathers (1988, dir. Michael Lehmann)

• I love me some Veronica and all of the Heathers, but cheers to the Martha Dumptruck inside all of us. Sarah Grace McCandless
• High school the way I wanted it to be: so overblown and heinous that gunplay and mayhem were viable responses, but only if they made a satirical point. John Ginsberg-Stevens
• In this day and age of postmodern, ironic, pop culture dialogue written by Quentin Tarantino, Diablo Cody, and Kevin Williamson, people forget that it was Daniel Waters’ who really invented the style. “Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?” Don Roff
• A good sign that you don't belong in a clique of girls all named Heather, is if your name is Veronica. Just sayin'. Kelly Whyte
• * Ah, young love. There's nothing like it. Especially when it involves a homicidal maniac. Mark Wensel
• I still don't know what my damage is. DJ Crystal Clear
• What's your damage Heather? God, I used that line for years! (Thank you "Will and Grace" for allowing me to re-live my glory days.) Jenna Busch
• I so much prefer these one-liners over Diablo Cody speak. Honest to blog. Jackie Cruz
• The Heathers made me realize that croquet isn't really as boring as I thought. Devon Moos
• The first time I saw this film, it really disturbed me... to the point that I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. Everything in it meant something, from each Heather's color to Moby Dick. It was brilliant... a brilliance that should not be ruined by a TV show. Molly B Denham
• I have not only made the vernacular of Daniel Waters brilliant script part of my own lingo, I have made countless people watch the film in order to gauge whether or not they are worthy of my friendship. Elizabeth Young
• My real-life nemesis in high school was named Heather, so I have always particularly relished this film. Nicolette Baffoni
• The single reason why, in 1988, Winona Ryder and Christian Slater were honest-to-goodness movie stars. Stefan Blitz
• Slater does Nicholson for 90 minutes and nobody rips him because a) there was too much about the plot that was worth talking about and b) it was fucking a good impression. Scott Richard

RoboCop (1987, dir. Paul Verhoeven)

• I never got into "That 70's Show" simply because I couldn't look at Kurtwood Smith and not picture blood spurting out of his neck. Sayonara Robocop... dumbass. Ryan Ferrier
• The best Judge Dredd movie ever made. Richmond Clements
• The sharp dialogue, excessive violence and clever observations/commentary of the media, continue to keep this film ahead of it's time. Stefan Blitz
  
• One of the bloodiest sci-fi films of all time. Which makes it that much cooler. Elizabeth Young
• It seems so simple, so easy and obvious, but no sequel has come close to capturing the spirit and originality of the Verhoeven's sly masterpiece. Steve Ahlquist
• Amazing film whose combination of impersonal cruelty, overblown violence, and amoral bad guys ends up producing the very hero needed to save the day. John Ginsberg-Stevens
• This movie had me saying "I'll buy THAT for a dollar!" for a year. Evan Gore
• Oooh, guns guns guns! I love the violence in this film! Mike White
• Whenever I think of Detroit, "Robocop" is the first thing that comes to mind. At this point the City probably would be better off if a corporation took it over. Seth Levi
• Robots fighting robots... Whats next, robots that can turn into cars? Christian Collins
• Rich social commentary disguised as ultra-violent pop art science fiction with a great sense of humor. Matt Bergin
• Probably the only decent thing Paul Verhoeven ever did besides "Total Recall". After that, it was all downhill. John Teehan
• Best Cyberpunk film made; cuts fine line between tongue-in-cheek satire and gritty film noir almost perfectly. Plus: the ED209. Danie Ware
• When 1995 came and went I was so disappointed that nobody made a Robocop. Joshua Selle
• It made me cry and barf. DJ Crystal Clear

Shawshank Redemption (1994, dir. Frank Darabont)

• The first time after I saw this, I told Frank Darabont (he was doing Q&A), "Excuse my language, but you just made a great fucking movie." He replied, "Bless your heart. You can curse all you want when you're talking about it." Jackie Cruz
• Like everyone else, I'll just use words like 'uplifting', 'life affirming' and 'Morgan Freeman' to describe it. Richmond Clements
• Whenever I hear a Morgan Freeman voiceover, I can't help but think of this film. Sheridan Cleland
• If your heart isn’t smiling at the end of this flick, you have no soul. Kyle Smith
• Frank Darabont's magnum opus (maybe Stephen King's as well!). Everyone is perfectly cast here — not only Robbins and Freeman, but also from Bob Gunton, Clancy Brown, and William Sadler on down. So many films are derivative of this one in many ways from "The Sixth Sense" to "The Usual Suspects". If you don't believe me, watch "Shawshank" again! Deane Ogden
• TNT’s endless repeats of this film have nearly worn it out. Mike White
• This movie is so good. It is epic and simple. Emma Bates
• Just goes to prove that in the right hands a Stephen King movie doesn’t have to blow. Elizabeth Young
• Satisfies with every watch. One of the best endings in movie history. Kurt Jansson
• A chick flick for guys. And that is in no way a derogatory comment. A rare film about the triumph of the human spirit that doesn't tie-into some kind of cookie-cut morality and never pulls its punches. The hero goes through an inferno of his own construction due to bad luck, but finds his way back to paradise by wits and vigor. A classic "patience is a virtue" theme is the best adaptation of novel I've ever seen filmed. Matt Kennedy

Godfather Part II (1974, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)

• As the film flashes back and forth between Vito’s rise to power at the beginning of the century and Michael’s moral/spiritual downfall in the ‘50s, Coppola crafts a thematically sophisticated, visually stunning and emotionally powerful epic chronicling the ruination of the traditions and values of family, a theme which enables Coppola to transcend the particulars of the gangster genre and give his film universal significance. Mat Viola
• Powerful, powerful stuff, much more than the first. Frankie Thirteen
• Made the impossible happen. A sequel that was better than the original. Elizabeth Young
• A modern classic. Clara Mathews
• Classic genius 2. DJ Crystal Clear
• Think about this, DeNiro give a brilliant performance wins and Oscar and I think he maybe has two lines in English in the whole movie. Ross Dannenberg
• Bruno Kirby had small parts in an awful lot of movies (including this), but man, do I wish he'd been in even more before he left us. Nicolette Baffoni
• Watching this again recently, I was fairly bored. I was into the Michael part but could have done without the Vito part. Mike White

Airplane! (1980, dir. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker)

• Surely, you can't be serious. Matt Bergin
• One of the most quotable films of all time. I love putting this one in for those who haven't seen it yet and watching their reactions. Ryan Ferrier
• Mrs. Cleaver speaks jive. Brian Saner Lamken
• Gave us a reason to overuse the word “spoof”. Chris Mancini
• The mom from "Leave It To Beaver" knows how to speak jive, yeah I bet, the Cleavers ran in a pretty diverse neighborhood. Kelly Whyte
• I once watched "Airplane!" on a big screen erected in a field in Vermont. It was beautiful. Ben Sweeney
• Even funnier when you see "Zero Hour!" to see everything played straight(er). Mike White
• I think there’s literally a laugh every minute. Ross Dannenberg
• There was a time when I could quote this entire movie... I lead a sad childhood. Heather Kenealy
• Who doesn’t want to watch Mrs. Cleaver jive talk a homeboy or Peter Graves act inappropriately with a small child? Elizabeth Young
• Might just be the best example of timing in comedy. Christian Collins
• Learned from Barbara Billingsly that "jive" was an actual language. Kurt Jansson
• "And Larrrry's getting larrrrrrrgerrrrr!" DJ Crystal Clear

Big Lebowski (1998, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)

• A hijinks-laden marriage of two of the best things in life--absurdist calamity and mid-century modernism. Molly B Denham
• As far as I'm concerned, Joel and Ethan Coen's riff on Raymond Chandler novels is the most entertaining thing they've ever made. Joseph Wade
• There is an exchange, near the end, between the Dude and The Narrator that sums up the entire feel of the movie so succinctly, so exactly and I always excitedly wait for the Dude's immediate reaction: "Is that an Eastern thing?" "Far from it" says the Narrator. Classic. Joshua Selle
• What's better than Jeff Bridges in a robe for 2 hours, drinking White Russians? Kyle Jackson
• Weird, rewatchable value. David Postma
• ‘Nuff said. Elizabeth Young
• Every time I watch this movie I latch onto a different line that becomes part of my vocabulary. Mark Wensel
• A fantastic remix of "The Big Sleep". Mike White
• The most quotable movie ever? I think so. Ben Sweeney
• There are too many good things to say about this movie, and to think I didn’t like it when I first saw it in theaters… Ross Dannenberg
• It's beome one of those movies people base their opinion of you on. Evan Gore
• I've never done drugs, but felt like I did after I saw this! DJ Crystal Clear

Big Trouble in Little China (1986, dir. John Carpenter)

• I got a handjob from my then girlfriend in the theater when we went to see this movie. I think she was bored with it, but I could barely contain myself - kung fu, monsters, ghosts, swordplay and yes, Kim Cattrall. Bill Cunningham
• It's like, "What if John Wayne was a fuckup?" Frankie Thirteen
• A magnificent blend of pulp action, thick-skulled machismo, and tension between positive and negative furies. John Ginsberg-Stevens
• The genius of this movie for me is Kurt Russell's Jack Burton- a hero so incompetent that he doesn't actually realise he's not the hero of the film. Richmond Clements
• How did this movie ever get made? It’s insane, fun, makes very little sense, but in a good way, and features Kurt Russell parodying himself and a cute Kim Cattrall before she got all "Sex and the City" slutty. Chris Mancini
• You have no taste in cinema if you don't love this movie! Kyle Jackson
• Kurt Russell yumminess. DJ Crystal Clear
• I still love this film and always think that Midway got the idea for Raiden from this film. Plus, Kurt doing his John Wayne performance. James McCormick
• Underrated masterpiece, Kurt Russell's finest film, way ahead of its time. It was parodying a genre that hadn't caught on yet. Steve Ahlquist
• Who COULDN'T watch Kurt Russell run around in knee high boots! Indeed! Kurt Jansson
• Kurt Russell doing John Wayne, what’s not to like? Ross Dannenberg
• I have never loved a film more than this one. Come to think of it, I have never loved a person more than this movie. Elizabeth Young
• I defy you to watch this film and not smile. Stefan Blitz
• I think back to what Jack Burton always says: fun doesn't always equal quality. This is a fun flick....really fun. Mark Wensel
• "Hey, I feel pretty good." Christian Collins
• Kurt Russell imitated Clint Eastwood in "Escape from New York". Here he tries to do John Wayne. Mike White
• Awesome, badass action comedy done right. I've got a good feeling about this. Matt Bergin

Dawn of the Dead (1978, dir. George A. Romero)

• The best horror movie ever made by anyone ever. Danie Ware
• I had seen "Night of the Living Dead" by this time and wasn't soooo shocked by it. I was after all, a "sophisticated 17 year old" about to graduate high school. But when we saw this at a midnight show that we had to drive to see - I WAS BLOWN AWAY MORE THAN THE ZOMBIE IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES OF THE MOVIE. I was appalled, fascinated and paralyzed by it all. I immediately wanted to see it again, but this was before video so i would have had to come back the next week and another 30 miles. Bill Cunningham
• Scared me as a kid, still scares me as an adult. Elizabeth Young
• Romero didn't invent zombies, but he certainly is responsible for defining them. Stefan Blitz
• The greatest zombie flick of all time because it has a mall, bikers, a zombie with a machete in the head (thanks to a biker) and an amazing Goblin soundtrack. Robert Jaz
• Classic! DJ Crystal Clear
• "Dawn of the Dead" is as bleak as and much gorier than "Night of the Living Dead" but not quite as frightening, partly because its tone is intentionally more satirical and partly because the zombies look a good deal sillier in color than they had in grainy B&W, yet it remains a full-fledged, balls-to-the-wall zombie epic featuring interesting characters, well-staged suspense/fright sequences, and enough gore effects (courtesy of expert special effects/makeup artist Tom Savini) to satisfy the most bloodthirsty splatter-punk, and by placing the story within a shopping mall Romero adds a richly metaphorical subtext to his apocalyptic vision, which has the zombies standing in for (or, rather, lurching in for) a consumerist society run amok, achieving a near-perfect balance between hard-core zombie horror and astute social commentary. Mat Viola
• When you think about it, being trapped in a mall with every material thing you could want is a really empty existence. Frankie Thirteen
• Showed me that a zombie movie could be more brains than gore. Pardon the pun. James McCormick
• If you've ever visited a supermarket on a Sunday morning, then you'll know this is, in fact, a documentary. Richmond Clements
• I first saw this as part of a drinking game. It was three years before I finally saw the end. John Teehan
• Like the remake far better. Mike White
• Kids, this is "Shaun of the Dead" without jokes. Evan Gore
• Romero at his best! Kyle Jackson
• We talk about the original because the remake sucked. Romero knew that the zombies were more than monsters, they are metaphors. Brilliant. Steve Ahlquist
• My favorite film of all time - you MUST download the film's score, made by the ridiculously awesome Italian prog-rock band GOBLIN, a favorite of horror director Dario Argento. Ryan Ferrier
• Cartoon blood doesn't keep this from being a pretty grueling movie. Mark Wensel
• This really was THE zombie film that nailed the social commentary. No other zombie film since has ever achieved that, including the remake. A zombie film with braaaaiinnnnns. Don Roff
• You got to love Romero, a horror movie with social commentary. Ross Dannenberg
• One should never take time out to check one's blood pressure while shopping at the mall. Robert Meyer Burnett
• I remember seeing "Dawn of the Dead" for the first time and thinking I was a genius for seeing it as a secret indictment of consumerism. Secret?! I'm a boob. Ben Sweeney

Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966, dir. Sergio Leone)

• Can you say 'iconic'? We would not have the modern movie hero without this. Richmond Clements
• The quintessential spaghetti western, where real men clench their jaws when they speak and morality is a scorpion on a turtle’s back, all ready to poison what keeps it alive. John Ginsberg-Stevens
• Some of the strongest set pieces put on film. Eli Wallach steals the show. Mike White
• Clint before anyone made his day and back when we loved every minute of three hours with him. I want some spaghetti. Mark Wensel
• When I grow up I want to be The Man with No Name. Sheridan Cleland
• Big screen TV's were made for this movie. We live in the age of pretty stars. Are there three uglier guys as lead in a movie? This movie is perfect in every way. Music, direction, acting. Anyone who doesn't like this movie just doesn't like movies. Alex Vaello
• As a starting point for getting into Spaghetti Westerns this movie often overwhelms the competition which is too bad because there are a plethora of fantastic films inspired by Leone's masterpiece that deserve to be recognized and loved. And all but two of them don't have Clint Eastwood. Steve Ahlquist
• Best line is from Tucco (the Ugly): "If you're gonna talk, talk. If you're gonna shoot, shoot!" This and "Animal House" are my 1A and 1B films. Robert Jaz
• Leone’s nihilistic, survival of the richest view of the Wild West reached its peak in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", a hugely entertaining picaresque adventure tale whose trio of cunning protagonists move inexorably toward their now-classic survival of the quickest three-way showdown. Mat Viola