Hi ho there, neighbor – I have declared the next five days TOP TEN WEEK. You shall get five different lists of ten things that are the best ever, according to the Fink. It’s harder to do than you might guess. Try coming up with ten of your favorite anything. It’s difficult to put them in order (in fact, it’s difficult to choose just ten). I imagine the bottom five could be rearranged or even replaced by some others. Anyway, this is the list as of today.
Top Ten Movies, According to Me
10. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – I bawl every single time.
9. The Deer Hunter (1978) – I couldn’t sleep that night. I was sickened, horrified, sad…it was my first film that confronted the realities of what Viet Nam did to young men. I’ve never been the same.
8. Somewhere in Time (1980) – A sweeping romance with one of the shortest, but most beautiful scores I’ve ever heard (the soundtrack features just 27 minutes of music – but what’s there is amazing).
7. Don Juan DeMarco (1995) – One of Johnny’s all-time best.
6. A Hard Day’s Night (1964) – The Beatles as themselves, which is what everyone wanted to see. [Sorry, Help! was a huge stinker. Not funny; not even remotely endearing. They were all mad, sunburned, grumpy and high anyway.]
5. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) – I know, it’s silly. But I love it. “Knights of the Round Table” is my favorite scene.
4. Amadeus (1984) – Never get tired of it. A delightful story, and undoubtedly Tom Hulce’s best role (until Amadeus, I had only seen him in Animal House).
3. Immortal Beloved (1994) – “My angel, my all, my very self…only a few words today and that in pencil…” I wasn’t a Gary Oldman fan until this movie.
2. The Godfather trilogy (1972, 1974, 1990) – for me, the most dramatic, disturbing and beautiful trilogy ever made. Props to the Lord of the Rings and original Star Wars – I love those too – but this one makes my list as the greatest threesome of all time.
1. Sweeney Todd – the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) – this also makes another list coming up this week, but I couldn’t leave it off this one. Amazing. Disturbing. Mesmerizing.
Stay tuned, mes amis. Tomorrow – Top Ten Albums, According to Me