Moving on with this list, I am impressed with student’s choices. There is a completely different dichotomy than with college student’s or people in their early 20s. Movies are passed around at sleepovers and are chosen for laugh-out-loud comedy (like Anchorman and the Hangover), or watched on TV or with parents (hence TNT classics like Shawshank Redemption or Braveheart and all the Disney Movies). However, many of these choices will look familiar.
25— Horrible Bosses –A recent ridiculous comedy.
24— The Shawshank Redemption – If you have not seen this, you clearly did not have basic cable in the 1990s.
23— Sling Blade – Amazing film with a cult following here.
22— The Big Lebowski – Probably the most popular cult comedy of our time.
19 T- Star Wars New Trilogy – Aimed at their age group, but the original did better.
19 T- The Dark Knight – I could not agree more.
19 T- The Patriot – Sigh.
16 T- Spirited Away – Interesting animated choice, there were in fact a lot of studio Ghibili films on the list.
16 T- Anchorman – It’s funny; when I first saw this movie I hated it, but the comedy builds the more you watch it, much like the other Will Ferrell film after this. Will Ferrell is probably the most popular comedy actor to these kids.
16 T- Step Brothers
15— The Godfather – Interesting classic choice. Was not on a lot of lists, but when it was, it was very highly rated. It must not have much appeal, but holds up.
13 T- Harry Potter Series – A much better cultural choice than Twilight.
13 T- Raiders of the Lost Ark – Sadly, the only movie of the Indiana Jones Saga. I would imagine that unlike the Footloose phenomena that I hypothesized, the recent new Indiana Jones was so bad it tarnished the original.
12— Braveheart – Meh, not great film, but, well, I have no idea.
11— The Matrix – Fantastic movie and the filming style changed cinematography and even video games since.
10— Gladiator – I take credit for this, I show it to all my students.
9— The King’s Speech – An excellent recent film.
8— The Lion King – A great choice and a brief modern moment with Disney at the top of its game. I do acknowledge the sadness of them adding and remaking the same movie.
7— Sherlock Holmes – An unusual choice for so high. Is it good? Yes, but in a way that summer action films are. I would imagine they would vote the same for Spiderman 2 in 2005 or X-Men in 2000.
6— Star Wars Original Trilogy – *-Happy sigh-*, See George, even kids 14-17 knew that the new ones weren’t as good.
5— The Princess Bride – Again, if it were me, I would not have it this high, but it is unarguably a great film.
4— The Hangover – I would say in the long run, if AFI made another top 100 comedies, it would be on the list, but I would doubt this would be #4.
3— The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – Good choice.
2— Inception – Possibly cinematographically as important to the coming decade as the Matrix was to the last.
Top Movie Monty Python and The Holy Grail – Yeah, I guess I teach a lot of nerds. Yea, I teach to this film. Also, awesome movie.