The Top 40 Disaster Movies of All Time With Grades and Rank

Mt. Vesuvius erupting in "Pompeii" 2015 was a good year for disaster movies and after seeing a bunch of "Best Disaster" movie lists I decided to create my own. Shortly after starting the list I realized I needed to make some rules to clarify which movies qualified as disaster movies and come up with a grading system to sort […]

The Best Movies: “Bringing Up Baby” – Grant and Hepburn Bring The Crazy

"Bringing Up Baby" is one of my favorite screwball comedies of 1930's… and is probably the zaniest of that time. It is led by the fantabulous duo of Cary Grant and Kate Hepburn and is directed by the screwball master Howard Hawks. This was one of two comedies Grant and Hepburn made that year. The other, "Holiday", […]

The Best Movies: “Duck Soup” – The Marx Brothers at Their Zaniest

Groucho in the epic last scene of "Duck Soup" "Duck Soup" is the funnest movie I've ever seen. It also has had the most raucous crowd of any movie I've seen at both the Brattle Theater and the Coolidge Cornter Theater. The movie is number 68 on AFI's top 100 movies and it comes in at […]

The Best Movies: “Bull Durham” Captures the Essence of Baseball

I just watched "Bull Durham" for the first time in a few years the other day and now remember just how great a movie it is. It has great characters, some brilliant scenes, and gives that feeling of just how special, and hard, baseball is on the field and off. If you haven't seen it […]

The Best Movies: “Rear Window” – The Best of Hitchcock

An atmospheric, tense mystery, with a romantic twist between two of the screen's all time greats: Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart. It is also the quintessential "date movie" and is ranked #48 on AFI's top 100 movie list. Here's the plot summary from IMDB: Photagrapher L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries is confined to his small apartment with […]

The Best Movies: “The Thin Man” – The Original Druken Screwball Mystery!

Nick and Nora Charles became an iconic couple when "The Thin Man" (1934) became a huge hit during the Depression as their carefree, fun loving attitude really connected to audiences looking for escapism. The  monster success of the film led to 4 follow up "sequels" and Willliam Powell and Myrna Loy became huge stars. Loy […]

The Best Movies: “The Big Sleep” Still Delivers The Mystery

Howard Hawks, maybe the best director Hollywood has ever seen, took a screen play by William Faulkner based on a Raymond Chandler book, and made maybe the best movie of all time. Two stars with chemistry in their prime (Bogart and Bacall), a great plot, crackling dialog, and a great pace make this a cinematic […]

The Best Movies: “L.A. Confidential” – Old School Film Noir

In most years Director Curtis Hanson's brilliant translation of the classic James Ellroy novel would have won the Best Picture Oscar. The Titanic sunk their chances though. "L.A. Confidential" had career breakout performances from Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, and won Kim Bassinger an Oscar (!!) for Best Supporting Actress. It is has fantastic characters […]

The Best Movies: My Man Godfrey

I stumbled upon "My Man Godfrey" when I was looking for movies that could help me come up with ideas for a scavenger hunt. I thought I would just be watching some old movie that was boring but would teach me something but I ended up laughing out loud over and over again and watched […]