My favorite movies/Your favorite movies

"A favorite movies post, Eric? How unimaginative can you get? What IS this, a desperate ploy for traffic?"

Well, it certainly couldn't hurt. And I admit the idea is not all that original. Besides, my 10 favorite movies are listed on Facebook for all to see.

So what's the point? Well, here's what I hope this post will spark:  This won't just be me naming MY favorite movies. That will be the launchpad for you naming yours.

Over the past year or so, thanks largely to Facebook, I have met or reconnected with a number of friends. It occurred to me that many of them don't know my list. More importantly, it occurred to me that I don't know many of their favorite movies. In fact, I have some friends I've known for many years, and I'm not sure what their favorite movies are. Heck, I don't even know what the favorite movies are of many of my family members. Rather shameful for a movie maven like me. I always meant to do this on my original newspaper blog and to my regret, never got around to it.

So here's how this will work:  I will list my 10 favorite movies of all time below. Then in the comments, you tell me what your favorite movies are. Name as many or as few as you wish. Then, what I will do is I will devote a post to your favorite movies. And even if I don't like your favorite movie I promise I will be civil. Unless maybe your movie is directed by Michael Bay. And if your favorite movie is directed by Michael Bay, how in the WORLD did we ever get to be friends?

I jest. Sort of. But that's the game, and I'm really looking forward to it. And by the way, this game is not limited to people who know me. If you're a stranger and you've wandered in here, you can play too. And there's no time limit on this. This can go on for weeks or months.

Here are mine:

1. Vertigo (1958): Alfred Hitchcock combines dizzying camerawork (the views down the staircase alone are spine-tingling), an emotionally wrenching story  of love lost and won, superb performances by James Stewart and Kim Novak, and Bernard Herrmann’s achingly beautiful score to create a spellbinding, dream-like masterpiece.

2. A Hard Day's Night (1964) — The greatest rock n’ roll movie ever made, the Beatles’ first film cannot be topped for pure, frenzied fun. The music’s pretty OK too.

3. Citizen Kane (1941) — Oh, to be 25 having never made a movie before, and to hit it out of the park on your very first try. Orson Welles’ seminal film features a stunning array of cinematic innovations that tell the fascinating and poignant story of a man who found out the hard way that money can’t buy him love — or save Rosebud.

4. Singin' in the Rain (1952) — This is the movie I watch whenever I’ve had an awful day. For a shining 103 minutes, this movie washes my troubles away, and all is right with the world. Musical numbers don’t get more joyous — or more perfect — than when they have Gene Kelly, an umbrella and a lamppost.

5. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) — Stanley Kubrick may not have been very accurate in his predictions of the future, but this film remains a mesmerizing look at man’s journey beyond his earthly bounds. No edit in
cinema history speaks more volumes than the shots of the bone changing into  satellite.

6. Raging Bull (1980) — America’s greatest living director, Martin Scorsese, shows us an utterly despicable man, boxer Jake La Motta, and still makes his story electrifying through boundless filmmaking skill. De Niro’s work gets my vote for the best performance of all time.

7. Pinocchio (1940) — “Snow White” may have been first, but “Pinocchio” was better. The sheer beauty of the animation, combined with the story’s great gags and tremendous heart, makes this Disney’s masterwork.

8. The Wizard of Oz (1939) — It will remain eternally wonderful for Judy Garland’s performance alone.

9. Schindler's List (1993) — I will never forget going to see this movie in a packed theater in Cincinnati and marveling at how the audience was utterly silent at the end.

10. City Lights (1931) — Fall-down funny comedy and touching romance co-exist beautifully when Charlie Chaplin tries to raise money for the blind girl he loves. The ending is exquisitely moving.

So those are mine. Feel free to comment on my choices, and especially to list yours. Let the game begin. Maybe you could even invite your friends who don't know me to participate. We can learn something from each other - and have some great movie-watching to do.