Little Miss Sunshine

Roadtrip hit with all the right moves, following a dysfunctional family traveling from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach in an antiquated yellow Volkswagen T2 Microbus so that Breslin can be a contestant in a beauty pageant. While they fail at leaving their problems behind, their experiences on the road ultimately help them grow closer to each other and cope with their personal situations. The entire cast contributes their share, with grandfather Arkin winning Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Very rare to mix seriousness in a comedy without it coming across as melodramatic, but screenwriter Arndt and directors Dayton and Faris make it work!

As Good as It Gets

A misanthropic writer (Nicholson) finds inspiration to change for the better after falling in love with a waitress (Hunt) and fostering a dog for a neighbor who's been hospitalized (Kinnear). Nostalgic (look at the gas prices!) but also timeless, with an all around charm from the three leads plus the supporting cast consisting of Gooding, Herwick, Kennedy, Knight, Smith and Ulrich. The dosage of comedy is far more potent than the drama and romance, allowing for a chemistry that perfectly dodges anything too far-fetched or overemotional. The Baltimore and New York settings also add an element of class to this long-but-not-boring outing of proudly unusual friendships and love. Easily one of the best movies of the 1990s.

Taxi Driver

Spending his days and nights giving rides to rejects and criminals, Vietnam vet cabbie De Niro's sanity decays as his anger builds. The brilliant and brave performances from Foster and Keitel is quite apparent, but its De Niro's portrayal of Travis Bickle's slow spiral into madness that is most impressive and will leave the viewer wondering whether he is a hero or a villain. Bernard Herrmann's score is hauntingly beautiful, and Scorsese makes the neo-noir style fit the film's overall tone perfectly in what should be considered his magnum opus. The Geekster's favorite movie of all-time. The film gets more and more intense as it progresses, paralleling how it gets better and better with each viewing.

The Big Lebowski

Bridges plays Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, an unemployed slacker with very simple taste: bowling, marijuana, White Russians, and a rug that ties the room together. When thugs mistake him for Jeff "The Big" Lebowski (Huddleston) and "vandalize" the Dude's rug, he seeks compensation from the Big Lebowski; but by the time an agreement is reached, the Dude finds himself in the crossfire of a conflict involving kidnappers and the Big Lebowski's much younger wife (Reid). Above par upon first viewing, but the replay value is unmatchable and will eventually wind up at the top of your favorite comedies. Along the lines of other Coen Brothers comedies, but this one is easily the best. Layered with terrific minor characters played by an exceptional supporting cast. Let's not forget the incredible soundtrack, which consists of many of the Dude's favorite tunes… and some Eagles too.

American Psycho

Satire based on Bret Easton Ellis' book of the same name about Wall Street yuppie Patrick Bateman (Bale) and his day-to-day life that involves exercising, clubbing, dining at high end restaurants, drugs, sex, and murder. Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner are faithful to the book's concept but are forced to go their own way with the story's structure, and they do it as good as anyone possibly could with such a unique novel; and Christian Bale will forever have props for bringing Bateman to life so perfectly, a character that could've easily have been mis-portrayed. Marketed as a horror/slasher/thriller, but those who appreciate its genius will know it as one of the greatest black-comedies of all-time.

The Godfather

Brando and Pacino share the lead in this masterpiece based on screenwriter Puzo's best-selling novel of the same name, about the boss of an organized crime family gradually transferring control of his business to his son, a war hero who never had any interest in following in his father's footsteps. Pacino's transformation from a black-sheep to a ruthless Mafia boss is so slick that it's worth every second of the film's epic length, while Brando's iconic delivery as the legendary Don Vito Corleone is literally untouchable and indisputably one of cinema's greatest performances. Definitely a film that might need one or two replays before being fully appreciated, but it is a classic for all the right reasons. Followed by a must-see second installment two years later, which is arguable even better than this perfect picture! Direct Coppola co-wrote the script.

Groundhog Day

Much to his detest, snobby weatherman Murray is sent over to Punxsutawney, PA to cover the groundhog story with crew MacDowell and Elliott, spending his time flirting with the former and bullying the latter to get through the dreadful assignment. However, he'll have to come up with new ways to kill time to get through this trip because he keeps waking up to the same day (Groundhog Dog) over and over again. WHAT ABOUT BOB? meets THE TWILIGHT ZONE and ends up being a priceless match. A good comfort movie with lots of replay value, but perhaps it's also an examination on how much control one does and doesn't have over everyday events. Really fun!

Cinderella

Timeless fairytale of a gorgeous, smart and sweet young woman who was adopted by her abusive stepmother and demanding stepsisters after her father died and is used as their slave. But when her dreams are finally shattered and all hope for happiness is lost, her Fairy Godmother appears and turns the remains of Cinderella's dress into a new ball gown with glass slippers—and when she is favored over other women at the ball, her stepmother sets out to hinder Cinderella's chances of marrying the prince. Bruno the dog, Lucifer the Cat and especially Gus the mouse certainly add an element to the already beloved story; and while the musical numbers are certainly not among the best to come out of the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the songs are nevertheless fitting for such a wonderful and flawless tale.

Fight Club

On a quest to fill an emptiness that causes him insomnia and compulsive buying, Norton turns to support groups that have nothing to do with his own conditions just so that he can feel balanced, but when fellow impostor Bonham Carter starts lurking around, he must turn to other outlets. This is how he meets Tyler Durden (Pitt). Unconventional plot faithfully adapted from Palahniuk's debut novel of the same name with an equally unique "mind's eye view" storytelling approach from Fincher, this brutal flick will surely grow on the male viewers, while also making you second guess the world in which we live in. Unexpectedly groundbreaking, and rightfully considered a classic despite its ability to be misinterpreted.

What About Bob?

Successful but egotistical psychotherapist (Dreyfuss) is pushed to the edge when an overly-dependent new patient suffering from multiple phobias (Murray) tracks him down during his vacation and befriends his family. The plot outline comes across as a clichéd thriller, but it's actually a refreshingly original comedy, thanks to Murray's performance as the titular character who is unwittingly manipulative and narcissistic. Filmed on Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Virginia, which is a gorgeous substitute for the Lake Winnipesaukee setting. The replay value and timelessness are amazing, with many brownie-points going to the brilliance of Frank Oz's modesty as a storyteller. Erbe, Hagerty and Korsmo are all great in their supporting roles.

A Christmas Story

Nine-year-old Billingsley living in 1940s Indiana (the city of Hohman, a fictionalized version of author Shepherd's hometown of Hammond) wants a "Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and 'this thing which tells time'" for Christmas. Seems straightforward? Nah. Layered with many fun subplots that are more humorous than the last, this sleeper hit has since become easily one of the greatest Christmas movies of all-time. The flagpole incident, Shepherd's narration, and Zittrer and Zaza's score are what really make this film worthwhile, but all-in-all almost everything about this Christmas classic is near perfect.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

This retelling of Charles Dickens' novella starring your favorite muppets in supporting roles has become a Christmas classic in its own right. Michael Caine is perfect as Scrooge, and his chemistry with the muppets in tow are an amazing match. The movie is legitimately funny, spooky or touching all at the right moments—it's one of those rare films that hits the right note every single second. There doesn't seem to be any pattern with the intermixing of humans and muppets, but regardless, it works just fine without any distractions. Perhaps the strongest point of all is the musical numbers composed by Miles Goodman and written by Paul Williams.

Home Alone

Christmas staple for anyone born in the mid/late-'80s. The McCallisters, an upper-class Chicago family, rushes to the airport for a holiday in Paris, accidentally forgetting the runt: eight-year-old Culkin. The real fun (and danger) comes when the youngster decides that he's "the man of the house" and challenges two dim-witted burglars Pesci and Stern with a funhouse of traps (some slapstick, others legitimately harmful). Writer/producer Hughes and director Columbus do a pretty good job of working around the incompetency of the whole fiasco—but a lot of things in the film comes together so well thanks to an underrated supporting cast, particularly Bamman, Blossom, Heard and O'Hara. Instantly entertaining, and has a lot of replay value with some suspension of disbelief.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

An absolutely gorgeous adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's first LORD OF THE RINGS installment detailing how well-meaning young hobbit Wood unwittingly inherits a ring from his adventurous uncle Holm which possesses a dark force that is powerful enough to end all life in Middle-Earth. Visually wondrous even for those who aren't that into the fantasy genre. This installment is particularly charming for less action and more character development… and, for some reason, the Middle-Earth lingo works really well in this movie over the second and third films. Although FELLOWSHIP merely teases the viewer with the appearance of Gollum—while TWO TOWERS and RETURN are basically owned by Serkis as Tolkien's timelessly wretched creature who's not quite friend or foe—the movie is just too lovable to really even need his inclusion. McKellen is perfect as Gandalf the Grey, and Bean's performance brings to the foreground the genius of all these characters who suffers from similar temptations and weaknesses that we do in reality. It is FELLOWSHIP that holds the clearest mirror up to us, while the following two films kind of just linger in the wartime aftermath. The greatest fantasy film of all-time.

Dumb & Dumber

The Farrelly Brothers' 1994 road-comedy about buddies Carrey and Daniels (who make a surprisingly perfect duo of morons) travelling from Providence to Aspen and the troubles their dimwittedness brings them. Met with lukewarm reviews upon its release, but those who grew up with it will appreciate it for the classic that it is. No matter how many times you've seen it, there are still new jokes to uncover because you didn't realize it before ("She sent me a John Deere letter") or that you missed because you were still laughing about something else. Believe it or not, Daniels is just as funny as (or maybe even funnier than) Carrey! Accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack.

Psycho

Ahead of its time for its content, unconventional story structure, false protagonist and the presence of a toilet, Hitchcock's genius direction and Herrmann's chilling score is still gripping as many people today as it did in 1960. Janet Leigh is graciously brilliant in her role as an ordinary woman who is suddenly on the run for making a spur-of-the-moment snatch of $40,000 ($318,875.14 when adjusted for inflation), and Anthony Perkins is without a doubt equally memorable as the underwhelming, well-mannered, codependent manager of the Bates Motel. One has a fair argument at accusing the final sequence of telling-not-showing, but why pry at it when every scene before it meets the definition of perfection?

Aladdin

Extraordinary Disney retelling of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS tale about an impoverished young ne'er-do-well who is recruited and then double-crossed by a sorcerer, only to find himself in possession of a wonderful oil lamp that houses a genie who will grant him three wishes. The addition of extra characters and razzle-dazzle make the journey even more worthwhile, adding a charm to this old story without diluting what made it a classic in the first place. Much excitement despite being lighthearted. The voice actors fit their animated characters perfectly, with Robin Williams easily stealing the show with his grand performance as the Genie. Composer Alan Menken and songwriters Howard Ashman and Tim Rice created one of film's greatest soundtracks. Exceptional animation as well.

Inglourious Basterds

WWII revenge fantasy about a group of Nazi-hunters led by Pitt. Gets better with each viewing despite all the gore. Both the well-known and unknown actors are excellent in their roles; however, it goes without saying that Waltz easily steals the show as the charming opportunistic sociopath SD Standartenführer Hans "The Jew Hunter" Landa, possibly the greatest character Tarantino has ever written. Lots of subtitles, but that's a good thing as it helps in authenticating an otherwise alternate history; though, admittedly, it does get a little too dialogue-driven (if there's such a thing in a Tarantino picture) during Chapter 4's "Who Am I" Drinking Game—but the movie is otherwise, as Landa would say, "Bravo". The soundtrack—a first of Tarantino's not to feature dialogue— uses a variety of music genres, including spaghetti western soundtrack excerpts and R&B; all of which is a strange but wonderful fit. Easily Tarantino's best since PULP FICTION. The Swastika forehead carvings is one of the coolest Cinema Wounds along with the half-Glasgow smile in PAN'S LABYRINTH.

True Lies

Action or comedy? Take your pick. TRUE LIES has both. Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) leads a double life, with his wife (Curtis) and daughter (Dushku) thinking he is just some boring sales rep when he is actually performing covert missions for the U.S government under a counter-terrorism task force. Jamie Lee Curtis has a steamy striptease that'll make your eyes widen, but Cameron knows not to corrupt the film's tone by crossing the line that separates sexy and erotic; and Tia Carrere is just… well… hot. Non-stop action and non-stop laughs. Everything works so well in this outing. Extended remake of the 1991 French film LA TOTALE! Most expensive film ever made at the time of its release, and is the first film to have over a $100 million production budget. Tom Arnold (who almost didn't get the part) makes the movie worth seeing; and let's not forget Bill Paxton's performance as… well… just watch… it's worth it. It's almost sad to watch the movie now, as it takes you back to a time where we could afford to feel comfortable about taking terrorism lightly.

The Sandlot

1993 family film that quickly found its way to being a kids' classic. Perfect for those who love baseball, and equally enjoyable for those who don't or don't know much about it. All-in-all, a fun film about nine childhood friends in 1962, spending their summer days and nights at the sandlot playing baseball and having a variety of adventures related and unrelated to the sport. Nice parallels between baseball pickles and real life ones, plus other great lessons like the big and small differences between myth and actuality. Dennis Leary is perfect as the stern but awkwardly friendly stepfather, and James Earl Jones has an awesome bit role at the end.