Top 50 films

I've been sitting on this post for what feels like three years, only that's not possible, as this blog has only been in existence for 22 months or so. Really, I probably started it when Nayana of The Center Seat posted her Top 100 back in April, which was followed by a number of other people leaching onto the idea and posting theirs in the few weeks thereafter. As with fashion (and music, sometimes), I never set trends and I never like being in that group of followers immediately when something is popular; heck, I didn't even launch a MySpace page until a year ago or so, and I still have yet to join Facebook.

I like to do these things on my own time, when they've been around long enough to not be labeled as fads that fade away quickly (Kris Kross, anyone?). Of course, all that really has nothing to do with listing my Top 50 movies, as that's neither a trend nor a fad; people have been doing them for years and they're not exactly unique. Still, I just wanted to give you (and me) a good excuse for why it took me six months to post this. I feel better, anyway.

I put these down in chunks of ten. For whatever reason, I found it much easier to rank and file them that way, allowing me to write off each ten as "complete" before moving on. As it stands, they're probably not 100% in perfect numerical order (heck, some are grouped together just based on what they are - I'm looking at you, Star Wars films), but as a person who has a hard time deciding favorites, the groups should suffice. On the whole, it's safe to say that I prefer a film in the second group over a film in the third, but there could certainly be some debate if I were to really break if down on a case-by-case basis.

It should be noted (and somewhat obvious, but you never know) that these are my favorite films, not necessarily the best of all time. In other words, they're my "Desert Island 50," or whatever that fad was for labeling your favorites...

Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
Fletch
The Princess Bride
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
True Romance
12 Monkeys
Amelie
Run Lola Run

The Big Lebowski
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Go
Get Shorty
Out of Sight
Rushmore
The Royal Tenenbaums
Office Space

The Matrix
Trainspotting
The Shawshank Redemption
Boogie Nights
Swingers
Se7en
Snatch
Dazed and Confused
Batman
Die Hard

Ocean's Eleven
Memento
Fargo
Idiocracy
Dumb and Dumber
Top Gun
Roadhouse
Last of the Mohicans
Dead Poets Society
The Goonies

Caddyshack
The Jerk
The Usual Suspects
Code 46
Jackie Brown
Back to the Future
Being John Malkovich
Predator
Point Break
Garden State

At this point, you should totally copy me and do a post just like this, linking back to me and my totally original idea. Everyone's doing it...

And then...