Ryan Night’s Top 100 Movies: 100-91

Counting down my top 100 movies of all time. This is a very subjective list. This is 100-90, so keep in mind these are the things at the bottom of the list. Of course, I like these movies, but the movies get better as the list goes on.

Also, given that this is a subjective list, I’m not including film school type movies just to namedrop them and reveal my film education, or whatever. So there’s not a lot of Citizen Kanes or Godfather 2s or Battleship Potemkins or what have you. This list is totally just my favorite movies, not trying to create some objective best movies of all time list (which is impossible anyway).

So if you just want some cool movie recommendations or you’re interested in sort of just what makes me tick, this is the list for you. Great. Here we go.

For 90-81, click here.
For 80-71, click here.
For 70-61, click here.
For 60-51, click here.
For 50-41, click here.
For 40-31, click here.
For 30-21, click here.
For 20-11, click here.
For 10-1, click here.

100. Death to Smoochy
Kicking off the top 100 movies, this is a movie where Edward Norton, a failed kid’s mascot, blows up with fame and gets embroiled in the bizarrely cutthroat world of children’s television. I don’t know why this movie flopped so hard, it’s super weird, it’s hilarious and it has a lot of memorable scenes. Also features Robin Williams and Catherine Keener. Robin Williams’ scheming and off-color musical numbers are what really stick out in my memory.

99. Atomic Blonde
A pretty recent movie. Charlize Theron stars alongside James McAvoy in this stylish spy thriller set in the 1980s. Got a lot of shit for some reason, but I liked it. I enjoyed the art direction and song choices — very high style — and I thought Charlize made for a compelling action star. The fight choreography did a good job making Charlize believable using some sort of combination of military CQC and practical women’s defense techniques. I like spy stuff. I liked this movie. Also, Charlize Theron is hot. Total cougar.

98. PCU
This is… I want to say an early 90s movie? It’s a comedy about a random guy trying to navigate the various politically engaged social groups of a college campus and he ends up joining up with the burnout losers who are kind of simultaneously cool with everyone and also reject the whole paradigm. The plot, beyond that, is basically the plot of Animal House. Through today’s lens this movie is probably unacceptable to like for a variety of reasons (by either ‘side’), but it’s oddly a very relevant commentary on modern times even though it was made about 20 years before any of this stuff really started getting out of control.

97. PI
Coming in at 97 of the top 100 movies, this was, I believe, Darren Aronofsky’s first movie. It’s an artsy movie about a guy who is either discovering the secrets of reality and the universe through mathematics or going insane. You decide. Anyway, it’s a trippy, thought-provoking movie and it’s super weird.

96. The Last Castle
This is an interesting pick, I think, because I’m 99% sure I’m the only person on the planet who’s ever seen this movie. I’m sure it was just some movie that was in theaters briefly, probably didn’t get any traction, and was totally forgotten. It’s about a military general who gets arrested (Robert Redford) and sees the prisoners in the prison are mistreated, so he uses his leadership skills to stage a coup and take over the prison from the dictatorial, abusive prison warden (James Gandolfini). I feel like this movie should have gotten, I don’t know, at least some kind of recognition. I randomly saw it on TV. Now I’m giving it the recognition it deserves by putting it at 96 on the top 100 movies.

95. Little Miss Sunshine
At 95 of my top 100 movies, this is an endearing movie about a dysfunctional lower middle class family coming together to try to help their daughter realize her somewhat odd and totally irrational dream of winning a kids’ beauty pageant because they love her. Has Greg Kinear, Paul Dano and several others. This movie works on the strength of its characters, who are all very memorable, well-acted and likably flawed. I related to Dano’s character in particular, but I liked all the characters.

94. Seven Psychopaths
Cool little out-there movie with Colin Farrell and Sam Rockwell. It’s about a guy who’s writing a script called Seven Psychopaths and the script is oddly predictive of what’s happening in his life. There are, obviously, seven psychopaths that our hero encounters through the movie and it wraps up in a really satisfying way. The relationship between Farrell’s character and Rockwell’s character is what really makes the movie work.

93. V for Vendetta
I kind of hesitated to put this on the list because it’s so trendy to like this movie, but I do like the movie. I mean, you know what this movie is. A guy wearing a Guy Fawkes masks who mostly uses words that start with the letter V tries to take down a corrupt government by igniting the people, and he kidnaps Natalie Portman to uh, brainwash her, basically. Anyway, it’s a good movie.

92. Cloud Atlas
A very philosophical movie that’s basically about reincarnation and the interweaving, ineffable relay race of bravely good souls to make the world a better place throughout time. Its basic message is that even if it just looks like one drop of courage, and it’s futile, and even in the context of a lifetime it seems to have accomplished nothing, it comes back around again in surprising and significant ways. This movie would be higher on this list but it’s like 500 hours long and that ‘troo troo’ dialect from the far, far distant future is really cringey in an otherwise very serious/inspirational sci-fi drama.

91. House of Sand and Fog
This is a movie where Ben Kingsley plays the patriarch of an Iranian immigrant family. This is overall a very impactful movie with a very complex plot. It’s not a political movie, it’s just super interesting. Ben Kingsley’s character had been upper class in Iran, but he’s lower class in American and due to his pride, he’s trying to maintain and portray his previous status and dignity. Connelly’s character loses her house and he buys it on auction. Basically it’s about these two characters who’ve been dealt very rough hands who both need this house as their last lifeline, and so they relate and feel for each other, but they still both need the house. It’s not a happy movie.

That’s 100-91.
For 90-81, click here.
For 80-71, click here.
For 70-61, click here.
For 60-51, click here.
For 50-41, click here.
For 40-31, click here.
For 30-21, click here.
For 20-11, click here.
For 10-1, click here.