Top 10: Movie Couples

So, today is Valentine's Day. That got me thinking about the best movie couples. There are so many, and so many I have not seen. So, this is technically just a nice list of movie couples.

I tossed up a poll on Facebook and got some feedback, but I felt odd putting some couples on the list of films I haven't seen yet. So, this is a list of couple from films I have seen.

10) Memphis Raines & Eleanor - Gone in 60 Seconds

This was one of the suggestions I got on Facebook, and I felt it was far too funny not to include. This is the car that is the most difficult for Raines to boost, which is named Eleanor.

9) Romeo & Juliet - Romeo+Juliet

I had to put them on the list. They are the quintessential couple and are almost always brought up when thought about the top couples. I can't put them too high on the list, because they are such a boring answer.

8) Jerry & Dorothy - Jerry Maguire 

Kind of funny that a film that is about sports, somewhat, has one of the top movie couples. But, the relationship between Jerry and Dorothy is wonderful.

7) Lady & Tramp - Lady & The Tramp

A couple from opposite sides of the track, but they are dogs not humans. Lady, growing up in the well-to-do house, while Tramp is living off the streets. Together they are the cutest couple, who knew?

6) Jack & Rose - Titanic

Just like Lady and Tramp, Jack and Rose come opposite sides of money. Rose has a ton of it and Jack has none. But, Jack has something that Rose needs, a way to have fun.

5) Shrek & Fiona - Shrek

The ogre who thought he always wanted to be alone meets the beautiful princess with a secret - and they lived happily ever after.

4) Leia & Han - Star Wars

She's a princess and he's a smuggler, but when forced together there true feelings come out and an intergalactic love story is born.

3) Kat & Patrick - 10 Things I Hate About You

Kat hates dating and men in general. She is courted by Patrick, a loner who everyone has made rumors up about. He is paid to take her out so someone else can date her sister, but he ends up falling in love and so does she.

2) Buttercup & Westley - The Princess Bride

Buttercup is a rich, young girl while Westley works on her farm. He falls in love with her and she with her, but he is kidnapped by the dread pirate Roberts - and she is forced to marry Prince Humperdink, will they get back together?

1) Ellie & Carl - Up

OK, this was sort of a toss up between them and Wall-E and Eve from Wall-E. I think the final straw was just how great the first part of Up is and how much they truly loved each other.

Top 50 Films of the '00's

OK. This list will surely be rare among everyone. I went through each film that was released during each year and if it had some sort of effect on me I wrote it down, when I was finished I had 53 films. But, to keep it a nice round number I decided to round that down to 50.

This is just my Top 50 films, it has no barring on the actual quality of the film. These are just the Top 50 that I particularly enjoy.

Also, there were many (many) films released during this time period which I have not had the chance to see yet - some of which I have heard are rather good - but I was not able to include those, only those I have seen (and for many of them have seen a multitude of times).

Finally, I also did something that some others have done, yet others do not like, and that is group some films together as part of a series instead of separate films. It's my list and I will group if I want to. So, for the films with an asterisk next to the title I am also including the other films in their franchise.

So, here is my Top 50 Films of the '00's:

50) Blades of Glory (2007)

49) Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

48) Invincible (2006)

47) Watchmen (2009)

46) High Fidelity (2000)

45) Catch Me If You Can (2002)

44) Beerfest (2006)

43) The Replacements (2000)

42) Enchanted (2007)

41) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

40) Reign Over Me (2007)

39) Old School (2003)

38) Adventureland (2009)

37) A Knight’s Tale (2001)

36) School of Rock (2003)

35) We Are Marshall (2006)

34) Moulin Rouge (2001)

33) The Fast and the Furious (2001)

32) 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)

31) Life as a House (2001)

30) Garden State (2004)

29) Knocked Up (2007)

28) 8 Mile (2002)

27) American Pie 2 (2001)

26) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004)

25) Spider-Man* (2002)

24) Lord of the Rings* (2001)

23) Dodgeball (2004)

22) Stick It (2006)

21) X2: X-Men United (2003)

20) Men with Brooms (2002)

19) Fanboys (2009)

18) Cars (2006)

17) Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

16) Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

15) Accepted (2006)

14) Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

13) Wedding Crashers (2005)

12) Finding Nemo (2003)

11) Miracle (2004)

10) Cast Away (2000)

9) Transformers* (2007)

8) Pirates of the Caribbean* (2003)

7) Iron Man (2008)

6) Remember the Titans (2000)

5) Ocean’s Eleven* (2001)

4) Harry Potter* (2001)

3) Shrek* (2001)

2) The Dark Knight* (2008)

1) Star Trek (2009)

Explanations for my Top 10:

10) Cast Away: One of Tom Hanks' greatest performances as he spent 3/4 of the film with no human interaction, but spent that time conversing with a volleyball. Hanks also had to lose an incredible amount of weight and grow his hair and beard out for the part. For a movie without much talking I was still engrossed with what was going on in the film. Plus is made a star out of a Wilson Volleyball.

9) Transformers*: I included both of the films in this selection, but I feel I enjoyed the first film the best. It sort of came out of nowhere, a movie based on an action figure, but it turned out to be a pretty action packed film, which in turn made stars out of Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. A film that's dialogue may be lacking, but the action and CGI certainly kept me entertained.

8) Pirates of the Caribbean*: I am including all three Pirates films, although I feel the first one outranks the lot of them. I have to admit that this one really took me off guard. For some reason leading up to it I had not really heard much about it, but a friend told me I had to see it and I was thoroughly entertained. Captain Jack Sparrow is a character for the ages.

7) Iron Man: Was this going to be another Spider-Man or another Batman? The answer is somewhere in between, and that is perfectly fine. This film had a lot of humor and action, and thanks to the performance of Robert Downey Jr. really blew a lot of people away that really weren't expecting much of anything.

6) Remember the Titans: As you can see from the list I am a sucker for sports films, especially if they are well done. This movie was less about the football and more about the racial struggles of a small town and school, but it was because of the football that so many were able to accept each other no matter their color.

5) Ocean's Eleven*: The first one was a masterpiece. I love heist films and I especially love when they don't show you how it was done until the end. The cast was top-notch, and it even makes it this high with Julia Roberts in the cast (I am not that big a fan). The sequel was a little less superb, but still enjoyable as it gave us the Night Fox. The third was much better than the second, but still couldn't surpass the first.

4) Harry Potter*: This entire decade should have been named the Harry Potter decade. Just two films remain in the series (a combination of the final book), but the first six so far have been visually stunning and rather entertaining as well (even for someone like me who has not read the books). So far, I would have to say that Order of the Phoenix is my favorite of the films, but we still have the final two to go.

3) Shrek*: Yet another film that you weren't really expecting much from. Thank goodness it exists, however, for the sake of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy's careers. The first film in this series is hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. I have been fortunate to see it over-and-over again as my son has become a huge fan. The second two films are both great watches as well, but the first is still the crowning achievement.

2) The Dark Knight*: This one is a combination because without the great reboot that was Batman Begins, this film would have never existed. It is probably the top film on almost everyone's list for the decade, but it gets second on mine. Heath Ledger's Joker is quite possibly the best character in a film the entire decade, and the film was visually stunning as well and kept the story of Batman growing.

1) Star Trek: This is my absolute favorite film of the decade. As much as I loved The Dark Knight, it was Star Trek that was the lone film that when I left the theater I immediately knew I had to see it again. I grew up a fan of the original films, but the combination of humor and even better battles really took this one to another level. Each of the characters were extremely well done and I cannot wait to see the many journey's this crew takes in the future.

Top 10: Cartoon Films

In continuation with Cartoon Week, I have decided to post my favorite Top 10 Cartoon Films. As a disclaimer, however, I would like to state that I have not yet seen every cartoon movie ever created, obviously. I am not a fan of Anime, so I have not included any in my list. And I did not include any sequels in my list as well (all sequels should be assumed to be mixed with it's original).

That being said, it was tough to limit the list to just 10 movies. I am a huge fan of the Pixar films, as you will see by my list below, but I didn't want to include all of them on my list - so I excluded a few of those. It was also extremely difficult to be just to cartoons created so long ago. With the technology boom, cartoon animation has come along way since the days of Snow White, and although those films are a huge piece of the animation culture - and I enjoy watching them every now and then - they just don't hold a candle to what today's generation of cartoon movies can bring to the table. But, I did manage to sneak in a few of my absolute favorite old-school animation films.

Finally, I am including only movies that are full cartoon animation. So, movies that have both animation and live-action have not been included.

So, here are MY favorite Top 10 Cartoon Films. They will obviously be different then yours. In reverse order, as always.

Note: It has been a little while since seeing some of these, so the synopsis may be a little unclear.

10) The Chipmunk Adventure
Synopsis: The Chipmunks face-off against the Chipettes in a hot air balloon race around the world. They are picking up and dropping off little Chipmunk/Chipette dolls along the way, not realizing that they are actually smuggling diamonds for a pair of criminals.

9) The Great Mouse Detective
Synopsis: A sort of Sherlock Holmes-type film that focuses on Basil and his counterpart Dawson as they track down the kidnapping of a little girl's father. The girl's father, a toymaker, has been snatched up by the evil Ratigan (voiced by Vincent Price).

8) A Bug's Life
Synopsis: Flick, an inventor ant, accidentally knocks over a hoard of food that the ants have been collecting for the grasshoppers. In order to save his colony, he ventures to the city to find some tough bugs to stand up to the grasshoppers - but chooses a bunch of circus performers by mistake.

7) The Incredibles
Synopsis: Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl are just two of many superheroes forced into retirement. Trying to make it in the real world is difficult for them, but they (along with their children) are thrust back into the jobs they are meant for to save the world from Syndrome.

6) Oliver & Company
Synopsis: A young kitten joins a group of on the street dogs, who do anything possible to survive. Oliver (the kitten) is adopted by a little girl, but he is soon 'kidnapped' by the dogs and their owner, Fagin, in order to extort money to pay off a debt he owes to Sykes.

5) Finding Nemo
Synopsis: An overprotective clown fish named Marlin sets out on a journey to find his lost son, Nemo, who was plucked from the ocean and is now a member of the 'Tank Gang' in a dentist office. Dorey, a forgetful fish, joins Marlin in his trek across the ocean to reunite with his son.

4) South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Synopsis: The Terrence & Philip Movie is released in South Park, and all the children are treated to vulgar language. Their parents, in an effort to save their children, go after Terrence & Philip and eventually declare war on Canada.

3) Monster's, Inc.
Synopsis: A group of monsters capture screams from children in order to power their community. A little girl, whom the monsters think is toxic, escapes into their world, and Sully and Mike try to get her back into her room without anyone realizing she is there.

2) Shrek
Synopsis: Shrek is, as of now, a trilogy. The original shows Shrek and Donkey rescuing Princess Fiona from a dragon-guarded castle. The second film is about Shrek getting to know his in-laws, while the third is about Shrek finding knew king, Arthur, and stopping the fairy tale villains and Prince Charming.

1) Toy Story
Synopsis: Toy Story is the movie that started it all in terms of computer animation. It was the first full-length feature done entirely with computers. Woody is Andy's favorite toy, that is until Buzz Lightyear arrives on Andy's birthday. Buzz, however, doesn't believe he is a toy, and tries to get back to his home planet - while Woody must go along for the ride to prove to the other toys that he is not jealous of Buzz.

Shrek

Yesterday, Shrek the Third came on one of the movie channels and I decided to watch it through. I had already seen it, of course, but the Shrek movies are definitely films you can watch repeatedly. As the movie ended, and there was still a lot of Sunday remaining, I decided to grab my copy of the original Shrek, a movie I had not seen in quite awhile.

For those who haven't seen the film in awhile (or for those who have never seen it at all), i recommend throwing in a copy. I remembered most of the premise for the film, but a lot of the jokes and other various things I had forgotten.

The original Shrek plays out like this. An ogre (Mike Myers), who enjoys his time alone, is greeted by a talking donkey (Eddie Murphy). Donkey believes that he and Shrek are best of friends, so he follows him home - but he must stay outside.

Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow), meanwhile, has extradited all fairy-tale creatures and has dumped them in Shrek's swamp. So the journey begins to remove the creatures from his swamp - he must confront Farquaad.

After besting all of the Lord's men, Farquaad decides to give Shrek his swamp back - if, of course, he is able to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from a dragon-guarded castle. Shrek accepts, and along with donkey, sets off on his journey to rescue the princess.

The dragon that is guarding the princess turns out to be female, and very much in love with donkey. So Shrek is able to rescue the princess a little easier than he thought, but it was rescuing donkey that proved to be the toughest.

The trek from the dragon's castle to Du Loc is the funniest parts of the movie for me. The back-and-forth between Shrek, Donkey and Fiona is pretty priceless - Donkey and Shrek most notably.

Along the way we learn that Fiona is harboring a secret - that she was 'cursed' by a witch when she was younger, and whenever the sun goes down she turns into an ogre. Donkey discovers this, and finds out that Fiona has feelings for Shrek. Shrek overhears parts of the conversation, believing that Fiona could never love him - an ugly ogre - he leaves to bring Farquaad to her.

His feelings hurt, Shrek again tries to seclude himself from everyone - banishing Donkey from his swamp. But, Donkey returns as he feels he earned half of the bounty for helping rescue the princess. It's then that Donkey reveals that Fiona has feelings for Shrek - so they set out to stop the wedding.

Despite arriving too late, Shrek professes his feelings for Fiona and vice-versa - then showing her 'curse' to everyone in attendance. Of course, Shrek believes she is beautiful, and they share 'true loves first kiss' and get married. Living Happily Ever After.

The original is what sets the tone for the two sequels, and the other films that are in production for release. Shrek proves to be a character who is misunderstood, and only truly loves being alone because he has been told all of his life that he is ugly, and people run from him. Donkey, despite being overly talkative and annoying to people, proves he has a big heart and wants what is best for his friends. And Fiona learns that beauty is only skin-deep, choosing to live her life as an ogre to be with her true love.

I enjoyed the introduction of all of these characters. The secondary characters are very interesting as well, and it's fun to try and pick out the different fairy-tale character that you can find. My one complaint is the death of Lord Farquaad (eaten by the dragon) because I liked the character (as well as Lithgow doing the character) and felt he could have been used in later films.

It was nice to take a look back at the film that has inspired a pair of already released sequels, and more to come.

Note: Weird coincidence, but as I was finishing this posting - Smash Mouth's I'm a Believer (the theme from Shrek) came on the radio in the office next to mine.