there's a difference between best and favorites, but these are the ones I like.
1. Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain: A funny, feel good movie with quirky characters and a sweet ending. I'm willing to accept the fantasy in this one.
2. 28 Days later: Although this isn't my favorite Danny Boyle movie, it's one of my favorite zombie and post-apocolyptic movies. The characters interact realistically and aren't complete dumbasses, you get a good feel of emotion and it influenced a lot of modern zombie films.
3. Hot Fuzz: Perfect blend of action and comedy. I'm a sucker for over the top action movies so I'll admit that this isn't something you write theses on, but between it's fast pace, crazy camera angles and buddy relationship between Frost and Pegg, this one's a winner in my mind.
4. REC/ Let the Right One In: I honestly couldn't decide between the two. Both great recent horror movies.
5. Casino Royale: The movie proof that change CAN be good. James Bond needed a makeover for a long time and who would have thought he'd look so good in blonde! Full of action, intrigue and eye candy, I need to buy the DVD except it STILL costs 15 bucks.
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Honorable mentions
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Dr.Strangelove
Do The Right Thing
Pulp Fiction
Chop Shop
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Hoop Dreams(greatest documentary ever)
Pinocchio(easily my favorite Disney film)
The Shawshank Redemption
12 Angry Men (The definition of Perfection)
WALL-E
Se7en
In the Heat of the Night
Other movies that I love (like The Departed, Glory, or It's a Wonderful Life) would sneak in when I think about them hard enough, but those are my general favorites.
1. Moon
2. Tigerland
3. Session 9
4. Let the Right One In
5. The Vanishing (1988)
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6. Before Sunrise/Before Sunset
7. Wall-E
8. The Golden Compass (under my own context)
9. Breaking the Waves
10. Commandments (Aidan Quinn)