10 Best Movies Ever According to NeoMartin Jul 24 '01 (Updated Jul 31 '01)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Movies 1776 From $8 Alias - The Complete Fifth Season From $20 The Bottom Line The movies I chose have had an impact on popular culture, and can be said to belong in any time. Other movies may be worthy of the list of Ten Best Movies Ever. However, I can only chose from those I have seen. Therefore, here is my list of Ten Best Movies Ever: 10. Gladiator -- Revisionist history aside (Marcus Aurelius wants Rome to become a democracy?), Gladiator harks back to the ancient Rome period films from the 1950s and 1960s-- it would have belonged in the time of Ben-Hur and Cleopatra had it been released then. Classic confrontations fail to disappoint. Gladiatorial combat scenes are incredible (with or without tigers). 9. The Longest Yard -- The combination of the penal system and American football works in this movie. Burt Reynolds is close in time to Deliverance in his performance as a quarterback who finds himself in prison. The game between the prisoners and prison guards is memorable for many reasons. This is one of the best sports movies ever made. 8. The Matrix -- While no original elements are used in this movie, the mixture and combinations of the elements is fresh and new. Perhaps hard to understand at first, The Matrix makes sense after a second viewing. Special effects for movies have been re-defined and already copied in other movies and media. The Matrix can be interpreted on many levels; at the very least it is a metaphor about life for most people and the possibilities they will never know if they are not even made aware of the other worlds co-existing around them-- many of them better than their own world. Keanu Reeves is perfect for The Matrix. 7. Doctor Strangelove (Or: How I learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) -- Filmed at the height of the Cold War, Peter Sellers plays at least a British officer in NATO and the aforementioned scientist. The Cold War is about to become hot, and everyone tries to stop it. This black comedy has its serious and hysterical moments. The image of Slim Pickens playing "Ride 'Em Cowboy!" even after he and the bomb he rides is ejected from the plane is burned into my psyche. 6. In Harms Way -- While this is not a war movie, this movie takes place during the World War II in the Pacific theater. Several sets of characters are seen to grow and develop during the course of the war (before American entry into WWII to the final days several years later). The war scenes are as intense as any from movies made before 1960. The ensemble cast featuring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas seem to belong together. 5. Braveheart -- Mel Gibson's best work as an actor (with or without his Academy Award for Best Director). The battle scenes were awesome in scope. The love stories were integral to the existence of William Wallace (Mel Gibson)-- if the love of his life was not killed, the the William Wallace we know could not exist. One man can make a difference. 4. Ben-Hur -- Similar to The Ten Commandments in cinematography and scope, this film is a rags-to-riches story on a grand scale. The interaction of the main actors brings the story to life on screen. The chariot race is classic and dramatic, and it is a sequence which has been copied by many movies since (not always successfully). Charlton Heston stands tall in this movie, and he is not seen as "Moses in another movie." 3. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World -- This is one of the greatest ensemble films made, and it features perhaps the largest collection of comedic actors and entertainers ever assembled. Each thread of the movie can be extracted to make a smaller movie which can stand on its own, and when combined to make the movie the combination of storylines is side-splitting. Many of the improbable stunts seen are unbelievable given their contexts and the characters involved (Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney cluelessly flying a small plane, Sid Caesar trying to escape from the basement of a hardware store, Jonathan Winters on a seek-and-destroy mission to find the man who destroyed his business, et cetera). The search for hidden money brings about many incredible journeys, and we see reasonable people become cash-obsessed loons before our very eyes. 2. The Empire Strikes Back -- Episode V as well as the second movie of the Star Wars series, it is one of the rare sequels which outdoes its predecessor. Characterization is more fully developed and the richness of the Star Wars universe begins to be seen here as Luke Skywalker grows in The Force and Han Solo reveals his humanity. The music and score complete this movie and help achieve the desired cinematic effect. In ending on a negative, it is one of the few sequels which refuses to follow the happy ending rule. The movie's impact is still being felt in American popular culture. 1. The Ten Commandments -- Based on the Old Testament and other sources, the rich ensemble cast (Charlton Heston, Yul Bryner, Edgar G. Robinson, Anne Baxter, John Derek among the ensemble) makes brings the story to life. The settings were rich in splendor and scope. The special effects rival those of movies made decades later.

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