Movies I Know and Love

Top 10 movies
These are my top ten movies of all time. I have yet to see some classic movies like “The Godfather,” “Goodfellas,” or “Pulp Fiction,” but for now, these are my favorites.

1. “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”

John Hughes understands the universal feeling all teenagers have — we just all want to have fun. Giving us a movie about a day of no school, no responsibilities, and no adult supervision made for a nice movie experience. The film follows a boy, Ferris Bueller, who seemingly always gets his way (with the help of substantial movie logic). He decides to plan the perfect day off from school, including faking being sick and going off for a fun night on the town with his girlfriend and best friend.

The only one who is not oblivious to Ferris’ antics is his sister, who is jealous of the way Ferris’ life seems too easy. My favorite part was probably when his sister finally got a win and started to take life easier like Ferris. This movie reminds everyone of their teenage years of innocence that is absent in many teenage dramas coming out today. Out of all the movies I know and love, this one made me feel like the kid I wish I was for that one day Ferris had.

2. “Gladiator”

This is one of the movies I know and love because I have always been a big fan of world history, and the Ancient times of the Roman Empire are one of my favorite time periods. This movie takes place in the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, beginning with the end of his military campaign in what was then Germania.

The main character is a roman general named Maximus who gets betrayed and turned into a slave and eventually into a gladiator and fights for his freedom. As a kid, I loved the beginning battle scene and nearly memorized all the lines and sound effects to a Tee. The mix of the English accent to the whole honor and “for the glory of Rome” feeling surrounding the movie gets me pumped every time. I have not had a chance to see it since I was a kid, but I am sure I would still rank it high. This movie definitely shaped my childhood.

3. “The Sound of Music”

This movie is the blueprint on how to make a musical film. It is also a nice example of how to correctly incorporate music into your film. This movie follows a family in Austria right before the occupation of the country by Nazi Germany before the onset of World War II. A father and his seven children are in need of a governess, but the children have chased away everyone who has come before. Maria finds a way to enchant the children through song and leads them to dominance as a singing troupe. To this day I still listen to the soundtrack and desperately need to watch the movie after a long time.

4. “Casino Royale 2006”

I have also been a die-hard James Bond fan and after going through all the movies in the franchise during these times of COVID, this movie ended up as my favorite. This one serves as an origin story for the character, showing where his cold-hearted stoicism originated from. Some have criticized it for this factor, saying that exposing the background of characters takes away from the attractiveness or allure that drew audiences and fans to that character. I do agree that this practice could be detrimental to a character long-term, but I mostly shove that aside because of what they managed to deliver in this movie despite all that.

5. “Baby Driver”

This movie runs on music and fast-speed driving. I love how the movie incorporates music into its action scenes, playing on the beat to different characters’ actions. This movie is about a getaway driver who works for a man he owes money to. I like how sleek and stylized the movie looks. The driving in the movie is also cinematic and nice to watch.

6. “The Nice Guys”

This is a good time. Not too action-packed or over-sensationalized, but stylized and just good fun. This movie is a buddy-cop movie set in 70s America and the two protagonists are tasked with solving the disappearance of a teenage girl.

I love this movie because of the style and how it looks, offering a good example of how to capture your audience’s gaze for the future filmmaker in me. I also like the back and forth between the two leads who of course are completely opposite people. I put this at four because I did not get the biggest reaction out of watching it, but it stays high on my list for being consistently entertaining nonetheless.

7. “Django Unchained”

What will the Black man do once he is given power? That is what my Dad wound up getting from this movie, and I see how he came to that conclusion. This movie is one of Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist history ventures, this time in pre-civil war slavery-era America. It follows a former slave — turned bounty hunter — named Django who is on a quest to find his girlfriend and experience true freedom. I am a big fan of Tarantino and his “cinema of cool” style of filmmaking. This movie was my main introduction into the western film genre and became one of the main ones I am interested in like James Bond did for spy movies for me.

8. “Inglorious Bastards”

Similar to how I feel about “Django Unchained,” I feel like this movie is just a bit more violent in comparison. I love the style and I feel like the villains are well built up as antagonists. This is another revisionist history film, set during World War II in 1943 (I believe) where the allies plan on killing Hitler when he goes to a movie premiere. Like most of Tarantino’s films and the other films on this list, I like the interactions between the characters and the witty remarks they make to each other.

9. “Grand Budapest Hotel”

This film is weird, in the sense where everything is light-hearted, even serious things. This movie follows a boy working at a prestigious hotel in Europe. He is taken under the wing of the manager and tells his story of how they met and how he came to own the hotel. The director Wes Anderson showcases his signature symmetrical style of filmmaking here where every scene has you focused on the center of the screen. I like the story and the journey the movie takes, with the music too. I have rewatched this casually plenty of times, justifiably making this one of the movies I know and love.

10. “Layer Cake”

I have always been a sucker for the English accent. This movie can be hard to understand at times but I was willing to skip back and catch things. I am a big fan of English gangster movies, and this one follows a man trying to get out of the cocaine trade in England.

Movies have always puzzled me. How can I sit down for two hours and be idle, yet still be involved productively? Movies can challenge the way you previously saw things and somehow get you to do nothing and focus on it if done right. What I need from movies today is to continue to entertain and tell good stories. There are still many more movies to be seen, but for now, these are my top 10.

Written by Chiagozie Onyewuchi

Edited by Sheena Robertson

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Sheryl’s Boys’ Flickr page – Creative Commons License

Inline Image Courtesy of Dan Stephens’s Flickr page – Creative Commons License