Beaze’s 50 Favorite Movies of All Times

And I could’ve done 100.  Man, I wanted to do 100.  I left a lot of good movies off this list.  But 50 is going to have to do.  The only rule is that franchises are lumped together.  No need to differentiate between originals and sequels and trilogies.  This is a team sport.

50) LION KING

Many have challenge, but this Lion is still the King of all Disney movies.

49) WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP

As a park protégé basketball player myself I loved the mentality of this movie.

48) I, ROBOT

Neo-phobic message aside, I love Will Smith’s me-against-the-world attitude and “somehow I told you so just doesn’t say it,” is something we all want to say at some point.

47) SUPERMAN II

A note to all future Superman projects: give the guy an enemy who can actually kick his ass!

46) THE WOOD

I can totally relate to having great friends you are scared to leave behind.

45) RUSH HOUR

I’m a sucker for the action comedy, so the King of stunts, Jackie Chan and “Smokey” combo does it for me.

44) TANGO & CASH

Again, this is action/comedy, but opposite to Rush Hour with big brutal Sly and quirky Kurt. Lot of guns, lots of actions, lots of punchlines, little subtext. The way an action movie should be.

43) BLOODSPORT

One man on a mission to uphold the honor of his mentor…it’s a lost trait these days.

42) PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

In the 80’s this movie would have sucked, but special effects and good-natured characters make it the best pirate movie ever.

41) HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME

Samurai swords and a touching story about friendship and immortality, what’s not to love?

40) ROLE MODELS

Paul Rudd is way funnier as a jerk than as a lovable loser.  Sean William Scott is way funnier as a Stifler clone.  Jane Lynch and Bobb’e J. Thompson should definitely star in the sequel.

39) X2

The best of the X-Men movies. When Wolverine goes berserk inside the X-Mansion? Bad ass.

38) THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK

The Riddick character is one of my sci-fi favorites. Totally badass but a little too soft in this movie. It was a fun ride non-the-less.

37) ABOVE THE RIM

A fun clash between organized ball and street hoops. Probably my favorite basketball movie ever.

36) UNDER SIEGE

Most people call it Die Hard on a boat and that’s fine with me.  One against one hundred…you’d take the one if his name was Steven Segal (before he got fat).

35) COLLATERAL

I love Tom Cruise as the bad guy and Jamie Foxx as the reluctant Hero.  This movie is deeper than people believe.  It slipped this low only because of the crappy ending.

34) AMERICAN GANGSTER

All I have to say is it’s about time they did a classy black version of the Godfather.

33) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES I/II/TMNT

I loved this movie so much I put peanut butter on my pizza for a year.  The third movie drags this franchise down.

32) REDBELT

Thee most realistic martial arts movie I have ever seen and a great story to boot.

31) ANY GIVEN SUNDAY

If you ever wondered what goes on in the front offices of the NFL, this movie is exactly what you’d think happens…real or not.

30) MONEY TRAIN

Wesley kicks ass, J-Lo was still hot and Woody is still funny.

29) K9

I love dogs.  A dog as a cop partnered with James Belushi?  Come on.

28) BE COOL

The Rock and Vince Vaughn by far are the funniest, most unlikely duo I have ever seen.  I cried during the chicken bone scene.

27) ASSASSINS

Mano y Mano, battle of wills and guns to see who will be #1. Gotta love it.

26) THE LAST SAMURAI

Aside from the part that again a white man must save a dying culture from themselves (see Dances With Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, etc…) this is an amazing story and in-depth look at samurai culture.

25) MONSTER SQUAD

After seeing this movie I literally gathered my friends, made stakes and went out hunting vampires.

24) HANCOCK

The first major black superhero not a vampire, or former lame ass criminal and it’s freakin’ Will Smith! How cool is that?

23) DIE HARD/DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE/LIVE FREE DIE HARD

The original one man versus an army movie so many other have tried to copy.

22) DRUMLINE

I spent a year at an HBC so this movie hit home.  I also love that it’s an intelligent, true to life tale of young black life without all the vulgarity.

21) HARD TO KILL

Steven Segal as the man who won’t die kicking ass and taking names using akido make me a happy guy.

20) MAVERICK

This is my favorite cat and mouse tale.  I didn’t understand the poker, but I didn’t need to.

19) LABYRINTH

The music alone is enough to love this movie…seriously.  Wishing a sibling away is another.

18) CONSTANTINE

When you stir comic book fantasy, God and good storytelling into a pot, Constantine is the only movie that comes out.

17) COMING TO AMERICA

Thee most classic comedy ever. And if you don’t believe then, “yes, yes, f— you too!”

16) THE RUNDOWN

The fact that Arnold literally passes the action hero torch to Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson in this movie was awesome.

15) THE PRINCESS BRIDE

The ultimate date movie, girls go for the love, guys go for the sword fighting.  Why aren’t there more movies like that today?

14) UNDERWORLD/ UNDERWORLD EVOLUTION

I was never a fan of Shakespeare, but you put vampires up against werewolves and I’ll watch it.

13) STAR WARS EPISODE 2-6

Phantom Menace was crap full of characters no one cared about, but once Anakin grabbed a light saber I was hooked.

12) SPIDERMAN 2

Clearly the best of the bunch… and by bunch I mean two.  Three never happened as far as I’m concerned.  The brutal fight scenes on the roof of the train was exactly what I dreamed a Spiderman movie would feature.

11) JUICE

The ultimate urban tale of power and corruption, you can not live in the inner city and not like this movie.

10) THE LAST DRAGON

First the Wiz, boofed (a black spoof) the Wizard of Oz and then The Last Dragon boofed…Bruce Lee.  A real f—in’ person!  You wouldn’t think that Bruce Lee(roy) could survive in the hood, but this movie proves otherwise.  And isn’t Sho’nuff just the baddest mo’ fo’ around?

Best Moment: The glow, duh.

9) BEVERLY HILLS COP I/II/III

I loved them all.  You put a black cop from Detroit in Beverly Hills?  Love it!  And after working in Beverly Hills for two years this movie is all the more funny. The culture shock was well-defined and the hijinx remind you of a stand up act with a little bit of danger thrown in.  This is the best Odd Couple of my generation.

Best Moment: When Axel makes up a perfectly good lie to free his partners from punishment and they go and tell the truth anyway.

BIKER BOYZ

A black motorcycle gang. Love it again! The bike tricks were sick, the races were adrenaline pumping and the cast was good.  Any kid who’s ever felt his own potential had to identify with Luke’s character. The father-son dynamic also touched me.  Then it was as a son looking to be better than his father, and now as a father I’m sure I’d sacrifice for my own son too.

Best Moment: the OG way the Black Knights roll in at the beginning.

7) BLADE

Keep in mind Blade was the first Marvel hero to make it to the big screen since the 70’s.  This movie lived up to every expectation I had for a Blade movie. The fusion of martial arts and vampires was slick enough to be effective.  Blade was a trained hunter and Wesley Snipes was perfect casting.  And since it was Marvel he also felt more like a superhero than some silly slayer. The second one was even better.

Best Moment: every scene where he puts on his shades.  I know it’s cheesy, but it just so damn dope.

6) QUEEN OF THE DAMNED

By far thee best vampire movie ever made. I absolutely hate seeing vampires staked and beat up by average Joes with no skills. These vampires are powerful, sensual without being slutty and Aalyiah was great.  I miss her. The mythology was right on point with what I envisioned and the action was fierce with an edge of scary. I still don’t get why vampires are always shirtless, but it seemed to fit this movie.

Best Moment: The stage scene where Towsend’s sings to the vampires before he kills them. It’s way more testosteroney then it sounds.

5) DESPARADO

The Wild West style shootouts are unbelievably good and delightfully exaggerated. I bet no one ever looked at a guitar case the same way after seeing this movie.  Antonio as a smooth talking repentant killer entertains even better with Salma as the romantic lead.

Best Moment: When Bucho discovers that his men killed the man sent to help them.

4) INDEPENDENCE DAY

Thee most patriotic heartwarming movie I’ve ever seen.  The way the world is forced to come together to save itself was great.   The aliens were just right and the action was out of this world (no pun intended…well…a little). Considering this is the movie that launched Will Smith July 4^th mania, it obviously had a huge impact on society.

Best Moment: Clearly it’s the speech by Bill Pullman at the end.  Close second is when the crazy farmer sacrifices himself while his son watches proudly.  I still tear up at those moments.

3) KICKBOXER

It’s such a simple story, an amateur fighter is driven to be the best so he can avenge his fallen brother. Van Damme is at his best when he’s the determined underdog. You had to wonder if he would succeed or not, and it was total triumph when he did. This is a pure martial arts movie without any gimmicks to fall back on and it never even stumbles.

Best Moment: Split kick.  If it’s a Van Damme movie, it has the split kick in it.

2) BATMAN BEGINS/THE DARK KNIGHT

These movies are so good they make Keaton’s Batman look stupid.  I was never overly thrilled about them anyway.  This is what Batman should have been.  Not a super man, but a man doing super things…and with a meaning behind it. I really felt like if I, or anyone had the money and dedication we could do everything he was doing.  There was no bat-shark-repellent or fantasy crap involved.  They took Batman 100% serious and so did we, or risk getting our faces bashed in.

Best Moment: The Jokers entrance in the Dark Knight when he puts a pencil through a guys eye.

1) BAD BOYS I/II

If you grew up on Fresh Prince and Martin this was the best thing since peanut butter teamed with Jelly. Some people just make a good mix and I would put money on it that Martin and Will improvised a lot of that because it shows. This movie has it all, girls, guns and gaffes. We’ve seen buddy cops films before, but there has never been two cops this damn rugged, smooth and hilarious all at the same time.  You wanted to be them, which is unlike most dopey, silly buddy cop films. It also helps that my friends quoted this movie more than a Chappelle Show episode so it’s ingrained in my brain.  And the sequel was well worth the wait.

Best Moment: When Martin interrogates his daughter’s date with the help of Will.

Honorable Mentions from my 2008 list (That were pushed out of the top 50 this year):

WHO AM I

This underrated Jackie Chan movie made the cut purely for the climatic 2-on-1 fight scene at the end. Best. Fight. Ever.

THE GOONIES

If you call yourself an 80’s baby, you absolutely have to love this movie.

THE MATRIX

Bullet time animation may be the butt of the joke now, but it sure was sickening in this movie.