Rating:
They really knew how to make movies back in the early 1930s. A taut and effective story told without any superfluous filler and it’s all over in an hour and ten minutes. Yes, please! Plus, there’s the whole thing about how this movie is still considered essential watching more than 75 years after its release, which is generally indicative of pretty awesome quality. Frankenstein is the greatest of the classic monster movies from Universal, and none of the other tellings of the tale that have been made since has ever come close to this one. The movie takes Mary Shelley’s original novel and improves on it. Yes, folks, Frankenstein is one of that rare breed, the film that’s better than the novel on which it is based.

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Rating:
I’m kind of torn about the inclusion of Psycho on the 100 Greatest list. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, everyone considers it a classic, and I guess that makes it one; there’s no official definition of “classic” after all. That status is bestowed on a film by subjective group consensus rather than objective analysis. But the thing about Psycho is that, even though I do enjoy it, I recognize that it has a number of flaws. It’s nothing hugely grievous, but there are a lot of little things that, taken together, add up to a movie that essentially succeeds in spite of itself.

That’s not to say I wouldn’t recommend it.

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Rating:
The serious and objective part of my brain looks at AFI’s rating for Star Wars and thinks that, although the movie is undeniably great and groundbreaking and influential, the number 15 slot is probably way too high. Another part of my brain, though, thinks the hell with all that, because holy nut do I love Star Wars. That part of me is gonna win out today, and you can take that to the bank.

I’ve been a total, balls-to-the-wall Star Wars fan (of the original trilogy, that is) virtually my entire life. Any kind of sensible review, with legitimate analysis and appropriate discussion, is impossible. I can’t talk about the whole Joseph Campbell, mythological and archetypal aspects of it, or about the numerous movies, especially Akira Kurosawa films, to which it owes tremendous debts. I know about these things, having seen and heard and read gazillions of interviews and essays and commentaries about the movies. But any attempt to actually discuss them is futile; I get talking about Star Wars and pretty soon I’m just gushing about all my favorite parts of the movie. I have so much goodwill for the picture, and so many happy memories associated with it, that all I can do is present to you a list. A list of Things I Love About Star Wars.

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