Blog:TigerBlazer's Top 10 Films of All Time

I know this is a bit off-topic, but that's the point of blogs and I've made stuff like this before as blogs.

As a lot of you may know, I absolutely adore cinema. It is probably my third favorite form of media outside of video games and books. Lots of things can be accomplished with cinema that other media can't really or haven't been able to reach. Films in particular have a very powerful visual style to them and can be absolutely life changing experiences with emotional storytelling mixed with stunning forms of imagery such as animation and great use of cinematography. Even if there are a lot of bad movies out there, the better films are what makes me love this medium so much, and there are a lot of movies I adore. So today, I will be counting down my top 10 favorite movies of all time, completely based on how much I enjoyed them and their impact on me as a person as well.

10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
I don't know how a 4 hour long movie could hold my attention for the entire way through like this movie did, but whatever Peter Jackson put here, it's pretty darn perfect. It concludes the story in a very good way and manages to come off as satisfying, intense, and powerfully emotional for the entire runtime. The battle sequences are epic in scope and scale and they make an already great plot get a lot more weight to it. It perfectly balances the quieter moments with the bigger ones and creates a very cohesive storyline.

9. Cars
Before I saw my number one pick, this actually used to be my favorite movie and I still have a big soft spot for it today. I know, to some this may seem to be a more generic and less deep Pixar movie than the others, but I like it for its simplicity. And don't worry, the deeper stuff is still a bit there. I liked the setting of most of the story, and even when I was younger I always really liked the soundtrack a whole lot. And, admittedly, I like a lot of the characters here, even Matter.

8. Rogue One
I remember seeing this in the movie theater when it first came out. Back then it blew me away (The big screen and loud speakers helped a lot) and as I rewatch it now, it still does hit hard. Visually it looks spectacular, and has some of my favorite battles and action scenes of any of the Star Wars movies. But that's only a bit of what I like about it. The movie made you care about what the characters were fighting for, and I can't think of a single character that I didn't like, especially the droid K2-SO, who (SPOILERS!) had a very moving and emotional death scene. On that note the ending.... the ending just slaps you hard and has a lot of powerful visuals and storytelling to create what I would find to be the best ending in the series. Overall, great movie.

7. Pink Floyd - The Wall
Okay, I'll admit to a bit of bias on this one. The Wall by Pink Floyd is one of my favorite albums of all time, so it should come as no surprise to any of you that this film adaptation has a spot on my favorite movies ranking. In fact I actually prefer this over the original album. But if they essentially have the same music (The movie omits a few songs and adds a new one, as well as changing the song order) than why would I like this more. My reason: The stunning visuals and imagery. Symbols such as the red and white color scheme, the hammers, references to flying in the lyrics, and more help give the story much more room for personal interpretation as well as to show Roger Waters' vision of the story. And the animated scenes, while far to few, are absolutely stunning and are my favorite part of the movie outside the music. As well as that, the actors do a good job with their roles, and Bob Geldof's performance as Pink is gripping and one of my favorite lead roles of all time.

6. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Admit it, the dialogue in this movie alone makes this a great movie. Khan's dialogue and characterization comes out incredibly well here and makes him in my opinion one of the most memorable villains of all time in his quest for revenge. The film itself is a sequel to the Star Trek episode "Space Seed", though it does a great job of getting unfamiliar viewers acquainted. And that's what makes this such a good movie, the plot itself. On the surface level it seems like a villain's revenge story against the protagonists, but it goes into much deeper themes throughout the plot, such as getting older and the case of a no-win scenario. It all comes into a climax that ends with the emotional death of a major character that is both heart-breaking and yet ends the film on a hopeful note. And don't forget the space battles. What it lacks in special effects it makes up for by making some of the most tense scenes imaginable. A treat for fans and great starting point for newcomers.

5. Avengers Endgame
The first time I saw this, I had no words to describe its awesomeness. It makes three hours of watching only feel like 45 minutes, it's that immersive and entertaining. But enough about length, what makes it so good. Well, almost everything. To start off with, the action scenes are amazing, as they are well choreographed, have great effects, and well executed use of the camera to make them fun to watch and not feel boring. The final battle in the end is an awesome climax and brings everyone together to fight a common enemy in a great way, with every character getting screentime and enough attention. But outside of the plot, the character development is very strong. Seeing characters from the past movies change based on the catastrophic events of Infinity War was very engrossing. This is even better with the first hour consisting of building everyone back up for their final battle. And finally, this ranks as one of the only movies that has ever made me cry. Just in case you haven't seen it I won't spoil, but it ends many arcs in an emotional way that it was hard not to shed a tear in the finale.

4. Tron
You probably didn't see this coming at all, but yes, the original Tron is one of my all time favorite movies. And if I am being completely honest, I have no idea why I liked it this much on first viewing. However, I can now put it down to a few specific reasons. I think my main point of enjoyment is that I always liked the concept of a character being transported to another world, and putting the protagonist in a computer world to fight in video games appeals to me on a much deeper level, maybe because of my love of computers and video games. And this may sound a bit odd, but I think this movie's visuals are absolutely beautiful. They are incredibly dated, but I find them really appealing and really great to look at with all of the colors and computer designs, even if they put strain on your eyes after watching on-stop. Heck, and the awesome Lightcycle scene pretty much sells it for me. If you can get past its age, I highly recommend this movie.

3. Isle of Dogs
I genuinely did not except to love this film as much as I did, but I am so glad I didn't skip this one. The story is about all the dogs of Japan getting sent to Trash Island after a disease called "Snout Fever" spreads throughout the canine populace, and it follows a boy named Atari on his goal to get his guard dog Spots back, and is accompanied by five other dogs along the way. Not only is the story itself pretty deep in terms of storytelling, but everything else about it is pure genius in film-making. Most of the film outside of the dogs is entirely in Japanese without subtitles which makes it more compelling to watch than you think. I also appreciated the use of dark humor. But there is one aspect that can't be ignored, and it is the stunning animation and visual style. It perfectly matches Japan's architecture and the Trash Isle designs are great standouts as well. I genuinely cannot find anything i didn't like with this movie (Which also applies to the next to choices) and I recommend everyone should see this. It is seriously under-appreciated in the film community.

2. South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut
Really, it's hard for me not to love this movie. Upon first viewing I adored it almost immediately, right from the opening song to the crazy directions the story took. And that's probably what would still sell me on this movie even if I didn't like anything else, and that's the songs. I love every single song from this movie, from the comedic brilliance that is "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" to the surprisingly emotional "Up There", and of course the Oscar-nominated song "Blame Canada". Even outside of the music the movie is just all around great. The intentionally bad animation (They even mock this in the first 5 minutes) has a charm to it and actually did some nice effects and shots around the end. The story is absolutely crazy and well made at the same time, and has a great message to it about the dangers of censorship. And the humor is still enjoyable, and actually makes constant swearing funny. No matter how many times I watch it it still give me a smile on my face. Almost my favorite movie, but there is one that stands above it....

Honorable Mentions

 * Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Would have been #11
 * The Empire Strikes Back: While is is a phenomenal film, I personally didn't like it as much as Rogue One.
 * The Last Starfighter: Another former favorite movie, I still adore this movie to death, but I don't like it as much as I used to.
 * A Quiet Place: I loved what this film was trying to do with sound but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.
 * Interstellar: This was a great space movie, and introduced me to Christopher Nolan's genius film-making, but I sadly didn't feel as emotionally connected as I wish I could have been.
 * Up: I always liked this movie, but I have grown to adore it more as the years went on.

1. WALL-E
I will never love a movie as much as I love WALL-E. Truth be told I have never seen any other movie that still hits me hard and I continually appreciate even more every time I watch it. I have seen this movie over a hundred times, and I have no doubt in my mind that is not an exaggeration. Every since I was very young, I loved this movie to death. Back then I just liked that it was about two robots and it was in space and while I was a bit to young to fully understand the deeper themes, I liked the story. As time went on I have grown to love this movie even more for different reasons, with those same ones being in place. The environmental message was incredibly well executed and didn't feel forced or preachy at all. The dialogue is very memorable, and the visuals, oh goodness the visuals. You can tell the creators had a lot of fun making a unique vision and establishing a world for the most part without any dialogue. In my mind, WALL-E is the most perfect movie created by humankind and the most perfect that ever will be made. It's entertaining to anyone and is one of the most thought-provoking and enjoyable movies ever created. And that is why this will forever be my favorite movie ever made.

And there we go, my favorite movies of all time. A bit of topic and more comprehensive than my last few blogs, but I hope you enjoyed it. Have any movies you adore? Make sure to tell me below. Take care ;3