The Mummy

Oh, I forgot to mention that I saw The Mummy this weekend.  The critics are wrong on this one.  What a great film!  Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, and company provide lots of laughs and lots of scares.  Great makeup, great effects, and a great female mummy.  Looks and feels just as great as the trailers and the add campaign.  Really has a rich, old-fashioned, classic feel to it.  They don't make 'em like this any more.  Check it out!

Top 6-10

Here are five more films that I consider to be among my favorites.  Many of these, thus far, have had a dark, kind of "noir" feel.

6.  Zodiac

This is another great David Fincher film.  His second best is either this or Gone Girl.  Like Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, it at times takes place in a very old-fashioned environment, while also dealing with technology.

7.  The French Connection

Although Unforgiven is a fine film, I think this is really my personal favorite Gene Hackman film.  Popeye Doyle is one of cinema's all time great characters, and his decent into a seedy underworld here is one of my all-time favorite movies.

8.  French Connection II

This time Popeye's in France.  Also a lot of fun, with great direction by John Frankenheimer.

9.  Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

I'm so glad to have worked John Hughes Christmas and Thanksgiving films into this top ten.  I actually don't own this one, but I need to get it.  So many memorable moments with this film.

10.  Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

This is another great Batman film, which I originally saw in theaters.  I recently rediscovered it on Netflix.  Lots of great themes concerning the nature of relationships, isolation, and of course revenge.  Just a perfect film from start to finish.

Have a great fourth!