By Request From My Son: Ray’s Top 25 Favorite Movies (and 5 Crap Classic Guilty Pleasures)

/ Ray Van Horn, Jr.

We’re hours away from heading out to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and it’s been a hot run of films we’ve seen at the local Cinemark in succession this year: John Wick 4, Evil Dead Rise, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Multiverse. This time we’re going as a full pack, and I have a good feeling the final Indy romp will fall in the middle of the best-of list for this beloved franchise. I can still see myself and my parents in complete awe of Raiders of the Lost Ark back when it first came out in 1981. Just an experience amongst many that will live on in my memories as epic.

Last night I pulled up the Eminem semi autobiography 8 Mile, which I haven’t seen in ages and I’m happy still stands the test of time. My son and I were watching a round of Childish Gambino videos on YouTube when I decided to pull up 8 Mile for my rap-addicted kid. He only poked in and out while I watched, but he’d wanted to know if I considered the film in my top 50 films of all-time. “Kid,” I said, “not even close. Do you know how many films I’ve seen in five decades of life? 8 Mile is a really good flick, though, and Eminem (aka “Rabbit”) gets the mother of all lyrical get backs. I recommend you take the time to watch it all the way.” The fact I was up late and wide awake on a Friday night had impressed my kid to the point he’d figured 8 Mile had to be something special that I hadn’t nodded off in the middle of it.

“Well, Dad,” he said after that, “what would be your all-time favorite movies? Top 10, no 25.”

Hence, after telling him to let me sleep on it after I finished 8 Mile at 1:20 a.m., I got to thinking, especially after he and TJ, who know me best, automatically figured on Blade Runner 2049 as my top pick. Aside from the original Star Wars trilogy, there is no movie filmed I haven’t watched more than this masterpiece sequel to a masterpiece of dystopian sci-fi. Both Blade Runner films and their respective ambient synth scores are my therapy, 2049 especially. I watched 2049 a ton of times during a long, difficult stretch for me; it’s in my DNA at this point. Would that I could’ve included BR49 director Denis Villanueve’s first installment of Dune in this list, it’s become an instant classic for me. TJ and I are licking our chops for the second installment of Dune this summer.

Now my list here will have some of the obvious hitters from any respected all-time greats of cinema list. Some you may not know or even just go to yourself, hmmm, interesting choice. I’m missing decades worth of classics and greats, but that doesn’t mean I’ve shunned them or consider them lesser that my listed movies. Those who know me will be shocked not to find any superhero movies on this list, though I am a geek for them as much as comic books. Superman II, Spider-Man 2, Black Panther, V is for Vendetta, The Dark Knight, Batman (1989) and Captain America: Civil War representing my upper echelon in that genre. It just means the list I’ve compiled here is in answer to my son, who wants to know what makes his old man tick and what movies resonated more than others. Some having me dash to the laptop with inspiration to write. So here you go, boyo. It wasn’t easy.

1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

2. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

3. Blade Runner 2049

4. Fast Times at Ridgemont High

5. Halloween (1978)

6. Dawn of the Dead (1978)

7. Blade Runner

8. American Beauty

9. A Clockwork Orange

10. The Shining (1981)

11. The Virgin Suicides

12. Alien

13. The Breakfast Club

14. Citizen Kane

15. Raiders of the Lost Ark

16. Ex Machina

17. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

18. A Fistful of Dollars

19. Nosferatu (1922)

20. Spartacus (1960)

21. Purple Rain

22. Boogie Nights

23. Get Out

24. The Revenant

25. Lust/Caution

And My Top 5 Crap Classic Guilty Pleasures:

1. Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers

2. Halloween III: Season of the Witch

3. Trick or Treat (1986)

4. Krull

5. Graduation Day

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

21 thoughts on “By Request From My Son: Ray’s Top 25 Favorite Movies (and 5 Crap Classic Guilty Pleasures)”

  2. A very interesting list, Ray. Good to see Star Wars IV and V on there along with Alien and Raiders of the Lost Ark and A Fistful of Dollars. Nosferatu is one of those timeless and thought provoking movies. A thumbs up for Citizen Kane as well. For some reason, I was disappointed by Blade Runner 2049.

    I thought Ex Machina started brilliantly, then it crashed and burned for me. Interestingly, our youngest son felt the same.

    Metropolis is one of my all time favourites along with The Shawshank Redemtion. Solyent Green is in there too.

    I was tickled pink to see Krull on your guilty pleasure list. I watch it every ten years or so. It was a great concept. I guess I would have to add in there Cherry 2000. But perhaps my favourite guilty pleasure is Dude Where’s My Car. Years ago, when our house was broken into, the dvd was the only item that was stolen – and yes, they caught the little perpetrators 😂😂😂

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    • I know the slow burn of BR49 isn’t for everyone, but it has risen to prominence and I have seen it become revered. I will say I get the most compliments for my BR49 shirt if I wear to a comics or sci fi convention. I love Metropolis, Shawshank and Soylent Green, which were all on my contender list. Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!

      Ex Machina…that ending, man!!! Beautifully TZ ish. I forgot all about Cherry 2000, lol! Someone stealing only Krull? WOW!!! I can only imagine how you felt. Krull could’ve been one of the ages, but it’s still something you just have to see.

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      • The movie came out a year after I graduated. At the time I was only 18 or 19, and thought I was soooo mature and that it was a silly movie (though I did have a big crush on Sean Penn in a few movies he made afterwards, “Bad Boys” and “Racing with the Moon.”
        But re-watching “Fast Times” again and again in later years, made me see how REAL it was, and thought about the real-life Mike Damones who broke my heart. There were many in my teenage years, though fast forgotten about as I was always one to move on 🙂

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      • LOL, and Damone with his advice on wooing women… Wow…isn’t this great? I crack up every time at how pathetic it comes off once you’re out of the age bracket, but seems so naively charming in the moment. I’m on the east coast and went to an east coast high school in a farming area that was quickly becoming industrialized, which is the setting to my novel, “Revolution Calling,” coming out…but funny enough, the scenarios are very much parallel to what Fast Times put out. It was so Cali, so unique to its own centralized core, but as you said, very much real and relatable, no matter where you went to high school. Same with The Breakfast Club, which ingeniously dug into the root of teen angst, the bind that tied amongst five different teen walks of life.

        Good for you for always staying the on the fast track (pun intended) past bad relationships. You did good for yourself later in life, obviously. 🙂

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      • Wow, I’ll definitely get your book when it comes out. I love stuff like that.
        And, yes, all those movies nailed the high school cliches. I think “Valley Girl” was the one that resonated most for me, even though I’m a Jersey Girl; rebelling against what your friends think. (That movie had the best soundtrack too!)
        Where on the East Coast did you grow up?

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    • LOL, I like that! I will always have a soft spot for HIII and consider the score the 2nd best of the entire series behind the original score, and movie-wise, around fifth spot. I will never forget Leonard Maltin’s scathing review on ET back in the 80s and how the film tanked, hit the grand turkey lists and yet, it emerged later a deserving cult classic.

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      • My problem is probably that I am too uncritical of movies! 😁 Here are my top 5 bands, though!

        1) Metric
        2) The Joy Formidable
        3) The Birthday Massacre
        4) Texas
        5) …. Okay I started having trouble picking one for #5. Fisher (Ron Wasserman/Kathy Fisher, not the DJ)? The Pierces? Digital Daggers? Wolf Alice? Shakespears Sister? Melanie C (yes, a former Spice Girl)? So I was wrong. I can’t even pick my five top bands. But at least the first four are definite!

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      • Whatever entertains, right? We all have those guilty pleasures most people don’t know or cringe from, or you find kindred spirit, i.e. the ever-growing cult of Halloween III lovers. Nice picks music-wise. I’ve heard some from Metric, Joy Formidable and Wolf Alice, which means I have some digging to do! You are very underground, sir, and I dig it!

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