Movie Magic [BEDA August 17]

I love movies. Of course I love seeing new movies in the theater, but my favorite thing is to have movie nights at my house. Honestly I'd say that it's one of the best party premises.

But I have movie rules. If I'm seeing a movie in the theaters that even looks mildly stupid from the previews, then I will only see it with a group of friends. That way it becomes a joke. Like the time I met my friends Nigel, Kala, and Jamie at The Mean Bean in town then went to The Strand to see Disaster Movie. By far, the biggest waste of 5 dollars ever. But now it's something that Kala and I look back on and laugh about. Movies that look really good from their previews are best to be saved for dates. That way if the date is really bad, at least you got to see a good movie so it's not a total bust.

But the point of this post is my top 10 favorite movies of all time.

In narrowing down my favorite movies to just 10 I had to give my self rules for that as well. They couldn't have a corresponding stage musical -- so Rent was out, along with Beauty and the Beast and Singing in the Rain.  Also they couldn't be part of a series -- Pirates of the Caribbean was out, and Star Wars, and Toy Story. And eventually I got my list down to 10. So here it is.

1. Tangled - Disney's Rapunzel. Super, super cute movie.
2. The Wizard of Oz - Some might argue that it corresponds with Wicked, but I figure the plots are distinctly different.
3. Moulin Rouge - Singing, dancing, artists and whores. Doesn't get much better.
4. Newsies - Turn of the century New York newsies go on strike. Singing, dancing and 17 year old Christian Bale.
5. Forrest Gump - Seriously, who doesn't love this movie!?
6. An American in Paris - Gene Kelly meets a French ballerina. He subsequently falls in love and does some tap dancing.
7. The Blues Brothers Movie - Jake and Elwood Blues "On a mission from God" and "Gettin' the band back together." Absolute classic.
8. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - I know there are several Monty Python movies, but they're not actually a series.
9. Monsters Inc. - So much cute it's .....scary! Yea, yea I know that was lame. Sorry.
10. Chocolat - A woman and her daughter come to a tiny conservative French town and start a chocolaterie in the middle of Lent. Johnny Depp plays a French river gypsy.