My Favorite Movies: #7—The Empire Strikes Back

7. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 

Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy 

Director: Irvin Kershner 

Writers: Lawrence Kasdan, Leigh Brackett 

Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones 

Awards: 2 Oscars—Sound, Visual Effects 

Metacritic score: 82 

IMDB Ranking: #13

The Empire Strikes Back is not simply the best of all the Star Wars movies, it's my favorite science fiction movie of all time, and the competition is really not close at all. This is the movie that made me a Star Wars fan for life, that indoctrinated me into a fandom, and that made me want to see the same movie multiple times in a theater. It still stands as one of the outstanding examples of popular cinema as cultural artistry.

In the wake of the fierce fan debate over this year's middle film in the third trilogy, The Last Jedi, it's no surprise that critics and fans alike were divided over the quality of this original middle entry. While Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both gave it perfect scores of 100, Vincent Canby of The New York Times gave it 50/100 and derided it as vastly inferior to the original movie.

It's no surprise whose side I'm on. From the first time I saw it to the fifth and final time seeing it in the summer of 1980 in the theater, The Empire Strikes Back is the ultimate triumph of the Skywalker story. Many fans disliked the fact that the Empire pretty much wins everything in this film (it's in the title, dumbass), but they missed the same point that The Last Jedi's haters also overlooked—this entire series is not about Luke, or Leia, or Han, (or Boba fucking Fett, for God's sake), but rather about Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader.

You all know the plot, so I'm not going to sum things up this time around, and I'm going to start with the plot twist revelation that blew our young little minds right into outer space: Ben Kenobi lied to Luke; Darth Vader didn't kill Anakin Skywalker—Darth Vader IS Anakin Skywalker, and therefore Luke's father. 

It's still one of the greatest plot twists in movie history, and the drama of the reveal is still as compelling as the first time we saw it. But that's not the only thing that makes this movie truly great. First of all, we have the friendship between Han and Luke, shown through Han's willingness to risk his own life to find Luke in the frozen wastes of the ice planet of Hoth. Luke likewise risks himself to save Han and Leia in the Cloud City of Bespin in the film's third act. The opening act also gives us probably the most tense and thrilling battle sequence of all the movies—the Imperial invasion of the Rebel base on Hoth.

Second is the training sequence, where we first meet Jedi Master Yoda on the swamp planet of Dagobah and watch as Luke learns to harness the power of the Force to become a Jedi as well as deal with the temptations of the Dark Side. These themes, as well as the lesson he learns from Yoda, are crucial to our understanding of the two movies of the new trilogy, but especially what Luke tells Rey in The Last Jedi: the Force does not belong to them.

Third, and what was most thrilling for me, was the romance between Han and Leia. Their constant bickering in the first movie carries over as she is forced to escape the Hoth base with Han and Chewie in the Millennium Falcon. He routinely addresses her sarcastically as "Your worshipfulness," and she constantly criticizes both his strategy and tactics, which do admittedly lead them into a suicidal flight through an asteroid field. The scene where they first kiss—then are interrupted by that insufferable pest Threepio—is the pinnacle of movie romances, comparable to great classics like Casablanca or Gone With the Wind. If you're a nerd like me, you're looking for a girl who'll respond to "I love you" not with "I love you too" but rather, "I know."

Finally, there's that amazing third act in Bespin: Lando's betrayal; Han's carbonite freeze and capture by Boba Fett (never forget—he died like a bitch); Luke's lightsaber battle with Vader; Vader's shocking revelation that he is Luke's father; Leia exhibiting force powers to find Luke below the city; it's a series of dramatic scenes that keep you on the edge of your seat right until the very end.

There is a lot that was disappointing for me with the next movie, Return of the Jedi (mainly Ewoks), but to be fair, there was no way that George Lucas and company was going to top their achievement in Empire. Rogue One comes the closest for me, followed by The Force Awakens, then The Last Jedi. I'm always eager to see whatever comes next in the burgeoning Disney/Lucasfilm catalog, but the pinnacle of greatness was achieved in 1980 and is unlikely to ever be surpassed.

My Favorite Movies: #8—Die Hard

8. Die Hard (1988) 

Genre: Action-Adventure 

Director: John McTiernan 

Writers: Jeb Stuart (screenplay); Roderick Thorp (book) 

Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia 

Awards: 4 Oscar nominations—Sound, Film Editing, Sound Effects, Visual Effects 

Metacritic score: 70 

IMDB Ranking: #122

Die Hard is not only one of the greatest action movies ever made, it is the archetype for the modern action movie—an everyman kind-of-a-guy who has special skills (cop, former military, retired spy, etc.) who is placed against his will into a survival situation in which he has to stop a genius-level villain with an incredibly complex and nefarious plan in order to save himself as well as a host of others (wife, kids, compatriots, innocents, etc.). If this sounds like the basic plot to every action movie you've seen for the past 30 years, then now you know where it all started.

What many young people don't know about this movie is how unlikely its success was. Although Bruce Willis is best known today as an action hero, the only work he was known for when Die Hard premiered was the ABC comedy series Moonlighting. Many critics, before the movie opened, scoffed at the idea of a lightweight comic actor like Willis holding down a big-budget action picture.

Furthermore, most of the other actors are relative unknowns. William Atherton (Richard Thornburg) was the EPA jerk in Ghostbusters; Bonnie Bedelia (Holly Gennero McClane) had been in a few things; Alexander Godunov (Karl) was famous as a ballet dancer but had just started in the movies; chief baddie Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber) was virtually unknown to American audiences. Probably the two most famous faces were Paul Gleason (Deputy Chief Robinson), the principal in The Breakfast Club, and Family Matters star Reginald Veljohnson (Sgt. Al Powell). In 1988, no one would have cleared out their weekend schedule to see any of these actors on the big screen.

It's a testimony to the overall quality of this movie that made it such a monster hit, made movie stars of Willis and Rickman, and cemented itself in American pop culture consciousness. The plot is simple: New York policeman John McClane (Willis) flies to Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his estranged wife (Bedelia) and their two young children. A limo sent by her company, the Japanese Nakatomi Corporation, brings him to her office, high in the Nakatomi skyscraper, which is still under final construction in the top few floors.

During the party, a group of (apparent) terrorists take over the building and herd everyone into the common area of the main office floor. They fail to catch McClane, however, and he slips into a stairway, barefoot and armed with only his service revolver. The rest of the movie involves McClane matching wits (and mostly winning) against Hans and his cohorts, who are revealed to be not terrorists but rather ambitious thieves using police and FBI playbooks against terrorism to bring their plan to fruition.

I first saw this movie on the gigantic main screen of the famous Esquire Theater in St. Louis, and it was a dramatic and thrilling experience, as intense as Aliens but significantly more fun. Three things stood out to me then, and they still stand as the main reasons why this movie is so great:

3) William Atherton's television reporter Richard Thornburgh may be the asshole of the film, but in real-life, he's a kick-ass reporter. He's the first on the scene, he's the first to interview McClane's family, and although he is the object of the audience's scorn and derision (people in the theater cheered when Holly punched him in the nose at the end), he does what a good journalist should (and would do) to get the story. Atherton does a stellar job again, proving he's the absolute best '80s actor at playing an unlikable asshole.

2) John McClane is not a superhero. Yeah, he's brave, and he has the skills that a good cop would be expected to have, but this movie is not afraid to show him as human. He takes his shoes off in his wife's office to relieve tension because he's afraid to fly. He gets battered, bruised, bloody, and broken at every step along the way. He's often afraid even as he's trying to survive, and when he's not sure that he'll make it out alive, he asks Powell to apologize to his wife on his behalf. We relate to John McClane because he seems like someone we know in real life. That's amazing writing there.

1) Alan Rickman is just the fucking shizz, man. He's so amazing in this movie. I had no idea who he was before Die Hard, but he's still my favorite thing about the film. If it weren't for McClane, you could almost root for Hans to win. He's always cool, always collected, always projecting the image of being control even when he isn't. He's stylish, slick, and his performance is strong enough to counterpoint Willis's heroism in a way that even as he falls to his death, you get a sense that you're going to miss him anyway.

The last word: Yeah, it's a Christmas movie. Get over it. Yippee-kiy-yay...

My Favorite Movies: #9—How to Train Your Dragon

9. How to Train Your Dragon (2010) 

Genre: Animated Adventure 

Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders 

Writers: Will Davies, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders (screenplay); Cressida Cowell (book) 

Stars: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera 

Awards: 2 Oscar nominations—Animated Feature, Original Musical Score 

Metacritic score: 74 

IMDB Ranking: #176

The bond between humans and their pets have been explored through stories in print and in film for generations, but the one that resonates the most for me, and which stands as my favorite animated film of all time, is Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon. I fell in love with this movie from the first time I saw the opening sequence, and it continues to thrill me again and again every time I watch it.

This is a movie about outcasts and the need to connect to another person (or pet) who truly understands exactly who you are and what you want. Our unlikely hero is Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the only son of Viking chief Stoick (Gerard Butler). Hiccup is not Viking material. He's skinny, scared, and by all standards of Viking-ness, weak and useless. But he's wicked smart and a highly creative inventor in his job as the apprentice to village blacksmith Gobber (Craig Ferguson). 

The Viking's village is regularly attacked by a variety of dragon species, who routinely destroy buildings and steal livestock. The most deadly and feared of these dragons is the Night Fury, which has never been seen, captured, or killed. During the opening attack, however, Hiccup launches one of his contraptions and brings down a Night Fury.

He traces the path of the dragon and finds him injured and restrained by ropes but still alive. Hiccup draws a knife and tries to steel his courage for the kill, but he looks into the eyes of the dragon and sees himself. As he says later, "I realized he was just as scared as I was." Instead of killing him, Hiccup releases the dragon, who runs off into the woods.

Hiccup finds the dragon and realizes that he's missing one of his tail-fins, which renders him flightless. With a steady supply of fish, Hiccup uses his curiosity and intelligence to make a connection with the dragon, whom he names "Toothless" after his first direct encounter. What he discovers next is that not only is Toothless highly intelligent, but he is also willing to allow Hiccup to befriend him. Hiccup uses his skills to craft an artificial tailfin connected to a saddle, and together, they learn how to fly as a team, which results in one of the most thrilling scenes of the movie.

In the meantime, Hiccup is also subjected to Dragon Training, in which young Vikings learn the conventional village wisdom about the nature of dragons and how to kill them. What Hiccup discovers through Toothless, however, is that everything they think they know about dragons is wrong. He learns how to tame, train, and control them, and as a result, ends up dominating the training course. 

A female Viking girl, Astrid (American Ferrara), is jealous and frustrated by Hiccup's success, so she follows him into the woods, where she stumbles upon his secret friendship with Toothless. Rather than let her return to the village to tell the others, he shows her what he has learned. Angry and resistant at first, she comes to see what Hiccup already knows—the dragons are not their enemies but pawns in a much larger, more dangerous arrangement.

Unfortunately, Hiccup is declared the winner of Dragon Training, and as such, is expected to kill a dragon in front of the whole village. When Hiccup refuses to do so, his attempts to show the others the truth he has learned about dragons results in disaster. Toothless is captured by Stoick and used as a tracking device to find the dragon's home island, where the monstrous Dragon Queen awaits them. Hiccup and Astrid convince the other teenage trainees to use the dragons as allies in order to save their parents from certain death, which propels us into the thrilling climax of the movie.

The true joy of this movie is in the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless, and all the best scenes are of the two of them together. For anyone who's ever been lonely or felt like they didn't belong with the "cool kids," the idea of having a pet like Toothless is irresistible. Their love for each other is the strongest bond they have, and it allows them to connect first with Astrid, then, little by little, with the rest of the village, but most especially his father. This is a movie about the importance of belonging and how one love—even for a pet—can change our lives in ways we can't imagine.

The end of the movie is simply perfect. Just as Toothless lost his tailfin, Hiccup loses his left leg below the knee in the final battle. They are both a little crippled, but together, they fly higher and faster than any of their friends. The bond between Hiccup and Toothless literally transforms the entire village from a besieged war compound into a place of light and joy.

This is a movie that needs to be experienced in a large theater in 3D. The flight and fight sequences use 3D technology in a way that takes full advantage of that visual medium. The musical score by John Powell is comparably thrilling and adds to the overall emotional impact of the film without being manipulative or distracting. In addition to the adventure, it's written with humor and wit throughout the script, featuring a cast of comic actors that in addition to Baruchel and Ferguson includes Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, and Kristen Wiig.

The only flaw in this film was that it was released the same year as the brilliant Toy Story 3, which predictably won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. That doesn't matter to me, though...not every great movie wins an Oscar, and sometimes, they lose to equally wonderful films. No other animated movie, and few other live-action films, are as dear to my heart as this one.

My Favorite Movies: #10—The Incredibles

10. The Incredibles (2004)

Genre: Animated Adventure

Director: Brad Bird

Writer: Brad Bird

Stars: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Jason Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Brad Bird

Awards: 2 Oscars—Animated Feature, Sound Editing        

Metacritic score: 90

IMDB Ranking: n/a

What if Superman married Wonder Woman and they had kids? And what if they stopped doing superhero stuff and tried to live like a normal, suburban family? What if Superman got fat and depressed about having to live a "normal" life in a dead-end job? This is the brilliant premise of Pixar's best movie of all time and my #10 favorite, The Incredibles.

Due in part to Mr. Incredible's (Real name: Bob Parr, played by Craig T. Nelson) penchant for adventure, the public begins to sue superheroes for the collateral damage of their heroism. The government's solution is to forbid superheroes from using their powers, placing them in a kind of witness protection program where they have to act like everyone else. Mr. Incredible's wife, Elastagirl (Real name: Helen Parr, played by Holly Hunter), just wants to raise their three kids—Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack—in anonymity, but Bob goes out on secret hero missions with his one friend left from the old days, Frozone (Real name: Lucius Best, played by Samuel L. Jackson).

Bob loses his temper and his job, and before he can admit the awful truth to Helen, he's approached by the mysterious Mirage (Elizabeth Pena), who offers him the chance to do hero work once again. He jumps at the chance, of course, and consults his old gadget supplier Edna Mode (voiced by director Brad Bird) for a new super suit.

The job is a ruse, however, brought on by Syndrome (Jason Lee), who idolized Mr. Incredible as a boy, but after his attempts to become his sidekick were gruffly rejected, dedicated his life to destroying all superheroes in order to get his revenge on Bob. Captured and imprisoned, Helen has to come to the rescue with Violet (powers: invisibility and force fields) and Dash (power: super speed) along as stowaways. They team up to try to defeat Syndrome from destroying their city as well as their family.

This is so much more than an animated film, and Brad Bird's brilliance as a director is one of the most thrilling things about the movie. Each scene, each line, each beat is carefully calculated for both immediate effect as well as foreshadowing. Not a moment on screen is wasted, and soon you've forgotten that this is an animated movie because the characters are not only real and relatable, but you've come to care about them as if you know them.

The real-life family dynamic carries a great deal of the appeal. Bob is miserable working as an insurance company drone; he knows he's capable of so much more. His first hero job for Mirage sets him free. He begins to lose weight, spend more time with his kids, and rekindle the romantic fires that brought Helen and him together when they were young. What middle-aged man could not relate to this?

Helen's concerns are real, too, and reflect the realpolitik of motherhood—women must always do what they can to make the best of what they have to work with. It's not that she doesn't miss being a superhero, but she's also concerned with raising well-adjusted kids. But the kids know that they're super, too, and that causes different problems. Violet just wants to be like everyone else and feels her powers make her an outcast; Dash resents having to hide his speed, recognizing that his mother's statement that everyone is special really means that no one is.

Jason Lee voices Syndrome perfectly as the spurned fanboy who uses his one true power—super intelligence—to live out his revenge fantasies in real life. He's like someone with an annoying Twitter account suddenly given control of the world's largest and most powerful military, and he uses it solely for his own self-aggrandizement.

Samuel L. Jackson is used sparingly but perfectly, his over-the-top voice and inflection setting exactly the right mood when it's needed. Brad Bird's performance as Edna is the comic stand-out however, the diminutive genius absolutely stealing every scene in which she appears. The final confrontation between The Incredibles and Syndrome is the perfect blend of superhero bravado and family drama; flying in an RV strapped to a missile by his elastic mother, Dash still whines, "Are we there yet?", to which Bob snaps, "We'll get there when we get there!" 

I could go on and on about the genius of this movie, but I must mention a few more things that also set this movie apart. First is the art direction, which gives the time era of the film a retro sixties feel while remaining modern and high-tech, giving the whole experience a kind of James Bond feel. Second is the brilliant neo-Jazz soundtrack created by composer Michael Giacchino, which complements the retro/timeless setting. Finally is the idea that the stakes in this movie are real. Syndrome has murdered dozens of former superheroes, and Helen warns her children that if they are caught, they will be killed, which helps us to fully invest ourselves in their experience.

The sequel to the original is due out on June 15 of this year, evidently picking up shortly where the first movie left off. According to IMDB, the entire original cast is returning, and like the first movie, Brad Bird is both writing and directing. Needless to say, I'll be in the middle of the theater at the first opportunity to see the second, but it will have to go a long, long way to eclipse the genius of the first. I recognize that many other Pixar movies, especially the Toy Story series, have a special place in many fans' hearts, but The Incredibles is, so far, my favorite by a long shot.

My Favorite Movies: #11—Apollo 13

11. Apollo 13 (1995) 

Genre: Historical Drama 

Director: Ron Howard 

Writers: William Broyles, Jr. & Al Reinert (screenplay); Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger (book) 

Stars: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan 

Awards: 2 Oscars—Sound, Film Editing

Metacritic score: 77 

IMDB Ranking: n/a

Ron Howard has made a lot of wonderful movies over the years, and I anticipate that my friends who've been keeping the comments section of these movie posts on Facebook so entertaining will engage in a lively debate that includes telling me how wrong I am to pick Apollo 13 as Howard's greatest career achievement (at least so far...let's see Solo in May before passing final judgment). But that's the great fun about writing these lists—the comparisons they generate.

So if I'm going to argue that Apollo 13 is not only Howard's best but worthy of almost cracking the Top Ten on my list, where's my evidence? First of all, it's based on the dramatic true story of the Apollo 13 service module exploding in outer space about 200,000 miles from Earth. That's right, it's not only unbelievable, it really happened. Even more unbelievable, the command module call sign was "Odyssey," a poorly chosen name when you consider it took Odysseus 10 years to make a voyage that should have taken him a few weeks.

The movie is based on the book "Lost Moon," co-written by James Lovell, the commander of the mission, played by Tom Hanks with his expected Oscar-worthy mastery. As an audience, you share in Lovell's anticipation to finally walk on the moon—he was one of the first three humans to orbit the moon on Apollo 8—as well as his disappointment in realizing that dream had been lost forever with the explosion. This sense of loss, coupled with his desire to go home, heightens the drama.

My next reason is the stellar (pun intended) cast: Hanks; his crewmates Bill Paxton (Fred Haise) and Jack Swigart (Kevin Bacon); earthbound savior Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinese), who was scrubbed from the mission for health concerns but helps solve the crew re-entry challenges; wife Marilyn Lovell (Kathleen Quinlan), a picture of strength in public but a terrified wife in private; and best of all, Houston Space Center flight director Gene Krantz, played by a rock-solid Ed Harris, who gets the best line of the movie—"Failure is not an option!"

In search of authenticity, admitted NASA nerds Howard and Hanks convinced the space agency to let them film scenes on the "Vomit Comet," the weightless training plane that simulates zero-gravity conditions in earth flight. This results in a number of scenes that aren't special effects; the actors and the props are really floating weightless on the screen. While they admittedly pumped up the dramatic nature of their journey home—they didn't really fight with each other; they simply solved each problem as it came up—the filmmakers sought to be as true to the actual events as they could.

Finally, the movie somehow manages to build genuine drama and tension despite the fact that a simple fact check spoils the ending—all three astronauts made it home alive and well. This doesn't detract from the drama of each event: the initial explosion; the shutdown of the command module; the communications blackout as they pass through the moon's dark side; replacing the CO2 filter by literally putting a square peg in a round hole; the manual burn for course correction; and the four-minute communications blackout after re-entry.

In fact, the moment at which you hear Hanks/Lovell's voice come through the crackle of static to announce that they have survived the inferno of re-entry is one of the most joyful moments I've ever witnessed on film. From the first time I saw it in 1995 to this very day, I cry tears of joy every time I watch it. I'm getting a bit verklempt just typing about it, to be honest. Credit also goes to James Horner's magnificent musical score for its dramatic impact.

This is a movie that I've watched again and again throughout the years. A couple of years ago it probably would have been in the top ten just because it was the movie I saw on my first date with my former wife, so now that I'm divorced, that milestone carries a little less weight, but it in no way detracts from my enduring love for this movie or the thrills it still carries to the moon and back.