The World Around You

Head on over to Outside the Beltway for James’s latest caption contest.

Following the lead of Right Wing News, brought up again this morning by Kevin at Wizbang, here is my list of the top 20 movies of all time:

20. Rear Window
19. North by Northwest

My Hitchcock entries. Both excellent thrillers with killer casting.

18. Casablanca

Classic. Bogart. Bergmanl. Enough said.

17. Clerks

Kevin Smith is a genius and this is the movie that brought him to the public.

16. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Matthew Broderick in the ultimate playing hooky story.

15. Some Like it Hot

Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. I’ve watched this one over a dozen times and I still laugh out loud.

14. Field of Dreams

The quintisential baseball movie.

13. Pulp Fiction

Quentin Tarantino has lost some of his luster, but this is still an unbelievable film.

12. Schindler’s List

Spielberg’s opus. Tough one to watch over and over again, but there is no need. The images stick with you.

11. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Wonderful music. Gene Wilder is fabulous. A great story for kids about perseverance in the face of adversity.

10. Saving Private Ryan

Spielberg’s best. A powerful film that has been the standard for all other war films since it was released.

9. Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope
8. Star Wars Episode V - Empire Strikes Back

Close calls, but both excellent films. The other three would fall in my top 50. This is a classic series that I also can’t wait to experience from beginning to end on DVD.

7. The Princess Bride

Often underestimated, classic comedy and a wonderful story. One of the films I quote and hear quoted most often. “Wuv, true wuv.”

6. Goodfellas

The film I have seen the most times. The masterful work will always put him at the top of my list of favorite directors. Another quotable film.

5. The Godfather

The one that began the story. Coppola, Pacino, Woods, Duvall. Another that lives up to repeated viewings and my first choice to begin a long weekend of movie viewing.

4. The Wizard of Oz

Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man, the Lion, the Scarecrow. No child should be without their own copy.

3. Citizen Kane

Orson Welles, fabulous.

2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The apex of comedy. These guys will have my respect forever. I still enjoy seeing them in anything they do. Another great treasure trove of quotes.

1. The Godfather Part II

The greatest, most magnificent film of all. DeNiro and Pacino are mesmerizing and the intricate, intertwined plot is amazing to watch.

The economy may finally be making a move upward (to the dismay of many a Democrat and the joy of all Republicans), AP Reports,

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy, lifted by consumer and business spending, broke out of the doldrums and grew at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the second quarter of 2003, the strongest showing in nearly a year.

The improvement in the gross domestic product in the April to June quarter, reported by the Commerce Department Thursday, came after two straight quarters of lousy economic growth. GDP increased at just a 1.4 percent pace in both the final quarter of 2002 and the first three months of this year.

The report reinforced the hope that the nation’s economy, shedding war and other uncertainties that had bogged it down earlier, would gain more traction in the second half of this year.

For the good of our country and the millions of people who have lost their jobs, I hope these numbers portend good things in the coming months.

NOTE: The beauty of economic numbers is that the really important thing is the expectation was a 1.5% growth rate, so the fact that the number beat expectations is the real news.

Get in on Kevin Drum’s pool for the final number of candidates on the ballot for the California recall. Many numbers have already been claimed. I said 21.