Movies I Feel I've, Honestly, Watched the Most

There is no way to accurately account for the number of times I've watched a film, so this list was compiled by going through the films that I know that I watch constantly, good and bad, and placing them in an order that "feels right" to me. These are movies that I watch when I just want to watch something, anything, because there's nothing on TV. The ones that constantly play on TV, and every single time I have to stop and watch. The ones I go to for solace, comfort, or escape. The ones that have been with me the longest, because I discovered them at a young age and, to date, have never let go. There aren't going to be a lot of great films on this list, because most great films aren't easily watched, consecutively that is. This list has nothing to do with how much I like the movie, but just the sheer amount of entertainment I get out of it again and again and again. I know all the dialogue (or most of it, anyway), where and when I first saw it, and each has memory upon memory and story upon story evoked when just the title is mentioned. So... without any further ado... here's the list of films I've watched the most in my life thus far.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1. The Crow
2. The Lost Boys
3. Batman
4. Ghostbusters
5. Big Trouble In Little China
6. The Princess Bride
7. Moulin Rouge!
8. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
9. Transylvania 6-5000
10. Labyrinth
11. The Monster Squad
12. Clue
13. Aladdin
14. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
15. The Goonies
16. Die Hard
17. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
18. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
19. Aliens
20. Beetlejuice
21. Back to the Future
22. Bram Stoker's Dracula
23. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
24. Conan: The Barbarian
25. Teen Wolf
26. Dazed and Confused
27. National Lampoon's Vacation
28. The Last Starfighter
29. Ghostbusters II
30. Willow
31. The Matrix
32. Stripes
33. Howard the Duck
34. Revenge of the Nerds
35. An American Werewolf in London
36. Real Genius
37. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
38. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
39. Jurassic Park
40. 12 Monkeys
41. Stand By Me
42. Predator
43. Darkman
44. The Neverending Story
45. Se7en
46. Spaceballs
47. True Romance
48. The Fugitive
49. Top Secret!
50. The Thing
51. Hackers
52. Total Recall
53. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
54. Fight Club
55. The Frighteners
56. Trading Places
57. Jaws
58. Tombstone
59. Time Bandits
60. Airplane!
61. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
62. A Christmas Story
63. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
64. UHF
65. The Big Lebowski
66. Meatballs
67. The Shining
68. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
69. Legend
70. The Three Amigos
71. Forrest Gump
72. Gremlins
73. The Blues Brothers
74. Rambo: First Blood Part II
75. Dirty Rotten Soundrels
76. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
77. Mallrats
78. Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn
79. Clash of the Titans (1981)
80. Tommy Boy
81. The Fifth Element
82. Heavy Metal
83. Superman II
84. Independence Day
85. Hook
86. Dick Tracy
87. Parenthood
88. Troll 2
89. My Cousin Vinny
90. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
91. Demolition Man
92. Major League
93. Tank Girl
94. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
95. Shrek 2
96. Waxwork
97. Home Alone
98. Monsters, Inc.
99. Explorers
100. The 'Burbs

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

- Honorable Mention:

1. Dark City
2. Good Will Hunting
3. High Fidelity
4. JFK
5. The Muppet Movie
6. Pulp Fiction
7. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut
8. Snatch
9. Trainspotting
10. The Usual Suspects

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

- Movies That Will Be On the List Soon Enough:

1. The Brothers Bloom
2. The Departed
3. Grindhouse
4. King Kong
5. Lucky Number Slevin
6. Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World
7. Sherlock Holmes
8. Sin City
9. Speed Racer
10. Zombieland

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If any of you feel like trying this list, my advice is to be honest with yourself. I mean, there are plenty of movies that I'd claim as an absolute favorite, but as I started the list I realized to my dismay that I don't watch them often enough to warrant a place on this list. Most of the time, it was because I purposefully don't watch certain movies a lot so that I won't get tired of them. That's why there aren't a lot of Nolan or Tarantino movies on the list, why "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Silence of the Lambs" are absent, and why Fincher's films aren't in my Top 10. Just be honest with yourself, and don't be afraid to include those embarrassing ones (like "Home Alone") that you know you've seen more times than you care to admit, whether you wanted to or not. It's about finding that balance of films you used to watch as a kid all the time and the ones that you've never outgrown and still watch. Or ones you've grown attached to as you've gotten older, or revisited and kept going back. Ask yourself, especially when it comes to films of the last decade, if you've really watched this newer film more than films from your childhood (it's harder the older you are). It's a hard list to attempt, but it's a lot of fun and worth the trip down memory lane you'll have once you can get it going.

This list is, in my opinion, one of the most personal lists I've come up with. It has nothing to do with how good the films are, in your eyes or anyone else's. It has nothing to do with anything other than your viewing habits, but those habits can tell a lot about a person. For instance, comedy is the genre that I don't tend to think of as a genre that is "me." I prefer darker, weirder, psychologically challenging films. Oddly enough, though, I realized that almost half of my list was comedies, so even though they aren't my all-time favorites I sure do watch them a lot. So in doing this list, I found out that I do, in fact, like watching comedies, despite what I previously had thought about my own viewing habits.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm currently finishing up a mammoth list right now with my brother Trey, so stay tuned for that one.

- gARTh -