Posted on July 4, 2009 - by writerman

The Writerman Top 10 Project Begins

In the tangled jungle that is Los Angeles, people love to ask this one:

“So, what are your favorite movies?”

In the real world, this is a perfectly legitimate question that perfectly legitimate people ask one another all the time. But in the Hollywood World, this is a very loaded question. Depending on the location, time of day, and which one of you is expected to pay for that 15-dollar salad you’re picking at, the subtext of that question could be…

Do I want to work with you? Do you have taste? Do I really want to read the script you just handed me? Should I trust your opinion on the script I just handed you? Should I give you my cell number? Will 10% of your salary cover the payments on my new Lexus? Should I invite you to join my writer’s group? Should I sleep with you?

Whenever I am confronted with that question, I find myself ill prepared and I end up stumbling and rambling and naming at least one picture that I haven’t even seen. But no more! Today, I start the official Writerman “Top 10 Project” – where I put down my favorite movies right here on the Internet for all to see. Of course, I reserve the right to flip-flop¹, change my mind, edit or revise this and any other Top 10 lists anytime I please. That’s what makes it a “project.”

So, without further preamble, here it is: the inaugural list of the Writerman Top 10 Project.

My Top 10 Favorite Movies of All Time

In alphabetical order²

• Bull Durham
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Finding Nemo
• Goodfellas
• Pulp Fiction
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Rushmore
• Stand by Me
• Star Wars³
• The Princess Bride

1. In fact, after reading the list over, I’ll probably change it tomorrow. I mean, not a single Coen brothers, Hitchcock or Bogart movie? What jackass made this list? [↩]
2. Picking 10 was hard enough, surely I can’t be expected to rank them. [↩]
3. If you have to ask which one, we can never be friends. [↩]