Yeah, I've been on a big movie kick for a while now and the truth is I prefer a movie or book these days to reading the paper.

You got me with the film thing so I thought I'd comment on some of them.

20. The Passenger by Michelangelo Antonioni: Yeah, I really like this film though I do not recommend anybody watch that clip unless you've seen the film because that's the end of the damn movie. This one is in my DVD collection. Watch this and Blow Up as an Antonioni double feature.

19. Rope by Alfred Hitchcock: Funny thing about Hitchcock for me is it took me a while to really get into his films, they always seemed so stylized to me. When I was younger I didn't really like his stuff but now I'm pretty crazy about it. I don't think Rope is his best film but it has a tiny movie moment in it I really love, that swinging door bit is fantastic and draws the person watching in so quickly and so deeply because we can't wait to catch another glimpse of what he is doing in there! Roman Polanski took that to heart and did some really cool stuff with that idea. Watch Rosemary's Baby and the way Polanski has the camera creep around the apartments so we can't quite see what's going on beyond a door frame. Sometimes we'll see a puff of smoke from somebody smoking or Ruth Gordon's legs while she's on the phone or we'll hear what's going on beyond an open door but can't see the action.

18. The Shining by Stanley Kubrick: I've read and reread Stanley Kubrick's script for his Napoleon film and I have to say I'm really sorry he never made it. I really would have loved to have seen what he did with that. The Shining is certainly not Kubrick's best film but I think it's one of the best horror films ever made. One of the big problems people always had with this, and I can see why, is that the idea of the story is that Jack Torrance is supposed to slowly go insane but Jack Nicholson just seems totally batshit from the word go so there is no great transformation that takes place in his character. Another popular complaint I hear is that people feel Shelly Duvall is so goddamned annoying as Wendy they are sympathetic with Jack for wanting to kill her. Still, this is a pretty fun film just for how weird it is and I think a big improvement on Mr. King's book.

17. The Mirror by Andrei Tarkovsky: Well, Tarkovsky is hands down one of my all time favorite filmmakers and if you have not seen any of his films I think you have missed some of the best films ever made. He's not for everyone as his films have their own rhythms and pacing (some folks think it's like watching paint dry) and are very poetic and philosophical. So I recommend you watch them alone because that allows you to focus on them and not have somebody sitting there saying "This could very well be the most boring thing I've ever seen." I've posted clips here from The Mirror before and all of his films are beautiful to look at so if you have a couple hours alone and want to watch something really mind blowing...this is your guy.

16. Bonfire of the Vanities by Brian DePalma: DePalma is another guy I did not really like at first because like Hitchcock (the guy he most often seems to be nodding to) his films are very stylized. I like this film, even though it has made a lot of "worst film ever" lists. I think it's a good story and it is told fairly well if a bit heavy handed but I've never really found DePalma to be subtle.

14. Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino: Was not a huge fan of the first Kill Bill film and I liked the second one more. Basically, this seems to be the point where Quentin's films all become elaborate revenge films. Was I the only one that was not quite sure what to make of Inglorious Basterds? He is the king of the B-movie...ah, or maybe Z-movie.

11. Boogie Nights by Paul Thomas Anderson: This is a fun film that seems to be both a tribute to 70s porn and Martin Scorsese.

10. The Player by Robert Altman: Ok, so I love Robert Altman films but I've never liked this one. Hell, I think his Quintet (thought by some to be his worst film) is genius compared to this. I don't know it just did not work for me and I've watched it twice thinking maybe I just missed something the first time. See MASH, Nashville, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye (love this one!), or Buffalo Bill and the Indians or just any damn Altman film other than this. Short Cuts or Vincent and Theo are also great films made just before and after he did The Player.

9. Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson: This was one of the best films of the 1990's as far as I'm concerned. I still think it's Anderson's best film with There Will Be Blood a close second. By the way, Anderson is supposedly working on a film that is a thinly veiled take on L. Ron Hubbard with Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing the Hubbard character called "The Master"...I don't know about anybody else but I can't wait to see this if he manages to make it. I wonder what Tom Cruise, who I thought was great in Magnolia, will think of this.

7. Carlito's Way by Brian DePalma: I thought this film was pretty bad except for Sean Penn's performance. Seems kind of lousy to me that one of his best performances is in this heap of crap but the problem with Penn, at least to me, is he is usually always better than the movie he is in. I can understand why he would say he'd rather just direct.

4. Children of Men by Alfonso Cuaron: I've only seen this once and I found it so depressing I did not have any interest in revisiting it. Maybe that was the point of this film.

2. Touch of Evil by Orson Welles: Great film and I find it hard to believe this was not number one on this list. Cool too that David's old studio in Venice was one of the locations used in this film!

1. Goodfellas by Martin Scorsese: I don't think anybody can worship gangsters the way Martin Scorsese worships gangsters. A strange quality as a human being but he has put it to fine use.