Saving Private Ryan - Only the first twenty minutes are good. The rest is quite boring.

War of the Worlds - for me it was like JP, cool to watch because of the special effects and not much else...

JP almost made my list. Actually, putting JP instead of Hook in would probably me more accurate, but the shock factor of Hook was too much fun to pass up.

But then, I was in Jr. High and hadn't read the book. It was also the first time I'd hung around after school and went to a movie instead of taking the bus home (with permission, it would still be quite a while before I'd make an, err, unplanned change of schedule.), so I'm a little biased.

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Jaws (at times, I can switch either of the top two)
3. Schindlers List
4. E.T.
5. Saving Private Ryan

1- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
2- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
3- Jaws (1975)
4- Always (1989)
5- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

That's ok ... for the last 30 years, no one has.

If I had to judge 'em by how many times I've gone back to 'em:

- Raiders
- Jaws
- 1941
- Temple of Doom
- CE3K

I really enjoyed Minority Report and A.I. (we'll have to discuss that one LSPE), and respected Schindler's List, Private Ryan, Munich and Empire of the Sun.... but none of those come close to my top 5 in replays.

You heard me right, 1941.

Oh no. Jeepers H. Crackers. Here comes the sermon!
:D

If were going by what was great at the time it came out then I would say

Close Encounters
Jaws
Raiders of the lost ark
ET
1941

I have to confess though I've never seen Schindlers List or Munich and am not sure if I've seen Empire.

Yes, that hand-to-hand fight to the death between the Jewish soldier and Steamboat Willie: wake me when it's over.

I never found Private Ryan boring, but it did meander from its theme. When they get their mission, it starts out as "Is it worth great cost to save one of your own?" (Maybe.) After they find Ryan, it morphs into "Is it worth great cost to spare one of your enemy?" (No. See, Munich.) In between, there was a bunch of generic battle stuff that didn't seem especially relevant to either theme, except perhaps to play up the difference between anonymous killing and personal killing.

And no self-respecting movie should end with a shot of the American flag waving.

According to the Saving Private Ryan Online Encyclopedia, Steamboat Willie only kills Captain Miller. He is not the soldier who kills Private Mellish. The two soldiers simply look alike. I'm not sure about that.

You can tell it's a sluggish morning.