Changing your life, going to grad school, entrepreneurism, and all-time favorite movies are the topics this week. I’ve got a new partner, Ben Atkinson, a former student of mine from over ten years ago. After a stint as a molecular biologist, Ben went back to school for an MBA in Marketing & Entrepreneurship from Indiana University. He also started his own web company, Night Phoenix Enterprises, which hosts this site.
Ben and I discuss the movies briefly and arrived on a list of four for you to vote on. Vote on the movie you’d like to hear us discuss. We’ll let you know the results of the poll just in case you want to watch and weigh in with your thoughts too. The poll is in the right sidebar–>
Ben and I each choose our Top 5 Favorite Movies:
Ben:
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Jurassic Park
- Back to the Future
- The Life Aquatic
- Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
photo from mashable.com
Torg:
- Say Anything
- Wonderbodys
- American Beauty
- Secret Window
- High Fidelity
“You Stole My Story!”
from rottentomatoes .com
To close the show, Ben and I each gave some shout outs to culture we have been enjoying.
- Ben is excited about the IMAX re-release of Raiders of the Lost Ark and that AMC Theaters will screen all four Indiana Jones movies in one day.
- I recommended a book I’ve just started reading: The Hollywood Economist by Edward Jay Epstein. Here’s an eye-popping statistic: “In 1948, 65 percent of the population went to a movie house in an average week; in 2008, under 6 percent of the population went to see a movie in an average week.” (p. 41). I first learned about this book on Horace Dediu’s podcast ASYMCO.
Ben and I hope you’ll comment/criticize our movie choices and tell us about your own All-Time Top 5 Movies. I feel like revising my choices already.
Until then, in the words of Bill and Ted…
“Be Excellent to Each Other”
//
Bill Torgerson 
16 responses to “My Top 5 Movies, Ben’s, and a Request for You to Vote”
Where’s Tommy Boy and Tombstone? But I’ll vote for Back to the Future. Another one of my favorites.
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Tombstone is very good and for some reason, makes me think of another of my favorites, No Country For Old Men. Also, a great book.
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Well, obviously these are lists of movies ‘for guys that love movies’ 😉 I find it so hard to select even a handful of favorites, because I feel there are SO many! I love Back To The Future, but ‘Say Anything’ has my vote!
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Ben and I have to figure out how to bring in everyone’s thoughts before a poll goes up so that it reflects the community’s passions. Tricky!
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As we continue to refine the format maybe we can use the discussion to focus in on specific areas or genres of movies and have everyone submit their own lists for us to base the poll on.
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I have seen all movies on the lists except Wonderbodys and Bill and Ted’s. Picks are probably more in line with Ben, and his mention of The Life Aquatic puts it over the top.
1) The Life Aquatic
2) Meet the Parents
3)Dark Knight Rises
I can’t add any more concrete picks to this list. Other considerations are Ace Ventura, Rambo, Pirates of the Carribean, The Patriot, The Rock, and Zoolander. I am well aware these are not exactly “smart” respected movies.
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LOL. We don’t always have to be “smart,” do we? Or, it’s a different kind of smart. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
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Boys, It’s nearly impossible to narrow down to a Top 25, let alone a Top 5. I’m impressed you are willing to commit to such a definite list, although I must say that neither of your sets of results surprise me. I could have guessed “anything Spielberg” for Ben and “anything starring John Cusack” for Torg…easy! Me predicting such just shows how outwardly passionate you are about them, I guess.
Okay, so here is what I have come up with:
1) Amelie
2) Super Troopers
3) The Royal Tenenbaums/The Life Aquatic
4) Anchorman/Old School
5) Mary Poppins/Pete’s Dragon
Even though it’s not quite evident judging by my list, being the child at heart that I am, I do also tend to lean towards movies that star pre-pubescent kids, i.e. Heavyweights, Goonies, The Sandlot, Mighty Ducks, Little Rascals…you know, ones where you are rooting for the underdog! Also it’s sad, but true that I just flat-out like movies where animals, babies, insects, etc. are anthropomorphic.
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Okay, lady. 🙂 You have me thinking about all my favorite movies but how they would be if John Cusack was cast in the lead.
I guess I need to see this The Life Aquatic. My wife Megan and I were reflecting that we don’t know how we kept Old School and/or Wedding Crashers off our lists. She would agree with you on Poppins. They watch a bunch of old movies I’d never heard of. For example, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. You know that one?
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Stacie are you going to see ParaNorman? I am really excited for it because it reminds me of those classic 80s movies!
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Really no John Hughes? Nothing defined growing up in the 80’s more then his movies! Stop the remote anytime they’re on tv
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Kristin, you’re right! Okay, my short list of Hughes films, possibly in order of importance to me:
Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink
Pretty in Pink gave me the Psychedelic Furs and so that bumps it up a couple of spots. And I’ve not listed Trains, Plains, and Automobiles or Ferris Bueller? Let me have it.
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My current top five movies are:
A Night at the Opera
L’Age D’Or
Dazed and Confused
Trafic (Jacques Tati)
Rear Window
As this page seems to be pretty focused on teen movies, I’m also offering the list of my top five teen movies:
Clueless
Dazed and Confused
Valley Girl
American Pie
Pretty in Pink / Wayne’s World (not sure if the latter quite belongs here)
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Thanks Lesley. Nice to have some new ones that nobody has brought up!
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My top five:
O Brother, Where Are Thou?
Finding Nemo
Bringing up Baby
Midnight in Paris
Hello Dolly! (can’t help it – sentimental reasons)
Fun topic!
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Thanks Carla! I checked Midnight in Paris out from the library the other day and didn’t make it to watching. Durn it!
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