Classic Ten


Sure, you could go out and buy a trendy costume based on the most popular movie in theaters -- though Max costumes from Where the Wild Things Are sold out before the pic was even released. Luckily, there's no shortage of ideas at the movies: Screenwriters love to use Halloween as a way of making their characters look extra ridiculous. (Or unrecognizable. Or just plain scary.) Read on for a list of the top ten movie meta-costumes worthy of copycatting this Halloween.

10. E.T. in E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
A ghost costume is like the muumuu of Halloween costumes -- it covers up a whole host of ills, including, in some cases, the fact that you're an alien. Still, while the ghost look was subtle and useful, E.T. really should have considered his "Gertie's closet" ensemble as an alternative. Positive points for functionality balancing out negative points for creativity equal out to the bottom spot on this list.

9. Dani (Thora Birch) in Hocus Pocus (1993)
At first you might not think Dani's witch costume is all that, but take a closer look at the way the movie's actual witches are dressed and you'll see that she's nailed it! Even better, it provides excellent cover when blending with trick-or-treaters on the street in order to avoid capture. For the ability to channel her inner mismatched-hag, Dani takes ninth place.
Continue reading "Classic Ten - Movie Characters in All Their Halloween Costumed Glory" »
Posted by Ashley Shaw
October 28, 2009 12:01am
Filed under: Classic Ten, Themed Movie Lists
Tags: donnie darko, e.t.: the extra terrestrial, halloween, hocus pocus, mean girls, mr. mom, the addams family, the karate kid, trick 'r treat, yes man

In horror movies, people have come to expect the bad guy to return from the dead. It's pretty much a given -- especially in this era of infinite sequels -- that Freddy will somehow find his way back. However, rising from the dead isn't always just for cheap scares. These are ten movies in which a character you think is gone and forgotten shows up to exact one last scene of awesomeness.

10. The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Schwarzenegger's Terminator is truly the gift that keeps on giving. You can crush him, disassemble him, melt him -- and he just keeps coming back. Unfortunately for Sarah Connor in Terminator 2, his return is an unwelcome surprise. Sure, everybody knows now "he'll be back," but that initial shocker keeps him on the list at number ten.

9. Mr. Boddy (Tim Curry), Clue (1985)
It's only fitting that a character named Mr. Boddy should end up as the first dead body in Clue. While all the other victims manage to stay dead, in a shocking reveal at the end of the movie, it's revealed that Mr. Boddy was never actually a corpse -- the man everyone thought was Mr. Boddy was really Mr. Boddy's butler. His butler! This technicality keeps him low on the list, but still kicking at number nine.
Continue reading "Classic Ten - They Came Back From the Dead" »
Posted by Ashley Shaw
October 21, 2009 12:01am
Filed under: Classic Ten
Tags: and then there were none, clue, e.t.: the extra terrestrial, evil dead 2, star trek iii: the search for spock, terminator 2: judgment day, the empire strikes back, the lord of the rings: the two towers, the mummy returns, x-men: the last stand

Even in the modern age, doctors are revered for their god-like powers to save human lives. If your doctor tells you to take two pills and call him in the morning, you unquestioningly do just that because, well, he made it through four years of fancy-pants medical school and you didn't. Enter Hollywood, which has no problem up-ending our blind faith in medicine and its practitioners by supplying us with an endless stream of board-certified kooks -- like the ones messing with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau in Couples Therapy. Which iconic doc is most whacked-out? Read on!
10. Eddie Murphy as Dr. Dolittle in Dr. Dolittle (1998)
There's a reason everyone -- including his wife -- thinks this family physician (Eddie Murphy) is nuts: He bonks his head and the next thing you know he's giving a rat CPR, sobering up a drunk monkey, and saving a suicidal tiger. Can you imagine if you found out that's how your doctor was spending his nights? For his ridiculous hijinks, Dr. Doolittle squeaks into the bottom spot on this list.
9. Billy Crystal as Miracle Max in The Princess Bride (1987)
Without wacky Miracle Max's medical expertise, Wesley would have been left for fully dead, when in fact he was merely "mostly dead." A crucial distinction! Miracle Max's accurate diagnosis saves the swashbuckler, and proves that saving a life can sometimes have less to do with good medicine than it does with the revenge fantasies of a disgruntled former employee ("Humperdink! Humperdink! Humperdink!").
Continue reading "Classic Ten - Crazy Doctors in the Movies" »
Posted by Katy Ansite
October 14, 2009 12:01am
Filed under: Classic Ten, Themed Movie Lists
Tags: dead ringers, dr. dolittle, dr. strangelove or how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, junior, little shop of horrors, patch adams, spider-man 2, the princess bride, turistas
With her starring role in Drew Barrymore's roller-derby flick Whip It, Juno's Ellen Page follows in the wheel tracks of an illustrious bunch of actresses who have strapped on skates for a turn on the big screen. Which hot roller girls barely make the cut, and which ones skate circles around the rest? Click through to find out!
Posted by Sara Cardace
October 7, 2009 11:00am
Filed under: Classic Ten
Tags: boogie nights, flintstones in viva rock vegas, funny girl, kansas city bomber, modern times, roller boogie, skatetown u.s.a., swing shift, the last married couple in america, xanadu

Compared to testifying in court, the failure to correctly cite your favorite movie quote falls on the harmless end of the spectrum. Then again, there's nothing more fun then busting out some undermining trivia when you're in a room full of film nerds! Filmsite.org's Tim Dirks has taken the legwork out of the process by compiling a definitive list of some of the most egregious movie misquotes that have made it into the popular vernacular. Below is a list of the worst offenders, ranked in order from "Kind of understandable..." to "How could you!?"
Continue reading "Classic Ten - Misquotes From the Movies" »
Posted by AMCtv.com
September 30, 2009 12:01am
Filed under: Classic Ten
Tags: 42nd Street, all about eve, dirty harry, dracula casablanca, field of dreams, she done him wrong, snow white and the seven dwarves, star wars v: the empire strikes back, tarzan the ape man
Bruce Willis' turn as both a human and a human doppelganger in the scifi flick Surrogates places him on a long and varied continuum of actors who've tackled the onerous task of playing androids. (In this particular movie, humanity lives out their fantasies through lifelike robotic "surrogates." Apparently, Willis' fantasy involves a terrible toupee.) Many stars have tried their hands at playing androids, but not all have succeeded. Check out this salute to the top ten most believable androids in futuristic movies past and see how your favorites stack up.
Posted by Sara Cardace
September 23, 2009 8:01am
Filed under: Classic Ten
Tags: a.i.: artificial intelligence, aliens, blade runner, eve of destruction, star trek: generations, terminator 2: judgment day, the stepford wives, the terminator, transformers: revenge of the fallen, virtuosity

It's hard enough to make it in Hollywood, let alone to crawl back from the hinterlands of obscurity. All it takes is one bad movie to derail a solid career for good. But there is always the hope of forgiveness, and a lucky handful of actors have found that just as quickly as your fortunes can change, they can reverse once again for the better. And there's nothing audiences love more than the triumphant comeback of a beloved star. But who deserves the medal for greatest comeback tale of all time? Read on...
10. Jason Bateman
After a run of television success in the 80s, including Little House on the Prairie and Silver Spoons, Jason Bateman flamed out in a Teen Wolf Too blaze of glory. With the brilliant Arrested Development, his career regained its momentum and he became a regular with supporting roles alongside Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. After his performance in Juno, he shed his sidekick skin and has confidently assumed the leading man position.
9. Diane Lane
Lane was in both Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, but unfortunately chose her next moves poorly, before opting to up and leave Hollywood entirely for a few years. She made a blip on the radar with 1999's A Walk on the Moon, but it was Unfaithful, in 2002, that finally got her career back on track. She earns ninth place right before the actress who was originally offered her role in The Outsiders...
Continue reading "Classic Ten - Major Hollywood Comebacks" »
Posted by Katy Ansite
September 16, 2009 12:01am
Filed under: Classic Ten, Themed Movie Lists
Tags: diane lane, drew barrymore, hilary swank, jason bateman, jennifer connelly, john travolta, marlon brando, mickey rourke, robert downey jr, sarah jessica parker
In the Tim Burton universe, weird is good. Weird is right. Weird works. Weird clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. And in the case of Burton's fantastical tales, it's also incredibly fun. (See his stop-motion-esque flick 9 for a perfect example.) Burton truly does weird better than just about anyone -- and that goes for his stories, his settings, and most especially, his characters. Click through for a gallery of Tim Burton's most fabulous creations, ranked in order from the simply curious to the most fantastical of them all.
Posted by Sara Cardace
September 9, 2009 12:01am
Filed under: Classic Ten, Photo Galleries
Tags: batman, batman begins, beetlejuice, big fish, ed wood, edward scissorhands, mars attacks, peewee's big adventure, planet of the apes, sweeney todd


The only thing that compares to a really great sequel is a prequel that gives delicious insight into the characters you've grown to love. Of course, when prequels are bad, they're really bad -- Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, anyone? -- but in the best examples, these movies turn back the clock to forecast the fate of our heroes, and we fall in love all over again. Which prequel qualifies as the best of all time? Read on...

10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
It's 1935, a year before Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Professor Jones is up to his usual tricks. Despite the nagging presence of a shrill Kate Capshaw, this movie cracks the top ten because it shows a side of Indy that all the other films seem to forget: He's a nice guy who takes a stand against child labor! He saves the day, of course, but this time he doesn't do it for the girl, he doesn't do it for magic artifact, and he doesn't do it to piss of his dad.
9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
In case you were curious about the dysfunctional family who made Leatherface the psychopath we first met in 1974, this prequel takes you back to the very beginning, singeing your retinas with Leatherface's terrifying birth scene. This horror flick creeps its way in at ninth place thanks to co-star R. Lee Ermey. With a father like him, little Leatherface never stood a chance at normalcy.
Continue reading "Classic Ten - Prequels That Warrant the Trip Back in Time" »
Posted by Katy Ansite
September 2, 2009 12:01am
Filed under: Classic Ten, Themed Movie Lists
Tags: batman begins, indiana jones and the temple of doom, missing in action, prequel, red dragon, star wars, terminator salvation, texas chainsaw massacre, the godfather part 2, the good the bad and the ugly, x-men origins: wolverine

Has it really been 40 years since Woodstock? The iconic hippie gathering will never be far from the mass consciousness so long as movies like the Demetri Martin comedy Taking Woodstock keep popping up every couple of years. Whatever the reason, Hollywood loves to put hippies in the movie spotlight. This list flashes the peace sign at the long-hairs, the idealists, and yes, the druggies, that have best exemplified the hippie spirit on the big screen.

10. Harvey Milk, Milk (2008)
Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) spends most of Gus Van Sant's biopic as a buttoned-up politician in late '70s San Fran, but earlier in the movie, he's a long-haired denizen of the city's gay subculture. It's only later that he pursues local politics (and better hygeine) by looking for a ways to promote change and expand social consciousness. Though his long locks don't last long, Penn squeaks onto the list for embodying the social ideals of a generation that cried out for change.

9. Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Dude's moment in the sun came during the '60s as a member of a radical anti-war group. Since then, he's been holding on to his hippie ways by smoking doobies, experiencing the occasional acid flashback, and spending a lot of time at the bowling alley. Jeff Bridges turns in a pitch-perfect performance as a hippie holdout unfazed by the passage of time and thoroughly committed to a mellow state of mind. The Dude abides at number nine. (His aspirations are low.)

8. Ron Slater, Dazed and Confused (1993)
The teens in Richard Linklater's ode to feckless youth live in 1976, but they're products of the hippie culture they grew up with. The perpetually wasted Ron Slater (Rory Cochrane) proudly advertises his favorite pastime by wearing a T-shirt displaying a huge marijuana leaf and keeping his eyes permanently at half mast. Whether he's dropping acid in a school hallway or ranting about George Washington, aliens and cults, Slater lives to tune in and turn on. "Oh, man, I'm f**cking wasted" is his mantra.
Continue reading "Classic Ten - Iconic Hollywood Hippies" »
Posted by Matthew Klein
August 26, 2009 12:01am
Filed under: Classic Ten, Themed Movie Lists
Tags: almost famous, bette midler, dazed and confused, easy rider, fear and loathing in las vegas, forrest gump, hair, jeff bridges, kate hudson, meg ryan, milk, peter fonda, sean penn, the big lebowski, the doors, the rose, woodstock