After recently seeing again a couple of these below, I've been trying to think of what exactly is my favorite movie...here are the 5 contenders...
The Iron Giant
It has been a long time since I've seen this but we recently watched it again one rainy afternoon, it is just so great on so many levels. The animation is top shelf, the story is wonderful and the end couple of scenes are fantastic.
The Empire Strikes Back
I remember distinctly sitting in my hometown movie theater as a 5 year old boy with my mouth dropped open the entire time. AT-AT's, Yoda, Lando, Hoth, the Lightsaber Duel, Vader...I cried like a 5 year old should when Han got frozen. My friends and I talked about this movie and how it would all turn out for years. I got the Falcon for my birthday in 81, probably the best present I ever got. It probably was my favorite movie for a long ass time but it no longer holds the throne. Star Wars burn out, prequels revisionism, EU etc etc etc have sort of dimmed the star a little. My boys and I have watched I, II and IV...we'll see what they think of V. The other films are right up there but Empire trumps them all and always will
Fight Club
I will maintain Fight Club was one of the worst marketing efforts of all time. Having Brad Pitt in every commercial say "I want you to hit me as hard as you can" over and over became a joke and there was no way I was going to ever see it. That being said, when I finally did see it, not knowing any of Chuck Palahniuk's book are plot I was absolutely blown away. It is a great "guy" film and one I watch whenever I see it on cable.
Caddyshack
Anyone who plays golf regulary knows pretty much every line in this flick. It is that classic and I can laugh almost every single time I see it...
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial
Me and my boys watched this about a month ago and I just love absolutely everything about it...to me, the all time best scene in movies is the last good-bye between Elliott and E.T. I tear up each and every time it happens, Williams score blazing in the background. It is both kid friendly and adult and to me, it has totally changed from my childhood to adulthood and the themes and story are different. I remember being Elliott, the little kid with Star Wars figures and a brother and sister with a semi disfunctional family who escaped to the back yard woods and dreamed of fighting Russians, finding pirate treasure and meeting aliens. I played that out over and over again...it is probably why I like Iron Giant so much as well because it is basically the same story with a Robot instead of an alien. It took my personal top spot at the rerelease in 2002, it is just perfect
It is really, really hard to not have the LOTR trilogy and Indy on here but I just can't find a spot