My 24th to 26th Favorite Motion Pictures

26. The Iron Giant (1999)
Here's one of only two animated films on my list. This film (directed by Brad Bird, who later went on to direct The Incredibles) shows that cartoons need not be relegated to the dustbin of history, as Disney noew seems to think. But besides the cool, colorful animation, this animated tale goes one step futher than all those princess-falls-in-love pieces of crap by actually telling an intriguing, relevant story. There was suspense, excitement, romance, action and mystery - and this is a kid's movie! The big mystery, actually, kept me guessing right up until the climax. And the denouement is just about the most perfect ending I've ever seen in any film, animated or not. If I only ever buy my son one animated movie ever, this will be it.
Why not rate it higher? Some of the dialogue was unfortunately trite, and the film seems to wander a bit during the first quarter.

25. Trekkies (1999)
The final year of the 20th century was a good one for motion pictures (see #26, above and #42, below). The best documentary of that year, and one of the best documentries of all-time is Trekkies. What I loved most about this documentary was how unexpected it was. I assumed this would be just a light-hearted romp through the lives of people who were way more interested in Star Trek than is healthy. But instead, it was a poingiant, insightful, meaningful look at how Star Trek has shaped the lives' of its fans and how they deal with an often non-understanding society. Especially touching was the story of the handicapped man who wrote to Gene Roddenberry thanking him for helping him forget he was confined to a wheelchair and, conversely, the man who purposely confines himself to a wheelchair (similar to Captain Pike's) just so he can identify more fully with that character. Oh, and it's good fun too - if my dentist office actually looked like the Enterprise (like the one detailed in this documentary), I would actually make an appointment.
Why not rate it higher? Because a couple of the stories are uninteresting and/or too much time is spent on them.

24. The Birds (1963)
This episodic neo-noir thriller is, at the same time, both a continuation of what Hitchcock was creating at the time and something completely original. The action/suspense/stroyline continue to rise and fall every twenty minutes or so as if it is a series of short films rather than one long one. The characters are bizarre, the birds' attacks are horrific and the soundtrack...well, it's not there. Coming from the same person who directed Vertigo, Psycho and Rebecca, it's hard to believe there no music here, but there isn't. And that makes the film that much more frightening - the birds themselves furnish the 'music'. Another quirk I really like: the story doesn't really end, we just see our heroes driving off for what they think will be a safe spot, but which the radio voice-over tells us is not. The words "The End" do not appear on screen.
Why not rate it higher? That's easy. The first half hour or so is spent setting up the characters, but it's annoyingly slow. And Tippi Hedren isn't exactly the best actress I've ever seen.