Dale Ahlquist
Society of G.K. Chesterton
Christopher Check
Catholic Answers
William Fahey
Thomas More College
Daniel Kerr
St. Martin's Academy
Joseph Pearce
St. Austin Review
Dale Ahlquist's Top Movie Picks
1. Children of Men (masterpiece of filmmaking, profound and prophetic story
2. Groundhog Day (how to explain Purgatory to a Protestant)
3. Gladiator (bringing classical back)
4. Mary Poppins (As my son Julian has shown, it is about the Blessed Virgin Mary)
5. Wizard of Oz (timeless, ageless)
6. Dr. Strangelove (the epitome of dark humor and acid commentary on the Cold War)
7. Apollo 13 (How can a movie, where you know how it’s going to end, keep you at the edge of your seat the entire time, even when you rewatch it?)
8. It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra is G.K. Chesterton)
9. Jaws (Sorry, it’s a perfect movie, and there’s no getting around it)
10. And if I were to choose a different food movie than Babette’s Feast, it would be Ratatouille, hands down.
Christopher Check
1. The Man Who Would be King (The best movie ever made)
2. Breaker Morant (The best courtroom drama ever made)
3. True Grit (The best western ever made)
4. Breaking Away (The best coming-of-age movie ever made)
5. Out of the Past (The best film noir ever made)
6. Sullivan’s Travels (The best Preston Sturges movie ever made)
7. The Informer (The best John Ford movie ever made)
8. A Face in the Crowd (The best movie about the power of celebrity ever made — Elia Kazan and better than On the Waterfront)
9. The 39 Steps (The best Hitchcock movie ever made and also the best love scene ever made)
10. Big Night (The best movie about food ever made)
William Fahey (Stretching the Idea of Ten)
1. Movies with an eastern detective: Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939) and Thank you, Mr. Moto (1937)
2. Movies about growing up under the influence of a noble scoundrel: Treasure Island (1950) and True Grit (2010)
3. Movies for those who think they understand falling in love: I Know Where I’m Going (1945) and The Quiet Man (1952)
4. Movies about the price of leadership: 12 O’Clock High (1949) and High Noon (1952)
5. Movies which are rollicking: The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 only) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1939)
6. Movies which are called comedies but are in fact satire: Duck Soup (1933) and The Court Jester (1955)
7. Movies about the burden and strength of solitude: The Browning Version (1951 only) and Lawrence of Arabia (1960)
8. Movies about treachery, plots, and spies: The 39 Steps (1935) and Went the Day Well (1942)
9. Movies about empire building—which are really about more important things: Gunga Din (1939) and Breaker Morant (1980)
10. Movies about the beautiful future that technology will give us: Blade Runner (1982) and The Matrix (1999)
11. Movies about Loss and Redemption: Ben Hur (1959) and Manchester by the Sea (2016)
12. Movies about aging with dignity and the dignity of age: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and The Queen (2006)
THE Best Movie: In the end, I must speak of one and it is the stand alone only one that wins in all categories and rest unassailable in place of the highest achievement in western civilization as depicted in film: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Year of Fahey’s Secret Pleasures: Gold Finger (1964), Dr. Strangelove (1964), and A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Daniel Kerr
1. Old Yeller (My favorite movie)
2. The Sting (My favorite crime caper)
3. Last of the Mohicans — Michael Mann (My favorite epic)
4. Watership Down (My favorite animated movie)
5. The Mission (My favorite soundtrack/movie combo)
6. Babette's Feast (My favorite foreign film)
7. Witness for the Prosecution (My favorite courtroom drama)
8. Jeremiah Johnson (My favorite move on rugged individualism)
9. Lonesome Dove (My favorite western)
10. Die Hard (My favorite Hollywood action flick)
Joseph Pearce
Joseph Pearce's Top Ten
1. The Death of Stalin (Darkly satirical exposé of Soviet communist corruption. Course and crude in places but very funny!)
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (The original silent classic from the 1920s. This should be watched as an antidote to the recent Joan of Arc film, which turns Joan into a heretic and the Church into the villain. It should also be watched with Richard Einhorn's wonderful score.)
3. Father Brown (Sir Alec Guinness as Father Brown. Charming and delightful.)
4. Pride and Prejudice (The version with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy)
5. The Lord of the Rings (Jackson's version. Flawed but spectacular and brilliant in places.)
6. Fisherman's Friends (My favourite "western", which is set in contemporary Cornwall and celebrates small town rural life and cultural roots. A few cringeable moments but not enough to spoil it.)
7. Hot Fuzz (An outrageously quirky spoof on The Wicker Man)
8. Babette's Feast (For all the reasons Dale enumerated and more)
9. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (I re-watched this recently and was surprised at how funny I still found it. Irreverent. Iconoclastic. Anarchic. But very funny!)
10. The Passion of the Christ (The nearest the film medium has come to making a moving icon. The scourging is over the top and, me judice, unwatchable but the rest is marvelous.)