1. Coming to America- This will always be my all-time favorite movie. This is the first Rated R movie me and my sister was allowed to watch. It was so good, when we got to the end, we rewound it and watched it all over again. Prince Hakeem, Semi, King Jafe Jofer, Lisa McDowell, Darryl, Soul Glo, the barber shop crew, etc etc. This movie got really got me onto Eddie Murphy and displayed his extreme comedic and acting talents, solitifying his place as my all-time favorite comedian/actor (that's another list for another time).
3. I'm Gonna Git You Sucka- Like Coming To America, this movie was among my early welcomes into Rated R movies. I still crack up when I see this movie. Before In Living Colour, Keenan Ivory Wayans blessed us with this cult classic comedy which only a mind like his could offer. They don't speak much about this movie now but in terms of comedic performances, this should be an all-timer.
8.Ace Ventura- Jim Carrey bursted out after In Living Colour with this one. I used to imitate Ace all the time in school and considered him to be my long lost uncle for a while (I know that's dorky but whatever). They did a sequel to this movie but the sequel was not nearly as good as the 1st (plus, it was sort of ignorant and could possibly offend african-americans that see it as a stereotype).
4. Malcolm X- For those of 'us' who understood what this movie was about, this should be on all of our top 10 lists. Spike Lee has a way of entertaining us and educating us at the same time. No matter the length of this movie, it's enjoyable and intriguing from beginning to end. And Denzel's depiction of Malcolm should have won him an Oscar long before Training Day. I understand the academy would not have given him one for his portrayal of someone who they were scared of anyway, so we'll give them a pass on that one. I still see Denzel saying, "we didn't land on Plymouth rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us." Damnit Denzel, it sure did. LOL.
2. The Last Dragon- Up until I saw Coming To America, this was my favorite all-time movie growing up. Bruce Leroy made every young, black kid want to learn the martial arts. We would all kid around in the playground and 'shadow fight' to try to imitate what Leroy gave us. And, of course, who could deny "Sho Nuff" (God rest his soul). Every young boy watching that movie had to have a crush on Laura Charles (and if you didn't, check your.....you know). The movie, the music, it was all good with me, and still is. They are supposed to be doing a remake soon, but I doubt it will live up to anything the original did, at least for me (but I'm pretty sure i'm not alone). "Am I the meanest, am I the prettiest, am I the baddest mo' fo' down around this town...I can't hear you."
10.Anchorman- Ha ha ha, i'm laughing just thinking of this movie making my top 10, but it has. This is a recent addition to the list but I could not deny Will Ferrell. The comedy is more simple than anything but I can't get enough. This is one I recite the lines to at work (with my crazy co-worker Mike) all the time. It is one of those movies that may not be for everybody but for those who dig it really, really like it. Stay classy San Diego!!
6. The Temptations- If you're a Tempts fan (or I should say, if you're 'colored') and don't like this movie go shoot yourselves now. I can spit this movie verbatim. Most of us may have known at least most of the Temptations story but this movie depicted it in a way that you feel like you didn't know the half. As triumphant as the Temptations story is, it is a sad one as well. So much can happen to a music group and it is so hard to keep a group together (egos, drugs, money, etc). But the tragic ending of the original members' lives go far beyond the group. God bless Otis Williams for his life and keeping the tradition alive (as well as Dennis Edwards with his own version of the Temptations). Now, no matter how much Otis and Dennis, respectively, continue to carry on the Temptations name, there will never be a group like the originals (and the 2nd & 3rd tiers). My mom continues to support the new Otis Temptations, but I can't do it. It will never come close, no matter what they do now. I will stick with the memories of the golden oldies.
9. Forrest Gump- Yes, "stupid is as stupid does", but Tom Hanks showed his genius at work. A lot of people don't realize that Hanks came into the business as a comedian, but has since well diversified his acting talents. I can still watch this movie over and over again. It is probably one of the most imitated movies of all time, to boot. The sadness of it, the joy of it, it could even be an inspiration if you looked at it that way. I will always love Jenny, Leiutenant Dan, Mama, and, of course, Bubba.
5. The Exorcist- The best scary movie of ALL TIME. None of today's movies comes close, and none after it can beat it. My parents told me that when this one came out, people were literally running out of the movie theaters, crying, screaming. They had never seen anything like it. It set a trend for movies to come. Now, it does take a while to get to the plot, the meat of the movie. But, just be patient, it will come, trust me. Don't be a punk though, turn out the lights. When that spirit enters her body, it's on!! There have been many movies on 'possession' after the Exorcist but, again, nothing can beat the original to me.
7. Harlem Nights- This had to make the cut. To be able to get the ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY together before they left us, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Redd Foxx, was classic in itself. (screw what you heard about the 2000 version, these are the ORIGINALS and that is the end of that argument, period). This was a mixture of a ganster movie and, of course, the comedic talents of the legends put together. Also, the likes of the late Ricky Harris, Dela Reese (who was hilarious also- "oh, so now you want to shoot me in my pinky toe"), Jasmine Guy, Charlie Murphy (yes, pay attention, Charlie Murphy was in a couple of Eddie's earlier movies), the list goes on. My favorite part in the movie came from my man Arsenio Hall though. I felll out at his part just a couple of days ago like I had never seen it before. He only has a guest appearance in the movie but it's not how much you get, it's what you do with it. And I felt Arsenio certainly left his mark on this one.
*Now, notice there are numbers next to each selection. After drafting the list and looking it over, I realized that I actually could rank each movie. Unfortunately, I cannot copy and paste the selections, for some reason, to allocate them in order according to their ranking. So bare with the selections and their numbers.*
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