WARNING! WARNING! HUGE FILM FAN LIST FOLLOWS!

I love reading these sorts of lists, because people always mention films I haven't thought of. So, in the service of possibly stirring interest in some great films, here is a rather long list of faves roughly organized by genres. If you are interested in them, just go to the Internet Movie Database and type in the title.

Without further ado:

Let's start with films with a musical bent, and no I'm not talking Dylan's very bad films OR Songcatcher!

For me, the musical comedy films have to be a toss up between Blues Brothers, A Hard Day's Night, and This Is Spinal Tap. I could never pick just one of them.

For musicals/music films: Moulin Rouge, The Magic Flute, Cabaret, Victor/Victoria, all the Busby Berkely musicals, Cradle Will Rock, Django Reinhardt, Buena Vista Social Club, Gimme Shelter, Monterey Pop, Sweet Dreams (Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline), Bamboozled, Calle 54.

For utterly charming, I'll second Amelie and raise you Mostly Martha, Chocolat, Eat Drink Man Woman, Like Water for Chocolate, The Big Night, Il Postino, Waking Ned Devine, Moonstruck, and Monsoon Wedding.

Add to those, my long list of fave dramatic films: All About My Mother, the Horton Foote films mentioned above, Julia, Butterfly (La Lengua de las Mariposas), Apocalypse Now, Sophie's Choice, Dancer in the Dark, Badlands, Days of Wine and Roses, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Z, Little Voice, Red, Blue (from the trilogy, didn't much care for White though), On the Waterfront, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Brazil, Streetcar Named Desire, The Hustler, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Do the Right Thing, Crying Game--all films I place in the "extraordinary" category.

Family films & adult animated films: Hook, Pirates of the Caribbean, Willow, Princess Bride, Secret of Nimh, Sounder, the very best but rarely heard of Disney film The Skeleton Dance, Wizard of Oz, Goonies, Muppets Take Manhattan, Muppets Christmas Carol, Never Ending Story, Secret Garden, Little Women (1994), Betty Boop & Krazy Kat (the animated films from the 30s), Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, A Christmas Story, Beetlejuice, Mystery Science Theatre (OK, so it was TV B-monster movies!), A League of Their Own, Meet Me in St. Louis, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, Journey of Natty Gann (check out a baby John Cusack in it!), White Fang, Fritz the Cat, Addams Family Values, Into the West, Secret of Roan Inish, Shelley Duvall's Fairie Tale Theatre (all of them!), and my most favorite animated film in decades, Triplets of Belleville.

Comedies: Annie Hall, all the Marx Bros films, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Dr. Strangelove, Some Like it Hot, Young Frankenstein, Ghostbusters, Manhattan, Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, Earth Girls are Easy, Local Hero, Fargo, Big Lebowski, Hairspray, Cecil B. Demented, Pecker (my fave John Waters),Alice's Restaurant, Adaptation, Grosse Point Blank, Citizen Ruth, The Player, Brewster McCloud, MASH, Catch 22, The Big Bus (an Airplane disaster flick parody about the first nuclear powered bus with an onboard bowling alley, cannibalism, and with an all star cast to boot), The Ritz, A Shot in the Dark & the Pink Panther films...

Sweeping Epics: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Dances With Wolves, Out of Africa, Rebecca, Bound for Glory, Zefferli's Romeo & Juliet, Elizabeth, All Quiet on the Western Front (Lew Ayres one), Hedd Wynn, Doctor Zhivago, The English Patient, The Fisher King, French Lieutenant's Woman, Deer Hunter, Julia (even though I've already mentioned it, it is still one of my all time faves), Matewan, Murder on the Orient Express, Gosford Park, All the President's Men, Belle et La Bete (Beauty and the Beast by Cocteau), Clockwork Orange, Grapes of Wrath, Wuthering Heights (new one with Juliette Binoche).

Action/thriller/guy flicks: Cool Hand Luke, Great Escape, Star Wars (original), The Fugitive, Bullitt, Cape Fear (Robert Mitchum/Gregory Peck one), Rebel Without A Cause, East of Eden, Wild Bunch, Blue Velvet, Blade Runner, Marathon Man, LA Confidential, El Mariachi, The Mexican, Blood Simple, Apollo 13, 12 Monkeys, Snatch, Glory, Kelly's Heroes, Perfect Storm, Dog Day Afternoon, The Grifters, Mean Streets, Eight Men Out, Rocky (the original ONLY!), The Maltese Falcon, Platoon, Jackie Brown (or should this one be under chick flicks?), Training Day, Fight Club, 25th Hour, Clockers, Naked Lunch.

Chick flicks: The Hours (for Nicole Kidman fans), Mrs. Dalloway (for Vanessa Redgrave fans), Boy's Don't Cry, Music Box, Baghdad Cafe/Out of Rosenheim, Passion Fish, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Delta of Venus, Henry & June, Women in Love, Gas Food Lodging, Bastard Out of Carolina, The Dead, Kama Sutra A Tale of Love, Hiroshima Mon Amour, A Woman Under the Influence, Daughters of the Dust, The Ballad of Little Jo, Go Fish, Ruby in Paradise, When Night is Falling, Raise the Red Lantern, I Shot Andy Warhol, Watermelon Woman, Xiu Xiu the Sent Down Girl, Hilary & Jackie, The Tango Lesson, Mansfield Park.

Horror flicks: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (the original), The Haunting, The Shining, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Frankenstein (original), Vertigo, The Birds, Carrie, Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton), Phantom of the Opera (Lon Chaney), Fritz Lang's M, Nosferatu the Vampire. The Fall of the House of Usher (French, 1928), The Company of Wolves, Blair Witch Project.

Documentaries: Harvest of Shame, Harlan County USA, Blue Eyed/Eye of the Storm, Woodstock, American Dream (every bit as compelling as Harlan County), Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine, Hospital, Capturing the Friedmans, Four Little Girls, Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie, Hearts and Minds, The Fog of War, Crumb, Hoop Dreams, Long Night's Journey Into Day, The Thin Blue Line.