MY TOP FILMS: PANLALAKE

If you ask me what's the difference between a guy flick from any other action or sports movies? There really is none. I just listed this down, because these are films that I noticed most if not all of my guy friends appreciated or liked very much.

I didn't put the Godfather series here because this is automatically a given (and honestly I haven't really the first two). Scarface would've been on this list, but I decided to take it out because I liked Black Hawk Down much better. And no, as much as I liked Steven Segal's 80's/early 90's stuff, you're not going to see one of his films here.

This is a mixed bag. As you can see I mixed a lot of genres in this list. There are war movies, heist films, sports movies and just the violent gangster types. Again, like I said, this is here because most of the men I know agree with me that these are very good films. From the storytelling to the execution. These are the best.

10. GLORY ROAD - I'm not much a fan of sports films, as I'm really not the sporty type. But if I'm in dire need of an inspiration, I always turn to sports movies. I love the whole underdogs winning stories. And in this film, it's all about the rise of the colored people in basketball. During the 60's basketball is a white dominated sport, and only Coach Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) believes his mostly black men lined-up team to win the NCAA finals. This is a true story by the way.

9. COACH CARTER - Coach Carter is one bad-ass coach. He wanted his players to be good not only in basketball, but also should be good in school. He wanted that so much that he was willing to shutdown his basketball team until they get good grades in class. Yeah, Samuel L. Jackson is the man!!! Of all the movies he's starred in, this is probably my favorite. I liked this movie because it doesn't really focus on the game, but there's also a moral to the story.

8. THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS - What's a guy film list without a father and son story. I watched this movie in our apartment with my roommate. And it almost made us cry. You see, my friend back then just became a father and he realized he doesn't want what happened to Chris Gardner and his family to happen to him and his daughter. This film really pulls the strings of my heart, and had some of the most heart-wrenching scenes I've seen. The comfort room scene was especially heartbreaking. This, I think is the best Will Smith movie I've ever seen.

7. OCEAN'S ELEVEN - Just the first movie. I really didn't like the sequels. Specially the third one. But the original is really one of the best heist films I've seen. Nevermind the all-star cast, this is one film where the execution of the heist made me drop my jaw and say that was cool. Because it really is cool. Danny Ocean is trying to steal from one of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas. This can only be done by 10 of the best people in town. And oh yeah, aside from the money, he has to steal from the casino owner his ex-wife's heart back too.

6. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN - I don't really like war movies. It's mostly pointless, and the movies just added some stories just to make us feel that the war is for something. This is one of them. But the thing is, this is done by the great Steven Spielberg. It doesn't really add something special. But in some way, I really loved this film. I loved the violence, the pointlessness of some of the scenes. I don't know, but I think this movie has a heart. Tom Hanks' mission is to save Matt Damon, because he's the only one of the four brothers who's still alive. And he has to come home.
5. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN - Leonardo Dicaprio vs Tom Hanks. Another Steven Spielberg film. An awesome heist film. Comic book reference. What guy doesn't like this? Frank Abagnale Jr. at age 19 was able to con millions of dollars by impersonating a pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor. During the time that this movie was shown, I seriously wanted to become a conman. This is how effective the film was made. Another true story. Fact indeed is better than fiction.

4. CASINO ROYALE - Which character exudes manliness more than 007 James Bond? No one. Absolutely no one. Well, I guess except for Tyler Durden. But James Bond is the man every guy would like to be. But why Casino Royale? Well, it's got poker, Eva Green, and it's the most believable James Bond movie that I've ever seen. It's got none of those over-the-top gadgets and villains. Just some serious head-punching, gun-toting and a little bit of parkour.

3. FIGHT CLUB - I was debating with myself regarding my top 3 films. This could easily be my number one movie of this list. The only reason why this movie is number three is because I don't have a copy of this film. I've only seen this a total number of five times. But damn, Tyler Durden IS the man. Yeah, given that he's just a pigment of Edward Norton's imagination. But I think every guy has a Tyler Durden lurking inside his mind. I'm pretty sure he takes over me whenever I go boxing when I'm in the gym. Fight Club, I think is the most testosterone laden movie in this list. This is a real guy flick. It should be number one. I just haven't seen it enough. But it is my favorite.

2. GLADIATOR - I have a vcd copy of this movie. And I saw this a total of 8 times. This is the movie that's tolerable even if it's three hours long. I loved the fight scenes. "Father of a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife and I shall have my vengeance in this life or the next," that is one of my favorite lines from my favorite scene in the movie. Russel Crowe was simply amazing in this movie. And Joaquin Phoenix was as brilliant as the Emperor Commodus. I know of a few guys that cried during the ending (myself not included). This movie is Ridley Scott's masterpiece. And you think there won't be any award winning films in this list.

1. THE DEPARTED - I swear to God, I do not know how I fell asleep when I first watched this movie in the cinema. Considering that this film is really violent, I swear I shouldn't have been able to sleep during the run of the film. Luckily, I watched it again. That's when I fell in love with this movie. Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo Dicaprio and even Mark Wahlberg gave some of the best performances I've ever seen. And this is the ONLY Martin Scorsese movie that I was able to tolerate. This is a really male dominated movie. I think only one girl had a speaking role in this film. Regardless of the lack of eye candy, I still had my eyes glued. 15 times. That's the number of times I watched Billy Costigan, Costello and Colin's story interweave into a pretty violent ending. Awesome movie!!!