The Introduction
As a production studio and creative shop, we're naturally curious and always learning, using what we see in television and film in an attempt to answer our creative questions. At the same time, film forms and shapes us, and in some ways big and small, make us who we are. The first film I ever remember watching was The Sandlot, when I was probably around three years old. We had to rent it from Hollywood Video, and I watched it every single day we had it. It took a handful of repeated rentals until my parents finally broke down and bought it on VHS to keep. The second film I remember seeing was The Sound of Music at my grandma's house. She had maybe five things on tape total: The Sound of Music, some specials from late comedian Red Buttons, and some Johnny Carson program. And while I don't necessarily think much about watching that film there, every time I watch it now or see it somewhere in the world, I'm reminded of my time there -- when we would pick fresh fruit and vegetables from her garden and cook them for lunch before sending me to nap when her "stories" came on.
The Lists
So, personal anecdotes out of the way, please enjoy the Pixel Bakery team's Top 10 Films of all time.
Tony
No Country for Old Men
2001: A Space Odyssey
Goodfellas
School of Rock
Psycho
Inglourious Basterds
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Toy Story
There Will Be Blood
It's a Wonderful Life
Honorable Mentions:Apocalypse Now, Ratatouille, Magnolia, The Social Network, Casablanca
Karley
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The Dark Knight
Into the Wild
Mad Max: Fury Road
O'Brother Where Art Thou?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Wild
Toy Story
A Quiet Place
Call Me by Your Name
Jordan
Children of Men
Spirited Away
The Brave Little Toaster
Blade Runner
Wind River
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Moonrise Kingdom
Full Metal Jacket
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Oldboy
Josh
The Departed
Spirited Away
Dead Poets Society
The Taste of Tea
Me, Earl, and The Dying Girl
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
The Dark Knight
The Royal Tenenbaums
(500) Days of Summer
Honorable Mention: Howl's Moving Castle, There Will Be Blood, The Martian, The Shining, Inception
Elaina
The Iron Giant
The Emperor's New Groove
The Road to El Dorado
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Spirited Away
Treasure Planet
How to Train Your Dragon
Serenity
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Takeaway
There is a decent amount of overlap between lists, but that wasn't really too unexpected. Overall, we are products of the era we grew up in, and like most people forced to make lists, have a fair amount of an availability heuristic thing happening (only 10 of our collective 60 movies came out before 1988). It's clear which films we grew up watching and remember fondly (90% of Elaina's list, Toy Story, The Brave Little Toaster) and how highly we hold acclaimed films that have premiered in the last 10-15 years as we grew up and our tastes matured.
Questions
How is our diversity? Writers/directors/stars of color? How well are female artists represented?
Where's The Godfather franchise?
How was Karley able to choose only one Harry Potter film?
Is it time for IMBD to kick The Shawshank Redemption from its number one spot on their list?
Do I finally need to see Spirited Away?
And what we're all wondering: whose list is best? Let us know so we can fight internally.