(in other words, don't hold me to this list--by tomorrow, I'm sure I'll have completely revised it in my head and be arguing with myself about my choices).

In alphabetical order:

1. "All About Eve"

Fasten your seatbelts. . .this has it all--backbiting, catfighting, Bette Davis, witty theater folk, and a cameo by a sparkling young Marilyn Monroe.

2. "Clueless"

Alright, alright . . . I know we all had our fill a couple of years ago of seeing Jane Austen adapted to the screen. But I really like this movie. Alicia Silverstone definitely "inhabits the role," as they say, with a naive, whiny charm. The dialogue is clever and funny (I love her description of college radio music as "complaint rock"). And let's face it--there's a reason Jane Austen has lasted (though I'm not as clear on why everyone decided to commit her to celluloid at the same time). She assembles a story well, and while there's much here that departs from Emma, I think "Clueless" is finally true to that novel in spirit.

Kitty: I'll pass on this one. Though I love Alicia Silverstone, and her kiss-my-fat-ass attitude towards the Hollywood image machine. And she was so adorable in those Aerosmith videos.

3. "Dog Day Afternoon"

Attica! Attica! This is such a weird movie, and so great for that reason. A bank robber who has turned to crime to pay for his male lover's sex change operation and who, when cornered, coopts the rage of the masses against the police by aligning himself with mutinous inmates. Just the fact that someone actually thought of all this, and then went ahead and got it onto the screen and into the theaters, is cause for celebration (though I wonder if it would happen now?).

Kitty: I hadn't thought of putting this one on "the list", but it is a really good one. It also has sentimental value for me -- when my husband's hair gets long and greasy, my brothers torment him by calling him "Sal." I think he considers it a compliment! But I must correct you -- believe it or not, no one actually thought this up -- it's based on a true story.

4. "The Godfather"

Do I have to explain? Al Pacino in this role makes you want to squeeze your eyes shut, stick your fingers in your ears and hum loudly to drown out the noise of the words "Scent of a Woman". Every person in this movie is the only person who could be in this movie. To single out any one thing that makes it great would be to ignore too many other details, so I won't even mention the opening wedding scene, the horse's head . . . no, no, there's too much.

5. "Life Is Sweet"

There are several Mike Leigh movies I like, but I think this is my favorite. There's a balance between the well-adjusted and the maladjusted characters, and the way they all need each other, that's really nicely done. On the well-adjusted side are the cheerful, still-in-love parents and their tomboyish daughter; on the other side are their other daughter, who is morose and bitter (she's an encyclopedia of stock negative judgments, i.e. "All men are potential rapists"), and the would-be restauranteur who is full of hope but half-expects failure. One thing I always like about these small English movies is how the same actors pop up in completely different roles from one film to another. I had seen this movie soon after "The Crying Game", and was surprised to find Stephen Rea, the lead actor in that (also great) movie, playing a totally different role here, while the funny bartender from "The Crying Game" played, in "Life Is Sweet", one of the lead characters. I guess I like how actors in that world go back and forth from lead to supporting roles in a way we don't see quite as much here.

Kitty: I'm a big fan of Mike Leigh and his dark, funny films. I agree that Life is Sweet is the best one. His actors push their roles well past the brink of caricature, yet his films retain a gritty quality that's very real. It's probably in my top 20, but not my top ten.

6. "Raging Bull"

DeNiro. Scorsese. I actually read a negative review of this movie, I think by Pauline Kael. For a moment I questioned my judgment, but then I recovered and questioned hers.

Kitty: Pauline Kael, Pauline Schmael. This one made my list.

7. "Reservoir Dogs"

Quentin Tarantino has been so overexposed that you almost hate to contribute to the hype. But let's go back, if we can, to a time before he was shooting his mouth off in odd, sometimes incomprehensible ways all over the place and rehabilitating John Travolta (we seem to have agreed as a society to a kind of selective amnesia regarding the Look Who's Talking era--I, of course, never saw those movies, but I can imagine the horror). Whether or not this movie was copied frame by frame from John Woo (which I recall the magazine Film Threat claiming when it decided to turn on him), it's a great film. The way it plays with time, the cool soundtrack, the horrific suggestion of gore . . . And I really like that scene where the undercover cop becomes his role so completely that we see on screen a backstory that never took place.

Kitty: OK, I liked "Reservoir Dogs", and I really liked "Pulp Fiction", but I just can't muster up the Quentin Tarantino enthusiasm. I don't have a problem with his stuff being derivative, I love his visual vocabulary -- he's pulling from the same cheesy resources that I grew up with, and he does it with such style. Maybe it's his bad acting, or maybe he just reminds me of one of those guys --- you know who I mean. You think it's really cool that they know all this obscure 60s music trivia, and obsess over things like Kung Fu Movies, and then you realize that all they ever do is listen to obscure 60s music and watch Kung Fu Movies. I mean, why did he get famous? Why did he get to go out with Uma Thurman? I know 25 people just like him.

8. "Stranger Than Paradise"

I actually haven't seen this movie for several years, but it needs to be on this list for two reasons. First--it's really good--slow, moody, deadpan, funny. Also, though, this is one of the first movies that made me realize what movies could be, that made me look at the whole medium differently and expect more from it. "Down By Law" and "Mystery Train" solidified my devotion to Jim Jarmusch, but "Stranger Than Paradise" is the first movie of his I saw and therefore is closest to my heart.

9. "Strictly Ballroom"

Pure fantasy, one of those stories where you know exactly how it's going to end as soon as you start watching it, and it doesn't matter one little bit. This is one of those perfect movies that I saw in the perfect way--with no advance notice or reviews, having no idea what to expect. And after seeing it, I distinctly recall leaving the theater with my friend and literally dancing down the street in the dark. I love the way the ugly duckling becomes physically beautiful as she becomes more confident, I love the totally stereotypical Spanish family for whom dancing is as serious as a gunfight. I adore the outfits and the hairstyles and the music and the colors. But most of all, I really, really love the scene in which we find out the father's long-kept secret. It would have been easy in that scene to say that someone danced brilliantly and then just show someone dancing really well, but instead the director chooses to make clear, in a really funny and totally unexpected way, that he (she?) can't possibly show us how brilliant this dancing was. There are a million other wonderful things about this scene too, like the old-Berlin-ish portrayal of artistic madness and decay. But, look, just watch it for yourself. I could never do it justice.

10. "Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown"

I love pretty much everything Almodovar did up to and including this great movie; in fact, it was through those movies that I met and fell in love with one Antonio Banderas, who has since gone on to pull my heart out of my chest and trample all over it through bad acting in bad English-language movies and a really disappointing second marriage. But I digress . . . What I think I love most about this movie (aside from the well-stocked and empathetic taxi driver) is that it belongs so completely to its crazy women--they rant, they rave, they spike gazpacho with sleeping pills, while the men around them seem to have their hands full simply figuring out which end is up in the wake of the whirlwinds the women create around themselves. I'm not saying thats the way real life is or should be. But it sure is fun to watch.

Also alphabetical:

1. "All About Eve"

This gorgeous bitchfest also made my top ten. Bette Davis is so wonderful in this, and the dialogue is so great -- it's one quotable line after another.

2. "Blue Velvet"

David Lynch films usually make about as much sense as a Menthos commercial, but this weird, dark thriller won my twisted heart. Some of my favorite scenes: Dean Stockwell lip-syncing "In Dreams" with an industrial light for a mike ("The candy colored clown they call the sandman..."), Dennis Hopper's Frank chasing Kyle McLaughlin up the stairwell, the awful "Mommy" scene (remember, with the oxygen?). It must be seen on a big screen.

3. "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

I know it's sappy, but it's a sure cure for the mean reds. Audrey Hepburn is perfection in her little black dress and chic upswept hairdo. I especially love the scene where they go shoplifting in a five and ten.

Soozle: I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it. So I showed it to my friends, and suddenly found myself cringing at Mickey Rooney's embarrassingly stereotyped portrayal of the buck-toothed Japanese neighbor. I'm not a knee-jerk PC-er, but love Audrey though I do, this still makes me uncomfortable. Can I vote for Roman Holiday instead?

4. "La Dolce Vita"

After I saw this film for the first time, all I wanted to do was move to Italy, meet a Marcello Mastroianni (c. 1960) lookalike, and go whipping down the Amalfi coast in a red convertible (wearing a Pucci scarf around my head so as not to mess my gigantic hairdo, of course). Other Fellini favorites: early films with the adorable gamine Giulietta Masina ("La Strada", "Nights of Cabiria"), "Amarcord" and "8 1/2" (especially the beautiful Nino Rota score.)

Soozle: Good call, Kitty! I forgot about this one, but it's a favorite from the opening shot of Jesus being airlifted above Rome on through. It's not too gracious to women, but . . . well, I just love it anyway.

5. "The Godfather"

I can watch this movie a thousand times. The atmosphere is perfect, the Nino Rota (again!) score is gorgeous, everyone in it is great. I swear, next cat I get, I'm naming Fredo.

6. "A Hard Day's Night"

From the very first chord, this movie is completely enjoyable. The boundless charisma of the Beatles is captured perfectly. Wonderful music, witty and silly dialogue and the Fab, Fab Four. It gives me chills of joy every time I watch it.

Soozle: Wow! This never occurred to me, but you're right -- it's a pure joy.

7. "Nashville"

I actually stopped being friends with someone because they told me they didn't like "Nashville". He didn't think it was funny! This is a sprawling, fascinating, very funny movie.

8. "A Place in the Sun"

Montgomery Clift is exquisite, Elizabeth Taylor is breathtaking, and Shelly Winters is a poor knocked-up whiney schlub. "I'm in trouble, George -- bad trouble." Put them in front of a director (George Stevens) with a near-perverse closeup fetish and you get the beautiful tragedy "A Place in the Sun".

9. "Raging Bull"

Scorsese once said "Robert DeNiro can act with the back of his head." Well, imagine what happens when he uses his whole body. (including a stomach that should have gotten a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.) I recently saw a fresh print of Raging Bull, after only ever seeing it on video. It literally took my breath away. It is such a beautiful masterpiece. Everyone is perfect in this movie. Other Scorsese favorites: "Goodfellas", "Mean Streets", "The King of Comedy", and of course "Taxi Driver".

10. "Rosemary's Baby"

Mia Farrow in a Vidal Sassoon haircut. What could be more frightening? This is the only devil movie that I can watch by myself. (Those nuns really messed me up). My other Roman Polanski favorites are "Chinatown" ("My sister, my daughter, my sister, my daughter") and the terrifying "Repulsion."

A big nod to Jane Campion, especially for "An Angel at my Table" and "Sweetie". I'm also nodding to the Coen Brothers, for "Fargo". Another huge nod goes to John Waters, especially the hysterical "Female Trouble." And another nod to Woody Allen, especially "Annie Hall".

Oh no! I forgot Hitchcock!! "North by Northwest!" "Vertigo!" "Psycho!" "Strangers on a Train!" "The Freakin' Birds!!!" "Notorious!" "Suspicion!"