"What's Your Favorite Movie?"

X-MEN. DEATH TO SMOOCHY. BIG FISH. WEDDING CRASHERS. THE DEPARTED. And, for the past four years, THE DARK KNIGHT. At one point or another, these are the answers that I've produced when asked the question that every film buff dreads... "What's your favorite movie?" It all started back in 2000, when I walked out of the theater having just seen X-MEN, passing standees of some of the film's larger-than-life characters as I left, and realized that what I had just witnessed was awesome. From that moment on, I was obsessed with X-MEN, making multiple trips to Toys "R" Us with my dad to collect all of the action figures and even dressing up as Cyclops (my favorite member of the X-Men) on several occasions, doing battle with the various supervillains that frequented my house. And from that obsession with X-MEN, my love of movies was born.

And from that point forward, "What's your favorite movie?" went from short answer to essay question. Looking back on it, each of the movies that stood atop my favorites at one point or another said something about me at the time, and I find that to be a credit to the power that a film can hold. For me, X-MEN represented the idea that imagination wasn't reserved for childhood and that the cartoon heroes I watched on television after school could be more than just two-dimensional drawings. Seeing those characters brought to life on the big screen made them real and, after that, it dawned on me that the possibilities of what you could bring to life through film were endless and unimaginable. DEATH TO SMOOCHY, which would take the reins from X-MEN, was a little less grandiose in scope, but that didn't keep me from laughing every time that I watched it. I've revisited it a couple times and, while I still think it has quite a bit of dark comedic value, it isn't a great movie by any measure, lacking focus and logic. But for me, during the time that I first saw it, it had a cynicism to it that I found to be a refreshing change of pace from the cheeseball kiddie fare that I'd become accustomed to, and I came to appreciate humor that had some bite to it.

Then BIG FISH rolled into town and changed everything for me. I have no idea why, but I was more excited to see BIG FISH than I was for any other movie that came out during 2003. I can't explain it. It didn't have a big budget, wasn't a summer blockbuster, had no characters with super powers, and its biggest star was Ewan McGregor, someone I was only slightly familiar with at that point. But I went to see it and I loved it. I'm not sure I realized it at the time, but I think the reason it struck a chord with me was because I could relate to both main characters, Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) and Will Bloom (Billy Crudup), a father unsatisfied with the boring and mundane limitations of the real world and a frustrated son desperate to get to know a man obsessed with tall tales and half-truths. For the first time that I can remember, I was able to create a deep emotional connection with the characters and, as a result, I saw something in BIG FISH that was below the surface level. WEDDING CRASHERS, which came along a few years down the road, took the mantle from BIG FISH for the simple fact that it was the funniest movie that I had ever seen and, like a cherry on top of a delicious sundae, it was a raunchy comedy that had real heart and intelligence. It was a balanced mixture of clever, hilarious, and romantic, and it felt fresh and polished to boot, something that I had not seen in a modern comedy before. It showed me that you could make people laugh without having to throw common sense out the window, and that is a lesson I will never forget.

But THE DEPARTED was a different animal from WEDDING CRASHERS. When I first saw THE DEPARTED, I was enthralled in it from start to finish, which felt odd to me because I had expected more of a slown burn effort from director Martin Scorsese. And it had an all-star cast that included Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, and Martin Sheen, all of them combining their stellar efforts to bring a commanding presence to the film that I had never seen before. It was dark, gritty, and violent, and I ate it all up, from sitting on the edge of my seat as Bill Costigan (DiCaprio) races against time to prevent his dual identities from being exposed to watching Colin Sullivan (Damon) weasel his way through the police department with aims at self-preservation to sitting in awe as Nicholson took over each scene as the ruthless, homicidal and paranoid Frank Costello. It was mesmerizing to watch the fireworks as these men collided and a wave of collateral damage unfolded onscreen, leaving bullets, blood, and dead bodies in its wake.

All of these paled in comparison to THE DARK KNIGHT. I remember sitting in the theater on July 20th, 2008, watching the events of THE DARK KNIGHT unfold on the screen, and thinking to myself that I never wanted it to end. Everything was perfect. I wasn't watching Heath Ledger acting onscreen, I was watching the Joker terrorize Gotham City, the face of a former heartthrob buried beneath a layer of clown make-up that made him virtually unrecognizable. It was incredible to watch. On top of that, Aaron Eckhart almost stole the show from him with his turn as Harvey Dent, the ambitious district attorney who descends into madness when the Joker tears him down and transforms him into the vengeful Two-Face. It was a comic book film that strived to be more than that, incorporating modern elements of justice, terrorism, and herosim that elevated it to a level not seen before by a movie about a man in a cape and cowl. I saw it three times in theaters, the most times I've ever seen the same film more than once, and I've watched it countless times on DVD.

Looking back on this list, I can't help but notice how much my idea of "favorite movie" changed and evolved over time, from X-MEN to WEDDING CRASHERS to THE DARK KNIGHT. Does this mean these are the best movies that I've seen? I doubt that, given that DEATH TO SMOOCHY is among them. Part of it could be attributed to the fact that I was fickle when I was younger. But these were the movies that meant the most to me at the time that I saw them and, even now, they remain some of the most memorable of the hundreds of movies that I've seen to date. I challenge you to think of your own favorite movie, consider why you see it as your favorite, and think about what it meant to you at the time that you saw it. You might be surprised by what comes to mind.

So... "What's your favorite movie?"