Cheers!

Last night, CBS aired the American Film Institute's list of America's top 100 most inspiring movies. If you missed it, here's a link to the list: AFI's 100 Cheers.

I love these lists. As you can tell from our List Friday posts, I tend to love lists. Period. But I confess that I ABSOLUTELY adore slacking in front of the television for a gluttonous 3 hours watching clips of the best movies ever made. So I was H A P P Y last night. (Incidentally, Molly - I only could have been happier if you were watching with me. I didn't call - mainly cuz I was pushing it with the hubby to assume control over the giant screen tv set for the 3 hours, anyway. sigh.)

So of course, there were films that made the list that made me scratch my head ... like Working Girl? 2001: A Space Odyssey? High Noon? The last two are great movies, don't get me wrong, but inspiring? Huh?

And of course, there were omissions - I mean, if you can put One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in the list, can't you include Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in there, too? Yo, Film Dudes? Samwise Gamgee is my hero! And maybe, just maybe, if you're gonna include a film like Sullivan's Travels, of which I've never heard, could you maybe think about including The Goonies? The Goonies inspired nerdy kids to just be themselves waaay before Napoleon Dynamite made it hip to be square.

(Aside: Who should be an icon to the 30-something generation, but isn't? Sean Astin. He made the list two times more than Colin Farrel ... )

Ok, and then - there's the argument of placement. I knew I'd have placement issues with this list the moment they showed #100 ... Chariots of Fire, and minutes later announced #98, The Karate Kid, and #95, Places in the Heart. To me, each of these movies should have been higher up on the list. Braveheart was placed at #62, and Rudy (another Sean Astin!) at # 54 ... Are we seriously saying that Dead Poet's Society at # 52 is more inspiring, more apt to make us cheer? Uhh, for teen suicide? Again, I give you a hearty "HUH?"

Overall, the list is fun and a great reminder of all the great movies out there. So, AFI, what's your next topic????

List Friday! Doomed Romances

Ok, so right off the bat I’m going to admit that I borrowed this topic from an MSN article that I read earlier this week … Rather than trying to re-write the premise, I’ll just copy theirs here:

10 movies that would have been better without the 'happily ever
after'
By Martha Brockenbrough
Special to MSN Movies
Sixty-four years after it first came out, the nearly unanimous pick for most romantic film ever is "Casablanca."
"Casablanca."
If this movie were a person, it'd be old enough to qualify for senior-citizen discount tickets at the multiplex. And yet, even as babies conceived in its aftermath have grown old and gray, no one's yet been able to craft a more enduring and compelling love story.
We have a theory why: The filmmakers were smart enough to skip the happily-ever-after part. Instead, Ilsa gets on the plane and escapes Nazi-controlled Casablanca. Rick starts a "beautiful"
friendship with the police chief, in the pre-"Brokeback Mountain" era, when men could walk off into the sunset together without ever having to worry about quitting each other.
There are some movies, of course, that depict true love that we know will never, ever die. "The Princess Bride," "The Wedding Singer," "Shrek." All classics in their own right.
But for our money, more moviemakers should give us good break-ups. After all, it's better to have loved and lost than to be stuck with someone unsuitable, unstable or — egads! — boring.
As we prepare to see real-life couple Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn split on screen in "The Break-Up," here are 10 films we wish had ended with a break-up:

And then she proceeds to list the films and couples she thought were DOOMED … I’d post her list, but that would be leading the listers, right? But if you need help, know that one of her first picks was Harry and Sally from When Harry Met Sally. Why are they doomed? Well, weren't they doomed throughout the entire film to be both in love, and in hate at the same time? (Peggy's aside: Wait a minute - isn't that the definition of marriage?)

Anyway, Cinema Firmamenters – let’s see your lists of the romantic couples DOOMED for a break up. Ready? Set? COMMENT!