I like movies. No, no, no, don’t just nod your head. You need to understand, fully understand: I really, really like movies.

I always loved books, too, because of the stories they could tell. Movies, whether original stories or adaptations, brought another dimension to the tales that loosed my mind to accept and appreciate others’ interpretations.

Usually.

I’m sure I don’t need to go into the value of escapism in troubled times, or social commentary in the face of oppression. “Life is Beautiful”, “Slaughterhouse-Five”. and “Catch-22” artistically conveyed the social, political, and very human issues which affect us all at one point or another.

I must add, though, Bill Denborough’s English class comment to his snobbish professor and classmates: “Why can’t you guys just let a story be a story?” Stephen King’s protagonist clearly identified with criticisms received by a lot of books, movies, even music. Everything doesn’t have to be an indulgence in ennui and self-loathing, or effect a multi-layered diatribe on the ills of existence.

All of which is to say, my top 10 movies are a smorgasbord of pure escapist piddle and finely-layered, sometimes thought-provoking celluloid (or digital bytes). Bear in mind, these are the top 10, and the general order may vary, based on my mood of the day, the unseasonable weather, or the current political doomscape.

1) Bullet Train

2) The Thing

3) Jaws

4)The Great Race

5) Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

6) Cabin in the Woods

7) Shaun of the Dead

8) Close Encounters of the Third Kind

9)I Love You, Man

10) Raiders of the Lost Ark