List of the Week: Five stars

Movies I’ve given 5 stars to on Netflix, one for every letter (a few 4’s are thrown in since I didn’t have all the letters covered in the five star rankings):

* Almost Famous. This was my favorite movie starting from when I first saw it (my senior year of high school) until just recently. It would still probably make the top 5, definitely the top 10. It's funny and sweet and totally made me want to go on the road with an up-and-coming rock band. This is a coming-of-age story done right.

* Brokeback Mountain.

* Chasing Amy. My favorite Kevin Smith movie and I am a huge Kevin Smith fan. Proof, as far as I'm concerned, that Ben Affleck is not completely worthless (as is Gone Baby Gone and the "I'm F***ing Ben Affleck" video he did with Jimmy Kimmel).

* Dogma. This is also a great Kevin Smith movie, and another good move on Affleck's part.

* Edward Scissorhands. My favorite movie of all time.

* First Wives Club, The. I just think this is hilarious, but even I'm surprised that I gave it five stars. I haven't seen it since high school, so I might feel differently about it if I watched it now.

* Garden State.

* Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. My favorite HP book and movie.

* Incredibles, The. Best Pixar movie so far. Wall-E looks great, though.

* Juno

* Knocked Up

* Lost in Translation. In my top 2.

* Moulin Rouge. Also one of my favorite movies from my senior year of high school. It's just so visually stimulating. And it's a beautiful, sad story. I love the soundtrack.

* Nightmare Before Christmas, The

* O Brother, Where Art Thou?

* Princess Bride, The. In my top 5.

* Queen, The (4). One of the movies I had to take from my four-star list since I didn't have a five-star Q movie.

* Romeo + Juliet. Another Baz Lurhmann great (he also did Moulin Rouge). I like the juxtaposition of the modern day setting and the Shakespearean English. I generally dislike Claire Danes (even though she's in this, one of my favorite movies, and My So-Called Life, my favorite TV show), but this is just such a beautiful movie. "Kissing You" by Des'ree is one of my favorite love songs.

* Stranger Than Fiction

* Triplets of Belleville, The. Really quirky French animated movie. No dialogue. Highly recommended.

* Usual Suspects, The (4) I knew the ending to this movie before I watched it, but it's still really well-crafted.

* V for Vendetta (4) This movie isn't that great, but it's a pretty good comic book-based movie.

* Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I also like Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

* X-Men (4) My favorite superhero movie. I love Cyclops and Wolverine and I briefly wanted to be Rogue until I realized how much it would suck to have her superpower.

* Year of the Dog (4). This movie made me cry at least three times. A surprisingly good dramatic turn by Molly Shannon.

* Zoolander. I just think it's hilarious.