#2. Se7en (1995)
We’re coming down to the wire here and while I’m sad it’s over, I’m happy to have an updated list. The unfortunate thing is that there’s about two or three movies I watched while counting this list down that’d be in my top 100 like Sicario, Marriage Story, and Boyhood. But, had I tried to shoehorn those in, I would have tainted the lists integrity. Nevertheless, in the number 2 slot on the list of my 100 Favorite Movies of All Time is the 1995 crime thriller Se7en. Se7en was directed by David Fincher and stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman with supporting performances from Kevin Spacey, Gwyneth Paltrow, and R. Lee Ermey.
Se7en is a masterpiece. Of the six Fincher films to make my top 100 list, Se7en ranks the highest. It was the first that he directed that had his mind twist flare on it; Alien 3 doesn’t have the Fincher feel. Se7en set up his career to make films like The Game, Fight Ckub, and Gone Girl. The cast of Se7en was really great for two reasons. Reason one is that Fincher didn’t have a monster cast that many 90s films like Pulp Fiction, True Romance, or Magnolia. Reason two is that they all had great chemistry. I legitimately believed that Pitt and Freeman were a detective duo, that Pitt and Paltrow were a couple, and when the three are having dinner, it looks very believable that they’re enjoying the company of one another.
One of my favorite fun facts about Se7en is that it was never made public knowledge that Kevin Spacey was playing the murderous John Doe. Fincher wanted to keep it a surprise so that they films hype spread from word of mouth and also because Spacey was integral in the twist of The Usual Suspects. It’s wild that Spacey was the twist in two outstanding crime thrillers in 1995. While the final scene of Se7en is the most famous, my favorite scene is when Pitt and Freeman get into the foot chase with John Doe. He fires shots at them, Pitt and Doe are jumping through windows and running around buildings, and it ultimately ends with Doe nearly executing Pitt. I also enjoy when Pitt and Freeman are driving Doe out to the field and he’s explaining why he killed the people he killed in the way in which he killed them. He’s so stoic and crass that you feel like you’re in the car with them.