The Occasional Observer

As I was discussing last night with Beasty, DarkC, and Slidy McHump, here is the list of National Review's Top 25 Conservative Movies from their February 23, 2009 issue:

25: Gran Torino (2008)
24: Team America: World Police (2004)
23: United 93 (2006)
22: Brazil (1985)
21: Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
20: Gattica (1997)
19: We Were Soldiers (2002)
18: The Edge (1997)
17: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)
16: Master and Commander (2003)
15: Red Dawn (1984)
14: A Simple Plan (1998)
13: Braveheart (1995)
12: The Dark Knight (2008)
11: The Lord of the Rings (2001-03)
10: Ghostbusters (1984)
9: Blast from the Past (1999)
8: Juno (2007)
7: The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
6: Groundhog Day (1993)
5: 300 (2007)
4: Forrest Gump (1994)
3: Metropolitan (1990)
2: The Incredibles (2004)
1: The Lives of Others (2007)

If you're wondering about their number one pick, Buckley apparently loved the movie. Here's what John Miller wrote about it (similar blurbs appeared after each film in the list

"I think that this is the best movie I ever saw," said William F. Buckley Jr. upon leaving the theater (according to his column on the film). The tale, set in East Germany in 1984, is one part romantic drama, one part political thriller. It chronicles life under a totalitarian regime as the Stasi secretly monitors the activities of a playwright who is suspected of harboring doubts about Communism. Critics showered the movie with praise, and it won an Oscar for best foreign-language film (it's in German). More Buckley: "The tension mounts to heart-stopping pitch and I felt the impulse to rush out into the street and drag passerby in to watch the story unfold."

There were also a list of films that received an "honorable mention":

Air Force One, Amazing Grace, An American Carol, Barcelona, Bella, Cinderella Man, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Hamburger Hill, The Hanoi Hilton, The Hunt for Red October, The Island, Knocked Up, The Last Days of Disco, The Lost City, Miracle, The Patriot, Rocky Balboa, Serenity, Stand and Deliver, Tears of the Sun, Thank You for Smoking, Three Kings, Tin Men, The Truman Show, Witness

FWIW, I highly recommend picking up your NRO subscription at NationalReview.com if you haven't done so already.