Coming up with topics for the Monthly Ten is challenging sometimes. The obvious topic for October would be horror films, but I'm not a fan of the genre. October is special to me in other ways than just being Halloween month, though-it's the month of my birthday, it's the start of fall, I like the October weather...it's my favorite month. So, as I pondered what to do for my monthly ten, I decided to go all out in honor of October.

Instead of making a Top Ten list, I've made a Top Twenty list, and this isn't about any ordinary topic. These are my Top Twenty Favorite Movies. This is something I've wanted to publish for a while, and I'm sure my readers would be interested to see which movies make the top of my list. I tried to find movies that represent as many of my favorite genres and directors as possible, so I think there's quite a bit of variety among the choices. I would call this a very definitive ranking of my 20 favorite movies, but don't take things too seriously-these are my personal favorites, but I'm in no way claiming these are the best 20 films of all time.

The list will be published in four parts over four days, starting today, the 11 th, and ending on the 14 th. It was supposed to start publishing yesterday, on the 10 th (in the Monthly Ten's spot) but since the new YourHub site is so full of glitches, I couldn't get it to work. Anyway, keep checking back for the next part of the article, and sometime down the road I'll probably publish the whole thing in one go. With that said, let's get started...

20. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Spider-Man 2 holds a special place in my heart because it was the first movie I ever reviewed as official "Movie Kid" for the Colorado Kids section of The Denver Post. As such, it was the first press screening I attended...I don't get to go to those any more (since I'm not officially employed with a newspaper) but SM2 brings back so many memories of those years when I did. Perhaps nostalgia is a factor in why I love this movie so much. Seeing the film for the first time was one of those cinematic experiences that just defined, for me, everything I love about movies.

Nostalgia aside, however, this still remains one of my favorite films. This came out before Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, so the concept of doing a deep character study while staying accurate to comic-book roots and having fun was truly revolutionary, and Sam Raimi pulled it off wonderfully. There are lots of powerful moments, and the movie finds an absolutely perfect balance between drama, action, and humor. Plenty of time is spent simply focusing on Peter Parker and his internal struggle-much more time than on actual set pieces, and that's a great move. When we see how hard being a superhero is on Peter, the action has more weight to it. I'm not a huge fan of the first or third films in this franchise, but the sequel got it right in so many ways that I hardly even care.

19. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)

Yes, this movie is 40 minutes long. Yes, it was originally released online. So, yes, technically, it is not a feature film. Why, might you ask, am I including it on the list? First off, this is my list-I can do whatever I want with it. Second, this short film from Joss Whedon is as good as any feature length movie I've ever seen, and one of the best original musicals of our time. The story, about an aspiring super-villain trying to woo his crush, is both tongue-in-cheek and layered. The characters are more complex than they appear and the twist ending changes your entire perception of the film. Neil Patrick Harris is amazing as Billy, a.k.a. Dr. Horrible, and Nathan Fillion seems to be having a great time as his arch-nemesis Captain Hammer. Felicia Day adds the perfect amount of humanity and sweetness to the proceedings as Penny, the love of Billy's life.

The music is top-notch, and since I saw the movie, I haven't gotten the catchy songs out of my head. In fact, I just saw this movie for the first time a few days ago, and it was a last minute addition to my list. Normally, I wouldn't call a film I just saw one of my all time favorites, but then again, I've never seen a movie like Dr. Horrible. From the moment the first song started up, I knew it was something special. When it was over, I wanted to start it over again immediately, but had to wait until the next night. The wait was excruciating. If I were to re-rank this list a year from now, this movie would probably be higher on it (as in top ten) but for now, I know it deserves a place somewhere.

18. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Considering that I wrote and published a 30-page article about the Harry Potter universe over the summer, it should come as no surprise that I'm a huge fan of the series. I haven't always been so hot on the movies-some are okay, some are bad, and only two live up to the brilliance of the book series. The recent Half-Blood Prince adaptation was amazing, a near-perfect rendering of Rowling's layered world, but as good as that film was, it didn't beat the king of all Potter movies in my mind.

Alfonso Cuaron, director of Azkaban, took a totally different approach to the series than what Christopher Columbus did-and God bless him for it. Columbus's films were overlong, stuffy, and somewhat soulless affairs, a product of relying too much on the novel. As much as I love the books, I don't watch the movies to see the book projected on screen verbatim: I want to see a good movie, and that was Cuaron's philosophy. He took a much more aggressive approach to the adaptation, cutting plenty of great material in favor of the central story. In doing so, he found the true heart of one of the best books in the series. The focus on emotion is what makes this such an amazing movie; with that emotion came much better performances from all involved. All this, combined with Cuaron's absolutely flooring visual style that brings Rowling's vision to life more vividly than anyone else has, made a film that reflects the books much better than any other entry in the film series. The Potter series has been a part of my life for over a decade, so this film is basically cinematic nirvana, and one of my favorite movies.

17. Blade Runner (1982)

Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is one of those films that gets better every time you watch it. In fact, the first time I saw the movie, I didn't really enjoy it. I thought to be rather slow and meandering, but the visuals, as well as Harrison Ford's gripping performance, hooked me and I could tell that there was something underneath what I was watching that I just didn't understand. Thus, I watched it again. And I got it. Or started to get it-I definitely liked it better the second time because the story and themes came through much more clearly. I've watched it again and again, and there's always something new to discover. It's a cinematic gift that keeps on giving, a movie so complex and layered that I doubt even the filmmakers knew exactly what they had made.

In fact, that's probably true, considering that the Blu-Ray release includes five different versions of the movie. Five! The original theatrical cut of the movie is okay, but a studio imposed "happy ending" and other cuts really water it down. The "director's cut," the one most familiar to modern audiences, is the one I first saw, and it got everything right by restoring Ridley Scott's original vision. But the new, 2007 "Final Cut," overseen by Scott himself, is the best version. Subtle tweaks have been made to special effects and other scenes that really enhance the experience without going overboard and changing too much. That's the version I recommend, though the "Director's Cut" is no slouch.

16. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

This is a movie I put on the list because Tim Burton simply had to be represented somewhere. He's one of my all time favorite directors, and I love nearly all of his movies. My favorite work of Burton's is his 2007 film adaptation of Steven Sondheim's classic musical, Sweeney Todd. This movie marked one of the all time greatest match-ups of director and source material-after seeing the movie, I (and many others) were convinced that no one but Burton could have brought the musical to the silver screen so effectively. Sure, Burton may be known for his dark, stylistic visuals (which are on display in spades here) but true fans of the director love his work because of how well the man gets inside the minds of his characters.

That skill really comes across strongly in this movie. In the adaptation process, Burton cut out a few songs, all big chorus numbers, and a hefty chunk of the dialogue. That leaves us with a story that is squarely character centric. The characters rarely talk-they sing, as people in a musical should do. The songs are representations of their innermost thoughts, something Burton highlights to great effect. He also trusts the excellent cast (including Johnny Depp, giving one of his trademark remarkable performances) to simply do their thing, without resorting to any visual tricks or big, show-stopping tunes to enhance the performances. Add to that that the actors all did their own singing (and Sondheim's music is notorious as being incredibly difficult to perform) and you have a relatively quiet, reserved, and personal movie. When the kills and big moments come, they're even stronger because of this. But this is a Burton film, and as such, many of the dark, macabre moments actually contain a subtle layer of comedy.