As Michael Medved said yesterday - Egypt has a recorded history of 5000 years. In that 5000 years, they have never lived under freedom. They've always endured tyranny. Why should this time be different? Because Obama is president of the USA? LOL!

LOL re: Footloose. That said, I admit I haven't always looked for, or picked up on, political messages in movies for most of my life. But I've really always enjoyed espionage books and movies, so I was really puzzled about why I just could never get into the Bourne films. I saw the first one, and found it so boring that my mind would wander. Then a few years later, I decided to watch them all over the course of the weekend, just to see what I was missing. Again - bored! I guess that's what happens when you ruin a story with a "message." To get my espionage fix, I'll stick with the books: Clancy, DeMille, Thor, Flynn, etc.

Great pick, John! I saw this movie with my grandmom on TV one night when I was maybe 10 years old - tops. I'll never forget the chill that ran through my body at the end when I saw that Statue of Liberty, starting with the shadow. Even looking at the picture of it here sent chills through me again. There has not been one scene of any movie has ever impacted me that way again. I was far too young to get any political message out of it. And I think I've only watched it once again since. I don't want to ever become numb to it. I'm looking forward to watching it with my kids one day when they're older.

Can't wait to see the top 4 on the list!

I saw the movie - enjoyed it thoroughly, but never for a minute changed my opinion about the death penalty. I appreciate Sarandon's character doing her part to save his soul. That's all well and good - and admirable. But my sympathy always lies with the victims. What about their souls? What if they had things to repent for when their lives were cut short? I am a Christian, but I don't think my God expects me to be tolerant and forgiving of every type of horrific and cruel behavior. It's His job to forgive - not mine. I agree with Thomas More (above) "Mercy to the cruel and guilty is cruelty to the decent and innocent."

I'm really into this countdown, and look forward to every new entry. I'm really ramping up my Netflix queue with these movies. I just caught The American President on demand, and I gotta say, in my opinion, I liked Reds a lot more. Maureen Stapleton and Jack Nicholson really took the wind out of the sails of the sanctimonious commies in Reds. The American President was just so predictable and filled with stereotypes. But what really irked me the most was the speech where Michael Douglas talks about all the "middle aged, middle income" Americans longing for a time past, or some other such condescending crap that the Hollywood/Manhattan crowd always attributes to flyover country. As if we're all so dumb, gullible and easy to scare. It never occurs to these people that maybe by the time we've reached "middle age, middle income" status, we've learned a thing or two about the way the world works. Think of us as the Maureen Stapletons to the Diane Keatons of the world.

I agree for the most part, but I LOVED Crash. You should watch it, if you haven't. The fact the your left-wing friend hated it should tell you something. I thought is did a great job of showing things from every side. It bashed ALL races - showed you the good, bad and ridiculous of everyone, and why people feel the way they do sometimes. I thought is was fair in that regard.