(PART 3)*

And then there were twelve. And this is where it began to suck. We collectively agreed that all the films were representative of our taste. We also agreed that the films were empirically great and thus worthy of being included in the Top 10. We couldn’t look to “the numbers” for a solution as we each had an equal amount of individual favorites and shared favorites at this point.

So we decided to play the game of inches. Instead of trying to get two films off the list, we would try to eliminate one. Each of us was tasked with picking the one he thought should go—and providing three reasonable arguments. Just like high school debate. But somehow (impossibly) dorkier.

We each spent an hour trying to convince the other of our respective choices. Neither of us budged.

Twelve movies. Ten slots. Two brothers. One list.

American Movie

Raising Arizona

Tootsie

Rocky

Hoop Dreams (JD)

The Crying Game

Dumb and Dumber

The Cruise

Henry Fool

The Horse Boy

You Can Count on Me

Close-Up (MD)