7. "James, earn this... earn it." - Saving Private Ryan
In 1999, something tragic happened: the Academy voted and decided that Shakespeare in Love was a better film than Saving Private Ryan. It's a travesty nearly unmatched in modern cinema that doesn't involve movies made by Paul Haggis. Saving Private Ryan is one of the finest war films ever crafted: telling the story of a small band of soldiers with a mission to find a man whose brothers have all perished in the war, Spielberg's World War II epic manages to weave together moments of soul-crushing emotion with some of the most brutal depictions of warfare ever committed to the silver screen. As the film concludes, Tom Hanks' Captain Miller lays dying beside the man he and his troop have gone through so much in order to rescue. With his final breaths, he gives words of encouragement to the young private, but also tacitly makes a promise with him. With all of the sacrifices made, James Ryan's life is no longer just his own, but a Gestalt of all of the men who went through Hell to bring him home. Which is too bad, 'cause one of those dudes was Vin Diesel.