Sunday, 20 September 2009
Great films?
A few days ago, The Independent had a thing on the main page announcing that some journalist had compiled a list of the twenty greatest films ever made. Wow, I thought sarcastically, that's gonna be one biased list. Who died and gave that guy the power to decide for all of us what makes a film great? it's probably full of artsy fartsy shit that no one's seen just to make him look like some hardcore film aficionado.
But then I got thinking. In my own biased opinion, what are the twenty greatest films I've seen? Making a list like that is harder than you'd think. Like sure, I absolutely love the film Bloodsport, but I'm acutely aware that it's not a great film. It's not even a good film. It would probably bore the pants off most of you if you watched it. Likewise I'll watch Demolition Man every time it's on TV, nut only because I can't take my eyes off Sandra Bullock. In fact... I'll watch anything with Sandra Bullock in. :P
But in all seriousness. What are the twenty greatest films I've ever seen? Films so good I would heartily recommend them under the impression that you too would like them. So I made my list. I couldn't rank them in any specific order because they all have merits and are good for different reasons. So here, if you are interested or just bored, is my list, in the order the films occurred to me. I'll throw in some brief sentences about the film but nothing too detailed. Wouldn't wanna spoil anything. :P Feel free to have a shot at this yourself sometime. ;)
1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Well this was pretty much obvious wasn't it? One of the most quotable films of all time. Low-budget, silly fun. In fact, the Python crew borrowed money from various celebrity friends in order to get this made and as you probably know, unable to afford horses they instead used the iconic coconuts to replicate the sound of horse hooves. :)
2. Tremors.
Oh yeah it's cheesy as hell. But there's something so endearing about Kevin Bacon's rural cowboy character. If you haven't seen it it's about a really small town in a remote rocky desert that gets besieged by giant subterranean worms. Fun. ^^
3. Aliens.
Proof that a sequel really can be better than the original. Some might claim that the original had better atmosphere but this second outing is what really floats my boat as Ripley and a squad of marines head to a remote mining facility that "the Company" have lost contact with, ultimately taking on an entire hive of the alien creatures. It's a wonderful advancement of the original storyline.
4. South Park: The Movie.
From start to finish an epicly funny film. It's offensive and it mocks Canada. What more could you ask for? :P It's hard to go back to watching the actual show after this.
5. Team America: World Police.
A film featuring puppets? :D Oh yeah. Sorry... FUCK YEAH! :) Best theme tune ever. If you still haven't seen this then you're missing out. It sums up perfectly the sense of collective bravado and smug centre-of-the-worldedness that we associate with those darned Americans. And the puppetteering is top notch too.
6. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Another sequel outshining the original. Ahnold is back, this time reprogrammed to protect John Connor himself from an assassination by the new liquid metal T1000. And how badass has Sarah Connor become since the first film? Bloody awesome.
7. Pulp Fiction.
This shouldn't even need any blurb. If you haven't seen Pulp Fiction, you're missing out. Surely this is on anyone's list?
8. Die Hard.
A Christmas classic. John McClane (Bruce Willis) finds himself inside Nakatomi Plaza when it's overrun by terrorists led by Alan Rickman.
9. Cube.
Ah the original Cube. A bunch of people wake up trapped inside a cube with no memory of how they got there. The cube is filled with traps and has mysterious numbers etched into doorways. Can the autistic savant in with them figure this all out? Or is he only there to slow them all down, relying on their human emotions to cause them to lead themselves into the many deadly traps? Badass.
10. Disney's Robin Hood.
Best Disney film ever. Each Robin Hood character portrayed by a different animal. Hood himself is a sly fox and Maid Marian a vixen. He's such a charismatic little rogue. Fun for all the family.
11. Stand By Me.
A bunch of kids go on an adventure, travelling along the railway tracks to find a dead body seen by Vern. Don't you wish you had that kinda fun as a kid?
12. Cyrano De Bergerac.
Oh it's long, almost as long as the titular character's nose. :) Gerard Depardieu is awesome as Cyrano, the warrior poet. The famous balcony scene has been done so many times over. It's in French though, so settle down for a lot of subtitles.
13. Labyrinth.
Yeah it's another classic kiddy film. David Bowie as the evil goblin King Jareth. Rumour has it that they originally wanted Jacko to play that role. Pffft. Bowie was the right decision. He's brilliant and so are the songs.
14. Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls.
First time I watched this I was laughing by Ace's very first line and didn't stop until the end. It's hilarious and massively quotable and yet one more example of sequels being better than originals! Definitely Jim Carrey's funniest outing.
15. Scream.
It's not all about comedy you know. :P The killer's outfit is genius, so instantly recognisable. The plot might be fairly simple but it was still quite a surprising ending first time round.
16. Enter the Dragon.
So Bloodsport might be a crappy martial arts flick but this sure isn't. Bruce Lee is the daddy as he infiltrates the secret island base of the bad guy, kicking endless amounts of ass on the way, all the while dispensing questionable wisdom. It might be plot light, but the action is heavy and wonderfully performed.
17. Shrek.
One word. Donkey. :D Pant-wettingly funny one liners from Eddie Murphy. Our entire family watched this multiple times and spent months quoting it. The sequels just can't touch the original here.
18. Zoolander.
A film about male modelling. Derek Zoolander is the dim-witted model brainwashed to kill the prime minister of Malaysia. Comic genius.
19. The Goonies.
Oh c'mon. You've all seen the Goonies right? Like 9000 times?
20. Happy Gilmore.
A lot of comedy in this list. This is definitely the funniest of Adam Sandler's catalogue as hapless ice hockey wannabe Gilmore turns his hand to golf instead in a bid to pay off his grandma's debts.
There you go. Those are the twenty greatest films I've ever had the pleasure of watching. If there's any on that list you haven't seen then I recommend you get your hands on them now.
Thoughts, comments, lists of your own? *points to comment box*
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Hmmm....that is ANOTHER tough question. *falls back into Deepthought mode*
ReplyDeleteTop X lists are pretty cliche these days... but I still enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I made a list of movies a while back because it always comes up in conversations with girls. Most of them have asterisks, though. Those are the ones that I like but I'm not sure I want to consider *great*.
Here goes, no particular order, asterisks omitted:
Annie Hall - Quintessential Woody Allen. Great film.
Alvy Singer's Therapist: How often do you sleep together?
Annie Hall's Therapist: Do you have sex often?
Alvy Singer: [lamenting] Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week.
Annie Hall: [annoyed] Constantly. I'd say three times a week.
Fight Club - For a contemporary Hollywood movie, it's satisfyingly dark and complex. It's biggest flaw, I think, is that most everyone already has it on their list. It's a pretty huge fault, actually. I'm thinking about deleting this.
Robocop - No asterisk here, baby! Three of the best death scenes in all of film history: Murphy's violent execution, the ED-209 malfunction, and toxic waste guy! *helllllp... meeeeee....* Fucking awesome.
Life is Beautiful - Has everyone seen this? Italian holocaust dramedy. "No spiders or visigoths!"
Kapo - Another holocaust film. This one rains down heavy with sentimentality, but I guess that's why I like it. I also like the coming of age component to it, I think. Like when the lead girl (let's call her Jewly) offers her virginity at age 14 to a Nazi officer in exchange for food. And then she ends up not getting any food! (Pwned.)
Casablanca - Entertaining. I think it wins my favor because I hate Citizen Kane so much. If I'm not mistaken, Casablanca came out a year earlier. It was better. It's not remotely a fair comparison, but I stick by it!
The Departed - I love this movie. It had a pretty big release, but I don't remember anyone ever discussing it while it was still in theaters. Pretty cool at face value, especially the bloody ending, but what I like most is the subtle subtext... the background plot that Scorsese *hints* at. (Spoiler, I guess: I think Jack Nicholson's character buttfucked Matt Damon's character as a child. Sources only seem to pick up that Damon was gay, but there's more to it. Most people will make the case that none of this has merit.)
Mad Max 2 - Good ol' Australian muscle.
Starship Troopers - First time through, I thought it satirized conservatism, but now I'm not really sure. It's still just as cool, though.
Full Metal Jacket - "How can you shoot women? and children?" "Easy! You just don't lead 'em so much!" *Brilliant* movie.
My Life as a Dog - Swedish coming of age film. There were kids, and I think someone put his dick in a bottle... I can't remember now.
Alien - In retrospect, I like the first and third ones better. For most of my life, though, I preferred the second one.
I also liked Stand By Me, T2, Pulp Fiction, and Holy Grail. I'm not sure if Monty Python quite makes the top 20 cut, though.
Hm, that's about 15... 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lawrence of Arabia, No Country for Old Men maybe. The Lion King? Akira definitely makes the cut... Holy Grail probably beats out Mad Max 2 or Starship Troopers, though. Eh, fine, take Max off.
Oh man, and Roger Rabbit... Let's take the Lion King off and put Roger Rabbit there. Remember the scene where Judge Doom dipped the shoe? Nicely done, Disney.
Yeah, Cliche doesn't always mean bad. :)
ReplyDeleteRobocop almost made my list. Seriously. I have lots of respect for the first Robocop. Murphy's death is a pretty hardcore bit of cinema and though the rest of the film is dated that still remains a powerful image.
Fight Club I always felt was overrated. Decent performance by Meat Loaf though.
Mad Max? I liked the first one. Chaining the guy to the car and making him saw off his own foot? I can't help but think that was the inspiration for the film Saw. But is it great? The first one also had Max's wife and kid being run down. You don't see it, but it's still quite shocking. Nice direction. I don't remember much of Mad Max 2. I think it kinda got overshadowed by Beyond Thunderdome. I'd hold up the Mad Max films as iconic. But not Great.
Citizen Kane sucked. Glad someone agrees.
Starship Troopers. Undoubtedly classic. But just fell short of the list.
Full Metal Jacket. I love the film, but like Bloodsport, loving it doesn't make it great. Sad truth is the greatness is interspersed with some boring bits.
Alien is awesome. The only thing that makes me love Aliens more is Vasquez. Her witty one liner early on. Her heroic sacrifice. Her fucking enormous gun. Vasquez is badass. Aliens also has Bishop (take him or leave him he's a big part of the Alien story, Ripley sleeps with him in the books before finding out he's an android, leading her further into android mistrust). And let's not forget Newt's classic line "They mostly come out at night... mostly". And Ripley's "Let go of her you bitch!". It was hard to decide. I love the atmospherics of the first, the cold voice of mother during the detonation sequence, Ash's attempt to murder Ripley, Dallas's death... lotta good stuff. Tough call but I went for Aliens.
2001: Space Odyssey. Again, almost made the list. I do love that film, but so many people find it boring. As much as I love Hal, if others don't it counts against the greatness. It's a slow film. It dripfeeds you greatness.
No Country for Old Men was shit. Sorry but it was. I hated it.
The Lion King. The death of Simba's father is one of the most emotional animated scenes ever. But I feel the film has little to offer other than that and the antics of Timonn and Pumba.
Akira was shit. Oh man, such a let down. I can see its place in anime history... but it just doesn't do it for me at all.
Roger Rabbit. Not a bad suggestion. Bob thingy does a great job of acting against the fictional cartoons. Jessica Rabbit is something of an icon and yes, Christopher Lloyd is evil as fuck. :D Definately one of his best roles (the others being in Back to the Future, Addams Family and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest).
Some nice films there. :)
Most of the ones you panned were the ones I asterisked. Some I didn't have listed at all, though, and just put down there anyway to make sure I ended up with enough.
ReplyDeleteFight Club was overrated, but what didn't you like about it specifically? Asterisk.
Mad Max 2 - It isn't eclipsed by Thunderdome here. It's usually considered the best in the series, but after reviewing the first one, I'd say that one's pretty alright too. Regardless, post-apocalyptic films tend to suck (Waterworld, both Matrix sequels, certain versions of Brazil), but this one is certainly among the greats. Asterisk.
Full Metal Jacket - Looking at my list again, I'm surprised to find it isn't on there at all. I put it down because it had the quotability of the Holy Grail plus meaningful subtext. And while I'm not a huge fan of philosophy in general, philosophical fiction is usually pretty entertaining.
No Country for Old Men - I can see why people would hate it, but I'd still put it down as one of the greats. I particularly liked the cinematography and the characters in this one. Asterisk.
Lion King - Not on the list! I felt obligated to add a Disney movie or some other sort of Western-style animation, but I'm not a huge fan of Snow White or Fantasia, and Aladdin didn't hold up as well with time for me. I also wanted to put the Aristocats, but I've never actually seen it. (And then I remembered Roger Rabbit, so there you go.)
Akira - Also not on the list, but it should be. This one had to grow on me, actually. I've only seen it in Japanese once, but that one time... it somehow made more sense. I think I'd put it down as the number one animated film of all time.
I'm pretty unsure about Lawrence of Arabia. I haven't seen Ben Hur, but that one seems like a contender for that spot.
Here are my honorable mentions:
Taxi Driver
Rocky
Seven Samurai
Matrix
Apocalypse Now
Forrest Gump
Leon
Metropolis
Big Trouble in Little China (!)
Blade Runner
Ed Wood
Back to the Future
Hm, I think I'll replace Fight Club with Seven Samurai.
Your turn: Zoolander?
Oh, one more thing:
ReplyDelete"As much as I love Hal, if others don't it counts against the greatness."
I'd like to think popularity and greatness are generally unrelated. (Besides, *plenty* of people love it to this day.) Still, there's merit to the boringness argument.
Fight Club? I dunno. It was all just a bit... lame, in the end. Maybe I heard too much hype before watching it.
ReplyDeleteMad Max 2: I remember kids and a plane... I think the first is my fave out the three. It's a good example of the post-apocalyptic genre.
No Country. I can see the merit in the way its filmed. There's some nice camera work. But it was boring as hell.
Seven Samurai. ^^ Yeah that was decent. But not great. What was that Japanese version of MacBeth that Kurosawa did? Throne of Blood? That was cool too.
Zoolander is badass. What more could you want from a comedy film? Tons of quotability. Awesome performance by Wil Ferrel as Mugatu "I'm sorry, did my pin get in the way of your ENORMOUS ASS!" :D And a cameo by David Bowie. I liked it. It managed to combine plenty of cheap laughs with a pretty decent plot. I'll never tire of watching it.
I know popularity and greatness have little relation, but I did specify "Films so good I would heartily recommend them under the impression that you too would like them." Purposely trying to avoid films that I love that others would think sucks. (Bloodsport, Fortress, Doom, Princess Bride, Total Recall, Batman Begins, Withnail and I, The Big Lebowski, Clockwork Orange, Saw, Hellraiser, 300, American History X, Scary Movie, Battle Royale, Enemy at the Gates, V for Vendetta, Sexy Beast). The list is endless and I could only pick 20. So I guess I chose the twenty that not only had all the hallmarks of a great film but that also had appeal to people other than me. :P