A General Best of List...

I could not in any conscience put anything else at the top of the list, for children of my generation Star Wars is the definitive action entertainment sci-fi blockbuster summer movie spectacular... come to think of it for other generations too! I put Empire here because it is marginally my favourite in a trilogy that really is just pure story telling joy at it's very very best. Can anyone imagine a world without Star Wars? Even after the inconsistently horrorific prequel trilogy, these movies stand up as the tent pole, the yard stick, the benchmark by which all successful mainstream movies will forever be judged. The magic on display is impossible to replicate (good luck JJ!), the cast, the music, the story telling (so simple, but never has a fairytale been so accurately captured in movie form), the themes of hope, battling against the odds, repression, love, family, and redemption, all classical, all stereotypical, all tap into the fundamental heartbeat of what makes us human. This is legend made real, classic epic poetry on screen, the holy trilogy indeed, and nothing, I mean nothing, will ever ever beat it!

If anyone bothered to read this list from the bottom (sorry, it's a bit of a slog, I know I do waffle), then you may have been wondering where cinema's now most famous monster (discuss) had gone. Well, here it is. It'ss a close call amongst all of my fave movies, and my number 1 has a legitimate argument for being there, as does this film at number 2. Its just so classic. Cameron has become a kind of pariah in a way these days, there are legitimate arguments to suggest that the sheer spectacle of his recent Oscar nominated and winning efforts were empty, poorly scripted effects extravaganza's, all brawn and no brains. They do so well because, well, he's the master of the extravaganza, and he really does do it better than almost anyone, but with Aliens, he did it well, and he married it to a story with characters you cared about, masterminding and creating to a sequel to a movie so very different that the 2 become almost unrecognisable from each other but at the same time, work in perfect tandem when watched back to back. It's masterful he took the haunted house in space story, and married it to Vietnam, made a war in space movie with the same sense of inevitable doom that the first movie had, crafted the same atmosphere, added an extra layer to a mysterious space creature with the addition of the wonderfully designed tribute to Gieger that was the Alien queen, crowbarred in some motivation for a central relationship of the movie between Ripley and Newt (in this case I dont care what anyone says, the Directors Cut is definitely better than the orginal) and made the one and only movie I was too young to see in the cinema that I would give my left testicle to be able to go back and watch there first time round. No other film makes me feel that the way this one does, it must have been a slice of pure cinematic perfection! I can watch this over and over and over again, it's sad, but I really can, it's just so good every time, so quotable, I can remember watching it when i was 11 and genuinely caring what happened to Hicks, Newt, Gorman, the irrascible Vasquez, and of course the great Sigourney herself, Ripley! James Horners music was a mistake he was unable to finish, yet it's been used as an action denouement in more trailers than I care to remember since, it's that effective, and look at what's happened to Cameron since... well, we all know, he's the King of the World now! Just in case those that would argue the first film over this one here, Alien is a mood piece, and terrifying the first time round, but Aliens is the balls out extravaganza that compels you to watch it, and thats why for me, it pips its predecessor by a small margin.

There are 'legitimate' movies with important themes that critics will have you believe are the most important aspects of any artistic craft and worthy of serious reward, and then there are the movies that just entertain you on a fundamental level, and if we are honest with ourselves, these are the ones that often stick with us the most and demand repeat viewings, hence the rather significant grouping at the top of the all time box office earners charts. My top 3 are all the latter kind of movie. With no other comic influenced movies in my top list bar Akira (surprising even myself), the one live action entry sits right near the top of my list. Much like Casino Royale in the Bond run down, this might be because it is more recent and it has yet to wear out it's welcome, but I doubt it. I had been away travelling before I saw this, 6 weeks in SE Asia in a whistlestop tour of Cambodia and Laos. The day after we came back home, my friend and me went to see this in the IMAX. I was jet lagged, unbelievably tired, and totally sure I was going to fall asleep, which i honestly would have done, if it had been anything but this film. It's just soooo good! i never thought after Batman Begins, which was a good but flawed re-invigoration of the Batman franchise, that Nolan quite understood how to truly inject the series with that something special, and I already loved him as a film maker at this point. So what does he do, he wanders off, watches a few Michael Mann movies, has a word with David Goyer and his brother, and reads perhaps the greatest of the Batman graphic novels in The Long Halloween, and boom, out this little gem pops! I sit with many other fans as placing one of the decisive factors in its success firmly at the feet of it's now dead star Mr Ledger, whose Joker here was a total revelation, and juxtaposed his more law abiding nemesis so perfectly that a central relationship in a movie of this scale so powerful as this one was could never possibly fail. This movie stands along with the Matrix as one that just appeals to me on the deepest, most personal level- Batman was always my favourite super hero from a young kid, and this is him done perfectly, it really couldn't get much better than this, the themes, the action, the pace, the poignancy of a city looking for its redeemer only to have him torn down behind the scenes, its powerful mainstream stuff. I don't think time will change my view on this movie, I think it's here to stay, I love it to the bottom of my own dark and twisted soul! If anyone wonders, which they might, why TDKR is not on here, seeing as they are so linked, it's simply because I haven't decided where that stands yet, it is not, as good as this movie, but it is very good, I just haven't decided if I forgive it it's pacing issues yet.

The final Spielberg moment, and its been 20 years, so I think we can now look out of the shadow of his entertainment past and rightfully place this seminal movie where it belongs, as a powerful, intimate, painful piece of classic cinema. The real surprise for many people when watching this I think was how unsympathetic many of the characters were, and how ambiguous Schindler (a never better Neeson) remains throughout the whole film. It's never made entirely clear, or spoon fed to the audience how moral Schindlers reasons for what he did were, ultimately the movie brilliantly places the entire chronicled events down to the idea that it's the results and not the motivations that count, whilst never placing Oscar Schindler on a pedestal as an out and out traditional hero. For Spielberg to have pulled this off at a time when, despite Empire of the Sun and Colour Purple, he was considered a purveyor of sentiment and classic Hollywood feel good schmaltz (there is plenty of evidence previous to this film to suggest this was never the case, but hey ho), was a coup, and is now heralded as the moment Spielberg grew up, and went truly legit as a film maker. Well, gripes about the accuracy of these sentiments aside, he really did step out and away from his comfort zone and created a movie of such power and authenticity, it was impossible not to finally acknowledge him for the genuine cinematic genius behind the camera he now undoubtedly is. this film is one that could and should resonate in the minds and hearts of anyone, its importance as both a record of a horrendous moment in human history, and a tale of human suffering and the triumph of spirit that can pull people through cannot be overstated. Morally it is insistant that this need never have happened, but manages almost to step back and just record the horror without ever commenting on it judgementally (the girl in the red coat is the best example of this). The story and its relevance to the modern day remains poignant, the mistakes of the time that lead to the most brutal acts of genocide the world has ever seen (along with Cambodia and Rwanda), this film shows how horrific, and arbitrary these acts are, and at the same time quietly points a damning finger at anyone who would allow themselves to be blindly lead into such attrocious acts with thought or conscience.

So, into my top 5 (you could potentially switch around any of my top 20 and it would make no difference really), and we have 2 movies by one director who make more appearances on this list than any other. When he's dead, he will be legend, it just happens he's still living and entertaining us and people have yet to realise what a total genius this man is! Steven Spielberg, one half of the pairing that destroyed the dreams of the 70's brat pack, a likely lad geek and wreckless opportunist in his youth, who has carved out more memorable movies in one carreer than any other director might think was in any way fair. Look at the list and its astounding: Duel, this, Close Encounters, ET, Raiders, Temple of Doom, Colour Purple, Empire of the Sun, Last Crusade, Jurassic Park, Schindlers List, Saving Private ryan... etc etc. This was the one that brought him to the attention of the world, and maybe the one he could potentially claim the least credit for in some ways. His cast could not have been more perfect despite their suffering, the movie went wildly over budget (by 3x), Spielberg was young, lost, panicking, with a mechanical shark that wouldnt work (how much that would contribute to the final movie cannot be underestimated), it was dogged with trouble from beginning to end. What resulted was a one of the most entertaining and generally scary mainstream movies ever to be made, and I do not exaggerate. How did it happen, well personally from what i have read, it's largely down to one lady, who in his honest moments Spielberg has often credited, Verna Fields. Without her editing this movie would not have been what it became. Make no bones, Spielberg shot it and provided almost presciently the raw materials, but this film was made in the editing room. It has some of the most memorable filmic moments ever put on celluloid, a score that is so ingrained into the consciousness that it is almost a living embodiment of the creature it represented in this movie, it could replace the defintion of shark in the Oxford English Dictionary! The speech in the middle by Robert Shaw (partially improvised it turned out, though Milius is credited) is a pure moment of cinematic perfection... Hell, you know this film, who doesn't, it's responsible for a generation of wannabe swimmers never setting foot in the sea, how many movies could claim that level of influence!

Not quite the total flop on it's release that Shawshank was, but not far off, this film strangely to me always feels like Se7en's spiritual twin. Both are undeniably richly atmospheric, and shot in such unique ways that they feel almost otherwordly, a dark shadow of the real world we live in, like some kind of hyper-reality. surprisingly, Jeff Cronenwith the cinematographer on this movie, did not work with Fincher on Se7en, though he must have taken some notes form that earlier movie, he however has done pretty much every movie with Fincher since, and feels like a name that should be better known to me, his work is exceptional. As for the film, what can be said about it, it's just a dark comedic classic based on a novel of same name that even the author found it hard not to admit was inferior to the movie it spawned, how rare a feat is that! Brad subverted his own pretty boy persona brilliantly, Ed Norton spent the entire movie seemingly slightly out of control of his own life, and Helena Bonham Carter, well, I didn't like her before, and wouldn't really be able to tell you much about her outside of Tim Burton movies and Potter since, but in this film, wow, she was 100% brilliant! i remember seeing this in a midnight showing at the cinema as a student with my housemate. It was surprisingly full at the time, and the thing that in retrospect summed it up as an experience the most, was that we were laughing out loud throughout the entire movie, and spent most of the night being evil eyeballed by the other patrons who just didnt seem to get the joke. Thats the thing, this movie might well be one of the most perfect dark jokes ever made, a damning endictment of both blindly following social norms, but more poignantly the egotistic and macho posturing, alpha male impulses that drive guys to do the most stupid of things. It's the ultimate 'it's not big, and it's not clever' movie, that winks at you the entire way through, they were all in on the joke, it's just a shame most of the audiences weren't! It's unique, and perfect, from start to finish, and trust me, it is truly a perfect movie, I cannot imagine in what world this story could ever have been made better, done more justice, in any way, from the ground up. When i first saw it I walked away knowing I had seen something special, it's now been (oh boy) 14 years, that feeling has never changed, brilliant, brilliant film making, and I even have a scar on my upper lip in testament to its influence!

Ok, so I'm not sure what I can possibly say about this film that hasn't been said before, but evidence of Spielbergs genius come rarely with more qualification than in the fact that, in an attempt to finally prove that he could bring a film in on time, on budget and with no hiccups (in this case we can ignore a little on set dysentry), he created one of the most iconic and loved movies of all time in a mere 28 days and on a budget that would make big time movie makers of the current era blanche. Add in the fact that as action spectacle it is so good, that you can totaly forgive and ignore the fact that the main character at one point had to have clung on to the outside of a submerged submarine for about 300 miles of underwater travel, and what else can you say. Stone. Cold. Classic. And I swear, that theme tune is so brilliant, so classic, so well known and imprinted on the social consciousness, that you could recognise it just from writing down 'ba da da daaa, da duh daa' on a sheet of paper!

This is my haha movie, and the one that most people reading this would probably exclaim 'WTF, really?!'. Well yes, really. It's an obviously very personal choice, I loved the Star Trek movies as a kid, and though some of them don't stand up these days too well, and my tastes have changed, one thing that hasn't is my out and out love for this film. Whenever I hear arguments about greatest sequels ever made, I don't think The Godfather Part 2, I dont even think a movie that you will see come up later, I think this, because it really is soooo much better than the first movie! Never forgettable characters Kirk, SPock and Bones were never warmer, more touchable and understandable and emotionally engaging than they were in this film, the action was unique, a first, space battles in cosmic opera never bettered on celluloid despite improving effects ever since. The bad guy, a soap star actor in Ricardo Montalban who was just unbelievably brilliant, he's an iconic bad guy of screen, sitting only just below the likes of Darth Vader himself. And the cherry on top, the thing that really elevates it to a special place in movie loving mind? The music. James Horners score illustrates all the right reasons why a good piece of musical scoring can add an extra 25% to the quality of the film, and this is a case in point, its just so good! Some things will always be personal though, this is my most indulgent enntry on this list, its also genuinely one of my all time favourite movies, i truly love it so much I would chase it round the moons of Nibia and through Antaris flame before I would give it up... oooh dear.

There will never be a payoff the likes of which you will get from watching this film. This is the ultimate little movie, grew into an epic monster of critical acclaim movie. When it came out, it was ignored, a Frank Darabont adaptation of one of Stephen Kings lesser known shorts stories, it somehow was utterly dismissed upon release. In a rare case of the Academy almost getting it right, they nominated it for 7 Oscars when nobody knew what it was (it won none, hence almost, this was the best film of that and most years). It grew in reputation, people began to note it and send out the word, 'hey, there's this film, and you know what, it's AMAZING!', and slowly but surely, people took notice and watched it on VHS. These days it consistently and for good reason sits at the top of greatest movies of all time lists, including the user rated IMDB top 250 list on this very site. It is for very good reason. To say too much for those few that havent seen it these days would be to ruin a movie of such organic story telling harmony it could be considered a crime worthy of serious punishment. This isn't a film, its a fable about hope, about belief, about individual responsibility. Its elegiac, its truly beautiful, and it truly is one of those rare movies that deserves a genuine fixed place in the pantheon of greatest movies ever made, it really is that good! And that ending, oh boy that ending, it's giving me goosebumps just thinking about it now... you know what, just too good, waaaay too good.

So what gangster movie could I possibly have considered better than the epic Godfather, why this one of course, what else?! As i mentioned before, I am not Scorceses greatest advocate, but oh my did he nail it with this film! It doesn't have the scope of the Godfather, its focus is on the lower ranks of the Cosa Nostra tree, these guys would have been almost unknown lackies to the mighty Corleones, but all the organisations dirty grunt work is seen here by the mildly sociopathic members of a little New York crime family. Pileggi wrote the story based on Henry hills life, and Scorcese took that story, cast it perfectly, and directed the socks off it- there are too many moments to recall, its a movie that stands as one iconic moment after another, be it improvised speeches about clowns by the incomparable Joe Pesci as Tommy De Vito, or that steady cam shot through the kitchen, into the club and onto the table, a reminder of the seduction that the life style held for those that got involved, but for me, the real moment is a little one, a reminder of a screen icons ability to do so much with so little. The camera slowly zooms into Robert De Niro smoking at a bar, he's angry, he's annoyed, Sunshine of your Love plays in the background, and we slowly watch his face as he realises all he has to do, is whack the idiots that threaten to get him caught after the then biggest heist in history. It s the greatest moment of genius in a movie peppered with them, and it will always leave a weird taste in the mouth when you look at awards season 1991, and think Dances With Wolves... REALLY!!

This film shouldn't be this watchable, it really shouldn't. It's characterisations are more than a little cliche'd even some 50 years ago, it's villains are almost all a bit cartoony, and the gung-ho break out story is played almost like a pro-allies propoganda movie designed to galvanise the war effort against those dastardly evil Nazi fellas rather than any kind of accurate record of both a very brave, and very tragic attempt by the RAF prisoners of war to break free from a german concentration camp specifically designed for them deep in Nazi German territory. what we end up with is a long, utterly compelling, watchable masterpiece of pure entertainment cinema, whose characters, feel, look, subject matter and music are now indelibly part of our psyche. Who doesn't know that most famous of movie theme tunes the moment those dreams roll at the beginning and the horns start to blare? Who can't name the 3 tunnels the airmen dug to escape to freedom? Who doesn't remeber that motor cycle chase at the borders of Siwtzerland, and the image of a future legendary screen icon, perma-trapped in his cell of isolation, bouncing that baseball gainst the wall and plotting yet another 'great escape'? Some films are iconic in an individual taste sense, this film is socially iconic, its part of all of us, it's movie lore, and gung-ho or not, if it isn't just utterly and undeniably fantstic!

When Ridley gets it wrong, he creates empty, well designed pieces of cinema tedium, when he gets it right, we end up with rich, evocative, multi-layered and langorous pieces of cinema beauty. Bladerunner is the epitome of the 2nd type. He had not long directed his 2nd film, a little film about a slightly nasty Xenomorph on a space ship, and possibly inspired by such succeses he stayed in the genre and chose to adapt a little short story about androids dreaming of electric farmyard animals. What followed was the slow burn creation of a future master piece, that would take the best part of a decade to come together in the form that worked the best. Ford famously hated the journey and disagreed with his director on key plot points, Rutger Hauer was able to convince the world he could act (off the back of this performance and that improvised speech, who can blame anyone for being fooled), and a horrible voiceover (controversial? Discuss) meant that on the original release, the film totally bombed. But then it blossomed. VHS was reasonably new at the time and the film found a lease of life on the home medium, and later, a directors cut (proving Ridley often does know best!) lead to a final cut of a movie that turned from well designed but not living up to potential, to full blown piece of major cinema history. I saw this in the cinema on a Warners 75th anniversary re-release in its directors cut format, and you know what, it stands up today, its absolutely stunning. A perfect film, a great ending, a wonderful moment in cinema history, and a living testament to the fact that both studios, and as it happens audiences, can be idiots unless they are spoon fed, to think this classic movie almost died and disappeared!

Lauded at the time as a brilliantly original and atmospheric piece of horror/crime/thriller cinema (sound like Silence of the Lambs there a bit?), by a director whose first studio outing had been an unpleasant mess of an experience (Alien 3), but whom none the less, had shown a serious potential when it came to eye for atmosphere and pacing, Seven burned through the cinemas back in 1995 and left an indelible mark on the minds of any of us lucky enough to have seen this on the big screen. It's a genuine masterpiece of atmospheric movie making, beautifully shot in an anonymous perma-rain city, with a tone of despair and desperation that never alleviates. The world weary detective sick of the moral decay around him trudges emotionlessly through the story, dragged back to some sense of emotional reality and humanity by his new firebrand partner and in particular by the wife who can't adjust to the new city around her. It's real masterstroke, and the thing that many would be immitators didn't seem to realise was that the brutality of the killer in this movie was only ever shown in the final horrific results, but we never saw any of this happening at the time, it was all left to the imagination. Fincher obviously had taken a few tips from some earlier movies regarding that little gem of a deceipt (see a certain Spielberg movie later in the list), but what we ended up with was a relentlessly terrifying and creepy movie, whose murderer wins, that scares to death and results in one of the most perfect serial killer horror movies made. Fincher has since continued to excel as a director, but has never quite managed to hit the heights he hit with Se7en... bar one more time.... (and for all those of you that debated what was in the box at the end, it's bloody obvious, don't be dense!).

14 years ago, the movie going public around the world were waiting in unrestrained desperate anticipation of the release of a major sci-fi event, and the world had gone crazy waiting for the new classic to come out. Unfortunately all of the disappointing Phantom Menaces thunder was utterly stolen from underneath George Lucas' billion dollar shoes, by this Warners release of a 'little' groundbreaking science fiction brain buzzing philosophically testy teaser that really did shake the world and redefined action blockbuster cinema. Nobody saw this coming. I saw this with a group of friends, another person desperately anticipating the Star Wars movie, but who had been drawn to this from the early trailers and had my curiosity peaked. When we walked out of that cinema, a friend turned to me and said 'I bet YOU f*&kin loved that!'. He knew the Wachowski brothers had done gone ripped a movie straight out of my very own head like a couple of devious little mind theives! I do not begrudge them in the slightest, and all I will say about this film is this, it's something I would have come up with, because it's something I know i love, and I love The Matrix, it's totally a 'me' film, my mate was utterly right. Oh and for you naysayers out there, Reloaded was in my opinion, a fantastic movie too, which truly upped the ante in many ways, but Revolutions was most ceratinly a cop out, it's this though that is the classic, and it's hard to believe in retrospect that anyone could have thought Lucas' pet project could ever have been this good!

For many this film sits at the top of the lists or there about, this or it's oft considered better sequel/continuation (it's this one that has the heart, the 2nd is great, but it's colder and less accessible). Stangely enough, and possibly controversially, this is not even the top gangster film here, let alone movie, but make no mistake, there is no doubting this movies place in the pantheon of undoubted movie classics. It is cunningly crafted by then rookie director FFC, astoundly shot and lit (the cinematography is sumptuous and perfect), has a cast that really should grace anyones lists of best ensemble movie casts in history, and has at it's heart, 2 of the greatest screen actors of all time in Brando and Pacino. You could validly claim it almost glorifies the mafia (that at least the 2nd film doesn't do), and paints obviously very bad people as somehow morally righteous, but it is just an example of synygous film making, where everything came together to work in a near perfect harmony. i suppose you could put the 2nd film in there with this, and much can be said for the underrated 3rd, but it's this one, with the most indelible and iconic imagery and scripting, that has to sit here as a true film masterpiece.

Miyazaki is in my mind, not appreciated enough here in West away from Japan, and that is despite awards aplenty. Maybe it is because of that natural Japanese predeliction for not making stories that arent immediately standard in structure. Or maybe it's that Japanses culture is somewhat different from our own and character reactions and interactions make less sense to us in comparison to what we are used to. Either way, our inability to appreciate cultural cinema on a mass scale seems to have deprived many people of the chance to see this, this beautiful, haunting, dreamlike piece of animation. It's heart is carried by a small girl and is the size of a planet, its imagination is unique and compelling, perfect fairy tale material with both horror and wonder in equal measure. It captures the true nature of a childs curiosity and spirit, and her ability to stumble and push towards a goal whilst never truly examining or second guessing her actions as she goes. This film truly touched me, on a very sincere and deep level, I was washed away and totally immersed in it's alien wonder and its surprising complexities. A truly, mesmerically beautiful piece of animated story telling, please, just watch it.

The 3rd, and final Michael Mann movie on this list, and one that, if you were to tell a 17 year old me back in '95 having just watched this movie, that I would have ended up rating it right near the top of my greatest movies of all time, I would have said something very unrepeatable and told you go leave, impolitely and in a very Bobby De Niro kind of way. I hated it the first time, and I mean truly hated it! I can't even remember what compelled me to watch it a second, fate maybe, but thus followed possibly one of the biggest turnarounds in opinion I maybe have ever made in my life, because low and behold, I suddenly spent 3 hours immersed in what is THE greatest cops and robbers movie ever made, with compelling and immersive character work, a much lauded meeting between 2 screen acting legends that was so wonderfully underplayed in a coffee shop that it was worth every penny of the admittance, a series of set pieces so brilliantly choreographed they rate up there as some of the most authentic in movie history (THAT shoot out!), and an ending that is both moving, emotionally ambiguous (for the leads), and makes you hope every sinlge time that one of the characters makes just a slightly different choice! I was rooting for the bad guy in this in a way I usually never do I have to admit, but there was no bad guy, the 2 main characters were mirror images of each other, it's just brilliantly written and played out cinema, and it never gets tired. Michael Manns masterpiece to this day, and thats despite some fantastic films since!

Speak to a lot of people, bring up this movie, and if they are from a certain generation, it has an automatic spot in their top movies list. Why does it appeal so much? Well forgetting the snappy and infintely quotable dialogue, the anarchic but desirable lifestyle and attitude of the principal antagonist (Swayze in by far and away a career best), some great support actors around the leads, and a role that allowed Keanu to be as cardboard as he liked and still work and you have yourself a seminal piece of early 90's action cinema with a pseudo philosophical heart! My mates and I were obsessed with this film at college, and I can happily put this on and know for 2 hours, I will be again immersed in some serious wish fulfillment cinema that makes me yearn and feel great in equal measures. My life and this movie have a symbiotic relationship, it's simplistic themes no matter how cheesily portrayed just do and always will appeal to my inner teen, and if you were to ask me now, would i want to live this life in this movie, hell yes I would, it would be AWESOME!

It's hard to describe the effect this movie had in the cinema, it's one of those seared memories I will never forget. I went to see it with a very good friend of mine, having read much of the pre-release build up and knowing to expect something visceral and compelling. We could never have been prepared, and in a packed cinema, neither were the couple of hundred other people that were there watching it with us. It's easy to dismiss this now as a slightly jingoistic effort from Spielberg, but ignore the unnecessary and schmaltzy bookends, and you may never see a visually more accurate film as to what it might be like to be in the middle of a chaotic, and arbitrary war. Spielberg had found legitimacy 5 years earlier with Schindlers List, and was in no mood to go back to comfortable summer movie fair (Ok so he did The Lost World before this, but he'd taken 4 years off and many think that was an easy bit of practice after some time off), so he hit us all with this, one of the most searingly eviscerating pieces of war cinema you could likely ever see. We all filed out of that cinema in '98 in total and utter silence, shocked into respect for anyone that had lived through that horrendous war. It's as powerful movie making as you could hope to see, and ignoring the ever so slightly egoistic (nationally speaking) writing, it is a true modern masterpiece.

For not the first time in movie discussion, I find myself often on my own regarding this movie, both in it's place compared to the orginal, and its status as a sequel. First, it most certainly IS a sequel, part or not, there was no design for this movie until the success of the first film and no story ready either, its a sequel, and not the best ever made in my mind, simply because it is, despite popular opinion inferior to its prodgenator. It's still inescapably a brilliant piece of movie making, rich, deep, complex, supremely acted in every way, but there is no escaping that it doesn't have the heart, the visceral jump off the screen punch that the first film has. Pacino has never been better in any role he's had than here, his moral degredation palpably evolves on screen in front of our eyes, and it's masterful understated performance. It also has one of the truly great Godfather moments in the build up to the assassination of Michaels older brother, a painful and almost horrific thing to watch. In fact there are many seminal moments, in this, much like the first, but its coldness, the naked detachment of it (undeniably matching the moral degredation of its main character) leaves it behind the original in my mind, it feels like a cold documentary record more than an immersive piece of story telling in comparison. Despite all that I sound like I am down on this movie, but look at it's place here, despite all this, this movie is without a doubt, a classic piece of filmmaking, and sits up there as one of the greatest movies of all time in my mind regardless.

Back in '97 one film busted open the foundations of Hollywood by making never before seen sums of money at the box office and defying troubled production norms by becoming the biggest movie of all time. It's a shame really that it almost completely over shadowed this far superior Curtis Hanson effort that made famous 2 now hollywood stalwarts, earned an Oscar for an actress that by all rights had never and would never be this good before or since, and was written so well as to take a dense novel that almost couldnt be filmed and make it structurally perfect whilst staying totally faithful to the feel of the book. It's a triumph, should have been the '97 best picture Oscar winner over Titanic, and if you ever needed evidence why people thought Russel Crowe could be so good, then this is it. the 90's was actually a good decade for movies, with some genuine classics coming from that era as far as I'm concerned, this is one of them, if you haven't already, go get it and watch it, magnetic viewing!

It starts to get much more difficult from here on, so the order could possibly be played with a touch, but any who have seen this movie and remember watching it for the first time all those years ago back in '95, you know why it's here. Strangely the script makes no sense, it actually falls apart under the weight of its own deceptive heart, but oh boy do you not care when you watch it! It's hard to remember that Bryan Singer made his name off this movie, Spacey, Del Toro, Byrne, Pollack, and... Baldwin! Stephen Baldwin?!! Could he be this good in a movie??? Turns out just the once he could, what a film, what a twisty turny crimey wimey wonderful duplicitous masterwork of imagination! Spacey won the Oscar as support, and possibly rightly so for that revelation alone, but it was a shout out to everyone as a cast. I can't tell you how much I love this movie... in fact, am gonna put it on now!

am not really in general a great advocate of old school classics, in my opinion many old movies that were great have often been done better in some way since, and being the first to do something ground breaking is not always a valid reason for still being great now. Forget that with this movie though, I absolutely adore it, as a slice of period nostalgia, an intimate and melancholy portrayal of sad lives colliding and bouncing off each other, and a tribute to a everybodies favourite pub activity... Paul Newman could well be my favourite movie star of all time, the guy could act, he was generous to a fault with his co-stars if you believe what you read, but he had that presence that compelled you to watch him. The story of a pool hustler who just cant allow himself to grab the greatness his talents demand, and the disperate relationship he builds with Piper Lauries alcoholic oportunistic and slightly deranged (emotionally) mistress is a perfect marriage of dramatic beats both intimate and exciting, and despite Lauries ocassional push into melodrama at times, its superbly acted across the board, and none better than the all encompassing presence of George C. Scott, whose Bert is as slimy, manipulative, and immoral as you'd ever meet, and dangerous in all the right ways, it's an epic performance, in a film that deserves to be remembered as film making at its 60's best.

I think there might not be a better example of patient, intelligent, purposeful filmmaking on this list. Alien is an obvious triumph in design, and large proportion of its unique appeal is in the work now famously done by Gieger in the original art work for not just the now iconic creature (never better realised than right here in the original), but in the space jockey, the alien space ship, the eggs themselves and the also iconic facehugger. It drips originality, the living bio-mechanoid work he was so obsessed with brought to life on the big screen, and the visceral terror that this film engenders is in large part down to those perfect pieces of design work. This film would make the list for no other reason alone than the chestburster scene, an uncomfortable, terrifying violation that is filmed so realistically (the cast were famously not let in on the joke), that its horror becomes magnified 10 fold. Its a brilliant, slow paced, journey of spine creeping horror, not as visceral as its gung ho sequel, but chilling and elegiac. Ridley was at his most patient filming this movie, he crafted it, carefully coaxed the maximum amount of fear he could from its bare story, and oh man was he successful. Oh, and watch it in its original widescreen format if you can, you wouldn't believe what a series of open doors in the background behind characters can do to increase the natural terror quotient!

It's really hard to imagine that people would be unfamiliar with this film, perhaps the greatest exponent of Hollywood action cinema ever made, and easily one of the most influential in terms of sheer copycat STV rip-offs it has spawned since. Bruce Willis was famously a romantic serial actor best known for his chemistry with star Cybil Shepherd in Moonlighting, with one comdedic movie role to his credit in Blind Date, so to pick him as the star of this major action tentpole was a retrospectively bizarre choice that paid off in spades! Add in Alan rickman in iconic bad guy mode, a series of set pieces birlliantly linked to one another and some genuine family tension, and there you have it, a classic movie, bizarrely a Christmas fave (its set at Christmas and ends on the ole Let it Snow), and the launch of one of modern Hollywoods biggest stars. What's not to love!

I mentioned this movie in my graphic novel adaptations list, and strangely it features here when some above it in that list don't, which would be hard to explain in some circumstances, but that list was written in terms of standards of adaptation, whereas this is more just about the quality of the movie, and Akira as a movie, oozes relevance, era defining quality. I won't write too much, check the other list, but this isn't great animated cinema, it's just plain great movie making.

It was so tough placing this movie, a few years back it could easily have ended up top 10 at least, but it's been a while since I saw it and memory can fade. Eastwood went legit with this film. Yes yes he had directed successfully before, Play Misty for Me is possibly one of the most assured opening films of an actor turned director you could see, and High Plains Drifter has a certain allegorical charm. He nursed the script for this one for years though supposedly, and you can see why, it proved his smarts in a way being a mayor never could. Its the man with no name, forced to face his mortality, morally drawn towards redemption, losing his anchor to a world he hoped might be possible, unable to escape his own fundamental nature. Perfect, brilliant, written like a dream and almost so anti-Hollywood that if they hadn't been so set on rewarding the critical legitimisation of one of their great box office stars, they may have stopped for a second and baulked at what he created. This film shattered the foundations of modern Hollywood, Westerns as agenre had built the towering edifice, this film, by a star that had made his name in them, laid a charge under those foundations and blew them all to hell. Searing film making that needs to be remembered for what it really is, the destruction of a myth.

Ridley shook the world and got shafted by Oscar the year before for Gladiator (Soderburgh for Traffic, who mentions that movie now ever?!), but this film here, possibly too American for an international audience, was the one where he demonstrated what a multi genre master director he truly was. Its a visceral slice of war, and in this case, seemingly pointless war, where things that could go wrong went wrong, it captures the motivations of a soldier perfectly, don't ask but look after those next to you, and in a way that only Saving Private Ryan otherwise has, gave you a small taste of what it might actually be like to be inside combat- arbitrary, chaotic, unimaginable. It is brilliantly constructed, non-stop action cinema, sometimes confusing, with a score by Zimmer that matches the visuals almost perfectly. Me and my brother joke about this film, if we stumble across it on, we cannot stop watching it, wherever it is in the film, through to the end. It could easily be dismissed as loud gung ho military movie making, for that go watch GI Jane, if you want to get a taste of what our soldiers do in the modern world when sent abroad to fight, I think you might be hard pressed to find a better representation than this film!

Any respectable film fan who knows the name John Woo but possibly only knows him as a Hollywood action director who has since disappeared back overseas, should be forced into his extensive back catalogue to watch many of his great HK movies, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer... and then this. Despite many attempts since, this film may well be the single craziest, balls to the wall, nutty shoot out movie you could ever hope to see, with a body count right up there with the best of them! If an innocent bystander happens by in this movie, they will end up a human shield for someone in a ballistic shoot out in which ammunition and reloading are almost arbitrary unless they add an in your face dramatic pulse. Its just awesome action cinema, with 2 totally magnetic Chinese leads in Fat and Yeung, and everytime I have seen it, all I really think is that this, this film, this little crazy adrenaline fueled piece of mayhem is the film that all other action movies wish they were. Yup, its that good.

Tarantino's second entry in my list, and many might ask, why this one? Well, it's hard to justify in many ways, I loved Reservoir Dogs for what it was, subversive and creative independent cinema. Pulp Fiction is overrated in my opinion, an actually rather nasty and immoral piece of movie making that somehow grates as totally wrong for me. JB, great character work, and Inglorious Basterds may genuinely make a list like this down the line I wont deny. So Kill Bill, why huh? Simple really, it's just perfect at being what it is. It has no doubts about it's identity as a movie. It demonstrates purely that Quentin truly is a genre fan of the highest order, but it was the movie he demonstrated that not only did he appreciate cinema of yesteryear, but he could tribute it, and yet somehow, through some mysterious symbiosis, do it better! I saw this late, missed the first run and went and saw it at an independent cinema in London when I had the chance, I fell in love there and then, and that's despite not liking Uma much. I love it, for me it will always be his atmospheric young child in heart movie loving tribute king best, and frankly, he's just carried on being great since, its the beating heart of his back catalogue, and I hope he never forgets the bride, her introduction to the world will never be forgotten by me.

So, here is the other same story movie in this list, the HK original that Scorcese so skilfully brought to the big screen in 2006 with The Departed. It's hard to believe in retrospect that it was only 4 years between the release of this film and its Hollywood remake- it seemed at the time that Infernal Affairs had caused such a stir that Hollywood had it on it's remake radar for years, but it was only 4. The reason this goes higher, other than being the first of course is simple, it's just more pure. For what is a surprisingly short runtime, it seems to fit in 2 lifetimes of duplicity, juxtapose their contrasting circumstances, connect them in a way that makes them almost brothers, provide some rich support, and craft a final act that is pure payoff with no sentimentality attached at all. It is brutal in a way Hollywood can rarely stand to attempt, more real and authentic, perfectly paced, with a score that is anamorphic, shifting to suit the scene with no discernible motif to connect each moment. It's brilliant movie making, made more impressive by the fact that Andy Lau the director, was also Andy Lau the actor, in a way that Hollywood likes to reward (Warren Beaty, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson), he made creating a seminal movie and starring in it at same time look like a walk in the park! If you haven't seen this, watch it, and if you can it's exceelent sequels (especially the second), and remind yourself that we here in the west can sometimes be very easily outdone by our Eastern cousins.

I refused to acknowledge The Bourne Identity for the longest time, I hated Go by Doug Liman, a film forgotten now but loved in a trendy momentary way at the time, so when he brought Robert Ludlums amnesiac spy to the big screen the first time round I was sceptical, so I went and saw Damons best friends rival movie Sum of All Fears instead. Good move. The books are great, the films, except for the first one bare little resemblance, but oh my are they some of the most compelling action cinema you could see. I'm not sure if it's Damon's complete and utter conviction in the role, the quite simply brilliant work by John Powell who scored all the first 3 movies, or the wonderful step up the films took when Peter Greengrass stepped in and brought hand held shaky cam to the franchise. I love these movies, they are influential, taught, well paced roller-coaster action films with some smarts that grab you by the buster browns and don't let go, getting better and better as they go, almost purer in a sense as they went on. I put the final part of the trilogy here, but really its just a shout to the whole trilogy, all three films in one spot, all Jason Bourne, all Damon, I can seriously watch these over and over, they are my Star Wars as an adult movies... is that a giveaway for later?