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All Time Favourites
Metropolis History Is Made At Night Casablanca Things To Come The Phantom Of The Opera (Lon Chaney) Somewhere In Time Frankenstein (Karloff) Crime Without Passion Close Encounters Of The Third Kind House Of Games visit FJA's
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It's A Wonderful Life (Frank Capra. Often copied, never bettered) Yellow Submarine Clockwork Orange Young Frankenstein The Man Who Would Be King American Graffiti Raiders Of The Lost Ark Back To The Future Brazil Beetlejuice
Peeping Tom (Michael Powell) - voyeur The Haunting (Robert Wise) - scary Blade Runner (Ridley Scott) - cool androids Eraserhead (David Lynch) - weird Cat People (Val Lewton) - erotic Despair (Fassbinder) - gloomy Death in Venice (Visconti) - Dirk Bogarde The Nightmare Before Christmas (Tim Burton) - best Christmas film ever The Pillow Book (Peter Greenaway) - person as book Roma (Fellini) - catacombs, racing around Rome on motorbikes
Blade Runner Excellent vision of the future without the usual aseptic whiteness of previous SF films. Yes we'll have all sorts of wonderful technology in the future, but things get dirty in more than one sense. This was quite simply a brilliant film Excalibur I often have to click scenes of this through a frame at a time so's I can savour some moments: the scene where the sword is cast back into the lake - for a moment it is caught and held perfectly vertical, the bloated sun off-centre, the surface of the lake a mirror; Sir Percival's horse rearing on the beach in lurid sunset as Arthur's body is taken away; the gruesome bit where Arthur hauls himself up Mordred's spear to complete the embrace with Excalibur. Of course, while I watch this the volume has to at its highest, especially when Arthur and his knights ride out through the orchards to do battle Aliens I've always preferred the second film despite the silly big guns they lug about. The first film was spoilt for me by watching it with someone who found it amusing to say, "You'll like this" at all the critical moments. Anyway, in the second film you saw more of the aliens and weren't disappointed, and, to be honest, they're the stars of the show Conan The Barbarian I'd seen Schwarzenegger long before he became known to the film-going public. He was the creation of the artist who did the covers of the Robert E. Howard books I read as a teenager. There was this sword-wielding guy with an improbable physique. Who'd have thought a person looking like that would ever exist? This film was precisely in the spirit of those books. The scenes that had previously only been pictured in my imagination were there on the screen Terminator Alright, so I like the 'human special effect'. Here is a classic time travel SF plot, non-stop action, and good acting all around. Yes, I mean that. I refuse to succumb to the snobbery usually displayed in this type of list. I don't know any obscure French film directors of some black and white boring bullshit The Day The Earth Stood Still Yeah, black and white. Here is an example of plot and acting outweighing special effects. I eagerly await the Hollywood remake when they completely fuck it up. It's a shame that now film makers have the ability to actually show us what we could previously only imagine that they seem to forget the importance of the story Legend I think this film for the witch and the devil alone. I think the witch's line: "Come here juicy boy" telegraphed her intentions, though. Atmospheric. A real fairy tale Pulp Fiction This film has to be there simply because of the dialogue. Though Quentin Tarantino has a tendency to like his gore (who am I to talk?), this film had real wit. That first conversation between the two heavies immediately made me sit up and think 'here's something different' Dune You can't make a film of a book that size. The best SF films often come from short stories (Blade Runner, Total Recall... I wish more filmmakers would realise this, turn to some of the brilliant short SF stories that have been produced, then have a stab at originality instead of remaking crap). But this film was certainly in the spirit of the book and can stand alone 2010 I thought 2001 a bit of a drag, even at the time, but this follow-up I thought was excellent even though it is referential. There are bits in this that definitely send a shiver up the spine
(in descending order) Conan The Barbarian (1981) The Sword And The Sorcerer (1982) Lord Of The Rings (1979) Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain (1981) Hundra (1984) The Beastmaster (1982) Conan The Destroyer (1984) Willow (1988) Dragonslayer (1981) She (1983)
Mask Of Satan (1961) Dracula (1958) - Hammer Venus In Furs - (1969) - Franco Day Of The Dead (1985) Deep Red (1975) The Wicker Man (1973) Curse Of The Dead (1966) - Bava Stagefright - Soavi Curse Of The Demon (1957) Blood & Black Lace (1964) - Bava (Andy Black is the editor of Necronomicon and author of
The Dead Walk.)
(excluding Civil War-westerns; in no particular order) Apocalypse Now Come And See Zulu Battle Of The Bulge Fix Bayonet! The Train 36 Hours Went The Day Well? Lessons Of Darkness They Were Expendable
(in no particular order) The Black Cat (Ulmer) White Zombie A Fragment Of Fear Gun Crazy Silver Lode The Frighteners Screamers Destroy All Monsters Photographing Fairies The Whistler Of course, it could be a whole different story tomorrow.
(in no particular order) Pulp Fiction From Dusk Till Dawn The Blair Witch Project The Breakfast Club Seven Boogie Nights The Matrix Desperado Trainspotting Star Wars
(in no particular order) Delicatessen Blade Runner Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown Life Of Brian Pulp Fiction Brazil Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying Carnival Of Souls Being There
Alice - by Jan Svankmajer, very scary rabbit, disturbingly unaffected central lead, general weirdness and hand animated joy. Planet Of The Apes - as a kid, you know, this was a must see, well, you could see it almost annually in my TV region anyway. Betty Blue - there is something strangely tasteless about the X-rated hype for this film, it is a good adult story, the censors are idiots. Akira - I nearly forgot how superb this Japanese film is. Soundtrack rocks. Use of 3D in cellscape, rocks. Rocks! Tetsuo 2 - forget the black and white homoerotic excesses of the first film and enjoy the subtle colour artistry of this classic. Blade Runner - 'he say you brade mister decker ... tell him I'm eating ... Bryant toka ... Bryant, huh ... Christ, was a corker. Nekromantic 1 & 2 - bit naughty, bit freaked out, bit touching, remember to take your strongest stomach. Pi - I got ants in my f***ing CPU, G****it, nurse where's my mind! Oh, thanks, for the millions of dollar chipset, away religious nuts. Barton Fink - don't expect to write for the Hollywood studios and stay sane, reminds one of Solaris somehow. Street Of Crocodiles - full of loss and imprisonment, amazing haunting gruesome pulled focus, screw unwinding extravaganza from the Brothers Quay.
Vampyr (1932) - Carl Dreyer The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari Nosferatu (1922) - the original by Murnau 2001: A Space Odyssey Metropolis - Fritz Lang Frankenstein - the original Karloff version The Wolf Man (1941) - Waggner The Hunger Barbarella - don't laugh, I find moments of genuine wonder For what it's worth my main criteria is how effectively a sense of the numinous, of otherness, is evoked. Obviously from above I tend to go for older films - I find film something of a 'cluttered' medium, and older films, especially silent, have a stylised focus which I find lends itself to suggestion of the ineffable
The Belles Of St Trinians Mrs Doubtfire Private Benjamin Carry On Up The Khyber The Titchfield Thunderbolt Smokey And The Bandit Babe Confessions Of A Window-Cleaner Where's That Fire My Fair Lady
King Kong Whistle Down The Wind Jason And The Argonauts Goldfinger 2001: A Space Odyssey Solaris La Belle Et La Bete Spartacus The Music Box - Laurel and Hardy Pas de Deux - Norman McLaren
(not necessarily in any particular order) Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell proved that horror and slapstick can work) Night Of The Living Dead The Haunting (original - to me the best ghost story ever given life on film) The Birds (I've never looked at our feathered friends the same since) A Nightmare On Elm Street (I saw this on opening night with only 10 people in the theatre. Scared the shit out of me) Alien (the marriage of Horror and Sci-Fi to perfection) War Of The Worlds (even today the film and FX still hold up) Suspiria (Dario's masterpiece) The Omen (Evil has a cute little face)
(in no particular order) The Terminator Terminator 2: Judgment Day The Matrix Alien Aliens Alien 3 Alien Resurrection Titanic The Abyss Interview With The Vampire
Shindler's List Saving Private Ryan Once Upon A Time In The West The Good, The Bad And The Ugly The Terminator Aliens Titanic Platoon Casino Life of Brian
(in no particular order, today's choices!) 1984 (any version) - a favourite book, so the TV play is as good the films Modern Times (1936) - the classic Chaplin, accept no substitute Laura (1944) - guess who what when where why and how, then guess again Repo Man (1984) - bizarre cross-genre mix of themes, with attitude Pulp Fiction (1994) - whimsy as Art, Tarantino's finest two and a half hours Singin' In The Rain (1952) - the only musical worth watching, a masterpiece The Hot Spot (1990) - just when we thought Dennis Hopper was all washed up Psycho (1960) - Hitchcock's best, the most influential film of all time Cool Hand Luke (1967) - you'll never eat boiled eggs again The Wild Bunch (1969) - Peckinpah's best, the definitive western
King Kong (1933) Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Dracula (1958) The Phantom of the Opera (1925) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) Black Sunday (1960) The Thing from Another World (1951) The Wolf Man (1941) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) Cat People (1942) Stephen Jones is the winner of two World Fantasy Awards, three Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Awards and two International Horror Guild Awards, as well as being a Hugo Award nominee and a twelve-times recipient of the British Fantasy Award. One of Britain's most acclaimed anthologists of horror and dark fantasy, he is also a genre film publicist and consultant. His latest book is The Essential Monster Movie Guide, from which the above list is chosen, published by Titan Books in the UK and forthcoming from Billboard Books in the USA this Halloween. visit Steve's
website
The Haunting Paths Of Glory Lolita Dr Strangelove Blade Runner Death In Venice The Raven (with Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, Boris Karloff) Ed Wood (with Johnny Depp) Screamers ('Second Variety') A Boy And His Dog
(in no particular order) O Lucky Man Theatre Of Blood Dr Strangelove Flesh For Frankenstein For Your Height Only Adventures Of Barry McKenzie Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls Dolemite Straw Dogs The Good The Bad And The Ugly visit Andrew's online movie magazine
Trash
Confidential
(in no particular order) Gone With The Wind (1939) Singing In The Rain (1952) The 39 Steps (1959) Top Hat (1939) The King And I (1956) High Noon (1952) High Society (1956) Goodbye Mr Chips (1939) Gunga Din (1939) How Green Was My Valley (1941)
(in alphabetical order) Blade Runner (1982) - a masterpiece, it does not get any better than this Enter the Dragon (1973) - simply the best ever Martial Arts movie, starring its greatest exponent, Bruce Lee Excalibur (1981) - timeless classic fantasy of the Arthurian legend, powerful performances accompanied by a powerful score The Exorcist III (1990) - save this horror treat till Halloween, possibly the only film ever to scare me Fight Club (1999) - cult stuff this, still freshly burned into my mind and so a current top ten title, don't knock it till you've seen it The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) - love westerns, especially the 'spaghetti' variety, but this tops the lot in style Highlander (1986) - fast fantasy, a few flaws (wires), but a favourite of mine The Matrix (1999) - movie of the millennium, the effects set a new standard and the story; could just be true? The Terminator (1984) - big Arnie at his best, guns galore, unsurpassed SF action The Thing (1982) - faultless realtime SF horror, alone with an alien monster and no one to trust, nightmare stuff
(in alphabetical order) A Better Tomorrow (1986) - vintage John Woo and the start of a trilogy. Chow Yun-fat has rarely been this good in the acting stakes. Black Rain (1989) - Ridley Scott's modern day Blade Runner? Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia are superb here, taking on Yakuza killers. Johnny Handsome (1989) - has great cast: Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Morgan Freeman, Forest Whitaker, Lance Henriksen... need I go on? The Killer (1989) - okay it's John Woo, again. Can't argue with his style. The Long Good Friday (1981) - Bob Hoskins rules ok! Helen Mirren is brilliant, too. Married To The Mob (1988) - comedy with Michelle Pfeiffer as a redhead, plus Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell and one of the Baldwin brothers - all on good form. Some very funny moments! Outland (1981) - setting may be one of Jupiter's moons, but themes of corruption and hired killers are very earthbound. I like this for Sean Connery's space cop, Frances Sternhagen's unpretentious doc, and the action. The Punisher (1989) - well... I like all that barmy Yakuza stuff, and was a fan of the Marvel comic. Lundgren fits the vigilante title role perfectly. The Untouchables (1987) - yes, this truly is one of the greatest! Essential viewing. Year Of The Dragon (1985) - probably Michael Cimino's best film... John Lone is excellent.
(in order of importance) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Blade Runner (1982) Dune (1984) The Thing (1982) Forbidden Planet (1956) Videodrome (1982) Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) Altered States (1980) Alien (1979) RoboCop (1987) As the majority of contributors to this page have noted, it's extremely difficult to compile a list of favourite films! I found it hard to exclude Star Trek: The Motion Picture, John Woo's Face/Off, and The Matrix from the above list. ST:TMP would have made one space film too many, and although I've seen the last two several times now, I'm not sure that charges of "style over content" are entirely unfounded.
(in no particular order) Death In Venice Eraserhead The Innocents (Deborah Kerr version) Picnic At Hanging Rock The Thing (John Carpenter) The Piano Koyaanisqatsi Cat People (Val Lewton) Blade Runner The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (Charles Laughton)
Gladiator Braveheart Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring Oh Brother Where Art Thou? The 13th Warrior Rob Roy The Matrix The Fifth Element Conan The Barbarian honorable mentions: The Cell (with Jennifer Lopez), any 'James Bond' movie.
Unforgiven Blazing Saddles The Good, The Bad And The Ugly The Outlaw Josey Wales High Plains Drifter The Sons Of Katie Elder Support Your Local Gunfighter McLintock The Mask Of Zorro (the Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones version) Lonesome Dove honorable mentions to Young Guns and Young Guns II
Paris, Texas Wings of Desire Aliens 2001: A Space Odyssey The King Of New York It's A Wonderful Life Goodfellas Apocalypse Now The Red Shoes Once Upon A Time In The West Three fantasies, two westerns, two science fiction stories (why do most SF movies disappoint), and three crime stories. Almost all, I realise, about myth. The myth of America as seen by outsiders in Paris, Texas and in Once Upon A Time In The West; mythic American lives in The King Of New York, Goodfellas, and It's A Wonderful Life (one of the most blackly ironic titles ever - it could have been called "No One Gets Out Of Here Alive"); the myth of Vietnam in Apocalypse Now and Aliens; the pure fairytales of the perfectly realised The Red Shoes and the kinder, more hopeful sacrifice of Wings Of Desire (whose scene in the library is my favourite of all); the origin myth and the mythic transcendence of 2001. - Paul McAuley
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(a little different from most. Often, I may be fond of a flawed, even terrible film because it is eccentric, or recklessly ambitious, or just plain goofy) The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T - a grand, rococo, big-budget film with some surprisingly grotesque imagery - yet it was meant for children. Adults would like it much more The Wizard Of Oz - a charming classic. What more can I say? Li'l Abner - a charming clunker! This clunky, non-PC (lots of stereotypes that will make you wince), brainless musical still has lots of raw exuberance. Highlights include the musical number "Jubilation T. Cornpone" and the dancing of a young Julie Newmar Suspiria - gorgeous, cruel, and bizarre! Witches! Maggots! Ballerinas in peril! Is it a stalker film? A supernatural film? Who knows!? This high-energy mishmash is a wild ride Myra Breckinridge - this badly structured, ill-conceived stinker is like a lavish car wreck: you just can't tear your eyes off of it. Watch for back-to-back musical numbers from a geriatric Mae West (one of her love interests in the movie is a decades-younger Tom Selleck) The Rocky Horror Picture Show - a rambunctiously retro party movie, with quirky characters played by great performers. They look like they had a lot of fun doing their parts The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari - the creepy, melodramatic old grandpa of horror movies! The angular, unrealistic sets give this film classic a surreal quality Caligula - a saucy tale of diseased, violent rich people, engaged in constant wild-eyed hi-jinx. A dynamite dose of delirious decadence Lair Of The White Worm - a smirking, sexy, kinky, blasphemous monster movie with one of the most seductive villains ever. Solid entertainment The Company Of Wolves - I've started and ended my list with children's movies, but this one was never really meant for kids. It takes the imagery of fairy tales and creates a bizarre world of vicious fantasy. It's stylish and brooding and, really, lots of wicked, elegant fun
(in alphabetical order) Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) - Shatner's comic turn is hilarious Day Of The Dead (1985) - last and best of Romero's zombie trilogy The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - easily best of the Star Wars films The Exorcist III (1990) - one of the scariest chillers ever made Licence To Kill (1989) - the classic James Bond action thriller Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1983) - epic, mythical adventure Psycho II (1983) - long overdue second chapter outshines the original Quatermass And The Pit (1967) - Hammer's greatest SF-horror picture Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Kahn (1982) - recaptures the spirit of the TV series Superman II (1980) - this one has all the colour of a real comic-book
Heaven's Gate (actually a political film, but still superb) The Outlaw Josey Wales (a kind of apotheosis) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (formalised, courtly) Ulzana's Raid (great script, great tensions) My Pal, The King (Tom Mix and Mickey Rooney together for first and last time) Springtime In The Rockies (you can't beat a good old-fashioned horse opera) The Vanishing American (great silent epic with what are regarded as 'modern' sentiments) The Magnificent Seven (high point of the genre) High Noon (because a man has to watch what a man has to watch) Lonesome Dove (because I'll watch anything with Robert Duval in it)
Citizen Kane The Searchers A Canterbury Tale 2001: A Space Odyssey To Have And Have Not Notorious Get Carter Let's Scare Jessica To Death Barton Fink A Bucket Of Blood
Once Upon A Time In America (1984) - Sergio Leone The American Gangster movie retold in the manner of a Proustian reflection on time, memory, love and loyalty, made with a European sensibility by one of the all time great stylists. Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973) - Sam Peckinpah Peckinpah, along with Leone and Eastwood, reinvented the Western in the 1960s and 1970s, and this, his last, most bleak exercise in the genre, is the ultimate in revisionist portraits of the mythology of the west. Brazil (1985) - Terry Gilliam The film that 1984 should have been, and far and away Gilliam's finest moment to date, not to mention the most inventive, blackly comic and tragic SF movie of all time. His Girl Friday (1940) - Howard Hawks I was tempted to choose any one of three other Hawks' films (The Big Sleep, Red River or Rio Bravo), until I realised that the western and the crime genre were represented elsewhere in my list, whereas neither screwball comedy nor Cary Grant had made an appearance. So, in one fell swoop, the best screwball film and Grant at his most wickedly cruel. Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) - Monte Hellman The Road Movie to end all road movies - the ultimate in existentialist alienation and futility, it shows up Vanishing Point for the sentimental drivel it really is. Besides which, it allows me to include another of my favourite actors - Warren Oates. Miller's Crossing (1990) - Joel Coen The Coen Brothers best outing so far (just pipping The Big Lebowski), like the Leone film, an homage to the crime film, but more than that, in its characterisation, its dialogue and its knowingness, it pays tribute to the great crime writers, Hammett and Chandler. A perfectly cast film, with great lead performances from Finney and Byrne, and even more marvellous support work from John Polito, John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden, J.E. Freeman and Steve Buscemi. 1900 (1976) - Bernardo Bertolucci A socialist epic - what more need be said? Flawed, perhaps; overlong? Only if you have the attention span of a gnat, and who could ask for more than Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Burt Lancaster, Donald Sutherland and Sterling Hayden in the same film. Lost Highway (1996) - David Lynch It was a toss up between this and Blue Velvet. Lost Highway, with its deliberate junking of linear narrative, its surreal take on the crime movie, its assault on rationality and its power to unsettle, gets my vote. Chinatown (1974) - Roman Polanski Another European director, another flawless interpretation of the noir movie. Polanksi at his most romanatic and, perversely, his most bleak. And Jack Nicholson showing what a fine, subtle (yes, subtle) actor he can be. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) - Clint Eastwood Eastwood's best film as a director, more impressive and humane than the Oscar laden Unforgiven. It's the film in which he finally laid "the man with no name" to rest, allowing the man to emerge from out of the myth.
(not necessarily the best or definitive, but I love 'em!) Blade Runner One of the most convincing, articulate and stunning science fiction movies. It depicts a world that we may now be making the first steps towards, thanks to uncontrolled global warming. There are so many elements in it that are coming true, not least the globalisation of business, and pan-ethnic cultures. Do we want a future like this? Death Race 2000 Trashy low budget Corman movie that predates the 'Carmageddon' computer games. Cheap and shoddy looking, 'Wacky Races' schtick with an early performance by Stallone. Yet, it has an energy and sly humour that lifts it unto the cult level. The Taking Of Pelham 123 Simply one of the tautest caper/thrillers I've ever seen. Robert Shaw was never more cold and evil and Walter Mathau a great foil. Predates the eighties/nineties boom in action movies but set the template for those that followed. Ed Wood A sympathetic and humane portrait of a person now held up to ridicule but was really just a naive pawn in the dark and seamy side of Hollywood. Ed Wood has been set up on a pedestal as representing all things that are naff about Hollywood, yet he made movies against all the odds. He may have collected the flotsam of LA but he gave them a sort of dignity and suffered for it. Wood doesn't deserve to be made laughing stock by the literati - this movie at least makes a start at fighting back. The French Connection The police procedural/thriller that set the template for all the NYPD/Hill Sreet Blues etc TV shows. But it was a great chase movie and Gene Hackman was never better than as Popeye Doyle, hunting down the drug cartel importing heroin into New York. Another classic that spawned a better than expected sequel. Evil Dead 2 This sequel took the rawness of the original video nasty, and director Sam Raimi turned it into a near slapstick farce which retained the gruesome horror. Full of visual tricks and sly turns, it's worth digging out and watching again every few months. Tremors Simply one of the best horror/sci-fi/monster movie spoofs ever. Slick, funny, scary, and knowingly ironic. It also helped that the actors took it seriously and there wasn't a hint of campness anywhere. It even begat a good sequel. Pure popcorn fun. Frankenhooker Probably one of the most bizarre horror/fantasy/comedies I've ever seen. Nerd carves up girlfriend in mondo trashy style with a radio controlled lawnmower, collects all the pieces for reconstruction, seeks inspiration by drilling holes in his skull with a trusty Black & Decker, invents supercrack and blows up a hotel room of beautiful prostitutes, collects the parts, mixes and matches with those of his girlfriend and rebuilds her... With hilarious results. It's a trashy B movie with pretensions of being a Z one, and it works. The Man Who Would Be King The only time (I think) that Sean Connery and Michael Caine have co-starred, and what a great canvas of colour, action, humour and adventure it was. A lot more heart than the 'Indiana Jones' movies that followed and aped it. Alien The sequel may be more of the perfect rollercoaster ride, but the Ridley Scott original still stands up as both the template and one of the most claustrophobic and scariest movies ever made. visit John's
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I've Heard The Mermaids Singing I particularly admire the films of the Canadian director Patricia Rozema. Her films are full of warmth and humour while at the same time expressing powerful insights into human nature. This is one of the most charming, funny and insightful films ever made. A beautiful and quirky examination of love, desire, innocence, ambition, self-knowledge, and the important things in life. When Night Is Falling Another film by Rozema. A beautiful, funny and sensual film; one of the most erotic I've ever seen. A story of choices as a random encounter leads a 'sedate' teacher of mythology at a theological college to question her values as she comes to terms with her attraction for another woman, an exotic circus performer. Wings of Desire Still with the circus. An angel decides he wants to be human, to feel those emotions he observes in the human beings around him. A poignant examination of what it is that makes us human. Brilliantly filmed. The sequence where the angels move among us hearing our thoughts and try to comfort those in mental torment is one of the most moving things I've seen on film. The Philadelphia Story Greatest romantic comedy ever made. Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart and Katherine Hepburn at their brilliant best. Brief Encounter A great story about love and desire, responsibility and social constraints. Blade Runner A powerful mythology of the future. A visually stunning adventure story. Betty Blue A great story about being an outsider. A powerful movie about love, passion, and the fight for freedom. As a writer I especially love the scene where Betty stabs the book critic who panned her lover's novel. Go for it girl! Raiders Of The Lost Ark Simply the greatest adventure film ever made. Witty and exciting every moment of the way. Pretty Woman Best modern romantic comedy ever made. As well as being a great love story this film also manages to say quite a lot about the nature of greed in modern society. Apocalypse Now A brilliant examination of the violent heart of humanity.
(not in order, but they all count for something) The Big Lebowski Blade Runner Faster Pussycat Kill Kill! Withnail & I The Thing (John Carpenter version) Night of the Demon Hard Boiled Cross Of Iron Apocalypse Now Three Colours Red
(in no particular order, book titles mentioned where they differ from film) Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep) Who? Stalker (Roadside Picnic) Deathwatch (The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe) 2010 (2010: Odyssey Two) Slaughterhouse-Five Village Of The Damned (The Midwich Cuckoos) The Man Who Fell To Earth Contact Starship Troopers
Movies are important to me. But not the study of movies. The ranking of movies, has never interested me. So my list consists of the films that stick in my mind when I give it a little nudge, and tell it, "Speak, memory." Angel Heart The first that pops up. Certainly Mickey Rourke's finest role, taken from a hell of a novel - 'Falling Angel' by William Hjortsberg. The story is moody, Robert De Niro plays a wonderful devil, the sets are great, the soundtrack is fantastic, and I watch it over and over again. The Abyss Not the Director's Cut, recently released, which I found over-long and draggy in spots. I prefer the general-release version. A wonderful visionary movie with great effects. Life Is Beautiful Roberto Benigni has a way about him, and expresses manic glee like few I have ever seen. La Dolce Vita Manic glee reminds me of Fellini, my favourite director. 8½ I could watch this over and over if I had a copy my player would play. Juliet Of The Spirits Great Nino Rota soundtrack, as with the two above. Great stuff. The Wild Bunch I just like it. Stark, brutal, tender. The ending always moves me to tears. Guess I'm twisted. The Seventh Seal I generally find Bergman slow. This film is for me beautifully paced, with wonderful characters and great fantasy. L'Avventura There was a time when I was madly in love with Monica Vitti. The Red Shoes Just gorgeous, Marius Goring at his best, Moira Shearer at her most stunning.
(I can't order them, as that would change from month to month. In fact, some of the films on the list would too...) Raising Arizona Annie Hall LA Story Halloween First Blood (I know, I know... but I like it) The Player Jacob's Ladder Grand Canyon It's a Wonderful Life
(in alphabetical order) Blood Feast (1963) Brain Dead (1992) Dressed To Kill (1980) The Hills Have Eyes (1977) The Last Horror Film (1984) A Nightmare On Elm Street (1985) Shogun Assassin (1980) Stage Fright (1987) Street Trash (1986) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
DOWSE
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