My Favorite Movies

Absolutely stunning. The only qualm i have with this is the ending which is way too obvious and feels dishonest but that may have been due to the Communist powers that were rather than the filmakers. Other than that though, i would say this film is perfect in every way and has maybe the most brilliant camerawork i have ever seen and Tatyana Samojlova is just spellbinding.

A flawed masterpiece but still, a masterpiece.

A landmark Czech new wave film and I imagine, in its own naturalistic way, a big influence on numerous directors since its creation. The story is minimal but if ever there was a film that is more than the sum of its parts then this is it. The cinematography, direction and performances are breathtaking and my first thought on finishing watching the movie was - 'I must see this again'.

The fact that all but one of the main actors were non-professionals is amazing. Blazek, who died very shortly after the movie was completed is especially good but all the cast are memorable. Give me this above the Stanislavski method anyday. Simple and superb.

Unquestionably one of the greatest cowboy movies ever made and arguably Ford's finest. A requiem for the old west before Leone and a rich, poignant and very funny film. Stewart and Wayne represent the old and new worlds colliding and the result is both beautifully ambiguous and at the same time truthful.

A masterpeiece.

A stunning film. By today's standards Antonioni pretty much rips up the film-making rulebook and those over-used to modern film editing techniques may well be bored to tears.

However, For those with a tolerance for slowness the film is magnificent and the last 10 minutes are perehaps 10 of the best ever put on screen. After viewing it i admit i went 'Wha...?!' but on reflection it made perfect sense - telling us what happened by NOT showing us what happened. Genius. I have no douct i will watch this many times over.

A shimmering gem from Vigo that age has not withered one little bit. The storyline is banalcorny enoughvisual escapades - proof that a great film can come from a poor screenplay. The music, performances, cinematography are nothing short of magical - this is one i will rewatch ad infinitum.

Lars Von Trier. Cynical bastard. But does he make compelling movies? Oh yes. This film created quite a stir on its release due to its fucked up subject matter and full-penetration shots, but what was perhaps a little ignored is that, it's an absolute powerhouse of a film that repeatedly asks questions of the viewer and holds one in its grip utterly for its duration.

Featuring amazing performances from all involved - 'The Idiots' is disturbing, tragic and very, very funny. One of the best movies i've seen in the last 10 years.

One of the most profoundly daring, visceral and disturbing films ever made, the fact that this is not currently available in full uncut form is nothing short of sinful. Oliver Reed gives, i think, one of the best performances i have ever seen as the doomed yet noble priest and Russell's direction is simply astonishing. Jodorowsky is great, i love him, but for me 'The Devils' goes even beyond his work because the visual excesses are fundamentally serving the storyline and never fall into the realm of weirdness for weirdness sake.

I have read that Roger Ebert gave this zero stars - which just goes to show how wrong well-regarded critics can be. But one thing is for sure - there is no-one in the English speaking world making films like this today.

No matter how many times i see it i always enjoy it. It's not perfect - the narrative doesn't always quite satisfy and the ending is perhaps too pat but the characterisations and performances are all brilliant and once you meet Messrs. Flower and Stone once you won't ever forget them. Not usually mentioned as one of the indie 'greats' of the 90's but i think it definitely is and it has a timeless quality that i think will serve it well critically in the coming decades.

Haven't read the Auster book it is based on but i must do.

A stunning film. Powerfully acted, beautifully shot - cinema doesn't get much better than this. One of the best Japanese movies i have seen thus far.

You want a vision of a godless hell? Ask a German. Lang's 1933 still exceptionally modern masterpiece shows us a society on the verge of breakdown subject to the whims of fanatics and deluded messiahs. No change there then.

The performances are mostly great - Wernicke particularly so, although the main female character is very annoying. Some of the setpieces are fantastic and the surreal air of the film even suggests Lynch at times. A visionary film and one of the finest of the 30's.

Postscript - banned by the Nazis and claimed by Lang to be the film responsible for him to be headhunted by Goebbels as the then new head of UFA.

Mesmerising Borgesian film about the nature of truth, lies, art and life itself, this is perhaps the finest example there is of Welles the showman, charlatan and genius. It reminds me slightly of Georges Perec and the Oulipo literary movement, as a puzzle within a puzzle going on into infinity like a babooshka doll.

Brilliantly edited and masterfully constructed, i urge anyone with a genuine love of cinema old and new to watch this.

And yes - i am not an expert.

Romantic comedies are rarely as hard-headed as this. Wilder was never one to pull punches and this film deals with sex and love in such a direct way that Hollywood would probably find it uncomfortable today.

Brilliant script, faultless acting and beautifully shot - a masterpiece.

Rich , complex and riveting horse-opera from Ray that probably went on to inspire a million feminist film-theory essays, Johnny Guitar still stands as a brilliant piece of work and one of the greatest American movies of all time.

All the cast are fantastic but Mercedes McCambridge steals the show as the evilest bitch to ever walk the face of the earth. Never mind Hopkin's Hannibal - this lady is PURE INSANE HATRED.

A masterpiece among masterpieces - watch it and pine for days when Hollywood had the guts to make movies like this.

A unique film - visually one of the most stunning i've seen and as fresh as a daisy now as it was when first released. Tati was a genius and this is his 'Modern Times' except it is much, much better.

A rarity - a true 'realist' musical. A hard and honest film about love in a tough universe this film has some of the most visually gorgeous sequences ever put on film. From the brilliant opening credits of the waltzing umbrellas in the rain (see my video clips) to the closing scene outside Guy's gas station in the snow, i find nothing less than exceptional beauty in every frame.

And of course seeing as its a musical - the score is amazing too. My favourite film at this moment.

A scathing satire-fantasy portraying the machinations and dealings of a TV network desperate for ratings at any cost, the film reminded me strongly of two SF writers strangely enough - Philip K. Dick and Norman Spinrad. The latter's 'Bug Jack Barron' portrays a similar figure - a TV host in an utterly amoral universe who uncovers a sinister government plot and the messianic figure played by Finch could also have walked out of one of Dick's many quasi-religious works.

On saying that, the film to me works on a fabulist rather than a 'realist' level and as such it works just the same way as 'Gulliver's Travels' did back in the 18th century. So, what i'm feebly trying to say is - it's a BIG film that has much more to say than just the message 'TV is bad'.

The script is brilliant, the performances top-notch and the tone is spot-on throughout PLUS there is no soundtrack, which is great as so many directors these days just stick music on to a film as filler with no point beyond having 'cool' music playing in the background.

Overall a superb movie, masterfully directed by Lumet and a true 70's American classic.

Rambling, pretentious, obscure, self-obsessed and... totally compulsive viewing. Mastroianni oozes cool as the uninspired hero-director lost in a labyrinth of truly surreal characters and images.

Weird, wonderful and a cinematic equivalent of 'Finnegans Wake'.

An irreverant take on Tolstoy - 'Love & Death' is for me Allen's funniest movie and cinematic in a way that much of his recent work isn't. Pass the herring.

Astonishing movie - technically perfect fake-documentary that reflects the troubled time and place of its creation better than any other film i have seen from the Vietnam era.

Mostly improvised with hippies playing hippies and conservatives playing conservatives - the central premise is the only thing that lacks credibility but frankly, it doesn't really matter, this is a masterpiece of editing, performance and content.

On release it was shown in one cinema, received zero distribution due to its controversial subject matter and vanished for nigh-on 35 years. Watching it now it still provokes politically and the overall execution is brilliantly precise.

One of the finest American movies of the 70's - this will probablly in time be regarded along with Pontecorvo's 'Battle of Algiers' and Eisenstein's 'Battleship Potemkin' as one of the most important political movies ever made.

Since he died - i think this is his masterpiece.

A massively pessimistic, raw, open-sore of a movie which is also probably one of the greatest ever made. Visually breathtaking with 2 stunning central performances - 'Persona' is not for the faint of heart - but it's a brutally honest essay on the 'impossibility of enduring'.

Pass the razor blades blondie.

Filthy, offensive, puerile. Basically everything i love in a movie. Kate Winslet is brilliant - foul-mouthed and very sexy. The most enjoyable film i've seen in the last few years.

Flawed, messy, sprawling but nevertheless inspired fantasy from Gilliam who followed up the great 'Time Bandits' with this nightmarish, dystopian vision. Some of the most imaginative visuals you'll ever see and the uncomprimising final scene will stay with you forever. Gilliam's finest.

My complication has... a complication.

Richard Gere in great film shock! But its Terence Malick who gets all the plaudits here for his masterful direction. Great visual storytelling and purely cinematic in a way that movies rarely are these days, Days of Heaven always leaves me in awe whenever i watch it.

Where most movies hit you over the head with their message, this one crawls under your skin and plants itself in your mind in an enduring manner. A gem of a movie.

There are two types of people in the world my friend - those who think that this is the greatest film ever made, and those who are wrong.

Probably my favourite Godard movie along with 'Weekend'. Anna Karina - oh my word.... perfect in every way.

I have watched this many, many times. Probably the best documentary i have ever seen - rich, complex, funny, sad and completely fucked up.

Genuinely disturbing no matter how many times i see it, this is Cronenberg's magnum opus and Jeremy Irons big (only?) claim to immortality.

One of the films of the 80's.

Intense, disturbing and forthright about sex in a way that few other films dare to be, this film caused quite a scandal when first released in the mid 70's. However this ain't no 'Deep Throat' (although there is a bit of that too).

Main actors Tatsuya Fuji and Eiko Matsuda deliver 2 absolutely believable depictions of a couple literally driven mad by sex. Be warned, there's no soft-focus, sentimentality here and very little effort made to tittilate or amuse the viewer. i've no doubt this film isn't for everybody but then again, great art rarely is.

A bona-fide masterpiece of modern Japanese cinema.

(is mid 70's still modern?).

Superb documentary - a perfect marriage of style and content. An eye-opener for sure in the sense that the film shows actually how little we take in on a conscious level from our surroundings.

The interviews are great - lots of mad Dutch and German people who range from the wildly utopian to the vehemently anti-authoritarian (typefaces carved on skin...)

This is a really absorbing movie and well worth watching even if you are more into Comic Sans than Helvetica.

Visually stunning but slightly unsatisfactory take on a PKD novel. The theme - who is real and who's a robot - is done well enough but overall the characters are just too thinly drawn as if in a comic book. I much prefer the novel (said the electric sheep) and if you haven't read that, then i strongly suggest you do.

Still, Blade Runner the movie looks great - the cinematography, sets, lighting and visual style are all stunning and haven't aged a bit (unlike the hairstyles) and thats enough reason to watch it, as i have, many, many times.

On this ocassion, style IS substance.

Mostly amazing film with yep, probably the most eye-popping battle scenes ever staged in the history of cinema and all those thousands of Russian army extras more than prove their match against the CGI machine we have today. Peter Jackson eat your heart out'.

The film moves well from the macro to the micro level and distils Tolstoy's classic very functionally to the 8 hours screen time. The first half of the 2nd part is the weakest - the debutante's ball scene is especially amateurish and just horrible to watch.

But whatever - this is epic with a capital E and totally essential for cinephiles and Tolstoy-ites alike.

Hitchcock once said that one should film a love scene as if it were a murder scene and vice versa. Well if there is anyone who would go on to put that philosophy to its ultimate use then his name is Dario Argento.

This fim is appaling in many respects - horrendous dialogue, negative value plot, sledgehammer sub-text (violence in media = bad), woeful dubbing, scots-pine acting and yet it is... glorious.

Why? Because of course for the lovingly rendered and bloodthirsty brutal murder scenes that jolt your nerve system to its very core. If you can endure the corn and you like your horror movies then this uber-slasher movie is a must-see.

And is it sexist? No never...

The citizen kane of zombie flicks. Funny, trashy, shocking, disgusting and intelligent in it's way, one of the great things about this film is that after the first 10 minutes you know that anything can happen and EVERYTHING is permitted. This is low budget horror film-making at it's best and it puts almost all the shockers of today to shame with its wit and invention.

A classic.

I use the word remarkable as rarely as i can but this film really does deserve the adjective. Fans of the TV show shouldn't watch it expecting anything resembling that - but anyone interested in visionary, fucked-up film-making will love it.

I won't even begin to describe it except to say that it is one of the most shocking and provocative films to emerge from the 60's ANYWHERE and thats saying something.

For my money the best horror movie of the 80's. A vomit-inducing, roller-coaster without respite, this is just shock after shock after shock and it is both gloriously funny and gleefully disgusting. The camerawork is astonishing, the gore deleriously inventive (flying eyeball scene in particular) and Bruce Campbell is well, god.

I must have watched this around 20 times AND i saw it in the theatre when it was first released. I like both the 'real' Evil Dead movies but this is the superior of the two i feel. Raimi's masterpiece by a country mile.

Just passin' through? Well make sure you check out this, one of the finest road movies ever made. Wilson and Taylor can't act for shit and guess what - they're great.

Hypnotic, funny, dreamlike and... cool - this is something like the movie Gallo wanted to make with 'Brown Bunny' only much better. It lacks the in your face 'mythical' qualities of 'Easy Rider' and 'Vanishing Point' but that's not necessarily a bad thing as it has a much 'realler' feel and we don't have to witness the cringemaking (if sometimes humorous) 'deep' stoner meanderings.

I'm happy to report that the Coen Brothers, after many years of threatening, have at last produced a movie of real perfection. Brilliant story, great ending (yep it is you know) and magnificent set-pieces of gut-churning tension and visceral impact, NCFOM is an instant classic. And Bardem enters the pantheon of great screen baddies and gives a performance that redefines the idea of 'evil' in cinema which will be marvelled at for years to come.

A joy to watch from start to finish.

A stunning work and probably one of the best film adaptations of a 'heavy' novel ever made. Enigmatic, mysterious and very, very beautiful, this is a masterpiece and i would say one of Kurosawas best.

But this is no dull, identikit paint-by-numbers adaptation that the British seem to excel in particularly. Kurosawa uses the basic characters and plot at the centre of the novel but transforms them utterly yet, somehow manages to capture the essence of Dostoyevsky's novel absolutely.

Toshiro Mifune was born to play Rogozhin, even if all he does in many scenes is impersonate a ball of about-to-be released fury, he does it better than anyone else imaginable. All the cast are nigh-on perfect in their roles actually and its a joy to watch from start to finish.

EXCEPT of course, for the disconcerting narrative jumps and inter-title changes which were forced upon Kurosawa. Still, much better that than nothing.

Smart, ultra-hip and uncompromising look at the seedier side of showbiz. Lancaster and Curtis excel as the incestuous, power-mad media mogul and his faustian sidekick respectively.

Great script, cool music (Chico Hamilton) and top-notch cinematography mark this out as one of the great movies of the 50's. Rarely is Hollywood so acidic.

You've no job, no money, no luck but you do at least have a vintage Cadillac, so what more do you need? Hugely enjoyable Finnish noir with Turo Pajala excellent as the Nick Cave-like down-at-heel hero.

At a brief but totally satisfying 71 minutes i recommend this as an antidote to the bloated American beast we usually see in our cinemas these days. This is sharp, economic and funny film-making at its best - savour it.

Now if only i could get that bloody roof to fold down...

The facade of orderly, civilised life (and by implication the British empire) comes crumbling down in this, Weir's shimmering masterpiece. The story revolves around a group of mostly young women that disappear on a picnic outing during the last years of the 19th century and the struggles of others to deal with their Marie Celeste-like disappearance.

Along with another great Ozzie movie 'Walkabout', the film suggests that the barrier separating human-made society and natural chaos is very slim and it would be wiser for us to realise the fact that we are OF nature rather than apart from it, and all efforts we make to 'control' it are doomed to failure.

'Hanging Rock' is masterfully constructed, beautifully shot, acted, sound designed, and perhaps most brilliantly of all, cast.

An enigmatic gem.

Difficult to talk about this one after only one viewing but i can confidently say already, that this is one of the most f*cked up films i have ever seen, and it's very, very good. A film (seemingly) about the collapse of leftist ideals both in Soviet Russia and elsewhere this is an angry, vivid and totally depraved film that simply has to be seen by anyone with a taste for the way, WAY out there.

To call this a 'romp' through Tchaikovsky's life would be understating the case - this is a wild, full bodied rampage through Peter Ilyich's troubled existence that frequently threatens to fly off into the world of total fantasy but just about manages to hold it together.

Visually, this is Russell in top form, the editing and choreography are just brilliant and Chamberlain and Jackson ably impress in the lead roles. The first 40 minutes in particular are just amazing and its easy to see where Baz Luhrmann and, oddly enough, Kubrick take quite a bit of their inspriration from, and also, the scene near the end with Jackson in the mental asylum is a complete head f*ck.

It's a shame that Russell's reputation has diminished so much in the last 20 years (he was once hailed as the British Orson Welles, although Cecil B. DeMille might be a more apt comparison) but these things come around and i think one day his work will be seen as some of the most remarkable and visceral cinema of its time.

Superb documentary and visually quite beautiful in a strange way. Gritty, funny, tragic - all of real humanity is here, the DJ Shadow music fits perfectly and it has a happy ending! Nigh on perfect i'd say.

Visually stunning and i mean STUNNING. This is quite possibly the most visionary film ever made and if you haven't seen it, well you really ought to. Once watched it is unforgettable and still, in 2008, is probably the most imaginative, surreal film in the history of cinema.

Rashomon-esque tale folk set in medieval Sweden - savage, stark and utterly brilliant. Bergman apparently disowned it afterwards but in this case the chef is wrong - a masterpiece.

Visually astonishing Czech gothic horror with a political subtext, this one is an exquisite cadavar of a film. The scene transitions are just brilliant - from the living room to the whorehouse in one little blink of an eye. For fans of Svankmajer this is a must-see as it occupies the same kind of heightened sensory zone and Hruisinsky is marvellous.

A little known gem - watch watch watch.

Fabulous film about sibling rivalry, machismo and the conflict between rural and industrial life in Italy mid-century. Powerful performances, great score and superb direction - a must-see.

This brought back some very good memories for me. A lovely film.

(Seriously though - it is brilliant and pretty much unlike any other war movie i have seen).

Wickedly savvy existentialist battle-of-the-sexes yarn. Great stuff but should be remade in Hollywood avec happy ending starring Cameron Diaz, that blonde shaggy one from Friends and that Welsh one that married Michael Douglas. Oh and Harriett Anderson - i definitely would.