My Favorite Movies

"Kiri kiri kiri...."
I adore this film, the character of Asami and Eihi Shiina. True, the film does take a while to build up to the brutal climax, but I think it's worth waiting for.

The action scenes are rather manga-styled (in fact I suppose you could extend that to the entire film) and I found them visually interesting. The ending made me cry.

I love this series. It's a great adaptation of Koji Suzuki novel, with just enough details changed to make it fresh. Plus, the way 'the video' is shot looks like any home movie at the time, rather authentic.

I would love to compare this to the very first adaptation, the TV series, but sadly it doesn't seen to be available.

Lovely adaptation of an Austen classic.

So sweet it'll give you cavaties.

I could rave about this film forever. Excellent

Not as good as the first but better than the second.

Great adaptation of the Koji Suzuki short story.

Weird, beautiful looking but with some clunky effects. There's also a rather sad backstory between the female protagonist and the 'girl in red'. The ending always threatens to make me cry, because I'm soppy like that.

Great adaptation of the Stephen King novel.

Love Vampire Hunter D. Considering how old this is (made in 1985), the animation stands up really well. Also, the commentary is one of the funniest and most informative I've heard so far.

I liked this a lot. I believe this film influenced the Korean horror film Phone, which is one of my favourites, and this one gets added too. Not much different from the standard ' j-horror' fare, except in the motivation of the ghost, which was welcome.

Excellent film, though many may find it rather slow.

I admit I wasn't suprised that I loved it. It had all the ingredients. Some people get put off by musicals, I like singing in random places. And okay, Mr. Depp is no (insert bland, warbling male pop singer's name here), but he had a kind of rock styling that the role demands (a bit like Butler's Phantom).

Atmospherically creepy, this film will keep you guessing. Those of you with a short attention span may want to avoid it though. Whichever of the two main interpretations you take at the end, it still works.

Unsurprisingly, it appears I was part of this film's target audience. A musical for the industrial music generation; it looks great, and the plot is interesting with some real black humour, but the songs can be a bit hit and miss (my favourite was axed from the main film, which is a bit of a shame). I could write an essay on its treatment of 'the death of the real'. It's definitely a grower, but if you're not really into rock/industrial music, or unusual musicals then it may not be for you. Sure, there is gore, but horror fans aren't necessarily going to get the body part orgy they were hoping for.

Fantastic adaptation of an Anne Rice novel (way better than Queen of the Damned). You wouldn't think Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise could pull it off, but they can. My only fault is with Antonio Banderas - he's a brilliant actor but the character is meant to be very young. This doesn't really harm the film if you take it on its own, but a hardcore fan of the novels might find it difficult to adjust from the previous portrayal.

I think this just ousted My Neighbour Totoro as my favourite Studio Ghibli film. It looks beautiful (well, mostly) and at times is unashamedly romantic. However, after reading the book (yes I know it's a children's book, but so what?) I think I prefer the less political plotline to this one, though it's still excellent.

A classic film, essential viewing - although it is quite dated and so may not appeal to everyone.

One of the best Hammer horror films in my opinion.

I love this. I like that it doesn't focus on King Arthur for once (Merlin is a much more interesting character), and Miranda Richardson and Helena Bonham Carter look fabulous. The downside is the 'modern' humour of Frik, which ruins the effort to make it look ancient and sumptious.

The plot synopsis here is actually rather misleading, as the film is more subdued sexually than one might assume. It's also a fairly close retelling of Le Fanu's Carmilla.