My Favorite Movies

I first saw Badlands six or seven years ago and was immediately a fan, I've returned to it time and time again and it is those repeat viewings that have led me to put it on top of My top 100 films list.
It was actually Badlands that led to the creation of this list. Revising my top 10 for the first time in an age I wanted to find a place for Bandlands but, at that point, couldn't and so, in slotting it in at number 11 I decided to go the whole hog and do a top 100. Another rewatch later and here we are.
That, for me, is the essential reason that Badlands is number one; every time I've seen it I've loved it more and more.
The directorial debut of Terence Malick (who has made just three films since, only two of which I've seen, liking neither very much) it never feels like the work of a novice being among the most beautiful looking films ever made. Malick has a fondness for the real world and for nature and we see much of it in Badlands, the lanscape shots are breathtaking, the sequence where Kit (Sheen) burns Holly's (Spacek) house is also particularly gorgeous but Malick also finds beauty in the more mundane things.
the characters Kit and Holly, their relationship and character and Kit's crimes were based on the real story of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. Their spree took place in 1958 when Starkweather was 19 and Fugate just 13.
The film adds a couple of years to the age of each of the characters.
Sissy Spacek was 23 when Badlands was made but her cute youthful looks mean that she absolutely convinces as 15 year old Holly. There's more to her performance than that though, she portrays Holly's youthful naivety with great intelligence and manages to suggest, subtly, the mixed emotions of this young girl once her boyfriend starts killing. Spacek also contributes narration from Holly's diary, not only are these beautifully written by Malick, never seeming like a screenwriter, rather than a 15 year old girl, came up with them but Spacek's reading of them is one of the most touching and memorable things in the film.
Martin Sheen was also a good deal older than his character, 10 years in fact, but he too is perfectly cast as the James Dean like Kit. Kit's matter of fact way about everything is very funny and Sheen gets plenty of mileage out of that and crucially he remains interesting and charming enough to make you believe that Holly would stay with him.
There are few other people in the film but it's worth noting that the man who comes to the door when Kit and Holly take over a rich man's house for an afternoon and 'borrow' things from him is Terence Malick himself stepping in for an actor who hadn't shown up.
It's difficult to encapsulate the brilliance of this film as it almost sneaks up on you but it's a riveting, almost hypnotic, experience and one which repays repeat viewings as the strength of Spacek and Sheen's wonderful performances impresses more each time.

Paul Thomas Anderson's idea for Magnolia was to get out of town while his second film; Boogie Nights opened and run around and make a short, personal film on digital video. The idea evolved a bit. Magnolia is every inch the epic and an example of something too seldom seen in cinema, audacity. Three hours long, with a cast list that takes almost as long to read and plot that no blurb writer could summarise the odds are stacked against Magnolia, so why is it one of the best films of all time?
This is a film about coincidence. About how our lives connect with those of people we may never meet. Anderson tells many stories in this film but draws them together into a single narrative.
As he amply demonstrated with Boogie Nights Anderson has the ability to get stunning performances from all his actors and he does it again here. However two performances are worth singling out. Cruise is simply astonishing as Frank TJ Mackey and must have had real fun playing this character (coming to it from a very repressed character for over two years in Eyes Wide Shut). If you only remember one line from the movie it will be his 'Respect the cock and tame the c**t'. Cruise gets to play every emotion in the book, from his grandstanding seminar to his bedside scene with Jason Robards, he never hits a false note. It is a crime that he was not given an (overdue) Oscar for this part.
Melora Walters was pretty well unknown at the time Magnolia came out, her only other work of real note being in Boogie Nights, In that film she did not have enough to do but Anderson remedies that here. Claudia is the centre of the film (Anderson says that all the stories were written branching off Claudia's story). She is utterly convincing in her role and, if her behaviour is hard to explain early in the film, you feel for her deeply when you know of the abuse the character has suffered. Walters delivers what is perhaps Magnolia%u2019s best line when, in a restaurant, she asks John C Reilly 'Now that you've met me would you object to never seeing me again?' However, her finest hour is the film's last shot and after three hours wait it is a joy to see Claudia smile.
By singling these two out I am by no means trying to infer that the rest of the cast are unimpressive, quite the reverse. I think Julianne Moore should be in everything Paul Thomas Anderson ever shoots, that is the quality of the parts he writes her. She's perhaps not quite as impressive here as in Boogie Nights but the pharmacy scene alone should have netted her another Oscar nomination. John C Reilly does well as the nicest cop you'll ever meet, and this is key to the fact that we end up rooting for Jim and Claudia. All in all this film is a perfect example of why we need an Oscar for ensemble performance.
Another participant well worth mentioning is Aimee Mann, her music permeates the film, leading to it's most audacious, and it%u2019s best, scene; in which the entire cast sing along to her gorgeous song 'Wise Up'. This movie made me an Aimee Mann fan and I would highly recommend that any viewer who likes the movie's music pick up all her solo albums
Anderson uses his camera brilliantly, designing the film to exploit it's widescreen frame to the fullest. This is particularly evident in Claudia%u2019s apartment as she and Jim talk, each of them at one edge of the frame.
Some complain that film is too long, or that it leaves loose ends. It is true that all the plot points are not neatly tied up as the film ends but this is a film about the lives of ordinary people, loose ends are to be expected.

I knew Almost Famous was special when I saw the theatrical release. I fell in love with both the movie and the music (this film was the catalyst for an ever expanding album collection) and I bought the dvd the second it came out in the US. Then six months later I bought the Bootleg cut dvd including Untitled, Cameron Crowe's director's cut of the film.
43 minutes longer than the original version the extensions aren't just the regular 'unrated dvd' style few extra frames of breasts or couple of extra F bombs. There are, of course, whole new scenes, plot points given far greater clarity but what really adds to the film are the small, subtle, extensions to almost every existing scene.
What remains constant in both versions is the quality of both Cameron Crowe's script and the performances.
The script is based on Crowe's own experiences as a 15 year old Rolling Stone journalist and apparently many of the events of the film are drawn directly from tours with bands like The Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin.
It has that easy mix of funny and touching (often within a single line) which Crowe first really mastered on Say Anything and though, for obvious reasons, it feels like an incredibly personal film it also has wide appeal.
Patrick Fugit must have been a bit scared. A lead role in is first film, playing a version of his director. He pulls it off wonderfully with a performance of initially wide-eyed wonder which becomes shaded as the film goes on.
As much as I love Sarah Polley, who Crowe so wanted he thought of not making the film when he couldn't get her, I couldn't imagine anyone but Kate Hudson as Penny Lane. The character is one of Crowe's best; an amalgam of several 'band aids' he knew at the time and Hudson's bright, breezy, utterly charming performance should have just about any red blooded man in the audience falling head over heels for Penny.
All Cowe's films have benefitted from his interest in music, he uses it better than just about any other director and Untitled is packed with tunes. Led Zeppelin, famously unwilling to let their music be used for films, gave Crowe almost every track he wanted (except Stairway to Heaven) but it's Elton John's Tiny Dancer, with the whole cast singing along, which proves a cathartic moment in the film and one of the most memorable musical moments in cinema.
The other musical element is the band; Stillwater (THIS band may be fictional but there was a band called Stillwater about this time, i keep seeing their records around and meaning to pick one up, just to find out what they soundlike). The actors play their own instruments and do their own singing and the songs by Crowe and his wife Nancy Wilson (of the band Heart) work well, sounding like they could have stepped out of 1973 when the film is set.
There's so much quality to talk about; Jason Lee and Billy Crudup as Stillwater's singer and guitarist,Frances McDormand, hillarious as Crowe's mother and Phillip Seymour Hoffman's great little turn as Lester Bangs among them that I'd here all day if i went into detail.
As director Crowe has grown from his previous films which often seemed like filmed renditions of a screenplay rather than a complete visual piece. Here he's got many a memorable shot (Penny dancing to 'The Wind' after a show, Penny running through William's fingers as he flies home) and seems far more confident as a director than before.
Almost Famous was a great film. Untitled is one of the greats.

s there really anything left to be said about The Godfather? Anything to add to the three Oscars and endless praise?
Probably not, but sod it.
The acting is the main reason this film sits so high on the list. Every single performance, from leads to bit parts, is well cast and strongly acted.
Brando, of course, is extraordinary. Like Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs his performance has been so often parodied that it could be herd to take seriously, if, that is, he weren't so mesmerisingly brilliant as he is. Convincingly playing a much older man than himself Brando convinces both as the hardened gangster and as a reflective man, trying to spare his sons the same choies he ad to make.
Al Pacino's Michael is the film's true standout though. You never question for an instant his journey from rather a naive returning soldier to a ruthless gangster who won't have even the slightest trouble ordering the massacre of his enemies not only because Coppola and novellist Mario Puzo's script takes you on this journey so skillfully but because Pacino's total conviction in the role means you are never watching an actor, just a character.
While I could eulogise each and every performance I shan't, because there's so much more to say.
Gordon Willis' cinematography (scandalously not nominated for an Oscar) and Francis Ford Coppola's direction are as key to the films success as any of the performances. Though it's long The Godfather never feels indulgent, you never feel that Coppola is keeping things he doesn't absolutely need because he likes them and thus your interest in the story and characters never wanes. He also creates some truly memorable moments, iconic even, now that 34 years have passed.
The extraordinary scene in which Michael kills both the head of another family and a corrupt police chief is one of the finest in American cinema. A perfect match of acting; Pacino managing to show the audience, silently, his struggle over whether to go through with the plan and his moment of decision, without overplaying and direction; Coppola's tigh close ups and use of the sound of an elevated train to heighten the tension.
Look at this scene, at the final massacre of Michael's enemie's, cross cut with his son's (Sofia Coppola, just a few months old in her first screen appearence) christening and the masterful final shot of Michael, now confirmed as Don Corleone and it seems very strange indeed that Coppola didn't win Best Director at the 1973 Oscars (Bob Fosse did, for Cabaret).
At the end of the day though The Godfather could have won no prizes at all and it would still remain one of the best things ever comitted to celluloid.

The Silence Of The Lambs is one of just three films ever to win all five of the main Oscars (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Screenplay and Director). I'm not a big Oscar fan, particularly in the last five years they have become more about politics than merit, so it is good to be able to say that this is a film that truly deserves all the awards and accolades heaped upon it.
The greatest achievement of The Silence Of The Lambs is to be a brilliant example of many genres of cinema. It works as a horror film, a thriller, a police procedural and a character piece. The main reason this film is so stunning is the performances, Anthony Hopkins is given the most credit but of the three leads his performance is (while excellent) far from the best.
The Silence Of The Lambs belongs to Jodie Foster, she's possibly the finest actress of her generation and here she is at her very best. The part of Clarice Starling is not a showy one, there are few big acting moments of the type that usually win awards but Foster's quiet, considered Starling is utterly compelling and believable. Her best moments come in her scenes with Anthony Hopkins, it is in these scenes, as she reveals herself to Lecter, that we see the vulnerability of the character. Foster is more willing to play this trait than you might imagine the other people considered for the role would have been (Michelle Pfeiffer was in the frame for a long time but turned the film down because it was too violent) and it is this that really humanises Starling for us, had we not seen that vulnerability she would have been a simple, stereotypical heroine.
Hopkins, too, is brilliant. Rather than the showboating hammery that marred Red Dragon and Hannibal Hopkins gives a restrained and extremely frightening performance. The performance is exemplified by the first time we see Hopkins, he stands in the middle of his cell, seemingly waiting for Starling. The one point that Hopkins does push the boat out a shade too far is the famous lip smacking finish to the line "I ate his liver with some fava beans, and a nice chianti." It doesn't damage the performance but after the endless parodies it can not be denied that this moment comes off as more comic than chilling. This though is the sole chink in Hopkins armour, the rest of his performance is utterly chilling and the one moment of violence we see is very shocking.
Perhaps because he won no awards the contribution of Scott Glenn to this film is often forgotten. He brings real credibility to the role of Jack Crawford and the mere fact that we can buy the fact that he dominates a character as strong as Starling is a testament to how good he is. As well as the much noted chemistry between Lecter and Starling there is an undeniable, yet largely unmentioned frisson between Crawford and Starling. Glenn's performance is a masterclass in playing a supporting role and he too should really have been recognised by the academy.
It is not often remembered that this film is not really about Hannibal Lecter, it is about Buffalo Bill and Ted Levine is terrifying in the role. Bill is one of the most credible and frightening serial killers yet seen on film (elements of Bills modus operandi were drawn from real killers Ed Gein, Ted Bundy and Gary Heidnik). It was important that Bill was frightening, as the climax of the film would not work if we didn't feel he was a real danger.
Before this film Jonathan Demme had made Something Wild and Married To The Mob, both pretty good films, but nothing that suggested the tone, or the quality of Silence Of The Lambs. His direction is brilliant, always maintaining the tension in the Starling/Lecter scenes, mainly through extensive use of close ups, then pulling back to lend a realistic feel to the action centred around the FBI. Demme's greatest directorial flourish comes with the final scene of the film when the action is plunged into darkness and we are lent a privileged view through night vision goggles worn by Buffalo Bill. This is a masterpiece of a suspense/horror scene truly terrifying and nailbiting.
Though the film straddles many genres it is a rather atypical example of most of those genres, though this is a horror film rather than going for the 'boo' type scares of slasher films Demme opted to weave the scares throughout the film, there are few jumps, but always a creepy atmosphere which adds up to make The Silence Of The Lambs a deeply scary experience.

One of my fondest memories of childhood is how, every night, my Mother would read stories to my Brother and I. Mum really knew how to make a story come alive, she'd even have different voices for each character. Perhaps that's why I connected so immediately and so strongly with The Princess Bride.
William Goldman's original novel had a brilliant conceit; he presented it as an edited version of an existing book the way he remembered his father reading it to him. In the film Fred Savage (who, though he's never given a name we can take to be Goldman) is read the story by his grandfather (Peter Falk) and the reading comes to life before our eyes.
At its heart The Princess Bride is (as the title would imply). It is a story of beautiful damsels in distress (Wright), dashing heores (Elwes), the search for revenge (Patinkin's), Giants (Andre) and dastardly villains (Christopher Guest and Chris Sarandon). From first frame to last it is utterly and unfailingly enchanting.
Robin Wright is Texan. I have to remind myself of that every time I write about The Princess Bride (which, frankly, I do more often than is perhaps healthy). As Buttercup she's perfectly cast. Ravishingly beautiful, graceful, and with an English accent so good you'd never imagine she's not a native.
Cary Elwes never really capitalised on his stunning performance here. After playing Westly he should have become the new Errol Flynn, instead he's floundered. That's sad but shouldn't take anything away from him here. As the swashbuckling hero Elwes proves as adept with a quip ('you seem a decent fellow, I hate to die') as he is with a sword.
Ah yes, the swords. Midway into the film is the single greatest swordfight ever put on film. It's stunningly coreographed, varied, exciting, funny and it is performed entirely by Elwes and Mandy Patinkin. The legendary Hollywood swordfight co-ordinator Bob Anderson worked on both this and the frankly awesome sequence at the end of Errol Flynn's Robin Hood and this is his best work.
I could spend acres of print eulogising each and every cast member; suffice it to say that this is that rare film where not a single role seems like it could have been better cast. Special mention is, however, due the often undervalued contributions of Chris Sarandon as the evil Prince Humperdink and Christopher Guest as his right hand slimeball Count Rugen. Sarandon chomps scenery, relishing his every bastardly one liner and both manage to be really hissable villains at the same time as being funny. Also worth noting is an uproarious cameo from Peter Cook as the Bishop who is to marry Humperdink and Buttercup.
As well as being funny the script is surprisingly affecting, you really root for Buttercup and Westly, you want desperately for Inigo to find the six fingered man and tell him 'Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die'.
Tellingly Goldman and Reiner have only approached such brilliance once each since and that's with Misery on which they both worked but even if neither ever produces anything of worth again The Princess Bride stands as one of the most perfect comdies, one of the most perfect adventures and probably the best fairytale ever filmed.

I've always loved police procedurals and the upper reaches of my top 100 list feature the the two finest examples of the genre.
Se7en surprised me on so many levels. First there's the obvious; the utterly brilliant screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker. The concept is pretty simple, it is the way in which Walker orchestrates each of the films murders, each time twisting what you might expect, which makes the film work. Se7en came out at around the same time as The Usual Suspects and as they both shared Kevin Spaxey and a jaw dropping twist in the tail were often spoken about in the same breath. The twist in Se7en is among the best I've seen. I've seen the film, at a conservative estimate, 10 times, and still that moment shakes me, still I hope it will turn out differently.
Walker's characters are excellent and served well by a high quality cast. Brad Pitt had done 12 Monkeys but all I'd seen him in was Thelma and Louise and his performance here blew the pretty boy image apart and revealed a superb actor clearly relishing a chance at part that allowed him to stretch his acting muscles.
Pitts nervous energy is balanced by a quiet and authoritative performance from Morgan Freeman. Freeman's performance may seem less impressive to an audience coming new to the film now but that's because all he's really done since is play variations on Detective Somerset.
Kevin Spacey is barely in the film, he's got about 15 or 20 minutes of screentime and still creates an unforgettable, utterly real and deeply scary villain.
David Fincher directs with a down and dirty feel for the crimes and the city but also knows how to create an image, there are moments of unexpected beauty (the library sequence) and memorable shots galore (Victor).
I loved Se7en when I first saw it and my affection and admiration for it grows with each viewing.

When this, his second major film, opened Peter Bogdanovich got a phone call from a colleague who suggested he sit down. He then proceeded to read Bogdanovich a review that called The Last Picture Show the best film by an American director since Citizen Kane.
That means less to me as I find Kane rather overrated but it gives some idea of just how great this film is.
Covering a year [1952] in the life of the small town of Abilene, Texas The Last Picture Show isn't a film of earth shaking events, instead it finds drama in the everyday interactions of normal people; teenagers, their parents and older people.
For the film Bogdanovich assembled one of the finest ensemble casts ever seen. Between them the cast netted 4 Oscar nominations and two wins. It's almosst ludicrous to try and pick standout performances as everyone is brilliant. The Oscar winners were the veterans; Ben Johnson won in a small supporting role as Sam the Lion and Cloris Leachman won for a hugely moving performance as Ruth Popper, the wife of the high school basketball coach whose desperate loneliness leads her to an affair with one of his students.
Cybill Shepherd hasn't done anything of note in years but a couple of early performances suggested that she's a real talent, this is one of them. As the high school beauty Jacy she's scheming and manipulative, but sexy enough that you can see why her various suitors are chasing her. Particularly excellent is the scene where she and Jeff Bridges have taken to a hotel room to lose their virginity. Bridges is also excellent in his first really notable role as the high school jock who doesn't really know what he's going to do after high school ends.
Bogdanovich creates an immediate sense of period by shooting in black and white and keeps things stylistacally sedate, letting the performances do the work.
It's not short and moves slowly and the lack of big events may leave some audiences cold but with a script and perfromances that ring true throughout and Bogdanovich's sure handed direction I think it's a masterpiece.

Even though it has a reputation as one of the very best films ever made it took me by surprise just how much I liked 12 Angry Men. The story is simple. In the opening seconds a Judge discharges a Jury to consider their verdict, making clear to them that it must be unanimous as if a guilty verdict is returned the young man on trial will be sent to death row. The rest of the film is then spent in the claustrophobic jury room as Juror number 8 (Fonda), the only one to vote Not Guilty at the outset, tries to win support among the other 11 jurors.
The great problem for the director (a debuting Lumet) is how to keep the film looking interesting. He finds endless angles around the table and, just when we feel we need them, allows us breaks with the foreman (Balsam) opening the door to request exhibits from the trial or a quick bathroom break. The characters are diverse and cleverly revealed, along with the evidence in the case, as the drama plays out. Fonda excels at winning not just the sympathy of his fellow jurors of but of us the audience. At the outset we have only very basic facts about the case and witnesses and Fonda appears to be reaching for ways to keep discussion going ('But it's possible' is his catchphrase in the first act of the film) but as we learn more we are swayed, probably at the same time as one of the jurors, and the tension ratchets up. Lee J Cobb matches Fonda beat for beat as Juror 3 (none are named). 3 is immediately and, it seems, irrevocably convinced that the kid is guilty. His performance becomes better and better as he clings to the straws that remain of his faith in the guilt of the defendant. The performances are uniformly excellent with other notables turns coming from a grounded Balsam, Jack Warden (who just wants to go to his baseball game), Ed Begley (whose appallingly racist monologue is one of the most memorable moments in the film, as all his fellows walk away and turn their backs to him one by one) and Joseph Sweeny as the old, but smart and observant Juror 9.
This is a spectacular film and, almost 50 years on, is as powerful and relevant as the day it was shot. I recommend highly that you see it, as soon as possible.

Years before even embarking on the ludicrously overpraised Lord of the Rings trilogy Peter Jackson made this fact based film about two young girls whose obsessive friendship leads them to murder.
Heavenly Creatures is now mostly remembered for being the first leading role for Kate Winslet. Then 17 she played Juliet Hulme, the naive, sickly fantasist newly arrived in New Zeland. Juliet is still alive, she has spun the talent for storytelling that Jackson makes much of in the film into a career and is now known as Anne Perry, a prolific author of detective fiction.
The other lead was also an unknown; NZ native Melanie Lynskey, whose career has never taken off in the way Winslet's did.
Both leads are extraordinary. Winslet announces herself as a very special talent right off the bat, creating an enchanting character and allowing us to appreciate why Lynskey's Pauline becomes some attatched to Juliet. We also can see through Winslet how Juliet slips further from reality through her stories and how they mingle with her relationship with Pauline.
A more abrasive role means that Lynskey gets less audience sympathy but it's a selfless and fearless performance and one that is mesmerisingly convincing.
The girls are so closely the focus of most of the film that they take it over somewhat but Sarah Pierse makes a strong impression as Pauline's worried mother (the girls eventual victim).
Jackson brings his filmmaking style down to earth for the first time, making the period (the early 50's) setting believeable and bringing home the mundanity of the girls home lives and their need for an escape through Juliet's stories. This also applies to the murder, one of the last things we see in the film, which is horrific and quite protracted.
WETA, Jackson's effects house, recieved their first real workout on this film, creating computer generated versions of the clay figures that Juliet builds based on characters from her stories. The effects are strong and Jackson integrates fantasy and reality beautifully in a way that gives some idea of how the girls minds are working.
An exceptional film which marked Jackson's maturation as a director after his gore driven first few films Heavenly Creatures is his crowning achievement and will likely remain so.

Frank Capra has his detractors these days and it's true that many of his films (this one included) are spectacularly unsubtle and that some (this one not included) are overly sentimental but this wonderful film from what many have described as the single best year in the history of cinema finds Capra at his best, with a star perfectly suited to his style of filmmaking and to his role here.
James Stewart played the decent, upstanding, all-american man like nobody else (perhaps because, by all accounts, that's how he was offscreen as well) and as Jefferson Smith, a principled young man elected to the senate after the death of an incumbent, he's at his very best. In the early part of the film Stewart makes Smith's niaeveity charming and funny and come the second half he brings passion and conviction to every word he speaks in the senate, particularly in the justly celebrated fillibustering scene.
Bell voiced Jean Arthur is actually first billed and though her performance can't match Stewart's she's wonderful as his secretary who starts out cynical but is won round by Smith and his passion for his bill.
There are fine supporting performances from Claude Rains, Harry Carey (both Oscar Nominated, along with Stewart) and Edward Arnold.
In typical Capra fashion Smith plays by the rules and through passion and determination gets what he wants, defating the political manouveriongs of the corrupt politicians.
As well shot as it is acted Mr Smith Goes to Washington is intelligent, uplifiting entertainment, they truly don't make 'em like this anymore.

The first film version of Jack Finney's novel about the people of a small town being assimilated by aliens, becoming emotionless clones of their former selves. It is, however, not really about that. This version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is, in common with most of the sci-fi films of the fifties, about communism. It is very easy to draw the paralell between the emotionless aliens slowly replacing the people of a small town and the very real fear in America at the time that people were covertly communists.
There have been plenty of versions of the story (the latest; Invasion, is in production as I write) as the central metaphor of the story is easily adaptable to the times but this is far and away the best version.
Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter star as the couple who discover what is going on in their town and try desperately to escape both the place and the fate of assimilation.
In any other story they'd succeed, they'd probably find out that if you kill the main alien you can kill them all and set about saving the world. This is a much bleaker story than that, there's no sense of victory, or even hope for victory, just a creeping doom which comes closer and closer as more and more characters become 'pod people'.
The end leaves us hanging as a desperate McCarthy tries to stop traffic in order to escape his fate, a bravely distressing note for the film to end on as we really come to care for McCarthy and Wynter.
Director Don Siegel's style is economical and grounds the film solidly in reality allowing the film to play brilliantly both as sci-fi thriller and contemporary allegory.

Holly Golightly (Hepburn) is a high class escort living in New York. She meets writer Paul Varjak (Peppard) as he is moving in to the apartment above her and, over time, they become interested in each other. The course of true love doesn't run smooth though as relics from Holly's past (Ebsen) and others offering a possible future (Villalonga) get in the way of Paul's pursuit of her.
Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Oscar (her fourth nod, she won only on her first)) as Holly Golightly and, unlike so many today, she earnt that recognition. In Holly she created not only an enduring fashion icon but an indelible, and massively enjoyable, screen character. Hepburn is utterly delightful in the role, her distinctive voice doing George Axelrod's fine script real justice. She appears to be having fun and it is infectious, we get swept through the film by Holly and thus come to really care for her. The thing that makes it more than just a fun performance into something really special are the hints of the darker side to Holly, her speech about 'the mean reds' and other hints that she's probably rather damaged.
George Peppard can't have had to act very much, his main role is to be in love with Hepburn and the delightful character combined with her jaw dropping beauty mean that it's easy for us to see why he would be. Let this take nothing away from Peppard though as he gives a fine and funny performance.
Point of fact the whole cast turns in top class work, except for Mickey Rooney. Rooney is insultingly cast as an offensively stereotyped Japanese upstairs neighbour of Holly and the slapstick scenes involving him are cringemaking. Put it in the context of the time it was made and it is more explicable why he's here, but no more excusable. That said Rooney's role is small enough that it takes nothing away from the film
Blake Edwards directs well, contributing several moments that have become iconic in cinema. Even people who don't know this film have probably seen Hepburn with her hair up and that massively long cigarette holder. The film has also been endlessly referenced in other films, look again at the end of Four Weddings And A Funeral and tell me Mike Newell isn't a fan.
The script, while it's never massively surprising, is wonderfully well written with sparklingly good dialogue for both Hepburn (As Miss Golightly was saying before she was so rudely interrupted...) and Peppard (So what? So plenty) but its indisputible highlight comes midway through when Paul and Holly embark on a day of doing things they've never done before. In that sequence you really feel and root for their connection.
I could write much much more about how great this film is but I'll leave it at this: You should see Breakfast At Tiffany's because you'll leave the film happier than you came to it.

Stephen King's first book is his best by some way. The film is better. Brian DePalma's superlative defying masterpiece (I like that, means I don't have to get out my thesarus for new superlatives) features an exceptional performance from Sissy Spacek, 26 at the time but completely convincing as 15 year old Carrie. Unlike so many 'plain' characters she carries off the shyness of the early part of the film and blossoms in convincing form by the end.
The iconic image of a blood drenched Spacek standing onstage at her prom has been constantly quoted in the nearly 30 years since its release (Neil Marshall used it in The Descent this year). THAT ending sparked countless imitators, serious and spoofing but it's not the shock that makes it memorable but the dreamlike sheen lent it by De Palma's shooting the scene backwards and then reversing the film. An Oscar nominated Piper Laurie also makes an impression as Carries insane mother and DePalma gives her a more visceral and memorable death than King was able to.
Carrie is a horror masterpiece and one that if you haven't seen you should watch now.

Femme's Fatale feature quite heavily in my top 100 films list and this film features, for me, the very best of them. If Barbra Stanwyck's Phyllis Deitrichson (in Double Indemnity) was the screen's greatest femm fatale for almost 50 years then Linda Fiorentino's Bridget Gregory is a worthy successor to her.
The plot is convoluted, intricate and should reveal itself to an audience as they watch it so I'll provide only the setup. Bridget Gregory and her Doctor Husband (Pullman) pull of a drug deal and she runs off with all the proceeds while he's in the shower. She moves, gets a new place, a new 'designated fuck' (Berg). However she can't just wait around for the years it might take to get a divorce before she starts spending.
The Last Seduction might just have ended up as another DTV quality 'thriller', the kind with precious few thrills; the title and the ad campaign certainly make it look like that. However there's quality here in every department.
Most notable is Linda Fiorentino. It's a crying shame that The Last Seduction was first shown in the US on cable TV as this fact meant Fiorentino was ineligible for an Oscar Nomination. Whether she'd have got it is debateable but she certainly deserved on and, in a weak field in 1994, deserved the win too. Awards or no awards Fiorentino is brilliant. Her Bridget is a layered and complex character and she embodies all the aspects of her perfectly. There's always something going on beneath the surface with this performance, which allows you to buy into the massive intelligence the character has to pull off her plan. There's also a malevolence about her but wirter/director Dahl and Fiorentino are both smart enough never to make her unlikeable. Scared though you are of her, dangerous as she is, you're always attracted to Birdget.
That's also true of Peter Berg's character; Mike. Berg is great as the not too smart small town guy who gets his world turned upside down by Bridget, it's a shame he hasn't continued acting, instead concentrating od directing.
Bill Pullman hams it up as Bridget's husband and gets a lot of the laughs in the film.
That's it for the main cast, it's almost a 3-hander, but it's worth mentioning JT Walsh's excellent cameo as Bridget's Lawyer which contributes the single best line in the movie.
The Last Seduction is free to be more explicitly violent, more sexual and use more explicit language but it uses these things well and in service of its riveting plot.
The brilliant open ending led to a sequel which involved none of the original team and is by all accounts a film to give a wide berth.
If you love the classic noir and want to see the themes of those films brought in to the present day then The Last Seduction is as good a film as you'll ever get.

Veronica (Ryder) is part of the most powerful clique at Westerburg high school. The Heathers (Kim Walker, Shannen Doherty and Lisanne Falk) so called because the other 3 members are all named Heather. When Veronica meets, and begins dating JD (Slater), she starts pulling away from the clique, while some of the more popular students start showing up dead with suicide notes.
Heathers is a modern classic. It is all but unprecedented for a film to become more socially relevant as time goes on but this is exactly what has happened here. In these post-columbine times JD's vision of how to improve the world is even more brilliant and scathing a piece of satire than it was in 1988.
Perhaps the greatest strength of the film is it's script.
This was Dan Waters first produced screenplay and it sets a benchmark, not only is the dialogue brilliant but the structure is perfect. Nothing seems tacked on, or indeed missing.
Christian Slater's performance (an excellent show unfairly denigrated as Jack Nicholson lite) made, and defined, his career into the 90's and it remains his best role (though Clarence, in True Romance comes close). Good as Slater is the script does him a lot of favours, how can you not establish your character well when one of your first lines is:
Kurt Kelly: Hey Ram, doesn't this cafeteria have a no fags allowed rule?
Jason Dean: (Slater) Well, they seem to have an open door policy for assholes though don't they?
Ryder is also good, aided by a screenplay that grants her more intelligence than most high school movies do their female characters she gives an often funny, multi-layered performance that she's not matched since.
It is also good to see actors playing their own age. high school films always seem filled with 20 somethings who look like they should have finished college, never mind their senior year. The casting gives another layer of authenticity to what is a very believable film (this is even more true since the films release)
Glenn Shadix also gets to have a lot of fun with a recurring cameo as the priest presiding at the various funerals in the story.
Some of the cultural references have dated badly, always a problem with 80's movies, and Big Fun and swatches are not exactly big news these days but no matter. The film has some serious points to make about suicide and it does this well while making us laugh (Veronica shooting JD's finger when he flips her off is a great moment).
This was the first feature by Michael Lehmann and what a fall from grace he had. Legendary turkey Hudson Hawk came next.
It should be noted that there has, over the years, been talk of a sequel. This may be the worst idea in history. This brilliant film ought to be left to stand alone.

The 15 minute ballet of the red shoes in the middle of this film may be the single most beautiful thing ever captured on celluloid.

Tom (Cunliffe) has just moved to Devon with his elder sister Jessie (Belmont) and their Mum (Swinton) and Dad (Winstone). He has become suspicious that his Father and Sister are having an incestuous relationship and, one day, follows them on one of their walks to see if he is right. The answer tears the family apart.
Whatever you think about The War Zone one thing can not be denied: This is a truly shocking and disturbing film. Any film that takes incest as its subject is going to have a difficult time getting screened but few either tackle the subject as head on, or had as much trouble getting a wide release, as The War Zone.
The first thing one must say about this film is that the performances are remarkable.
Lara Belmont was 17 and had never acted before this film was shot. She really is thrown in at the deep end, Jessie's is the most important role in the film and a very complex character for such a young and inexperienced actress. Belmont delivers in the role, she gives easily the best performance in the film. There is a horrible, yet cathartic moment towards the end of the film when she turns on Dad (In a brilliant touch neither parent is named) and screams at him "You fuck me" she tells him. Though everyone (in the scene and the audience) knows this Dad still denies it.
The other challenge for Belmont is how graphic the material here is, she spends an inordinate amount of her screen time naked and halfway through the film is subjected to a graphic and horrifying rape scene. It can't have been a comfortable situation for her and that only helps her performance. In fact Belmont is so good that it almost seems wrong to call it a performance, the whole film has a great sense of realism and much of the time you feel you could be watching a documentary.
Given her performance here it astounds me that Belmont had never acted before, if there were any justice she would have won, at least, a nomination for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
The other participant in that rape scene is Ray Winstone. His performance as Dad is a fascinating one, aside from the rape scene he plays him as a good man, and an excellent parent. This an interesting choice, before the rape scene we like Dad, he seems like the kind of parent we'd all want; responsible and caring. Of course this all goes out the window once Tom has his suspicions confirmed.
Winstone has said that he found the rape scene hard to shoot because he has a daughter Belmont's age. The scene is hard to watch for just that reason, most of us know someone like Jessie, and someone like Dad.
We see each of the events in the film (just as we did the novel from which it is adapted) through the eyes of Tom.
Freddie Cunliffe, like Lara Belmont, had never acted before he won this part, and he too gives an excellent, understated, performance. He was 15 years old when The War Zone was shot and he gives a much more mature performance than that would suggest. He plays Tom as a more quiet character than the book suggested and the deletion of some of the background information on the character has made him more likeable and easier to empathise with.
Tilda Swinton is a bit underused as Mum, her performance less memorable purely because she falls outside the main conflict of the film, between Jessie, Dad and Tom. Take nothing away from her though, she does her job well but the script gives us fewer memorable moments with her than with the others. Tim Roth took the decision to shoot his directorial debut in a ratio of 2.35:1. His shot composition is wonderful, using the whole of the frame beautifully; this is a film that loses a lot on video. The bleak landscapes are nicely captured by Roth and his DP and serve as a perfect metaphoric backdrop for the story.
I have made much of how disturbing and hard to watch the rape scene in the middle of the film is, and I stand by my words. The question is; is it justified? Do we need to see this abuse depicted so graphically and upsettingly? My answer is a resounding YES. It is useful to draw comparison here with another excellent film; The Accused in that film it was vital that (however difficult an experience it was) we see what Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster) was subjected to and prove a court case. Here it serves only to prove Tom right. An interesting choice in comparison to the book was to make it crystal clear that this is a case of rape. In the novel Jessie is much more complicit in the incest (Indeed it is inferred that she instigated the whole thing). The scene makes the issue entirely unambiguous, something it could never be if we only heard about it.
You won't enjoy The War Zone, I'd be concerned if anyone did, but it is hard not to be impressed by the dedication of the cast and director to making such an honest portrayal of such a challenging subject. This is a brilliant film, one I'd recommend to any adult (it is certainly not suitable for anyone under 18), but be warned it is far from an easy viewing experience.

Eddie Adams (Wahlberg) is discovered by porn director Jack Horner (Reynolds) while working in a night club. Jack puts Eddie, now renamed Dirk Diggler, and his "talent" on the top of the porn industry. But when the 80s arrive, Dirk and his colleagues; who include high-school dropout "Rollergirl" (Graham), experienced pornstar and "mother to all those who need her" Amber Waves (Moore) and black, country music loving, cowboy Buck Swope (Don Cheadle), in the porn industry have to cope with a new era, as well as the baggage they bring with them from the 70s.
Though it was not, as many think, Paul Thomas Anderson's debut film (that's the underseen, and rather good, Hard Eight) Boogie Nights is still a film that heralded the arrival of the most promising young American director (26 when he shot Boogie Nights) since Quentin Tarantino. It wasn't massive at the box office, most people discovered it on video, but it netted three academy award nominations, including a first nod (as Best Supporting Actress) for Julianne Moore.
The story of Boogie Nights is a familiar rise and fall one, the difference being that this time it is set in the thriving porn industry in California in the 70's and 80's. When the film begins porn was in its heyday, with stars like John Holmes and films like Deep Throat crossing over to the mainstream. We don't really see that side of things, the people Boogie Nights introduces us to are lower down the ladder, at least until Eddie makes an impression.
It is to Paul Thomas Anderson's credit that, even with such a huge cast, he gives each of the characters proper attention and a complex, compelling personality. This is perhaps best shown in his writing of Julianne Moore's character "Amber Waves" (I use quotation marks because that is her professional name, her real name is Maggie). She's a truly complex individual; on the one hand a prolific pornstar, hopelessly addicted to cocaine, on the other a devoted mother, both to her estranged son and to the extended family she works with. It is the motherly side of Amber that provides Moore her best moments in the film; a genuinely upsetting moment when she stands alone crying after losing the right to see her son, and telling "Rollergirl" that she will be her mother as they both do vast amounts of coke.
Moore is wonderful in the part, it remains her best performance (Though Far From Heaven comes close). You never feel that you are watching an actor giving a performance, just a person living her life.
The rest of the cast excel as well. Mark Wahlberg is better than he's been before or since, hitting all the right notes as Eddie, particularly in the first half of the movie as his star rises in the industry. John C Reilly is a gifted character actor (and actually looks a little like real pornstar Ron Jeremy) and puts in a funny turn as Dirks second banana "Reed Rothchild". The characters that Dirk and Reed play in their films, apparently parodies of John Holmes films, are screamingly funny and a real highlight, along with the documentary Amber makes about Dirk, of the first half of the film.
Heather Graham is hardly renowned for her range or even her acting ability but as "Rollergirl" she impresses. The rest of the ensemble cast are, without exception, brilliant. I think Paul Thomas Anderson may be the best actors director working today.
Boogie Nights is far more fun in its first half, after Eddie leaves the porn industry the film takes on a different tone, becoming incredibly dark as we enter the 1980's, fortunately it never stops being entertaining and some stunning set pieces (not least Alfred Molina's turn as the unhinged Rahad Jackson) come up in the latter half of the film.
I've made much of how good Anderson's script but he is not a Kevin Smith type figure; a writer who happens to direct his own work. Anderson is, potentially, the greatest technical and stylistic American director since Martin Scorsese. This is chiefly shown by two early shots. The first shot in the film is a two and a half minute steadicam tour of a disco that introduces us to all the main character, this is an impressive way for Anderson to start his film but he tops himself fast with a brilliant shot at a pool party which goes round the pool, into the water and back out again.
Some have denigrated Boogie Nights simply for its subject matter but the film is deceptive, its really more about family than it is pornography and to see it just as a film about porn is to do it a great disservice. I would urge anyone over 18 to discover this complex, brilliant piece of cinema (and PLEASE do so in its proper widescreen version, Anderson is a great visualist and this movie loses a vast amount in the pan and scan process) and Anderson's even better follow up; Magnolia.

Made as the Hays code crumbled Anatomy of a Murder was controversial for its language, words like rape and panties were heard for the first time because they were essential to the plot.
The plot revolves around lawyer Paul Biegler (Stewart) defending Lt. Frederick Manion (Gazzara) against the charge of murder having shot a man he believes raped his wife (Remick). Beigler's defence strategy is to suggest that Manion was temporarily insane, under an 'irresistible impulse' to shoot his victim.
I like courtroom dramas and this is the pinnacle of the genre. That's down to a few things, first amongst them being the source. Anatomy of a Murder was based on the novel of the same name by Robert Traver, a pseudonym because Traver was in fact a serving justice in the US courts. It's this that gives both novel and film their ring of truth. It never allows the procedural detail to get in the way of the story but provides enough to keep you from getting lost.
James Stewart is the great everyman of American cinema and he takes us through the story with his familliar drawl and easy charisma, but to say that's all he does would be to take away from what is a magnificent performance, particularly when he gets a chance to get truly animated in the courtroom scenes. Even when he's not talking it's a pleasure to watch Stewart as you can always see Biegler's cogs turning as he listens to other characters.
Ben Gazzara makes an early mark as Manion managing to keep us guessing as to just how in control of himself he really was when comitting his crime. It's often a chilling performance and Gazarra is exceptional.
Even better is Lee Remick as Manion's wife, for somebody who'd only seen her in The Omen before her performance here is simply a revelation and, like Gazarra she walks a fine line with her character between the audience thinking she may just be scheming and that she's simply a victim and plays both sides expertly.
Director Otto Preminge also extracts fine performances from George C Scott as the state prosecutor and Joseph N Welch as a fair minded judge.
At close to three hours Anatomy of a Murder could easily have dragged but the case is riveting, the characters interesting and the performances stunning which means that the running time simply flies by.

This biopic of one of the worst directors ever to work in Hollywood, Edward D Wood Jr, surprised everyone by being absolutely brilliant, easily Tim Burton's best work.
Ed Wood was born in 1924 and discovered cinema through the Universal horror films of the 30's, becoming a particular fan of Dracula and Bela Lugosi. The film picks up Wood's (played by Depp) story in Hollywood in the mid 1950's, he's trying to scratch out a lving, working as a playwright and trying to get a movie idea picked up. His luck looks up when, by chance, he meets and befriends Bela Lugosi (Landau) and gets him to agree to attatch his name to Wood's script; Glen or Glenda which allows him to get his first film off the ground. The film covers the making of Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster and Wood's best known film Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Ed Wood is a wonderful film for a movie lover, it's about a man who loves cinema as much as us, more even, and Depp's performance captures that enthusiasm, Ed's giddy as a schoolboy reaction to being allowed to make his own movies. There's not a lot of real footage of Ed to draw on but Depp feels real in the role and even looks enough like Wood that you never see Johnny Depp. Martin Landau won an Oscar as Bela Lugosi and it was fully deserved, buried beneath prosthetics to make him look like Bela Landau's performance perfectly captures both the public face of the man and the private pain brought about by the downward spiral of his career and his morphine addiction.
Tim Burton wisely shoots in black and white, it would have been very strange indeed to look at the recreated moments from Ed's films in colour and the people making them have to exist in the same world as those films, hence black and white. It lends an immediate sense of period authenticity and the cinematography is crisp and impressive.
Most importantly though, as kooky as he was, Ed Wood never mocks its main character and while it nods to some of his flaws it is an overwhelmingly affectionate portrait.

Sublime comedy from the Marx Brothers. Duck Soup is at once an uproariously funny comedy and a fascinatingly prescient political satire, as it approaches its 75th anniversary there are still paralells to be drawn between the way 'Freedonia' acts in the film and the way world powers act today. Lets not kid ourselves though, that's not the intent, Duck Soup merely wants to make you laugh like a drain and it does so for almost its entire run time.
The humour is both visual (the wonderfully coreographed sequence of Groucho standing in a doorway and Harpo, disguised, pretending to be his reflection) and verbal, with Groucho's wisecracks as funny now as ever they were (there's no sell by date on lines like: 'Remember, you're fighting for this woman's honour, which is probably more than she ever did.')
Duck Soup is broad comedy and it's not going to be to all tastes but if this is your kind of humour it doesn't get any better than this.

Confession time. I actually saw Gus Van Sant's version before this Hitchcock masterpiece, I think that experience actually increased my admiration for this great film.
Hitch reveled in throwing his audience and Psycho plays perhaps his greatest trick in which he kills his main character an hour into the movie, it's genius, simply because from there on out anything could happen, once you knife the heroine to death the rulebook is out the window.
As that heroine Janet Leigh is excellent, doing an admirable job of carrying the first half of the film but at the end of the day from his very first appearance this is the Norman Bates show and Anthony Perkins is simply outstanding. Norman was interpreted in the remake as a giggling effeminate misfit. Perkins underplays though, which means that it's a shock when Norman turns out to be a dress wearing, knife weilding loon. Hitchcock shows complete mastery of the thriller genre knowing exactly how to pace his films and giving the shocks real impact.

It's hard to fathom in retrospect but this was Katharine Hepburn's last ditch effort to save her career, having been dubbed 'Box office poison' following the failure of Bringing Up Baby and Holiday. The Philadelphia Story began life as a play by Phillip Barry who wrote the Tracy Lord part specifically for Hepburn, tailoring the role to her cadence. Hepburn cannily got Howard Hughes to buy the movie rights for her and therefore had a lot of control; she asked for Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable for the male leads, she got Cary Grant and James Stewart %u201CNot Bad%u201D she later opined. From it's clever opening which, in an hillarious, wordless, slapstick 30 odd seconds tells us all we need to know about Tracy and Dexter's marriage to the golriously unexpected ending The Philadelphia Story is an absolute joy. The entire cast is excellent, it really shows that Hepburn's role was tailored to her and Grant and Stewart both give outstanding supporting performances, the latter winning the film's sole Oscar.

Cameron Crowe's directorial debut is one of those movies you can show to just about anyone and, chances are, they'll fall in love with it to some degree. Crowe has always been a writer first and foremost and that shows here. In Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court he's created two great characters, people you like, sure, but more important they're people you recognise, something that's true of all the majot characters.
The acting is also top notch. John Cusack and Ione Skye are both completely charming and convincing and they have tremendous chemistry which helps sell the relationship. It's not a visually exquisite film by any means but Crowe's deft touch with the actors and his funny, affecting, screenplay mean that his still forming directorial style serves the film well.

At 10 Melanie (Played as an 18 year old by Francois) is a gifted pianist. She goes to take a piano exam and is doing fine until an autograph hunter comes into the room to get a signiature from one examiner (Frot) and Melaine's performance comes to a halt. Her concentration blown she messes up on restarting an fails the exam, then promptly gives up piano.
At 18 Melanie is working for a lawyer (Greggory) when she discovers he needs an au pair for a month she asks for the job and is promptly hired. On arriving she finds that the Ariane, lawyer's wife, is the very examiner who threw her confidence years ago. Ariane and her trio are working up to a hugely important concert and Ariane needs a page turner, when she finds that Melanie can read music she enlists her as turner for the concert.

I have to be careful what I say here because anything I reveal about this film risks spoiling its twists and turns so there will be no further talk of plot.
The premise of The Page Turner hardly seems like the recipe for a taut thriller but don't let that decieve you. There may be little actually happening most of the time but this only lets Dercourt create a chilling atmosphere and play with your imaginings of the possibilities. He takes Hitchcock's maxim that the recipe for thrills is to give the audience more knowledge than the characters and certainly the fact that you know who Melanie is while Ariane does not is a cornerstone of the film.
What takes this beyond an efficent aping of directors like Hitchcock, Chabrol and, more recently, Michael Haneke is the extraordinary cast.
Deborah Francois, just 19 years old, is a revelation. With her long blonde hair, penetrating eyes and cut glass beauty her look is tailor made for a Hitchcock film but it's her acting that impresses most. She gives a beautifully subtle performance which will have you pondering throughout the film, and perhaps beyond the closing credits, what the character's true feelings are and how much of what transpires was planned.
Francois is matched by an excellent Catherine Frot, giving a restrained performance in a role that could easily have slipped into histrionics. Pascal Greggory, though a little sidelined by the plot, is also strong.
Dercourt sets a stately pace but tempers it with the odd shock. There's just one instance of violence, brief but painful (though not explcit) it will elicit gasps from any audience. By setting his film up like this Dercourt makes the whole thing hum with tension.
The Page Turner is what I love best about cinema. Every now and then something you had no expectations for (I almost went to something else instead) will sneak up on you and proceed to blow you away, this is that rare film.

No other movie has ever had such an effect on how something is seen. Chances are that whenever you picture Frankenstein's Monster it is the flat head, bolts through neck make up created by Jack Pierce and worn by Boris Karloff.
There's a strong performance from Colin Clive as the titular Doctor but, as in The Mummy Karloff is the star. It's a mute role but incredibly sensetively played by Karloff who never gets hammy (unlike every other actor ever to play the part).

One of Hitchcock's best this brilliant thriller hangs on its concept. What if you wanted to kill someone, met someone else who had someone they wanted dead and what, then, if you simply swapped murders?
Farley Granger and Robert Walker give excellent performances as the two men who talk over this idea on meeting on the train but when Walker commits "Granger's' murder he expects Granger to fulfil his side of the bargain. Hitchcock ratchets up the tension expertly and shooots the film with great style, particularly in the murder scene, set at a fairground.

Hoop Dreams was nominated for precisely one Oscar. Best Editing. It's one of AMPAS' great all time oversights not to nominate this masterpiece for the Documentary Feature award.
Shot over five years the film follows two young black men (William Gates and Arthur Agee) throughout their high school basketball careers as they dream of going to college and then on to the NBA. The filmmakers don't just concentrate on Gates and Agee, they turn the focus on their often troubled family lives, their failures as well as their successes both on and off court. From 300 hours of footage Director Steve James has carved out a riveting three hour film. He's very fortunate with his subjects, Gates is particularly engaging but it's Agee whose story is most compelling as he experiences so many ups and downs but you like both of them, you want them to succeed. The basketball sequences are brilliantly exciting and spread throughout the film at regular intervals at just the right times to remind you what this film is really about. Hoop Dreams is an outstanding documentray, one that should be seen whether or not you're interested in basketball or not.

I have the feeling I have some explaining to do. Yes I think Jackie Brown is Quentin Tarantino's best film, by quite some way. The script bears the hallmarks of the man who adapted the source novel (Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch) but retains the complex and fascinating plotting of it's original author. However, for perhaps the first time, Tarantino is not the star of this movie. Pam Grier's performance is, simply put, a rvelation. She oozes strength, intelligence and sex appeal, there's nobody else you could imagine playing this character after seeing this performance. Robert Forster is similarly brilliant, his Max Cherry making you wonder why he'd done no work of note for years until Jackie Brown. Samuel L Jackson's Ordell Robbie and Robert DeNiro's excellent supporting role (his last great performance?) provide the film both its villains and its comic relief, never letting the the comic aspect get in the way of reminding you how dangerous these men are.
Tarantino doesn't show off much but his handling of the vital mall scene, which he shows us from three different perspectives, each with a different bit of music as a theme tune is absolutely masterful.

To begin with Lawn Dogs seems a pleasent film, but nothing earth shattering but it sucks you in with a sensetive screenplay and well drawn characters that you come really to care for.
As Devon Mischa Barton is the anchor of the film and she's absolutely fantastic, showing an understanding of her character far beyond her tender years. There's challenging material for her too as the layers of her character slowly reveal themselves.
Sam Rockwell is also excellent as Trent. He's hardly squeaky clean (he's been to prison) but he's well meaning and relatively smart, smart enough to know how people will react to him and Devon being friends. The way Devon charms him works for the film because, first of all, it works for us but also because both treat it as an utterly innocent thing.
The scenes that Rockwell and Barton share are simply joyous, whether they are stealing chickens, dancing on the roof of Rockwell's truck or, in an enormously touching moment, showing each other their scars. That's my favourite moment of the film. Devon's scar is in the middle of her chest and when she starts to open her dress to show trent something Bartons delivery of "It's not my chest I want to show you, stupid" when he turns away is just perfect.
The cast is uniformly fantastic with Kathleen Quinlan and Christopher McDonald as Devon's parents and the brilliant Beth Grant cameoing as Trent's mum.

1938. Indiana Jones (Ford) recieves word that his Father (Connery) has gone missing while assisting a Dr Schnieder (Doody) in the hunt for the Holy Grail. Indy must first save his Dad from the Nazis who have kidnapped him, hoping to get the Grail themselves then go on the quest for the Grail itself.
It seemed that, with Temple of Doom, the usualy incontrovertible law of diminishing returns had set into the Indiana Jones series. That, and the fact that Raiders of the Lost Ark set the bar so tremendously high, makes the fact that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade exceeds both previous films a genuine, deeply pleasent, shock.
The credit for the fact that this is the best of the trilogy goes, almost entirely, to new recruit Sean Connery. Connery was cast as Prof Henry Jones when it was reasoned that only one person could be Indiana Jones' Dad; James Bond. It's a genius piece of casting as Connery doesn't take it seriously for a second, giving a ripe, enormously enjoyable, comic performance. He's also possibly the only actor of his age you could believe having slept with the girl in the movie before his son.
Indiana Jones now fits Harrison Ford like, well, a comfortable old hat and his game is only lifted by having Connery to play off, their exasperation with one another leading to some very funny exchanges.
The girl in Temple of Doom (Kate Capshaw) was a whiny annoyance and the mistake hasn't been repeated here. Alison Doody has perhaps the best part of any of the Indy girls, a layered complex and always believeable character. Her Austrian accent is a caricature but that's fine for this type of movie and she plays the role well. Crucially Doody, before Elsa's allegiance is revealed, creates enough sympathy in the audience that you want her to be redeemed at the end.
The action is non-stop and as good as any that has gone before it in the series. The sequence in the catacombs beneath Venice and the boat chase it leads to are stunning, one running into the other beautifully never letting the pace or the excitement flag. Also outstanding is a lengthy sequence cutting between Indy fighting ON a tank his father is a prisoner IN which eventually brings Henry onto the tank as well, ratcheting up the action a notch.
Along with a great, River Phoenix starring, teaser sequence that reveals how Indy got his fear of snakes, his hat and his bullwhip it adds up to a fantastically enjoyable, thrilling, funny two hours. It even manages to raise a cheer with its last frame.

One of the cornerstones of my childhood and still one of my favourite films to rewatch. "Listen... you smell something?"

Love The Princess Bride? (and if not, why not?) you need to see this. The finest swashbuckler there is with a fantastic, charismatic, performance from Errol Flynn; the definitive Robin Hood and the second greatest swordfight ever filmed.

Brutally depressing but brilliantly acted.

A masterpiece from Michael Powell which nearly destroyed his career. Misunderstood at the time of it's release as merely a purient film Peeping Tom is in fact a clever comment on the power of cinema featuring a cameraman who kills his female victims with a sharpened leg on his camera's tripod as he films them.
A creepy performance from unknown Carl Boehm and superb direction from Powell add to its great power.

Many times over the last few years I've reiterated my admiration for the new wave of South Korean actors, writers and directors. I'm aware that this may be getting a touch boring but then they will insist on making great film after great film.
Addicted, made in 2002, is no exception. Ho Jin (Lee Eol) and Eun Soo (Lee Mi Yeon) are a married couple in their early thirties living with Ho Jin's younger brother Dae Jin (Lee Byung Hun) as a lodger. One day both brothers are involved in seperate car accidents, Dae Jin in the race he is driving in and Ho Jin in a taxi on the way to that race. Both are sent into comas but only Dae Jin wakes up. However on his return from the hospital he seems different, he takes up his brother's work and pastimes and then reveals that, though it is Dae Jin's body which is back from hospital he is, in fact, Ho Jin.
The supernatural romance concept isn't particularly new, this film has echoes of many others, Truly Madly Deeply comes to mind immediately though here we're not dealing with ghosts. What is different about Addicted is not so much the initial concept as the way it unfolds and keeps you guessing as to the outcome even beyond the final frames.
Much of the film is carried on the shoulders of Lee Byung Hun and Lee Mi Yeon. Byung Hun is simply one of the finest young actors in world cinema besides this he'll be best known to international audiences for A Bittersweet Life or perhaps Park Chan Wook's segment of Three Extremes. Addicted is his finest hour to date, he's absolutely fantastic, playing the subtle shadings of his character and its various incarnations often in silence but always completely truthfully. As great as Byung Hun is Lee Mi Yeon is even better, she's great with dialogue certainly but it's almost more interesting watching her react to others dialogue, witness her flat out brilliant performance in the scene where the man she's known as Dae Jin at last convinces her that he is Ho Jin (it's easier to follow than to write about, I promise). The chemistry between the two crackles, particularly in a lengthy and tender love scene.
Regrettably I can't talk about the dramatic turn of events in the last act. It's something that really could go either way but, for me anyway, it works like a charm and allows director Park Yeong Hoon to play merry hell with the audiences emotions.
Park leaves things unresolved at the end, not in a bad, untidy way, it's simply that he doesn't provide answers as to how the late twist in the tale will be dealt with and this uncertainty is one of the many things that mean Addicted is a movie that if you see it as part of a larger audience you will be talking and probably arguing about and one you'll remember for much longer than most of the present Hollywood dreck which seems to slip from my mind as I rise from my seat.

The greatest martial arts movie of them all. Sammo Hung extracts great performances from leads Yuen Biao and Lam Ching Ying as well as providing laughs in a supporting role.
The two main wing chun duels in the film are, quite simply put, the best ever filmed.

Filmed in 1985 and not released for five years there's a reason Henry has had such a difficult time getting seen in Director John McNaughton's original form. Based upon the life story of real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas this is probably the most disturbingly realistic portrayl of murder ever put on screen.
There's nothing here to release you, no police, no reporter connecting Henry's random crimes, no sense that he's in danger of being stopped. From the still images of his victims in the opening credits to the horrendous videotaped murder in the middle of the film and the unresolved ending Henry is confrontational and upsetting.
Thanks to Michael Rooker's spectacular performance Henry is anything but an easy watch but it's a rewarding one for a horror fan.

An exceptional, puzzling, thriller from Alfred Hitchcock. James Stewart takes the lead as a man trying to recreate his lost love (Kim Novak in an excellent dual role) but doomed to lose her a second time. Stewart is teriffic playing completely against type, creepy and unhinged and Hitchcock plays with surreal images, dream sequences and other techniques to come up with an enduringly disturbing and brilliant film.

The greatest of the classic Films Noir. Fred MacMurray is great as the insurance man duped by Femme Fatale Barbara Stawyck into murdering her husband and Edward G Robinson puts in sterling support as MacMurray's boss; an insurance investigator who smells a rat.
Billy Wilder's film may seem a touch cliché now but he invented all those cliches here. The crisp black and white photography suits the hard boiled story down to the ground but it's in the performances that the true genius lies. Every femme fatale since has owed a debt to Barbara Stanwyck's seductive performance here and Robinson gives a masterclass in the supporting role, stealing every scene he's in.

Yes Robert DeNiro is amazing, he first got in ludicrously good shape, learnt to box with the real Jake LaMotta (to a level that led LaMotta to suggest that DeNiro could have been a middlewight) and then ate his way round Italy to gain weight for the bookending scenes of an older Jake. He EARNT that Oscar. Yes Martin Scorsese's black and white imagery is stunning with the punisihing boxing matches standing out. All that is often said. It's less often noted how good the support is, notably a brilliant Joe Pesci as Jake's brother and a debuting Cathy Moriarty as his young wife. Technically the film is also strong with the key assistance coming from Scorsese's brilliant editor Thelma Schoonmaker, whose cutting gives the boxing matches much of their impact

Just about the perfect action film. Bruce Willis contributes an iconic and much mimicked performance as John McClane and the script is much more intelligent than that of your typical actioner, allowing the audience more knowledge than the characters (something Hitchcock always knew was a perfect recipe for suspense). Alan Rickman's scenery chewing is also a ot of fun. Obviously though it's the action and the one liners that are the main draw and both are brilliant. The action is clever, varied, and exciting but director John McTiernan is smart enough to let us draw breath after each. Really what can be said but... Yippe ki yay motherfucker.

An honest to god horror masterpiece. Compltely real, absolutely frightening

With it's never ending rollercoaster of thrills and laughs Raiders of the Lost Ark is often seen as the high watermark for the blockbuster and it's not even the best Indiana Jones film.
Harrison Ford becomes yet another iconic character for George Lucas (who, fortunately, only contributed the story). Ford is so utterly perfect in the role it is impossible to imagine anyone else doing it. The same can be said for Karen Allen, the perfect Indiana Jones girl; as Marion she's sexy, funny, but also resourceful and some use in a tight spot.
The set pieces are unfailingly exciting running the whole length of the film from the brilliant opening with Indy running from a boulder to the deeply scary (well, when I was 8) opening of the ark.
If only more of the films that only aspire to be entertainment today did it even a tenth as well as Raiders.

John Woo's heroic bloodshed films reached their zenith here. True Hard-Boiled has more action but it is the storytelling and performances of The Killer that place it here. Chow Yun Fat and Danny Lee are teriffic as, respectively, the contract killer and the cop who develop a grudging respect for each other. Sally Yeh also puts in a strong show as the singer that Chow has accidentally blinded and is now taking jobs so he can pay for an operation to fix this mistake.
The action is awesome, completely outside reality but stunningly coreographed. This isn't really intended as serious drama but you do get caught up in the central triangle and Woo also manages to exploit the relationships for comic gain in one fantastic scene where Lee and Chow share tea with Yeh while pointing guns at each other yet making up anecdotes to keep Yeh in the dark about their relationship.
Action cinema doesn't get much better.

The first and with the introduction of the Animated feature category surely the only animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and it's one of a very few that is worthy of that recognition.
Right from the outset it's clear that this is Disney at their very best. The animation is gorgeous, clean, with appealing character design and a wonderful level of detail and even the songs are stong (Belle is a lovely opener, Be Our Guest a spectacular set piece). It's in the writing and performance that the film earns its accolades, the voice casting is flawless and the acting excellent. The real surprise though is the degree of emotional involvement the film extracts from audiences. Even now when I see it I still care desperately about the characters and the outcome and that's something that's all too rare in any kind of cinema.

The story of a twelve year old boy who dreams of escaping his life on the mid 70's Glasgow council estate on which he lives to a new development outside of time and his relationships with both the adults and children around him. Lynne Ramsay's first feature is hardly event packed by the writer/director finds drama and beauty in the mundanity. Striking images abound, with the opening shot of James dancing, wrapping himself in a curtain, being one of the most unexpectedly arresting. Ramsay's script is also strong with well crafted relationships, particularly a touching friendship between James and an older girl; Margaret Anne. Aiding Ramsay are the performances of the children; all admirably natural.

Tobe Hooper originally wanted a PG rating for his terrorising masterpiece which is why, disturbing as it is, there's nary a drop of blood to be seen.
It's not what you see in this film though, it's what you feel. Every hit is palpable, notably the painful moment when Leatherface hangs a girl on a meathook.
Marilyn Burns progressively more unhinged performance as Sally set the template for generations of scream queens to come. Forget the pretty but aneamic remake.

The best film of 2005 by some considerable distance was this tremendous German telling of the story of the last week of Hitler's life.
The direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel is outstanding placing us in the claustrophobic atmosphere of Hitler's bunker while occasionally taking us up to the frontline of the battle for Berlin in some authentic feeling sequences. However it's the performances you'll remember. Bruno Ganz is now surely the definitive screen Hitler his portrayl going in seconds from oddly sympathetic to the ranting lunatic we expect Hitler to be. Every performance is stunning but it's Corrinna Harfouch as the loathsome Magda Goebbels who provides the film its true monster in an utterly shocking scene where she poisons six of her seven children.

Carlito's Way is an exceptional gangster film. It's a crime that while Al Pacino won an Oscar for his 'hoo hah' showboating in Scent of a Woman he wasn't even nominated for his more subtle and far more effective work here. It's not the Al Pacino show though as an unrecognisable Sean Penn is at his best as Carlito's crooked lawyer, hell even Penelope Ann Miller is good.
The film overflows with memorable moments; from the confrontation in the pool hall to the brilliant chase through Grand Central station to Pacino's final speech. At the end of the day it's not Carlito's Way's fault that it's not The Godfather and this is certainly an underappreciated film that needs reappraisal.

It's not a promising title really. Robocop succeeds because the intelligence of the film so exceeds that which you expect from the title. Director Paul Verhoven makes a rollicking sci-fi action adventure, one of the best in fact, but what distinguishes it is how Verhoven and screenwriter Ed Neumier stuff the film with social comment and satire. They'd revisit some of these themes in Starship Troopers but their mock news bulletins and adverts work best here.
The film would also have floundered without the sensetive performance of Peter Weller, who actually manages to emote from under the Robocop armour.

A film that birthed an entire genre and one that still outclasses its every imitator.
25 years on and every element of the film is still in the conciousness. Michael Myers mask (in fact a William Shatner mask, turned inside out and painted white) is iconic and any new pretender to his boogeyman throne must pick a mask and a weapon (like Myers' ever present knife). John Carpenter directs brilliantly, ratcheting up the tension, but more memorable still is his fantastic score, perhaps, besides Psycho's screeching violins, the most memorable in horror cinema.

The first fully computer animated film is still one of the very best. It's because the story has been well thought out that Toy Story works, it's not just funny put is in fact quite thought provoking at times. The vocal performances are all spot on, particularly that of Tim Allen, perfect as Buzz Lightyear. Technology has moved on considerably in 11 years but Toy Story holds up because the visuals are just the way the story is told and it is the story and the jokes that demand your attention.

A stunning crime film, the first completed screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, and still the best thing he's written.
Patricia Arquette's Alabama would be a simplistic fantasy figure in other hands but her wounded portrayal gives the character some level of reality. Christian Slater has never been better, relishing every line of dialogue as Tarantino alter ego Clarence. It is, however, the stunning scene between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken; by turns menacing and hillariously funny that the film will be remembered for.

A relatively straightforward tale of first (lesbian) love gone sour is given a freshness by Director Pawel Pawlikowski whose adaptation of a novel by Helen Cross utterly outclasses its source.
Pawlikowski shoots the hazy English summer beautifully creating a lazy mood that fits with the story and with the wonderful score by Alison Goldfrapp. Newcomers Emily Blunt and Natalie Press give comitted performances, creating a relationship you can believe in and root for, as well as two credilble individual characters.

If David Lynch made anime he may well have come up with Perfect Blue.
This film is many things: a Hitchcockian thriller, a scathing indictment of the cult of celebrity, a backstage drama, a horror film and it's an effective example of all of these.
The story is of pop idol Mima who leaves her band Cham to become an actress. She takes a small role in a TV drama which involves difficult sequences of nudity and rape. At the same time Mima finds that she has a stalker writing in disturbingly accurate detail about her life on a website and begins hallucinating a 'real Mima' who wants her to rejoin Cham.
The first time you see Perfect Blue you may find it difficult to sift reality from fantasy, like Lynch's films it mixes them freely and to willfully confusing effect. It's a disorienting film.
The performances are top class, both in the original Japanese and the unusualy excellent english dub and the animation is truly wonderful but it's Kon's script that is the real star here. His characters are more three dimensional than most that appear in live action movies these days. They've got complex motivations, full personalities. Overall this is a staggering directorial debut from Kon and quite possibly the best anime ever made.

Stunning neo-noir from Lawrence Kasdan, showing in his directorial debut that he's capable of much more than just knocking George Lucas' stories into screenplay shape.
The plot is right out of ye olde booke of movie cliches but it's the dialogue (you're not too bright, I like that in a man), the performances of William Hurt and Kathleen Turner and the chemistry between them that really makes this work.

Okay so it's not an out and out horror film but Joe Dante's teriffic stocking chiller (cause it's set at Christmas you see... oh why do I bother?) has some of the cinema's most memorable monsters.
Gremlins monsters have individual personalities and a presence that's only really possible with the pre-cgi tech used here. There's some great scares but there's also humour and a surprisingly touching performance from Phoebe Cates as she relates why she hates Christmas.

The best noir since The Last Seduction. Another exceptional performance from Joseph Gordon Levitt who is fast becoming one of the most interesting young actors in Hollywood anchors the film and Lukas Haas is also great as young drug lord 'The Pin'. The script is brilliant and it ends with an absolute gut punch of a twist.

With a cast comprised of some of America's finest character actors (Jane Adams, Dylan Baker, Phillip Seymour Hoffman to name just a few) the least appropriately titled film on this list overcomes it's dark and depressing subject matter with none more black comedy and minimal but effective direction from Todd Solondz. This is a sharply divisive film but one that you'll find hard to forget.

Sarah Polley is one of the best young actresses working and this is probably her finest hour on film. As a young mather with terminal cancer Polley is hugely affecting, particularly in a heartwrenching scene in which she makes tapes for her daughters to listen to on their birthdays that she won't be arond for. Sad as the subject is the film never becomes bogged down in melancholy and director Isabelle Coixet never subjects us to the horror of a death scene. As well as Polley's fine turn theres strong support, most notably from Mark Ruffalo

The worthwhile entry in cinema's most overrated series. Empire takes away the lumpen screenwriting of George Lucas (who recieves only a story credit) and benefits from a pacy and unpredictable plot, memorable new characters and some strong performances.

Director Karl Freund was one of the great unsung talents of the 1930's, working as cinematographer on a variety of classics, The Mummy was his directorial debut. It basically transposes the story of Frankenstein, complete with Boris Karloff as the monster in another astounding Jack Pierce make up.
There's a sexy Zita Johann as the love interest but Karloff is the star, turning in a surprisingly quiet and subtle performance.

Quite wonderful religious satire from the Pythons. It's essentially a series of sketches and everyone has their favourite which they can quote verbatim ('Romanes eunt domus? People called the Romans they go the house?') but this pays dividends in that just about anything that wasn't funny appears to have been cut (which would explain such oddities as the people who turn up to kill themselves in front of Brian's cross).

An intriguing mystery in this English language debut from France's premier director of the last decade; Francois Ozon. Casting his two muses Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier (the latter also making her English language debut) Ozon elicits layered and memorable performances from both of them before throwing in a final twist that will leave every audience scratching its collective head.

It is hard to fathom now but in 1938 Bringing Up Baby crashed and burned at the box office. It was the latest in a string of flops for star Katharine Hepburn and led to her labelling as 'box office poison' (a label she'd triumphantly escape two years later in The Philadelphia Story).
Baby is a madcap screwball romantic comedy. The main thrust of the story concerns an heiress (Hepburn) who falls in love with a paleontologist (Grant) who is to be married the next day, she goes to ever more outlandish lengths to keep him around her. Also wrapped up in the story are a lost dinosaur bone and a lost leopard (the titular Baby). Grant and Hepburn had previously worked together in a drama; Sylvia Scarlet but Baby was the first of their three classic comedies together and allowed both stars to play against type.
As the paleontologist Grant abandons his usual suave, charming, handsome persona. Hidden behind glasses and with a character who is constantly flustered and seldom allowed to finish a sentence by either his fiance or Hepburn's heiress the Cary Grant persona vanishes and a different, but equally brilliant and memorable, creation appears.
Hepburn hadn't really done comedy on film up to this point and she shows wonderful facility for it, her distinctive voice gives the script's already brilliant dialogue added bite and she shows off beautiful comic timing and excellent physical comedy skills.
The two performances individually are wonderful but as a double act it is just sublime.
The ultimate test of comedy is, i suppose, how much and how hard it makes you laugh. Bringing Up Baby is, for me, the funniest pure comedy film ever made. The physical routines, such as the almost balletic scene where Grant has to use his hat to cover the fact that the back has come off Hepburn's dress, are masterful, drawn out just enough to heighten step by step the absurdity of the situation but never going on too long and allowing us to be bored. The dialogue too is uproariously funny, with Hepburn getting, and relishing, most of the best lines.
There's a strong supporting cast too with May Robson the standout as Hepburn's aunt.
With his film set in just a few locations and most scenes being quite long Howard Hawks direction could easily be stagey but he keeps things interesting and scores a few laughs simply through his contributions (a well placed cut here and there).
Remarkably for a film that, in two years time, celebrates its 70th birthday Bringing Up Baby has barely dated and that's because jokes like this really are timeless. This film is an utter joy, an one that I love more as time goes on.

I'm not the world's biggest Spielberg fan but when he gets it right he really gets it right. This is a thrilling example of the best in summer blockbuster fare. The special effects stand up 13 years on, the performances are fun, particularly those of Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern and the frights still elicit jumps from me now.