50 films I can re-watch anytime
Does it make sense to talk about yet another "personal best" list of films ? Does it make sense if there's 200 films in it ? Who cares. This is a strict list of the 50 films I enjoyed so much I could re-watch them anytime, anywhere. Ranking does not make much sense, I enjoyed all them more than the rest. Maybe I could rank the top 5, then 5 to 10, then 10 to 20, then 30 to 50, but within these 4 groups it could be any order.
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- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.Timeless. Any vampire movie made after this one is just a joke to me. The fairy tale spirit and the extraordinary performance of Max Schreck make the use of cheap tricks and cheap scares absolutely unnecessary. He still does make me shiver. Besides, which other world-class vampire movie was actually made, with exterior shots, in the Carpathian mountains ? Watching this film is just like studying a beautiful master's painting. A true work of art.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.The first time I watched this I was about 12, on an old 25 inch TV. Did not understand the point, fell asleep. Some time later I had the extraordinary privilege of watching it on one of Paris's biggest, widest silver screens with an out-of-this world audio system for the 2001 re-release. I had never seen anything quite like it, and haven't since. I went to the pictures for the date, and for 3 and a half hours the nonetheless exceedingly gorgeous girl simply vanished out of my mind. I felt i was somewhere else myself too, lost in space, or maybe lost in my mind trying to make something of the story.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsAlisa FreyndlikhAleksandr KaydanovskiyAnatoliy SolonitsynA guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.Some films are so good you forget their genre, they're just great films. Stalker is beyond that - you actually forget this is a film at all. Somehow it all makes sense in the end, you understand nothing yet you just feel the whole experience has a perfect coherence. There is so much you can understand, and it will differ from viewer to viewer , and what he can relate it to, in his own psyche: this film is more than a film, actually, this film is You.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.Ah, the seventies... It's not about Brando, it's not about Hopper, it's not about Sheen who all give the performance of their lives in this film. It's about a shooting that was so hard, so long, so chaotic that it actually shows on every face. You can make anything look like the Vietnam war with a computer, you won't make the actor feel like he's at war, and show it to the camera. They all were at war. And the film is about so many other things than war.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsVictor AndréBleuette BernonA group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.Cinema was basically born with this film. Yes the Lumiere brothers invented the gear a few years before, but they never viewed it as an artistic endeavour. This this is probably the first film to actually use a constructed story. The special effects are amazing. Amazing. Who needs CGI when you are as creative as Mr. Melies. This is also the first film to have been ripped off, litterally by the meter, all around the world in dozens of films. Who needs DSL internet when you can steal a roll.
The recently released hand-coloured version, with the fantastic soundtrack by Air - remember in the early days of cinema they never actually played the same tune each time a movie was shown - is a tour de force. - DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsLeslie CheungMaggie CheungAndy LauA man tries to find out who his real mother is after the woman who raised him tells him the truth.Many will consider it odd to view this one as Wong Kar Wai's best, but I still believe it is his masterpiece. First because Leslie Cheung is the greatest actor who ever graced the HK film industry with his performances. Then because of the extraordinary blend between such a poetic atmosphere and the energy of the actors. This film IS nostalgy.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJeanne MoreauRoger CoggioIn Macao, a wealthy merchant named Charles Clay hires two people to recreate a story of a sailor who is paid to impregnate a man's wife.Saw this on TV just by chance in a sleepless night and couldn't get my eyes off it. I literally was hypnotized. And i really was lucky as this one is really, really difficult to find. Yes it is a TV movie, but it was shown in theaters too. At this time Welles was finding it hard to make a living, and this is actually his final directing job. Moreau has never been so beautiful and mysterious, Welles has never been so impressive and fragile. This is also the only work in colour by Welles, and boy, does he know how to use colour. Once again this one makes you forget that you are watching a movie, in fact, you are actually watching a painting in the making, until the final touch.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Paul BelmondoJean SebergVan DoudeA small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.When Belmondo was young, handsome, artsy. When Godard was not autistic yet. When Seberg was alive. When nothing else mattered but style.
Si vous n’aimez pas la mer... Si vous n’aimez pas la montagne... Si vous n’aimez pas la ville : allez vous faire foutre !
Si vous n'aimez pas ce film, allez vous faire foutre. - DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiMaggie CheungSiu Ping-LamTwo neighbors form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.No Leslie Cheung here, but Tony Leung reaches his heights. The cinematography is simply gorgeous, and Wai makes you dream of a HK that probably never was. Who cares. At this level, art creates life, not the other way round.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsLeon LaiMichelle ReisTakeshi KaneshiroThis Hong Kong-set crime drama follows the lives of a hitman, hoping to get out of the business, and his elusive female partner.Wai's most stylish film ever. The story is accessory. I dare you to not wish to take the first flight to HK after watching this one.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiJacky CheungWaise LeeWhen three close friends escape from Hong Kong to war-time Saigon to start a criminal's life, they all go through a harrowing experience which totally shatters their lives and their friendship forever.Woo's best, by a hundred miles. Nevermind if the story has already been told in the Deer Hunter, this one is better. The most shocking Vietnam war film I have ever seen. The only film bar one - see below - that still makes me cry at * that * very scene even if I have watched it a dozen times. Get the Director's ending - which was slaughtered in the name of commercialism. Probably the bluntest point about mankind made on film in this ending.
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsSam WaterstonHaing S. NgorJohn MalkovichA journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million 'undesirable' civilians.I know it's just skillfully brought up, I know it's just some easy crafts and slow shots with a cheap song, I know the scene by heart, but I still shed a tear when I see the reunion of Sidney and Dirth Pran. Even when I just think about it.
Say it : this is a true story, and the main Cambodian actor went through all this himself. Repeat : THIS*IS*A TRUE STORY. - DirectorFrank MillerQuentin TarantinoRobert RodriguezStarsMickey RourkeClive OwenBruce WillisAn exploration of the dark and miserable Basin City and three of its residents, all of whom are caught up in violent corruption.This is not only about the revolutionary filming technique. This is not only about Frank Miller. This is not only about Roberto Rodriguez. This is not only about the renaissance of Rourke and the reinvention of Willis. This is not only about Jessica Alba's dance - well it could be just that. This is not because it is probably the most highly quotable movie in recent history. This is simply the greatest film noir of modern times.
- DirectorJohn G. AvildsenStarsSylvester StalloneTalia ShireBurt YoungA small-time Philadelphia boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.Believe it or not, after this film, the most respected reviewers compared Stallone to Brando or Dean. Most people dream about NYC, LA, Chicago, Miami... But whenever somebody asks me which city I would like to visit first when I travel to the US, I say Philly. I hate boxing, but I love this film. Probably one of the greatest moment of humanity on film.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsAl PacinoMichelle PfeifferSteven BauerIn 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.I think I have never watched any movie which is so single-handedly carried above by the performance of a single actor. You could forget about the violence, the cheesy 80's music and clothing, you can forget the acting of most of the cast, but you can *NEVER* forget Tony Montana. Also, this film is the perfect example of a perfect remake - completely unfaithful to the story, totaly true to the spirit.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.This is the kind of horror film that is so good you forget about the horror. Forget about the cheap pea soup, forget about the spider-walk and the grotesque stunts. What really matters is the inner fight of all the protagonists with their own inner demons - no one is pure, everybody is fighting his or her own spiritual, psychological fight. This psychological dimension, the acting, and the rigorous documentation effort is what makes not only a great horror film, but a great film period.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.Odd as it may seem, this movie is probably the one that I can most closely relate to the 1920's expressionist era of film. The mood development, the design work, the creativity of the special effects, and the tension buildup add up to actually reach poetic levels. Absolutely fantastic work that will look as good and feel as good as new in 50 years time.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.I talked about Scarface being the perfect example of a perfect remake because it put faithfulness to the spirit over faithfulness to the story, well The Shining is the perfect example of the perfect adaptation of a novel for the silver screen. Because it is not, really not true to Stephen King's story. Kubrick makes room for his own cinematic talents, with breath-taking scenes that don't make any sense but which yo marvel at like Da Vinci paintings. Also he intelligently makes room for the talents of Nicholson, who's absolutely out of his mind in this one.
Kubrick is not a writer, but hey if King wants to do movies, let he be my guest. He actually tried to remake it... well.... no comment. - DirectorNaoko KusumiMizuho NishikuboMamoru OshiiStarsAkio ÔtsukaAtsuko TanakaTamio ÔkiIn the year 2032, Batô, a cyborg detective for the anti-terrorist unit Public Security Section 9, investigates the case of a female robot--one created solely for sexual pleasure--who slaughtered her owner.Man, what a visual, audio, intellectual and sensorial treat this one was when I watched it at the theatre. I like movies which make me think, but when they can both make me think and feel like this one, they're on the top of my list.
- DirectorJohnnie ToStarsNick CheungAnthony Chau-Sang WongFrancis NgA friendship is formed between an ex-gangster, and two groups of hitmen - those who want to protect him and those who were sent to kill him.Yes, To did Election 1&2, The Mission, Breaking News which got more acclaim than Exiled. But this one is special. There is almost something like a story here. And that little something which you cannot fabricate, which is... a mood. You're in the middle of tiny tiny Macao under the tropics and this is a crime flick, but you actually believe you are in the Mexican desert for a remake of one of Sergio Leone's best westerns. A real tour de force.
- DirectorSergio LeoneStarsRobert De NiroJames WoodsElizabeth McGovernA former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan 35 years later, where he must once again confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.Sergio Leone's style adapted to gangster movies. Would someone hang me if I say he achieves even more here than Coppola with the Godfather ? Due respect for the Godfather, but I venture to say so. This is more raw, more real, more streetwise.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNaomi WattsLaura HarringJustin TherouxAfter a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.The only thing I understood for sure about this film is that there is nothing to understand. I feel sorry for those who did not understand this simple principle, for they ruined the unique experience of watching this trying to make something of the story.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsBill PullmanPatricia ArquetteJohn RoseliusAnonymous videotapes presage a musician's murder conviction, and a gangster's girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.Copy/Paste my comment on Mulholland Drive here...
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneIsuzu YamadaKyôko KagawaIn a Japanese slum, various residents play out their lives, dreaming of better things or settling for their lot. Among them is a man who pines for a young woman but is stymied by her deceptive family.Picture Maxim Gorky's the lower depths, which story takes place in 19th century Russia, right in the middle of Japan's Edo era. Nonsensical ? Not at all. No one, even Jean Renoir in his 1936 version, understood Gorky's message about mankind better than Kurosawa. This is the kind of project that really shows just how great a filmmaker can be, and Kurosawa is totally up to the challenge.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Paul BelmondoAnna KarinaGraziella GalvaniPierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.Godard does not lose any bit of talent using colour - he actually gets better. Belmondo's lines are even funnier and spirited than in Breathless, but it's Karina who steals the show here. There's love between the actress and the filmmaker (they were a couple in real life at the time), and you can feel it through the screen.
- DirectorAndrew LauStarsEkin ChengJordan ChanGigi LaiNam opens a bar in Wanchai and continues his rise in Hong Kong's Hung Hing gang. His best friend, Chicken, needs to lie low, so he's sent to Taiwan to work for Lui, leader of the San Luen gang; there, he falls for the aging Lui's mistress, Ting Yiu. When Chicken returns to Hong Kong, he finds Nam in a struggle with long time rival, Fai Fat. Then, Lui shows up, demanding that Hung Hing sell him a half interest in their new Macau casino. When Chiang, the Hung Hing boss, wants to think about it, Lui threatens war, Chicken must choose sides, and Ting Yui sets up a meeting. Chicken's affections, Fai and Nam's rivalry, Lui's greed, and Ting's intentions are on a collision course.Don't try to understand this choice, it's purely personal.
Forget about the synopsis on IMDB, it's just the wrong one, I'm talking about the first in the series here. - DirectorJacques BeckerStarsSimone SignoretSerge ReggianiClaude DauphinThree gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.If some of you still don't understand why Montand preferred Signoret over Monroe, well you should watch this one. Although the theme of the story is quite sad, this work is simply happiness made film to me.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroNick NolteJessica LangeA convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a fourteen-year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him.Scorsese's best in my opinion. Better than the original, the homage to which is appreciated. De Niro is amazing. Only Nolte brings the whole thing down.
- DirectorIvan ReitmanStarsBill MurrayDan AykroydSigourney WeaverThree parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.Fun, fun, fun. It's the first word that comes to my mind when I think about this film.
Then come all the famous lines
"_This is the bedroom, but nothing ever happened in there._What a crime."
True wits in the dialogue and acting make the action secondary.
It's the 80's and everything is over the top and there is no complex about anything.
They don't make films like this anymore. - DirectorMichael MannStarsColin FarrellJamie FoxxGong LiBased on the 1980s TV action/drama, this update focuses on vice detectives Crockett and Tubbs as their respective personal and professional lives become dangerously intertwined.It's way too long and the editing of it all is a capital offense to film history, but this together with Sin City is the most stylish, coolest film of the 21st century to date. Even Gong Li doesn't look dumb in this one.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsCasper Van DienDenise RichardsDina MeyerHumans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.So irreverent and over the top about everything that you think this could have been made in the 80's. The best sci-fi film to watch on a second degree.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJames WoodsDebbie HarrySonja SmitsA programmer at a Toronto TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.I have never seen anything quite like it since. Truly bizarre even by Cronenberg's standards, but without (too much of) the unpleasant Cronenberg's aesthetics. Like many others on my list, this film is first and foremost an experience.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsRoman PolanskiIsabelle AdjaniMelvyn DouglasA bureaucrat rents a Paris apartment where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.Polanski at his best following a novel by Roland Topor. In my opinion, aged better than even Rosemary's Baby - more mysterious, less related to the psychedelic era, more subtle. Ah yeah and there's Adjani, in a very early role.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsIsabelle AdjaniSam NeillMargit CarstensenA woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.You never really know if the story is true or if it all is the nightmare of a man possessed by jealousy and a disturbed, manipulative wife. This is not a sci-fi film, this is a film about how bad love can turn, and how insane a love story can get a man. Well it's my interpretation. Until the next viewing.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellWilford BrimleyKeith DavidA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.The plot and frights tricks, when you really think about it, are directly robbed from Alien. But when a copy of such a high level is made it's not a rip-off, it's a compliment,
- DirectorEthan ManiquisRobert RodriguezStarsDanny TrejoMichelle RodriguezRobert De NiroAfter being set-up and betrayed by the man who hired him to assassinate a Texas Senator, an ex-Federale launches a brutal rampage of revenge against his former boss.Best film to watch with friends in a festive night, even if you've watched it half a dozen times already. Pretty much like the next one on the list, this film only works if you never take it seriously. But if you do take it seriously, at the first degree, well... get some counselling.
- DirectorRobert RodriguezStarsHarvey KeitelGeorge ClooneyJuliette LewisTwo criminals and their hostages unknowingly seek temporary refuge in a truck stop populated by vampires, with chaotic results.Second-best film to watch with friends in a festive night, even when you know the twist.
The first time you watch it, when the twist happens, you either take it seriously and feel appalled, or naturally take it on the second degree and laugh all the way to the end. - DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsDavid BowieTom ContiRyuichi SakamotoDuring WWII, a British colonel tries to bridge the cultural divides between a British POW and the Japanese camp commander in order to avoid bloodshed.The story and the messages are open to multiple interpretations, and that's precisely what makes me willing to watch it again. And again. Here again, it's much more than a war film.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsSylvia BatailleJane MarkenGeorges D'ArnouxThe family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.Unfinished film about an unfinished Maupassant novel... This could seem quite patchy, but there is so much in that short film. The criticism of bourgeois society, Paris VS the suburbs, the naivety of youth, all that in a sunny spring day by the river. And the most breathtaking love scene ever put on film.
- DirectorAndrew LauJing WongStarsJacky CheungChien-Lien WuTony Ka Fai LeungAn undercover cop Ah Kit and his best friend Ah Bong are sent in to get evidence on a crime boss known as Coffin Tung. After a raid goes wrong and Tung is killed, his gang splits into two factions.Yes, this film is in my top 50. There is no big star known in the West here, it's even not known by many HK film buffs, and it has not won any critical acclaim. But hey, it's my list, and I really love this film.
It's real, it's about real lives of real people, there is no happy ending in the Hollywood sense, but there is so much humanity in it. It just takes you to the guts. Lau Wai Keung almost started with this one, and later got some recognition for Infernal Affairs. - DirectorAndrew LauAlan MakStarsAndy LauTony Leung Chiu-waiAnthony Chau-Sang WongA story between a mole in the police department and an undercover cop. Their objectives are the same: to find out who is the mole, and who is the cop.And then there was Infernal Affairs. Lau Wai Keung got a bigger budget, managed to cast some stars here, and for once, the Hongkies actually created an original, effective plot for a crime story that rejuvenated the genre, so much that Hollywood had Scorsese do a - good - remake.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsBrigitte LinTakeshi KaneshiroTony Leung Chiu-waiTwo melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.Don't ask why I put this one lower than the other works by Wong kar-wai. It's on the list. It's on the list because of Wong Faye - who is also a very good singer - who makes it such a fresh, joyful experience. There is a lot of mischief in this film. It does make me feel good anytime I play it like few other films can.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsChristian BaleJohn MalkovichMiranda RichardsonA young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.Spielberg at least made one worthwhile film. Even if there is his usual idiot obsession about hero-kids here too, this one is more subtle, more adult, more serious, more low-key. And the film asks disturbing questions about who are really the "good" guys, and the "bad" guys, questions which, for once, Spielberg has the modesty not to answer.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsTom CruiseNicole KidmanTodd FieldA Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.I think the critics will give more and more credit to this film, which got mixed reviews when it was released, as time goes by. Every time I watch it there is something new that I can notice, a detail, a shot, a sound, or a new meaning or interpretation. Mesmerizing, so complex.
Most remarkable feat : Kubrick actually convinced me that Cruise can act. - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.Contrary to 2001, Barry Lyndon and The Shining, this one is not associated to a specific genre. It is as original as the book was. But this one has not aged the slightest bit.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsRyan O'NealMarisa BerensonPatrick MageeAn Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.Yet another masterpiece from Kubrick. The guy is amazing - he makes six films, in six genres, and each time he makes arguably the best of the genre.
- DirectorTerry GilliamTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseEric IdleKing Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.The first time I watched it I kept asking myself during the first 45 minutes why I was still watching it. Then there was the Lancelot attack on the Castle scene and I fell of my chair laughing out. I barely managed to stand up and watch it till the end. But the laughing did not stop.
- DirectorHideo NakataStarsHitomi KurokiRio KannoMirei OguchiA mother and her 6-year-old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water.Probably the scariest movie I've ever seen.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsJeff BridgesJohn GoodmanJulianne MooreJeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.This movie is a UFO of modern cinema. Like the story of an anti-anti-anti-anti hero taken at the 42nd degree. But damn is it effective.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsCharlton HestonOrson WellesJanet LeighA stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping and police corruption in a Mexican border town.I can't believe someone had the guts to release such a shocking movie in 1958. Even today the themes, and the not-so-subtle allusions to what happens off the screen are some serious stuff. And that tracking shot at the beginning. And Marlene Dietrich, of all actresses, so improbable in such a movie, in such a role, who comes out of nowhere to deliver such an impressive part...