Films and TV Shows That I Have Seen.
by DeclanCochran | created - 09 Apr 2011 | updated - 18 May 2014 | PublicI would be very grateful if you came and read my blog at some point. Look, here's the link- www.larsandthereelgirl.blogspot.co.uk
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1. Frank (II) (2014)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Jon, a young wanna-be musician, discovers he's bitten off more than he can chew when he joins an eccentric pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank.
Director: Lenny Abrahamson | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Moira Brooker
Votes: 82,372 | Gross: $0.64M
"...it also understands perfectly the razor-thin line that exists in indie music between the sublime and the ridiculous. It is nearly the match of such films as This Is Spinal Tap and Almost Famous; it certainly warrants mention in the same sentence. I have no doubt that a devoted cult following will ensue, and this film deserves it."
Taken from my review, found here; http://www.larsandthereelgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/review-of-frank-2014.html
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
R | 99 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
A writer encounters the owner of an aging high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel's glorious years under an exceptional concierge.
Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody
Votes: 886,480 | Gross: $59.10M
"The Grand Budapest Hotel recalls a great opera written by a virtuoso; such is the mastery of Wes Anderson’s direction that I simply cannot imagine another film being made like it. Every single aspect falls into place neatly and perfectly, and the whole film feels so pure of intent and spirit that to watch it feels like taking a long, relaxing soak in the bathtub. You feel cleansed afterwards."
Taken from my review, which lurketh herein: http://larsandthereelgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/review-of-grand-budapest-hotel-2014.html
3. Calvary (2014)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
After he is threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces closing in around him.
Director: John Michael McDonagh | Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen
Votes: 64,337 | Gross: $3.59M
Calvary represents an attempt to convey the sum total of the worth of a human life, and it succeeds, and I wept, and wept.
Taken from my review, which is found here http://larsandthereelgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/review-of-calvary-2014.html
4. Monsters (2010)
R | 94 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Six years after Earth has suffered an alien invasion, a cynical journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through an infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.
Director: Gareth Edwards | Stars: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able, Mario Zuniga Benavides, Annalee Jefferies
Votes: 97,627 | Gross: $0.24M
My personal favourite at the moment, this is a beautiful, absorbing film, of which I appear to have been the only person to have actually enjoyed it.
(this film was met with good critical reception, so I don't know what I was thinking there)
5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
PG-13 | 112 min | Biography, Drama
The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.
Director: Julian Schnabel | Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny
Votes: 110,429 | Gross: $5.99M
Hope this speaks for itself. The scene when he first sees his wife made me cry more than any other film I've ever seen.
6. The King's Speech (2010)
R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.
Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi
Votes: 707,890 | Gross: $138.80M
'Do you know the f-word?'
'Fornication'
'Oh come on Berty'
One of my favourite scenes ever, from one of my favourite films ever.
(this is not one of my favourite films ever)
7. The Godfather (1972)
R | 175 min | Crime, Drama
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Votes: 2,012,116 | Gross: $134.97M
To not have this on here, I suppose, would be a felony.
8. There Will Be Blood (2007)
R | 158 min | Drama
A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds, Martin Stringer
Votes: 641,058 | Gross: $40.22M
Daniel Day-Lewis is magnetic, the scenery stunning, the film as a whole took my breath away. The ending is one of my favourite scenes.
9. In the Loop (2009)
Not Rated | 106 min | Comedy
A political satire about a group of skeptical American and British operatives attempting to prevent a war between two countries.
Director: Armando Iannucci | Stars: Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini, Harry Hadden-Paton
Votes: 61,579 | Gross: $2.38M
My favourite comedy of all time, this gets better and better with each viewing (and I've seen it a lot). I just hope it doesn't get forgotten, and anyone who was offended by the swearing has missed the point, in my view.
10. The Thick of It (2005–2012)
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy
The Minister for Social Affairs is continually harassed by Number 10's policy enforcer and dependent on his not-so-reliable team of civil servants.
Stars: Chris Addison, James Smith, Peter Capaldi, Joanna Scanlan
Votes: 26,119
I do, of course, mean all series' of this show, each episode is like 'In The Loop', condensed and put into half an hour. Still my favourite TV show of all time.
(interestingly, at the time of writing this was the only TV show I had really seen, but re-watching it now it truly is superior comedy, although the last season was a mild disappointment)
11. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Horror
The uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.
Director: Edgar Wright | Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis
Votes: 593,919 | Gross: $13.54M
Edgar Wright is one of my favourite film directors, and his skill lies in the marriage of the comical and the commonplace. Here, we have a borderline kitchen-sink drama set against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse. Hilarity ensues.
12. Hot Fuzz (2007)
R | 121 min | Action, Comedy, Mystery
An overachieving London police sergeant is transferred to a village where the easygoing officers object to his fervor for regulations, all while a string of grisly murders strikes the town.
Director: Edgar Wright | Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy
Votes: 535,253 | Gross: $23.64M
This follow-up is more about the action, as Edgar Wright enjoys a higher budget and recreates an action film in Gloucestershire. Brilliant.
13. Nosferatu (1922)
Not Rated | 94 min | Fantasy, Horror
Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder
Votes: 105,419
Still has the capacity to chill almost 90 years on. Top film-making, I hardly noticed the fact that it was silent.
14. The Strangers (2008)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.
Director: Bryan Bertino | Stars: Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler, Gemma Ward, Alex Fisher
Votes: 143,573 | Gross: $52.60M
I would say this was the first proper horror film I watched, and before viewing I had little clue as to the genre. I am now a horror buff. You can have your 'Paranormal Activities', but this made me jump more and had a far more profound effect on me than any other horror I've viewed since
15. Is Anybody There? (2008)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama
A lonely boy who lives in his parents' home for the elderly explores his obsession with the afterlife through his friendship with an aging magician.
Director: John Crowley | Stars: Michael Caine, Bill Milner, Anne-Marie Duff, Ralph Riach
Votes: 5,001 | Gross: $2.02M
Funny, poignant and heart-breaking, Michael Caine is great in a film in which he re-discovers what it is like to live, before he, well, yeah. You can guess.
16. Following (1998)
R | 69 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A young writer who follows strangers for material meets a thief who takes him under his wing.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw, Lucy Russell, John Nolan
Votes: 101,734 | Gross: $0.05M
If you take noir elements, a dark line in humour, grim scenes of violence, a unique plot, and a final act rug-pull, you have Christopher Nolan's first, and greatest film. He has made many masterpieces in his relatively short career, but this is the one I enjoyed the most and thought had the best story.
17. If.... (1968)
R | 111 min | Crime, Drama
In this allegorical story, a revolution led by pupil Mick Travis takes place at an old established private school in England.
Director: Lindsay Anderson | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, David Wood, Richard Warwick, Christine Noonan
Votes: 25,189
Skewering 1984 for ideas, preceding Monty Python for sketch-like asides, and taking an acid tone all of it's own, If.... is a classic, brutal satire on school life, institutions, and the world in general, Malcolm McDowell a Tyler Durden for the end of the Sixties.
18. Don't Look Now (1973)
R | 110 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania
Votes: 62,319 | Gross: $0.98M
Devastating, beautiful, powerful, frightening. Those four words describe Don't Look Now, but that's only scratching the surface. A distressing puzzle of a movie that lingers for a long time after the end credits.
19. Amélie (2001)
R | 122 min | Comedy, Romance
Despite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta
Votes: 794,163 | Gross: $33.23M
The film as a whole is as sweet as the food the characters eat, and stays with you for as long as the calories do.
20. Let the Right One In (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Votes: 226,755 | Gross: $2.12M
86 years on from Nosferatu, and we have a vampire film Max Schreck would have been proud of. It's far more than just a vampire film, mind you, and the joy comes in watching the bizarre relationship between the two characters unfold. Twilight doesn't have a patch on this.
21. Diner (1982)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of college-age buddies struggle with their imminent passage into adulthood in 1959 Baltimore.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Steve Guttenberg, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Daniel Stern
Votes: 22,817 | Gross: $14.10M
A dramedy probably before the term even existed, this is funny and moving in equal measure, back in a time when Hollywood didn't have a problem creating characters who we actually care about.
22. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
PG | 96 min | Comedy
A listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.
Director: Jared Hess | Stars: Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell
Votes: 237,760 | Gross: $44.54M
At times this is painfully funny. It's nothing like real life, the characters are unbelievable, the plot unoriginal, but my god. Looking at Napoleon is enough to make me laugh.
23. On the Waterfront (1954)
Approved | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger
Votes: 164,868 | Gross: $9.60M
I coulda been a contender.... Nuff said.
24. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,323,505 | Gross: $37.03M
Anarchic, violent, dark, savage, funny, witty, satirical, and just plain incredible, the book might have introduced me to this world, but the film took it to a whole new level. Unforgettable.
25. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
G | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.
Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | Stars: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen
Votes: 260,626 | Gross: $8.82M
The actors commitment to the song and dance numbers is awesome, matched only (probably) by the Jackass team. Defines 'feelgood'.
(???????)
26. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A 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.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,106,516 | Gross: $44.02M
'Here's Johnny!'. And so, Jack Nicholson entered my nightmares.
27. No Country for Old Men (2007)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson
Votes: 1,060,060 | Gross: $74.28M
A Cimmerian neo-Western that chills and excites in equal measure. I couldn't get my head round McCarthy's windy prose, so thank God for letting the Coens do it so that I could understand AND enjoy it.
28. Borat (2006)
R | 84 min | Comedy
Kazakh TV talking head Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the greatest country in the world.
Director: Larry Charles | Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian, Luenell, Chester
Votes: 442,014 | Gross: $128.51M
This, at times, doesn't split your sides, but snaps them in half, jumps on them, and then tramples them with a herd of elephants. So funny, Borat is a comic creation bested by Napoleon Dynamite, Malcolm Tucker (from In The Loop), and not many others.
29. Inception (2010)
PG-13 | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe
Votes: 2,550,476 | Gross: $292.58M
Good, wholesome entertainment wrapped in an existential puzzle with philosphical trimmings. And pretty funny in places as well.
30. Youth in Revolt (2009)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
While his trailer trash parents teeter on the edge of divorce, Nick Twisp sets his sights on dream girl Sheeni Saunders, hoping that she'll be the one to take away his virginity.
Director: Miguel Arteta | Stars: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart, Zach Galifianakis
Votes: 76,084 | Gross: $15.28M
My favourite Michael Cera movie, this is a slightly dark, but always brilliant, comedy, and I can't fathom why it wasn't bigger on release.
31. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
Votes: 702,959 | Gross: $37.63M
A macabe masterpiece. Violent, scary, chilling. Fantastic.
32. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,496,282 | Gross: $216.54M
Visceral brilliance, I've never seen a film quite as brutal as this one before, and at least the violence serves a purpose. Lesser to Three Kings, in my view, but a masterpiece all the same.
33. Three Kings (1999)
R | 114 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, four soldiers set out to steal gold that was stolen from Kuwait, but they discover people who desperately need their help.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze
Votes: 180,451 | Gross: $60.65M
My personal favourite, this film was everything I wanted, and unlike other blockbusters, it had a heart and characters to care about. It never dropped the ball, and the directorial flourishes just took it to a new level.
34. The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
R | 92 min | Horror
A mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums.
Director: Tom Six | Stars: Dieter Laser, Winter Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, Akihiro Kitamura
Votes: 87,258 | Gross: $0.18M
It probably says something about me that I enjoyed this film, and found it to be rather funny in places. Once you get over the premise, which is hard to do, admittedly, it follows the formula of thousands of Boris Karloff movies, and it even works as a perverse, inverse, depraved Dr Moreau story.
35. Evil Dead II (1987)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror
Ash Williams, the lone survivor of an earlier onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits, holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley DePaiva
Votes: 181,909 | Gross: $5.92M
A funny, gory, masterpiece, this is splatstick of the highest order. Bruce Campbells many, many gurns make this something special indeed. In fact, I think I might invent a word for it: 'goredeville'.
36. Funny Games (2007)
R | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two psychopathic young men take a family hostage in their cabin.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet
Votes: 103,827 | Gross: $1.29M
Harrowing yet very oddly compelling, it's not so much a violent film, more a film about violence. It is divisive, and what goes on in the mind of Michael Haneke should stay in his head. It hovers near the mark without overstepping it.
37. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 454,904 | Gross: $232.91M
At midnight, I got halfway through this film and went to bed. An hour later, I woke up in a cold sweat, and I thought I'd wet myself. The following morning, I watched the rest of it. This film does something to you, I can assure you. Perhaps it's the myth more than the film, but my god.
38. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick
Votes: 1,173,883 | Gross: $204.84M
The kid can't act, it doesn't make much sense, the screen seems to explode every five minutes, and the less said about Arnie and his direlogue the better.
But my goodness, what a bleedin' awesome film.
39. The Host (2006)
R | 120 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-Bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona
Votes: 132,706 | Gross: $2.20M
This kicks seven shades of poo out of any recent Hollywood monster film. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to watch it again.
40. Withnail & I (1987)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama
In 1969, two substance-abusing, unemployed actors retreat to the countryside for a holiday that proves disastrous.
Director: Bruce Robinson | Stars: Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths, Ralph Brown
Votes: 47,894 | Gross: $1.54M
So funny, so true, a genuine classic that should be viewed by one and all, even today it's incredibly relevant.
41. Hellboy (2004)
PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A demon raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair, John Hurt
Votes: 349,975 | Gross: $59.62M
A good old-fashioned, violent, romp that provides superior entertainment. The plot doesn't make much sense, but that's beside the point, to be honest.
42. Dial M for Murder (1954)
PG | 105 min | Crime, Thriller
A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams
Votes: 188,777 | Gross: $0.01M
The first Hitchcock film I ever watched, so I'm partial to this one a bit more than the rest. Grace Kelly is gold, as well.
43. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 718,199 | Gross: $32.00M
I jumped when Janet Leigh bit the bullet, I yelped when the police officer met his demise, I fell off my chair when the identity of Mother was revealed. Terrifying.
44. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Passed | 129 min | Comedy, Drama
A naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold
Votes: 121,381 | Gross: $9.60M
James Stewart is fantastic as an idealistic, child-like Senator plunged so far out of his depth he almost drowns. Fantastic entertainment, and a great political satire.
45. 3-Iron (2004)
R | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A transient young man breaks into empty homes to partake of the vacationing residents' lives for a few days.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Lee Seung-yun, Jae Hee, Hyuk-ho Kwon, Joo Jin-mo
Votes: 58,265 | Gross: $0.24M
I don't know why, but this film really, really chilled me. One could argue that nothing happens over the short running time, but the key to this films lies in the details (watch how she reacts to his incessant hitting of the golf balls). And the grim, stark scenes of violence which punctuate are on a par with those in Funny Games.
46. Spirited Away (2001)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiiragi
Votes: 849,211 | Gross: $10.06M
Miyazaki's masterwork, I was sad at the end of this film, purely because if you spend two hours in the company of characters as rich and unique as this, and in a world to match, you're going to suffer from withdrawal symptoms.
47. The Wicker Man (1973)
R | 88 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A puritan police sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who the pagan locals claim never existed.
Director: Robin Hardy | Stars: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland
Votes: 92,277 | Gross: $0.06M
Few film endings have the capacity to chill as much as this one, and, in fact, the whole film is as creepy as hell. These people don't think they're doing much wrong, that's the scary thing.
48. The Untouchables (1987)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
During Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 330,783 | Gross: $76.27M
Al Capone's baseball bat beating. The pushchair sequence. The storming at the bridge. Few set-pieces are as powerful as these, and few films are as good as this. Great stuff.
49. The Thin Red Line (1998)
R | 170 min | Drama, History, War
Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Kirk Acevedo
Votes: 199,588 | Gross: $36.40M
Terrance Malik doesn't make films often, which is a shame, because as this proves, he's one of the most talented directors out there.
50. Ocean's Eleven (2001)
PG-13 | 116 min | Crime, Thriller
Danny Ocean and his ten accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon
Votes: 619,112 | Gross: $183.42M
As entertainment goes, this is up there, and this is also the kind of film you can watch again and again and again, and still be amazed by the sleight of hand ending.
51. The Dark Knight (2008)
PG-13 | 152 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine
Votes: 2,870,310 | Gross: $534.86M
'I'm gonna make this pencil disappear'. Heath Ledger chills and captivates, in a role that is unlike any other previous incarnation of the Joker we've ever seen. Luckily, the film itself holds up with it.
52. Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance
The history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field
Votes: 2,256,625 | Gross: $330.25M
I directly attribute this film to my discovery of the wonder of cinema. This film runs the gamut of emotions, and Tom Hanks is terrific in a role that could potentially kill a career.
53. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
R | 133 min | Drama
In the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco
Votes: 1,072,255 | Gross: $112.00M
Jack Nicholson in, arguably, his best performance as the wrongly incarcerated (or was he?) Randall Patrick McMurphy. True brilliance, a film of the variety they don't make anymore.
54. Donnie Darko (2001)
R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne
Votes: 849,989 | Gross: $1.48M
Who'd have thunk it: a film involving insanity, paedophiles, giant scary man-rabbits, and Smurf junk = pure brilliance, with an ending that is oddly affecting, and rather sad.
55. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 518,035 | Gross: $59.89M
This film is funny. Some films are funny in places, or inconsistently funny. This is not one of those films. In no scene did I not laugh, or feel something.
56. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Approved | 218 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 314,329 | Gross: $44.82M
There is something warm and inviting about this film, like watching the Antiques Roadshow whilst wearing your favourite pair of slippers, cuddled up with a blanket. It's also pure cinematic spectacle, and it looks incredible.
57. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After 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.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 719,401 | Gross: $56.95M
It might be pretentious, it might be long winded, and it certainly makes absolutely no sense at all, but this is pure cinema, and the ending, in which a man turns into a baby, is surprisingly powerful. After all, it's a man who dies, and evolves into a baby. Stanley Kubrick is a bit of a don at making such ridiculous things work.
58. The Social Network (2010)
PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara
Votes: 758,611 | Gross: $96.96M
I watched this before the hype machine made it much bigger than it is, and if it weren't for Sorkin's amazing script, this would be a po-faced courtroom drama, the likes of which we've seen a thousand times before. But this is something special, something unique.
59. Black Dynamite (2009)
R | 84 min | Action, Comedy
Black Dynamite is the greatest African-American action star of the 1970s. When his only brother is killed by The Man, it's up to him to find justice.
Director: Scott Sanders | Stars: Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall, Tommy Davidson, Phyllis Applegate
Votes: 51,815 | Gross: $0.23M
I know pretty much nothing about the Blaxploitation genre, but my God, this film was hilarious. Quotable, cheesy (I guess that was intentional) and great.
60. 127 Hours (2010)
R | 94 min | Biography, Drama
A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Sean Bott
Votes: 401,352 | Gross: $18.34M
This is the only film where I have screamed out a rather naughty four letter word in shock. I don't know what they did to get that sound, but it went right through me, doubled back, and shot through me again. The film as a whole is an astounding achievement as well, not just filler before the grisly denouement.
61. Kick-Ass (2010)
R | 117 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a superhero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.
Director: Matthew Vaughn | Stars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Chloë Grace Moretz, Garrett M. Brown
Votes: 593,272 | Gross: $48.07M
Christopher Tookey hailed upon it with all the negative hyperbole he could muster, in fact this film is nothing more than perfect entertainment, the kinds of which Matthew Vaughan is very good at delivering.
62. King Kong (2005)
PG-13 | 187 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A greedy film producer assembles a team of moviemakers and sets out for the infamous Skull Island, where they find more than just cannibalistic natives.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann
Votes: 446,840 | Gross: $218.08M
It says something that, by the end of this film, I had shed a tear for good old Kong. Well, more than one tear.
63. Speed (1994)
R | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.
Director: Jan de Bont | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton
Votes: 391,899 | Gross: $121.25M
'Pop quiz, hotshot'. This film is a genre classic, taking a great concept and taking it as far as it'll go, and then going a bit further. It's great.
64. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
G | 92 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
In order to power the city, monsters have to scare children so that they scream. However, the children are toxic to the monsters, and after a child gets through, two monsters realize things may not be what they think.
Directors: Pete Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich | Stars: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi
Votes: 978,752 | Gross: $289.92M
My personal favourite Pixar film, it certainly delivers on the laughs value, but the heart is present as well, particularly in the ending, which is heart-warming, poignant and pure.
65. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Not Rated | 66 min | Drama, History, Thriller
In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein | Stars: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barskiy, Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Ivan Bobrov
Votes: 61,437 | Gross: $0.05M
Clearly the inspiration for the Untouchables, this is one of the few silent films I've seen, and even in those days, a director's eye for spectacle was there. Cracking stuff.
66. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
R | 81 min | Horror, Mystery
Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez | Stars: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard, Bob Griffin
Votes: 285,498 | Gross: $140.54M
Aka; 'How To Make A Bloody Terrifying Horror Film Without An Actual Villain, Or Money'.
Seriously, this film is scary for the images it conjures up in your head, not for what you see on screen.
67. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 306,762 | Gross: $47.00M
I jumped, I screamed, I damn near p#ssed myself. Back when films didn't need gratuitous gore or a sick concept to be scary, this can still make a grown man jump, 33 years down the line.
68. Airplane! (1980)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
After the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Votes: 261,052 | Gross: $83.40M
In terms of sheer, non-stop, relentless, sight, visual and everything else-gags, this is very hard to beat. It's also one of the few films that makes me laugh more each time I see it.
69. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
PG-13 | 112 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
In a magically realistic version of Toronto, a young man must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes one by one in order to win her heart.
Director: Edgar Wright | Stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick
Votes: 465,311 | Gross: $31.49M
Edgar Wright's weakest film, it says something that this had his highest budget to date. It says even more that it is still 5-star quality entertainment, and unabashed cartoon fun as well, throwing a cheeky nod and a wink (well, more a scream and a wave) to videogames from every era.
70. The Cable Guy (1996)
PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
A designer makes a grievious mistake when he rejects the friendship of a borderline cable guy.
Director: Ben Stiller | Stars: Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, Jack Black
Votes: 178,081 | Gross: $60.24M
Yes it's dark, yes, Jim Carrey is the hammiest thing since Jack Nicholson's Joker, yes, at times it looks like a horror film, and yes, the plot could be an aborted TV special about a socially and mentally challenged man. But for some reason, this film retains a place in my heart, and I actually found it pretty funny as well.
71. High Noon (1952)
PG | 85 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
A town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges
Votes: 110,166 | Gross: $9.45M
Adopting the real-time format yonks before 24, this film is a fantastic Western, Gary Cooper is a fantastic actor, Grace Kelly is a fantastic actress, and it all adds up. Fantastic.
72. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
Director: Charles Laughton | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason
Votes: 97,342 | Gross: $0.65M
This classic oddity is very odd indeed, yet it holds the capacity to keep you gripped till the very final moment. It made me jump, and the kids didn't get on my nerves either. Whether you class it as a noir, a horror, a drama, or all three, nobody can deny that this is a fantastic film.
73. Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama
A Chicago advertising man must struggle to travel home from New York for Thanksgiving, with a lovable oaf of a shower-curtain-ring salesman as his only companion.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins, Michael McKean
Votes: 160,232 | Gross: $49.53M
What a couple those two make, it's just a shame John Candy is dead. Such a talent.
74. The Addams Family (1991)
PG-13 | 99 min | Comedy, Fantasy
Con artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be their long-lost uncle.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Dan Hedaya
Votes: 179,955 | Gross: $113.50M
What a fantastic film! In terms of enjoyment, this is just fantastic, and family life is actually portrayed pretty convincingly, despite what you might think. A gem, I just want it on DVD. Preferably now.
(I now, in fact, own this on DVD and I stand by my original assessment. This is superior family entertainment)
75. The Office (2001–2003)
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy, Drama
The story of an office that faces closure when the company decides to downsize its branches. A documentary film crew follow staff and the manager David Brent as they continue their daily lives.
Stars: Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis
Votes: 123,139
Very funny, very influential, very true to life. I much prefer it to the American version.
76. The Breakfast Club (1985)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Five high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy
Votes: 436,486 | Gross: $45.88M
I loved this, the acting was great, the script was also great, and the 80's vibe just brings it alive.
77. The Omen (1976)
R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery
Mysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil's own son?
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens, David Warner
Votes: 132,482 | Gross: $4.27M
It's not really a horror film anymore, but it is a very good thriller, and Gregory Peck gives it his all, in a role that is probably too young for him. Quality film, and the child is creepy as well.
78. Braveheart (1995)
R | 178 min | Biography, Drama, War
Scottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in a rebellion to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Angus Macfadyen
Votes: 1,091,264 | Gross: $75.60M
It goes on a bit, but there is real emotion underneath the epic battles and bastardisation of history. If you don't cry at the end, shame on you.
79. Groundhog Day (1993)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky
Votes: 685,002 | Gross: $70.91M
It might have been done to death now, but this is the original and the best, a truly hilarious, touching, and well-acted film that works on a lot of levels. Brilliant.
80. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,052,837 | Gross: $171.48M
Truly awesome, this has idea, philosophies, and a plot to sustain the groundbreaking action sequences. So good, we studied it (albeit briefly) in my philosophy class.
81. Innerspace (1987)
PG | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A test pilot is miniaturized in a secret experiment, and accidentally injected into a hapless store clerk.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy
Votes: 65,122 | Gross: $25.89M
I don't know why, but there is something about this film, and it clicked with me. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
82. Cocoon (1985)
PG-13 | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy
Votes: 68,817 | Gross: $76.11M
What a beautiful film! Who'd've thunk it. A traditional story, given a healthy dose of heart and emotion. I loved it.
83. The Terminator (1984)
R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Paul Winfield
Votes: 924,065 | Gross: $38.40M
Darker than its sequels, this film is constantly on the cusp of noir, and it certainly knows how to stage an action sequence. The sight of the Terminator relentlessly chasing its foe is a scary one, even now.
84. Rango (2011)
PG | 107 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Rango is an ordinary chameleon who accidentally winds up in the town of Dirt, a lawless outpost in the Wild West in desperate need of a new sheriff.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Timothy Olyphant, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 293,023 | Gross: $123.48M
This is probably the best animation from the last five years. It is as funny as any high concept comedy, a better Western than the True Grit remake, and the spoofs were spot on. Indie animation oddball perfection!
(as a postscript, this is not the best animation from the last five years, but it is very good)
85. Dead Man's Shoes (2004)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A disaffected soldier returns to his hometown to get even with the thugs who brutalized his mentally-challenged brother years ago.
Director: Shane Meadows | Stars: Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell, Stuart Wolfenden
Votes: 58,367 | Gross: $0.01M
I couldn't possibly say I "enjoyed" this film, such is the relentlessly grim tone and subject matter. But the tension was as tight as a screw, it was frightening (and frighteningly well made), and yet more proof that Shane Meadows is criminally underrated.
86. Taxi Driver (1976)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama
A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks
Votes: 920,561 | Gross: $28.26M
I loved all of it. I loved the beginning, the middle, the end, and all inbetween. I loved the performance, the direction, the score, the script, the build-up to violence, the final pay-off, the relationship with Betsy, the relationship with Iris, the Scorsese cameo. I loved every little aspect of it. It was as close to perfect as you can get.
87. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 881,228 | Gross: $6.21M
I watched this for the first time on new year's eve, and it scared the hell out of me. I could recognise the humour, I even loved Alex (surely the greatest and most likeable anti-hero ever?), but my God it was disturbing. Further proof that Kubrick was a genius.
88. The Decalogue (1989–1990)
TV-MA | 572 min | Drama
Ten television drama films, each one based on one of the Ten Commandments.
Stars: Artur Barcis, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Olaf Lubaszenko, Aleksander Bardini
Votes: 27,870 | Gross: $0.10M
Kieslowski, for me, remains the undisputed master of cinema and these ten masterpieces each detail the depths and intricacies of the human condition. Beautiful.
89. 8½ (1963)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama
A harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale, Sandra Milo
Votes: 125,177 | Gross: $0.05M
Everything I love about films in one fabulously sumptuous melting pot of joy and wonder and sadness and imagery and adultery and film-making itself.
90. The Master (2012)
R | 138 min | Drama, History
A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future - until he is tantalized by the Cause and its charismatic leader.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Jesse Plemons
Votes: 186,192 | Gross: $16.38M
I have no doubt that this is PTA's "best" film, as it is a complex, personal and taut work of art that uses beautiful images, top class acting, and a screenplay that requires you to read between the lines to weave an unforgettable tale of redemption quashed and hope diminished. Whether it is my favourite PTA film, however, is open to debate because the film does leave one slightly cold, however good it is. The final scene of the film is absolutely heartbreaking, though, and the film for me is a tragedy through and through.
91. Amarcord (1973)
R | 123 min | Comedy, Drama
A series of comedic and nostalgic vignettes set in a 1930s Italian coastal town.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Magali Noël, Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, Armando Brancia
Votes: 46,815 | Gross: $0.58M
A truly joyous experience, it makes you happy in such a way that, when it's over, life just seems good and everything is right with the world. It's also screamingly funny too.
92. Excision (2012)
Not Rated | 81 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
A disturbed, delusional high-school student with aspirations of a career in medicine goes to extremes to earn the approval of her controlling mother.
Director: Richard Bates Jr. | Stars: AnnaLynne McCord, Roger Bart, Ariel Winter, Traci Lords
Votes: 24,613
Cleverly deploying cameos to garner attention (John Waters! Malcolm McDowell!), you'll find yourself staying for the truly demented and horrible journey of Pauline through the darkest depths of adolescence. It's less a horror, more of a quiet American drama intercut with truly disturbing, surreal dream sequences, although I can't deny that the films closing moments, and it's literal closing moment, made me very wary of turning off the lights that night.
93. Trainspotting (1996)
R | 93 min | Drama
Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd
Votes: 725,601 | Gross: $16.50M
This film is so entertaining. You may not like what the characters do, but for anyone willing to buy into it, this is a dark, hysterical and compelling journey into the depths of drug addiction and diarrhoea. It also, in my opinion, does not glorify heroin a jot; it shows the good bits, the actual shooting up, to be incredible, but the bad bits, the fallout, to be truly vile. That doesn't glorify anything. That's just the downright truth.
94. Shame (2011)
NC-17 | 101 min | Drama
A sex addict's carefully cultivated private life falls apart after his sister arrives for an indefinite stay.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Lucy Walters
Votes: 206,224 | Gross: $4.00M
My favourite of 2011. Just wow. In a film that builds character and emotion through looks and pauses, and intonations and the grind of the average working day, as opposed to through traditional dialogue and exposition, we are allowed a far more intimate and striking portrait of a man than what would usually be allowed in a film.
95. Clerks (1994)
R | 92 min | Comedy
A day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.
Director: Kevin Smith | Stars: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonauer
Votes: 232,335 | Gross: $3.15M
This is one of the funniest films I've ever seen. It's poorly made, amateurish in the acting department, but the dialogue- oh lord above the dialogue- is the freshest, wittiest, most biting you're ever likely to see. Kevin Smith may have made a better film with Chasing Amy, but it sure as hell wasn't as funny and lovable as this one.
96. Amour (2012)
PG-13 | 127 min | Drama
Georges and Anne are an octogenarian couple. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, also a musician, lives in Britain with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert, Alexandre Tharaud
Votes: 105,686 | Gross: $6.74M
One of the most stunningly beautiful films I've ever seen, this is a breathtakingly noble, humanist vision of our most eulogised and recognised emotion, from one of the world's foremost film-making visionaries. It has the essence of human truth and nobility at its core.
97. Only God Forgives (2013)
R | 90 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Julian, a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok's criminal underworld, sees his life get even more complicated when his mother compels him to find and kill whoever is responsible for his brother's recent death.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Gordon Brown
Votes: 118,098 | Gross: $0.78M
The best film I've seen so far this year by a mile, this is a criminally underrated masterpiece that warrants responses, repeat viewings, and a non-linear reading- it is a dark and dazzlingly difficult work that will no doubt find an appreciative audience in time. It contains images, scenes, characters and repercussions that will not likely go away any time soon.
98. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
PG-13 | 178 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean
Votes: 2,006,841 | Gross: $315.54M
There's not a lot to say about this one that hasn't been said- but this is cinema that isn't just a romp, or an adventure, but a fully-fledged world to live in and inhabit, containing scenery and characters so vast and epic they make you look twice at the world around you.
99. Lost in Translation (2003)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama
A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.
Director: Sofia Coppola | Stars: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Votes: 488,918 | Gross: $44.59M
This is a film that is about real human beings, with a certain mood that is unsurpassed. Mood is a funny thing in films. It's the aspect of film-making I respond most to, but the aspect that's also the hardest to define. The best description I have with my paltry words is that this film feels like that moment that comes, often late at night, when you find yourself contemplating all aspects of your life- what is, what might have been, what could yet be. When few films have the ability touch any human emotion at all, having one cut that deep is something to be celebrated.
100. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
R | 94 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
A woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, Benoît Régent
Votes: 110,483 | Gross: $1.32M
Kieslowski was one of the greats, and this film is among his very best work. It is a beautiful film, epic and intimate, conquering big themes on a level so small you might be excused for thinking they're not there- but they are, in multitudes, in this film which isn't so much a character study but the whole spectrum of human emotions in 98 minutes. It is about liberty, it is about all things.
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