― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 10 August 2002 20:31 (twenty-two years ago)
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 10 August 2002 20:33 (twenty-two years ago)
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 10 August 2002 20:35 (twenty-two years ago)
― geeta, Saturday, 10 August 2002 21:12 (twenty-two years ago)
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 10 August 2002 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 10 August 2002 21:45 (twenty-two years ago)
― the pinefox, Saturday, 10 August 2002 21:58 (twenty-two years ago)
― the pinefox, Saturday, 10 August 2002 22:00 (twenty-two years ago)
― the pinefox, Saturday, 10 August 2002 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)
― stevie mitch, Saturday, 10 August 2002 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)
― Matt, Sunday, 11 August 2002 00:19 (twenty-two years ago)
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 11 August 2002 00:28 (twenty-two years ago)
― david h (david h), Sunday, 11 August 2002 05:40 (twenty-two years ago)
― david h (david h), Sunday, 11 August 2002 05:44 (twenty-two years ago)
― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 11 August 2002 07:22 (twenty-two years ago)
― Andrew L, Sunday, 11 August 2002 07:47 (twenty-two years ago)
― david h (david h), Sunday, 11 August 2002 07:55 (twenty-two years ago)
― N., Sunday, 11 August 2002 10:31 (twenty-two years ago)
― N., Sunday, 11 August 2002 10:57 (twenty-two years ago)
― Nicole, Sunday, 11 August 2002 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)
― keith, Sunday, 11 August 2002 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Sunday, 11 August 2002 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)
― Nicole, Sunday, 11 August 2002 23:28 (twenty-two years ago)
― Jeff (Jeff), Sunday, 11 August 2002 23:52 (twenty-two years ago)
― Ess Kay (esskay), Monday, 12 August 2002 02:07 (twenty-two years ago)
― ron (ron), Monday, 12 August 2002 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)
― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Monday, 12 August 2002 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)
― ron (ron), Monday, 12 August 2002 05:57 (twenty-two years ago)
― jel, Monday, 12 August 2002 08:02 (twenty-two years ago)
― Fritz, Monday, 12 August 2002 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)
― Ray M (rdmanston), Monday, 12 August 2002 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)
1. 'Brazil' ~ Terry Gilliam 1985Gilliam's Orwellian comic masterpiece of a world drowning in pointless, petty, inhumane, illogical bureaucracy Any resemblance to the real world is purely coincidental, of course. "You must have hopes, dreams?" "No. Nothing. Not even dreams".
2. 'Kes' ~ Ken Loach, 1969Lacking both the smugness and middle-class voyeurism of Mike Leigh and the dreary student politicking and fatalism of his later work, Loach manages to portray Northern, working class life with a delicacy and understanding. Heartbreaking, funny and, overall, almost unbearably poignant adaptation of Barry Hines' 'A Kestrel for a Knave'. Probably the best British film of all time. We've just got the soundtrack, how 'bout the DVD?
3. 'Dazed & Confused' ~ Richard Linklater 1993Linklater not only updates 'American Graffiti' but betters it. The cast of unknowns, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Joey Lauren Adams, Parker Posey and Matthew McConaughey would go onto other and bigger successes, but none of them have (yet) bettered this. The final scene alone tells more about youth, freedom and rock music than 'Almost Famous' does in it's entirety.
4. 'Lawrence of Arabia' ~ David Lean 1962Obviously. Peter O'Toole is an absolute prince in this. A peerless performance.
5. 'Heavenly Creatures' ~ Peter Jackson 1994Jackson cuts the gore and Kate Winslet goes supernova in what is surely her greatest performance and one of the most dazzling debuts in cinema history. Playful, magical, shocking and true.
6. 'Saturday Night Fever' ~ John Badham, 1977 Unfairly burdened with it's 'disco movie' image (though that's not a bad thing, in itself) 'SMF' is one of the great New York/'realism' movies of the 70s - far better than the overrated 'Taxi Driver'. An air of quiet desperation hangs heavy with Travoltas downtrodden character who's looking for an escape. Stallone stole a lot of it's ideas for his inferior 'Rocky' movie a few years later.
7. 'The Company of Wolves' ~ Neil Jordan 1984Based on Angela Carter's interpretations of 'Little Red Riding Hood' and other fairy tales, this remains the best movie about European folklore ever. It's rather stagy (read: cheap) sets actually help give it a necessary unreal, fantastical quality. Beautifully dream-like and beguiling, I'll watch this movie for the rest of my life. Oh, and the werewolf effects wipe the floor with both 'American Werewolf' and 'The Howling'. So there.
8. 'Ferris Beuller's Day Off' ~ John Hughes 1986"I did not achieve this position in life by having some snot-nosed punk leave my cheese out in the wind".
9. 'Suspiria' ~ Dario Argento, 1977 I really love Dario Argento's 'Inferno', 'Opera' and 'Tenebrae' movies, but you gotta go with 'Suspiria' ain't cha? What I like about this is it marries the best suspenseful, creepy/haunted house feeling since Robert Wise's 'The Haunting' with some top notch, inventive gory deaths. Then there's the unusual lighting with primary colours and the stilted performances by a cast from different parts of Europe all speaking in a halted English which, in this movie, just adds to the unnerving surrealism.
10. 'Blade Runner' ~ Ridley Scott 1982I was obsessed with this movie as a teenager. Much less so now, I'm happy to report. Even so, how many films by how many different directors (including George Lucas and Spielberg) using how much money has gone into attempting to capture just an essence of this dark-jewel of a masterpiece? Keep trying guys, keep trying.
11. 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' ~ Nic Roeg 1975 Nothing Happens. Turn of the 20th century schoolgirls wander around the Australian countryside. They walk up a rocky hill. They don't return. Movie ends. Unbelievably haunting. Oh, and also true!
12. 'If... ' ~ Lindsay Anderson 1968 Malcolm McDowell is a rebellious, angry, violent teen who wants to fight against the oppressive, class-ridden British society. Sound like a good idea for a movie? Stanley Kubrick certainly thought so, that's why he then made a film just like it. Only it wasn't as good.
13. 'Week End' ~ Jean-Luc Godard 1967Godard [literally] loses the plot ten minutes in, in this French New Waver. Social and political decay is manifests itself in bonkers-to-tha-maxx scenarios and characters. Outré, experimentalism can be fun. Kinda.
14. 'In A Lonely Place' ~ Nicholas Ray 1950 Bogart at his lugubrious best in this heart-rending, ink-black film noir.
15. 'Twin Peaks: Fire, Walk With Me' ~ David Lynch 1992 Movies don't always have to be comprehensible, y'know. At least when they are as beautifully filmed and as unsettling as this impossible puzzle. Lynch at his perverse, surreal and (for fans of the TV show) contrary best.
In contention: fave movies from the past five years or so that may well end up in my top 20, unless I get bored of them:'The Virgin Suicides'; 'Gattaca'; 'A.I: Artificial Intelligence'; 'Requiem For A Dream'; 'Mulholland Dr'; 'Swingers'; 'The Thin Red Line'; 'The Blair Witch Project'; 'Boogie Nights'; 'Ghost World'
― DavidM (DavidM), Monday, 12 August 2002 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 August 2002 17:37 (twenty-two years ago)
― Kris (aqueduct), Monday, 12 August 2002 18:57 (twenty-two years ago)
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Monday, 12 August 2002 19:04 (twenty-two years ago)
― anthony, Monday, 12 August 2002 20:16 (twenty-two years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 August 2002 20:29 (twenty-two years ago)
― Michael Bourke, Monday, 12 August 2002 23:34 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dave M. (rotten03), Tuesday, 13 August 2002 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)
― Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 13 August 2002 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)
― Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 13 August 2002 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 13 August 2002 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)
― Calumn, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 14:35 (twenty-two years ago)
― James Blount, Friday, 16 August 2002 06:06 (twenty-two years ago)
― James Blount, Friday, 16 August 2002 06:45 (twenty-two years ago)
― jeskam, Friday, 16 August 2002 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)
― toraneko, Friday, 16 August 2002 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)
My mistake, Peter Weir directed 'Picnic'. Can't believe none of you noticed. Shame on you all.
― DavidM (DavidM), Saturday, 17 August 2002 10:41 (twenty-two years ago)
― chris (chris), Saturday, 17 August 2002 12:28 (twenty-two years ago)
Wonder Boys
Midnight Run
Fargo
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
GoodFellas
The Devil and Daniel Webster
McCabe & Mrs Miller
Manhattan
Vertigo
(runners-up: The Godfather/Rear Window/Some Like It Hot/The Big Sleep/The Man Who Would Be King/You Can Count on Me/This Is Spinal Tap/The Taking of Pelham 123/Mighty Aphrodite/The Apartment/M/The Man Who Fell to Earth/The Lady Vanishes/The 39 Steps/Jaws/Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore/Gattaca/Duck Soup/The Conformist/Rope/The Hard Way/Topsy Turvy)
― james bennet, Saturday, 17 August 2002 17:48 (twenty-two years ago)
― james bennet, Saturday, 17 August 2002 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)
― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 18 August 2002 08:43 (twenty-two years ago)
that werner herzog film where he says 'a galaxy of chaos hurts my head.'
Caspar Hauser.
Fear eats the soul.
andrei rublev.
abigails party.
the breakfast club.
on the buses. ha ha ha ! no really, i mean the final episode of 'League of Gentlemen.'
a trinh ti min ha documentary about vietnamese women.
no john waters film.
life is sweet.
the episode of 'hancock's half hour' where he goes on a boat and a plane and frightens everyone by talking about it crashing or sinking.
pretty in pink.
― maryann, Sunday, 18 August 2002 09:41 (twenty-two years ago)
― maryann, Sunday, 18 August 2002 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)
some feature films I like a load: office space, the big lebowski, hannah and her sisters, blade runner, andrei rublev
― Josh (Josh), Monday, 19 August 2002 05:11 (twenty-two years ago)
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 19 August 2002 05:28 (twenty-two years ago)
― Chris V. (Chris V), Monday, 19 August 2002 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)
― dave q, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 11:42 (twenty-two years ago)
― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 20 August 2002 11:44 (twenty-two years ago)
Annie HallCitizen Kane (Am I really the first person to vote for this?)The Hudsucker ProxyA Long Day's Journey Into NightThe Last Picture ShowFerris Bueller's Day OffMonty Python & the Quest For the Holy GrailSlackerRear WindowFast Times At Ridgemont High
― sundar subramanian, Tuesday, 20 August 2002 12:17 (twenty-two years ago)
― dave q, Wednesday, 21 August 2002 08:59 (twenty-two years ago)
― Miss Laura, Wednesday, 21 August 2002 10:35 (twenty-two years ago)
Least surprising choice on the whole thread. ;)
― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)
― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 19:19 (twenty years ago)
favorite:hiroshima mon amourtokyo storyordetnashvilleten (the abbas kiarostami one)through a glass darklyvivre sa vieblue velvetrules of the gameonce upon a time in the west
― t0dd swiss (immobilisme), Thursday, 26 May 2005 04:28 (twenty years ago)
End of EvangelionDonnie DarkoPulp FictionCrouching Tiger Hidden DragonLOTR: Return of the KingSerpicoMagnoliaOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestEternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindThe Big LebowskiBlade RunnerAmerican BeautyAkiraThe ShiningLost in TranslationTrainspottingBlue VelvetReservoir DogsAnnie HallApocalypse Now: Redux
― sleep (sleep), Thursday, 26 May 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)