Top 50 Favourite Movies Ever - Part 6...

Read Part One here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/favourite-ever-movies-part-1.html
Read Part Two here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-2.html
Read Part Three here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-3.html
Read Part Four here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-4.html
Read Part Five here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-5.html

The final 'ten block', in alphabetical "I'm incapable of assigning any decisive numerical order to each film" style.

Top 50: #1-10

* Aliens (1986):
One of the best sequels ever made, and what used to be my all-time favourite movie. When I was a kid - before I'd even seen the movie - I still knew it was grade A cool, and indeed my friends and I would all fight over who got to role-play as Hicks (played brilliantly and admirably by Michael Biehn - who deserves bigger roles in my view). I'd seen Alien when I was 9 (the first horror movie - well, it's part horror movie - I ever saw), then I think I saw Alien 3, and then finally Aliens. Cameron's film is a rock-solid all-round box ticker on the list of awesomeness. An entire nest of aliens (before CGI), space marines, perfect editing, pacing and direction ... and then James Horner's blood-rushing score. The first battle with the aliens, and then the operations room siege are the two key highlights in the entire movie for me - they both leave me clutching the edge of my seat - every single time. Thrilling doesn't even describe the feeling adequately. Great action, great dialogue, great effects, great goddamned everything quite frankly.

* The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007):
Chopper is a decent movie - it's Director Andrew Dominik's first - it got a lot of attention and applause. I liked it, but I wasn't especially fussed about it...a gritty movie about a tweaked-as-all-hell violent criminal essentially. So to see the same guy direct a meandering, wistful, hypnotically poetic western comes as a bit of a shock. It divided viewers, and I firmly lie on the side of "love it". Roger Deakin's cinematography is absolutely breath taking, the central performances are astounding (particularly Casey Affleck), the score is spot-on and, well ... it's just awe inspiring. I was so dumbstruck after my first viewing that I obsessed over it for weeks and months, deliberately starving myself of it just in case the effect had been a fluke. Then I got a copy after getting a letter printed in Total Film (I've had four printed to date - ergo, four free DVDs) and then waited some more until I saw it again. I watched it this time with someone else, but they didn't like it much at all ... so perhaps that dampened my love of the movie a bit at the time, but quite quickly my sheer love for this film returned. I got the soundtrack and I poured over the final forty minutes another couple of times just to cement my adoration - it's an absolutely spell-binding film.

* Back to the Future (1985):
It's quite literally a perfectly written movie, and what's more it utterly captivated me as a kid, and indeed one of my first memories of going to the cinema was to see Back to the Future III. To this day it just makes me feel warm inside. If you're watching Back to the Future, then all is right in the world. Mind-bending time travel technicalities, memorable quotes, fantastically fun set pieces ... man alive, it's hard to describe how great this movie is and how much I love it.

* The Dark Knight (2008):
It took me a while to get around to seeing Batman Begins (I saw it on DVD), but when I finally did, it was quite impressive. Then I didn't watch it for quite a while until The Dark Knight was about to come out - then I realised how super-awesome Batman Begins is - and then the following day I went to see The Dark Knight, the hype around which was immeasurable. I've ranted and raved before on this blog about why I loved the movie, so be sure to track that down ... some people complained about the length ... I don't know what they're on about. When the movie ended I wanted at least another half hour, and 3/4 of the way through I was gutted that we weren't only 1/3 in. I was gripped - ludovico style - to my seat throughout. It's smart, it's tense, there's always something going on, and it's just bloody good filmmaking. I'll cap this off by saying this - a kid (about 8-10 years old I guess) towards the back of the theatre yelled out "WOOOOWWWWEEEEEE!!!" when the truck flipped head-over-heels ... yep ... that about sums up what I think of the whole film.

* Dawn of the Dead (1978):
One of the reasons I wanted to become a filmmaker, was Dawn of the Dead - the original and best. It was another formative film viewing experience from my formative film viewing years in my mid-teens. I remember reading an article in a 1997 issue of SFX Magazine all about the release of the "Director's Cut" (Extended Cannes Cut) of the film in the UK (which was cut by 6 seconds at the time). I re-read the article numerous times, and marvelled at the pictures from Romero's (at that time) Dead Trilogy. I'd already seen Day of the Dead at this stage, which blew me away ... but nothing like Dawn of the Dead. I remember sitting down in the evening to watch it ... then I remember sitting still in the same position utterly, 100% dumb-struck 2 hours and 20 minutes later. In between these two points I had been so utterly drawn into this superb horror classic that time disappeared. I've since watched it about 30 times, and oddly, after 20-something viewings I found myself suddenly exhausted by the sheer power of the opening 15 minutes of the film ... not sure why, but I was - and it just illustrates how much continued power this movie contains for me. So powerful was it, that it usurped Aliens from my number one slot at the time.

* Fight Club (1999):
As I said in the previous entry, which included Zodiac, I am a huge David Fincher fan. Fight Club introduced me to the excellent work of Chuck Palahniuk (I've read all his books), and as a film it floored me in all respects. As a Palahniuk adaptation it's perfect. As a film in its own right it's perfect. I've seen it numerous times and it's still fascinating, visually arresting, technically impressive and just really well crafted. Add in an examination of modern man's sense of pointlessness ("we have no Great War..." etc), and you've got the ideal male movie.

* Ghostbusters (1984):
Here we are again, back to my childhood classics - and this is my all-time childhood favourite. I loved The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, I had a ton of the toys, and I watched the two movies a hell of a lot ... and at the time of writing I have the videogame for Xbox360 on pre-order. Then I went for quite a number of years without seeing it until I bought the DVD (as part of a nostalgia trip I took while at university) and it all came flooding back. Similar to my rediscovery of Short Circuit, I found myself miming along to the dialogue and predicting the music cues, sound effects and editing. Not only that, but I was suddenly - aged 20 - finally able to get all the adult jokes throughout (I was surprised there were so many). I love both GB movies, but as is almost always the case, the original is the best ... and it's bloody fantastic.

* The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966):
During my, yep you guessed it - formative mid-teens - I first got into westerns. Channel 4 showed the Dollars Trilogy, which was also pretty much my introduction to the career of Clint Eastwood. The slow, creeping sense of tension during the stand offs (helped in no small amount by the spot-on editing and pitch-perfect score), dotted throughout the meandering grandeur of the rest of the movie has only impressed me more and more over the years. Properly epic and seriously cool, and while it's not exactly a realistic western, it's a great western movie - and indeed, it's my favourite western movie (regardless of it being a "spaghetti western"). It's just so good.

* The Maltese Falcon (1941):
I first saw this astounding noir classic during the first semester of my first year at university during the "Key Issues" course, which gave a general grounding in cinema history. Not only that, but we got to see a real, restored print of the film - something which I don't think I appreciated enough at the time, but which I have since really appreciated in retrospect. It was my introduction to Bogart, and my introduction to a whole host of classic Hollywood cinema. For me it was the point at which my cinematic tastes were blown wide open, and my appreciation for cinema took a large step up. It was even the subject of one of my first essays at university (and I got a 1st on it).

* Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991):
I first saw it on BBC1 (with all the fuck-words deleted) in the mid-90s. I then, for some daft reason, recorded over my videotaped copy and then it was never on TV again for sodding years. I got so desperate to see T2 again that I made it my New Year's Resolution one year ... and then, about 2 weeks later, I got it on video in WHSmith for £5.99. After thinking "wow, they cut out a lot of fucks ... and some violence ... from this flick", I was royally chuffed that I'd gotten my mits on T2 once again - and at that point it became my number one film (it was then overtaken by Aliens). Like Aliens, T2 is one of those rare beasts - a sequel which is precisely-as-good-as, if not better than, the original - and the pioneering CGI effects were, and still are, insanely impressive. Cameron proved himself as perhaps the greatest action director living with T2, a film which is consistently awesome from start to finish. To this day, T2 still knocks me over with a feather ... it's simply that great.

So there you have it. After six exhaustive days of blogging to celebrate my 300th blogpost (which was part one), I've laid out my Top 50 films of all-time ... with a further 10 honourable mentions ... and none of them properly numerically ordered within each 'ten block' ... although the 'ten blocks' are ordered in themselves, but well, it's the best I can do. Right now though, I need a breather!

Top 50 Favourite Movies Ever - Part 5...

Read Part One here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/favourite-ever-movies-part-1.html
Read Part Two here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-2.html
Read Part Three here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-3.html
Read Part Four here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-4.html

Yep, you guessed it, this 'ten block' is listed in alphabetical order.

Top 50: #11-20

* Casablanca (1942):
During my time at university, my eyes were opened to a whole series of different movies (Asian cinema, musicals, Canadian film, and the old classics for example). One of the movies which I discovered (although I'd known of it for many years) was Casablanca. It was included as background study for a course on Classic Hollywood, and I was in awe of it. Plus I was finally able to really get the references to it in the videogame Grim Fandango (an excellent game, by the way). Humphrey Bogart (my classical star of choice) moping around in a pool of heart ache, cigarette smoke and alcohol was something I found very compelling as a main character. It's beautifully written, acted, shot and directed, and quite frankly I don't need to explain to you why it's such a good film...you should know already.

* A Clockwork Orange (1971):
In the UK this film was self-banned by Kubrick after some high-profile acts of violence were blamed on it, and after Kubrick died A Clockwork Orange was soon released to UK audiences for the first time since the early 1970s. It was also at this time that the BBFC had a change of leadership, and I - in my formative mid-teens - found myself in a great position. I was at the age when film fans should be discovering controversial gems, horror flicks and the like, and the BBFC were finally un-banning a variety of titles (many fully uncut). 2000 was the year that I really went mad for this film - I read the book, I got the soundtrack, and I got the video - it inspired me so much (not in terms of ultraviolence though!) that I based my entire GCSE 2-D Art final exam on the film - a piece inspired by the movie, and the artwork surrounding it. I guess I overdosed on it, because I then spent many years away from it, and only recently did I re-discover it all over again, and I was immediately as familiar with it as I had been all those years ago when I was in my mid-teens. Also, as you should all know, it's a bloody masterpiece to boot!

* The Evil Dead (1981):
Again, my formative mid-teens factor in here, and it was at this time that my local post office was selling a run of cheap videos for £5 each. The Evil Dead was, if memory serves, the first one of many that I bought there (well, my Mum did technically). In the couple of weeks prior I had heard friends at school talking about it (some of the lads I now go on frequent cinema jaunts with) and all I got from them in terms of a review was "green mashed potato, and a pencil in the ankle" ... not glowing, and a bit mocking ... but I knew how their taste measured up against my own taste, and I figured this was most likely going to be right down my alley. Needless to say, it most certainly was, and it has since become one of my all-time favourite horror movies. The Evil Dead is of constant inspiration to me as an aspiring filmmaker - sometime soon I would love to be making my first real movie, and if it could be something with as much invention and adventure as this one, then I'd be a-okay with that alright!

* Grindhouse (2007):
Annoyingly it was never released as Grindhouse in the UK - only as the separate releases - but regardless, I got to see the original cut - and I loved it. I have since seen the two films separately several times, and I have to consider them together rather than apart, even when they're in stand-alone mode. I had grown up watching these kind of movies, as well as those of Rodriguez and Tarantino - so, obviously, it was a match made in heaven. Planet Terror is an absolute riot (especially with the lads over for a few cans), and Death Proof is just so super cool - heck, I've written at length about Death Proof on this very blog (have a look down the Blog Tags on the right to find my musings on the flick). Am I looking forward to more Grindhouse entries? You bet your ass I am.

* Heat (1995):
Again, when I first saw it, it was a little before my time. Then I re-discovered it years later on a double-disc DVD and all the pieces fell into place. The beautiful camerawork, the relentlessly gripping performances, the epic feel, the soundtrack and so on - it's all stunning. Throw in one of the best cinematic bank robberies ever (brilliantly referenced in the best mission of GTA IV, as well) and you've got one of those films which just makes me exhale in a stunned, awe-inspired fashion ... nuff said.

* Rocky (1976):
I enjoyed the series when I first saw them as a teenager, but it was only until a few years later that I really fell in love with the franchise, and it all began with the original and best. A great little underdog story, and a source of immediate inspiration whenever you watch it, happen across it, or listen to the soundtrack. Who doesn't love Rocky?

* Scarface (1983):
Epic - that says it all really - but to elaborate further, it's also one of my favourite rise-and-fall tales. Pacino rides high, as do DePalma and Stone. It's such an involving film from the get-go for a myriad of reasons, and I'm sure you know them all. Not even the cheesy and misguided adoration that dime-a-dozen American footballers and rappers lavish on it on MTV Cribs can damage this cinematic classic. It meanders when it needs to, it's sweet when it wants to be, it's epic throughout, and ultimately it's a brash tragedy ... then the superb GTA: Vice City came along and made me love Scarface even more.

* The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974):
Again, cut to me in my formative mid-teens ... it's winter, I'm eating my dinner, and I'm watching - for the first time - the original (and best) Texas Chainsaw Massacre on a fudgy 3rd generation videotaped copy. That's how these movies should be viewed, they're too crisp and safe on DVD, but on a no-labels videotape - a generation of a generation of a generation - bleeding colours on screen, simple and slightly muffled mono audio ... oh yes, this is really how these movies should be watched by first-timers. It's feels a little bit dangerous, a little bit illicit, and it's almost like your own little secret - but one that all your friends know about - and indeed, that's how you get to see it. For years beforehand I had seen clips on horror movie documentaries (such as Clive Barker's A-Z of Horror), read about it and seen lurid stills in books, and then finally - with a background of the BBFC liberalising itself and finally unleashing Leatherface upon the UK - I got to see it. As a side note, on my bedroom wall, I have my own autographed photo - Gunner Hansen as Leatherface.

* The Thing (1982):
There are very few movies which are capable of not only scaring the bejesus out of me, but capable of doing so time after time after time. The fifties version is enjoyable, nostalgic and a little bit quaint, but Carpenter's version of the source material is astounding (and it remains so to this day). The profound sense of isolation, claustrophobia and paranoia-soaked cabin fever are damn-near tangible. The gore effects of Rob Bottin are shocking (again, still to this day). Kurt Russell kicks fucking ass, and Morricone's score could even make a teddy bear's picnic sound terrifying (it was used on the Top Gear Polar Special to excellent effect). Even the videogame was terrifying ... and you know what, I'm still a little bit scared - even after seeing it countless times - to go back into the blizzard. Horror perfected.

* Zodiac (2007):
I'm a major fan of David Fincher, and his methodical examination of what happened to those who tried to solve the crime of 1970s America, never releases its grip upon me in all respects across the entire production. The script shows an astoundingly hardcore amount of attention to detail, as does Fincher's never-more precise directing. Truly, 100%, flabbergasting.

Well, only one more part to go, what will be in my Top Ten of All Time? Find out very soon!

Top 50 Favourite Movies Ever - Part 4...

Read Part One here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/favourite-ever-movies-part-1.html
Read Part Two here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-2.html
Read Part Three here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-3.html

Like in the previous parts, I will be covering this 'ten block' in alphabetical order, due to my continued lack of ability to number these films any tighter than five ordered 'ten blocks' with an additional "Honourable Mentions" category (which was in Part One of this series).

Top 50: #21-30

* Blade Runner (1982):
I've only seen two versions - the 1992 Director's Cut, and the 2007 Final Cut - so, for me, the 1992 Director's Cut is the version for me (although the replaced shot towards the end showing an elaborate building facade is way better than the buggered-out old side of a warehouse like it was originally). When I first saw it, I think (again) it was a bit before my time - but a couple of years later I bought it on video (in widescreen too) and have since viewed it a few times. "Visionary" gets bandied around too much these days (just see the quite simply technically incorrect labelling of Zack Snyder as one, by the advertisers, for the Watchmen promos) ... but Ridley Scott is a true visionary, and Blade Runner is (with Alien coming a close second) Scott's most incredible visual treat. It's Sam Spade versus those who are 'more human than human', it's perhaps the greatest interpretation of a dystopian future in cinematic history, and while being drowned in darkness and ever-lasting rain, smog, and artificial light, this film is beautiful.

* Clerks (1994):
In recent years this has been more to me than just a foul-mouthed indie comedy - it has become one of my key inspirations for my own writing. I don't mean in a rip-off way, rather I'm currently aiming to be on course to (hopefully) someday soon be able to make my own Clerks - as in, my first real movie - and Clerks is one of the films which has inspired me on my continued search for success in my goals. On the other hand sometimes it's just good fun to watch a couple of slackers play street hockey on the roof and talk about Star Wars all day - I have to say, I'm one of those people who take movies and dissect them with others to microscopic lengths ... only I'm talking about zombies, not collateral damage on the Death Star.

* Day of the Dead (1985):
This was my introduction to George A. Romero - well, in terms of the first GAR flick I saw - my first introduction was actually a couple of years prior (1997 to be precise) when I read an article in an issue of SFX magazine all about the release of the 'Director's Cut' (Cannes Extended Cut) to the UK. Fast forward to my mid-teens and I finally got my hands on my first Romero movie on videotape - bought for £5.99 in a local Woolworth's (a store chain that finally bit the dust in the current recession here in the UK). I remember watching it just after lunch time on a Saturday afternoon, as my Dad was cutting the grass outside, and being dumb-struck by the gore effects (Savini's career best, in my view). Not only that, but the soundtrack, Joe Pilato's Captain Rhodes, and the best zombie ever committed to the screen - Bub to name but three things which make Day of the Dead so good.

* Die Hard (1988):
Otherwise known as my all-time favourite Christmas movie - this is how real Die Hard should be. Tough, sweary, violent and flat-out action packed. Die Hard has been in my life for many, many years now - indeed it was one of the first 18 rated movies I ever saw - and I've loved it ever since. Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman, in a high-rise, taking names ... what's not to love?

* Goodfellas (1990):
My favourite Scorsese film, and my favourite gangster movie at the same time. A wonderful soundtrack, a great script, great cinematography, memorable and powerful performances all add up to make this an enthralling watch. There are many 'rise and fall' movies like it that owe a debt to it (Casino, Blow, American Gangster - to name three), but this is really where it's at.

* Pulp Fiction (1994):
Great script, great performances, immensely quote-worthy, dripping with cool, and it wound up the moral 'majority' when it was released. It has a power to draw you in, and while there's not a lot of boom-or-bang going on, it never lets go of your attention. While I'm a continued fan of Tarantino's work, Pulp Fiction is probably his best work - it just has 'it'.

* Rabid (1977):
I first saw it during my teenage years on a videotape bought from my local Post Office for a fiver, and it's my favourite Cronenberg film - so much so that I was delighted to be able to write an essay all about it, and Canada in the 1970s, during the Canadian & Quebecois Cinema course that I took during my time at university. Rabid is part of my long-standing fascination with, and love of, Canada (some day I hope to go there, perhaps even get a chance to work there). It's dark, it's indie, it's got a porn star in the leading role doing a bloody good job, and those final moments are nothing short of memorable. Indeed, it has recently (at the time of writing) inspired me while writing a new script.

* Shaun of the Dead (2004):
The peak of the Wright/Pegg/Frost era (thus far anyway). I may have worn myself out on it a bit now, but the zombie-fan references littered throughout are enough to make any zed-head go dizzy with delight. It's British, it's actually hilarious, and it's provided me with countless hours of entertainment ... and it was even connected to a memorable trip to the cinema - after leaving the cinema we (I was driving) got thoroughly lost in Newport for over an hour.

* Short Circuit (1986):
Yep, another one of my childhood favourites - Johnny 5 is definitely still alive, and still has the power (with the added help of a good dose of nostalgia) to utterly grasp me and never let go. During my time at university I bought the DVD and promptly sat down to give it my first viewing in many years - myself, along with a housemate, had an epic trip down memory lane. The film was (and is) so seared into my memory through repeat viewings, that I remembered practically the whole script, and could predict (and recall) the various sound effects, music cues, camera moves and so on. No wonder I loved WALL-E so much.

* Tremors (1990):
This is a favourite from my later childhood, first discovered when it was shown on BBC1 (cut at the time, though, when the Beeb were really sensitive to swearing and gore, even after the watershed). I was young enough at the time to want to emulate it - I built my own replica of the duo's battered blue truck in Lego, and while wearing my own jeans (knees ripped-through - it was the 90s), white t-shirt and burgundy shirt, I would pretend I was Kevin Bacon - or rather, his character of Val. From an older view, it has nostalgia as well as an undeniable fun factor - a modern day (at the time at least) fifties monster movie. Add in the beloved gun-toting Burt, gravel-voiced Earl, and some truly memorable deaths (the hat in the sand, the road workers, Walter Chang, etc) and what do you get? A bloody good time, is what.

Top 50 Favourite Movies Ever - Part 3...

Read Part One here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/favourite-ever-movies-part-1.html
Read Part Two here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-50-favourite-movies-ever-part-2.html

Again, like in Part Two, I'll be covering this 'ten block' in alphabetical order.

Top 50: #31-40

* 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968):
I originally saw it when I was a teenager, I liked it and respected it, but perhaps it was a bit before my time. Then a while ago I got the Kubrick 10-disc DVD boxset, and spent quite some time enjoying an overdose of one of cinema's most engaging and awe-inspiring directors ever. Seeing it only for the second time, about a decade after first seeing it, I found myself transfixed, dumb-struck and fascinated all at the same time - suddenly, 2001 really clicked with me - like I said, I think it was a bit before my time when I first watched it. Technically the film is a marvel, visually it is stunning, and thematically it's deeply intriguing.

* Batteries Not Included (1987):
This is one of my early childhood classics and one of my fondest movie memories from more innocent times, and one which (like other childhood favourites) I would watch over-and-over again on my videotaped copy. What is not there for a kid to love? It's packed with cute robots getting up to all sorts ... plus I was captivated as a child by the architecture of the old, crumbling building (when I was a kid I wanted to be an Architect when I grew up) and indeed, the inferno which destroys the building was of particular fascination. As a keen drawer as a kid (and until filmmaking really took over my creative time) I would produce multiple drawings of that kind of building burning down ... perhaps that sounds a bit dodgy, but it was just a childhood fascination with things being destroyed, as well as the rustic look of the place itself. Indeed, the whole part where the building burns down - as an action set-piece you might say - fascinated me as a kid. The tense build up, the danger, the desperate need to escape, the spectacle of the raging inferno and then the Phoenix-from-the-ashes revival. These days whenever I see a clip on TV I'll quickly find myself become transfixed by it all over again, finding it hard to pull myself away - an overload of nostalgia.

* Brokeback Mountain (2005):
I may have only seen it once, but it left a definite impression on me - that final melancholly shot encapsulating perfectly how and why this film was so good. Mind you, I had to wait a while until I saw it, due to the sheer volume of hype and mockery surrounding it (heck, even I produced a Brokeback style trailer for Gary Ugarek's Deadlands: The Rising before seeing Ang Lee's film). The cinematography is incredible, the frame capturing paintings rather than images. The plot is enthralling and emotional, the direction poetic, the performances open, honest and naked. It's a wonderful love story - and the fact that it's about two cowboys has nothing to do with it - it's just a love story. File this entry under the softer side of my persona.

* The 'Burbs (1989):
Yet another childhood favourite, and yet another which endured countless viewings by my young self on videotape ... and yes, another favourite involving a spectacular inferno which lays waste dramatically to an architecturally engaging house. What's more, I could perhaps trace my love of the horror genre way back to this movie, which involves horror elements - and indeed I was stunned by the clip a chainsaw-wielding maniac bursting through a wall (I would much later, when I finally saw it, make the connection that it was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - one of my favourite horror movies). The movie is filled with classic comedy lines (which I enjoy referencing with fellow 'Burbs-mad friends) and is simply so much fun to watch.

* Critters (1986):
During my early horror-viewing years (after years of taking sneaky peeks at the horror section in my local videoshop, drooling over the lurid cover art), I got to see this cheeky little horror comedy (which, yes, involves another impressive scene of house destruction). It was one of the earliest horror franchises I got into and, again, it's just a lot of fun to watch and has over the years become one of my nostalgic favourites.

* The Devil's Rejects (2005):
I've always been a Rob Zombie fan, and have thoroughly enjoyed all his movies, but it is this one which has most impressed me. Unlike many of the post-millennial pretenders, this flick really feels like a down and dirty, sleazy 1970s, balls-out, punch-in-the-face horror movie. A horror movie which is really horror. The opening siege is brilliantly put together, the cast of undesirable leads are blackly-comic and instantly iconic, the horror is gritty, nasty and serious and the DVD features the best and most in-depth 'making-of' I have ever seen (at the time of writing I am still yet to see the epic four-hour doc for Zombie's Halloween). Quite possibly the best post-2000 horror flick, and undeniably one of the best horror movies of all time.

* The Matrix (1999):
I remember going to my local independent cinema with my Dad, right in my mid-teens, to see this movie, which I had been getting increasingly excited about. That year, this was the movie you simply had to see, and it didn't disappoint. I fondly remember sitting in the theatre staring gob-smacked at the screen, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing at the time, and it is also one of the many times I went to the cinema, just my Dad and I, that I remember fondly. Watershed movie-making, regardless of the wobbly sequels (which, action-wise, still left me head-spun in the cinema a few years later).

* Escape From New York (1981):
Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken - one of his greatest roles, if not his greatest role - directed by John Carpenter when he was at the height of his game, and featuring a classic Carpenter score (like the equally superb scores for Halloween, The Fog, They Live, and Assault on Precinct 13). When I first saw it I wasn't especially impressed, but I didn't hate it ... but again, like with 2001, I guess it was just a bit before my time, and I quickly grew to love and admire this slice of expertly realised dystopian future adventure.

* Screamers (1995):
This was one of my favourites during my teenage years. It had "the dude from RoboCop", a dystopian future setting, and blood-seeking killer robots. I haven't watched it in a good while, but I saw a clip recently and it still holds great interest to me - and indeed now possesses the nostalgia factor. It's kind of hard to explain why I like it so much, but I do ... let's leave it there.

* Sin City (2005):
I love Rodriguez movies (well, not those kiddy ones he did), and Sin City is one of his which I love the most. Great source material, great style, great execution, and just a really wild, fun ride throughout. It's a little bit sleazy, a little bit tough, and bloody enjoyable.

Top 50 Favourite Movies Ever - Part 2...

Read part one (including an explanation of my list) here:
http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2009/05/favourite-ever-movies-part-1.html

Note: As there's no real order, within these "blocks of ten", I'll write about the movies in alphabetical order.

Top 50: #41-50

* All The President's Men (1976):
I have a real soft spot for 1970s cinema - the 'New Hollywood' movement as it is often referred to as - and while (at the time of writing), I've only seen this film once, it made an immediate and lingering impression on me. I love the feel and the look of the 70's newspaper office, I love the representation of true journalism being conducted (something which we, pretty much, no longer have - sadly) and beneath all the film's standing as an iconic film, at the heart it has two powerfully gripping lead performances and a quality script to match. This film is one which defines not only cinema, but America in the 1970s.

* American Psycho (2000):
I would dearly love this film to be longer - that's how enjoyable it is to watch. Christian Bale is absolutely electrifying as a Yuppy version of Norman Bates via Leatherface - Patrick Bateman. It exudes a genuine upper-crust menace, at the same time as acting as a Wall Street-like nostalgia trip. It is also, a genuinely good adaptation of the source novel - which in itself is a brilliantly dark piece of fiction. I saw the movie long before I ever read the book, and bloody nora - I thought the movie was edgy at the time, but the book is damn near pornographic in its brutality, flair and cultural awareness.

* Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter (1984):
Of all the big-name slasher-masters, Jason is my favourite, and of all the Friday 13th movies I would have to say that Part IV is my all-round favourite. The characters are entertaining, Tom Savini returns to deliver the splatter, it features the best non-Hodder version of Jason, and the look and style of the movie is one that takes me back to my formative years when I was first seeing a variety of horror classics at a time when here in Britain, we were on the cusp between draconian censorship and liberal viewing.

* Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956):
There are few movies which can routinely send shivers up and down my spine with every viewing, but this is one of them. The crisp black & white visuals, the McCarthyism/Communism backdrop is fascinating, and the simple terror in being at home with the ones you know and love, but who you know are no longer who you knew them to be - and all the while, nobody like you left will believe you.

* The Money Pit (1986):
I have fond memories of when I was a mere boy sitting in the TV room, on my favourite sofa, watching my VHS recording of Tom Hanks wrestle his way up a collapsing staircase. At the time I wasn't much interested in the plot or the characters so much as I was purely and simply entertained by a couple's comedic battle with their collapsing house. As such it became one of "the few" - a series of movies I would watch repeatedly as a child with absolute fascination.

* No Country For Old Men (2007):
While I'm not a rabid Cohen Brothers fan, the films of theirs I have seen have never failed to impress me. I never saw their apparent fall from grace with the likes of The Ladykillers remake, but indeed - this film saw them strike back with all the cinematic skill that they possess. As a student of film the movie is a fascinating watch - the mechanics and the construction of it are ideal examples of filmmaking methods - but as a movie-going audience member, the film is a real treat to watch. The cinematography on it's own - by Roger Deakins - is an absolute pleasure to behold. Indeed, in the same year The Assassination of Jesse James (also lensed by Deakins) was released, and was equally beautiful ... as if the filmmakers had used oil paints, rather than celluloid to compose their visuals. The slow-drawl accented leads, the obsession over practical operations in the pursuit of acquiring the money in the suitcase throughout, and the melancholly meander of the plot are all superb.

* Rambo (2008):
This movie is one of those which has become something of continued fun for my male friends and I. In 2008 it was the first film that really kicked off our very regular cinema trips, and that in itself had its own little adventure - a last minute dash from Newport (which was closed with no water) to Cardiff, running to the city-centre cinema and parking our butts literally as the distributor logo faded in. But in and of itself, Rambo is simply ideal movie viewing for the blokes out there - plus the true-to-life ballistics are stunning, and it ticks all the right action movie boxes. Rambo has become a movie for my circle of cinema-going chums of constant reference.

* Sunshine (2007):
I was never really aware of this movie before it came out, and even then I didn't know a lot about it, except the basic plot and that it was from Danny Boyle. However, when I was sat there in the cinema, in the dark, with the surround sound effect in full force ... I have to say that I've rarely experienced a film that has had such a visceral and physical impact on me. The music, the editing, the pacing, the stunning visuals - they all grew together in choice moments to leave me literally gripping my chair rests, my heart actually thumping through my chest, and my eyes welling up due to me being so transfixed on the screen. The impact of these moments left me trembling, and still do.

* United 93 (2006):
Of the few films which have come out that are about the horrible events of September 11th, it has only been Greengrass' restless-camera, docu-like, minute-by-tense-minute punch to the face that has left any real and tangible impact upon me. The film masterfully crescendoes in the final moments thanks to meticulous pacing and suspense building - and it was in those final moments - with me just sat there watching it in an office chair on my computer screen one afternoon - that I involuntarily punched the air and screamed "get those motherfuckers!". Not in a dumb-dumb xenophobic way, but in a way that I almost felt like I was on the plane charging the terrorists myself - the sheer rush of adrenaline totally consumed me and left me quivering for minutes after the stunning cut to black. This wasn't a one-time feeling, having re-viewed that one final scene on its own, I had the exact same feeling and rush of emotions. Truly, genuinely, and honestly powerful filmmaking.

* WALL.E (2008):
One of my childhood favourites is Short Circuit, which features a cute, loveable, bug-eyed robot. At the age of 24, I was again able to tap into that same sense of fun and emotional investment with an even cuter, even more loveable and bug-eyed robot - WALL-E. Pixar have produced many great animated films over the years - but recently Cars and Ratatouille just didn't do it for me, they looked great, but that was it, I wasn't laughing and I wasn't emotionally invested - but WALL-E came along and changed all that and took me back to, not only classic Pixar, but my own childhood. Also, from the perspective of a student of film, WALL-E is a fascinatingly beautiful piece of work. The attention to detail in the visuals, as well as the CGI camerawork (helped by instruction from Roger Deakins), and the simple-but-effective plot have all left distinct and long-lasting impressions on me.