+12
Here's a few from my ballot...
18. Jackie Brown - I guess Jackie Brown is one of my least favourite Quentin Tarantino movies, but it's still a great movie nevertheless. A friend of mine gave me the novel Rum Punch - and considering who that friend is I really ought to read the novel, because he only does that when it's something I really should read or watch. Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton and Robert De Niro - they all bring their A-game, and of course they do. People were expecting big things after Pulp Fiction - but how on earth do you follow up that movie? Anyway, in retrospect it's a better movie than people gave it credit for. Didn't make my ballot though.
17. Blow Out - Classic, atmospheric and a last blast that echoes the paranoia of the 1970s - also an interesting film to compare with 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film Blow-Up. John Travolta actually had a role here that tested him, and he passed with flying colours. Nancy Allen should have been a much bigger star, and I find it hard to express how much I love John Lithgow. I have Blow Out on Criterion, but it's been quite a long time since I last watched it. Regardless, it's one of my favourite films, and simply too good to miss out on a spot on my ballot. I had it at #22.
16. Reservoir Dogs - I love this film. I know, it's excruciatingly violent - but it's so well-written, and fearlessly so. Tarantino bulldozes over his own mistakes with a confidence I've never seen in a debut. The blood, the Rat Pack-like style, the nastiness and the brilliant idea to make this about the aftermath of a heist instead of the heist itself. The flash-back styled narrative, the performances and the visual style here just explodes off the screen - this was something completely new when it came out. Reservoir Dogs shakes you in your seat. It assaults you, and wastes no time letting you know that the characters in this film are nasty, terrible, awful people - murderous hounds, with their "cool" veneer a disguise. This film still electrifies me after all these years. I had it at #2.
15. Miller's Crossing - The Coen Bros Miller's Crossing showcased the visual power they had like no film before it. It's jaw-dropping inasmuch as it crosses over into the kind of style that requires a genius level of filmmaking nous. This is pure neo-noir, and Gabriel Byrne's greatest moment as an actor - but he's well backed up by Albert Finney, John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden and Jon Polito. The plot is complex, layered and large in scope. The score is also magnificent. A very stylish masterpiece, with a dozen or so memorable scenes. Simply beautiful. I had it at #6 on my ballot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seen : 61/86
I'd never even heard of : 9/86
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 16/86
Films from my list : 11
#15 - My #6 - Miller's Crossing (1990)
#16 - My #2 - Reservoir Dogs (1992)
#17 - My #22 - Blow Out (1981)
#21 - My #13 - Nightcrawler (2014)
#27 - My #24 - The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
#28 - My #1 - The Conversation (1974)
#30 - My #23 - Zodiac (2007)
#42 - My #19 - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
#44 - My #21 - Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
#52 - My #11 - Oldboy (2003)
#81 - My #17 - Brick (2005)
__________________
Remember - everything has an ending except hope, and sausages - they have two.
We miss you Takoma