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IB usually pops up on these lists and, as always, I've don't understand why. I'd think of it as the Tarantino film for people who don't like Tarantino, but his fans seem to like it, at least, as much as everyone else, so...
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IB usually pops up on these lists and, as always, I've don't understand why. I'd think of it as the Tarantino film for people who don't like Tarantino, but his fans seem to like it, at least, as much as everyone else, so...
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More lists, yesss. This one looks like it'll be very eclectic and interesting, can't wait to see what's coming up. 
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IB usually pops up on these lists and, as always, I've don't understand why. I'd think of it as the Tarantino film for people who don't like Tarantino, but his fans seem to like it, at least, as much as everyone else, so...
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The Isle is one of my favourite Ki-duk films!
Lady Vengeance and Inglorious Basterds are pretty cool as well.
Make sure to watch Lady Snowblood if you liked Kill Bill. It was the main inspiration for Tarantino when he was making Kill Bill.
Lady Vengeance and Inglorious Basterds are pretty cool as well.
Make sure to watch Lady Snowblood if you liked Kill Bill. It was the main inspiration for Tarantino when he was making Kill Bill.
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.
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Going to make a slight change to how I do this. I was listing countries in regards to where the movie is from but that actually can get quite complex in terms of where they are made, where the director is from, where the money comes from, etc. So, I'm going to change it to just where the director is from. Will probably edit the earlier entries.
90. Shutter (2004) - Banjong Pisanthanakun/Parkpoom Wongpoom (Thailand)
Something that I find exciting about the movie world over the last 15 years is not just that the main Asian movie markets have improved, as I mentioned earlier, but there are some good movies coming out of the smaller markets as well. Things like The Raid: Redemption from Indonesia (which didn't quite make my list) and quite a few movies from Thailand. This is a Thai horror movie that is very much based on the Japanese style of horror. That is, scary Asian girls with wet hair
Overall this is a good movie with a good story and reasonably good acting. Most importantly, I've watched it twice and it scared the crap out of me both times. BTW, there is an American version which I haven't seen but it doesn't appear to be very good.
89. Seven Samurai (1954) - Akira Kurosawa (Japan)
I feel a little bit bad that I've only got one Kurosawa movie on my list and it is down so low. Two more of his movies almost made the list, Yojimbo and Ame Agaru (After the Rain), but so far I've just had more of a connection with Ozu's movies from that period of Japanese cinema. I plan to watch more of Kurosawa's non-Samurai movies in the future which I think I will appreciate more. Anyway, not much needs to be said about this movie - everyone has seen it or knows about it. Very good movie.
88. Schindler's List (1993) - Steven Spielberg (USA)
If there is one thing in movie's I hate it is a director telling us when we should get emotional. That should happen naturally with a well told story and characters with depth. For me Steven Spielberg doesn't always get this right but for the most part in Schindler's List he did and it ended up being one of his best movies. It is also his best movie visually - the scene with the little girl in the red coat is one of the most memorable in the history of movies.
87. Monsters (2010) - Gareth Edwards (UK)
Very low budget sci-fi movie about alien creatures taking over the northern half of Mexico. A guy and a girl have to travel through the area, which is basically quarantined, to get back to the US. This is probably the movie I have watched the most over the last couple of years. Whenever I had time to kill I would put it on because it had a combination of an interesting story with great visuals and, in particular, music and sound effects. I always found some scenes quite mesmerising. It's far from perfect but in parts it is brilliant.
86. The Matrix (1999) - Andy & Lana Wachowski (USA)
I watched this as part of putting together my list for the 90s countdown and expected it to have aged really badly but I think I actually liked it more than when I saw it the first time. I think it's a great story that is presented very well. There is an issue with the story actually being too involved so they end up just taking the easy way out and getting the characters to simply tell us everything that wasn't put on screen but overall I really enjoyed it. BTW, Keanu Reeves is a terrible actor, however he does have a particular talent that is valuable. He is usually quite likeable which means he can keep us engaged when we would normally tune out with anyone else who was that bad. You kind of end up smiling rather than rolling your eyes. That helps in creating a hero for us to follow.
90. Shutter (2004) - Banjong Pisanthanakun/Parkpoom Wongpoom (Thailand)
Something that I find exciting about the movie world over the last 15 years is not just that the main Asian movie markets have improved, as I mentioned earlier, but there are some good movies coming out of the smaller markets as well. Things like The Raid: Redemption from Indonesia (which didn't quite make my list) and quite a few movies from Thailand. This is a Thai horror movie that is very much based on the Japanese style of horror. That is, scary Asian girls with wet hair
Overall this is a good movie with a good story and reasonably good acting. Most importantly, I've watched it twice and it scared the crap out of me both times. BTW, there is an American version which I haven't seen but it doesn't appear to be very good.89. Seven Samurai (1954) - Akira Kurosawa (Japan)
I feel a little bit bad that I've only got one Kurosawa movie on my list and it is down so low. Two more of his movies almost made the list, Yojimbo and Ame Agaru (After the Rain), but so far I've just had more of a connection with Ozu's movies from that period of Japanese cinema. I plan to watch more of Kurosawa's non-Samurai movies in the future which I think I will appreciate more. Anyway, not much needs to be said about this movie - everyone has seen it or knows about it. Very good movie.
88. Schindler's List (1993) - Steven Spielberg (USA)
If there is one thing in movie's I hate it is a director telling us when we should get emotional. That should happen naturally with a well told story and characters with depth. For me Steven Spielberg doesn't always get this right but for the most part in Schindler's List he did and it ended up being one of his best movies. It is also his best movie visually - the scene with the little girl in the red coat is one of the most memorable in the history of movies.
87. Monsters (2010) - Gareth Edwards (UK)
Very low budget sci-fi movie about alien creatures taking over the northern half of Mexico. A guy and a girl have to travel through the area, which is basically quarantined, to get back to the US. This is probably the movie I have watched the most over the last couple of years. Whenever I had time to kill I would put it on because it had a combination of an interesting story with great visuals and, in particular, music and sound effects. I always found some scenes quite mesmerising. It's far from perfect but in parts it is brilliant.
86. The Matrix (1999) - Andy & Lana Wachowski (USA)
I watched this as part of putting together my list for the 90s countdown and expected it to have aged really badly but I think I actually liked it more than when I saw it the first time. I think it's a great story that is presented very well. There is an issue with the story actually being too involved so they end up just taking the easy way out and getting the characters to simply tell us everything that wasn't put on screen but overall I really enjoyed it. BTW, Keanu Reeves is a terrible actor, however he does have a particular talent that is valuable. He is usually quite likeable which means he can keep us engaged when we would normally tune out with anyone else who was that bad. You kind of end up smiling rather than rolling your eyes. That helps in creating a hero for us to follow.
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Seven Samurai, Schinder's List and Matrix are excellent !
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Schindler's List and the Matrix are great, but Seven Samurai is a top ten favorite film of mine!
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Seven Samurai is just brilliant. Schindler's great too.
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85. The Kid (1921) - Charlie Chaplin (USA)
I'm not proud to admit it but I was a silent film bigot prior to this year. I don't remember ever watching one and if I did I didn't give it the attention it deserved. That's all changed, thanks mainly to Chaplin, and now the silent film medium/genre is one of my favourites. I still haven't seen enough and from memory there is only one more on this list, not counting the Kim Ki Duk films that might as well be silent. Chaplin is one of the greatest directors of all time at getting performances out of his cast, and himself, that create a real emotional attachment with the audience. As with City Lights, he just knows how to push the right buttons.
84. Happy Times (2000) - Zhang Yimou (China)
Zhang is another who knows how to engage the audience emotionally - at least he always seems to with me. It's the story of a guy down on his luck who brags about opening a hotel to a potential wife. The "hotel" is actually just an abandoned bus but he gets stuck within the lie when he agrees to give the woman's blind daughter a job as a masseuse. To cover up he enlists friends to act as clients. There is nothing particularly original about this and some could say it is manipulative but for me it was just a beautiful story about two people who help each other at a difficult time in their lives. The chemistry between the two leads was amazing - they portrayed a kind of father/daughter relationship in a very caring way. Both of their performances were great as were those of the support cast.
83. La Haine (1995) - Mathieu Kassovitz (France)
Story of a multi-cultural group of friends in Paris following one of their friends being hurt in a riot. As you can see from much of my list so far I tend to watch more Asian movies than European. That's not because I necessarily like them more - I just find it somewhat easier to find quality movies and directors because for most of Asia (except Japan) there is really only a 25 year history so the numbers are smaller and it is easier to identify the quality. I'm sometimes a bit daunted when I look at the history of European cinema and don't know where to start. Anyway, this was one of the first French films I watched and showed a much grittier side to their cinema that I wasn't really aware of.
82. Four Lions (2010) - Christopher Morris (UK)
Morris deserves credit for managing to make a comedy about terrorism and not offending the entire world. It's about a group of (bumbling) UK jihadists planning a suicide attack. More recent events have made the subject of this movie perhaps even more offensive than it originally would have been to some. For me, the key to it was that (despite it making me feel a bit uncomfortable about laughing) it is just a really funny film. It actually handles all of the issues it deals with pretty well but if this topic may offend you, don't watch it.
81. Three Colors: Red (1994) - Krzysztof Kieslowski (Poland)
Final instalment of the French trilogy - this time starring Irene Jacob. Jacob's character finds out one of her neighbours' hobby is spying on people. I mentioned earlier when Blue showed on the list that in many ways I though Blue was actually a better movie but Red just all came together at the end and I gave it a slightly higher rating because as the final of the trilogy it brought everything together. Like Blue, just a very good movie in it's own right.
I'm not proud to admit it but I was a silent film bigot prior to this year. I don't remember ever watching one and if I did I didn't give it the attention it deserved. That's all changed, thanks mainly to Chaplin, and now the silent film medium/genre is one of my favourites. I still haven't seen enough and from memory there is only one more on this list, not counting the Kim Ki Duk films that might as well be silent. Chaplin is one of the greatest directors of all time at getting performances out of his cast, and himself, that create a real emotional attachment with the audience. As with City Lights, he just knows how to push the right buttons.
84. Happy Times (2000) - Zhang Yimou (China)
Zhang is another who knows how to engage the audience emotionally - at least he always seems to with me. It's the story of a guy down on his luck who brags about opening a hotel to a potential wife. The "hotel" is actually just an abandoned bus but he gets stuck within the lie when he agrees to give the woman's blind daughter a job as a masseuse. To cover up he enlists friends to act as clients. There is nothing particularly original about this and some could say it is manipulative but for me it was just a beautiful story about two people who help each other at a difficult time in their lives. The chemistry between the two leads was amazing - they portrayed a kind of father/daughter relationship in a very caring way. Both of their performances were great as were those of the support cast.
83. La Haine (1995) - Mathieu Kassovitz (France)
Story of a multi-cultural group of friends in Paris following one of their friends being hurt in a riot. As you can see from much of my list so far I tend to watch more Asian movies than European. That's not because I necessarily like them more - I just find it somewhat easier to find quality movies and directors because for most of Asia (except Japan) there is really only a 25 year history so the numbers are smaller and it is easier to identify the quality. I'm sometimes a bit daunted when I look at the history of European cinema and don't know where to start. Anyway, this was one of the first French films I watched and showed a much grittier side to their cinema that I wasn't really aware of.
82. Four Lions (2010) - Christopher Morris (UK)
Morris deserves credit for managing to make a comedy about terrorism and not offending the entire world. It's about a group of (bumbling) UK jihadists planning a suicide attack. More recent events have made the subject of this movie perhaps even more offensive than it originally would have been to some. For me, the key to it was that (despite it making me feel a bit uncomfortable about laughing) it is just a really funny film. It actually handles all of the issues it deals with pretty well but if this topic may offend you, don't watch it.
81. Three Colors: Red (1994) - Krzysztof Kieslowski (Poland)
Final instalment of the French trilogy - this time starring Irene Jacob. Jacob's character finds out one of her neighbours' hobby is spying on people. I mentioned earlier when Blue showed on the list that in many ways I though Blue was actually a better movie but Red just all came together at the end and I gave it a slightly higher rating because as the final of the trilogy it brought everything together. Like Blue, just a very good movie in it's own right.
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Schindelrs List is stunning and The Matrix remains a decent block buster. The Kid is a really nice film, La Haine is one of my all time favorites, Four Lions is funny and has a bizzare ending, finally, Rogue is really cool
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+1 for Red and Seven Samurai. I desperately need to watch Schindlers List and More Chaplin. When i was a kid The Matrix was one of my fav films, but in recent years i've lost love for it. Haven't seen the rest.
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BTW, there was a slight error earlier in the thread. I mentioned After the Rain as being a Kurosawa film - well, he wrote it and started pre-production but passed away and someone else actually directed it. Still, beautiful movie and definitely worth watching.
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I have seen Red and it is my favorite of the trilogy. I have not seen Four Lions, but I want to! It looks hilarious!
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I should watch Kill Bill again, but I much preferred vol 2 (or the second half) to the first.
IB usually pops up on these lists and, as always, I've don't understand why. I'd think of it as the Tarantino film for people who don't like Tarantino, but his fans seem to like it, at least, as much as everyone else, so...
IB usually pops up on these lists and, as always, I've don't understand why. I'd think of it as the Tarantino film for people who don't like Tarantino, but his fans seem to like it, at least, as much as everyone else, so...
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The Kid is the only Chaplin film I've ever seen and liked. It's still not funny, but it's so touching. I haven't rushed to see it again, because I don't think I'll like it as much, but that I did is still quite surprising to me.
+ rep for La Haine, Red and Four Lions, as well.
+ rep for La Haine, Red and Four Lions, as well.
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The Kid is the only Chaplin film I've ever seen and liked. It's still not funny, but it's so touching. I haven't rushed to see it again, because I don't think I'll like it as much, but that I did is still quite surprising to me.
+ rep for La Haine, Red and Four Lions, as well.
+ rep for La Haine, Red and Four Lions, as well.
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80. Taste of Cherry (1997) - Abbas Kiarostami (Iran)
The second Kiarostami movie on my list - and not the last. I really love the style of Iranian cinema - usually relatively simplistic stories about real people. This one has what could be considered a more in depth story but is still handled in the same minimalistic manner. Basically a man drives around looking for someone who will bury him once he commits suicide. He interacts with various people who gradually appear to make him reconsider his plan. The final scene (of the fictional part of the movie - the actual ending shows Kiarostami during the filming of the movie) is brilliantly ambiguous. Kiraostami is good at endings
79. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - Irvin Kershner (USA)
I'm not sure I can add anything particularly profound to all that has been written about the first two Star Wars films. So I won't try
78. Summer Interlude (1951) - Ingmar Bergman (Sweden)
I'm gradually making my way through Bergman's outstanding catalogue and this is one of my favourites so far. A ballerina receives the diary of her first love and travels back to the island on which they met - we then see their relationship through her memories. Beautifully shot and brilliantly acted by Maj-Britt Nilsson. It gives us an early look at the themes that would repeat in much of Bergman's later work - with some specific scenes that he almost expands on later. Eating Wild Strawberries, a chess game with a dying person ...
77. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - Frank Darabont (USA)
A movie designed to be uplifting - and I was uplifted. Darabont crossed the line with The Green Mile IMO but with Shawshank he was just able to stop it sliding into being completely emotionally manipulative. Thanks should probably go to Freeman for his great performance that managed to keep the movie at least a little bit restrained.
76. Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Steven Spielberg (USA)
One of the best war movies ever made - obviously the beach landing scene is well known but for me the scene near the end just before the final battle is brilliant. Everyone is lying in wait as we hear the tank approaching - Spielberg created one of the most tense scenes I can remember as we build up to the tank appearing from behind a building.
BTW, I choose to ignore the existence of the opening and closing scenes of this movie ...
The second Kiarostami movie on my list - and not the last. I really love the style of Iranian cinema - usually relatively simplistic stories about real people. This one has what could be considered a more in depth story but is still handled in the same minimalistic manner. Basically a man drives around looking for someone who will bury him once he commits suicide. He interacts with various people who gradually appear to make him reconsider his plan. The final scene (of the fictional part of the movie - the actual ending shows Kiarostami during the filming of the movie) is brilliantly ambiguous. Kiraostami is good at endings
79. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - Irvin Kershner (USA)
I'm not sure I can add anything particularly profound to all that has been written about the first two Star Wars films. So I won't try
78. Summer Interlude (1951) - Ingmar Bergman (Sweden)
I'm gradually making my way through Bergman's outstanding catalogue and this is one of my favourites so far. A ballerina receives the diary of her first love and travels back to the island on which they met - we then see their relationship through her memories. Beautifully shot and brilliantly acted by Maj-Britt Nilsson. It gives us an early look at the themes that would repeat in much of Bergman's later work - with some specific scenes that he almost expands on later. Eating Wild Strawberries, a chess game with a dying person ...
77. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - Frank Darabont (USA)
A movie designed to be uplifting - and I was uplifted. Darabont crossed the line with The Green Mile IMO but with Shawshank he was just able to stop it sliding into being completely emotionally manipulative. Thanks should probably go to Freeman for his great performance that managed to keep the movie at least a little bit restrained.
76. Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Steven Spielberg (USA)
One of the best war movies ever made - obviously the beach landing scene is well known but for me the scene near the end just before the final battle is brilliant. Everyone is lying in wait as we hear the tank approaching - Spielberg created one of the most tense scenes I can remember as we build up to the tank appearing from behind a building.
BTW, I choose to ignore the existence of the opening and closing scenes of this movie ...
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