HK's 100 Favourites... Kinda

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ONLY #56? Oh well, still glad to see Psycho made its way on
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Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
Recent favourites include Double Indemnity, All About Eve, Empire Strikes Back, Seven Samurai and Psycho. Really liking your list so far. While it has been a little eclectic so far, like Brodinski I was expecting something a little more offbeat and out there. Maybe still to come

I'm just waiting for a few Kubrick films to make their appearance and it'll be a great list.
Why would he want to do that? Clearly he's a man with taste!



Alright mate

I think I speak for every single member on here when I say ABOUT BLOODY FOOKIN' TIME. I almost gave up on the thought of ever seeing a top 10 by you, HK.

Hmm, Brod's echoed my initial thoughts, the list is FARR more coventional than I would have imagined. There only seems to be a handful of films that I haven't heard of and a little more than several that I have yet to see. Have to assume you are saving the less conventional onslaught for the top 50?!

I THINK I have an idea of the type of films you like. You definitely seem to have a fondness for the inky dark comedies like myself and the nostalgia for entertaining 80/90s gems, and I think your list is the first one I have seen on here that has listed Road House and Pump Up The Volume, both films I really enjoy too having stayed up late to watch them on Channel 4 or whatever, so much kudos for bigging them up.

A bit surprised and disappointed that you champion Natural Born Killers, THOUGH :/ I didn't like anything about it. Found it a bit too unwatchable for me, and I don't think I am going to even attempt to watch it again. It's just too..full on. Never thought of it as a student film though, so perhaps I missed something.

Brilliant to include Ginger Snaps, as i'm you're aware, I adore that film and it gets better each time I watch it.

I thought Three Colours: Red was your favourite of the trilogy, HK?



i'm SUPER GOOD at Jewel karaoke
I thought Three Colours: Red was your favourite of the trilogy, HK?
NOPE, BLUE! i told HK Red was my favorite and he was all, 'typical for an american.'

oh i wasn't supposed to comment again. oh well.



what's wrong with looking forward to a children's film?
Is this the question you're refering to, ash? If so, sorry I didn't answer before, I almost saw it as rhetorical.

For the record, I don't think the infantising of an/the adult population is a good thing. Not for them or society in general. Now, this kind of 'dumbing down' isn't the same as an adult liking kids films. The difference now is that they're promoted as if you're supposed to be interested. If you want to watch Harry Potter or Warhorse, fine, but don't pretend they're grown up films for grown ups. They're not. They're kids films. My problem isn't that you (not you specifically, you understand) want to see them, it's that they're promoted/talked about as if they're for you.

I'm afraid I don't know an international equivalent, but IMO, were Harry Potter or War Horse to've been made and released in the 80's there'd have been a lot of interest and items on Newsround (like a kids version of the news) and Blue Peter (a kids magazine show) but you'd probably not see it on the news, in the papers or anywhere else unless it was an "... And, finally..." item on the news. To put it another way, if you didn't have children, you may not know of its existence and almost certainly wouldn't be able to recognise people from the film. Now try and think of that today.

Hmm, Brod's echoed my initial thoughts, the list is FARR more coventional than I would have imagined. There only seems to be a handful of films that I haven't heard of and a little more than several that I have yet to see. Have to assume you are saving the less conventional onslaught for the top 50?!
I don't think so. Certainly not many films that I wouldn't think you'd have heard of or seen, though I think there's more films that are less likely to appear on others 100 list.

I THINK I have an idea of the type of films you like. You definitely seem to have a fondness for the inky dark comedies like myself and the nostalgia for entertaining 80/90s gems, and I think your list is the first one I have seen on here that has listed Road House and Pump Up The Volume, both films I really enjoy too having stayed up late to watch them on Channel 4 or whatever, so much kudos for bigging them up.
They're both great fun. I'd recommend them to anyone who's not seen them.

A bit surprised and disappointed that you champion Natural Born Killers, THOUGH :/ I didn't like anything about it. Found it a bit too unwatchable for me, and I don't think I am going to even attempt to watch it again. It's just too..full on. Never thought of it as a student film though, so perhaps I missed something.
Well, you're not alone there and I doubt you missed anything. As I said, just from the people leaving the cinema when I saw it, I was most definately in the minority. Though, as I also said, I think that had as much to do with them not getting what they thought they were as anything else. The only thing that gets under my skin about NBK is Stone's really heavy handed symbolism, but then, as the whole film is about the our and the media's obssession with violence and how they sell it like a product, it's not misplaced or anything. I will say that it'll probably seem a lot less heavy handed the next time I watch it, now I've watched most of Battlestar Galactica.

I thought Three Colours: Red was your favourite of the trilogy, HK?
No, ash is right, it's Blue. It's always been Blue.



55. Donnie Brasco



As with Coen's, this was a time when a new Johnny Depp film was something to get excited about. Not only was this one of the best, but it's also the last good Pacino performance I saw. There's great chemisty between Depp and Pacino and "Leftie" is a strangely charismatic character and, as such, this almost plays like a buddy movie.

54. A Nightmare On Elm Street



I was 12 when I saw this and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Firstly, because it was released on video so quickly after its cinema release (to the point where a friend came over to my house and told me that her dad had hired it and I didn't believe them) and also because, well, it's A Nightmare On Elm Street and for all the horror films I'd seen by this time in my life, I'd not seen anything like that before. I can still remember the first time I saw the scene where Tina is killed. I was both horrified and yet mesmerised. I'll add that, on my way home from seeing this for the first time, I had to walk through a narrow road. The wind picked up and started to whip up some dry leaves, like at the start of the film. I'm not sure I've ever run quicker than I did then.

53. Ed Wood



I've just noticed that I've got three Johnny Depp films in a row here. Here's, by far, my favourite Tim Burton film and it's one of only three of his films that I really like. Sleepy Hollow and Batman Returns being the other two, neither of which will be appearing on the list. Though I love the cult, the crappy and places inbetween, I've never been a fan of Ed Wood. However, were his films as entertaining as this biopic, I certainly would be. Possibly my favourite Depp performance and, probably more surprising, my favourite Bill Murray performance. No, really. Hell, even Sarah Jessica Parker's good in this and if that's not recommendation enough, I don't know what is.

52. Pulp Fiction



While I still love this film, I have to be honest and say it's falling like a stone both in my heart and my ratings. That said, I hope that I always remember how I felt that first night I saw this. Coming out of the cinema, knowing I'd seen something special. A game changer, as it'd be called these days. A new cinema had arrived and this film had just kicked the door in to announce it. OK, so it had already happened a few years earlier, but that's how it felt after seeing Pulp Fiction. This was one of those films that you told everyone you knew about and asked everyone you met if they'd seen.

51. Rollerball



Another favourite film from my childhood. I can remember my friends and I all going out after seeing this, getting on our bikes and skates and cobbling together our own version. Sans spikes and steel ball, of course. An odd one for a childhood fave as, apart from the rollerball games, it's a pretty dry and grown-up film. However, even though the games were by far the standout reason for watching the film (and, let's be fair, still are) I always enjoyed those 'bits inbetween'. This also introduced me to one of my favourite pieces of music, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor.



PF certainly used to be higher. When I made these lists in the 90's, it'd be top 20-30 without any problem at all. As I said, my love for it is wanning and, while I've not seen it in a long time now, The Gold Watch segment puts me off making a concerted effort. I've caught some of it on tv, I still like it and I do want to sit down and watch it again from start to finish, but I really don't want to sit through that bit.

It reminds me a bit of True Romance. Now, I used to love that film, but the last time I tried to watch it, I only made it about 20-25 minutes in and I was done. It wasn't just boring me, the dialogue was starting to annoy me. Hopefully it was a one-off but, again, I really don't want to sit down and find out anytime soon.



How 'bout the cube (1+2),have you seen them?



Is this the question you're refering to, ash? If so, sorry I didn't answer before, I almost saw it as rhetorical.

For the record, I don't think the infantising of an/the adult population is a good thing. Not for them or society in general. Now, this kind of 'dumbing down' isn't the same as an adult liking kids films. The difference now is that they're promoted as if you're supposed to be interested. If you want to watch Harry Potter or Warhorse, fine, but don't pretend they're grown up films for grown ups. They're not. They're kids films. My problem isn't that you (not you specifically, you understand) want to see them, it's that they're promoted/talked about as if they're for you.

I'm afraid I don't know an international equivalent, but IMO, were Harry Potter or War Horse to've been made and released in the 80's there'd have been a lot of interest and items on Newsround (like a kids version of the news) and Blue Peter (a kids magazine show) but you'd probably not see it on the news, in the papers or anywhere else unless it was an "... And, finally..." item on the news. To put it another way, if you didn't have children, you may not know of its existence and almost certainly wouldn't be able to recognise people from the film. Now try and think of that today.
This needs it's own thread.

So, what you're saying is that adults shouldn't be able to have fun as when they were children? That seems a very douchey thing to say.
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i'm SUPER GOOD at Jewel karaoke
i'm not sure that's what he was saying, but i didn't quite get what he was saying, anyway, even though I read it more than once. sounds to me like he's okay with adults liking childish movies, but he doesn't like that those films are promoted to be "kid movies for adults"... which seems totally irrelevant to me.

which probably means I don't know what the hell he means.



i'm SUPER GOOD at Jewel karaoke
okay, I read it again. I think I understand what he's saying now, but i still don't understand why it bothers him so much that Harry Potter, for example, was promoted "for adults", when it'd seem kind of stupid for it not to be promoted that way, seeing as both the books and the films have a wide demographic of die hard fans. for what it's worth, i don't consider Harry Potter strictly a children's film, so i guess honeykid and i disagree here. It has a cutesy fantasy exterior that would indeed draw children in and its main characters ARE children, but there are way too many "adult" themes and situations, that I'm sure many young fans of the book would not even pick up on until they revisit when they've grown up some.

and, hey, I write a fairy tale zine and i consider it for adults or at least young adults at the very least. it's got monsters and princesses in it, too, but the elements of the story are not strictly for 9-year-olds, even though I know of at least one child who ended up loving it and having her mother read it to her.

and i see myself as the opposite of "dumbed-down"



Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave
You're doing well HK. The way you were talking at the start I thought you were going to drag this out for weeks and weeks. Of that batch I like Rollerball, and love both Ed Wood and Pulp Fiction.

And I've already tried to argue over this 'kids films' debate. Not going to try again.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
62. The Cruel Sea



This is one of those war films which has probably been shown once every 12-18 months for the last 30 years over here. I do like a film that's set at sea. I don't know why. On the sea or in the air. Anyway, I just get a feeling of comfort when I watch this. I can't remember ever not having see this film.
I just watched this again, and it's interesting how you say it gives you comfort, but it really is quite a disturbing film in many ways. That scene with the Brithish sailors floating in the water directly above a German U-boat, and Captain Jack Hawkins has to choose whether he's going to drop depth charges practically on top of them to try to blow up the sub is harrowing. It's got other intense scenes of course, as well as a high level of wit (at least at the beginning) which is what you'd expect from Ealing Studios. Stanley Baker was a hoot as the original First Lieutenant; what an alpha hotel he was! Anyhow, good movie.

Coincidentally, I also just watched ...... one of our aircraft is missing which I'm going to go talk about at the Michael Powell thread.
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You're doing well HK. The way you were talking at the start I thought you were going to drag this out for weeks and weeks.
Thanks, JD. I've not been as bad as I thought I would be for the last week or so. I'm pretty pleased that I've been able to do it as quickly as I have, though it might slow a bit now. I'l do my best to keep up the pace.


I just watched this again, and it's interesting how you say it gives you comfort, but it really is quite a disturbing film in many ways.
Oh absolutely, The Cruel Sea is harsh, but I do find it comforting. As I said, it's something I don't ever remember being without, as it were, so it's like a touchstone in that way, a constant. There again, I feel the same way about Dawn Of The Dead as well, so...



Sit Ubu Sit.... Good Dog
I just put the Cruel Sea on the top of my Netflix queue, looks like something I would really like so thanks for putting that up HK.

Now I need someone to tell me why there is a LONG WAIT on a 1953 film, I know this is the wrong thread to mention this but quite often Netflix just pisses me off.
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We've gone on holiday by mistake
Rep for Rollerball. Same as you I love the actual Rollerball sequences and the parts inbetween. I feel it was a warning from the past about Corporate Power.