| Product: |
Top 10 Films in general |
| Date: |
31/10/08 (204 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -
Well I have been looking forward to writing this review and it has, with out doubt been the hardest one to write so far. I love movies and to choose an all time top ten was really difficult, but how I did it was to choose my favourite top 20 movies and pick my ten out of that.
I hope you find it an interesting read, some of them may be a bit predictable but that is for one reason, they are classics and everybody knows them, but they are still some of the best films of all time in my opinion.
As it is basically a review of 10 films I would like to apologize for the length of this piece, there is nothing more frustrating than reading a review that is the minimum 150 words but I know it can be equally frustrating to read a review that goes on and on, so I just hope you find it interesting enough to keep reading and I know some will say I could of done 10 separate reviews to get 5000 miles as oppose to getting none for this archive review but I felt passionately about doing this review the way I have done it, I just hope you enjoy it...........Many Thanks.
.
1. THE GODFATHER - 1972
**********************
CAST: MARLON BRANDO
AL PACINO
ROBERT DUVALL
JAMES CANN
JOHN CAZALE
TALIA SHIRE
DIANE KEATON
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola this 1972 Gangster masterpiece is based on the novel by 'Mario Puzo' who also wrote the screenplay.
The story follows the Corleone crime family between 1945 to 1955 in New York City. 'Vito Corlenone' (Brando) is the head or 'Don' of the Corleone crime family and is known among friends and associates as 'The Godfather'. He has 4 children 'Sonny' the oldest son played by James Cann, 'Fredo' the middle son played by John Cazale, 'Michael' the youngest son played by Al Pacino and 'Connie' his only daughter played by Talia Shire, he also has 'Tom Hagen'(Duvall) the family lawyer and consigliere who he thinks of as a son . Vito is a man of old world values and traditional methods and when rival crime family 'The Tattaglia's' ask for his backing in narcotics importation, Vito refuses and they attempt to assassinate him, though he doesn't die and is taken to hospital.
His youngest son 'Michael' has just returned from the war as a hero and vows to girlfriend 'Kay' that he wants nothing to do with the families illegitimate goings on.
But when a 2nd attempt on his Fathers life goes wrong, Michael to the surprise of his brothers 'Sonny' and 'Fredo', volunteers to kill a corrupt cop and rival gangster 'Virgil 'the turk' Sollozzo for their part in the assassination attempt. After Michael does this he is sent to Sicily for his own protection as back in New York the Corleone's prepare for war with the Tattaglia's and other Families that have united against them. After the fallout leads to the death of Vito's oldest son 'Sonny', Don Vito calls for peace and not revenge for his son's death and guarantees Michael's safety so he can return home.
With Don Vito semi retired, Sonny dead and Fredo incapable, Michael becomes the new head of the family and vows to turn the family legitimate, but is it a promise he can uphold.
The directing, editing, score, and acting are exceptional and the script is extremely well written and intelligent. This film blew me away the first time i saw it and still blows me away now, a true masterpiece in motion picture history.
MY FAVOURITE LINE: 'Leave the gun, Take the conolies'
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: The Baptism scene
Available to buy from Amazon for £13.98 free delivery.
2. GOODFELLAS- 1990
*******************
I have already reviewed this on Dooyoo so I will try to keep this short.
CAST: RAY LIOTTA
ROBERT DE NIRO
JOE PESCI
PAUL SORVINO
LORRAINE BRACO
Goodfellas is a Gangster epic directed by the master that is Martin Scorsese. Based on the novel 'Wiseguy' by Nicholas Pileggi this true story is set in New York over 3 decades, the 50's, 60's and 70's and tells the story of 'Henry Hill' (liotta) a wannabee gangster who joins the 'Luchese' crime family as a young boy where he meets Toomy DeVito(pesci), Jimmy Conway (De Niro) and mob captain Paulie (Sorvino). After impressing Paulie, Henry gets his lifelong dream and becomes a real gangster and him and Tommy soon get addicted to the gangster lifestyle of wealth, women and above all respect.
Through Scorsese's eyes we see this world of crime, violence; narcotics, revenge, friendship and love come to life in a gritty and raw style.
The performances in this film are outstanding, especially Joe Pesci as the psychotic Tommy DeVito, he plays the role with a real disturbing realism.
MY FAVOURTIE LINE: 'As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster'
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: The 'You're a funny guy' scene with Liotta and Pesci.
(If you would like to read a full review of this film, see my previous reviews)
Available to buy from Amazon: 1 disc version £3.98- 2 disc special edition £4.98 - Blu-ray DVD £17.98 and HD DVD £19.98
3. STAR WARS- THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK- 1980
***************************************
CAST: HARRISON FORD
MARK HAMILL
CARRIE FISHER
ALEC GUINNESS
BILLY DEE WILLIAMS
JAMES EARL JONES (VOICE OF VADER)
Written and Produced by the legend that is George Lucas, 'The Empire Strikes Back' for me is the greatest of the entire Star Wars saga.
I don't think Lucas himself could of predicted what a worldwide phenomenon the Star Wars series would be, and love them or hate them they are films that certainly changed motion picture history forever.
For this installment Lucas let Irvin Kershner take on the director's role.
Empire Strikes Back takes place 3 years after the Death Star was destroyed. The Galactic Empire has pursued the Rebel Alliance across the galaxy forcing them to set up a secret base on the ice planet Hoth. When the Empire discover their location through an imperial probe they attack the Alliance, an attack which involves the great AT-AT Walkers, ( This is the great snow speeder scene). The Alliance flee Hoth and Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO and Han Solo flee in the Millennium Falcon leaving Luke behind.
Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO and Han escape but are later caught in Cloud City by sith lord Darth Vader after being betrayed by Han's old friend Lando Calrissian and Vader Freezes Han and hands him over to bounty hunter Bobba Fett who intends to take him to crime lord Jabba the Hut for a reward.
Meanwhile Luke and R2-D2 have escaped in the X-Wing fighter and crash landed on the planet Dagobah where he meets a strange looking little green old man who later reveals himself to be Jedi Master Yoda. Yoda begins teaching Luke the ways of the Jedi, but Luke has a vision that Han and Leia are in trouble and goes to rescue them against the advice of Yoda and Obi-Wan.
Vader's plan to use Han and Leia to lure Luke to him has worked and Luke and Vader have an epic light saber battle and Luke learns of a terrible secret from the sith lord.
This is the best film of the saga for me because it focuses more on the character development than any other star wars film, while retaining the amazing special effects and action of the first film. It is more mature and the most emotionally connectable film of the series. The script is of a much higher quality and the direction and editing is superb. And of course the score is again outstanding.
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: The snow speeder and AT-AT battle on the ice planet Hoth.
MY FAVOURITE LINE: I aint going to write it in case anyone reading this hasn't seen it, but you know the line i mean, Darth Vader revealing the secret to Luke.
4. SCARFACE - 1983
*****************
CAST: AL PACINO
STEVEN BAUER
MICHELLE PFEIFFER
ROBERT LOGGIA
Scarface is directed by another great director, Brian De Palma.
It was written by Oliver stone and is an remake of the 1932 Howard Hawks film by the same name.
It tells the story of Tony Montanna a Cuban refugee who travels to America with close friend Manny Ribera after Cuban President Fidel Castro opens the gates at Mariel Harbor allowing the Cubans to emigrate to America.
Tony is a man who wants it all and will do anything to get it. Once in America Tony and Manny are held in Freedom town, because they cannot get a green card due to their criminal records, Tony and Manny strike a deal with the wealthy Frank Lopez who wants them to kill a Cuban security agent who tortured his brother and in return will guarantee them their green cards, they do this and Lopez upholds his end of the deal.
A few weeks later they meet with one of Lopez's men Omar,
who wants them to do a drug deal for Lopez, they take the job and when they go to meet Hector the dealer with their associates from freedom town, Angel and Chi Chi they discover that Hector has no intention of handing over the drugs and he just wants to steal the money from Tony, and proceeds to kill Tony's friend Angel with a chainsaw and a mass gunfight ensues and Tony, Manny and Chi Chi kill Hector and escape with the drugs and the money. Tony goes straight to Frank Lopez as he fears that Omar was in on the deal gone wrong, Frank is impressed with Tony and gives him and Manny jobs dealing drugs and while their Tony meets Franks Girlfriend Elvira(Pfeiffer) and takes a liking to her.
As Tony becomes more and more powerful, and wealthier
he falls out with Frank Lopez and steals Elvira from him, and as he becomes more and more addicted to cocaine he becomes more and more paranoid and distrusting, then when he finds out his best friend Manny is seeing his sister Gina, he loses the plot. At this point he has also fell out of favor with drug lord Sosa who has sent his associates to deal with Tony and the film ends with a mass gunfight in Tony's mansion.
Al Pacino was amazing in this film as Tony Montanna as was Steven Bauer, the script was fantastic and the direction and editing was top class. Many people didn't like the gritty dialogue and violence, but this is a story that really needs it and I think it is one of the films strong points. An amazing film that I never tire or watching, Pacino was made for this role.
MY FAVOURITE LINE: ' SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND'- I KNOW IT'S A BIT OBVIOUS BUT IT IS A CLASSIC LINE!!
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: THE SHOOTOUT AT TONY'S MANSION AT THE END
Available to buy from Amazon for £4.97 for the single disc edition and £7.97 for the 2 disc special edition.
5. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE - 1946
********************************
CAST: JAMES STEWART
DONNA REED
LIONEL BARRYMORE
THOMAS MITCHELL
HENRY TRAVERS
TODD KARNS
It's a Wonderful Life is truly a classic film, and the best Christmas film of all time.
The film was directed by Frank Capra who is one of the best directors of the touching, human emotion genre of films ever.
The film is based on the short story 'The Greatest Gift', by Phillip Van Doern Stern.
It tells the story of George Bailey(Stewart) of Bedford Falls, who has dreams and aspirations to travel the world and be an architect, though he constantly puts these dreams on hold for the good of others.
He is the type of person who puts everybody else before himself. His brother, his family and even the community around him are thought of before he thinks of himself, and even though he is truly desperate to get out of Bedford Falls and pursue his dreams, he knows deep down he will remain there for the rest of his life. He takes on the Family business, working along side his Uncle Billy, a business that loans money to the town folk so they can own there own houses and get out of the slums owned by evil Mr. Potter, the richest and meanest man in the town. But one day while in the bank Uncle Billy misplaces $8000 dollars he is supposed to deposit. He tells George and they look everywhere but to no avail, George becomes frantic and then seriously depressed. He is so desperate that he even goes to Potter to ask for a loan, explaining that if he does not come up with the cash he will be bankrupt, but Potter just laughs in his face.
As George faces the prospect of going bankrupt or even going to jail, he feels his family and friends would be better off without him and contemplates suicide. As his family and friends pray for his safe return their prayers are answered in the form of Clarence, an angel who is trying to earn his wings, and if he can save George he will get them. Clarence shows George what life would of been like had he never been born, the town is owned by Mr. Potter and called Pottersvillle and it is over run with sleazy bars and pawn brokers, and all the people he loves so dearly are miserable broken people who's lives have turned out very different, and George begins to realize how he has touched so many peoples lives.
This realization fills George with a new found appreciation for life and the difference he has made to others and he begs God to give him another chance. As he realizes he is back in Bedford Falls he run's home to find his wife and children, and as he looks around the house they come through the front door followed by the whole town who have put their savings together to help George and save the business. It is now that George realizes he truly has a wonderful life.
James Stewart was outstanding in this film and you really feel his pain as he experiences the feelings we all feel from time to time. Donna Reed who played Mary, George's wife was also superb and in the scene where they are on the phone together, the chemistry is magical.
I love this film because of its strong values and moral message, it shows that as low and depressed as we all feel sometimes, each and everyone of us has made a difference to someone, no matter how small, and that no matter how bad things get as long as we have our friends and family around us then anything is possible.
Available from Amazon for £11.98
MY FAVOURITE LINE: 'Clarence help me, get me back, get me back, I don't care what happens to me just get me back to my wife and kids. Help me Clarence, please, I wanna live again, I wanna live again, please God let me live again'
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: The scene at the end where George runs home and the whole town come to his aid.
6. SCHINDLERS LIST - 1993
**************************
CAST: LIAM NEESON
RALPH FIENNES
BEN KINGSLEY
CAROLINE GOODHALL
Directed by Steven Spielberg, Schindlers List is a film that tells of the horrors of the holocaust during World War II.
Apart from the opening and closing scenes the film is shot entirely in black and white and based on a true story it is set in the midst of World War II in Nazi occupied Krakow, Poland.
It tells the story of Oskar Schindler(Neeson) a greedy business man and member of the Nazi party who aims to earn a fortune manufacturing military equipment, though not knowing much about the business he works in tandem with Itzhak Stern(Kingsley) a man who has Jewish connections and he suggests to Oskar that he should use Jewish workers as oppose to Polish workers as it is cheap labour.
Then Amon Goth(Fiennes) arrives in Krakow to oversee the construction of the Plaszow concerntration camp, he orders his soldiers to clean up the Krakow ghetto and this is when Schindler sees the brutal and horrifying murder of so many Jews. This has a profound effect on Schindler and this greedy business man now starts to think with his heart and not his head, and gets Stern to employ as many of the Jews as possible to get them out of the camp and therefore saving their lives. As the orders come in from Berlin to start shipping the remaining Jews to Auschwitz, Schindler considers leaving with his fortune but then decides to ask Goth if he can keep his workers and move them to a factory in Schindlers hometown.
This is a magnificent piece of film and one that has affected me and educated me and I will never forget watching this film. It's a fantastic piece of filmmaking but hard to watch at the same time, the Girl in the red coat will stay with me forever. The acting is superb; Neeson, Fiennes and Kingsley really excel in this film. The cinematography is outstanding; the way the movie is shot in black and white and in a documentary style makes it all the more real. The score by John Williams is fantastic.
Watching this film is certainly an experience and one I will never forget.
Available to buy on DVD from Amazon for £8.98 with free delivery
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: Though it is not a pleasant scene, the second time we see the girl in the red coat will stay with me for ever.
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: This list is an absolute good. The list is Life. All around its margins lies the gulf.
7. Raging Bull - 1980
******************
CAST: ROBERT DE NIRO
JOE PESCI
CATHY MORIARTY
FRANK VINCENT
THERESA SALDANA
Raging Bull is the second Scorsese film in my top ten.
It tells the true story of temperamental boxer Jake La Motta who fought in the 1940's and was middleweight champion of the world.
The film chronicles his career and his personal life, a personal life that is full of troubled relationships, abuse, insecurity and self doubt. We really do see the real Jake La Motta in this film as De Niro worked closely with the man himself. La Motta was a troubled man, extremely insecure, and we see him take this out on the people he loves the most, which is mainly his brother Joey (Pesci), his wife Vicky (Moriarty) and of course himself. He was a bullish fighter with a chin that could take the best of punches, he was managed by his brother Joey and when they were not arguing they were inseparable. La Motta is most famous for his middleweight world championship win over France's Marcel Cerdan, and for throwing a fight with Billy Fox for the mafia, in return for throwing the fight, the mafia arranged the title fight with Cerdan.
The role of Joey was Joe Pesci's first major role and his breakthrough into mainstream Cinema.
The film is shot entirely in black and white, though this was not Scorsese's initial intention, but after filming the first fight scene it was pointed out to him that the boxing gloves were the wrong colour for that era, and not wanting to film it again he decided to shoot in black and white, he also thought that this would differentiate his picture from other boxing films. The camera work was genius in this film, rather than using the spectators view of the fight which was widely used in boxing films, Scorsese put a camera man in the ring and he had to duck and weave De Niro throwing punches at him for the fight scenes, this allowed the audience to get up close and personal with the boxing and to see every emotion on De Niro's face.
De Niro's depiction of La Motta was outstanding and La Motta himself said that the performance itself was disturbingly real. De Niro spent 3 months in France eating to gain weight for the scenes where La Motta was older and retired.
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: De Niro doing Brando's on the waterfront speech.
MY FAVOURITE LINE: You never got me down, Ray. Ya hear me, never got me down.
8. HERO - 2002
**************
Again I have reviwed this before on Dooyoo so will keep it short, if you would like to read a full review please see my other postings.
CAST : JET LI
TONY LEUNG CHIU-WAI
MAGGIE CHEUNG
CHEN DAOMING
DONNIE YEN
ZHANG ZIYI
Hero is my only top ten film to come from this millennium. It is directed by Zhang Yimou.
Hero is a martial arts epic and is the most beautiful film I have ever scene.
Jet Li is a namless warrior in Ancient China, brought before the king to claim his reward for killing 3 deadly assasins that were enemies of the King. As he tells his story to the king, we see the action in flashbacks, and see how he has achieved this amazing feat. But as we delve deeper into the story is all as it seems.
No words can describe the beauty of this film. The Cinematography is outstanding, the fight Choreography is outstanding, the Art direction is outstanding, the script is clever and the use of colour is the most amazing I have ever seen. The acting by all the cast is of the highest quality and the score is pure magic.
If you haven't seen this movie I urge you to watch it, even those who don't like martial art films will adore this movie.
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: The scene where Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung fight in striking red gowns against a backdrop of trees in autumn with orange and yellow leaves.
Available from Amazon for £4.98
9. LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING - 2003
*******************************************
C AST: ELIJAH WOOD
SEAN ASTIN
IAN MCKELLEN
VIGGO MORTENSEN
CATE BLANCHET
SEAN BEAN
LIV TYLER
ANDY SERKIS
ORLANDO BLOOM
I was really hard not to put the whole trilogy in my top ten as I think all three films are magnificent, but as I had so many films I wanted to choose, I thought I would go with the best of the three which in my opinion is Return Of The King.
Directed by Peter Jackson and shot in his native New Zealand, Return of the King is the third installment in the LOTR trilogy.
As Sauron readies his army for a final attack on middle earth, Gandalf and Théoden, King of Rohan try to boost there forces in order to protect Minas Tirith. After Elrond presents future king Aragorn with the newly reforged sword anduril , he, Legolas and Gimli leave for the paths of the dead to enlist the help of the 'Army of the dead' to help in their plight against Sauron's growing army. Meanwhile Frodo, Sam and the untrustworthy Gollum continue their journey to Mount Doom in Mordoor to destroy the ring, but Frodo and Sam are unaware of the plans that Gollum has for them.
There really are no weak points in this film, the direction is superb, the acting from a stellar cast is superb, the script is brilliantly detailed and intelligent and the art design and special effects are magnificent. With outstanding Cinematography and a fantastic score this film delivers on all counts and is the best book adaption of all time.
It seems unfair to pick out one acting performance over the rest because every actor/actress is on top form in this film.
The whole trilogy will surely go down as the best fantasy, adventure series of all time.
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: All the battle scenes
MY FAVOURITE LINE: 'FOR FRODO' - Aragorn .........not a big line but a great one!!!
Available to buy from Amazon for £6.98 - 2 disc Theatrical version, or £9.98 for the 2004 Extended edition.
10. SLEEPY HOLLOW - 1999
***************************
CAST: JOHNNY DEPP
MICHAEL GAMBON
CHRISTINA RICCI
MIRANDA RICHARDSON
MICHAEL GOUGH
RICHARD GRIFFITHS
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN
Again I have previously reviewed this film on Dooyoo so if you would like to read my full review please see my previous postings. Parts of this review are taken from my other review.
Sleepy Hollow may seem like a surprise to put into an all time top ten but I adore this film.
Depp is one of my favourtie actors and Burton is one of my favourtie directors.
I love Burtons unique and gothic style and that style shines through in Sleepy Hollow.
Sleepy Hollow tells the story of Ichabod Crane a new york Constable who has intrests in forensics (a twist by Burton as this character was originally a school teacher, who disappeared form Sleepy Hollow). Crane is sent to the small hamlet of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders which have resulted in the victims being decapitated. Upon arriving in Sleepy Hollow Crane meets Katrina Van Tassel (Ricci) the beautiful daughter of Baltus Van Tassel (Gambon) and he is immediately attracted to her. But work must come first and Crane tells the town folk he is here to uncover the truth and capture the murderer. The town folk proceed to tell Crane that this is no ordinary investigation and that this perpetrator is not of flesh and blood but is a ghost named the headless horseman (Walken) who comes from beyond the grave, Crane refuses to beleive this and vows to bring the person responsible to justice.
Then one night Crane see's the headless horseman with his own eyes and although the Horseman ignores him he is almost scared to death and faints in shock. Despite his fears and the reoccuring nightmares from his childhood of his own Mothers death Crane vows to find what has brought this spirit back from the dead and what it is after, helped along by young orphan Masbeth who's father was killed by the horseman, Crane must go deep into the dark woods to discover the truth. Sleepy Hollow is a dark supernatural horror in the style of the old hammer productions, but slightly more polished i suppose and it also has great bits of humour in it too.
Depp does a fine job of portraying Crane, a slightly quirky and oddball character as so many of Depps characters are, his english accent is very good and he looks great in the film.
Christina Ricci also plays the beautiful damsel in distress very well, definitly one of her better performances, the supporting cast are superb especially Gambon and Richardson and Christopher Walken plays the hessian horseman brilliantly despit it being such a small part.
The direction is superb, the cinematography is superb, the art design and direction is superb, the acting is superb and the story itself is superb. This is a visually stunning film with a fantastic gothic score.
MY FAVOURITE SCENE: The scene where Crane goes to see the witch in the forest.
MY FAVOURTIE LINE: Villainy wears many masks, none of which so dangerous as virtue.
Available to buy from Amazon for £3.98 on DVD.
******************************************** *******
Well there you have it; my all time top ten Movies.
The ten that just missed out were:
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
THE PIANIST
STAR WARS
TAXI DRIVER
PULP FICTION
COOL HAND LUKE
LOTR-TWO TOWERS
ROCKY
SINGIN IN THE RAIN
REAR WINDOW
Many thanks for taking the time to read this review.
Summary: TOP CLASS FILMS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD OWN
|
|
