Top 100 Films

I've unsuccessfully attempted to write an analysis of my top 100 films of all time. Due to time constraints, this hasn't been possible. What I'll do is publish the full list, sans comment, before embarking on another project whereby I list every film I've ever seen, and pass comment on them as I go. But that's by the by for now. Here is the full list:

100. Welcome to the Dollhouse
99. North By Northwest
98. The Fighter
97. True Romance
96. The Descent
95. Cold Weather
94. Apocalypto
93. Dogville
92. The Blair Witch Project
91. Argo
90. Avengers Assemble
89. The Dark Knight Rises
88. A Room for Romeo Brass
87. The Dark Knight
86. Moonrise Kingdom
85. The Truman Show
84. Little Miss Sunshine
83. Looper
82. Clerks
81. Warrior
80. Stand By Me
79. Unbreakable
78. Jaws
77. Vertigo
76. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
75. Full Metal Jacket
74. The Descendants
73. The Last Picture Show
72. Brief Encounter
71. Jerry Maguire
70. A Separation
69. American Beauty
68. Annie Hall
67. Citizen Kane
66. Paper Moon
65. The Woodsman
64. Shaun of the Dead
63. Wolf Creek
62. Little Children
61. The Artist
60. Right at Your Door
59. Three Kings
58. Dancer in the Dark
57. Lés Miserables
56. (500) Days of Summer
55. Fargo
54. The Terminator
53. There Will Be Blood
52. Amelie
51. Taxi Driver
50. Glengarry Glen Ross
49. Back to The Future
48. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
47. Good Will Hunting
46. Elephant
45. Rocky
44. Jackie Brown
43. Django Unchained
42. Forrest Gump
41. The Raid
40. The Godfather part two
39. Inception
38. Gladiator
37. Drive
36. Dead Man's Shoes
35. Brokeback Mountain
34. Goodfellas
33. Ghost World
32. Saving Private Ryan
31. We Need to Talk About Kevin
30. Dog Day Afternoon
29. The Godfather
28. Schindler's List
27. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
26. Trainspotting
25. Requiem for a Dream
24. Zero Dark Thirty
23. The Matrix
22. Raging Bull
21. Fantastic Mr. Fox
20. Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang
19. Reservoir Dogs
18. Brick
17. Signs
16. Fight Club
15. Zodiac
14. Platoon
13. Pulp Fiction
12. Submarine
11. City of God
10. Hunger
9. LA Confidential
8. The Shawshank Redemption
7. Magnolia
6. Lost in Translation
5. Donnie Darko
4. The Big Lebowski
3. Five Easy Pieces
2. Se7en
1. Harold and Maude

92. The Blair Witch Project

The movie that spawned a movie genre all by itself. The found footage movie.
It's incredible to think it was 1999 before anybody had the idea to make a movie entirely filmed on handheld cameras for a fraction of the production costs of the usual noises in the dark scary movies.

Watching Blair Witch back now, one might be unimpressed by a film in which all the tension and suspense is created by the cast hearing noises in the woods. There is no CGI monsters or vast amounts of gore just intelligent use of the surroundings and the directors being smart enough to create a back story to the legend that one could actually believe in. The kind of legend that spreads around a town or a playground to explain a scary old house.
Keeping to a relatively short run time keeps the movie fresh for repeat viewings and contains, in my opinion, the single most accomplished end scene when it comes to horror movies, sticking with you as it does for days afterwards.

Its incredible to think that nearly everybody involved in this movie peaked with it, with nobody in the principal cast or either of the directors matching their early success with later choices.

93. Dogville

Although not always a fan of Lars Von Trier's work, ranging as he does from five star genius to one star hack.
Luckily, Dogville falls into the former camp using stripped bare, theatre stage like sets and masterfully understated performances from all involved to create a world that is starkly realistic and bleak. This is a work of such originality that each of the individual chapters takes us in an unexpected direction with a climax that brings joy considering what we have experienced along with Grace, throughout her time in the town, during which she is subjected to horrific violence and kept as a slave. 

Dogville was followed by the sequel Manderlay, in which Grace is recast and relocated but as a double bill the films are a triumph in spite of their length. This is the first of two Von Trier films on the list.

94. Apocalypto

It is currently an extremely difficult time to like Mel Gibson. It has been the same since his first, of many, anti semitic rants less than six months before the release of this film.
That being said, what Gibson has managed to pull off with Apocalypto is a back to basics action film that is better than 99.9% of any studio's summer tent pole movies.
The story is simple. Jaguar Paw, having been kidnapped and almost sacrificed, must escape and find his way back to the family he left hidden in a well. Sounds straight forward enough but his journey there and his eventual bettering of the majority of his pursuers barely lets you pause for breath.
The virtually unknown cast do wonders creating a world with humour, fear, love and hate all in equal measure and it is a testament to the direction of Gibson that even though the entire film is spoken in Mayan, there is never a moment where you are given time to register this because you become encompassed in the plight of Jaguar Paw.
This is an almost perfectly made film from start to finish, and has one of the most original and inventive endings in movie history.

95. Cold Weather

This little seen gem slipped under the radar back in 2011, probably due to the slow, methodical plotting that takes place.
The fact that the story goes a long at it's own pace is a credit to director Aaron Katz, who resists the temptation to turn the film into an action centred detective tale.
The story is simply about a guy trying to find out the truth about his ex girlfriend's disappearance and the result is a fascinating and funny mixture of mumblecore and Sherlock Holmes (who is referenced throughout).
A truly brilliant film, well presented and should be seen by everyone.

96. The Descent

I love horror movies so its a bit of a surprise there aren't more on this list. This is probably due to me being exposed to horrors such as Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street from as early as ten years old. Social services weren't impressed. Anyhow it meant that it takes a lot from a film to frighten me and The Descent is the only film I can remember which actually scared me and where it had me guessing as to what would happen next. Bear in mind I had already seen all the classic horrors such as Texas Chain Saw, Exorcist and Halloween, all of which are fantastic films but they didn't scare me like The Descent did.
Full of originality such as the all female cast, all natural light sources and the most harrowing of bleak and dark endings you are ever likely to see.

97. True Romance

The only Tony Scott film to feature on this list, True Romance doesn't look out of place amongst the greatest love stories ever told. The performances given by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette are career defining, both of them sculpting memorable characters who are naive in their love for one another but whose loyalty to each other is unwavering. They are perhaps the sweetest couple in film history and you never once question the fact they are very much in love.
The supporting cast is full of movie royalty past and present, and Michael Rappaport. Also features one of my favourite scenes of all time between two of the greatest actors of all time in Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper.
Great theme too.

98. The Fighter (2010)

The Fighter is the first of two David O. Russell films on this list. Brilliantly acted and wonderfully directed, this is one of the best sports films ever made as it follows the Rocky mould of being as much about the character's dependence on boxing then it is about the actual sport.
Special mention to Mark Wahlberg who not only produces the whole thing but gives a wonderfully restrained performance which allows him to flesh out his character whilst allowing his co stars to shine.

99. North by Northwest

There isn't a lot I can say that hadn't already been said about any of Hitchcock's movies. Brilliantly original story with a pitch perfect cast, this is one of two films by the director on this list and one I've only seen very recently. A must see. Or not. Depends what you're in to.

100. Welcome to the Dollhouse

Number 100 on the list is Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse starring Heather Matarazzo and Eric Mabius from
1995.
This is the only Solondz film on this list and the only one of his films I've enjoyed enough to consider it five star. Although it has the bleakness of his other work such as Storytelling or Happiness there's something about this tale of an ugly ducking striving to be liked by anyone that will pay her attention to which people can relate. Its heartbreaking at times to see Matarazzo's Dawn going about her life and being treated as more of an inconvenience by everyone including parents and teachers. I would consider it a positive that Solondz has never strayed away from his downbeat style of narrative in his later films and Welcome to the Dollhouse would be a perfect companion piece to his 2012 offering Dark Horse in which Jordan Gelber plays something of a male middle aged version of Dawn who is also resented by his parents and outshone by a spoilt younger sibling.
The downfall of Dark Horse is its last act which strays into the fantastical which also accounted for some of the many problems with the director's 2009 Life During Wartime. Dollhouse never flinches from a realistic portayal of life as a unliked, socially awkward outsider which most people have experienced themselves. Not me of course. How dare you?

My Top 100

A slight deviation from normal proceedings means i shant be updating about movies I've recently watched, rather a run down of my favourite 100 films of all time. Starting with 100 finishing at 4. Or 1 depending how rebellious Im feeling. All these films are in this list purely because i rate them as five star movies and after a tediously lengthy and nerdy process I have managed to put them in an order that somewhat resembles a coherent summary of my feelings towards them. Enjoy. Or don't. See if i care. Please enjoy.

Catfish

The past decade has seen a boom in excellent documentaries such as Capturing the Friedmans, Supersize Me and Spellbound. Catfish is every bit as good as those, even if it is more cinematic than informative. There is a level of scepticism surrounding Catfish with people dubious about its claims of authenticity.
Admittedly it does seem like everything falls into place a bit too smoothly for Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman but this isn't an issue until you reflect on it afterwards. Even then, using coherent narrative as a negative is quite perplexing. Its akin to berating Back to the Future because time travel is impossible. Isn't it?
If you let yourself get lost in Catfish and don't over think it you will get the most out of it. The story of an online flirtation and the journey to meet the online conquest, the filmmakers prove themselves more than competent in suspense cinema. The scene where the guys inspect the farm house at night is one of the most terrifying things I've seen. Even though nothing happens.
What makes Catfish is the sting in its tail. A twist you won't see coming but that will break the heart of anyone with one.
A brilliant movie that tugs at the heartstrings and has you climbing the walls with terror in equipment measure. Five stars. *****

JCVD

As curriculum vitaes go, Van Damme's is down there with your Seagal's and Lundgren's of the world as one of the worst. Comprising mainly retrofit fight films with futuristic robot movies he barely deviates from DTV territory. I would rather eat glass than watch 90% of his offerings.
JCVD bucks that trend with aplomb. The problem now is that it stands out on his filmography like a sore thumb. Its such a shame "The Mussels from Brussels" wasn't able to capitalize on the success of this film and reinvent himself, instead finding himself in The Expendables 2 and Universal Soldier 3, the same shit he was peddling before we knew he could act.
Make no mistake, JCVD is fantastic with a performance that is better than 90% of performances you will ever see from JCVD himself. Expect big things from this up and coming......wait a minute that's wrong. Expect more of the same rubbish for a few more years now he's gained a bit of credibility.
****

Point Break

What makes Point Break stand out from the crowd of action flicks that seemed to flood cinema in the late eighties and early nineties? The answer is nothing. This is a film so distinctly average in every way you come away feeling like you might as well have not bothered. Time has not served the film well as I couldn't watch it without thinking of 'Hot Fuzz' and the way it perfectly lampoons over the top action scenes and sliding electric guitar scores. The sky dive chase is spectacular, and Patrick Swayze makes Bodhi come to life and really makes a likable a character out of a prick. Lori Petty is so attractive that its distracting but she isn't the most watchable screen presence, probably due to me not listening to a word she said as I was counting down to the obligatory 90's sex scene between the two leads. Keanu Reeves is one who seems to just be taking it all a little too seriously. You can't help but feel that his role would have benefited from somebody playing it tongue in cheek, somebody who might actually generate some chemistry with the Gary Busey character.
An enjoyable film but as soon as the credits roll you know you will never watch this film again. Until 2020 when we have the Back to the Future inspired version with hoverboard instead of surf boards. I look forward to it. ***

Life During Wartime

Todd Solondz isn't afraid to push the boundaries in his movies, focusing on themes such as suicide and paedophilia, with mixed results. Welcome to the Dollhouse was a brilliant portrayal of an outcast trying to fit in during adolescence and Happiness (the precursor to this film) was a ensemble story focusing on three sisters and the pitfalls that blight their lives and their families. Wartime is a semi sequel to Happiness in that all the characters are present although they are played by different actors. This is a rather jarring choice for people to comprehend if they are familiar with these characters already. In some cases such as Shirley Henderson replacing Jane Adams or Paul Reubens replacing Jon Lovitz the change in personnel is less obvious due to the physical similarities of the two parties sharing the roles. In other cases the change of cast is not only distracting but ruins the film. The decision go completely left field and replace Philip Seymour Hoffman with Michael Kenneth Williams strikes as having been made just to add a bit of.controversy to proceedings.
Happiness owes a lot of it's plaudits to the central role of Dr. Maplewood being played by Dylan Baker who turns a character who could have been one of cinemas all time most disgusting villains and adds heart and soul to it that in Wartime Ciaran Hinds cannot match up to, being somewhat underwritten as the part is in the latter.
Overall, although Life During Wartime has its problems you have to given Solondz his props for pushing the envelope and using his films as a vehicle for his own voice rather then compromising his vision, which rarely seems to be the case.
***