I’ve never been a big film lover. I’ve got fairly narrow tastes, and err on the side of rewatching a small collection of comfort movies over anything new. To try and break through that mental boundary a little, my New Year’s resolution for 2023 was to watch more new, and old, films held in high regard. To aid in that, I bought a scratch-off poster, “Top 100 Movies”.
This week, I completed the poster… and here are some brief thoughts. On one hundred movies. With star ratings. In order of my least favourite to most favourite. Bear with me. (Note: some plot points might be spoilt in these reviews but I will try to keep most stuff vague, especially since the reviews themselves are so short.)
100: Guardians of the Galaxy
My least favourite film on the poster. Felt like Chris Pratt was 10x more Chris Pratt than any other film he’s in. Every other spoken sentence was irreverent, quippy, grating terror. The overuse of older pop music was unfitting and just felt like the film constantly pandering. If I wasn’t already sick of superhero movies - and I was - this was a thousand nails in the genre’s coffin for me.
99: V for Vendetta
I saw this years ago, and can only remember it being this naff, edgy-tastic thing. That was before the whole Anonymous Guy Fawkes mask thing compounded that further - not V for Vendetta’s fault, but I don’t think I’ll ever be interested in seeing this film again.
98: American History X
This film can absolutely get f***ed. Every major character apart from a couple of ancillary family members were irredeemable, soulless arseholes. Just a needlessly heavy, emotionally draining slog.
97: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The poster only mentioned “The Lord of the Rings” but I cannot see myself ever getting through Two Towers or Return of the King. The 3+ hours of the first instalment were enough - arguably too much, even. I appreciated a lot about this film, including its gorgeous cinematography. I just don’t care for epic fantasy at all.
96: Groundhog Day
What a great concept. What a contemptible main character. Seriously. Phil is so utterly horrendous as a human being. He’s in this bizarre situation of a repeating day, and he uses it to commit repeated suicide, manipulate people through sheer accidental trial and error, and eventually break the loop by tricking a woman into loving him with his persistent memory.
95: Kill Bill
While I split “The Lord of the Rings” into just the first movie, I considered both parts of Kill Bill one film since Quentin Tarantino intended that in the first place. And as that experience, I found Kill Bill painfully-long and more boring than anything. I can only deal with small sips of Tarantino; Kill Bill is two litres of pure Tarantino espresso in a fat jug.
94: Inglourious Basterds
Accidental back to back Tarantino! Inglourious Basterds mostly earns its extra half a star by being an hour and a half shorter than Kill Bill. That’s about it - I have most of the same problems with it. It still feels too long to me.
93: Batman Begins
Dark superhero films aren’t my thing, and of those, Batman Begins is sure one of them. Something about this film just switched me off mentally; I never stood a chance enjoying it.
92: Logan
To my ETERNAL SURPRISE, this film wasn't for me and I should have got it out of the way earlier than I did (it was the fourth-last film I watched). Sin City is the only exception to the comic-hero overly-gritty overly-violent style that I never enjoy. I respect this film for doing a few things different, and the final shot was really clever, but… just not for me.
91: Gladiator
I expected Gladiator to not be my kind of film, and to my surprise, it was not my kind of film. I struggled to keep my attention on this one enough to be able to claim I fully watched it.
90: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Once one of my closest-held childhood films, now a two and a half hour reminder that its author has chosen a life of misguided bigotry. Seven of the only books I’ve ever read of my own volition, and eight films I cherished for a lot of my life, spoilt permanently. Such a waste, honestly.
89: Mad Max
Possibly the single most disappointing film on the poster for me, perhaps mostly my own fault. I expected this to be the birth of the post-apocalyptic world that later Mad Max movies and games depicted. Instead, I was blindsided by what felt like a cheaply-made cop movie. I’ll definitely be watching the sequels at a later date.
88: Titanic
Good lord, that ship took a long time to sink.
87: The Silence of the Lambs
This was a big ole noperino with a side order of chianti. The presentation of the main villain was uncomfortably transphobic from a modern setting - a hurdle I’m just not able to get past. "Assistant moth wrangler and stylist" being a credited crew member's actual job was good, though.
86: Million Dollar Baby
I didn’t know where this film was headed. I spent the first half of it thinking it was like a modern-day Rocky.
If you know, you know. And I know now. This film hurt me.
85: American Psycho
There’re bits of American Psycho I liked. The tenseness of the nail gun scene was brilliantly done, and I’m always in for a scene in which fonts are discussed. Beyond that, American Psycho was loaded with a lot of fairly caustic brutality, and it had an ending straight out of a godawful student film.
84: Donnie Darko
I still don’t know if I enjoyed Donnie Darko or not. It was absolute nonsense, a film that should probably be my thing on paper but never really registered as something I was liking, during or after seeing it. Maybe seeing it was part of the problem - a seminal moment in the film was shot in such darkness I couldn’t make a thing out in it. Strange film. Ridiculous plot. So darko.
83: The Great Dictator
Of all the older films I saw on this movie conquest, The Great Dictator was by far the most actually-dated-feeling. Charlie Chaplin’s slapstick was incredibly strange at times, especially when at the end of the film, he suddenly breaks into one of the most pertinent, stellar monologues in movie history - a lesson that remains unlearnt.
82: City of God
City of God / Cidade de Deus was too much for me. A lot of visceral depictions of death, and seemingly extremely realistic in doing so. Great film, but I felt so sick after watching it, I could never go back to it again.
81: Django Unchained
Oh hey, it’s more self-indulgent Tarantino overly-long exposition scenes! What a surprise. Why so many on the poster?
80: The Bourne Identity
Totally average action thriller thing. I’m not big on the genre, but this was far from my favourite film of that ilk. (Give me Die Hard or several films later in this list any day.)
79: Taxi Driver
I do love me a dystopian, gritty dramatic thing… except, apparently, when the main character is literally just a perverse stalker. Yes, I’m talking to you, Travis. You bloody weirdo.
78: 2001: A Space Odyssey
I have immense respect for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and can imagine myself going back to this and skimming through it to re-enjoy its collection of breath-taking shots, far beyond their year of filming in quality. 2001 still looks better than most of today’s films.
It’s also long, confusing, ambiguous nonsense for hours and hours.
77: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
This is another film I expected to like a lot more than I did. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest had a likable character issue for me; not many prominent characters in the film were ones I could ever root for, and those that I did tended to end up with the worst fates. Randle and Nurse Ratched were played to perfection, but that perfection was heinous.
76: The Usual Suspects
Why did it have to be Kevin Spacey? The Usual Suspects is a great film but the creep at the forefront of it all taints what should’ve been a firm 4+ stars for me. The hunt for Keyser Soze was a great one and this had a lot of unexpected moments nonetheless.
75: Braveheart
An extremely silly film, which was entirely too long, filled to the brim with aggressively dubious Scottish accents, in a setting I generally hate, a main actor I seldom get along with, and a cheesy ending I already knew through popular culture. And I came dangerously close to enjoying it!
74: The Shining
One thing I got from this poster was that I love Stanley Kubrick’s filmmaking style a lot regardless of whether or not I end up enjoying the films themselves. The Shining was fairly middling for me; quite a lot of long exposition, with a decent payoff, tinged with a bit of grossness knowing what we know now about Shelley Duvall’s treatment on set.
73: Forrest Gump
A middle-of-the-road kind of thing for me. I really enjoyed Forrest Gump… I just enjoyed most of the other films on the poster more.
72: American Beauty
90% one of the best, most constantly surprising, engrossing films I have ever seen. 10% skin-crawling, nauseating quasi-paedophilia and general weird pervert glorification. The gorgeous soundtrack couldn’t stop me feeling gross watching this.
71: The Terminator
Good. Not my thing. I’m more into the Shermanator than the Terminator.
70: Seven Samurai
The longest film of the poster by far (around 3 hours and 40 minutes), in full Japanese language, and black and white owing to its filming in the mid 1950s. This film was a slog, but the final fight - holy cow, what a payoff. I will never watch Seven Samurai in full again, but I will definitely watch that battle again.
69: Requiem for a Dream
Jared Leto makes my flesh crawl, but that kind of works in Requiem for a Dream’s favour. An absolute fever dream of a film - I think I’d probably favour Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas if I wanted to rewatch something of this style, it’s less uncomfortable and more bizarre overall. But hey, I didn’t hate Requiem for a Dream.
68: Pan’s Labyrinth
Not my genre of choice, but Pan’s Labyrinth was still really good. It’s nice to have a film about a 3 part challenge ending in a sentient magical maze that I don't feel gross watching!
67: Up
One of my least favourite Pixar films, which by default means I still liked it a lot. Pixar don’t miss often. Weirdly, I think what hurt Up the most was real-life circumstances - both my grandads were dead before I was 2, so I never felt a strong connection to the characters of Up. Its poignant moments just don’t hit the way those in other Pixar films like Inside Out and Coco do.
66: Star Wars
Say it with me: “not really my kind of film”! Star Wars is helped out, as with others on this poster, by its accessibility as a film, meaning even as a super nerdy sci-fi thing I’m destined not to gel with, I still actually did gel with it a bit.
Nb. I’ve seen episodes IV and V and my opinion is consistent.
65: The Avengers
One of the more successful superhero films I’ve seen since Green Lantern irreparably damaged the genre for me. I’d definitely put Infinity War and Endgame (as a duo) ahead of the first Avengers, but this was still a film I had a surprisingly decent time with.
64: Snatch
A great British caper, this only ranks reasonably low because Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is also on the poster, and from my perspective, Snatch is just that but not quite as successful.
63: Toy Story
The first feature-length CGI movie, and the first I saw as well, in a cinema at Butlins Skegness when I was tiny no less. On a pure taste preference level, Toy Story is lower than a lot of Pixar films, but what I don’t get from it in enjoyment is made up for by sheer respect. Toy Story is one of the most important films released in my lifetime. And it’s still a great film nearly 30 years later to boot.
62: Jaws
Jaws was a movie I had no real expectations of loving, but it’s so popular, I knew it’d still be some degree of enjoyable. It just about surpassed that; a great tale, if one that hurt the reputation of an entire species in the decades since. I’d watch Jaws again… if it was on TV already, and I was bored, and the remote was a stretch away.
61: The Big Lebowski
This was a film whose reputation preceded it quite hardcore. All you seem to hear about The Big Lebowski are those that hold it in a too-high regard, or the others who don’t get it. I found it a fun brain-off, feet-up affair. Definitely scores points for its uniqueness compared to any other film - if I was in the mood for a film like The Big Lebowski, there aren’t many alternative choices.
60: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Not my genre, but this was a film I got on with more than I expected. I guess its sheer accessibility helped here, not to mention the perfect casting for basically every character in the entire film.
59: Monsters, Inc.
The first film I ever bought on DVD, and I span it so often in my PS2 I’m surprised I didn’t destroy it. I’ve always got time for Monsters, Inc, though - it’s a great milestone in being gorgeous enough to not seem dated like Toy Story can, while also being old enough to carry a ton of nostalgia for me. The Scare Island game was great as well.
58: Se7en
I’ve gone on record with a few of these films, saying that the transgressions of a few recurring stars have tarnished them for me seeing them nowadays. Se7en thankfully transcends that, with Spacey being exactly as skin-crawling as a character as I find him in real life.
57: No Country for Old Men
One of the films I was most excited for on the poster, and it nearly met those expectations. A trio of simple characters, perfectly cast and played, do their thing in style. All I ever need sometimes.
56: Pulp Fiction
The only Quentin Tarantino film over 2 hours in length that I can say I enjoy without a big asterisk (besides a questionable scene with the acting and racism of Tarantino himself) or a constant temptation to skip 15-minute exposition sequences between the action stuff. Great film, hugely enjoyable, with a lot of surprises I’m sadly all-too-acquainted with now I’ve seen it a good few times.
55: Fight Club
One of the most blindsided I’ve ever been by the conclusion of a movie when I first saw it maybe 20 or so years ago, Fight Club remains an extremely interesting film. My opinion of it decreases a tiny bit with every watch though, maybe just as I see more and more films that are more “me”.
54: Rocky
We’re gonna need a montage! A powerful, uplifting movie that never descended into the cheesiness that pop culture led me to believe. Okay, a little - but in a good way. Rocky was fantastic. I’m in no rush to watch any of the sequels, though; the original ended so perfectly, I think I’m fine with my imagine taking over beyond that.
53: Amélie
A lot of the films on this poster were bleak - by design or by storyline. Amélie was a rare, enjoyable checkpoint in the middle of it all: broadly feelgood, beautifully shot, and one I would feel safe going back to if I ever felt like I needed it.
52: Alien
I wasn't confident I'd like Alien, not being a big fan of horror or sci-fi, but it ended up being a hugely enjoyable film for me! The runtime flew by. Some of the effects were rather silly by today's standards (I pissed myself laughing at the tiny new-born Xenomorph's run), but this is still a tense, captivating film from beginning to end.
51: Shutter Island
How delightfully messed up this film is. Even having had the plot spoilt like 15 years earlier from a niche internet video called “Water Cooler Conversations”, something I never forgot, Shutter Island managed to be impressively surprising, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing his role stunningly.
50: The Lion King
One of the “fastest” films I saw on the poster - the 90 minutes or so flew by. I need to bank more of Disney’s older animated films, I’ve only seen The Jungle Book, Bambi, Snow White and Alice in Wonderland prior to this.
49: Scarface
Fun fact, I first saw this thanks to the Grand Theft Auto III radio station that includes several pieces of music from it. Really enjoyable movie, less my thing these days than it used to be but I’ve always loved its aesthetic and its mindless, cartoonish violence as Tony Montana’s life plays out.
48: The Grand Budapest Hotel
I saw this a few years ago and most of what I remember is that it was a feature-length fever dream absolutely loaded with 90-degree swinging angle shots. Which is to say, I remember liking it.
47: Dirty Dancing
I saved this movie for when I needed an emotional boost (which is increasingly frequently, bless you hormones) and it was a fantastic move - Dirty Dancing was a gorgeous, uplifting experience with such a satisfying ending.
46: Inception
Inception came out right around my biggest cinema period - 2009 to 2010, as I entered adulthood and was discovering myself independently. (End verdict: I’m not a huge fan of cinemas.) Inception was nonetheless a great movie, and introduced me to several actors I’ve grown to love in the decade and a bit since like Cillian Murphy and Elliot Page.
45: Casablanca
I can see why this is considered an all-time classic. Casablanca remains a fantastic watch, ever-accessible and honestly really interesting to see a film where World War II is presented so uniquely in spite of it literally being filmed and released DURING it.
44: Fargo
Fun fact: Fargo is the only film on the poster I saw twice this year - once for the first time at a friend’s, and once a day later because I knew my mum would enjoy it too! The Coens always make winners, and this is my new favourite of theirs by quite some way. Will I be seeing this again some day? You betcha.
43: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
The Ugly wasn't ugly, The Good wasn't good, and The Good and The Ugly were arguably more bad than The Bad. What a silly title! Anyway, this was a long film, but had a breath-taking finale that totally justified the slow burn.
42: Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese films have not all been big winners for me, but Goodfellas was a bloody good one. Brutal (but digestible), and a lot of fun to watch. I could throw Goodfellas on any time and re-enjoy it where similar films like The Godfather are a little heavier going.
41: The Green Mile
The first film I ever shed tears to! I first saw The Green Mile a long time ago, and didn’t rewatch it this year as it was already cleared from the poster, but I still remember just how strongly emotional The Green Mile was.
40: The Godfather
Breaking news: The Godfather was good. Really, really good. Seeing the story develop through this long-term was fascinating and at times disgusting, but it was a great time and I’m excited to move onto Part II one day as well.
39: The Dark Knight
I expected my opinion of The Dark Knight to match Batman Begins. What I ended up with was a phenomenal action thriller that exceeded expectations and then some. I’d hesitate to lump this in with any other superhero film - it may have Batman, Joker and Two-Face in it, but there is no contrived superhero-age deus ex machina-ing impossible plot points here.
38: memento
Fascinating movie, so bizarrely paced - I loved how the nonlinearity served a purpose as well, effectively demonstrating memory loss. I’m torn on being unable to see Memento fresh again, I’d love to re-experience the film not knowing the plot, but I’m also excited to rewatch this one day and spot all the stuff I missed the first time.
37: The Departed
I haven’t seen the Departed for about 15 years, and I should probably rectify that one day. I can only remember that I really enjoyed it - a dark, violent, gritty thing where Jack Nicholson plays the character best suited to him: an absolute bastard.
36: The Pianist
A real difficult one to get through, as you’d expect. The Pianist was the last of the Holocaust depictions I saw from this poster… I still cannot believe there were so many. Schindler’s List, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful… anyway, The Pianist, as with those others, tells a hellish story beautifully. I could never watch this film again, but I’m glad to have seen it once.
35: Life is Beautiful
Speaking of Life is Beautiful. This film was tagged as a comedy on streaming services. It f***ing isn’t. There are small, fleeting glimmers of hope for humanity dotted throughout, but that doesn’t negate, for example, the scene where the bouncy, smiling main character, detained in a concentration camp, discovers a mass grave - an actual scene in this “comedy”. Great film, though.
34: Vertigo
Going in blind won again here! Vertigo was absolutely brilliant. Constantly surprising, oftentimes perturbing, and for a 1958 film, absolutely gorgeous. I’m sure I’ll be delving into some of Hitchcock’s other movies down the line.
33: Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting was pretty great, although maybe let down a fair bit by how coarsely unlikeable Will was for about two thirds of it. Robin Williams at his most beautifully charming will always wrong any right, though.
32: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
This is definitely a film that’s dropped half a star in the wake of this poster giving me so many alternative experiences. I love the story shown in Eternal Sunshine, and Jim Carrey can really nail the plainer everyman character. Where this film shines most is in the dialogue between the workers as they erase his memories.
31: Raiders of the Lost Ark
After several harrowing films about World War II and Nazism in a row, I went to Raiders of the Lost Ark… which I found out there and then was also about Nazism! Nonetheless, this was a great film with a happy ending. I’m finally glad to be sure I’ve seen Indiana Jones start to finish, as I think I saw one or two of the original trilogy when I was teensy but I didn’t remember them.
30: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Skipping The Temple of Doom as the poster also decided to for some reason, The Last Crusade slightly edged Raiders of the Lost Ark for me for Sean Connery’s brilliant Doctor Jones.
29: Finding Nemo
P Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. The furthest-away address I’ll never forget. Finding Nemo is a glorious adventure, still beautiful to this day, with a great ending and touches of everything Pixar are good at. I love Finding Dory as well and normally watch both back to back these days.
28: interstellar
Nowhere near as iconic as 2001: A Space Odyssey, but a lot more watchable for me personally just because more happened and that stuff was less open-to-interpretation. Fantastic film, this was.
27: Hachi: A Dog’s Tale
I only twigged what this was based off right before the main plot point, and after the credits roll, I locked the bathroom door, sat on the loo and cried my eyes out. Hachi: A Dog’s Tale tells a parallel take of a true story beautifully, and heartbreakingly.
26: Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
Instant 5 stars for Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I liked Snatch a lot when I saw it years ago, this film far surpassed it - a wonderful twisty caper of a tale that was near impossible to predict, with a brilliant ending that felt well earnt for all involved. My only major complaint? Wow, was this film sepia-toned!
25: Reservoir Dogs
Everything I love and respect about Quentin Tarantino without the fluff and the tropes and the bizarre shots of bare feet that are held for too long. Reservoir Dogs is a condensed, simple movie about the build-up and aftermath of an event that it only barely glosses over, with a perfect cast of characters and some phenomenal drama between them.
24: The Prestige
Predictably-stellar Christopher Nolan film. Possibly the Christopherest Nolanest film I’ve seen too… if not this, Inception. Not much to say here without ruining at least some part; I’d recommend The Prestige to anyone, but to those who know nothing about it most of all. 5 stars out of 1.
23: Cinema Paradiso
If it’s not clear from some of my other reviews in this list, I really love strong world-building in films, I love films that chronicle a person’s life, and I love films that are tearjerking but not in an intensely sad way. Cinema Paradiso checks all of those boxes at once in a beautiful, emotional adventure of a film.
22: before Sunrise
A couple of films on the poster, including Before Sunrise, made me realise that a weird film style I am super into is the “short story, chronicled simply”. Before Sunrise depicts two people enjoying an evening together and nothing else… and it’s beautiful. I’ll be watching the sequels to this one day for sure.
21: 3 Idiots
One of the earliest films I watched specifically to clear it from the poster, and one of the first major surprise hits from leftfield. A nearing-three-hour Hindi-language film with dance sequences and slapstick shouldn’t’ve been my thing… right? Beautiful, moving film, the runtime flew by. The hug sequence in the hospital alone - 3 Idiots was an instant 5 star movie for me.
20: Spirited Away
I could see this becoming a true favourite of mine, even beyond this poster. Spirited Away is a captivating adventure absolutely stuffed with memorable characters and stunning worldbuilding (something that will always elevate a film beyond others for me). I will be rewatching this again in the future.
19: The Matrix
An allegory for being trans was always gonna make it high, even though the first time I saw it, I didn’t know I was trans and nor did either of its creators! The Matrix is fantastic, an absolute stand out thinker of a movie. I’d also give props to two of the three sequels - Reloaded was a fun, different followup, and Resurrections was an enjoyable throwback. Reloaded also exists.
18: A Beautiful Mind
Brilliant, brilliant film; a tearjerker in the best possible sense. I love a film that covers a whole life, and this was one of the best examples of that I’ve ever seen.
17: 12 Angry Men
12 Angry Men was 100 minutes of a 1950s jury having a big argument about the case they’re on, and nothing else. And it was one of the most consistently absorbing films I’ve ever seen. I cared about the characters seen and unseen and loved the conclusion, remarkably uplifting. Brilliant stuff, beautiful ending.
16: Trainspotting
Things I expected from Trainspotting: trainspotting. Things I did not expect from Trainspotting: an unbelievably harrowing Scottish tale of heroin addiction and one of the most horrifying possessed baby corpse reanimation scenes in history. This is a glorious, unforgettable clusterf**k of a film with an era-defining soundtrack.
15: Airplane!
One of the purest, densest, funniest comedy films I’ve ever seen, if not the single most. It’d take a document 20 times the length of the script to catch every visual joke and off-beat one-liner Airplane! fires at you with a minigun. The time literally flies through this, too - I only watch Airplane! again if I’m okay with it being 90 minutes later in what feels like 10.
14: Intouchables
The foreign-language films on the poster were broadly winners, and this was one of the winningest. Intouchables was gorgeous, definitely one for Emotions Mode™.
13: Saving Private Ryan
What better way to escape the abundance of Nazi films on the Top 100 Movies poster than with a harrowing, ultra-violent, near-three-hour World War II film with an absolutely devastating ending? Stellar movie, really hard to digest for me but the sheer power of a number of the scenes, including the opening beach scene and the final battle scene, make this a stunner.
12: Citizen Kane
One of the highest-rated movies of all time, for reasons that became obvious on watching it, honestly. Citizen Kane was continually captivating as an almost documentary of Kane, featuring multiple people’s accounts of his life and their memories of him, in an extremely charming film of a not-so-charming man. Beautifully shot and still visually impressive nearing a century later.
11: Back to the Future
The Back to the Future trilogy is one I’ve seen so much, I barely know where to start here. I do not differentiate any of the three films from one another; the original is a brilliant first travelling adventure, but the sequels only add further to it, directly building a continuous story, with multiple depictions of places like Hill Valley past and future. A permanent fixture in my life.
10: Amadeus
The fastest-feeling 3 hour movie on the poster. Amadeus was not my kind of film, nor my favoured setting for a movie, and yet it was one of my favourites of the whole poster. I can’t say much more. The film clicked for me in every possible way. Salieri is possibly the villain I felt the strongest hatred for from all 100 of these movies. Just… SO well done. Brilliant film.
9: The Truman Show
When I first saw this a long time ago, I thought it was a regular Jim Carrey comedy like those around it. The Truman Show far transcends that, though - such a fascinating concept which is barely even unrealistic nowadays. I’ve always got time for a rewatch of this.
8: Schindler’s List
I hope never to see this film again. It’s close to perfect.
7: WALL-E
WALL-E is a masterwork in worldbuilding, creating a captivating place you can see and feel as he rolls around cubing trash and caring for his cockroach… and then the film pivots halfway in and does it all over again in the futuristic Axiom. WALL-E is my favourite Pixar movie, and one of my favourite movies period.
6: Blade Runner
Blade Runner and The Warriors were the films that cemented a style I love - dystopian futures depicted in media from the 70s through to the 90s - which I feel were barely touched on with the poster (Logan’s Run, Soylent Green, Demolition Man etc). It’s that pesky worldbuilding I love in movies again. Blade Runner has a world I want to visit and explore and experience. The sequel’s one I gotta watch.
5: Into the Wild
I cried from my soul thanks to Into the Wild. Knowing this was at least somewhat true to a real story… a firm new film in my top 10 or 20 or so of all time. I won’t be watching it again in a hurry though, at least until I know I’m emotionally ready for it.
4: The SHawshank Redemption
I’m sorry, Rebecca! Probably 15 years ago, I was recommended this film… she was absolutely right. Made me deeply connect with, and feel empathy, towards its major characters, then fully rewarded that with the absolute perfect possible final third.
3: Apocalypse Now
This movie went places. Phenomenal film, VERY long (I only found out after the credits rolled that I’d got the three hour Final Cut, not the 2 hour 20 original), but Apocalypse Now became a firm favourite film in one watch. I’m so happy I had no idea about its plot when I saw it, too. There’s no predicting where this one goes, besides “up the river”.
2: Léon: The Professional
This film landed hard for me. It managed to stay on the right side of the sinister line that American Beauty didn’t, and then beyond that, it was a constantly-captivating action film with a heart punch of an ending that was utterly perfect. I’ve had Sting’s Shape Of My Heart pop up in my head at least once a week since I saw Léon, and it makes me emotional all over again.
1: A Clockwork Orange
Glossed on with Blade Runner a few entries ago, but quintessential here. A Clockwork Orange is an unrealistic future dystopia. It’s at-times vile. Everyone’s an arsehole. It’s so violent. And in the end, the film builds a villain so detestable, you end up rooting for a man that you shouldn’t. The ending is a satisfying redemption for a character that should have been irredeemable but this film is so immersive that I was rooting for that absolute prick, and I’d do it again.
Heatmap of favour versus expectations
