Moving on from “Favourite Recording Artists” what are everyone’s favourite films?
I must admit that I find it extraordinarily hard to rank films that I enjoy, simply because there are so many levels on which to look at a film, so many different ways to analyse why they are good (or bad) that it is impossible to come up with a single “best” - I don’t know how to separate out all the different "best"s.
I certainly enjoy modern blockbusters, but they often lack depth - a couple of hours entertainment but not much more so not many figure in the following list.
The list itself, in no particular order (and omitting many) of the 30-odd** films that are most significant to me is:
If…
In the Heat of the Night
The Ipcress Files
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Koyaanisqatsi
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Leon
The Day of the Jackal
The French Connection
Logan’s run
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Milou en Mai
Bladerunner (Director’s cut)
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Blues Brothers
Little Shop of Horrors
Cool Hand Luke
2001
Dirty Harry
Delicatessen
Get Carter
The Wicker Man
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
A Few Good Men
Alien
Terminator
Prizzi’s Honour
Brazil
Blue Velvet
Unforgiven
Schindler’s List
The Italian Job
The Matrix
There are loads more, some I have probably forgotten but all of the above have been watched at least three or four times, sometimes many more and all have left a lasting impression.
** it was going to be 10, then 20, then I found I needed 30 before I got even close to “OK, perhaps I could leave that out of my absolute favourite films list”.
EDIT: For Get Carter and The Italian Job obviously the versions starring Michael Caine - not the woeful remakes.
When Harry met Sally, Some Like it Hot, Dances with Wolves, The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Third Man, any Ealing comedy, It’s a Wonderful Life, Rear Window, As Good as it Gets, Forest Gump, The Green Mile, most British films from the last 30 years.
Avatar
The Hobbit
Lord of The Rings (all)
Apocolypto
Life of Brian
One flew over the cuckoos nest
Watership Down
Minority Report
Terms of Endearment
Silence of the lambs
A bridge too far
The Green Mile
Blade runner
Blade runner 2045
Saving private ryan
Noah
Gladiator
The Hunger Games
Conair
28 days later
I am legend
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
The Godfather
The French Connection
The Shining
Jaws
Silence of the Lambs
Rain Man
Unforgiven
Poltergeist
Don’t Look Now
My list was a bit of a brain dump, I figured if I didn’t “try” too hard and just wrote down the films which came to mind most easily I would be in the right area. As a strategy it has pretty much worked - I would be a bit sad if I never saw one of the films in the list again - but it is also a strategy which begs for some time for refinement.
Goodfellas might be on my list, Hitchcock is certainly a master but I have never found his films to engage me - SWMBO is a fan though.
Certainly all of the Lord of the Rings films would be in my “enjoyable” films list but probably not in the “must save from a fire” list. The Hobbit was at least a film too long (and arguably two films too long). I’d forgotten Silence of the Lambs, yes, hmmm, that one might have to be there as well.
Pretty much all of the Marvel Universe films are good (but, again not in the “save from a fire pile”) I most enjoyed Deadpool, Dr Strange and Guardians - in that those films made me most want to see “The Sequel”. Of course we have now got Guardians II and, like most sequels, it was not as good as the original. OK, but not great.
Tarrantino hasn’t made a bad film IMO but Dogs and Pulp Fiction retain most impact.
Life of Brian is also a difficult one for me - it is nearly there but I prefer Grail.
I have a list of favourite actors which does influence what I watch - James Stewart, Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks, Samuel L Jackson, John Candy, Ben Stiller, Orson Welles, Matt Damon.
Brits - Sally Hawkins, Michael Caine, Eddie Marsan, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Jack Hawkins, Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Trevor Howard, Alec Guiness.
Again not an exhaustive list, just a bunch of my ‘go-to’ actors who could/can lift any film (IMO).
Off the ‘top of my head’ and in no order …
Aviator
Intouchables
La famille Béllier
Billy Elliot
Chicken Run
Terminator 1, 2,3
Green Mile
Girl with Dragon (all)
Harold & Maude
Predator
Quand le Chat Dors
Rita, Sue and Bob too
Shirley Valentine
6th Sense
Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis
