My Top 10 Films by genre

Done by genre - and yes there is some genre bending going on.
These are, like most top 10 lists probably going to change

CRIME/THRILLER;
10: Training Day
9: Pulp Fiction
8: Goodfellas
7: The French Connection
6: L.A Confidential
5: The Godfather
4: Collateral
3: The Departed
2: Heat
1: The Godfather II

SCI FI
10: Gattaca
9: Predator
8: Revenge of the Sith
7:Alien
6: 2001
5: Star Wars
4: Terminator 2
3: Akira
2: Blade Runner
1: The Empire Strikes Back

ACTION/ADVENTURE:
10: Commando
9: Point Break
8: Bad Boys
7: Lethal Weapon
6; Transformers
5: Dr No
4; Rambo 4
3: The Bourne Supremacy
2: Die Hard
1: Raiders of the Lost Ark


FANTASY
10: Krull
9: Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Azkaban
8; King Kong (2005)
7: Conan
6: Masters of the Universe
5: The Dark Crystal
4: Fellowship of the Ring
3: The Never Ending Story
2: Labyrinth
1: The Return of the King

FAMILY
10: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
9: Speed Racer
8: Spirited Away
7: Ratatouille
6: Gremlins
5; Shrek
4: Toy Story
3: The Incredibles
2: The Goonies
1: E.T

COMIC BOOK
10: Superman Returns
9: The Incredible Hulk
8: X Men 2
7: Superman II
6: Batman Returns
5: Spiderman 2
4: American Splendour
3: Iron Man
2: Batman Begins
1: The Dark Knight

CLASSIC
10: The Big Sleep
9: The Odd Couple
8: The Man Who Knew too Much
7: Sunset Blvd
6: Some Like it Hot
5; On The Waterfront
4: Citizen Kane
3: Vertigo
2: Casablanca
1: Lawrence of Arabia

COMEDY
10: The Producers (1976)
9: Revenge of the Nerds
8: Borat
7: Superbad
6: Spaceballs
5: Zoolander
4: Anchorman
3: Hot Fuzz
2: The Blues Brothers
1: The 40 Year Old Virgin


WAR:
10: Platoon
9: Flags of Our Fathers
8: A Bridge too Far
7: Letters From Iwo Jima
6: Full Metal Jacket
5: The Longest Day
4: Apocalypse Now
3: Guns of the Navarone
2: Bridge on the River Kwai
1: Saving Private Ryan

HORROR
10: The Mist
9: Evil Dead 2
8: Ringu
7: The Exorcist
6: American Werewolf in London
5: The Descent
4: The Thing
3: The Shining
2: Halloween
1: Nightmare on Elm St

Getting there

Should have the Leatherheads review up soon - just havent finished watching it yet, but enjoying it so far. Still watching Mad Men as well and loving it.
Thinking of switching to Freeview HD soon - probably not in time for the Olympics but ready for all the new seasons stuff liek Heroes, Lost etc - if onyl Prime was available on Freeview

the weekend that wasn't

This weekend I watched a lot of different things - kind of like a movie/dvd A.D.D hopping around all over the place.
But I didn't actually watch a complete film-- shock horror!!! I gave up on 'The Eye" starring pillow-lipped Jessica Alba after about 5 minutes, fell asleep through the truly awful "P.S I love You" mand managed to walk in on my wife watching the last 10 minutes of 'After The Wedding' which looked to be alright but had to be marched back to the rental store quicksmart.

What I did get to watch was more episode of Season 1 of Mad Men - which is getting better by the episode. It started of a bit patchy but has now found it's legs and goddamn watching it makes me want a cigarette.
I am actually going to watch a film tonight - George Clooney's "Leatherheads' so will be posting on that tomorrow

Friday 1st August - Happy Times Hotel

I caught this film on late night TV last night - I wasnt planning on actually watching a film today but I started watching this and found myself engrossed even while watchiong and reading the subtitles (which doesnt really bother me of the film is good and has a great story)

Zhao is a 50 year old unemployed loser making one last attempt at finding love. He courts a portly divorcee, but keeps having to lie to pass himself off as a better catch than he really is.

Eventually, of course, the lies backfire. Zhao tells his sweetheart that he is the manager of a fancy hotel. - which is actually a run down bus in a publice where "lovers" pay to have "rest times"She responds by passing her blind stepdaughter off on him, confident that he can easily find her employment at his fancy hotel.What follows is a funny, unlikely and touching relationship between Zhao and the blind girl Wu. While Zhao is terribly misguided, constructing elaborate deceptions to keep Wu "employed" at the non-existent hotel, he does these wrong things for the right reasons.

The film is directed by Zhang Yimou This isn't a masterpiece like "Raise the Red Lantern," or "The Road Home" but seeing the phrase "Directed by Zhang Yimou" should be enough to tell you the next two hours will be well spent.

The real revelation of this film is actor Jei Dong. I found myself wondering through the entire movie if she were really blind. She is that good. (And I still don't know the answer.)Don't expect a laugh out loud comedy if you see this movie. It is very funny in places, but frequently that humor is very uncomfortable. And frequently happy times aren't really what they seem.

July 31st - Run Fat Boy Run

Run Fat Boy Run. I'm sure someone has probabyl said that to me once or twice in my life, and like this film it is funny but also kind of annoying.

At 90 minutes you think this would be a comedy breeze, unfortunately it feels about three hours long.

The premise is that Simon Pegg's character Dennis is a loser and let the love of his life go by running away on their wedding day. Now to redeem himself to her he decides to run a marathon to prove himself to her. All this setup takes way too long - about an hour because Simon Pegg's character seems to keep hurting himself in way too many slapstick moments.

In saying that, I got a few good laughs out of it but it ultimately ends EXACTLY the way you think it will after watching about five minutes of it.

Director David Schwimmer (yep - the Friends guy) directs by the numbers and realistically if Pegg wasn't the star of this it would just be another run of the mill rom com.

If it's a rainy day (like it was here today) you can't go wrong with this - just don't expect too much

Wednesday July 30 - Avatar

Dont know if this counts as a film, cos it's a tv show but oh well - it's being watched for my viewing pleasure.

I have started watching Avatar; The Last Airbender and before you say "hey! that's a kids cartoon" yes it is- but it's got some mature ideas starting to develop.

I am only at the start if the 1st Season but from what I've heard it just gets better.

I'm looking forward ti diving in and checking it out now that the entire series has finished. I quite like watchung something in a long run rather than pieces.

Plus the score for this is really quite epic and cool.

Check it out - it's not just for kids

A Movie A Day

From last week, I decided I am going to try and watch 1 film a day (where possible) and then do a samll concise review of it.
This came about because at the moment I am an unemployed business owner - that makes alot of sense.....

So now onto the task at hand. The forst film I watched on my 1 film a day quest was:



Thursday July 24: The Dark Knight.
Wowzers, wowzer and more superlatives.
What a thoroughly amazing film, for once the hype was justified. While the film is quite long - two and a half bladder crushing hours - it is most certainly not boring. The plot weaves in and out of various ideas and themes, but the one consistent theme is the ideas of heroes and villains which is summed up in one of the films many great lines;

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain"

Which in my opinion is the essence of the entire film if not Batman's life.
Anyway, this film has it all; action, drama, love story, tragedy, redeemption and of course one of pop cultures most loved villains - The Joker.
Heath Ledger's Joker is exactly what I wanted in a Joker - he is brutal, mischevious and most of all completely fucking insane! The fact that no history is given to this lunatic makes his acts all the more devious.

Go see it now if you havent already