So all my readers can get to know me better, I thought I would do a short piece on my 10 favourite movies of all time. These aren’t necessarily the movies I consider the best of all time (you will see why when I explain a couple) but the ones I enjoy watching the most. They are the movies I go to when I don’t feel like watching anything new and just feel like zoning out for a couple of hours. I will start with number 10 and work my way up to number one, providing a short description on each.
Tied 10. Star Trek II
Wrath of Khan
Aside from maybe The Godfather,
the Wrath of Khan is the most technically sound movie ever made. Even
though I am a dedicated trekky, I am the first to admit that the original series Star
Trek is often clunky and seems disjointed. However, this is the exact opposite
for Wrath of Khan, it runs smooth and is as near as a perfect movie as you can
get. It is perfectly paced, it contains extremely solid themes including
creating life from nothing and cold-hearted revenge, and it has an ending that
will leave you reaching for the Kleenexes.
Above all this, it is the villain that makes this movie. For
those who don’t know, Khan Noonien Singh is a genetically engineered superhuman
who was outcast to the planet Seti Alpha V in the original series episode
“Space Seed”. Khan then returns in this movie to seek revenge on Captain Kirk.
The back story behind Khan’s lust for revenge is fairly standard, but it is the
way he goes about it is what makes him special. There were numerous occasions
where he could maintain dominance over the universe, but he was so infatuated
with immediately finishing off Kirk, it ultimately led to his demise. He has
also given us many lines that I quote on a regular basis, including revenge is
a dish best served cold and of course KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!! Even if you
aren’t a Star Trek fan, I strongly encourage you to watch this film.
Tied 10. Ghostbusters
Everyone has one of those
nostalgic movies that summarises your childhood movie experience. For me,
Ghostbusters is that movie. I watched other movies such as the Labyrinth and The
Never Ending Story many times when I was younger. However if I was ever stuck
in the situation where I was at the video shop needing to hire a movie to complete
a combo deal, I would always go to Ghostbusters to fill this need. I’m not sure
what it was, maybe it was my love for the paranormal, but I enjoyed this film
more each time I watched it. I still love watching it today because it is still
extremely funny and always makes me happy.
9. Jurassic Park
What makes Jurassic Park so
special is the special effects. When the film was released, the special effects
set the benchmark for other films. However, what makes this film so good is
that, 20 years later, these special effects would not look out of place in a
movie released today. Several movies, such as Tron, have special effects that
whilst dazzled when first release, have quickly become outdated. Jurassic Park is
one of the few special effects based movies, along with Blade Runner and
Independence Day, that have stood the test of time. It is the original, and still the best, summer blockbuster
Getting past the special effects,
the genius of Stephen Spielberg really shines through in Jurassic Park. Yes
Schindler’s List, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws are all better films, but it
takes the magic of Spielberg to make Jurassic Park a truly good film. He turns
(with the help of Michael Crichton) what would be a simple, implausible plot
into something that is highly complex and very plausible. Hands up who doesn’t
think it would be plausible to create a similar theme park. Now hands up who
thinks it is a good idea.
8. Monty Python and the
Holy Grail
I was thinking the other day that
it would be unbelievably cool to be able to forget that I have ever watched the
Holy Grail. I would then sit down to what I expect to be a solid comedy. I
would then pay anything to see my reaction to when seemingly King Arthur would
come bounding over the hill on horse only to see him pretending to ride a horse
with someone banging two coconuts together. Coming to think of it, the first four scenes
of this film are unbelievably stupid, but in true Monty Python style, the
comedic value is unmatched. From the unnecessary in-depth discussion about the
flight capabilities of swallows to the brave knight’s inability to recognise
the extent of his injuries, I am on the ground in hysterics each time I watch
this film. Holy Grail is so unbelievably stupid but it works on so many levels
and has entrenched itself as a comedy classic.
7. Troll 2
This movie has made it onto the
list for all the wrong reasons. There is only one way to describe Troll 2, bad.
But that is the whole point of this movie. It is the quintessential “so bad
it’s good film.” Its status as a bad film is exemplified through the
description of the plot. In an attempt to build on the “popularity” of Troll
(on a side note, Troll was one of the main influences in the creation of
Harry Potter, as the main character is an aspiring wizard named, you guessed
it, Harry Potter) the studio decided to create Troll 2. This was their first
mistake as Troll 2 coincidentally has nothing to do with Trolls. The story
centres around a group of goblins who inhabit the town of Nilbog, which is
revealed to be Goblin spelled backwards in a very un-suspenseful suspenseful
moment. The goblins are hell bent on capturing and eating anyone who enters
their town. However, there is a twist, the goblins are in fact vegetarians. A
plotline conceived due to the writer’s wife becoming increasingly annoyed that her
friends where becoming vegetarians as it was considered to be socially hip. In
order to eat the tourists, the goblins developed something that can turn people
into plants. Is that not the most ridiculous plotline for a movie you have
heard?
It is not just the plot that
makes this movie terrible however, viewing the movie reveals the whole package.
The plot has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese, characters are
introduced and completely forgotten about, and the dialogue is camp at best.
The poor dialogue was a result of the film being written by an Italian with a
limited knowledge of the English language. This problem was enhanced due to him
insisting on using an entirely Italian crew (even though the film was made in
the US) who spoke no English. The stubbornness of the director to change the dialogue
to flow better often frustrated the cast. From the point where the young boy
freezes time and urinates on everyone’s food to stop them from turning into
plants to the now infamous popcorn scene when one of the “forgotten” characters
is seduced by a witch, this movie is just plain ridiculous. The former scene
teaches us one thing, you can’t piss on hospitality. All I can say is grab a
bowl of popcorn, put your feet up and gear yourself up for one of the most
entertaining 90 minutes of cinema you will ever see.
If you are still unconvinced, go
to youtube and search for Troll 2 eating scene and you will be on the floor in
hysterics over one of the worst line deliveries in movie history.
6. Paranormal
Activity
There are many people who don’t
like these movies, claiming that they are too boring because nothing happens.
However, this is the entire point of this movie series, in particular the first
instalment. It is what doesn’t happen that is truly scary. It builds up to
several moments that you expect to send you running for mummy but in the end
nothing happens. These decoy frights then lead to the one final scare that
comes as complete surprise, making you wish you wore brown pants today. To truly enjoy Paranormal Activity you can’t
simply sit down and start watching, you must fully immerse yourself in the
movie, riding each bump like you are there and engage yourself with the
characters.
Currently there are four
instalments in this franchise (a number that will increase due to the low
budget, high return each movie has created), all of which I have thoroughly
enjoyed. However, it is the first film I enjoyed the most. Paranormal Activity
almost single handily ignited the “found footage” genre. Two films tried this
before, Cannibal Holocaust and The Blair Witch Project, but it really took
Paranormal Activity to show studios that you could make a huge profit margin on
this type of film (Paranormal Activity cost $15000 to make and took $193 million
at the box office). Many films have tried to emulate the success of PA,
possibly tarnishing the reputation of the original, but few have been able to
capture the magic. This is one you must get on blu-ray, sit down in the middle
of the night, be alone, turn off all the lights and prepare to have the wits
scared out of you.
5. Predator
Alright now let’s imagine that
Predator is a slasher film. In some sense it is but it is essentially more of
an action/sci-fi, in the same sense as Alien is classified. In most slasher
films, the cast is usually quite vulnerable and can be killed off by any
two-bit with relative ease. In Predator, these guys are the best we have to
offer! They are a bunch of highly skilled, experienced, trained and ripped
soldiers led by none other than Arnold Swarzenegger. This makes you think, if
these guys can’t kill this Alien, who will?
As a
result of the cast, Predator can be considered as the manliest movie ever made.
This exemplified by the manliest handshake ever between Arnie and Carl
Weathers. Not only is there the handshake, but there is a plethora of action as
well as the high powered game of cat and mouse between the commandos and the
predator. All in all a great movie if you want to switch off for a couple of
hours and enjoy some bonafied action.
4. A Nightmare on Elm
Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street came in
right in the thick of the slasher craze of the early eighties, in fact there
had already been four Friday the 13th films and three Halloween
instalments. What most of these slasher films have in common is a faceless
killer mowing down popular, attractive teenagers because they did something
innocuous to piss him off. What A Nightmare on Elm Street did was add a bit of
substance, style and intelligence to the genre, but more importantly it gave
the villain a voice. There are many defining moments that make this film stand
head and shoulders above the rest in the overcrowded 80’s slasher film bonanza.
Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) is more than the dumb blonde, she is the
final girl who uses her brains and wit to destroy the villain. There are also
some clever cinematography, including the grey streak in Nancy’s hair become
more prominent as the movie goes on and the iconic image shown above. However, it is the villain, Freddy Kruger,
who really steals the show. Really, for the first time, the killer is
intelligent, actually speaks, and has a fairly elaborate, plausible back story.
It is the mixture of his sadistic pleasure and dry wit that makes Freddy Kruger
one of the best villains in movie history.
What makes A Nightmare on Elm
Street so scary is that it focuses on an area where we thought we were safe and
in full control, our dreams. Kruger’s ability to manipulate our dreams to suit
his desires shows us we are not in control of our dreams as we once thought. This makes A
Nightmare on Elm Street one of the scariest movies ever made and my favourite
horror film.
3. Superbad
If you where to take my life
during university and put it on the screen, Superbad would be this movie. The
other members of our university social circle would agree with me. I can’t
really say well this guy is exactly like Seth, or this guy is exactly like
McLovin but the characters are a combination of us and we are a combination of
the characters. From our sense of humour, to us getting into to ridiculous
situations on the same scale as seen in the film, down to the finer details of
us all being in the 8% of kids who have the necessity to draw penises (you mean
like a man dick) wherever we saw fit, Superbad is me. If there is ever an
occasion where I have had a tough day and needed an instant pick up, I would
throw Superbad on and I would immediately feel better. As a result, Superbad is
the film I would have watched the most.
Getting past the autobiographical
style sense of satisfaction, Superbad is actually a great movie. It really gets
away from the stereotypes that are far too overused in high school movies.
Superbad focuses on your run of the mill type kids. They are not the rich kid
jocks that horror movies tend to focus on and even though they can be
considered nerds, they are not the ones you would see in movies such as Revenge
of the Nerds. Seth, Evan and McLovin are the unpopular kids everyone loves. Not
only does Superbad have original characters, but it does something that is
rarely done well, two intertwining stories that meet and expand throughout the
movie. These of course are the stories of Seth and Evan and their pursuit of
their respective ladies and Mclovin and his escapades with the two cops. All in
all Superbad is a very original movie full of quotable one-liners. It still
makes me laugh each time I watch it.
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
Ah Uma
Thurman, you are a goddess. Do I really need to explain why I like this film?
It is Uma running around for 2 hours hacking people with a katana dressed in a
tight yellow body suit. Do I need to say any more?
1. Pulp Fiction
The second Tarantino film on this
list but it stands head and shoulders above the rest. I know it is pretty cliché
to say Pulp Fiction is my favourite movie. If you conducted a survey on
everyone’s favourite movie, I would say the two most popular answers would be The
Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction. There is a reason for that, it is
because Pulp Fiction is so cool. If you took the definition for cool and put it
into movie form, you would have Pulp Fiction. From the non-linear story line to
the interchanging stories that all come together in the end, this is just a
fantastic film. Quentin Tarantino, I tip my hat to you. This is a unique film
that is different to everything that came before it and will never be
replicated.
