Cue the seagulls! You know the story. You're shipwrecked on a desert island. Fortunately you managed to save the Sony Digital 4K with surround sound system, a 12m screen, 'VIP' seat and popcorn concession. Unfortunately you are only able to upload 8 movies from the ships database of every film ever made before it went down.. You have a copy of the bible (Haynes or Clymer) and the choice of a luxury item as well... In no particular order: Tampopo (1985) Love Japanese movies, this is warm quirky funny movie written and directed by the legendary Jûzô Itami. Billed as a 'noodle western' it's the story of a women's quest to create the perfect noodle bar in the backside of Tokyo. It segues into side plots about love and food. The sick wife cooking a meal for her family for the last time. The hobos breaking into a posh hotel's kitchen to cook the perfect omelette, the gangster, his moll and crayfish.... I watch this movie once a year with a big bowl of noodles, seen it at least 10 times, see something new in it every time. A master piece. Once upon a time in the West (1968) Sergio Leone's finest movie. That opening sequence. For the first 10 minutes there's virtually no dialogue. An old west train station, 3 gunman, hot, really hot. It's all about sound, the creaking water pump, the fly he traps in the gun barrel, clanging spurs. Lleone just takes his time. Then the train whistle, the 3 wait, no one gets off, but.. The train pulls out, a solitary man on the other side of the tracks, a harmonica... You know the gunman are all dead: Harmonica: Did you bring a horse for me? Snaky: Well... looks like we're... [snickers] (camera pans to three horses) Snaky: ...looks like we're shy one horse. Harmonica: You brought two too many. An amazing film, Henry Fonda acting against type is excellent, stunning cinematography, that massive pan back across the town... Must see.. Get Carter (1971) Had to save a good old British gangster movie. problem was which one. This is the source. Great title sequence, that music. Every other line in this movie is quotable. London gangster goes to his old stamping grounds in newcastle to find out who killed his brother Frank. It's almost like a documentary, full of British character actors and old Newcastle boozers.. Iconic. Blade Runner Directors Cut (1982) The great Ridley Scott's masterpiece. This is what the future is really like It's raining, all the time. Great plot, Harrison Ford is a kind of bounty hunter, a Blade Runner, who is hunting down 4 replicants, artificial people, slaves for off world use, who have come to earth to find their maker. Really deep movie. Touches on the big questions, why are we here, what is it to be human? Das Boot (1981) Love a submarine movie me and this is the very best. You are in a German U Boat out of La Rochelle on an Atlantic patrol. Your damp and cold, that sonar ping as the destroyer above tries to find you, exploding depth charges the taste of chlorine gas from the ruptured batteries. A great movie that puts you right inside itself with just powerful acting and minimal effects. True Romance (1993) Directed by Tony Scott this is really a Quentin Tarantino movie. Unfortunately Tarentinos trade mark out of sequence time line and dark ending were altered for the final cut. But, there is a fan version of the film which has been re-cut faithfully to Tarentinos script using outakes from the special edition DVD. Stella cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette,m Dennis Hopper, James Gandolfini, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer, Samuel L. Jackson and and and. Worth seeing for the scene between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper alone! It's a kind of film noire, romance, chase gangster movie. Clarence and Alabama meet and fall in love. they get married the next day. It gets really complicated in that Tarentino way from that point on. Loads of beautifully crafted set pieces. Fabulous movie. The Usual Suspects (1995) A brilliantly scripted movie, probably the most complex plot ever filmed with a superb twist at the end. Stella performances from Pete Postlethwaite as Kobayashi and Kevin Spacey as Verbal. The plot centres around a heist gone wrong and the mythical Keyser Söze and his influence on the 'Usual Suspects'. "Verbal: Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone." Fight Club (1999) What's the first rule of Fight Club? Ed Norton is superb in this movie. Helena Bonham Carter nails it as a psycho suicidal goth seductress and Brad Pitt does his thing. Meatloaf in this is just brilliant. And that's all I'll say about this one because you'll just have to go see it. This list has turned out to be so last century and if I wrote it tomorrow it would be a completely different list. So many great movies out there. What's so great about movies? Everyone loves a story. Which are your favourites? Oh yeah, my luxury item ^-^
I'm not much of a film buff so my choices may be a bit leftfield. Dragnet. - The Tom Hanks/Dan Akroyd version. This film is just plain stupid yet for that reason always has me chuckiling. Independence Day. 2 hours of brain candy pap. My favourite bit is when the bloke does the ridiculous salute after Bill Pullman gives his speech. Oh Brother where Art Thou. - Brilliant acting by Clooney. A really sweet and clever film. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. - So dum it's actually quite clever. Have a think about this one, what an odd concept for a film. Two blokes travelling through time in a telephone box to meet the likes Gengis Khan! I spent my early teenage years wanting to be Ted. I can quote this fill from start to finish. It also features martial arts expert Al Leong as Gengis Khan who pops up all over the shop, including a role torturing Mel Gibson in a Lethal Weapon (which is always a bonus!) Air America. - Great soundtrack! Flash Gordon. - Invokes childhood memories of Christmas. Jen described this as the campest film she had ever seen. For this reason it makes my list! Ghostbusters. - But not Ghostbusters 2! (Will anyone get this reference I wonder?) Little Miss Sunshine. A sweet and very disarming film. And it features a late bay with a horn that has a mind of it's own, like ours really! Luxury Item - A brewing kit.
Only ten... hmmmm - totally subjective assortment and not even good reasons for why I think they are ace.. Bladerunner for all Steve's reasons plus Rutger Hauer with his top off - time to die! Angelheart - Robert DeNero and Micky Rourke. Dark, brooding clever stuff. Another one to watch over and over and make sense of bits you missed first time around. Memento - Excellent (from finish to start). Have watched this 6 or 7 times and find something new each time. Can't miss one second or the next bit doesn't make sense. Midnight Express - superb fact-based thriller, full of suspense, drama, but not for the faint hearted (soundtrack is stunning). The Passion of Christ - Mel Gibsons one. Amazing The Deerhunter - just superb, 3 hours of fantastic acting, cinematography & soundtrack. The Lakehouse - another lightweight time travel thing, Sandra Bullock Keanu Reeves - clever idea. Will need tissues. Deep Purple - awesome, sad, happy, deep, hundreds of superlatives (and who knew Opra could act)? The ring - the version with subtitles - epic horror Luxury item - swiss army knife!
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) This Happy Breed (1944) The Ladykillers (1955) Zulu (1964) Battle of Britain (1969) Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) Remember the Titans (2000) 28 Days Later (2002) Shaun of the Dead (2004) Toy Story 3 (2010) Luxury item - fully loaded solar powered mp3 player with external speaker
Mine are actually mostly uploaded onto my iPod anyway so I'm prepared..... Lost in Translation - a film that was slated by the author of the book "Is it me - or is everything s@@t" as 'a film where nothing happens' but its really the story of two strangers who form a brief friendship in a situation where they are both stranded in a foreign city for a brief period of time. At the end they both go their separate ways, but I can relate to it because it reminds me of the time I was similarly 'lost in translation' the time I lived in Germany for a while...... Goodbye Lenin - a German language film that is about an East Berlin family around the time that the wall falls. Its a comedy, it's a farce, and it's also very touching because it's about change. War Games - for the diehard geek inside me. I wanted to be Matthew Broderick with the cool computers and the modem you used by sticking the 'phone receiver on top of a couple of pads.... The Breakfast Club - another film that some people might think is about nothing happening, but it's an excellent film concerning stereotypes and cliques and peer pressure. Ferris Bueller's Day Off - can you see a pattern emerging here? Excellent film that I will never tire of watching. Beverley Hills Cop - simple good guys vs bad guys film that needs little concentration to watch, with Eddie Murphy's wisecracking Axl Foley who seems able to invent ways into any situation, whether it is blagging himself a luxury hotel suite, giving the cops the slip or conning his way into a customs warehouse. And Steven Berkoff is an excellent stereotypical English bad guy. The Bourne Identity - an excellent spy/thriller that I think breathed new life into the genre with its fast paced action and looks like it influenced the way the first Daniel Craig Bond film was presented. and one more...... hmmm........ Back to the Future - I had to choose one Michael J. Fox film for this list, and it was a close call between this and The Secret of My Success, which I also think is excellent, but for different reasons. However Back to the Future just squeaks it because of the geek in me with the time travelling Delorean DMC-12.
