70. Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki, Jap)
Among the most visionary films in the animation canon and one of Ghibli’s defining movies. This beautiful epic takes no prisoners as a two hour children’s film that had the opportunity to disengage it’s intended audience. And yet the film is enrapturing, among the superb visuals you have some quite horrifying and startling creatures which truly make this one hell of an original work.
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Stewart and Kelly become voyeurs
69. Rear Window (1954, Alfred Hitchcock, US)
James Stewart was a superb actor and here as the immobilised Jeffries he is a every bit as good as he was in the other great movies in which he featured. Hitchcock’s blissful narrative simplicity allows him to really turn up the claustrophobic tension. From one room the drama unfolds as Jeffries watches the opposite couple in his tenement fall to pieces and then go to murder.
68. Se7en (1995, David Fincher, US)
Black as night and as grim as a trip to Blackpool, this modern day punk noir takes the rainy, dystopian visuals of Blade Runner and has a plot as bleak as Bergman. Arguably the triumph of style over substance but what style. It looks great and the performances across the board are all round brilliant. The final movement is as heartbreaking as it is brutally nihilistic. Wonderful stuff.
En guard!
67. Edward Scissorhands (1990, Tim Burton, US)
Tim Burton, the gothic genius mixed both his visual wit with a emotionally cored story in this rather beautiful fairytale. Almost a suburban gothic tale as the etherial figure of Edward comes down from the castle to the weird environment of sickly sweet American lifestyle which is all very Burtonesque. Johnny Depp is great in the lead role, lending so much by saying so little.
66. Rosemary’s Baby (1968, Roman Polanski, US)
Horror? Well arguably not. Until of course Rosemary has sex with the devil. Polanski mixes a lot in this seminal film, including acid induced dream sequences and noir shadows. It goes completely beserk in the end, when the collective members of Rosemary’s apartment gather for the arrival of the baby, who just maybe the descendant of old Scratch himself.
The ultimate standoff
65. Reservoir Dogs (1992, Quentin Tarantino, US)
WHOOSH! That was the sound of Tarantino’s launch onto the big screen in the early 90s. This incredible move debut is stripped right down to an unusual Tarantino length of 90 minutes. With a smorgasbord of top character actors and a witty, intelligent script makes this one enjoyable watch. A heist movie without the heist, a good vs evil film with no good. A fantastic gangster film.
64. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, Milos Forman, US)
A modern parable about conformity under the Nixon government or simply a reflection of anti-psychiatry movement in the 60s and 70s? Either way, Forman’s superlative adaptation of Kesey’s classic novel sees Jack Nicholson delivering all the goods in an ever watchable central performance. His persona commands the screen and gives the audience easy entry into this very dark and disturbing depiction of mental institutions.
Lynch slowly fucks with your mind
63. Eraserhead (1977, David Lynch, US)
Another staggering debut from one of cinemas finest filmmakers. With no plot or narrative to speak of, Lynch’s extremely bizarre midnight masterpiece is metaphorical not literal. But a metaphor for what? Many have written about it as being about Lynch’s fear of fatherhood (he was having a daughter at the time) or others speak about the post nuclear, industrial setting. Either way it is mesmerising and always upsetting.
62. Hidden (2005, Michael Haneke, Fr/Ger/Aus/Ita)
Haneke likes to chastise and tease his audience. This deliberately covert and paranoid thriller is among his finest films, if not the finest. Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteil are a married couple who get video tapes sent to them of something seemingly filming their lives. On basic mystery level it’s fascinating. But more interesting are the political overtones, the guilt about Algeria among many.
Friends for life
61. Stand by Me (1986, Rob Reiner, US)
The seminal rites of passage movie, adapted from the Stephen King short story The Body from his Different Seasons collection, Rob Reiner’s best film is so much about growing up and nostalgic love of childhood innocence and the eventual loss of it. Watch it both laugh and cry as we move along with a cast of very talented youngsters in the hands of a once reliable filmmaker.
[...] #70 – 61 Greatest Films of All Time [...]