The Top 10!

Let's be honest. Lists are mostly pointless. Sure, if you're running to the grocery store or seeking revenge like Paddy Considine in "Dead Mans Shoes", they can come in handy. But for me, i've always found a top ten of your favorite movies an unnecessarily hard task to complete. But for Journalistic integrity, i've racked my brain and my blu-ray section, an created an authentic top-10! 

You'll understand the kind of film fan that i am with the films i consider to be flat-out masterpieces - let me know what you guys think! 

10. MOONLIGHT - (2016) - BARRY JENKINS - USA

That's right. I'm kicking of my top 10 films of the 21st century with a film made within the last two years. You'll most probably have heard of Barry Jenkins sensuous story of a mans fight with his identity through the Academy Award fiasco where it was handed the BEST PICTURE belatedly because of the wrong film being named by Hollywood power-house Warren Beatty. Despite this, i'm still glad it won best picture, because if it can get just one person to watch this beautiful and harrowing story of a young black man growing up in a tough neighborhood in Miami, learning more about himself and his sexuality as he grows up, i'm happy. Jenkins shoots with three different actors playing our lead actor at three integral parts of his life, as he deals with identity, bullying and self-worth. There's some extraordinary music to accompany the drama, and the cinematography sets up a picturesque backdrop which blends the engaging and breathtaking drama. 5/5. 

9. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) - FRANK CAPRA - USA

Perhaps the first of the screwball comedies of early 30's Hollywood, Frank Capra's glorious tale of socialite Claudette Colbert trying to escape the shackles of her father's overbearing demeanor when she runs into lovable curmudgeon Clark Cable, a reporter. It's all about the chemistry between the two leads, who are on top form as they navigate a deal in both of their interests. It's hilarious, it's wonderfully made and it just reminds you that they just don't make them like that anymore! 

8. THE APARTMENT (1960) - BILLY WILDER - USA

If you're a sucker like for me a romantic-comedy film that is more interested in characters than stereotypical cliches, Billy Wilders multi-oscar winner THE APARTMENT is the film for you. Filmed immediately after his other hit, SOME LIKE IT HOT, here Jack Lemmon (my favourite actor) and Shirley McClaine are an unlikely match and i'd argue that there have never been an funnier comedy match than these two. Lemmon is trying to climb the corporate ladder by letting workers using his apartment for all manor of things - the last thing he was expecting was to meet a gal like McClaine. It's not hard to see why it won so many oscars, Wilder is always an assured director and the script, co-written by Some Like It Hot co-writer, is a charming and life-affirming film. 

7.  MARTY (1955) - DELBERT MANN - USA 

I usually have the opinion that all television is "evil", though this is of course a ludicrous notion given the quality of such shows as Game Of Thrones and Breaking Bad. Back in 1953, a television movie by the same name told the story of a lovable butcher Ernest Borgnine who has resigned himself to a life alone. Until one night he ventures of to a local nightclub and meets Betsy Blair. No more is Borgnine being berated by his all-married siblings and sees an opportunity to rid himself out of a life of bachelorhood. The film was a critical success, winning Best Picture and the Palm d'or, also. I've always described Marty a big warm-hug of a film, and there isn't another film i've ever recommended to anyone going through a hard time who haven't told me of the uplifting experience of this film. 

6. THE RING (1998) - HIDEO NAKATA - JAPAN

If you've only seen the American remakes of Hideo Nakata's spine-tingling psychological thriller The Ring, as is the way with successful international horror. Thankfully, there's still much love for the original source - which boasts not only one of the most terrifying moments in film history, but keeps me on the edge of my seat even after multiple viewings. The set-up is simple - there's a videotape - you watch it, you die. If only our titular heroes had followed those simple rules, no well-dwelling she-monsters would have her guts for garters!

5. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994) - FRANK DARABONT - USA

Few films deal with the notion of hope with such a punishing degree as Frank Darabont's engaging drama, Shawshank Redemption. It first came to my radar during a particular interest i had in Prison films. Little did i know that the nightmarish background that our characters find themselves in merely serve as a catalyst for a much larger story about friendship in the face of adversary. Well-respected baker Andy Dufrene (Tim Robbins) is wrongfully imprisoned for killing his wife and her lover. Thrown into a hell-hole only Hannibal Lector would fine comfy, he is forced the navigate his sentence whilst fighting predatory inmates, a brutish and crooked warden and inner demons of his own. It's near perfect filmmaking, and there's not a bad mood i've ever experienced that The Shawshank Redemption wasn't the antidote for. 

4. THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007) - PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON - USA

Everything about Paul Thomas Anderson’s American epic affects me on different levels. From Johnny Greenwood’s haunting and piercing score, to Daniel Day Lewis bravura performance or even the gorgeous cinematography from Roger Deakins- It’s a film which washes over you ,like a strong shot of gin after chewing on a bitter lime. 

Adapted from the novel OIL! by Upton Sinclair, here’s a tale about a mans rise from lowly prospector to brutish oil man, and how his demeanor and aggressive personality makes him rich with deadly costs. It does different things to me everything I watch it and upon first viewing, I couldn’t get it out of my mind for weeks. 

3. PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) - GUILLERMO DEL TORRO - MEXICO

The culmination of Guillermo del Toro's glistening career can be tightly summed up in one masterpiece of visual art. Here he blends a nuanced tale of a young princess during fascist-era Spain, who escapes in a magical world populated with a menagerie of breathtaking creatures. Her task, given to her by a 10-foot Faun, is to complete three tasks which will bestow upon her immortality. It's del Toro's attention to detail, never shying away from the real horrors of the time period or creating elaborate underworld metropolis. Not only is it breathtaking to look at, the storytelling is fantastical in it's essence and assured and masterful in it's execution. The really great fable stories give you something different every time - and Del Torro's "El Laberinto Del Fauno" never disappoints in this genesis.  

2. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) - GEORGE CUKOR - USA

Near perfect movies are often a dubious notion to make. Here, in George Cukor's screwball-romantic comedy, Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart put the gold in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Based on the stage play of the same name, here's a witty and engaging love story and one of the first of it's kind to deal with pain of divorce. Sweet, irreverent and one of it's kind. 

1. DAYS OF HEVEAN (1978) - TERENCE MALICK - USA

Often regarded as the most gorgeous film of all time, Terence Malick's 90 minute sombre account of romance during the backdrop of a the Texas Panhandle is moving in ways that most films can only dream of. 

Set during the summer of 1916, Bob (Richard Gere) and Abby (Brooke Adams) fall in love for all the right reasons and attempt to swindle farmer Sam Shepherd out of his money by marrying her off to the wealth landowner. Not only is the photography gorgeous to look at, evoking a forgotten dream, but the drama plays out with such elegance and reverence for it's characters, it's hard not to root for our two leads whilst also hating them. Malick doesn't put a foot wrong in the film despite it taking him three years to make, we should all be indebted to the mans patience and vision - here's a film unlike no other; an uncompromising, Herculean effort of American cinema. 

There's my list, folks! As always it's changing. With so many films released each week in every country, who knows what it will be this time next year. I must add at this present time, i can't equate any other ten movies on the same level as these, but personally, i'm happy to find something new and slot in nicely in here- the only question is what film would i remove? Let me know what you guys think!