|
An interesting list! There are a lot I would absolutely concur with including The Lord of The Rings, 12 Angry Men, This Is Spinal Tap, Blade Runner and The Blues Brothers. There are so many I would recommend and they vary from time to time but today I would add:
The Life of Brian - I never tire of watching this and laugh out loud every time I see it.
The Godfather (parts 1 & 2) - Flawless acting and a gripping story. There was a Part 3 but it had run out of steam. Part 2 remains one of the few sequels that stand comparison with the first film. The French Connection is another.
To Kill A Mockingbird - Gregory Peck as a moral rock in the face of small town racism.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - One of the best adaptations of a book I know.
Mississippi Burning - Gene Hackman is superb in this tale of murder and the struggle for civil rights in America's deep south. The bad guys are really well acted too and there's a wonderful feeling of righteous retribution when they get what's coming to them.
The Commitments - a great music movie. It's the other must-see film for musicians.
Schindler's List - Spielberg's definitive account of the Holocaust.
Trainspotting - Another great adaptation. Ewan McGregor is great as Renton but it's Robert Carlyle's viciously splenetic portrayal of Begsbie that is just unforgettable.
American Graffitti - A brilliant snapshot of small town life as the optimism of the rock 'n' roll era segued into the quagmire of the Vietnam War. Early appearances of Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfuss always get a deserved mention but for me it's the performance of Charles Martin Smith as the nerdy guy that is so perfect. The film has one of the best soundtracks ever. The captions at the end of the film that tell you what happened to the characters next is so poignant.
The Deer Hunter - So many amazing performances. The 'whock-whock-whock' of the helicopters as the scene shifts from the wedding to Viet Nam is one of cinema's finest moments.
And finally I would add the film that I saw on Thursday. i don't usually buy the hype but whilst I love all the moral stuff and the social commentary and films that makes you think I'm a sucker for sci-fi and special effects. I went to the cinema with a mate, sat 3 rows from the front of a massive screen put on the 3-D glasses and was completely blown away by Avatar. It was visually a different order of magnitude and reminded me of going to the cinema for the first time when I was a child. Going from a small black and white tv to vast colour and loud sound was jaw-dropping and so was Avatar for me.
| 
