My favourite openers (probably)

Morton: "Not Bad. Congratulations. Tell me, was it necessary that you kill all of them? I only told you to scare them."
Frank: "People scare better when they're dying."
Who'd have thought that Henry Fonda could be so very evil?
The greatest western ever made. And not even made by Americans ironically Ha!
Cinema at it's most pure.
It's a shame that everyone goes on about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and A Fistful of Dollars cus this piece of cinephilia wipes the floor with those!

Anyone who knows me will know how important Vertigo is to me.
Maybe it's not the greatest film ever made - who can possibly say with all confidence (arrogance?) what film THAT is?? But it is my favourite film. I know of no other film - and I have seen many many films in my (ahem!) 41 years - that comes close to matching it in it's cinematic purity. That I can come back to time and time again and still love it!
I loath the list mentality where we list the 'the best/greatest films' - listing the Top 10, Top 20, Top 100 of what we or anyone else has the immodesty to presume are the greatest films ever made.
All the films in my list are important to me, each means something different to me, affects me in some small or great way.
I have always found it difficult to categorically say which film I love more or which I think are greater. Except for one!
So when you check out 'my films', please note: it's NOT in order of merit! Except, of course, Vertigo will always be number 1!!

This is a fantastic film with a truly great central performance.
It's filmed as a gothic horror - creepy music, very dark lighting and brooding performances. It also contains some genuinely terrifying scenes - the opening sequence of the burning at the stake of the 'heretics' is a tour de force and is one of the most scariest things I have seen in a film (the scene ends with the protestants literally engulfed in flames right before our eyes!); a poisonous dress (which is more horrible than it sounds); the brutal murder on the beach by a priest sent from the Vatican; the bloody heads on spikes; Elizabeth locked up in the Tower of London.
It also has some very unusual casting choices - at least one of which pays off very well: Kathy Burke is astonishing as Queen Mary. The scene between her and Elizabeth is a highlight.
A lot of historical epics tend to be very dry and clean. This is dark, brooding and juicy! I love that it's played like a great big gothic soap opera and feels more than a little like a Hammer Horror.
It's not perfect - some of the minor characters are a bit offkey (Eric Cantona!?) and Joseph Fiennes is pretty useless. But that's really all that's wrong with it so they are minor quibbles.
I have to say I was very disappointed by it's follow up, The Golden Age. Loving Elizabeth so much I was very excited and anticipated more of the same great storytelling. But what we got was the opposite to Elizabeth (part 1) - a dry, overblown and self-indulgent epic that left me bored and uninvolved. Take it from me, if you have seen The Golden Age and felt disappointed, then catch 'part 1' (if you haven't already) and see how it should be done!

Woman's picture par excellance! Crawford exuding brittle glamour like only Crawford could. No other actress suffered in furs so well!

Almodovar's most twisted and subversive film. A love story between two serial killers!? Fantastic