My Favorite Movies

Martin Scorsese has made many cinematic masterpieces in his career, but his greatest achievement is GoodFellas. Marty's creative film-making techniques and editing is what mainly makes the film so brilliant. He also brings out terrific performances from everyone of his cast, especially Pesci as the psychotic Tommy and De Niro as the cool Jimmy. GoodFellas takes the audience to places other gangster films will shy away from. A first-hand look at organised crime. GoodFellas is a film made by the greatest director in his best ever form. Perhaps the best movie ever?

The best sequel ever made. Part I was about a man's inner struggle and change, how he attains power. In Part II he is a ruthless leader who rules with an iron fist. Pacino's portrayal as the tortured Michael is the best acting performance ever, while De Niro as young Vito is also compelling. Coppola's artistic direction excels that of Part I as he is able to weave two stories together in comparison with one-another. The film has a dark and sinister feel which is grimmer than Part I. It's a masterpiece.

One of the most iconic movies ever, tells the story of the youngest son of a mafia overlord whose initial refusal to become apart of the family's business of crime changes as he is thrown into it after his father is wounded in an attempted assassination. He slowly loses his innocence as he climbs the ranks to become the new leader of the family. This great story is shown in operatic fashion. The haunting music score drives this notion as does Coppola's direction, giving the film a mythical feel, somewhat Shakespearean. The cast is magnificent. Marlon Brando's Vito and Al Pacino's Michael were the two who stood out, but everybody gives career best performances, from James Caan to Dianne Keaton. While the sequel even surpasses this movie's brilliance, I will never forget the greatness of the original and the impact it had on me the first time I watched it. Cinematic royalty.

Raging Bull follows the career and domestic life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose paranoia leads to his self-destruction. Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese once again leave audiences shocked and amazed. This is both savage and majestic, a true masterpiece by the world's best director/actor collaboration.

Robert De Niro's terrific performance as the lonesome sociopath Travis Bickle drives Martin Scorsese's first masterpiece. Scorsese sets a dark miserable tone in his character study of alienation and sickness.

The final chapter to 'The Lord of the Rings' is a magnificent finale to the legendary trilogy. The well built-up climax is thrilling and jaw-dropping. The fight scenes are as good as the previous films (thanks to state of the art SFX). The characters that we know and love from the previous films, have grown and evolved into much deeper personalities. This is fantastic movie-making at its peak. This redefines the word EPIC.

Stunning and beautiful. This instant masterpiece has terrific characters, compelling story, thrilling sequences (Gandalf fights Balrog: You Shall Not Pass!) and state-of-the-art directing, acting, and cinematography. The music score is beautiful and the New Zealand setting provides an equally beautiful Middle Earth. The acting is fantastic, from Wood's worried facial features, to Blanchett's soulful narration. Truly one of the great films.

Batman's reputation is restored thanks to Christopher Nolan's understanding of the character. The film's success lies in its exploration of Bruce Wayne's past, giving plausible reason as to why he dresses as a bat when fighting crime.

James Cameron became the king of action sequels when he created 'Aliens' and then 'T2'. T2 excels the original Terminator in almost every way; Linda Hamilton's beefed-up heroine, Arnie's good-guy fatherly figure status, the far more intelligent plot is perfectly constructed and of course the magnificent special effects and action sequences. Robert Patrick as the T-1000 almost steals the show from Arnie. The way he self-heals is jaw dropping.

What separates this film from other slashers is its originality and imagination. While it keeps the same rules of horror/slashers set by 'Halloween', it takes a step further by adding a high-concept supernatural plot. A child murderer is burned alive by the parents of Elm Street, he comes back from the dead to haunt the dreams of their children. When he kills them in their dreams he kills them for real. The film's best achievement is its unique villain Freddy Krueger, who greatly differs from previous villains Michael Myers (Hallwoween) and Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th).

QT cleverly intertwines three stories to create one classic movie. It is able to tribute and pay homage to former classics and remain deliciously original at the same time.

It's a well constructed thriller that blends humour with intensity. Its story of murder and greed may seem dark but it's counterbalanced by its funny, heartwarming lead character.

While computer-animation has taken over from the 2D hand-drawn-animation, when Toy Story came out in '95 it was a something new and exciting. New 3D movies are wearing thin but this will forever remain fresh.

The story about a cop tracking down a crook might sound cliche, but 'Heat' is so much more than that. It's about the similarities between two men on opposite sides of the law, how dedicated they are at what they do, how their work means more to them than their women, how remarkably professional and how good they are at their jobs. They form a mutual and genuine respect for one another, and who could be more perfect at playing these characters than Al Pacino and Robert De Niro?

Michael Mann's cinematography is just as
important to the film. He shoots silhouettes that symbolise isolation. He uses loud cracking gun-shots in the street shoot-out to create realism. That scene, the shoot-out, is one of the best executed action scenes ever. Watch Val Kilmer reload his weapon with preciseness. Or how even cops, and not just crooks, get shot while there is a gun battle.

This film is about choices. There is no black and white/right and wrong, just the decisions you make and the consequences that come from it. At times you cheer for De Niro's character rather than Pacino's. That is how Heat is.

A comedy that is difficult to understand because of its insane plot. The Coens wanted to tribute Ray Chandler with a labyrinth-like story that doesn't really go anywhere. Jeff Bridges is perfect as the stoner who just wants his rug back.

Stanley Kubrick's direction gives this film a style which is uniquely Kubrick. Malcolm McDowell's performance is a tour-de-force as he plays a deliquent who is brainwashed by the government.

This is one of the most uniquely fascinating films I've seen. The plot-structure is incredible, the special effects are mindblowing, and the story is almost incomprehensible. The themes explored are of life and humanity. Stanley Kubrickhas here created an absolute masterpiece and leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions. A brilliant psychedelic sci-fi odyssey.

(Great music too).

It's funny how the greatest example of film-noir comes from the 70s rather than the 40s or 50s. 'Chinatown' has a fantastic multi-layered script involving love, investigation, corruption, and incest. The film is packed with twists and turns that keep on surprising you. The film's hero, Jake Gittes, is played perfectly by Jack Nicholson. He doesn't simply repeat the typical private eye roles of the past (Bogart), but brings his own mannerisms in the performance. It's the best I've seen from him, even better than 'Cuckoo's Nest'. It's a great psychological thriller, beautifully shot by Polanski and written by Towne. It also has a brilliant ending.

'No Country for Old Men' is another dark thriller masterpiece directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. In 1980, Lewellyn Moss, while hunting deer in the Texas desert, comes across what seems to be the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong. There he finds a satchel containing two million dollars, which he takes. On his trail is Anton Chigurh, a hitman who is hired to recover the money. Following this case is the old experienced sherrif Ed Tom Bell, who tries to reach Moss and save him before Chigurh can get to him. This sets up for a great cat-and-mouse chase film. Josh Brolin gives a wonderful performance as Moss. A lot of the movie's focus is on him, and shows in great detail how he is able to avoid Chigurh and a Mexican gang who is also after the money. The direction from the Coens and the editing from Roderick Jaynes is very precise in following and showing Moss' methods of stashing the money, hiding in hotel rooms, and running/driving from his predators. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect in the role of Sherrif Bell. Who else could play the part of an ageing Sherrif who questions the world he's living in and laments the increasing violence in it. But the undisputed star in 'No Country for Old Men' is Javier Bardem's Academy Award-winning performance as Chigurh. Sporting an odd haircut throughout the film and using a cattle stun-gun as his weapon of choice, Bardem is cold and remorseless, stopping at nothing to fullfill his mission. He's like other great movie villains like Michael Myers from 'Halloween' or Arnold Schwarenegger's Terminator, only he isn't just a one note character, Chigurh has depth. Like another great villain, Two-Face of the Batman universe, Chigurh uses a coint-toss to make fateful decisions. And 'No Country for Old Men' 's underlining theme is fate. Something the Coen brothers have previously explored in 'Blood Simple' and 'Fargo'. 'No Country for Old Men' is a beautiful looking film, being set in Texas we are shown the wide open landscapes of the desert creating a feeling of eerie isolation for Moss, just like the Minnesota snow did in 'Fargo'. This is a crime thriller of the best kind and one of the best films to come out of the 2000s.

Quentin Tarantino's debut film has stood the test of time and can rightly be recognised as a great movie. Los Angeles gangster, Joe Cabot, and his son "Nice Guy" Eddie gather six strangers, using aliases Mr. Blonde, Mr. White, Mr. Pink, Mr. Orange, Mr. Brown and Mr. Blue, to pull off a jewel heist. These are the Reservoir Dogs. After the heist goes wrong, the Dogs soon believe there is a "rat' amongst them and that the heist was a police set-up. But who amongst them is the "rat"? This simple plot sets up for a perfect vehicle for Tarantino. Using only a few locations and a minimum use of props and costumes, QT is able to cram a range of ingredients into only 99 minutes. This is a good example where sometimes less is more. The dialogue is irreverent yet entertaining, which has since become a regular trait in Tarantino films. In the opening sequence where we see the Dogs gathered around a diner table, they discuss what may seem like random conversations about tipping waitresses and what is the true lyrical meaning of Madonna's 'Like A Virgin'. However, subtlety, QT is revealing everything we need to know about the gangsters. For example, Mr. Pink's rant about not tipping gives genuine insight into his weaselly psyche. Mr. Blonde jokingly suggests shooting Mr. White, which is an indication of his psychotic murderous nature. So the dialogue is not only for entertainment value. Another Tarantino trait that features here is that the film is not shown chronologically. He messes with the structure, jumping to the getaway from the crime scene, to the planning of the heist, to the present where the Dogs come to grips with the botched heist. We never see the actual heist. The cast, featuring some of the most underrated character actors are flawless. Harvey Keitel (Mr. White) is fierce and sets the standard for the other castmembers. Steve Buscemi is at his paranoid weaselly best as Mr. Pink, who demands that the other Dogs act "professional" and suspects anyone could be the rat. Michael Madsen is the psychotic monsterous Mr. Blonde. He creates one of the all time memorable movie villains thanks to one scene in which he tortures a cop while dancing to Steeler's Wheel's 'Stuck in the Middle With You'. 'Reservoir Dogs' really succeeds because of the character construction, the brilliant writing and directing talents of Tarantino, and the amazing acting skills of its cast.