My Favourite 100 Films of All Time

- In no particular order, a big list-in-progress -
(for boring afternoons at work)

  1. Shortbus
  2. After seeing this film on the weekend, I am adding it straight in to my top 100. It is beautifully shot, has a structure loose enough that the characters seem to have more room to breathe (and be real), and is quite hilarious. It’s quite a slick, hip film - and my one complaint is that all the actors (who are nude for much of the film) are, despite their “diversity”, without exception slim, toned and beautiful. At one point there is a glimpse of a fat person, but this is only used as a symbol to show the open-mindedness of the ensemble, and the fat person never has a face or a character. The issue of unreflective body fascism apart (I remember reading a description once of gay culture as having a tendency to “body fascism”, and this film is indeed very gay), I enjoyed this film most because it demonstrated a great love for humanity, a willingness to forgive people their mistakes, and a real belief in tolerance and understanding.

  3. Apolcalypse Now
  4. Chinatown
  5. Hana-bi
  6. Full Metal Jacket
  7. Adaptation
  8. Rushmore
  9. The Royal Tenebaums
  10. Ghostbusters
  11. The Passenger
  12. Amelie
  13. Happiness
  14. Central Station
  15. Kung-Fu Hussle
  16. Beneath Clouds
  17. Blazing Saddles
  18. Hudsucker Proxy
  19. Barton Fink
  20. Fargo
  21. The Big Lebowski
  22. A Simple Plan
  23. Weekend
  24. Pierre Le Fou
  25. A Short Film About Death
  26. A Short Film About Love
  27. Knife in the Water
  28. Frantic
  29. Rear Window
  30. The Doll’s House
  31. Frenzy
  32. Notorious
  33. Crimes and Misdemeanours
  34. Hannah and Her Sisters
  35. Love and Death
  36. Pulp Fiction
  37. Blue Velvet
  38. Wild at Heart
  39. The Straight Story
  40. Lost Highway
  41. Mulholland Drive
  42. All About My Mother
  43. Talk to Her
  44. Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown
  45. Amores Perros
  46. Grizzly Man
  47. Aguirre, The Wrath of God
  48. Capturing the Friedmans
  49. Death in Venice
  50. La Haine
  51. A Streetcar Named Desire
  52. Mr Canton and Lady Rose
  53. Fight Club
  54. Grand Hotel
  55. Trans-America
  56. Flesh for Frankenstein
  57. Jaws
  58. Easy Rider
  59. Sweet Sweetback’s Badassss Song
  60. Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival
  61. Mr Canton and Lady Rose
  62. Enter the Dragon
  63. Drunken Master
  64. Bad Boy Bubby
  65. One Day in September
  66. Baraka
  67. Microcosmos
  68. The Ice Storm
  69. Goodfellas
  70. The Godfather
  71. Harlem Nights
  72. The Tracker
  73. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
  74. Alfie (original)
  75. Shadow of the Vampire
  76. Der Blaue Engel
  77. The Damned
  78. Tsotsi
  79. City of God
  80. Orfeo Negro
  81. Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh version)
  82. That Obscure Object of Desire
  83. Hearts of Darkness
  84. Irreversible
  85. The Idiot (unfinished)
  86. Romeo and Juliet (Zeferelli version)
  87. The Taste of Cherry
  88. The Colours of Paradise
  89. Casablanca
  90. Jesus Christ Superstar
  91. The Last Temptation of Christ
  92. Napoleon Dynamite
  93. Sixteen Candles
  94. Mean Streets
  95. Leaving Las Vegas
  96. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
  97. Time Bandits
  98. Midnight Cowboy
  99. Shortcuts
  100. Nashville
  101. Into the Wild
  102. There Will Be Blood
  103. Lars and the Real Girl