So, here we are the final 50 movies to be reviewed and I have an extra blog section here of honourable mentions and will also highlight to you those movies that you are not going to see in the remaining list which may be of a surprise to you. There maybe reasons for this and mostly because I don’t have the DVD or Blue Ray at the point where the list was created. Many of these would have been owned by me on video back in the day or maybe I haven’t purchased them yet. So, this will be a quick run through without scores or spends or box-office just a quick mention and I think I will start with a couple of trilogies cheating a bit by squeezing three movies into one line. So, first mention and a shock as I do not own any of the Raiders Of The Lost Ark (trilogy) or Indiana Jones movies if you prefer. These are great movies full of action and mystery melting Nazi’s and funny quips, ancient traps and always worth a watch, it is just a shame that they added a fourth movie to this trilogy and ruined it. The next trilogy is not a trilogy in the strictest sense of the words as the movies do not follow on from each other they are each stand alone stories using the same actors in the lead roles and I’ve called it the The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (trilogy) but it includes a Fist Full of Dollars and for a Few Dollars More before the finale of the three protagonists to face each other in the big finale. Worth a watch if you haven’t and you’ll just have to live with the dub into English. A couple more that you could class as trilogies as well, but I am going to shorten them due to a bad apple in the box. Namely Terminator 1 & 2 which had a great and gritty action Sci-fi movie in the first movie which is a great watch plenty of gun fights and action. Followed by the technological breakthrough of the second movie. Using tech taken from the directors earlier movie of The Abyss which is also good the second movie turned that into liquid metal that for its time blew everyone’s minds. They came off the rails with the following films and the latest one has divided views to the point where I cannot be asked to watch it. The next trilogy only gets one movie listed here with which is Jurassic Park a great stand alone movie, now the following two movies were not as bad as some people may say and the third was ok despite the flimsy intro to the story.
Ok the trilogies are done the other sections to come are kids movies, war related, gangster & villains, horrors (that will be longer than the others) and finish with two classics. What kids movies can I list here well I have two one from current times and one from my time. The first is a animated great where they pushed the boundaries of graphics and backed it up with a great story of a father fish trying desperately Finding Nemo which is great for kids and amazing for adults to watch. Back in the eighties we didn’t have that technology so we relied on good ole fashioned stories. The Karate Kid story is about a kid bullied that finds help in a local Chinese man who trains him to kick ass and take on a Karate Tournament. Classic great and always worth a watch with a classic soundtrack awesome for its time.
If you were paying attention I have two war related movies to come one in German that follows the last few days of Hitler in his bunker as his generals kept coming with more and more bad news of the Russians pushing forward and the allies closing in on his location called Downfall and if you haven’t seen it I would give it a go although it does feel like hard work at times. The second movie is almost a polar opposite to the previous story as it begins with the changing times of Germany prior to the war and then follows one man’s story trying to save many lives of Jews as the Nazis showed their true colours and start killing people within their own country. Schindler's List is a story of hope and a triumph in a world that was being taken from under the feet of these humans. That’s what they were just people like everyone else trying to survive whilst another decided they were not as good and didn’t deserve that right to life. Ultimately uplifting but deeply harrowing as well.
Moving onto another couple of movies with what I would describe as sudden and unexpected violence lurching at you through the screen and they do it in subtly different ways. Not sure which one to go with first so I will give you both movies together as Pulp Fiction and Joker which I will now split. Pulp Fiction was released on an unprepared world at the time. Three stories weaved together in the wrong order which comes back together to form a close to the mark shocker that keeps the audience on it toes not knowing what is coming next and when to look away from the film. It shines a light into many elements of the world that people do not want to believe is real and happening today. The Joker on the other hand is a comic book character set in a world that is oppressing him and ensuring he remains on the bottom rung looking up. Struggling with living day to day he becomes unhinged and this is the back story that might have been, it is done in a good way and a film that keeps you on edge as you know where the story will reach with violence and madness and this movie keeps you guessing as to when it will happen. Oh, and it does happen!
Horror movies that I don’t have! I have five that will get a mention and the first is not a horror movie although banned by the film’s own director after reports that it had inspired copy cat gangs of violent idiots out on the streets. A Clockwork Orange is possibly not the movie you may think it is, with he ban it took a long time before I was able to watch this movie, to be honest I thought I owned this movie. It comes across quite dated and it does have an interesting take on life and violence working in full circle which brings itself back to the beginning. The next two movies are psychological, one about a psychopath trying to help the authorities whilst he plans an escape and a murder spree for himself. If you haven’t guessed or seen the huge bold underlined text saying The Silence Of The Lambs then you should of! It is a great movie with sporadic violence dotted throughout to reach a conclusion that left everyone including the main character in the dark. Onwards to The Shining which I didn’t appreciate when I first watched it. Two Stanley Kubrick movies in the same section, this one has been told to me is a classic. I watched it as a horror classic and I spent the movie just waiting on the first watch. It wasn’t until many years later that I returned to watch this movie and the penny dropped and I got it. It is clever is pre-signals many things and slowly draws you into the slowly drawn out madness of the main characters. Finding excuses over time Jack Nicholson plays a nutter better than anyone else I know. The final horror movies which deserves a mention because this is my list and I argue and argue about this movie. Every horror loving friend I have hates this movie and I stand alone by loving it and I expect some comments about it if I had the DVD and wrote a full review on it. Called Pumpkinhead it tells a story of revenge and placing a curse on someone then realising that you have made a mistake but with any curse there ain’t no mulligans. Once delivered it will cost you the world to undo it. Seeing this monster chasing you down, unrelenting, you cannot reason with it, you cannot best it, it is unstoppable, you cannot kill it so you cannot stop it from completing its mission and its mission is to kill you. For me worth a mention. Now the big surprise to me is the missing most predominant horror movie of history as I was convinced I had this movie and was somewhere on my list but having checked where in the top 50 it would be, its not here. Now that could be because it is an old movie and I haven’t replaced the video with a DVD or Blu-ray yet but I am very surprised by that myself. Possibly one of the most scary horror movies ever made and not because of the special effects but the idea of what it was all about. I have a story about going to the cinema to watch this movie but I won’t share me giggling through half the movie now but share it another time. It has to be said that The Exorcist should be on my list and would be in the lower numbers but for some reason it is not but I cannot give you a good reason. This is a spooky story and is nasty enough to have so many myths and stories linked to the production of this movie that make it just as scary. This is seriously scary stuff and its not on my list? How I don’t know!
Moving onto much more pleasant movies and finishing the list with two movies that may not be what you were expecting namely Forrest Gump and The Sting but they are both delivered in very different ways. Forrest Gump may not be what you are expecting as it is a lovable movie where a slow individual is at the centre of nearly every iconic moment in American history. It tells a story of unrequited love that Gump will never give up on which is honourable to say the least. He gets involved in everything with it all just passing him by. The final honourable mention is the Sting which is set in Illinois, US in 1930’s it is about low level crooks stealing a living on the streets when one is killed when they pick on the wrong mark. One wants to get revenge by taking this big time crook for all he has. This movie lets you watch the plan come together and then says got you. If you haven’t seen it then don’t just give this movie 10 minutes and walk away let it tell you it’s story and you will enjoy it so much more. Oscar winner for good reason you will enjoy it even if I don’t own a version of it.
TOP 50 will contain…
So, we move into my top 50 and the final sections of what was a Covid movie list that has taken over my life since March. I am now going to stop putting a film name in the title to keep you guessing but I will say that the top 50 contains no less than fifteen horror movies, six Sci-Fi movies and six comedies. We have another four Christmas movies coming up along with four Fantasy movies and three comedy horror’s, two action movies, two mystery movies and we even have a musical and a war film. This is a good time to remind you that this is my list and you will no doubt be annoyed with some of my choices or lack of your favourite movie but sorry this is my list and it is not that easy to do. Remember I need to have the movies here and can watch them whenever I want and I also have to know it well enough to be able to review it. So next up is the top 50 movies that will count down due at one a day to conclude on the 31st January 2021, we are onto the final section, are you excited yet?
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