25 Top Films
The twenty-five films that have left a life-long impression.
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- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.My absolute favorite film. Making me question morality, ethics, government control, education, medication, rehabilitation, reformation, good and evil, free will and all major aspects of society all at once is only something that this film could do. A Stanley Kubrick masterpiece and the most important film that I have seen.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.A life-changing film, the closest thing you can get to the emotion, travesties, disgust and utter horror of the Polish Holocaust besides looking at actual documentary footage of the atrocities. The most mature and real film of Steven Spielberg.
- StarsAl PacinoMeryl StreepEmma ThompsonSeveral disparate but connected individuals go through the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s.From my favorite play comes one of the most important films of the last decade. An all-star cast, legendary director (Mike Nichols), screenplay by the original Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, and a delivery that will make you question so many things about fairness, love and the American fabric of society.
- DirectorSatoshi KonKô MatsuoStarsMiyoko ShôjiShôzô ÎzukaMami KoyamaA TV interviewer and his cameraman meet a former actress and travel through her memories and career.The only film in my life to make me cry and my favorite animated film. This film is a heartfelt, unnerving, chilling adventure through amazing visuals and a visionary story. No other animated characters can make you feel and want to feel more than the main character Chiyoko Fujiwara.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsJodie FosterAnthony HopkinsScott GlennA young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.A film that involved me in a world of the macabre and the insane, something usually tried to be put together, but rarely does it come out of the mix in such an amazing piece of filmmaking. Something that is rivaled to very few in the same genre.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsEllen BurstynJared LetoJennifer ConnellyThe drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..A film that should be taught in schools and colleges and in rehab groups as well, something so unbelievably true and horrific to its point that it makes me shake and cease momentarily to dream, it is that powerful.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.A film that does everything right. Much like the music of the man the film is about, take away a part of it and there would be diminishment. A film that is always timeless, regardless when you watch it.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.The most iconic film about the mafioso world that you can probably find. The romanticized violence, corruption and mystery make this film more than just a mob film, but a dive into a world where things are never, ever what they seem.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsTom CruiseNicole KidmanTodd FieldA Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.A film that tests everything you comprehend when a relationship is in the mix. Jealousy, betrayal, lust and desire are all put to the test in a film so dream-like, you will have to watch it a few times to make sure it wasn't just a nightmare. Beautiful and haunting.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.The closest thing you could get to being in the transient camps of disenfranchised laborers and their families than actually being there. A film that will rattle your cage and make you appreciate what you have.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsFaye DunawayWilliam HoldenPeter FinchA television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.Made decades ago, it prophesied the outlook and eventual state of journalism and television in America and possibly world-over. A masterful work with great dialogue, amazing acting, and a dark and grizzly message that unfortunately became reality.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.One of the greatest inward looks at Hollywood and its associated people and places and times, dark, humorous, bleak and hopeful. Billy Wilder is one of the few great masters of filmmaking and this is one of those prime examples of filmmaking gold.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsKarlheinz BöhmAnna MasseyMoira ShearerA young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.Probably one of the most innovative, most chilling and most realistic investigations into the world of fear and the complexities of the mind. The film that ruined Michael Powell's career in the UK, is one of the most fascinating films ever to cross in front of my eyes.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsMatthew BroderickDenzel WashingtonCary ElwesRobert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.The most brutal, honest, emotional and historically correct film about the Civil War and the black troops involved in it. You feel for the characters, not skip them by to get to the battle sequences.
- DirectorRian JohnsonStarsJoseph Gordon-LevittLukas HaasEmilie de RavinA teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.One of the most perfect neo-noir films to be released. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the most powerful actors emerging today. An excellent and razor-sharp script with great suspense and drama. A must-see.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDenzel WashingtonAngela BassettDelroy LindoBiographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.The best films to date from Spike Lee and one of Denzel Washington's best performances to date. Great setting, period dressing, cinematography, music compilation and original score, the overall cast and acting, this is a film that is in the forefront of all filmmaking, and should be noticed as such.
- DirectorSam MendesStarsKevin SpaceyAnnette BeningThora BirchA sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.Beauty on film, what else to say. A film that defines modern American dreams and dissects them with a scalpel and then reassembles it with The Guess Who and Alan Ball self-help tapes. A masterwork.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsRuth GordonBud CortVivian PicklesYoung, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.When all hope and all flavor seems to be sucked from life, there is always the ability to sing out and be you. Probably one of the greatest dark comedies and one of the greatest bittersweet films ever made. Thank you Hal Ashby, thank you so much.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNaomi WattsLaura HarringJustin TherouxAfter a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.David Lynch has made his true masterpiece, something surreal and weird, yet strangely engrossing and quizzical. A mystery you work the entire film to unravel, and at the end, you still are wondering whether or not you actually did.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsWillem DafoeHarvey KeitelBarbara HersheyThe life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross.The most realistic portrayal of the Jesus myth on film. Raw, unforgiving, and one of the best actors alive (Willem Dafoe) teaming with one of the best directors alive (Martin Scorsese).
- DirectorTony KayeStarsEdward NortonEdward FurlongBeverly D'AngeloLiving a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.A film that should be taught in multicultural classes throughout grade school and college. A terrifying realistic look at racism, brainwashing and emotional unease that should never be overlooked.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.What I consider to be Alfred Hitchcock's finest film, testing our limits to a point when we feel as if we are being sucked into the film with equally unpleasant circumstances.
- DirectorNeill BlomkampStarsSharlto CopleyDavid JamesJason CopeViolence ensues after an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth finds a kindred spirit in a government agent exposed to their biotechnology.One of the absolute best of sci-fi films with a real point, interlacing alien landings with South African apartheid, absolutely brilliant.
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTim RobbinsMorgan FreemanBob GuntonOver the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.The film remarkably makes the audience feel that these people are unjustly treated and abused even though most of them are all being confined to this terrible place for possibly doing equally terrible things. A feat not so easily achieved.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsKirsten DunstJosh HartnettJames WoodsA group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid 1970s.Capturing the atmosphere of being a repressed, rebellious teenager surviving in a fundamentalist home setting, and simply trying to come to odds with the inner and outer conflicts of being alive, and falling flat on your face.