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Post by Tosh on May 12, 2007 4:53:42 GMT -5
86=
Hold Back The Night (1999) - Three social outcasts - a foul-mouthed teenage girl, an eco warrior and a dying old lady - are the unlikely heroes of this peculiar yet fascinating road movie set in the Outer Hebrides.
Last Seduction (1994) - Linda Fiorentino is the ultimate in cold-hearted, erotic, brainy, dangerous, femme fatales. It's a modern film noir reworked from the classic 1940s versions. This one has a hard-assed edge and a tough moral ending to swallow. It is witty, provocative and entertaining...an extremely funny and unsentimental movie.
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Post by Tosh on May 12, 2007 4:59:35 GMT -5
85=
Shakespeare In Love (1998) - This is a comedy worthy of the Bard himself, full of misunderstandings, lust, sex, wine, romance, poetry, and brawls. Geoffrey Rush is the unsung star in this movie excellent cast.
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Post by Tosh on May 12, 2007 16:05:02 GMT -5
84=
Blade Runner (1982) - Arguably the most famous and influential science fiction film ever made. It has exerted a pervasive influence over all subsequent science fiction cinema, and indeed our cultural perceptions of the future. The Director's cut is far superior, mostly because of what's been eliminated (the ludicrous and redundant voice-over narration and the fake happy ending).
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Post by Tosh on May 13, 2007 14:36:10 GMT -5
83=
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being (1988) - A movie for those willing to accept the challenge of an intellectually stimulating film with a long running time, difficult philosophical questions, literary references, and political means and motives.
The Corporation (2003) - the only factual documentary in this list and a film so chock full of information, so dense with context and analysis that it will keep you thinking and reacting, no matter what your politics are.
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Post by Tosh on May 13, 2007 15:55:58 GMT -5
82=
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover (1989) - An unblinking treatment of a world sinking in its own moral and literal putrescence. Apart from the religious themes, the French Revolution, Thatcherian Britain, Jacobean drama, Dutch paintings, the theater of cruelty and the Darwinian inevitability of rotting. There's illicit sex, adultery, revenge and cannabilism thrown in for good measure. Helen Mirren, Tim Roth and Michael Gambon are all superb in this really unsettling film.
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Post by Tosh on May 15, 2007 2:18:01 GMT -5
81=
Dogma (1999) - A raucous, profane but surprisingly endearing piece of work, a funny and lively film of ideas that combines a breezy save-the-world fantasy with Smith's trademark adolescent sense of humour and a sincere exploration of questions of faith. If you can imagine intense doses of theology and religious doctrine alternating with juvenile sex jokes and a monster that emerges from a toilet, you've got "Dogma" sussed.
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Post by Tosh on May 17, 2007 13:30:33 GMT -5
80=
A Scanner Darkly (2006) - This is an engaging, beautifully animated over live action sci-fi thriller with superb performances and a script that manages to be funny, disturbing and thought-provoking all at once. It's a paranoid, complex fable about drug addiction set in an uncompromisingly bleak near-future. Deep, difficult-to-follow and I reckon it’s one of those films that’ll attract a cult following in years to come rather than finding mainstream success.
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Post by Tosh on May 18, 2007 2:17:55 GMT -5
79=
A Bout De Souffle (1959) - Jean-Luc Godard's gritty and engaging first feature had an almost revolutionary impact when it was first released. Full of classic quotes - Quelle est votre plus grande ambition dans la vie ?" ("What is your biggest ambition in your life ?")... Answer: "Devenir immortel... et puis... mourir." ("Becoming immortal... and then... dying.") and chic art references. It's storyline is swept along by an imaginative, urgent style with its then innovative jump cuts, overlapping dialogue and handheld camerawork. A landmark film, it forever changed perceptions of cinema and the French "Nouvelle Vague" (New Wave) cinema was born!
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Post by Tosh on May 19, 2007 15:31:17 GMT -5
78=
The Idiots (1998) - Taking the piss may seem slight as a political agenda, but it's an ideal satirical strategy. Von Trier has a scorched earth policy here, subjecting everything in the film to hostile ridicule. There's no safety for anyone, especially the audience. Once you think you understand the film's position, it undercuts your comfortable response by flailing away at yet another target. The approach is similar to Godard's 1967 masterpiece, Week-End. This film rubs our noses in the worst human traits while denying us the opportunity to feel superior. For all the Dogma rhetoric of abnegation, this is a film of rare artistry. The Idiots is without question a challenging, difficult film.
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Post by Tosh on May 20, 2007 5:59:19 GMT -5
77=
Goodfellas (1990) - A tour de force that brilliantly evokes both the seductive glamour and moral degradation of organised crime. Expertly blending narration, period music, and Scorcese's own dynamic tableaux, it creates an energetic, darkly funny, and unforgettable portrait of life among the Mob. This combination of clever sociological study, black humour and innovative filmmaking raises Goodfellas to a work of art while being excellent popular entertainment at the same time. Because of this achievement, and also because of the great influence on future filmmakers, this cinematic gem deserves its rightful place among the best films ever. It's also Joe Pesci's finest hour as he outshines Robert De Niro - no mean feat!!!
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Post by Tosh on May 20, 2007 6:17:46 GMT -5
76=
Kids (1996) - This film by Larry Clark is an emotional sucker punch, a raw, dirty, disturbing piece of cinéma vérité filmmaking that simultaneously hooks and repulses you from its opening scenes. Critics get uncomfortable and you'll find many kneejerk hate reviews of this film. Clarks realism makes this film seem like a documentary instead of real teenagers acting in place of the usual twentysomethings pretending to be teenagers. Kids'' makes no effort to sentimentalize. It doesn't flavour its story with sweet scents or mellow strings or false optimism; it doesn't twinkle and blush; and it never soft-pedals the immaturity, casual cruelty or toughness of these skater kids. Clark doesn't lack sympathy for his kids: I think he actually admires their resilience and respects them enough not to trivialize their lives or the challenges they face. He understands that they're sadder, angrier than their parents' generation -- embittered by a world that's long on risks and short on security. "Kids'' may seem hopeless and without pity, but it's not without a conscience. It's merely Clark's way of holding up a mirror to our world and saying, take nothing for granted.
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Post by Tosh on May 20, 2007 7:49:06 GMT -5
75=
The Matrix Trilogy (1999 - 2003) - Kinetic, atmospheric, visually stunning, and mind-bending. It toys with the boundaries between reality and fantasy in some unique and interesting ways. In an era when movie scripts (especially those pigeonholed into the science fiction genre) are becoming increasingly more stupid and special effects reliant, the Wachowski Brothers prove that style and substance do not have to be mutually exclusive. There's action, betrayal, a little romance, some humour, and a moral dilemma or two, all wrapped into a well-produced and ultimately very enjoyable package.
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Post by Tosh on May 20, 2007 11:05:05 GMT -5
74=
Se7en (1995) - A grisly social allegory drawn in blood and spawned in despair, casts a lingering, malodorous spell. It may be stretching a metaphor to suggest that Morgan Freeman's character "Somerset" is a 20th-century Virgil leading Mills's (Brad Pitt) Dante through the circles of Hell, and toward redemption. But writer Andrew Kevin Walker is obviously no stranger to the "The Divine Comedy," just as director David Fincher is clearly into the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. Under their stewardship, "Seven" is a decidedly medieval enterprise, darker in text and tone than a Gothic cathedral by the light of the moon.
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Post by Tosh on May 20, 2007 11:13:35 GMT -5
73=
Christiane F (1981) - Christiane F is the most successful film in German history and has broken box-office records throughout Europe. Based on a true story of a girl who becomes a heroin addict and a prostitute by the time she was 13-years-old. Screenplay writer Herman Weigel and director Edel have created an unrelentingly grim masterpiece. It vividly conveys the physical and mental debilitation of drug addiction. Natja Brunkhorst's portrait of the lead character should shake many viewers to their roots. The images are so powerful, the horrors so strong and the performances so utterly, bleakly, realistic. You could be convinced this is a movie depicting hell itself.
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Post by Tosh on May 20, 2007 15:36:02 GMT -5
72=
Wild At Heart (1990) - All the characters, not just the villains, are schematically constructed as cartoons. It's David Lynch at his absurd best. Inspired by Barry Gifford's novel,Wild at Heart is a paean to The Wizard of Oz. The bizarre inventions become an end in themselves. Weird wonderful and this films convinces you that David Lynch doesn't tell stories as much as he shows hallucinations.
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