Chris' Most Important Films 1990-2012

Now before I start - this list consists of my opinions only - not votes, public poles or any other forms of categorisation. These are the films that I personally believe defined each year between 1990 and 2012.

Right with that out the way, I thought it would be fun to note down the films I believe have truly impacted on each cinematic year for the past 22 years -  that's the length of time I have walked and bothered this planet. Each year will be completed by two film choices and once you have read the list, feel free to comment with your own choices or slag off my terrible opinions. Here we go...

1990

Home Alone

(dir: Chris Columbus - USA - 102 Mins - 20th Century Fox)

Goodfellas

(dir: Martin Scorsese - USA - 146 Mins - Warner Bros.)

1991

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

(dir: James Cameron - USA - 139 Mins - TriStar)

Thelma and Louise

(dir: Ridley Scott - USA/UK - 129 Mins - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

1992

Unforgiven

(dir: Clint Eastwood - USA - 131 Mins - Warner Bros.)

 

Man Bites Dog

(dir/s: Remy Belvaux/Benoit Poelvoorde - France - 95 Mins - Tartan)

1993

Jurassic Park

(dir: Steven Spielberg - USA - 127 Mins - Universal)

Groundhog Day

(dir: Harold Ramis - USA - 101 Mins - Columbia Pictures)

1994

Pulp Fiction

(dir: Quentin Tarantino - USA - 154 Mins - Miramax)

Ed Wood

(dir: Tim Burton - USA - 127 Mins - Touchstone Pictures)

1995

Toy Story

(dir: John Lasseter - USA - 77 Mins - Disney/Pixar Animation Studios)

Se7en

(dir: David Fincher - USA - 128 Mins - New Line Cinema)

1996

Fargo

(dir: Joel Coen - USA - 98 Mins - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Bottle Rocket

(dir: Wes Anderson - USA - 92 Mins - Columbia Pictures)

1997

Titanic

(dir: James Cameron - USA - 194 Mins - Paramount Pictures)

Good Will Hunting

(dir: Gus Van Sant - USA - 126 Mins - Miramax)

1998

Festen

(dir: Thomas Vinterberg - Denmark - 105 Mins - Studio Canal)

The Truman Show

(dir: Peter Weir - USA - 103 Mins - Paramount Pictures)

1999

American Beauty

(dir: Sam Mendes - USA - 122 Mins - DreamWorks)

Fight Club

(dir: David Fincher - USA - 139 Mins - 20th Century Fox)

2000

Requiem for a Dream

(dir: Darren Aronofsky - USA - 101 Mins - Artisan Entertainment)

Almost Famous

(dir: Cameron Crowe - USA - 122 Mins - DreamWorks)

2001

Mulholland Drive

(dir: David Lynch - USA - 147 Mins - Universal Pictures)

Ichi the Killer

(dir: Takashi Miike - Japan - 129 Mins - Tartan)

2002

Irreversible

(dir: Gaspar Noe - France - 97 Mins - Tartan)

The Hours

(dir: Stephen Daldry - UK/USA - 114 Mins - Miramax)

2003

Finding Nemo

(dir: Andrew Stanton - USA - 100 Mins - Disney/Pixar Animation Studios)

Monster

(dir: Patty Jenkins - USA - 109 Mins - Newmarket Films)

2004

Sideways

(dir: Alexander Payne - USA - 127 Mins - Fox Searchlight)

Closer

(dir: Mike Nichols - UK/USA - 104 Mins - Columbia Pictures)

2005

Cache (Hidden)

(dir: Michael Haneke - France - 117 Mins - Artificial Eye)

Match Point

(dir: Woody Allen - UK/USA - 124 Mins - DreamWorks)

2006

The Departed

(dir: Martin Scorsese - USA - 151 Mins - GK Films)

The Devil Wears Prada

(dir: David Frankel - USA - 109 Mins - 20th Century Fox)

2007

Juno

(dir: Jason Reitman - USA/Canada - 96 Mins - Fox Searchlight)

Gone Baby Gone

(dir: Ben Affleck - USA - 114 Mins - Miramax)

2008

The Dark Knight

(dir: Christopher Nolan - USA - 152 Mins - Warner Bros.)

Rachel Getting Married

(dir: Jonathan Demme - USA - 114 Mins - Sony Pictures Classics)

2009

Up

(dir: Pete Docter - USA - 96 Mins - Disney/Pixar Animation Studios)

Avatar

(dir: James Cameron - USA - 162 Mins - 20th Century Fox)

2010

Inception

(dir: Christopher Nolan - USA/UK - 148 Mins - Warner Bros.)

The Social Network

(dir: David Fincher - USA - 121 Mins - Columbia Pictures)

2011

The Artist

(dir: Michel Hazanavicius - France/USA - 100 Mins - The Weinstein Company)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

(dir: David Yates - UK/USA - 130 Mins - Warner Bros.)

2012

Shame

(dir: Steve McQueen - UK/USA - 101 Mins - Momentum Pictures)

You'll have to wait for the next one...

So did you like the list or is it all total nonsense - let me know below!

Half-Review of the Year 2012

Seeing as it's June, I thought it would be an idea to recap some of the filmy things and events that have occurred over the first 6 months of 2012. Let's go...

12A is the new 15

The Hunger Games, The Woman in Black, Chronicle, Damsels in Distress, Snow White and the Huntsman - sensing a pattern?

Charlize Theron is on FIRE

Young Adult started the year, whilst Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman are released in the same damn week. Plus she's a bitch in all of them...

Joss Whedon is a God

The Cabin in the Woods and Avengers Assemble? Sign here to convert your faith.

Superheroes are a go-go

We've already had Chronicle, Avengers Assemble and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance but still to come includes The Amazing Spider-Man, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Dredd and a tiny, little-known film called THE DARK KNIGHT RISES... 

Cannes 2012 gave us...

Brilliant yet dying pensioners in Amour, Robert Pattinson artfully urinating in Cosmopolis, An elderly woman/serial killer/homeless man/business tycoon in Holy Motors and K-Stew giving simultaneous hand-jobs in On The Road. Oh how cultured.

Staggering débuts are in no shortage 

Sean Durkin - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Josh Trank - Chronicle

Rupert Sanders - Snow White and the Huntsman

James Bobin - The Muppets

Ralph Fiennes - Coriolanus

Ben Drew - iLL Manors

Dwayne Johnson introduces 'The Pec Pop of Love'

The Artist kills at the awards

Scooping 5 Oscars and 7 BAFTAs, both of which included Best Picture, Michel Hazanavicius' masterpiece was rightly recognised as the dominant winner. Contact Uggie's agent for cameo appearances in your film projects.

Promising/brilliant trailers are a-plenty

The Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus, The Great Gatsby, Les Miserables, The Hunger Games, Chronicle, Gangster Squad, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (Yeah and what?), Cosmopolis, Skyfall, Snow White and the Huntsman, Lawless, American Pie: Reunion and Red Lights have all had strong and engrossing trailers and promotion. Let's just hope the ones we haven't seen live up to it...

Film releases have certainly bettered over the last two months

The majority of my top films of the year consist of features I've seen between April and present day - there is going to have to be something exceptional to knock Martha Marcy May Marlene however.

3D is still naff

Only Prometheus and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island have been worthy watches with the extra dimension this year and I'm certain both would look perfectly fine in 2D. Thankfully Nolan still roots for IMAX rather than 3D. Good boy.

The Dictator WAS funny despite what many said...

Although the Cannes press stunt was not funny. 

*Tumble weed*

Here's to 6 more glorious movie months!

'Prometheus' Review

Prometheus (dir: Ridley Scott, 2012) Cert: 15

There is no denying that Ridley Scott's return to the genre he defined is amongst the most hotly-anticipated films of 2012, in fact it's probably higher than The Dark Knight Rises for many, and whilst hype and hope can be a great thing, it can also have the polar-opposite effect and cause tremendous and usually unworthy disappointment. Some early reviews (from the press screening I wasn't invited to THANK YOU VERY MUCH) have been mixed to say the least which for me was concerning. Alien is my all-time favourite Sci-Fi/Horror film so like many other mortals, my anticipation for Prometheus was sky-high and now having seen the film, I can put my two cents in.

 Set in the late 21st Century, Prometheus follows a group of scientific explorers on-board the spaceship 'Prometheus'. Lead by Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her partner Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), the team find a series of star-maps which they believe could be the clue to discovering the truth about where mankind originated from. Their journey takes them to the darkest corners of the universe which soon becomes the location for a terrifying battle to save the human race as we know it.

 If you are entering Prometheus solely expecting 'a prequel to Alien' then yes, you may be disappointed. Scott has noted countless times that this film is more suggestive to his masterpiece rather than a intrinsically linked tale. In fact, he has even said there will be two more films before they even meet Alien's narrative time-framing. However the comparisons between the two are undoubtedly inevitable so they should supposedly be addressed. Is Prometheus as good as Alien? No. Is Prometheus similar to Alien? Here and there. Does it really matter? In my humble opinion, not really. Scott's latest is perfectly acceptable viewing for die-hard fans like myself or newcomers who have never experienced his previous works - it's a stand-alone film that's neither a prequel, remake or re-envisioning, it's simply a big-budget Sci-Fi epic in 3D.  

 If Prometheus is anything like another film from Scott's filmography, it would be Blade Runner; the central character, David (played immaculately by Michael Fassbender) is an android who asks questions about his existence, his purpose, whether he has a soul and a functioning, beating heart. These themes run through Blade Runner's veins as thick as blood and it's clear that his 2012 picture resembles and re-builds on this timeless Sci-Fi ideal. 

 In regards to the mixed reviews, in some areas I can see why - at times the dialogue is clunky and ill-fitted, some of the characterisation could have done with stronger fleshing and constructing and occasionally co-writer Damon Lindelof works in some ludicrous and baffling plot-strands which ring true of his screenplays for Lost which by the fourth season really did become lost; muddled and confused by it's own processes and ideas, however Prometheus has so much more positive, wonderful and staggering entities to offer it's spectators that these quibbles quietly flush away for the most part.  

 Soaked and layered with philosophical and existential questions, Scott's latest offers an array of strands for the audience to latch on to - often characters like David are hard to read, questioning their motives and egos. Themes about mankind, the right to live and freewill build wobbly bridges over the desolate, brooding planetary causing seriously engrossing and occasionally troubling viewing. Plus the film manages to balance genres successfully throughout; this is more of a Sci-Fi thriller than a horror, yet there are certainly some moments the ooze with grotesque and repugnant awe so expect to squirm in your seat.

 This being a Scott film means it obviously looks fantastic - unlike the quaint, nauseating and claustrophobic spaces of Alien, Prometheus is a grand, ever-growing spectacle that dazzles, mesmerises and enchants at every possible opportunity. The sheer velocity, unparalleled scale and undeniable vision is simply earth-shattering - she is a thing of haunting, harrowing and uncomprehending beauty. Scott's direction has lost none of it's flair either; his camera is manic and dizzying yet it never feels out of control - mixed aerials, cranes, pans and tilts give the film so much visual range - the skies dance with troubling wonder, the moon waterfalls crash, the infernos surge - all this drama is steadily captured by a master of his craft. His direction is so advanced yet it screens ever-so effortlessly.  

Still from Prometheus (dir: Ridley Scott, 2012)

 Like in the majority of Sir Ridley's movies, this feature too presents strong, determined female characters who are fully-functional and not dictated to by men. Sigourney Weaver's Ripley from the Alien franchise is an all-masculine heroine; she requires nothing from the opposite sex because she consumes and embodies both genders whilst Rapace's Shaw here does have a male-affectionate relationship, yet this does not make her weaker or any less valid than Scott's original space-blaster, she is simply a different character in a different picture.

Prometheus provides a lingering, over-bearing atmosphere that might not be scary in the traditional sense, but when applied to the ambience and vacancy of planet LV-223 and merged around the simply awe-inspiring and often freaky H.R. Giger universe, it doesn't have to be as chilling and tense as it's predecessors' because it's imagery and themes are strong enough to bind the whole thing together. 

 The performances are collectively strong with Rapace and Charlize Theron excelling in their dominant roles. Idris Elba is also great, as is Marshall-Green but as noted earlier, the film's star is Fassbender. David is a wonderfully developed, multi-stranded and morally ambiguous character whose question-laden dialogue provides so much to Prometheus' narrative progression. Often his soft, well-spoken tone makes David an embracive yet concerning creation - his lust for understanding his and indeed life's purposes can make his motives seem contradictory in the best possible sense. Being brutally honest, I personally think Fassbender is the most consistent actor currently working; he is phenomenal here.

 Hype can be a dangerous thing and one thinks far too many fans and critics over-built Prometheus in their sub-conscience; they helmed it to an impossible height that the film could virtually never reach in reality consequently and rather unfairly making it seem disappointing. This is a bold, audacious and beautifully thrilling Sci-Fi extravaganza laden with spell-binding imagery, true cinematic craftsmanship and a stellar performance ballot. It might not be the Alien prequel so many thought it was (incorrectly mind you) but this is still gloriously efficient, dynamic and surging cinema that will take an awful lot to replicate or better. Scott defined this genre and he clearly has no desire to pass the responsibility just yet.

Minor quibbles aside, this is a breathtaking, gigantically ambitious and mesmerising filmic achievement that is worthy of great praise. See it on the biggest screen possible.

By Chris Haydon

'Snow White and the Huntsman' Review

Snow White and the Huntsman (dir: Rupert Sanders, 2012) Cert: 12A

Remember that horribly misguided, limp and agonisingly stagy mess of a film earlier this year? Yeah Mirror Mirror, that's the one, well now it's older, uglier and gritty twin has finally arrived on the scene to hopefully wash away those blues and get rid of that ghastly poison apple taste from your gums. Helmed by début director and master video-game commercial tycoon Rupert Sanders, Snow White and the Huntsman or SWATH as it's affectionately known on Twitter is a modern retelling of the famous Grimm fairytale but this time it's 'darker, more repressed and unhinged'; - I'm sure these words remind you of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland which was a lead balloon for many, but fear not, this is not history repeating itself. Admittedly there is no Michael Sheen as a CGI rabbit muttering "SPOOOOOON" here but heck, we'll get over that.

 Evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) brings fear and destruction to the kingdom she unlawfully rules; obsessed with staying young and beautiful, she feeds her gift and curse by consuming those who are deemed 'fairer' than herself. Her stepdaughter and permanent prisoner Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is indeed the 'fairest of them all' and the single entity than can free her from her spell. After Snow White escapes the kingdom, Ravenna summons a Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to capture her and bring her to the untimely demise she awaits but he soon winds up being her protector and battle mentor as she prepares for a final showdown with evil itself.

 Burton, listen up - although Sanders is the new kid on the block and you're the old dog, he could certainly teach you a few tricks. This is how you adapt and re-imagine a beloved folk tale, a classic fairy story, a fable passed from generation to generation. SWATH doesn't hang around and weigh itself down with irrelevant details and characterisations that everyone is already aware of, it doesn't drag it's heels and highlight every stereotypical convention of it's genre, instead it has bite, energy and will - a voice and a theme that demands to be heard and recognised. This is not woodland animals helping a young woman wash up and tidy a house, this is blood, sweat and tears. Forget lullabies and harmonies, Sanders' picture is a bruising, uncompromising battle-cry. 

 Pretty much right from the off, the mood is set, the stages are established and the tone is slap-painted in black. Within 10 minutes, there is blood, murder and mayhem with characters being stabbed, sliced and trampled to death; if you are thinking this is suitable entertainment for your young children then think again. SWATH is a brooding, menacing and bleak portrait that harvests it's sinister lust from positivity and honesty; it's a searing and intense alternative thrill-ride through a world and narrative you thought you knew so well. 

 Sanders' first feature is a master-class in scale, imagery and technology - the film constantly staggers and breath-takes with it's visceral, unapologetic visuals; sequences in the Dark Forest are perhaps the true cinematic highlight. A fairly early scene showcases Snow White terrified, exhausted and perplexed in her new environment and soon she suffers a haunting and distressing hallucination. Here Sanders and the sublime effect team thrive, parading the silver screen with sharp, gripping digital demons. The colour pallet fades darker and darker, the ambient lighting soon wallows in the filth Snow White is traipsing through, James Newton Howard's score clashes and swoops through the scene, filling the air with intoxicating dread. It's the whole package - a cinematic treat tied with a blood-stained bow, and this is only one 2-odd minute sequence. SWATH is simply littered with moments of this magnitude, artistry and detail - it's a show-stopping picture that has to be experienced on the big screen. 

Still from Snow White and the Huntsman (dir: Rupert Sanders, 2012)

 The film is neatly balanced and structured around it's 127 minute running time. The action scenes come in heavy and frequent whilst the narrative focus points evolve throughout each act making SWATH constantly engaging viewing. It handles a handsome amount of characters but only the three leads and a merry band of dwarves really matter and are rendered in such fashion. Sam Claflin floats in during the second act as William, a childhood friend of Snow White and a rightful prince but his character provides nothing to the narrative progression and feels ultimately redundant, however his presence takes nothing away either so it feels wrong to make a quibble. Apart from that though, one has no further issues with the film at all.

 The performances are stellar - Hemsworth was a perfect casting choice for the Huntsman; he brings a great sorrow and emptiness to the drunkard who patrols Snow White. Hemsworth straddles both the action and emotive scenes with ease and provides a layered, detailed screen presence. Theron simply oozes with evil as Queen Ravenna - she truly embodies the black, nihilistic qualities of the character as well as opening up some comfortably constructed back-story. She is not evil in the comedy, over-the-top sense; this is a eerie, bitter and burning performance laced with razor-sharp dialogue, jagged body language and complimenting horrific CGI effects to completely emphasis her demonic rule.  

 The dwarves thankfully offer some much needed comic relief and offer a whole host of well known faces included Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Toby Jones and Ian McShane, all of which give great and carefully-pitched performances. The star of the show for me however is Stewart.

 This year alone, Stewart has given two sensational performances with this film and the upcoming On The Road and it's clear that those who are narrow-minded and feel she is one-dimensional need to catch up. Her Snow White is a fully fleshed, emotionally complex and creatively rich character that absorbs energy and information from each scene and scenario, and it's obvious how much work Stewart has put into this role. Sporting a convincing British accent, she develops and gains further construction throughout making Snow White a constantly reassuring and interesting heroine/protagonist. Stewart gives a simply spellbinding screen turn and she deserves much more praise and credit than she receives. 

 SWATH manages to take the classic source material and dramatically build on it and alter it's dynamic without losing any of it's richness, historical attributes and themes which is some challenge. This is a fresh, unbelievably bleak and visually mesmerising blockbuster affair which sports brains and brawn, greatly realised performances and offers a simply sublime cinema-going experience. With a film this accomplished, it's almost impossible to believe it's a début feature. SWATH is a total knock-out.

A tense, thrilling and equally chilling fairy tale that's immaculately crafted and wonderfully presented. It's one of the year's highlights.

By Chris Haydon