It is the shame that in the english language we use one word, revenge, to cover such a complex topic. Chan Wook-Park needs three films to discuss the complexity of the term and how many different emotions it covers. Each film takes a different perspective, and each of them are great on their own. Together, they are a masterpiece. Oldboy is the most popular, but it is my least favourite. Watch the video linked to the title, if you don't want to watch them after that, then you have no soul.
Before 'Inception' and 'The Dark Knight', Christopher Nolan made a one-hour film about a man who likes to follow other people. Not to stalk them, not to steal from them, just to watch someone for an hour or two and then move on to the next person. This isn't enough though, and eventually he starts breaking into people's houses. Not to steal anything, just to look around, and occasionally to move things around just to make sure they know he was there. Oddly enough, he meets a man who likes to do the same...
In Hollywood, time travel is a gimick. In better films, like Timecrimes, it can be used quite intellectually. This isn't the smartest movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it is neat look at time travel and a good thrill ride as well. The trailer that I linked to this actually ruins a bit of it so I recommend going in blindly as I did. If you've seen any of the films at this part of the list, then you have to know that it's quite good to make the No. 28 spot.
3 Short films about life in a big city, Tokyo in this case. One story about transformation (very Kafkaesque I might add), one about Anarchy, and one about Rebirth. At least that's what the trailer says. The first story is quite good, the second is weird, and the third is very metaphorical. I love it for its social commentary but also because they are all very well done. This movie does for Tokyo was 'Paris je t'aime' did for Paris.
While being very reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan, this film is unique and good for different reasons. It is World War II and France needs liberating, so African soldiers in french colonies are called in to fight. This sets it up very nicely to show how Algerian soldiers were patriotic to France, but also alienated by it. This film is a tribute to all the African soldier who bled for a country that barely respected them. An amazing movie by a great director, and if you liked this movie then I also recommend watching 'Battle of Algiers' to see what happened to Algeria in the aftermath of World War II.
Despite this film being in English, you might actually need subtitles to understand what is being said half the time. If you do understand what they're saying, then you'll really enjoy this movie. It is a classic coming-of-age story about a rebellious teenager in a bad family who becomes disillusioned by love and ultimately learns a lot about her world. It reminded me a lot of 'An Education' which came out at about the same time and which I judged way too well-known for this list. This is a grittier version of the same story, but just as good in my opinion. An outstanding debut by Katie Jarvis, who I hope to see in other good movies in the future.
A group of old, retired British gangsters get back together when one of their own finds out his wife has been cheating on him with a younger man. His friends do him a favour and capture the young man and tie him up in a room as a present. The remaining hour and a half is something Carl Jung would be very proud of, as the cheated old man goes through the moral question of what he should do. What really makes this movie good is a group of very good actors, and in particular, John Hurt playing a foul-mouthed old man that fills the film with more curse words then I thought a film could possibly have.
If you've never seen a Wong Kar Wai film, then you're missing out on one of the greatest directors of our time. Some of his films are too well-known to make this list, and the ones that weren't just barely fell out of my Top 50. This one, however, makes the list, and I'm glad that I was able to include at least one Kar Wai. Like all his films, this film is about love. It's about a main character who falls in love with many women but can never stay in love. His love is never fake though. Kar Wai does a very good job of showing how love can be real and yet very temporary.
You can't expect anything normal from Chuck Palahniuk, the author who also brought us Fight Club. It's a shame that only two of his books have been made into movies, and even more of a shame that most people don't know about the second one. It's a story about a sex addict who chokes on food at expensive restaurants to get people to love him and send him money....so, there's no shortage of oddness here. To put the cherry on top, Sam Rockwell plays the lead role. It's not as good as the book, but it's still a pretty damn good movie and hilarious as well.
I had a really hard time adding this to the list because it is pretty well-known. However, I decided to add it because not enough people know about it. It has a similar premise as The Core, except you can actually get caught up by it all because it's well made and not a pile of crap (like The Core). Yet again, this list sees a sci-fi film that I like because while it takes place in a sci-fi world, it's about the people and the story. Ya, it gets cheesy and kind of stupid, but I still love every bit of it.
#50-41 #40-31 ... #20-11 #10-1
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