The IMDb250. A list of the top 250 films, as ranked by the users of the biggest movie Internet site on the web. It is based upon the ratings provided by the users of The Internet Movie Database, which number into the millions. As such, it’s a perfect representation of the opinions of the movie masses, and arguably the most comprehensive ranking system on the Internet.
It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case, we, is myself and Barry) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list! We’ve frozen the list as of 1st January this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, as we’ll be watching them in one year, 125 each.
This is our sixth update and my next five films from the list. I have to say that one film in particular from this five has completely blown me away and cemented itself in my top five films of all time, the film is 12 Angry Men which I will talk about more later but it’s the first film from the list so far that just had everything I want from a film and I just can’t believe I’ve never seen it before. On the flip side I also watched a film that is probably going to be the worst film I’ll watch from the list.
Out of my first 15 films, 7 have been in glorious Black and White and I have now truly fallen in love with the Black & White movie, I have already started to add to my personal collection with these classic movies and have slightly fallen out of love with CGI heavy films which has definitely affected my interest in seeing recent films like Alice in Wonderland but I doubt that feeling will last for long.
For me personally I’m now looking at movies in a completely different way and I am only 15 movies into our project. I have never experienced such a variety of movies in a short space of time and It has opened my eyes to directors and movies I probably never would have explored before. I’m now a huge fan of Chaplin, I’m hunting lesser known Kubrick films and expanding my collection of Hitchcock movies, all because of this fantastic experience.
I really hope readers of these articles can also gain something from the project and attempt to watch some films they may never have had interest in before and please let us know what you think of the films we review, especially if you disagree.
On to my next five films starting with:
No.99 – The Sting – Rating 8.3
The Sting is a film I don’t recall ever seeing but a film that seemed instantly recognizable when watching it as The Sting just oozed class from start to finish with a stunning cast, superb production and a story that was just wonderfully enjoyable from this iconic movie.
Staring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as confidence men working 1930’s Chicago with Newman playing Henry Gondoroff the older mentor con artist who takes on a role of mentoring Johnny Hooker played by Redford a bright eager younger man who wants to do the Big Con to get revenge for the death of his con partner. The two team up an hatch up a plan to do a very complicated con against New York Racketeer Doyle Lonnegan (the brilliant Robert Shaw) which is brilliant in its build up and conclusion that twists and turns and keeps you gripped whilst charming you with its brilliantly performed script.
The set pieces building up the con are fantastic with a superb card game on a train and the construction of a fake bookies to set the scene for the con target that is just fantastically realised and carried out and you cant help be sucked in by the con as it plays out in the ingenious story with numerous characters all playing a part. There are other subplots with a mysterious guy seeming to follow Johnny killing people, a love interest to Johnny that has an unknown agenda and a corrupt cop (the legendary Charles Durning) who after being conned by Johnny himself is after some revenge, all add to the brilliant movie.
The Sting is one of those classic movies you just have to see, it’s not one of my all time favourite movies ever but should be definitely be viewed before you die.
No.50 – Paths Of Glory – Rating 8.4
Paths of Glory is another film I’ve never seen before or heard much about (What rock have I been living under), It’s a film that I have never seen mentioned in other top film lists or a film I have heard others mention when talking about Stanley Kubrick movies which is incredible considering the unbelievable quality of Paths Of Glory.
Kirk Douglas stars as Colonel Dax a well respected and decorated soldier of the French Army, probably in my favourite role of Douglas’s career, who During World War One leads a group of French soldiers who refuse to continue an impossible attack that would result in certain death. With their own careers on the line their superiors choose to make an example of them by putting three solders on trial for their lives. Colonel Dax chooses to defend the men in court but has to compete with the hopeless bias of the court and the determination of General Mireau (George Macready).
The story is just incredible, starting off by setting up relationships between certain key characters in an attempted scouting mission into no mans land where a drunken Lieutenant kills a colleague with a grenade in cowardice and flees leaving Corporal Paris a witness to the event which later leads him being one of the chosen to be put on trial to cover the Lieutenant’s blunder. This is followed by a memorable storm of the German stronghold over no man’s land led by Colonel Dax that is doomed to failure but so visually stunning as Dax urges his troops on leading by example and blowing his whistle that rings out amidst the explosions and gun fire.
Being overwhelmed by the enemy forces a majority of the troops fail to leave the trenches and others are in retreat, this news gets to General Mireau he issues the order to fire upon his own troops to get them out of the trenches with the order being refused which leads the General to request the execution of the three soldiers which leads us into the court room drama of trying to save these men’s lives with Dax valiantly fighting their cases. It’s a bleak and horrible last third watching the men suffer through the one sided trial and even more horrific knowing that this event is based on an actual occurrence, which is why it was banned in France for almost 20 years.
The film just blew me away, the story of different classes in the military was well told and the feeling of anger and frustration as the trial unfolded was captivating and emotionally upsetting as it reaches its conclusion. Considering the film is based on the French army and characters the dialogue was spoken in English/American language ,which was probably due to Kirk Douglas’s involvement, removes a little authenticity to the punch of the film. However nothing can be taken away from one of the finest films I’ve seen in years.
No.143 – Yojimbo – Rating 8.1
Akira Kurosawa is an absolute legend of film making and Toshiro Mifune is one of the coolest and most enjoyable actors to see on screen and with the pair making 16 films together, Yojimbo is easily Mifune’s finest display.
Yojimbo is a wonderful story of a mysterious ronin wanderer who cleans up a corrupt small town by playing two rival gangs against each other. The excellent story undoubtedly inspired Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, Last Man Standing by Walter Hill and Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Django proving what an influential timeless classic Yojimbo is and will always be.
The character of the nameless Samurai for hire is easily one of greatest characters of all time and there is nothing more enjoyable to watch as he enters the desolate town gathering the lay of the land from the local tavern owner and watching the two gangs at work. The suave and extremely cool swordsman decides to clean up the town by manipulating the two gangs into wiping each other out. Both gangs aspire to hire the Samurai for their side and both fail to see his plan as they both self destruct falling for his tricks.
A potential stumbling block does arrive in the brother of the leader of one of the gangs who carries a gun who proves to be a different challenge to the Bushido rule following Yojimbo played by the actor Tatsuya Nakadai who later became Kurosawa’s actor of choice following a well publicised fallout with Mifune, Nakadai stars in another film from our IMDb project in Kurosawa’s Ran.
I can’t praise this film enough, the look and feel is outstanding, the story is immensely enjoyable and watching Mifune perform at his best is something not to be missed and of course Akira Kurosawa is just a genius and without doubt a true legend and deservedly cemented in the IMDb250 list for all time.
No.8 – 12 Angry Men – Rating 8.8
WOW! what a film, seriously I doubt there is a film on the our list that will affect me like 12 Angry Men did. It’s one of those all time classic films, and I doubt many other films can illustrate the power of a strong script and flawless acting better than Sidney Lumet’s 1957 movie that has cemented itself in my film collection and in my head for all time.
It’s a film without breathtaking visuals, with no fancy editing and no special effects it’s just twelve men who are jurors on a murder case retiring to make their decision on an apparent straight forward guilty case. It takes place on a hot stuffy afternoon in a single room, where the 12 men debate the guilt or otherwise, of an 18-year-old boy when one of the jurors state Not Guilty when they all vote.
Reginald Rose’s perfect script which he adapted from his own play is what makes the film a stunning joy to watch and take in as you feel part of the jury being explained the details of having reasonable doubt of the murder. The superb acting from the entire cast is just sublime and to script roles that flesh out each character and give them a unique personality is key to the film working so well. Made by Sydney Lumet, who has two other films on our list, it’s brilliantly directed with its understated shots and with the entire cast of Fonda, Lee J Cobb and Jack Klugman in particular all making it so memorable it just has to be seen.
What I loved is that you see a brief glimpse of the accused at the start of the film, he looks like a criminal and is slightly strange looking, and you know absolutely nothing about the trial except that it’s a murder case leaving you without any knowledge to have already made an opinion of the trial, It’s a wonderful way to enter the film and as each piece of evidence is scrutinised by Juror No.8, played by Henry Fonda, you start to fall in love with the film as each Juror gradually starts to have doubts on their original verdict and for me I just got immersed into the story and would gladly have watched it for another 91 minutes.
Easily the finest film I’ve seen from the list and I doubt I will watch another film from the list that will effect or impress me more. A true classic and in my opinion proabably deserves to be No.1.
No.237 – Mulholland Drive – Rating 7.9
Why in the hell is this film on the list of the 250 best films of all time??? I get the film, it’s a clever little movie that on second viewing subtly gives away a lot of clues of what is going on but seriously for me it was one of the biggest piles of crap I’ve watched in ages.
I’m no fan of David Lynch, I kind of liked Blue Velvet and I have fond memories of Dune and of course there was Twin Peaks which was a confusing mess at the best of times but I really couldn’t give a dam about the rest of his films. There is no doubt that Lynch is one of the most visually talented Directors on the planet but it really can only appeal to a limited audience. I think the problem for me is that I could not be bothered to analyse the multiple layers of the film to understand the subtext of the story as I was just so confused to what was happening and further more I just didn’t care.
The story was at times so difficult to follow and took so much to work out that I just lost interest, it’s a film that will never appeal to a wide audience and although I appreciate that Lynch is trying to do something different and stylised I really don’t have a taste for it and never will. A shocking movie and the only top ten film list it would appear in for me would be the most overated and bloody annoying movies of all time.
My shortest review and probably easiest to write.
That concludes my five films. See you next week for Bazmann’s next five movies.
Don’t forget you can follow our progress at http://twitter.com/baz_mannand http://twitter.com/gary_phillips_
