My favourite films

I’m frequently asked to list my favourite films – and my standard answer is that the list changes according to my mood.

But broadly there are several movies I’m always in the mood for. In no particular order, the movies that will always make my top 10 list are:

The Shawshank Redemption: tremendous in so many ways – great direction, acting, dialogue, characters; almost unique in its study of true male friendships (sorry Shane Black, your Lethal Weapon buddy/buddy scripts don’t count); and a towering testament to the power of human will. And, of course, one of the rare examples of preview-screening-enforced changes making the film better. The final whispered line (“I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”) followed by that beautiful pull back as we see the two heroes embrace leaves me a gibbering wreck every time.

Paths of Glory: one of two Stanley Kubrick movies that I cannot live without. This Marxist critique of war (the enemy is not the other side but your own top brass who are sending you to war) is timeless, highlighting not only the horrors of war, but also the horrors man is capable of. It tells the true story of French top brass ordering their artillery to shell their own troops after those troops failed to leave their trench and run headlong into German fire with little hope of success and none of surviving the ordeal; ultimately three men are selected to face a firing squad pour encourage les autres. Their captain is played with liberal zeal by Kirk Douglas, who delivers his best performance ever. The superb kangaroo jury courtroom scene was the inspiration for Blackadder’s court martial for the death of Speckled Jim. The recent remastered print makes this film more powerful than ever.

Dr Strangelove: the other Kubrick I can’t live without. Reasoning that nuclear apocalypse was just too serious to contemplate in a drama, Kubrick spun this holocaust warning as a black comedy – when you’re laughing, your guards are down and therefore you’re more likely to receive the movie’s message. The film is perhaps most famous for Peter Sellars’ performance, taking on three very different roles. It’s simply perfect.

Casablanca: an obvious choice maybe, but what are you gonna do? My love for this knows no bounds.

When Harry Met Sally: one of the best scripts ever written, unforgettably performed by its leading players. It’s even worked as a seduction movie for me!

Infernal Affairs: the HK police v triad thriller that was butchered by Scorsese when he remade it as the bloated, pointless Departed. The original showcases brain and brawn. It’s written and directed with clinical precision, but also allows all the key characters (cops and triad members alike) plenty of room to breathe. The two leads – Tony Leung and Andy Lau – are screen gods in Asia, and the film is certainly helped by their detailed and charismatic turns. A stone-cold classic.

Outlaw Josey Wales: the Clint movie that would have won a truckload of Oscars in the mid-70s, but for prominent critic Pauline Kael’s sustained campaign against it. Choc full of great lines and great character actors. An important pre-cursor to Unforgiven and Gran Torino.

Out of Sight: until Up In The Air, this was Clooney’s greatest performance, combining his trademark rogue-ish charm with an emotional honesty he so rarely reveals. Directed with intense style by Steven Soderbergh, and scored perfectly by David Holmes, this is a constant pleasure. The cast is so well cast, it hurts. And then there’s the chemistry between Clooney and Jennifer Lopez – surely one of the top five screen couples – with the sparks bursting forth from the screen.

There are plenty more of course: the first two Aliens; the first two Terminators; all my favourite comic book movies (there is nothing better than Wolverine going berserker when the X-Mansion is invaded in X-Men 2); Star Wars 4-6 (which of course counts as one movie); Indy 1-3 (again, one movie!); Lord of the Rings (although a trilogy, that’s one film too!); a whole slew of Hitchcock’s movies and his most accomplished modern acolyte, David Fincher; a fistful of Clints; Shyamalan’s first two efforts (Sixth Sense and Unbreakable); some recent European cinema (Downfall, The Lives Of Others, etc); Schindler’s and Ryan from Spielberg; Field of Dreams; the collected work of Pixar; and of course some Bonds…

But I must make special mention of Un Coeur En Hiver, a French film I saw on 29 May 1992 – and although a friend bought me the DVD as a birthday present a few years back, I have never seen it since. The emotional detachment of the lead character shocked many critics, but not me. At the time, Daniel Auteuil’s outlook probably matched my own, and the film resonated with me strongly. That resonance has diminished with time as I have grown, but the power the film exerted over me back then lingers on. That the film also introduced me to Emmanuelle Beart (proof, surely, that God exists) is also worthy of note!

And that would lead on to my favourite screen goddesses, but that’s another blog for another day.