300 to 251
250 to 201
200 Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
199 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
198 Jackie Brown (1996)
197 Up (2009)
196 Oldboy (2003)
195 The Jungle Book (1967)
194 Dr Terrors House of Horrors (1965)
"A plant like that could destroy the world..."
The totally straight delivery of this line by Bernard Lee (of James Bond series fame) sums up this classic mix of silly horror stories. Christopher Lee is terrorized by a severed hand and Roy Castle steals voodoo ceremony music in another fun Amicus production which also stars genre stalwart Peter Cushing and a young Donald Sutherland.
193 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
192 I Saw the Devil (2010)
191 The Dark Knight (2008)
190 Tiger on the Beat (1988)
A buddy cop vehicle which features a chainsaw fight between Conan Lee and Gordon Liu, what else can I say. There's plenty of juvenile Canto-humour which may rub some viewers the wrong way and a few obvious scenes that date it as a product of the 1980s, but as a pure action feature it's fun and inventive. It's also another Hong Kong movie that seems to borrow entire scenes from Running Scared (the other being Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon) so I guess someone over there really likes Billy Crystal.
189 Born to Fight (2004)
The story is paper thin as a Thai sports team doing charity work find themselves in a rural village during a paramilitary takeover, but it's all just an excuse to have a whole lot acrobatics and stunt work involving kicks, flips and footballs. The opening scene involving a hand to hand fight on top of two moving cargo trucks is particularly wince inducing, but it's just one of many creative and action packed moments throughout.
188 Team America (2004)
The mix of ultra puerile humour and cutting satire amongst a lot of jibes about actors getting involved with politics is what makes this work so well, but it has to be said all the rules being broken about how puppets should be used on film creates a lot of laughs too. Thunderbirds never showed the hands or the characters walking for a good reason. The action movie gags also pile up during the running time rounding out the package.
187 Trading Places (1983)
186 Moon (2009)
Duncan Joneses debut is an atmospheric sci-fi story where character is focused on rather than spectacle. Though it does have some nice visuals including some great practical model work, which is refreshing thing to see these days. The influences of 2001, Alien and Silent Running are worn on it's sleeve but it makes for a good looking feature. The themes of isolation been done before, but are executed well. A great performance from Sam Rockwell and a haunting soundtrack by Clint Mansell seal the deal.
185 There Will Be Blood (2007)
184 The Time Machine (1960)
183 The Ten Commandments (1956)
I guess that most of the big Charlton Heston vehicles will be listed here somewhere, but this one in particular gets love for the inclusion of all those great Bible plague set pieces and all that big Biblical acting. The diabolically entertaining performance from Yul Brynner as the central villain is a highlight, and he also gets my award for best head gear in cinema during the big chase into the Red Sea.
182 Tenebrae (1982)
181 Rocky (1976)
180 Reservoir Dogs (1992)
'Mr Brown is a little too close to Mr Shit'
Tarantino's stripped down crime drama is set almost entirely in one location but it offers a lot of snappy dialogue and stage like character drama. A lot of the cast have never been better, and though it's punctuated with moments of sudden violence the music and the script are what stand out today.
179 The Dark Crystal (1982)
'Trial by stone!'
178 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
177 Pom Poko (1994)
An overlooked entry in the Studio Ghibli back catalogue, this one follows a colony of raccoon-dogs (not actual raccoons as the dub suggests) as they face the nightmare of deforestation and encrouching human housing projects. It's full of local folk lore including a lot on the subject of animal transformation (that's not a raccoon 'pouch' as the dub suggests). The ecological plot is obviously heavy handed but it adds a sombre note to all the wacky hi-jinks resulting in a balanced mixture of the mundane and the spectacular.
176 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
(Retrospective)
175 The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)
The one where they fight the creepy six armed statue of Kali and race to find the fountain of youth. Tom Baker chews the scenery and is eaten away by evil spirits in payment for their power in a performance that is both sinister and hammy. Bad hair, bad accents and bad jokes about hashish bring Harryhausen into the 1970s. The battle between a centaur and a griffon has never made a lot of sense in the overall narrative but the plot has never been the most important part of these films. As a good old swashbuckling adventure it never stops being entertaining.
174 Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
173 Zulu (1964)
172 Mon Oncle (1958)
171 The Lady Killers (1955)
170 The House that Dripped Blood (1971)
169 Clash of the Titans (1981)
Some of the goofier 1980s elements like the clockwork owl may be distracting but this one still holds the ace up its sleeve with Medusa the Gorgon - the creepiest stop motion character ever created for a non horror movie. Simple moments like the shadow of villain Calibos being deformed as Zeus punishes him during a game of Olympian chess or the King of Argus being crushed adds an interesting level of malice to the Greek Gods which makes for a good mix of adventure thrills and mild peril.
168 Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
167 King of New York (1990)
'I never killed anybody that didn't deserve it.'
166 28 Days Later (2002)
165 Fitzcarraldo (1982)
164 Drunken Angel (1948)
163 Subway (Metro) (1985)
162 Blade Runner (1982)
161 Gremlins (1984)
160 Rififi (1955)
'I liked you Macaroni. But you know the rules.'
An ultra stylish and ultra tense crime drama about an bitter, broken down jewel thief who doesn't forgive people for their mistakes. Even if they're close to him. Featuring a stand out heist scene in which all the dialogue stops and impossibly slow suspense takes centre stage, it's a fine example of visuals and editing alone driving a sequence. Things get a lot darker, and if it's even possible, a lot more engrossing towards the third act as everything falls to pieces and a clean getaway starts to get a whole lot messier.
159 Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
158 This is Spinal Tap (1984)
'Can I raise a practical question at this point.... Are we gonna do Stone Henge tomorrow?'
157 The City of Lost Children (1995)
156 The Maltese Falcon (1941)
155 Groundhog Day (1993)
155 Groundhog Day (1993)
154 *batteries not included (1987)
A sentimental sci-fi adventure from the era where you could spot which movies were made by Amblin from a mile away and family films could include arson, dementia and violent hired thugs. It's a weird mixture of melancholy and magic in a film that is part fairy tale and part science fiction. I often moan about James Horner plagiarising his own scores but this is the one that gets him off the hook.
153 The Untouchables (1987)
152 Theatre of Blood (1973)
151 Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
150 to 101
100 to 51
50 to 1
