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Not the best, just my faves (21 titles)

by: A customer

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80
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2001 - A Space Odyssey

Quite simply, my favourite film ever. It just hits the spot for me. Not to everyone's taste, I know, but I love it.

2001 - A Space Odyssey on DVD (1968)
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
Stanley Kubrick's celebrated sci-fi treatise uses Strauss' 'Blue Danube', amongst other classical pieces, to add gravity to the film's weightless musings. At the dawn of Mankind, a tribe of ape-like beings are visited on Earth by a large black monolith. Thousands of years later, in the year 2001, ..read more »
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- 70
- from 34,455 members

Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters

Possibly the most mindblowing film I have ever seen. When I first watched this at an arthouse cinema in Central London I had to walk around for half an hour afterwards to clear my head. Unfortunately not available on DVD over here, but worth getting a multi-region player and buying a US import copy. See it, whatever you do.

Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
Starring: Ken Ogata, Masayuki Shionoya
Director: Paul Schrader
Certificate:
A fictionalised account in four segments of the life of Japan's celebrated 20th century author Yukio Mishima...
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- 70
- from 72 members
Currently unavailable

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Stunning, and the best thing Jack Nicholson has ever done - by a country mile.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest on DVD (1975)
Starring: Will Sampson, Paul Lambert, Sydney Lassick
Director: Milos Forman
Certificate:
With an insane asylum standing in for everyday society, Milos Forman's 1975 film adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel is a comically sharp indictment of the Establishment urge to conform. Playing crazy to avoid prison work detail, manic free spirit Randle P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is sent to the ..read more »
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- 80
- from 68,363 members

Kwaidan

This is the kind of film the Japanese do SOOO WELL. A series of adaptations of ghost stories by Lafcadio Hearn, a Japanophile writer who really gets into the Japanese psyche. 'Yuki no Onna' is the standout one, but it's phenomenal from start to finish.

Kwaidan on DVD (1964)
Starring: Misako Watanabe, Rentaro Mikuni, Keiko Kishi
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Certificate:
Portmanteau of four classic traditional ghost stories from director Masaki Kobayashi, presented for the first time in the complete original cut. In these stories, mortals find themselves caught up with strange supernatural forces beyond their comprehension. The individual stories are: 'Black Hair', ..read more »
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- 70
- from 1419 members

One From The Heart

I stumbled across this gem in my local video store, and it has been one of my absolute favourites ever since. The performances are tremendous, and the songs by Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle will tear you apart, if you have any soul.

One From The Heart on DVD (1982)
Starring: Nastassja Kinski, Raul Julia, Allen Garfield
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Certificate:
After completing Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola initially planned for his next picture to be an intimate romantic musical shot on a low budget in Las Vegas. Three years later, One from the Heart had mushroomed into a big-budget spectacular, shot on strikingly stylized sets at his newly opened ..read more »
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- 60
- from 660 members

Diva

Saw this in Paris on release. Another excellent example of the French mastery of the silver screen. This time a classic 'flic' story, full of moody cops and creepy villains - and some ruddy good singing!

Diva on DVD (1981)
Starring: Dominique Pinon, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Richard Bohringer
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Certificate:
Jules (Frederic Andrei) is a Parisian mail courier in possession of two highly sought-after tapes: the first contains a rare recording of American opera singer Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelmenia Fernandez), with whom he has fallen in love; the second is a tape slipped into his bag by a young woman just ..read more »
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- 70
- from 2638 members

Betty Blue

You'll never send a pizza back again! So typical of French cinema - a thoroughly enthralling tale of doomed love in the inimitable French style.

Betty Blue on DVD (1986)
Starring: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Beatrice Dalle
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Certificate:
Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) is a handyman working in France, maintaining and looking after a collection of beach bungalows. He lives a quiet and peaceful life, working diligently and writing in his spare time. One day Betty (Béatrice Dalle) walks into his life, a young woman who is as beautiful as ..read more »
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Regeneration

Wow, I was just blown away by this film from the very beginning. Gut wrenching drama from the first frame. An absolute must - see.

Regeneration (1997)
Starring: Stuart Bunce, Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby
Director: Gillies Mackinnon
Certificate:
At Craiglockhart Hospital during World War One, officer and poet Siegfried Sassoon (James Wilby) writes a statement condemning the war. This leads him into conflict with military psychologist Dr William Rivers (Jonathan Pryce), who cannot accept Sassoon's pacifist stance. Sassoon strikes up a ..read more »
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- 70
- from 1106 members
Currently unavailable

Insignificance

This is a film for which the phrase 'weird and wonderful' could have been coined. I mean, how can someone come up with a fictional meeting between Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe Di Maggio and Senator McCarthy?

Insignificance (1985)
Starring: Will Sampson, Gary Busey, Tony Curtis
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Certificate:
Nicholas Roeg's widely acclaimed drama set in the '50s and featuring fictional likenesses of four of the decade's most recognisable icons. The film is largely a theoretical conversation between Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Joe McCarthy and Joe DiMaggio, though no names are ever mentioned. A ..read more »
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- 60
- from 56 members
Not available for rental

Night Of The Demon / Curse Of The Demon

Damn scary, a superb adaptation of MR James' story 'Casting the Runes' (Plus, there's a brief appearance by 'Foggy' Dewhurst from 'Last of the Summer Wine')

Night Of The Demon / Curse Of The Demon on DVD (1957)
Starring: Rosamund Greenwood, Peter Elliott, Dana Andrews
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Certificate:
Classic slice of 1950s psychological horror. Dana Andrews stars as American psychologist Dr John Holden, who arrives in London to attend a paranormal psychology symposium with the aim of exposing devil cult leader Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) as a charlatan and a fraud. On his arrival, Holden ..read more »
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- 80
- from 851 members