Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

This is just a film that you can't help but fall in love with. I loved the beauty and ambition of this picture. They changed the formula dramatically, it wasn't the standard who's who of big name actors playing goofy comedy rolls, it wasn't a series of references to contemporary culture and the movies of the last 30 years. Wall-e's references points were far less cool. Wall-e was a throw back to silent cinema, it was all about gorgeous cinematography, physical gags, a wonderfully score and bare emotion. The opening of the movie is completely without dialogue, it's spooky and haunting and tremendously well shot. The use of music and the overtl quirkiness of the picture is sublime. At it's heart however Wall-e is a love story, it's about hope. It has big broad classic sci fi themes about the human condition, the evils of big business and the apathy of the human race towards our planet and even our fellow man but they all play second fiddle to the romance between Wall-e and Eve. The movie is summed up to perfection in one scene. When Wall-e and Eve float in space, dancing around one another, there's no dialogue, just a combination of great comedy, beautiful imagery, gorgeous sound and overwhelming emotion. Wall-e is a brave movie, huge in scope and ambition but based around the most basic of emotive building blocks. The fact that it was a huge run away success shows that their just might be some hope left for humanity afterall.

When I think of my favourite three major actors the trio that come to mind are Russell Crowe, Leonardo Di Caprio & Bruce Willis. Remarkably not a single Crowe or Di Caprio film made my top twenty list despite their brilliant work, but we'll be seeing Bruce Willis a fair few times. It's hard to sum up Bruce's appeal he's a good actor, he's a great action hero, he's incredibly likeable, but he's no great looker, he's not oozing charm and let's face it he's not Humphrey Bogart but he is absolute Teflon at the box office. Well The Fifth Element is much more than a just a show piece for Willis. The Fifth Element was glorious silly, ridiculously over the top, and a total parody of itself from the word go, yet some how it was absolutely essential and irresistible. It felt like an art house film with it's sublime direction and creative camera work. Luc Besson direction is superb he creates this utterly daffy, completely nonsensical but gloriously colourful vision of the future. The film jumps around, one minute it showing the gritty depressing life of Willis' future cab driver and then contrasts it with the colourful comedy of...well everything else. The star of the show is without Mila Jolavich whose portrayal of The Fifth Element is simply superb, easily her best ever role. Ultimately The Fifth Element is a charming film, it's designed to plaster a smile across your face, it's full of great OTT performances and incredibly memorable scenes. An artistic triumph.

18. Reservoir Dogs

There's so much to love about Reservoir Dogs the soundtrack is of course sublime, it's Tarantino after all and the ensemble cast is excellent. Sean Penn is of course brilliant, seriously it's Sean Penn what else did you expect, he's both funny and incredible hateable you're just begging for this annoying prick to get iced. Steve Buscemi is superb and in my opinion it's still remains his best performance as the the quirky and paranoid Mr. Pink, the other true star turn comes from Micheal Madsen, who is too cool for school in this film, and I don't even need to describe the Stuck In The Middle With You scene. What makes Reservoir Dogs superb is that for a gangster movie, it's so minimalist, it's not loaded with action, it's all acting and character development. It's all about story telling and unique narratives. The majority of the movie takes place in a warehouse, and it feels like a tradition stage play, all the characters playing off against one another, the tensions run high, as each character questions each others background and motives, until the unforgettable finale. It feels like a great Miller or even Shakespearean stage play, every inch of this film is judged to perfection. Tarantino remarkably managed to seem cool, edgy and revolutionary while actually delivering a classic theatrical melodrama, now that's a hell of an achievement.

It's the first entry in the top twenty from my favourite director of all time. Stanley Kubrick truly was a genius, and what made him so special was not a destinctive style or approach but the fact that he could turn his hand to anything. He revolutionized movie making in so many different fields, it seems mind boggling that the same man who directed 2001 also direct Eyes Wide Shut, A Clock Work Orange, Full Metal Jacket, Dr. Strangelove and Path's Of Glory to name just a few. However of all his revolutionary movies none has had the influence of 2001... that sounds like a bold statement but really it isn't. Every movie and tv show involving space is in some way influenced by this film. Our very imagining of outer space is purely based around this one motion picture. The brilliance of 2001 is that it captures the emptiness of space, and it's utterly terrifying. Many people dislike this film, because it is so sparse, so empty and so cold, but that is why it is so perfect. The use of classical music, and these gorgeous empty scenes that just hang endlessly on screen is truly terrifying. For all the great exploration of the human condition, artificial intelligence, and the meaning of life, it will always be the beauty and emptiness of this film that makes it so remarkable. Nobody before or since has captured the sheer inhuman emptiness of outer space so well or in such a terrifying fashion. This truly is film as an artistic medium not a story telling devise, 2001 is a beautiful as it is chilling, a true masterpiece.

So after one of Kubrick's undisputed classics and one of the most revolutionary movies in film history I've opted for Kubrick's final work and arguably his least loved. Now many people found this film a let down, and I can understand why, in many ways it's similar to 2001 it's empty, it's cold, it takes a loving relationship and strips all the emotions away, it's contrasts love with raw primal emotionless sex. The whole later half of the film feels so dark, uncaring and almost horrifying. Kubrick conjures this wonderful mood, the secret club which Tom Cruise stumbles upon is so unwelcoming, so creepy and too bloody tense for words. Eyes Wide Shut really delves into the human psyche contrasting these great themes of love, romance, sex, fantasy, exploration and contrasting it with this constant threat of death, you fear for Cruise character in nearly ever scene, the film is so bleak, and intense. The brilliance of the film is it's open-endness it feels incredibly deep and yet utterly hollow at the same time. You can explore themes of trust and fantasy or you can sit back and enjoy the gorgeous vibrancy of the cinematography and wonder if there is anything to this film at all. Similar to 2001 it feels like the movie doesn't care whether you love it or hate it, it doesn't cater to the viewer, it feels absorbed with itself, there is little warmth, it's cold, harsh and strange yet remarkably it's beautiful and irresistibly captivating, you won't be able take your eyes of it, even for a second.