akira. otomo katsuhiro - i decided to include this under films instead of books because the film is just so damn good and i doubt anyone would fork out 120quid for all six akira books under my recommendation. no way. but akira. it is the manga film. it towers over all other manga films and laughs at them (except 'ghost in the shell' obviously but more about that later). its set in post world war three neo-tokyo. near future. canada is the leader of a biker gang and his best friend tetsuo is taken away by the government after being part of a crazy accident involving this weird kid on some interstate. his contact with the kid and some government experiments give him some strange power he cant control. the plot is too complicated to really explain. you just have to watch this film. it gets really mess at the end. youll never eat blamanche again. its like refined obligatory obscure manga plot and ultra violence. and its a cartoon. haha.


amelie. jean pierre jeunet - i love this film. so do you. everyone loves this film. its the just the nicest film ever filmed. theres nothing not great about it.. it just couldnt really be any better. and i cant really do the film justice with an explanation. which is a bit of a pain but nevermind. this film really made my day when i went to see it. its like the opposite of 'requiem for a dream'. its the only feel good movie youll ever need. and not in the way thatll make you sick. well maybe for some people. but they just suck and we dont care about them. not anymore anyway. jeunet is just so clever. the intricacy and detail boggles the mind. i was so chuffed when it actually won some awards. it was nominated for shit loads. dont believe it didnt win them all theres no accounting for some peoples taste. at least it beat that shitty moulin rouge piece of shit. indeed.


being john malcovich. ? - probably


bladerunner. ridley scott - arguably the best cyberpunk movie. or at least the first anyway. there just arnt enough cyberpunk movies. anyway. bladerunner. you all know this film so i dont wanna go on about it much. what i like most about it tho is i used to watch it a bit when i was little and never understood the unicorn at the end. all the other origami makes sense except that one. then one day i noticed that when he fell asleep deckard dreamed of unicorns. and then hes told there was six replicants and they caught two. one of which was destroyed while trying to escape. so wheres the sixth? deckard. genius. and i never noticed it for years. ive never seen the non-directors cut tho.. so who knows.


the cell. tasem - i wasnt sure whether to include this. probably cos most people seem to hate it so much. hmmm. yeah its got ms.lopez in it but who gives a shit anyway? okay the plot is kinda dodgy too. so? just look at it. its beautiful. it just oozes style. the dream scenes are just amazing. the visuals sounds and ideas in them are fantastic. those scenes are so well thought out as well and have some pretty deep subtle shit going on (shame about the rest huh?). but the production is just so superb. its by the guy who directed the 'loosing my religion' video. so yeah. yum. i think you just gotta learn to appreciate the amazing bits of this film and ignore the rest. it should have been a music video i suppose. the guys seems to be a bit of an asshole tho. but nevermind. i dont care.


city of god. ? - this is the film


the city of lost children. jeunet & caro - this is the film they made after delicatessen (see just belowish) and its probably even better. maybe. theres this scientist who is growing old fast because he cant dream. so he kidnaps children from this little french town to have their dreams. one of which is the younger brother of this strongman called one. he then goes off to find him. some of the scenes are perfectly set up. more so than delicatessen. its not as funny but i dont think it was suposed to be. its a stunningly gorgeous film and i dont care if you dont like subtitles. its a crime to watch this film dubbed. its truly one of the best films ever made. jeunet is also the guy who recently did amelie and directed alien ressurection. you may think that film sucks but just watch it again and notice the beauty in the directing. yep. im right.


dark city. alex proyas - heres another film a lot of people seem to hate. but why? pyah. i dont know. maybe its cos the bald alien things are so silly. maybe. anyway. its set in a dark city (did i just ruin the plot or is that obvious?) and john murdoch awakes in a bath with no memory. there a psychologist guy trying to help him. the police are trying to arrest him for multiple homicide. and then theres the bald alien things (hmm richard obrian) chasing after him. but the city.. the city. its one of cinemas greatest moments. its like a giant labyrinth. its the kind of places i dreamt of as a kid. its uber-noir. its a piece of art work of genius. its the kinda place your mind can get lost in. you have to appreciate the style of this film. i just noticed i have quite a few films on here that are kinda detective films. hmm. maybe i just like films that unfold. i guess its just an interesting journey. a fast moving one at that.


delicatessen. jeunet & caro - i think this is probably the funniest film ive ever seen. id like to say 'when it comes to comedy nobody does it better than the french' ..but that would be weird wouldnt it? or just plain wrong. but this film is brilliant. jeunet & caro are just amazing and this is their first film. its set in france during the war (i think) in a block of apartments. the butcher gets around the meat rationing by selling human meat. um. anyway. louison who used to be a circus clown is the new tennant but the butchers daughter falls for him. etc. add a building of the most amusing tennants and a sewer full of vegetarian gorilla terrorist. the genius behind this film is unfathomable. just watch it okay. i think ive praised these guys enough already. haha.


donnie darko. richard kelly - this was the best film of 2002. no doubt. i beg you all to see it. its quite blatantly one of the best pieces of cinema ever. and to think its the guys first film. ive been obscenitied. ill try and describe it in terms of other films. imagine requiem for a dream crossed with the lost highway (bear with me here). then multiply that by american beauty and add tweleve monkeys. do the equation with what the films are like.. then with how good they are. and thats donnie darko. i love this film. the plot is amazing. the script is amazing. the acting is amazing. the directing is amazing. the soundtrack is amazing. and its got an amazing website. if you didnt see donnie darko and didnt buy the glassjaw album what exactly were you doing in 2002? being foolish. so yeah. let me try and explain some vague explanation type thing. mince my words a little. so. donnie is this kid who has some psychological problems. he also sees this giant rabbit. more like a man in a bunny suit. scary fucker anyway. oh. its a time travelling rabbit as well. and it makes donnie do stuff. then they talk about smurfs a bit. and love and hate. when youve seen this film id love to sit down and talk through its finer points with you.. but cant do that now. not cos itll ruin it for you. just cos it wont make any sense. so. its not a horror film but it does have scary bits in it. three. its not a comedy film but its really funny. its not a thriller although it is kinda tense. its not a romance but there is a love story going on. and its apocalyptic. yay. so yeah. please believe me when i tell you that you need to see this film. can i word yet? word. cellar door. etc.


fight club. chuck palahniuk - another one of the best films ever made. undoubtably. why it didnt do better than it did is no ones guess. if you havnt seen it then why not? i understand that the whole violence thing is a bit ..off putting? maybe. but its just not that big a deal yknow. people get punched all the time. haha. what i like about fight club is that even without the mental stuff in the last half hour it still would have been a really good film. there was enough plot in there without it.. but they just have to go and spin everything on its head and make it even better. a lot of films rely on their twists to make them good. but not this film. its got the ideals. theres just the right mix of politics and style thats needed nowadays. its like it looks good but it really scrapes away. and pixies playing out. the song was written for that film. or something. haha.


ghost in the shell. masamune shirow - oooh intelligent manga. im sure i can get slagged off for saying it but most manga is really kinda dull and moronic. its just crappy violence and big guns and boobs. but anyway. ghost in the shell isnt. its practically cyberpunk and its pretty sound. youve even got the femme fatale. and the technology is gorgeous. the whole animation style is brilliant.. way better than akira. and the plot is also suitably far fetched. its even gibson in places. read the book as well.. its very different and has more story in it. the vague plot is something like.. ermm.. these cyborg geezers have to track down and arrest (or whatever) this puppet master guy for commiting some political crimes etc. lots of espionage and back stabbing. blah blah. some amazing fight scenes. did i mention the matrx ripped off at least three scenes from this film? well if they didnt then its a bit of a coincidence. im a bit pissed off cos ive bought the dvd several times and the sound is out with the picture. wtf is that about? idiots. oh yeah. theres a second film or book in the making as well (not sure which). how good is that?


go. ? - probably


la haine. mathieur kassovitz - probably


leon. luc besson - probably


lola rennt. tom tykwer - have you noticed i like my foreign films yet? i just thing theres some amazing talent around the world and people are too busy watching crappy american films to notice. so yeah. run lola run. gotta love this film. mani is this german dude and he deals with dodgy people and he messes up one time. he looses a lot of money and he got twenty minutes to get it back before his mafia type boss geezer turns up and gets angry. so he calls his girlfriend lola. shes then got twenty minutes to get the money (something like 20k) and get to the other sider of town. its a bit like go in that the films split into three parts.. but each part shows a different possible outcome depending on whether lola jumps over the dog on the stairs or not. its clever the way the plot comes out in different parts. its hard to explain. and it has really funny bits as well. and the soundtrack is yummy. i really need to see this guys second film. damnit.


lost highway. david lynch - im not gonna pretend. this film is fucked up and makes little to no sense.


monsters inc. pixar - this films rocks seven bells of polygons out of every other computer animated film. i know shrek is well good and everything. no. really really good. but monsters inc is better. down to every little last detail. like the hole in the back of sullys chair. and the dvd has more stuff on that you could ever possibly need or want. its so complete. its beautiful. its moving. its amazing.


natural born killers. oliver stone - i just think this film is funny. it is. its mtv-o-vision. and its really well done. its clever as well. i like the style. its kinda disjointed but always really in your face. and i like the way it puts you on the side of the murderers. theyre blatantly total bastards. these people you would never like. but youre really rooting for them when theyre escaping at the end. is this the message? that media in the wrong hands can have such a dramatic effect on your opinions? well whatever. i had some lines from films in my head for the whole of first year at uni and i couldnt work out which films they came from. when i got this on dvd it turned out they were all from this. i didnt realise it had affected me that much. its a powerful film tho. and its an entertaining watch. its a bit like fight club. its violent and it speaks to you. but i think its saying a very different thing. yknow i hate people who analyse films. tell me to shut up.


pi. darren arronofsky - how can a film about maths be good? ill tell you. its directed and written by darren arronofsky. okay. theres this guy and hes a number theorist dude and hes looking for patterns in the stock market.. this gets him some wall street people after him etc.. and some religous geezers who are trying to find the pattern in their holy book. its more complicated than that but im not gonna bother explaining. he also suffers from really bad migraines. really bad. and clint mansell did the soundtrack. and its kinda cyberpunk. and its black and white. and its darren arronofskys first film. theres also 216 letter e's in this paragraph. and if youre about to count them dont bother.


requiem for a dream. darren arronofsky - i can understand why you might not like this film. its not the most pleastant of films. its arronofskys second film and but its written by someone else this time. and its not a drug movie. its a film about addiction. but it starts good. harry and sara are in love and they have everything going for them. harry and his friend decided to start dealing and make lots of money. meanwhile harrys mum gets a phonecall and shes going to be on television. she wants to wear her red dress but shes got to diet before she can fit into it. now try and picture how this film is going to end. the films a big crushing downward spiral as their lives start to fall apart. the guy just has talent. who else could make a fridge scary? (although you may have to see it at the cinema). the photography is superb. its getting into jeunet and caro territory its so good. and the acting is amazing. ellen burnstyn is so good. and marlon wayans proves that he can act (how many dumbass films has he been in?!). theres some great cameos from the cast of pi as well. and note the pier scene which is identicle to the pier scene in dark city. scary. but yes. not a film for everyone but you can always stop watching it halfway through. umm. no you cant.


strange days - ooh is it cyberpunk? i guess it is. just set a little bit in the future (which is actually the past now. so there you go). its the only good film set around the millenium and starts a few days before new years. theres some amazing use of premillenium tension. its not corny its brilliant. anyway. this things been invented which sits on your head and can record your brain patterns and shit. this can then be played back and the user witnesss exactly what and how the previous person was feeling. and it all fits on a minidisc. brilliant. but theres some bad shit going down and this 'experience' (i forget what they call it) dealer gets involved. one of his girls get murdered and its really not pretty. anyway. its got the same kinda detective feel that bladerunner has. it has so many plot twists. some of which are kinda obvious. kinda. but its so good. its worth watching for the end alone. it has one of the most powerful endings a film could have. and jericho was just cool..


twelve monkeys. terry gilliam - this was my favourite film for a long time. it isnt now but that might be because i havnt seen it for so long. i dunno.