Top 10: Favourite Movies of All Time

Well this is something new I’ve decided to start. There always Top 10s of something going around on the interweb, and I think it’s the right time for me to get my feet wet in that puddle. So after much consideration, and a lot of thought, I bring to you, my TOP 10 FAVOURITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME.

Now, this is probably the hardest list I’ve ever made. Well, this might quite possibly be the only list I’ve made, but lets not get into that. Point is, I gave it a lot of thought and this is what I came up with. Another thing that should be fairly obvious, but I’ll still point out, is that this list is completely my own opinion and based on the movies that I’ve seen. I can't evaluate a movie I haven’t seen. That means no Godfather movies, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings… sorry guys.

Alright let’s get to it.

10) 500 Days of Summer

Ok this movie, is deemed as one of the best romantic comedies ever. I concur with that statement. This is probably the most realistic portrayal of a relationship I’ve seen in Hollywood. This is as real as it gets people, that’s why it’s made a spot on my list.

9) The Matrix (Only the first one)

Aaah, the red pill or the blue pill. After seeing its sequels, I just wanted pills for Xanax. Let’s pretend they don’t exist for a while. This movie was revolutionary for it’s time and it still has the longevity for years to come. I saw it the other day and I assure you, its still amazing.

8) The Shawshank Redemption

Probably the best underrated movie ever. I mean wow; this movie dropped my jaw on so many occasions. This movie probably has a very intense climax, very quotable dialogues and Morgan Freeman. Morgan Freeman is always a win.

7) Fight Club

This was the first David Fincher directed feature I saw. This was a movie that I had to see twice to fully understand what had happened. Tyler Durden has been an influence ever since and he will punish me for breaking his first rule.

6) The Avengers

Lets face it, this was one of the best comic book movies ever. Marvel is yet to produce a movie we can't stand to see. This one was a gem. I remember going to the cinemas with my pals and seeing it in 3D. The Avengers was actually the first movie I saw in 3D. Needless to say, it was amazing and left an impression that has stayed with me over the years. Shakespeare in the park anyone?

5) Forrest Gump

Oh boy, my life has been a box of chocolates ever since I saw this spectacular piece of cinema. This movie made me cry, laugh and ultimately feel very happy about life. If a movie can touch all emotions like that, it definitely deserves a spot on my list. And that's all I have to say about that.

4) Shutter Island

I remember when I saw this movie with my cousin some three years ago. Him and I pulled an all-nighter and saw this movie together, pausing it at intervals to discuss what was going to happen next. Man oh man, this movie will definitely give you something to talk about for days to come.

3)  Lion King

The only animated movie on the list. It’s rated so high because of how timeless it is. It’s songs are still stuck with me today and its characters are still admirable. This 1994 classic deserves all the praise and much more. Hakunah Matata!!

2) Inception

Its time to get into the Nolan zone. Christopher Nolan is my favorite director. His movies are so thought provoking and meticulously crafted, that one wonders how spectacles like them are created. Same is the case with Inception. The concepts and ideas in this movie were executed so brilliantly, that I was left mind boggled when the movie ended. Of course the end is something to talk about as well. The top keeps spinning and spinning and spinning…

Before I unveil my favourite movie of all time, I’d like to call out a few movies that are also my favourite but couldn’t make it to the list.

Honourable Mentions:

The Bourne trilogy, Interstellar, Perks of being a Wallflower, The Prestige, Zodiac, Seven, The Departed, Wolf of Wallstreet, The Green Mile, Saving Private Ryan, The Silence of The Lambs, The Dark Knight Rises, Cast Away and Gone Girl.

1) The Dark Knight

Well, what do I say about this one. This is, without a doubt, my most watched movie ever. I’ve seen every scene atleast 10 times. This movie introduced me to Chistopher Nolan, and I’ve stayed a fan ever since. I don’t think, a better comic book movie has ever been put to screen, and after seeing Batman & Robin, all hope had been lost. But Nolan came through. This one is a fine piece of cinema, a timeless classic already.

I’d just like to state, that these aren’t the Ten Commandments, meaning this list is always subject to change. Maybe in a couple of years, it’ll be totally different. But for now, this is it!

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Interstellar: Review

"We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt." - Cooper

There are two kinds of movies in the world, normal movies and Christopher Nolan movies. The normal movies would sometimes be good and sometimes they’d be horrible. Christopher Nolan movies will always be good if not great and will never let you down. In this day and age where the directors are the stars of the movie, Christopher Nolan has definitely made a name for himself. After seeing Interstellar, it’s safe to say that the mind screwing director is back in action with another hell of a film.

Interstellar takes place a few decades or maybe a century in to the future. In this future, our resources are scarce. Mankind has been forced to go back to the olden times and become farmers and grow the only sustainable crop left; corn. There are frequent dust storms that will ultimately be the end of us because that is essentially what is killing us. Cooper, our protagonist, is an engineer and ex-pilot for NASA who is now a farmer as well. He is sent out on a mission to go through a wormhole and find a habitable planet in another galaxy that may be the salvation of the human race.

I cannot put into words how immaculate the cinematography for this movie is. Once the countdown began and we were off to space, jaws were dropped. If you thought Gravity was a visual spectacle, then you’re in a for a treat with this one. Christopher Nolan was able to capture the vast emptiness of space and darkness that comes with it. How everything that is visible in space is actually light-years away, Nolan made sure that the audience knew they were light-years away. It was truly awe-inspiring.

Something else that Christopher Nolan was able to do brilliantly was to capture the elements of time. Once you’re travelling at the speed of light and have gone into hyper sleep, time will move very different for you as oppose to the people on earth and Christopher Nolan did a fantastic job to illustrate that as we had seen him do it before in Inception. Time and space were the two key elements that Christopher Nolan explored in this film, and they were extravagantly clear. Also, the emotional pull of the movie was very well executed, all though sometimes shaky. The father daughter bond between Cooper and Murph was very human and touchy. 

The performances were expectedly amazing. Matthew McConaughey, the winner of the Best Actor at the Academy's last year brought his A game in this movie again. Anne Hathaway brought the brains and the soul to the film and Micheal Caine… well he’s Micheal Caine, he’s going to be amazing. The surprise performance for me was from Jessica Chastain who really stood out and shined. Hans Zimmer’s musical score was so hauntingly beautiful, it made you feel like you were in space. When the situation was tense, you could hear the tension flowing through the Organ music that filled the speakers in the theatre. It made the experience that much better.

Now this movie is definitely praise worthy, but not a masterpiece. There were a few things that didn’t fully connect with me. For starters, this film is complicated. This movie presents really bold ideas and grand theories, but its very hard to follow along with them. There was a lot of talk about physics and astrophysics, and if one has no knowledge about either, they can get lost. Although the film does explain itself fairly well, it’s a lot of information to grasp. Also, there is something that happens around the 2/3 mark of the movie that might pull away some of it’s viewers. If that thing doesn’t click with you, you might just come out of the movie not liking it. It clicked for me and I came out a happy camper.

For a movie that spans three hours, I felt nothing. The pacing was perfect, the effects were mind blowing and the story, although a little shaky at times, was very well thought out and almost perfectly executed. Irrespective of if you like the movie or not, you have to appreciate it’s ambition and the heights it tried to achieve. The only way to grasp everything this movie has to offer is to watch it on the biggest screen possible. This movie demands multiple viewing of itself to fully comprehend all it’s themes and ideas, an exercise I will do without any hesitation. One thing is for sure, Christopher Nolan cannot make a bad movie.

8.5/10

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