TOP 150 MOVIES

A delightful tapestry of colour, song and romance, Singin’ in the Rain stands as one of the great (if not greatest) musicals and with good reason.

Set in 1920s Hollywood, Singin’ in the Rain focuses on three performers (Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds) as they learn that their film studio will transition from silent films to “talkies”. The story uses the chaos of that change to drive both the comedy and the musical numbers.

The superhuman Kelly is simply on fire here as both performer and director of the film’s extravagant dance sequences. O’Connor and Reynolds match him step for step, and the film’s mix of sharp humour, inventive staging, and pure energy keeps the whole thing feeling light even as the production grows bigger.

Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd. is a film that is both a sterling tribute to the legends of Hollywood’s silent era, and a damnation of the power brokers behind the silver screen who kicked their elder stars to the curb, only to be forgotten in time.     

The film stars William Holden as struggling Hollywood screen writer Joe Gilles, who falls in with faded star of the silent era and suicidal shut in Norma Desmond (played by real life silent screen star Gloria Swanson.)

Swanson’s performance as a sad figure wrapped in a villainous cocoon and a demented frame of mind is especially outstanding, in this masterful film-noir from one of Hollywood’s great filmmakers.

The baseball movie has become a fixture in America cinema. Field of Dreams had a spiritual spin. Bull Durham brought sex to the occasion. A League of Their Own took on gender politics. Moneyball delved behind the scenes in its portrayal of how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Bean (Brad Pitt) transformed the game by taking innovation over tradition in his use of analytics to build a winning ball team.

That a film about the mathematics of a sport which barely registers outside of the U.S. can be so engrossing is something of a miracle, yet that is what happens when a great (not to mention underrated) director like Bennett Miller is handed a script by power duo Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian.

With Brad Pitt out front hitting a home run in each scene with a naturalistic performance, it is of no wonder why Moneyball is such a winner.

Warrior ranks high in the pantheon of macho films that can make men cry like babies. While the film was promoted as a blue-collar MMA fight picture, Warrior is in fact so much more.

Directed by Gavin O’Connor (Miracle), Warrior stars Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy and Brendan and Tommy Conlon, estranged brothers and MMA competitors whose one connection is their mutual disdain for their alcoholic father (Nick Nolte.)

Although the knock-down, drag out slugfests in the cage are thrilling, the real battles are found outside the ring where this broken family find a way to mend their wounds through courage, forgiveness and love. The excellent performances from Edgerton, Hardy and especially Nolte, to go along with O’Connor’s excellent direction makes Warrior special blend of blood, will, and tears work so well.

Christopher Nolan’s Inception is an intellectually stimulating, visually enthralling blockbuster, of which Nolan has refined and perfected of his stellar career (thus far).

While the films groundbreaking, mind bending visuals are a thing to wonder, the strength of Inception lies in the emotional core in its story of a thief and widowed father Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), who continues to deal with the grief of losing his wife (Marion Cotillard) while yearning to reunite with his children.

Nolan’s ability to blend the epic with the intimate is perfectly exemplified in Inception, a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience which demands repeated viewings to absorb its impressive scope.  

A taut thriller wrapped in a mystery and delivered with exceptional storytelling flair; The Usual Suspects still stands as one of the best of its genre.

When five criminals are randomly brought together, little do they know that their fates have been written by an unknown figure hiding in the shadows, leading to what must be one of the best plot twists in film history.

Director Bryan Singer (X-Men) does an excellent job in pulling the strings of his audience, resulting in a film that’s as expert in its manipulations as it is enthrallingly entertaining. 

A dark and disturbing anti-drug movie, Requiem for a Dream delves into the deep dark pit of drug addiction in its portrayal of four lost souls haunted by their selective poison.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) with an unflinching emotional grittiness and undeniable visual power, Requiem for a Dream features career defining performances by Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and especially Ellen Burstyn who delivers a gut wrenching and heart-breaking turn that solidifies her status as one of the best to grace the screen.

The films portrayal of the destruction of mind, body and spirit (with its last 20 minutes especially sure to induce nightmares) will be too intense for some, but there is no denying the raw power and breathtaking craft which Aronofsky delivers.

Ben-Hur is the ultimate representation of the great, big, classic Hollywood extravaganza movie.

It is also a powerful story of Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston in all his hammy glory), a prince of Jerusalem who after being falsely imprisoned by Roman commander Messala (Stephen Boyd) escapes his unjust confines and seeks revenge.

Director William Wyler (Roman Holiday) brilliantly captures the incredible size and craftsmanship on display in this most epic of films, while Charlton Heston stamps his claim as a movie star for the ages.  

Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves remains one of the more sincere and large-scale Westerns of its era.

Costner stars as Lieutenant John Dunbar, a Union officer who requests a posting to the remote frontier and finds himself alone at an abandoned fort. What begins as isolation slowly turns into something else when he contacts a nearby Lakota Sioux tribe. Over time he is accepted into their community, learns their language and customs, and begins to see the land through their eyes.

Costner’s direction is patient and expansive, giving the film room to breathe across its long runtime. The result is a straightforward and often moving account of cultural connection and the cost of the coming conflict, anchored by strong performances and a clear sense of place.

A French language crime drama that is suitably ferocious in its depiction of violence and arresting in its character development, A Prophet is as captivating and confronting a film of its ilk that you will find.

An excellent Tahir Rahim stars as Malik, a 19-year-old French Muslim who uses his intelligence and penchant for violence to slowly ascend from isolated prisoner to mafia kingpin.

Opting for brutal realism and character development rather than Scarface style theatrics, director/co-writer Jacques Audiard mixes genre thrills with social realist drama to make for an arresting sure-to-be gangster classic.