As with Wong Kar Wai for HK-produced movies, the Director which restored my faith in Chinese movies is Zhang Yi Mou. My very first exposure to this talented Director started in late 1996 when my housemate rented a copy of Lifetimes (Huo Zhe, 1994)  I was soaked into Zhang Yi Mou's enriching story which spans 4 decades about the lessons in life of a character played by Ge You, together with his picturesque shot of each scene.

 

With every movie I viewed from China's greatest though controversial director, I understood why some Chinese dislike the man, and why the Government decided to ban some of his movies. Nevertheless, I applaud his dare-to-be-different spirit in making these movies, his originality, his wonderful style & techniques in choosing shots etc. Lately, I detest his decision to make commercial Hollywood-type of movies which sacrifices originality, the worst being the laughable House of Flying Daggers (Shi Mian Mai Fu, 2004)

 

Nonetheless, he is still unreplaceable as the Best Director China has to offer, with so many of his movies being way above average than most other directors in the world. So far, the only other Chinese Director starting to gain some momentum is Feng Xiao Gang, and I had the pleasure in 1999 to discover his earlier, less commercial work in Be There or Be Square (Bu Jian Bu San, 1998)   Similarly, when commercial success overtook originality & artistic values in choosing what movies will get made, his movies has gone downhill since then.

 

 

1) Red Sorghum, The (Hong Gao Liang, 1987) - Zhang Yi Mou

2) Ju Dou (Ju Dou, 1990) - Zhang Yi Mou & Yang Feng Liang

3) Raise the Red Lantern (Da Hong Deng Long Gao Gao Gua, 1991) - Zhang Yi Mou

4) Story of Qiu Ju, The (Qiu Ju Da Guan Si, 1992) - Zhang Yi Mou

5) Lifetimes (Huo Zhe, 1994) - Zhang Yi Mou

6) Shanghai Triad (Yao A Yao, Yao Dao Wai Po Qiao, 1995) - Zhang Yi Mou

7) Be There or Be Square (Bu Jian Bu San, 1998) - Feng Xiao Gang

8) Not One Less (Yi Ge Dou Bu Neng Shao, 1999) - Zhang Yi Mou

9) Road Home, The (Wo De Fu Qing Mu Qing, 1999) - Zhang Yi Mou

10) Cell Phone (Shou Ji, 2003) - Feng Xiao Gang

 

 

 

The Godfather and the Godfather II are listed as No.1 and No.3 in IMDB's Best Movies of All Time as scored by regular voters of IMDB-users perpetually. While not my favorite movies of all time, they are definitely amongst my top in the Gangster genre. Luminaries of gangster movies include directors Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorcese, Brian de Palma and actors Al Pacino & Robert De Niro.

 

In 1998, Guy Ritchie (Madonna's current husband) invented a new style of cool UK gangster movies, which has been referenced by many other gangster movies after that.

 

HK has been a prolific source for gang-related movies, but many are mundane at best, aside from being a copycat of each other. Johnnie To directed a few interesting and fresh take on this genre.

 

 

Some of the extreme hardships & plights presented in these movies are so difficult that it makes you wanna give up hope and life altogether. Do you have what it takes to survive?

 

1) Flight of the Phoenix (1965) - in the dry Sahara desert

2) Airport '77 (1977) - in a sinking crashed airplane on the sea at the Bermuda Triangle

3) Alive (1993) - in the frozen snow of the Andes Mountain

4) Schindler's List (1993) - in Austria during the Holocaust

5) Titanic (1997) - in a sinking ship in freezing North Atlantic ocean

6) Life Is Beautiful (La Vita de Bella, 1997) - in a Nazi concentration camp

7) Cast Away (2000) - in a tiny deserted island

8) Pianist, The (2002) - in the Jewish Ghetto of Warsaw during World War II

9) Hotel Rwanda (2004) - in the midst of Hutu militia uprising in Rwanda

10) War of the Worlds (2005) - in a synchronized worldwide attack of aliens from Mars

 

 

 

These are the movies on battles and gunfights depicting Modern War associated with our history. I have excluded movies dealing with psychological effects of war and some have been categorized under the Top 10 Best Survival Movies.

 

1) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

2) Patton (1970)

3) Apocalypse Now (1979)

4) Boat, The (Das Boot, 1981)

5) Full Metal Jacket (1987)

6) Saving Private Ryan (1998)

7) U-571 (2000)

8) Thirteenth Days (2001)

9) Pearl Harbour (2001)

10) Enemy at the Gates (2001)

 

 

 

This genre is very hard to define, as many movies has a little bit of thriller in them. IMDB classifies many movies with a combination of genres, hence is not much of a help here.

 

I have defined Thriller into 3 sub-categories as follows, with the basic definition of thriller being an engrossing story which keeps you at the edge of your seat or one with a "twist" you didnt see coming.

 

 

 

1) Psycho (1960)

2) Taxi Driver (1976)

3) Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)

4) Cape Fear (1991)

5) Basic Instinct (1992)

6) Falling Down (1993)

7) Nightwatch (1997)

8) Arlington Road (1999)

9) Memento (2000) 

1) Rosemary's Baby (1968)

2) Omen, The (1976)

3) Damien: Omen II (1978)

4) Final Conflict, The (Omen III) (1981)

5) Prophecy, The (1995)

6) Sixth Sense, The (1999)

7) Final Destination (2000)

8) Others, The (2001)

9) Double Vision (Shuang Tong, 2002)

10) Skeleton Key, The (2005)

 

 

1) Blade Runner (1982)

2) Total Recall (1990)

3) Dark City (1998)

4) Thirteenth Floor, The (1999)

5) eXistenZ (1999)

6) Signs (2002)

7) Impostor (2002)

8) Minority Report (2002)

9) Paycheck (2003)

10) Butterfly Effect (2004)

 

 

 

It's a shame to see the state of disintegration of Hollywood animated movies from its height during Walt Disney days. Pixar Studio at least produces above average animation in all of its releases thus far, with A Bug's Life (1998) and Finding Nemo (2003) worth a mention. Just missing out on the Top 10 is a creative and entertaining Claymation movie, Chicken Run (2000). Nevertheless, another force was building in a faraway corner of the world, in a totally different culture: Japan's Studio Ghibli, founded by the unparalleled Hayao Miyazaki.

 

It is no surprise that if you do a search on IMDB for the Top 50 Best Animations voted by online users, you will see all 9 animated features directed by Miyazaki are listed, where his most critically & commercially successful Spirited Away (Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi, 2001) is standing proud at No.1, followed by Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime, 1997) at No.3  Other than this, his credit include another entry written by him, another produced by him, and yet another released by Studio Ghibli making it 12 entries in the Top 50.

 

Compelling characters, breathtaking animations, entertaining plots and good story-telling that reaches into your soul made him the greatest animation director ever.

 

 

1) Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)

2) Bambi (1942)

3) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds (Kaze No Tani No Naushika, 1984)

4) Castle in the Sky (Tenku No Shiro Rapyuta, 1986)

5) My Neighbour Totoro (Tonari No Totoro, 1988)

6) Land Before Time, The (1988)

7) Kiki's Delivery Service (Majo No Takkyubin, 1989)

8) Raccoon War, The (Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko, 1994)

9) Lion King, The (1994)

 

 

I started watching HK kung-fu movies as a kid in the 70s, notably starring the young Jackie Chan and the late Alexander Fu Sheng. However, i've always felt that HK-produced movies lacked the quality of becoming memorable movies aside from the kung-fu comedies or the gangster movies made popular by Director John Woo. Before long, the proliferation of generic HK movies in the 80s and early 90s caused a decline in the industry.

 

I have soon lost all interest for HK movies, even consider them crap, until fate came along and accidentally introduced me to one of my most favorite Director of all time, Wong Kar Wai. It started with his 1997's Happy Together which I watched in an old cinema in Taipei when I was locked out of my house. I had to wait for a friend to bring the spare key after 11pm, so I had 3 hours to kill. With the only choice being the infamous Chun Guang Zha Xie, I watched this movie alone with only 11 other strangers in the whole theatre. 10 minutes into the movie, 3 movie-goers left. By the end of the movie, there were only 5 of us still sitting there. Most of them cannot stomach seeing their favorite actors Tony LiangChaoWei doing a passionate french kiss with the late Leslie ZhangGuoRong.

 

For me, I was captivated by the unusual style & technique of Wong Kar Wai, his memorably-scripted dialogs, the sometimes deafening silence of his movie characters, his hand-held camera movement, the lightings & colors captured through Christopher Doyle's beautiful cinematography, and the haunting tune of The Turtle's song of the same name, "Happy Together". Immediately the next day, I voraciously sought-after every one of his movies and watched them again and again a few times. I was deeply-entrenched in how he seems to bring out the best in each of the thespians playing their respective unique characters.

Maggie ZhangManYu often proclaimed that she was a "hua ping (flower vase)" before she starred in the first Wong Kar Wai's movie: As Tears Go By (Wang Jiao Ka Men, 1988)  Most of all, almost every single movie of his conveyed the loneliness of human beings in a weird and yet attractive way no one has ever done before. It was deep, and needless to say, I was hooked.

 

Since then, Wong Kar Wai single-handedly revived my confidence in HK-made movies. Once in awhile, I can still discover good-quality HK movies through a few other directors such as Fruit Chan, Mabel Cheung, Johnnie To, or scripts written by James Yuen. 

 

 

1) Days of Being Wild (A Fei Zheng Chuan, 1991) - Wong Kar Wai

2) Chung King Express (Chong Qin Sen Lin, 1994) - Wong Kar Wai

3) Ashes of Time (Dong Xie Xi Du, 1994) - Wong Kar Wai

4) Fallen Angels (Duo Luo Tian Shi, 1995) - Wong Kar Wai 

5) Happy Together (Chun Guang Zha Xie, 1997) - Wong Kar Wai

6) Soong Sisters, The (Song Jia Huang Chao, 1997) - Mabel Cheung

7) Your Place Or Mine (Mei Tian Ai Ni Ba Xiao Shi, 1998) - James Yuen  

8) In the Mood for Love (Hua Yang Nian Hua, 2000) - Wong Kar Wai

9) Durian Durian (Liu Lian Piao Piao, 2000) - Fruit Chan Guo

10) Internal Affairs (Wu Jian Dao, 2002) - Mak Siu Fai & Lau Wai Keung

 

 

 

There can be several classifications for what constitute a romantic movie, hence to streamline, i have only picked the feel-good, fun type with a fairy-tale kinda ending. Also, it is based on my feeling of first viewing (and sometimes, whom you watched it with ;-)) These are the ones which has stood the test of time and still elicit that romantic feelings after repeated viewings. So, here are the Top 10 most romantic movies according to this definition:

 

1) Secret Admirer (1985)

2) Pretty Woman (1990)

3) Sleepless In Seattle (1993)

4) Only You (1994)

5) Sense & Sensibility (1995)

6) While You Were Sleeping (1995) 

7) As Good As It Gets (1997)

8) Shakespeare In Love (1998)

9) Keeping the Faith (2000)

10) Serendipity (2001)

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, the fantasy world created by a movie can be so engrossing that you cant wait for the sequel or prequel to be released, or the mere announcement of an impending script being passed around keeps your hope alive for it to enter casting & production stage.

 

Here are the Top 10 premises I wish a sequel or prequel will get made:

 

 

1) 3001: The Final Odyssey - ?

 

The late great director Stanley Kubrick is no longer here to direct what he started in 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey together with writer Arthur C. Clarke, in what became known as the most important & thought-provoking Sci-Fi movie ever made. Its sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) directed by Peter Hyam was a pure disappointment. Sadly, he departed from this world before having a chance to film his vision for A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) which was completed by Steven Spielberg in the year 2001 but to mixed results both critically & commercially. Hence, which director can shoulder this responsibility of directing the final part of Arthur C. Clarke's trilogy?

 

 

2) The Hobbit (prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy) - Peter Jackson

 

Peter Jackson has expressed interest to direct this but first, the ownership of rights to produce this movie by opposing film studios will need to be sorted out. After unbelievably etching his name in film-making history by the successful adaptation of Tolkien's Lord of the Ring's book, no one will ever qualify to adapt & direct a fantasy movie of this magnitude other than the master craftsman, Peter Jackson himself.

 

 

3) Terminator 4 - James Cameron (to be released in 2008 but directed by Jonathan Mostow unfortunately)

 

James Cameron has been living in semi-retirement after making the most successful single hit movie of all-time, Titanic (1997). No movie has ever come close to its titanic box-office result of USD 600 million in US & Canada alone, and USD 1.8 billion in worldwide box-office receipts in 1997 dollars (before factoring-in inflation for today) The Terminator (1984) & Terminator II (1991) were big hits that kept fans clamouring for more when James Cameron sat in the Director's chair. Terminator III (2003) was a real let-down by Jonathan Mostow. Is there no project worthwhile enough to pull James Cameron out of his current pursuit of underwater documentaries? And will Arnie the Governor resume his office duty in US politics or will he resume his role as Arnie the Terminator?

 

 

4) Aliens 5: Invasion Earth - James Cameron or Ridley Scott

 

Out of the four Alien movies (2004's Aliens Vs. Predator not counted), the original Alien (1979) by Ridley Scott and Aliens (1986) by James Cameron stand as one of the best Sci-Fi / Horror genre movie ever created. The young David Fincher handled Alien 3 (1992) poorly and certainly an entry into my Top 10 biggest disappointment registered for a highly-anticipated movie, if I ever compile such a list. Jean-Pierre Junet's Alien: Resurrection (1997) did slightly better but wasnt enough to save the day. Awaiting the day when Aliens invade Planet Earth at the helm of either James Cameron or Ridley Scott.

 

 

5) Blade Runner 2 - Ridley Scott

 

I love all the Philip K. Dick's sci-fi novels and short stories that has been turned into movies thus far: Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (1990), Screamers (1995), Impostor (2002), Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003) and A Scanner Darkly to be released in 2006 while Next (2007) is in pre-production stage. Though it seems unlikely that Blade Runner II will ever be made, I am wishing that someone will pick up the story of Deckard, the android police officer.

 

 

6) The Thing 2 - John Carpenter

 

If the deafening sound of fans on the internet is anything to go by, it is for a sequel to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) John Carpenter is a genius who writes, produces, directs and even composes the music to most of his movies, and though many of his movies are horror and sci-fi, each of them are quite unique. However, this is my favorite and most scary amongst his movies. Like his legion of fans, I am begging for a sequel to be made soon....

 

 

7) Contact 2 - Robert Zemeckis

 

There were a lot of thought-provoking sci-fi movies in the 70s and 80s, but the 90s barely produces any such movies other than The Matrix (1999) which had not one, but two most disappointing sequels in Matrix Reloaded (2003) and Matrix Revolutions (2003) The other one is Contact (1997) based on a novel by Carl Sagan and starring the brilliant Jodie Foster with a touch of drama and controversy on science vs religion. Would be interesting to see how this movie will continue...

 

 

8) Equilibrium 2 - Kurt Wimmer

 

Kurt Wimmer has been a screenwriter for several  Hollywood movies but people started taking notice when he built a cult following on his 2nd directorial effort with the Matrix-like sci-fi movie Equilibrium (2002) starring a pre-Batman Begins Christian Bale. Together with David Twohy (The Arrival, Pitch Black, Below & The Chronicles of Riddick) I see them as up & coming Sci-Fi Directors looking for the next big break. Equilibrium is an exciting premise with a unique fighting style, which has potential to be a mainstream hit if given more production and marketing budget. Here's hoping there will be a sequel greenlighted by a bigger studio....

 

 

9) Mad Max 4 - George Miller (to be released in 2007)

 

Post-apocalyptic desert wasteland has never been more real than George Miller's Mad Max series. This movie has already been in the doldrums for a few years when the production office was shut down after 9/11 due to travel restrictions imposed. Best movie in this series is still Mad Max II: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mel Gibson is certainly not too old to resume this role, for who would Mad Max be if not Mel Gibson?

 

 

10) Indiana Jones 4 - Steven Spielberg (to be released in 2007)

 

Mr. Indy Jones, Harrison Ford badly needs a hit to revive his sagging career as the all-American popular hero rather than Steven Spielberg (Director) or George Lucas (Writer & Producer) It is still fun to see the three heavyweights in Hollywood working in tandem to produce the memorable Indiana Jones saga starting from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), to Temple of Doom (1984) to The Last Crusade (1989)

 

 

Cant wait to watch and own any of the above movies, if they ever get made......

 

 

 

 

 

Born on Nov 20, 1971, I was blessed with a photographic memory since young. I can remember a lot of my early childhood memories since self-awareness at the age of 4. Hence, my movie-memory started with Jaws, which had such an impact on me that I was so scared to take a bath for fear of seeing a shark-fin protruding above the water in the tub. I remember that same year on Christmas Eve of 1975, my parents asked my siblings and I to wish aloud what we wanted as Christmas presents before going to bed, so that "Santa Claus" would hear us and grant our wish if we became good boy & girls by sleeping early. Sure enough, as you can guess, I wished for "Jaws" and was delighted to find Bruce the rubber shark (as affectionately known by Spielberg's production team) all wrapped up beside my mattress the next morning.

 

Next movie-memory registered was the crashing plane with survivors waiting to be rescued in the movie Airport 1975 (though it was released in the Year 1974). Somehow it didnt hit me so hard compared with Jaws because air-travel was still a rarity in my home country back in those days. Little did I ever imagine that I will be zooming across the skies so much later on in my 20s and 30s.

 

Despite my best effort, I couldnt remember watching the horror movie The Exorcist (1973) which is an even earlier movie I have seen according to my parents, but recalled Exorcist II: The Heretic in 1977. All other movies which followed were from age 6 onwards.

 

1) 1975: Jaws (1975)

2) 1976: Airport 1975 (1974)

3) 1977: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

4) 1977: Earthquake (1974)

5) 1977: King Kong (1976)

6) 1977: Marathon Man (1976)

7) 1977: Cassandra Crossing (1976)

8) 1977: Savage Bees, The (1977)

9) 1977: Spy Who Loved Me, The (1977)

10) 1977: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

 

 

 

Yes, I keep a record of all movies I have watched in my life thus far since as far back as I can remember at 4 years old, Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) which scared the living daylights out of me til' this day. I started making this record when I was 15, then recalled all the previous movies I have watched every year since Jaws. As of the date of this writing, I have viewed 2,610 movies of all kinds, exclude repeat-viewing, exclude serials or mini-series, exclude TW/HK movies without international release or not nominated for any awards internationally...

 

1995              222

1996                79

1997              173

1998              117

1999              134

2000              187

2001              108

2002              301        

2003              223

2004              220 

2005              248

2006                ?

 

In the context where I am in, a foreign language means non-English, non-Mandarin, non-Cantonese, non-Fujianese, non-Tawainese, and non-Malay. It's a movie where I have to read the subtitles in order to understand what's going on :-)

 

Most people do not like to watch a movie in subtitles, but for me, I will only watch a movie in its original language of release. Over the years, I have discovered gems in many foreign language movies unique to their settings, culture & lifestyle.

 

1) Boat, The (Das Boot, 1981) - Germany

2) My Neighbour Totoro (Tonari no Totoro, 1988) - Japan

3) Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella, 1997) - Italy

4) Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt, 1998) - Germany

5) Central Station (Central do Brasil, 1998) - Brazil

6) Love's A Bitch (Amores Perros, 2000) - Mexico

7) And Your Mother Too (Y Tu Mama Tambien, 2001) - Mexico

8) Amelie (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain, 2001) - France

9) Musa the Warrior (Musa/Wu Shi, 2001) - Korea

10) The Crime of Father Amaro (Crimen del Padre Amaro, 2002) - Mexico

 

 

Alrite...I stand to be called a Sentimentalist for making this list, but here goes...

 

1) Dances With Wolves (1990)

2) Pretty Woman (1990)

3) Braveheart (1995)

4) Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)

5) First Knight (1995)

6) Bridges of Madison County, The (1995)

7) Pocahontas (1995)

8) Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella) (1997)

9) Patch Adams (1998)

10) Not One Less (Yi Ge Dou Bu Neng Shao) (1999)

 

Is there something to do with movies released in the Year 1995, or is it just me?? In any case, the 90's beat all other era for tear-jerking movies. Believe me, you can never imagine seeing a grown man cry more in movies...

 

1) Live Telecast of Oscar Ceremony during work hours, due to time difference (I might have to declare a holiday for my company on Oscar day from next year onwards)

2) People talking about who has won Oscars everywhere you go, including all forms of media & movie websites (while I have to watch re-run later in the day)

3) Discovering such a heavily (and badly)-edited version of this Oscar re-run, not to mention tons of ads (How can Ang Lee's speech in Chinese be edited badly too?? Well, thanks to CCTV 6, definitely an Oscar holiday for me next year)

4) Mobile phone ringing, people talking, snoring (yes really loud) in a cinema during a movie

5) Not sitting in the exact middle seat(s) in a cinema (yes, i'd rather not watch if I cannot get those middle seats)

6) Needing a toilet break in a cold cinema half-way through a movie

7) Stuck or jerky pictures half-way through a movie (of coz i buy pirated dvds, like everyone else in China)

8) People telling you what a movie is all about before you watch it, despite your most polite refusal to listen

9) Realizing what a crap movie it is after wasting about 2 hours of your life on it

10) Unbelievably campy acting, illogical script and prime candidates for Worst Direction (which makes you wonder where all the production money has gone to...)

 

War of the Worlds

Island, The

Doom

 

Great Raid, The

 

Election (Hei Se Hui)

A.V. (Qing Chun Meng Gong Chang) 

Peacock (Kong Que)

 

Aliens of the Deep

Ringers: Lord of the Fan

 

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

 

 

 

 

 

1) Watching a horror movie after midnite in total darkness

2) An excuse for eating junk food (Lay's Classic Flavour) while drinking......in bed

3) Watching your favourite movies winning an Oscar

4) Close encounters with any well-made sci-fi movies

5) Touched to tears by an exceptionally impactful movie

6) An empty cinema (you can then tell your date you've booked the whole show just for her)

7) Discovering a gem amongst tons of crap movies these days, and rambling about it to everyone you meet

8) Watching a highly-anticipated movie I've been following during film-production

9) Any Zombie-related movies (for some reasons, the only kind of horror film that will render me powerless)

10) Laughing out loud with good buddies watching a comedy together (it's been awhile.....)