Here are my 10 favorite pics, from the POV of an Indian Fan of Hollywood Movies . They are not judged solely on artistic merit . Also an attempt has been made to make the genres non repetitive in the list . Its more about how I felt about those movies and the impact they have made on my mind at various stages of my life.
1) The Godfather Part1 & 2 (tied)
I see them as one movie itself. Too good to separate and put either of them anywhere else .
Part one may have had the best cast and some of the greatest characters ever put on film (Don Corleone, Sonny, Luca etc etc ) and some of the greatest ever moments in cinema(the assasination scene, the baptism sequence) ! But part two as a whole was the better film.
Perfection in acting , casting and direction.
2) The Dark Knight
The absolute peak of comic book cinema ! May not be bettered ever !
Perfectly captures the essence of the Batman universe characters , especially the Joker, Harvey and Gordon . All the adjectives used for no.1 stand here as well . Greatness in acting , scripting. Amazing score and incredible moments. One of cinemas greatest villainous acts by Heath Ledger .!
Nolan is truly the most significant filmmaker of the 2K generation.
3) Terminator 2 : Judgement Day
Terminator one is critically the superior film. But the lack of a big budget may have hampered that one from reaching its max. potential. If you thought a movie about warring machines and cyborgs , full of gunfights and acted by one of the most wooden faced actors in Hollywood, would have zero emotional quotient or humanity , James Cameron could prove you wrong !! The final pain you feel when T600 dips into the molten metal will bring tears to most peoples eyes.. Absolute science fiction masterpiece from Cameron
4) The Lion King
My favourite movie as kid. Animated cinema may have scaled further peaks via the Toy Story movies or the Incredibles. But this movies shows why Disney still rules the animated universe. Beautifully crafted movie with some incredible emotional moments (Mufasa's death for eg.) . Great animation (not much help from computers back then ) and incredible music.
5) The Empire Strikes Back
Hollywood's greatest ever popcorn flick. "A new Hope" may have prototyped the hollywood blockbuster formula (fantastical locations, special effects, endearing characters and vast worlds ), but "empire.." did it to perfection . Still remains the gold standard of what popular cinema is expected to do . Special mention to the great and memorable characters and perhaps cinemas greatest villain in Darth Vader.
6) Saving Private Ryan
Helmed by arguably Hollywood's most versatile and successful filmmaker (only Stanley Kubric and Scorcese come close in terms of versatility and Cameron in terms of sheer success ) ,Saving Private Ryan is arguably the greatest war movie ever. The opening 30 mins, is generally considered the greatest opening in cinema .
Amazing cast, especially the lead performance by Tom hanks. No war movie could put you into the middle of the battlefield and its emotions like this one did.
The film-making brilliance of Spielberg is in full flow throughout, aided by masterful cinematography and a haunting score by John Williams.
7) Memento
Christopher Nolan Appears once again in the list with his earlier (less mainstream) masterpiece and arguably his best film ! I consider this as a spiritual predecessor to the brand of cinema he took mainstream with Inception and Prestige . Not as "big" a movie like Inception in terms of concept or scale. But is an absolutely brilliant and confusing piece of cinema.
8) Raiders of the Lost Arc
Spielberg Makes the list again with a completely different genre of film. Showcases his talent as a filmamker in ample, in a time when CGI wasn't available to bail filmamkers out .The story , action and settings have had countless imitators in film and video games as well(
George Lucas's greatest work outside his original Star war's Trilogy (he wrote it ).
Nominated for Best picture , among the top 3 Action films ever and Indiana Jones is considered one of fictions greatest characters alongside Sherlock holmes and Harry Potter..
9) The Matrix
May surprise some of the posters from the west here , but "The Matrix" has influenced modern cinema like very few movies could. It showed the world (us desis) what "next level" means in hollywood film-making. It also ushered a new era in terms of Action movies and effects.
The action sequences and characterizations have been imitated and referenced in far too many movies across the globe. So are some of the lines . As a movie it was as far ahead and futuristic as a hollywood movie could be.
10) Forest Gump :
One of the greatest feel good cinema's ever. Brilliant movie with humanity at heart. Such an endearing character in Forest, played by Tom Hanks. Brings a smile to your face every time.
Notable mentions :
11) Psycho
12) Titanic
12) Goodfellas
13) Alien
14) Pulp Fiction
15) 2001 a Space Odyssey
PS: I have not seen Shwashank Redemption or the LOTR trilogy to give an assessment on them. So they don't make my list. Many great crime films have been left out to avoid repetition. Did not add all time classics like "Gone with The wind " and "Casablanca" for not having seen them .
and thanks guys for all the compliments
