Top 10s - New York Movies

This article consists of 3 Top Ten New York Movie Lists, mine first and then guest bloggers Kylie Goetz and Andrew Morgan.
Scroll down for other lists.

Top 10 New York Movie Oddities

by Jon Cross

I love movies, spend 30 seconds on this site and I hope that’s abundantly obvious. I also love New York. The city I have called home for almost 7 years has been good to me and I sincerely feel like I belong here.

There are a ton of films I watched growing up that have defined New York for me. Travis Bickle’s cab going through the steam on a sleazy 42nd Street, Manhattan’s monochrome skyline accentuated by the strains of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Dustin Hoffman’s "I’m walkin’ here!” from Midnight Cowboy, the Ghostbusters taking down a marshmallow sailor over on Central Park West, Harry dropping Sally off at Washington Sq Park, Robin Williams trying to get to Amanda Plumber among a sea of waltzing commuters in Grand Central Station in the sublime Fisher King and so on and so on.
There are plenty of blogs and lists out there that will rightfully sing the praises of these and other, famous, New York moments on film.

As I got older though, I discovered some New York films of the 80s that have a different sensibility to them. Genre films, grindhouse movies or gonzo filmmaking that used the run down and grimy corners of New York not to their detriment but as a back drop for weird and wonderful stories featuring a surprising cast of characters. I became familiar with filmmakers such as Bill Lustig, James Glickenhaus, Frank Henenlotter and Larry Cohen. So I wanted to put together a list that celebrated them and other oddball movies set in this fantastic city.
I probably love all the New York films you do, of course, but here are some that I think you should probably check out, if you haven’t already, that may not appear on many other, similar, lists.

10. C.H.U.D. - The creature from the black lagoon’s hillbilly cousins live under New York occasionally killing and eating random humans and it’s up to Daniel Stern (Celtic Pride), Kim Griest (Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco) and John Heard (Deceived) to stop them. There are various attempts to make comments on the environment and homeless situation but really it’s all about the monsters, New York and John Goodman’s cameo as ‘Diner Cop’.
Interestingly enough, John Heard and Daniel Stern would later work with Macaulay Culkin and he would prove a much harder foe to destroy.

On a side note I got to see C.H.U.D. out the back of the divey-est of dive bars, near the port authority bus terminal and spitting distance from 42nd street. It was a tremendously ‘authentic’ experience!

9. Basket Case - This is a gloriously run down, 16mm monster movie. There definitely aren’t enough horror movies shot in New York. This is a shame because New York has, especially at the time this film was made, plenty of dark and filthy corners which could contain all the vileness a director could think up.
In the case of Basket Case, director Frank Henenlotter dreamt up a monster that looked like something he may have sneezed out during a particularly heinous case of the flu but which is meant to be the once conjoined twin brother of our lead protagonist, Duane Bradley (played by the unlikely named Kevin Van Hentenryck).
Belial, the evil twin beast, goes on a sexually frustrated rampage around the city while Duane holds up in the scummiest and seediest hotel that 42nd Street had to offer.

8. The Exterminator - I hope you’ll find, as I have done, that once you dip your toe into the world of James Glickenhaus, you can never have too much Glickenhaus. His films are gloriously grindhouse and enthusiastically explosive and violent while being tremendous fun.
Starring the strange faced, mumbly anti-hero you can’t help but root for, Robert Ginty, The Exterminator is sort of an even grimier Taxi Driver but with all the tormented, inward philosophising taken out and replaced with flame thrower interrogation, leaving thugs to be eaten to death by rats and dropping a guy into a meat grinder.
Hot on Ginty’s trail is police detective, love machine and budget William Shatner, Christopher George. If only Ginty wore less distinctive, special made footwear they may never have figured out who The Exterminator was.
Hear me talk with the legend James Glickenhaus on The After Movie Diner Podcast

7. Of Unknown Origin - One of many 'adulterous executive' roles for the thinking lady’s lord of the jazz, Peter “Buckeroo Banzai” Weller as he goes head to head with every New Yorker’s worst nightmare next to bed bugs, a giant, brownstone wrecking rat.
From the director of Cobra and Tombstone, George P. Cosmatos, this is a tense, repetitive but joyously mad 'man versus beast’ movie. In fact it hardly deviates from the rodent based, destructive mayhem, apart from a brief and unecessary affair with his secretary and an amazing dining room scene where Weller quotes endless, incredible rat facts to a startled room of stiff collars in his perfect, iconic drawl.
As one of the better films in the horror monster sub-genre of ‘rat movie’ the whole thing just becomes a bizarre, gonzo oddity with an ending that will leave you both bemused and applauding wildly.
Hear co-host Jon Wallace and myself talk about Of Unknown Origin on The After Movie Diner Podcast

6. The Last Dragon - Any time you get the opportunity to mix martial arts, music, magic and Mike Starr in a movie, you clearly have to take it. You also have to cast two leads that only use one name each. Thus was born Motown mogul Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon. It’s a wonderfully bizarre concoction of action, ridiculous outfits, over acting villains and disco dancing.
Taimak plays Leroy Green, the highly trained, disciplined but nerdy kung fu fighter embroiled in a war he doesn’t want with the larger than life Sho’nuff (A.K.A "The Shogun of Harlem”) played by the heroically hammy Julius J. Carry III. One of them has to be the supreme master and old Sho and his army of similarly ludicrously attired hench-people will stop at nothing to find out who. The also mono-named Vanity plays the dancing diva with a heart of gold who falls for the naive Leroy.
Considering the Blaxploitation heyday was 10 years passed by the time this was released, it stands tall and virtually alone as a favourite for anyone who grew up in the 80s but especially young African Americans who would rarely see themselves depicted as a lead in a movie like this, at that time.
It has been touring throughout 2015 celebrating its 30th year and even got a fantastic Blu ray release.
Hear me talk about The Last Dragon and diverse, action cinema with creator of the Urban Action Showcase, Demetrius Angelo on The After Movie Diner Podcast

5. Maniac Cop - Bringing together the powerhouse talents of writer Larry Cohen, producer James Glickenhaus, director Bill Lustig and stars Tom Atkins, Richard Roundtree, Laurene Landon, Robert Z’Dar and Bruce Campbell, Maniac Cop is a city based slasher icon that is sadly left out when people are banging on about Freddy, Jason or Michael.
It has delicious subplots, a complicated but fantastically, cliche riddled back story for its villain and is filmed, very often completely guerrilla style, on the streets of New York, including during the St.Patrick’s Day parade!
It even has a cameo from Sam “For The Love Of The Game” Raimi and spawned two fantastically nutso sequels!
Hear me talk to Bill Lustig all about the Maniac Cop trilogy and his career on The After Movie Diner Podcast

4. Vigilante - Thanks to Death Wish, Taxi Driver and the horrendous crime statistics in New York at the time, vigilantes were running about the place avenging themselves on gangs of bizarrely clothed hoodlums like Batman at a rowdy bar mitzvah.
You don’t get much cooler than the genre icon double act of Robert “The alligator slayer” Forster and Fred “The Hammer” Williamson going after a bunch of Che Guevara wannabes on the dangerous streets of the outer boroughs of the big apple.
Bill Lustig again directs and the ante is upped by not only featuring the, legitimately shocking, murder of Forster’s 8 yr old son but also by his wife leaving him. The judicial system is filled with corruption and villainy itself and so, with nowhere else to turn, Forster joins The Hammer’s neighbourhood crime stopping efforts to hunt down the people who destroyed his life an enact furious vengeance all over their stupid bodies.
Hear Dr.Action and me talk to Fred “The Hammer” Williamson about Vigilante and other films in his awesome career on The After Movie Diner Podcast

3. Lonely Guy - New York has become the rom com city of choice in recent years due, in no small part, to Woody Allen’s 80s output and When Harry Met Sally and so I felt I had to pick a comedy or rom com of sorts. The weirdest but also funniest of the bunch is this Steve Martin and Charles Grodin starring film that I feel has been largely forgotten.
Based on a book, which I haven’t read, the movie features some hilarious dialogue, some really odd sight gags and a slightly dark sense of humour. It only falters when it attempts to become actually romantic, which it thankfully doesn’t do much (and even then with a knowing wink) but for the park bench dialogues between Grodin and Martin alone the film is worth its inclusion here.

2. Shakedown/Blue Jean Cop - 80s and 90s Grindhouse action film king, James Gickenhaus shows us what happens when undercover narc cop Sam “Dog Killer” Elliot, be-bopping, adulterous (again), attorney Peter “I’m putting the law on trial” Weller and a sleazy 42nd Street collide.
This film is all over the place, action, New York Exploitation brilliance from its low key Central Park start through to its Sam Elliot hanging onto the wheels of a plane, gloriously implausible ending.
It doesn’t get better than the escape from a flea pit, movie theatre on the deuce and the ensuing motorbike and sidecar chase through a cardboard city by the river and ending with Sam Elliot making a car explode by shooting it a bit.
The movie is so utterly bonkers and fast paced you joyously throw your hands up and go along with the ride safe in the knowledge that you’re in the good hands of Elliot, Weller and Glickenhaus. This should’ve been a franchise.
Hear me talk with the legend James Glickenhaus on The After Movie Diner Podcast
AND
Hear co-host Jon Wallace and me discuss Shakedown on The After Movie Diner Podcast

1. Q The Winged Serpent - The top spot has to belong to Larry Cohen’s masterpiece Q. I unabashedly adore this movie.
Michael Moriarty’s insanely well played, skittish piano player and a prehistoric, giant, flying, lizard god terrorise New York and only Shaft, Caine from Kung-Fu and an undercover mime can stop them!

Larry Cohen’s bonkers monster movie may be the very best film to ever come out of a premise like that. The acting from Moriarty should seriously win awards for the finest in all of Exploitation cinema and, considering the budget, the effects and location work are excellent.

Like all of Cohen’s work and, indeed a lot of the films on this list, there are comments and subplots throughout that either deal with city corruption or the crumbling society. None of these films are simple exploitation and all either have something to say about the times or are an incredible catalogue of the times when, some feel, New York City WAS New York City before Disney moved in.
I, personally, feel that you can still find corners of the city with dive bars, diners or where B Movies are playing and yeah you may have to look a little harder but the experience is still there to be had, for the most dedicated of fan. Also you can live that lifestyle with very little threat of being stabbed in the face, harassed by a sex worker or stuck with a hypodermic full of either disease or drugs. So, bonus! Come to New York!!

Read my full review of Q The Winged Serpent HERE
and hear Doug Tilley, Moe Porne and myself discuss the film on Drunk on VHS

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So this whole 'Top 10 of New York movies' idea came from a conversation I was having with poet extraordinaire and guest blogger Kylie Goetz. So I invited her to present her list and she also managed to get another list from her co-worker Andrew Morgan.

By way of contrast then and to bring up some other excellent suggestions of New York movies, here are Kylie’s and Andrew’s lists!

Kylie’s 10 NY Movies

by Kylie Goetz
Whittling it down wasn’t easy because there are so many New York movies and so many New York movie lists, I have chosen these simply as mine. I, of course, have left out many, many, many. It would be easier to name 100 than 10.
There maybe other iconic NY movies that are better made, better written and worthier films than the ones I picked but these are the ones that resonate with me.

My criteria was as follows:

• This one seems pretty obvious, but the action must predominantly take place somewhere in the five boroughs of NYC. 
• The setting is integral to the story; it can’t be moved to Ft. Lauderdale and work just as well. 
• There are some movies that are on everybody’s most iconic NY movie lists. I didn’t feel the need to repeat them. How could you leave out King Kong or Breakfast at Tiffany’s, you ask? I just did. Deal with it.
• I like it. (Dammit, it’s my top ten and while Coyote Ugly certainly fits my first two criteria, I’m not putting it on my freaking list.) 

So, with that said, here we go:
1. When Harry Met Sally -  The Washington Square Arch, Katz’s, the Central Park Boathouse, not being able to catch a cab on NYE, lugging an xmas tree down the sidewalk, the Met’s Temple of Dendur, Billy Crystal and Bruno Kirby in too tight exercise pants speed walking in Central Park, I love all of it!
Also in my top 3 movies of movies. Possibly the greatest rom-com of all time.

2. Both Ghostbusters - I’m combining 1 and 2 under this because while the first is my preferred, the second has a stompy Lady Liberty and that’s pretty awesome. Also gooey rage sewers, that’s pretty New York.

3. Coming to America - It’s set in Jackson Heights. I live in Jackson Heights.
****It’s also very funny. In case you didn’t know.****

4. The Muppets Take Manhattan - Gregory Hines on skates in Central Park, Joan Rivers as a perfume counter salesgirl, diners and Broadway, frogs and dogs and bears and chickens and... and whatever!
This movie has everything.

5. The Clock - I definitely felt the need to include something older and I heart classic films. I considered more well-known choices like 42nd Street or On the Town, but I unabashedly love this movie. Joe Allen is a soldier with two days of leave and meets Judy Garland. She shows him around New York and they get married before he ships off for WWII. It’s sappy and I’m a big sap. Also, my folks have a similar story but in a different city and a different war. Pivotal scene and titular clock is at Grand Central.

6. Miracle on 34th Street - There’s a miracle and it’s on 34th Street. What else do you need?

7. Annie Hall - So, I debated this with someone… and while I agree that Manhattan might be considered more iconic and is freaking titled Manhattan; that movie creeps me out and Diane Keaton is fantastic, so I am sticking with Annie Hall.

8. Crocodile Dundee - This is one of my favorite outsider comes to the big city films. (May be biased as a half-Australian.)

9. Working Girl - Again, it certainly doesn’t need to be on anyone else’s NY movie list, and of course, the movie has flaws. Some people seriously hate it and, honestly, my favorite characters in this movie were always the secondary ones. But when I was a kid, nothing said New York to me more that Joan Cusack’s sneakers/heel shoe change and Carly Simon singing, “Let the River Run.” Also, Alec Baldwin at the height of his deliciousness.

10. Brighton Beach Memoirs - This was a bit of a toss-up for me. Neil Simon had to be on this list somewhere and Barefoot in the Park is very New York and also delightful but Brighton Beach Memoirs encapsulates growing up in the city in such a specific and amazing way – it won out.

Movies that would be on my larger list: Beat Street, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Scrooged, Do the Right Thing, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Apartment, 3 Days of the Condor, the rest of the Neil Simon movies… And still there’s Wall Street, Gangs of New York, Guys and Dolls, Arthur, Saturday Night Fever, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum.

Kylie has an excellent 'word of the day' poetry blog where she writes a whole new poem every single day! It’s awesome. Check it out HERE
You can also follow her on Twitter to keep up with each poem and each word!
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Andrew’s Top 10 Iconic NYC Films

by Andrew Morgan
I echo all of the criteria elements suggested by Kylie’s list with the exception of these being films I like, not that anyone else will:

• Predominantly taking place in one of the five boroughs 
• Setting integral to the story 
• Not necessarily on everyone’s list 
• I like it 

1. Igby Goes Down (2002) – closest thing you can get to a film version of The Catcher in the Rye. Who doesn’t wish they just had a day to wander the city finding trouble to get into?

2. American Psycho (2000) – what screams NYC more than white collar sociopathic murder, graphic sex, and a Huey Lewis soundtrack?

3. Wolf of Wall Street (2013) – there were certainly others before it, but this one nails it. Perfect balance of humor, drama, and wit showcasing the popular success/failure theme of Wall Street ambition.

4. Requiem for Dream (2000) – Coney Island isn’t all fun and sun. No better film explores the dark corners of the human psyche as driven by the influence of addiction.

5. The Godfather (1972) – the pioneer film of organized crime dramas and Italian immigrant influence on popular American culture.

6. RENT (2005) – the struggle is real.

7. Big (1988) – you only have to look like you’re old enough to make it here, no one ever said you have to act like it. This is basically my life philosophy.

8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) – we all wonder about what’s really down under the manhole covers. This film seems like a reasonable suggestion. I must admit it doesn’t fully meet criteria B, but I get one freebie. It was an integral part of my youth.

9. Finding Forrester (2000) – subtle take on themes of race and friendship through the perspective of two writers facing adversity in different ways.

10. Friends with Benefits (2011) – had to include a NYC rom-com and well....Justin and Mila just do it for me a lot more than Tom and Meg.

Honorable Mentions: First Wives Club (1996), Ghost (1993), Cruel Intentions (1999), Harriet the Spy (1996), Inside Man (2006), The Squid and the Whale (2005), Black Swan (2010), Whiplash (2014), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), You’ve Got Mail (1998), Great Expectations (1998), Ghostbusters (1984) 

*The only film I really wanted to include but wasn’t sure if it qualified based on the criteria outlined, was The Royal Tenenbaums. Parts of it were certainly filmed in NY and the setting certainly has NYC elements, I don’t think the location is ever actually confirmed in the film and some iconic landmarks are intentionally removed

My Top 10 of 2013

I am not good with lists. It makes me a terrible blogger really as blogs can live or die by their lists. This following list is probably going to have people laughing more than respecting my impeccable, pretentious film tastes.

I am ok with this.

Normally I don't do an end of the year list on the blog, normally, over at the podcast I do an Alternative Oscar show where we award the films that we believe should've won something, despite not being nominated in ANY category. It's a good way to recognise great work that normal awards shows avoid for not being deemed 'worthy' or 'sufficiently arty' enough. I find this sort of ego-agrandising, pretentious, puff-uppery annoying and obvious. So, before you ask, no 12 Years A Slave or Blue Is The Warmest Colour on this list, sorry. Also this list has nothing to do with box office. I couldn't care less if you all love The Hobbit, as Brian Fantana might say, it doesn't rev my engine. Sorry, again.

This list is about entertainment, mainly, but also about the films that I personally came out of, excited to have seen them. Movies that reminded me, for whatever reason, why I love film in the first place. Thankfully there were tons to choose from this year. It was seriously a bumper crop of good films in 2013. Not exactly many GREATS or CLASSICS but a whole slew of GOODS and I'll take that over what we have coming down the line for 2014.
Son of God? Noah? I, Frankenstein? The Robocop remake? Vampire Academy?
oh dear oh dear.

So, ok then, let's get on with it. My Top 10 of 2013.

10. Escape Plan

Ok, so not everyone's cup of tea but I enjoyed the hell out of it. It also got very little love and I am a sucker for the underdog, especially when the underdog happens to star two of the coolest action stars of the last 3 1/2 decades. Also there wasn't an Expendables movie out this year and so this was the next best thing.
For a start there was, thankfully, more plot and character than I expected, secondly the last act has all the old school, big guns, slo-mo action a child in a man's body like me craves and lastly, Schwarzenegger, ironically while being a politician, has become an awesome actor. No, seriously. His performance in this is tremendous and outshines almost anything else in the film.
I also considered Grudge Match for this 10 spot because, apart from a pacing issue, it was great, really funny and Stallone is arguably much better in that than in this but when you talk about cinematic pair-ups 30 years in the making, this was the one I wanted to see.

Read my full review HERE

9. Local Legends

This New England based independent film about prolific, renaissance man Matt Farley is a Woody Allen-esque look at the nature of people who, in every town around the country and, probably, the world, are pursuing their creative or sporting interests to no great acclaim but striving for a certain level of success. It's charming, funny, self depreciating, weird and wonderful.

It's presence on the list might seem like sycophantic pandering to Matt himself, who I know a little now and who has been on the podcast and it might even seem self aggrandising because I happen to be in it, very briefly, but please understand that it gained its place on the list legitimately.

I have watched this film 5 or 6 times already and even had the pleasure to host a screening of it with a handful of friends, some who I know can be quite critical and judgemental of films and they all loved it. Despite it being about a very specific individual with a fairly unique creative outpouring and business model, the themes in it resonate wonderfully with anyone who has ever achieved just a little of real life, or even internet based attention or success.

It's a hilarious and even touching look at the eccentric and positive world of creativity and art versus commerce.

Watch the full feature HERE

8. Iron Man 3

All the Marvel comic book movies have different vibes, different feels, even if they're about the same character and nowhere is this more true than the Iron Man trilogy. Iron Man 3, for example, is the comic book film equivalent of an 80s or/and 90s action movie and that's a GOOD thing.
With all the over-the-top, fawning and fuss made over The Dark Knight Trilogy, Marvel was taking their, infinitely more entertaining, less pretentious and just BETTER Batman clone, Tony Stark and making a fascinating, occasionally flawed but rip-roaring trilogy of their own. Yeah part 2 is kind of a mess but it's an enjoyably, watchable mess.
The success of these films and, certainly, the third one, is the rise of Robert Downey Jr and not just because he has that Downey Jr schtick of talking fast, improvising gags and being adorable/annoying but because he has, slowly and surely, on his rise through Marvel gained more and more creative control (with his producing partners his wife, Susan Downey and friend, Jon Favreau) and not squandered a drop of it. In part 3 he pays back his old pal Shane Black, who helped RDJs comeback with the now-cult classic Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, bringing him on as writer/director and together they craft, not only, an awesome 80s/90s action throw back, set at Christmas and making Stark and Rhodes a Riggs and Murtaugh like double act but also a personal movie that both compliments and completes the rise of Tony Stark and RDJ without ever showing the crossover and involving the whole audience in on the story and the joke. It's wonderful.

Hear us discuss this fully on podcast episode 103 - Brian Tyler Interview - Marvel 2013 Rundown/Iron Man 3/Thor The Dark World/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

7. You're Next

It was a fantastic home-invasion, slasher horror film that wasn't overly derivative, a remake, a found footage movie, a torture porn or filmed in that shitty greeny/brown/grey/high contrast digital wash that they coat horror films in nowadays so that they all look like they've been rubbed with boiled sick.
Oh and Barbara Crampton was in it.
If you need any more reasons you're in the wrong place.

Read my full review of the film HERE and
Listen to our EXCLUSIVE Barbara Crampton interview HERE

6. Thor: The Dark World

Yep another one of those comic-book movies. Sorry. This is on the list because I found it to be, honestly, one of the most exhilarating, exciting and enjoyable knock-about fantasy romps I have ever seen. It was sort of Flash Gordon meets Maters of the Universe meets a $170 million dollar budget. In a way that makes that sound like the greatest thing you've ever heard.
Unabashedly silly, over-the-top and action packed with a kick ass score. I LOVED it.

Hear us discuss this fully on podcast episode 103 - Brian Tyler Interview - Marvel 2013 Rundown/Iron Man 3/Thor The Dark World/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

5. Redemption/Hummingbird

Yeah, none of you bothered to see this did you? You probably also all think that Jason Statham is a thuggish idiot who is the same in every movie don't you?
Well you are exceptionally wrong. On his journey to find different things to do within the genre Hollywood has pigeonholed him into, Statham, still, despite being a big star now, goes back to England and makes cool little dramas. The Bank Job, Blitz and now Hummingbird (the better and more meaningful title of the movie) have very little in the way of Statham's usual brand of arse-kickery (normally just enough for the trailer to entice those fans to see the film) and instead see him developing his craft as an actor, tackling different stories and playing a character. Hummingbird harkens back to the neon drenched streets of London in Bob Hoskins' incredible film Mona Lisa from the 80s. The film is emotional, harrowing and heartbreaking. I'll always defend Statham and his straight-forward approach to movie making. He's learning from the likes of Stallone that the emotional matters. A film can't just be hollow, audiences need to connect, characters need to be redeemed.
Definitely worth the watch and definitely worth it's number 5 slot on my top 10.

Read my full review of the film HERE

4. The Broken Circle Breakdown

Ok, so here it is, my artsy fartsy, European pick of the Top 10.
This film was beautiful. Harrowing, upsetting and a slog to get through but also compelling, incredible, stunning and surprisingly not very predictable or pretentious.
It's all abut a Belgian with a beard playing bluegrass, the woman he loves, the child they have, the life they lead and where they end up. It's Walk The Line but with some actual soul and devoid of Hollywood sheen.
As well as some predictable themes it also shows the couple struggle with science, religion and politics with stubbornness and confused hope.

The performances are stunning and genuinely brave and the music is a delight.

Read my full review of the film HERE

3. The Last Stand

The Governator's return to films this year was such a joy for me. Sadly the box office did not respond accordingly but screw them, what do they know. I have probably watched this action, comedy, western more than any other action release this year.
I felt it delivered on all my expectations and then some. I remember the build up to the first Expendables or The Raid and being sceptical about what they could deliver and then, when I saw them, being blown to the back of the cinema with joy, excitement and thrills. Well seeing The Last Stand, certainly the last act of The Last Stand was a similar experience. In fact just typing this is making me want to watch it again.
Of course the moment Hollywood stops funding these movies because nobody went to see them will be the moment everyone starts reminiscing and wishing they were still around. Well they are! for now, so, please check this out and look forward to Expendables 3 and Sabotage next year!

Read my full review of the film HERE
Hear Dr.Action and me, The Kick Ass Kid discuss 2013 action films HERE

2. The World's End

The World's End proves once and for all that Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost should only ever work together. It's head, shoulders, chest, arms and legs above ANYTHING that the three, aforementioned, creatives have done elsewhere, working separately (including Star Trek and Mission Impossible), it could be the most mature film Wright has made to date, it's certainly some of the best performances Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have ever given and it is chockerblock full of enough crowd pleasing, beat 'em up and explosive moments to keep your non-geek, regular movie going public happy. It has something to say, something to show, it's assured, inventive, gleefully bonkers and staggeringly, rightfully, proud and wonderful.

Unlike Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the other two films in the so-called 'Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy', it has a message and a meaning and while they could stand to be a little more subtle in the future with their allegory, it's still refreshing and excellent that they have one. 

As for any flaws, apart from the very end, which felt a little rushed and tacked on and the fact that Pegg's superb performance and character sort of swamp everyone else and relegate them to the sidelines, the film didn't really have any. This is one I will watch again and again.

1. Gravity

If you love the immersive an awe inspiring power of cinema then Gravity has to make your top 10. Admittedly it doesn't have to be your number one but, for me, it was unlike any experience I'd had at the movies since I was 3 and my Mum took me to see Disney's Fantasia. I sat spellbound having a range of emotions, my jaw dropping in amazement for the full running time. My Mum tells me I didn't cry once. Gravity was like that. Only it was 30 years later.

James Cameron can make all the technological advancements he likes but until he remembers how to tell a decent story, the films will all be terrible. Alfonso Cuarón, on the other hand tells a great story and uses the effects to make that story as compelling, realistic and beautiful as possible.

Although there was a 3D version of this you don't need 3D to immerse you in the world you're creating, in fact, if anything, an added gimmick like that is going to, most likely, keep you removed from the experience. Gravity, however is so well made and so incredible that no amount of film or special effects knowledge could explain to me how it was done and so was left to simply believe. To accept. For all I know they went into space and filmed the whole thing up there.

As for the mood it created, I have never felt that level of palpable tension be held for that long and with that control and mastery. I can exactly recall the feeling as a sense memory if I picture it now, sat at my desk, writing about it. Good drama? Good films? they'll do that to you... they stick around awhile.

Read my full review of the film HERE

So there was my top ten! Feel free to comment on them, argue with me, discuss or agree below!

Now, in case you were wondering the next 5 on the list would be:

11. The Wolverine
It may be the best telling of the 'Superhero gives up his powers' tale that we have right now and it, obviously, blows the other Wolverine prequel out of the water. I definitely think it's the Wolverine film that Jackman deserves. He's the best he's ever been in the role here.
Read my full review HERE

12. Much Ado About Nothing

The whole film is a testament to talent overcoming resources and budget. If you've got the skill you can film Shakespeare in your back garden with a handful of friends and it soars.

13. Homefront
Statham working off a script by Stallone is perfect action gold. With a real Road House meets Nowhere to Run vibe, I know you either like films like this or belittle them but I happen to dig them for their sheer energy and entertainment factor.
Read my full review HERE

14. Love, Sex and Missed Connections
It's the Office Space for the internet dating generation. Funny, well acted, with interesting characters and a pretty decent romance.
Read my full review HERE

15. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Ben Stiller's best film to date. Not the funniest, not the silliest, not even, maybe, the most enjoyable but, definitely the best.
Read my full review HERE

I can't remember the last time there were 15 films in a year that I would recommend. That was refreshing 2013. Thank you!

Don't forget to tune in to the After Movie Diner Alternative Oscar show in February to see if any of these win a prize or two!!

My Top 10 of the year so far - 26th October 2011

Thanks to the wonderful fellas over at http://cinematicmethod.com I was inspired to do something I don't do very often: create a list, with a definite order, of films.
It's difficult to do it with favourites or even favourites within a genre but actually, considering 2011 has been so utterly dire in terms of film, it didn't take me long to run down a list of releases this year and out of the ones I have seen, produce a top 10 list of my favourite films of the year so far. So, purely for your idle entertainment here goes nothing:

1. Killer Elite
2. Red State
3. Source Code
4. Jane Eyre
5. Our Idiot Brother
6. Hobo with a Shotgun
7. 50/50
8. Super
9. The Mechanic
10. Contagion
Runner Up: Midnight in Paris
Worst movie of the year: The Thing Remake/Prequel