Perfection is a myth. Nothing is perfect in this mortal world, least of all products of culture, blighted as they are by that frustrating phenomenon known as personal opinion. I myself will endeavour to find fault in most things, mainly because cynicism is like a warm blanket on a winters night.
Cinema is divisive by it's very nature, with the best movies in the world hiding minute faults that belie there own perfection. Yet the films below are so accomplished, so complete, so enduring, that it's possible to throw logic and reasoning to the wind and call them perfect. If you haven't seen them all, get them on your bucket list now.
10. The Third Man
This classic noir gem from Carol Reed was one of my first experiences of classic cinema and it remains to this day a film that I fail to find fault with.
The murky storyline sees writer Holly Martins lured to Vienna to accept a job from his friend, the enigmatic Harry Lime, only to discover that Lime has been killed under suspicious circumstances. While investigating his friends death, he finds that not only is Harry alive, he's also quite the nefarious villain.
Everything about this film is effortless, particularly the beautiful Vienna locales and a solid script that gave us that wonderful Cuckoo Clock speech.
HIGHLIGHT: The discovery that Lime is still alive is possibly the best character reveal in cinema history.
9. The Thing
Like most of John Carpenter's early work, The Thing's perfection lies in it's simplicity. Placing a group of men in an isolated arctic research outpost and turning them all into paranoiac nutcases courtesy of a shape shifting alien is high concept before that kind of thing was popular.
The ensemble cast all do amazing work, from Kurt Russel's alpha male Macready, to Wilford Brimley's cuddly-then-scary scientist, each have their own moment to shine. As for Rob Bottin's seminal effects work, it's been 30 years now and his gloopy masterworks still haven't been bettered.
HIGHLIGHT: Chest caves in, head rips off and sprouts legs....you gotta be fucking kidding.
8. The Prestige
All of Christopher Nolan's films up to this point have been masterpieces in their own right (let's not forget this is the man who gave us The Dark Knight and Inception), but The Prestige remains his most enchanting work. Bringing together two of the strongest actors of their generation and pitting them against each other in a game of shadows and illusions, it's as dazzling to behold as it is confusing to unravel. For his magician film, Nolan creates an elaborate parlour trick of a story that slowly builds to a shockingly dark denouement.
HIGHLIGHT: That final sequence that reveals the macabre results of Angier's Transported Man, abracadabra indeed.
7. Seven Samurai
In terms of his enduring influence on his peers and the groundbreaking impact of almost all of his output, Akira Kurosawa is perhaps the greatest director of all time. Seven Samurai is an amalgam of everything that makes the Japanese auteur so special; classical storytelling, lyrical beauty, technical brilliance, fantastic performances, Seven Samurai is the absolute zenith of Kurosawa.
The timeless story of a group of warriors brought together to defend a fishing village against bandits has been copied countless times and will be retold for years to come. Taken as a template for the modern blockbuster, this film's influence cannot be underestimated.
HIGHLIGHT: A dead heat between the the rain soaked final battle and the shockingly bleak ending.
6. The Killer
Many of the titles on this list are the result of maverick filmmakers at the top of their game, accomplished practitioners with feet set firmly in their creative zone. This is certainly the case with The Killer, the film in which John Woo defined a genre with a style that still endures today, the heroic bloodshed genre began with A Better Tomorrow, but it came of age here.
The elements of Woo's auteur signature are taken for granted now, fading into the iconography of the modern action film in the worst possible way. Smartly dressed protagonists blasting away in balletic slow motion amidst floating doves and religious imagery, there was a time when that felt fresh and awe inspiring and this tale of a hitman seeking redemption after blinding an innocent woman is the perfect example of that once beautiful style.
HIGHLIGHT: Another bleak finale, which sees the hero fight through what seems like every bad guy in the world, only to be denied his redemption in the most horrifyingly ironic way.
5. Die Hard
Think about how many action movies wouldn't have existed if John Mclane hadn't been stuck in Nakatomi Plaza on that unfortunate Christmas eve?
This is the blueprint that the blueprint's use as a guideline, the pinnacle of western action cinema, it gave us one of our most beloved action heroes and, in Hans Gruber, the template for every awesome bad guy since. It's also a technical masterpiece that it's director John Mctiernan never managed to better or even equal (and he tried with Die Hard: With a Vengeance).
HIGHLIGHT: Bruce Willis' performance, his blue collar hero makes every man believe he can take on a skyscraper full of terrorists...which is probably a bad thing...
4. Blade Runner
Certain films are so pored over, so revered that they become almost mythical, like some fable to be passed down to future generations. I believe that Ridley Scott's towering sci-fi masterpiece is one such fable and if a film was ever worthy of perfect status, it's this one.
From the frighteningly prescient dystopia in which it's set, to the dazzling effects that add a Gibson-esque spin to a classic noir tale that sees hard boiled anti-hero Deckard hunting and exterminating renegade androids, Blade Runner is what all other sci-fi cinema aspires to be.
HIGHLIGHT: Roy Batty's dying soliloquy, the majority of which was improvised by actor Rutger Hauer. Magical.
3. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
As loveable rogue Randal P. Mcmurphy, Jack Nicholson gives his best performance in a career that can hardly be called mediocre and everything else in this classic nuthouse drama just seems to fit so perfectly. Few films manage to evoke emotion with such potency, it's a triumph over adversity tale in which the hero dies yet it still manages to be uplifting. The best film to come out of the strongest decade in modern cinema.
HIGHLIGHT: The Chief smashes his way to freedom.
2. It's A Wonderful Life
The fact that this is the greatest ever Christmas movie is without question, but this heartwarming classic can be enjoyed all year round. The story, which you should already know by now, is a bittersweet fairytale about George Bailey, a loving family man who tries to end it all one Christmas eve, only to be introduced to a world in which he never existed by his guardian angel Clarence. Bailey's journey is always a joy to watch, thanks in no small part to Jimmy Stewart's masterful performance.
HIGHLIGHT: An ecstatic George Bailey runs up main street and bellows seasons greetings to Bedford Falls.
1. The Lord Of The Rings
The greatest achievement in the history of cinema. Regardless of how much that phrase is thrown around by Rings fanboys, it's still an apt description of Peter Jackson's magnum opus.
Adapted from a beloved source material and made infinitely better by the genius writing team of Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, this 12 hour masterpiece is the final result of hundreds of talented and dedicated people working to the bone for 8 years straight (including reshoots, editing and the like).
Even if it wasn't one of the greatest stories ever told (which it is), LOTR would still be technically perfect thanks to Jackson effects company, Weta, who pioneered digital techniques (chief among them the groundbreaking battle scenes and performance capture technique used for Gollum) in between linking thousand of bits of iron to make real chainmail and crafting fantastical worlds ripped straight from Tolkien's pages.
Then there's that cast, a delicious blend of the best actors of cinema's past (Christopher Lee, Ian Mckellen, Bernard Hill, Ian Holm), present (Viggo Mortensen, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Sean Bean) and future (Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan), the residents of Middle Earth will always have a special place in our hearts.
HIGHLIGHT: There are so many it's almost impossible to choose one, but for sheer magisterial beauty, the battle of Pelennor Fields has to take the top spot.
Cinema is divisive by it's very nature, with the best movies in the world hiding minute faults that belie there own perfection. Yet the films below are so accomplished, so complete, so enduring, that it's possible to throw logic and reasoning to the wind and call them perfect. If you haven't seen them all, get them on your bucket list now.
10. The Third Man
This classic noir gem from Carol Reed was one of my first experiences of classic cinema and it remains to this day a film that I fail to find fault with.
The murky storyline sees writer Holly Martins lured to Vienna to accept a job from his friend, the enigmatic Harry Lime, only to discover that Lime has been killed under suspicious circumstances. While investigating his friends death, he finds that not only is Harry alive, he's also quite the nefarious villain.
Everything about this film is effortless, particularly the beautiful Vienna locales and a solid script that gave us that wonderful Cuckoo Clock speech.
HIGHLIGHT: The discovery that Lime is still alive is possibly the best character reveal in cinema history.
9. The Thing
Like most of John Carpenter's early work, The Thing's perfection lies in it's simplicity. Placing a group of men in an isolated arctic research outpost and turning them all into paranoiac nutcases courtesy of a shape shifting alien is high concept before that kind of thing was popular.
The ensemble cast all do amazing work, from Kurt Russel's alpha male Macready, to Wilford Brimley's cuddly-then-scary scientist, each have their own moment to shine. As for Rob Bottin's seminal effects work, it's been 30 years now and his gloopy masterworks still haven't been bettered.
HIGHLIGHT: Chest caves in, head rips off and sprouts legs....you gotta be fucking kidding.
8. The Prestige
All of Christopher Nolan's films up to this point have been masterpieces in their own right (let's not forget this is the man who gave us The Dark Knight and Inception), but The Prestige remains his most enchanting work. Bringing together two of the strongest actors of their generation and pitting them against each other in a game of shadows and illusions, it's as dazzling to behold as it is confusing to unravel. For his magician film, Nolan creates an elaborate parlour trick of a story that slowly builds to a shockingly dark denouement.
HIGHLIGHT: That final sequence that reveals the macabre results of Angier's Transported Man, abracadabra indeed.
7. Seven Samurai
In terms of his enduring influence on his peers and the groundbreaking impact of almost all of his output, Akira Kurosawa is perhaps the greatest director of all time. Seven Samurai is an amalgam of everything that makes the Japanese auteur so special; classical storytelling, lyrical beauty, technical brilliance, fantastic performances, Seven Samurai is the absolute zenith of Kurosawa.
The timeless story of a group of warriors brought together to defend a fishing village against bandits has been copied countless times and will be retold for years to come. Taken as a template for the modern blockbuster, this film's influence cannot be underestimated.
HIGHLIGHT: A dead heat between the the rain soaked final battle and the shockingly bleak ending.
6. The Killer
Many of the titles on this list are the result of maverick filmmakers at the top of their game, accomplished practitioners with feet set firmly in their creative zone. This is certainly the case with The Killer, the film in which John Woo defined a genre with a style that still endures today, the heroic bloodshed genre began with A Better Tomorrow, but it came of age here.
The elements of Woo's auteur signature are taken for granted now, fading into the iconography of the modern action film in the worst possible way. Smartly dressed protagonists blasting away in balletic slow motion amidst floating doves and religious imagery, there was a time when that felt fresh and awe inspiring and this tale of a hitman seeking redemption after blinding an innocent woman is the perfect example of that once beautiful style.
HIGHLIGHT: Another bleak finale, which sees the hero fight through what seems like every bad guy in the world, only to be denied his redemption in the most horrifyingly ironic way.
5. Die Hard
Think about how many action movies wouldn't have existed if John Mclane hadn't been stuck in Nakatomi Plaza on that unfortunate Christmas eve?
This is the blueprint that the blueprint's use as a guideline, the pinnacle of western action cinema, it gave us one of our most beloved action heroes and, in Hans Gruber, the template for every awesome bad guy since. It's also a technical masterpiece that it's director John Mctiernan never managed to better or even equal (and he tried with Die Hard: With a Vengeance).
HIGHLIGHT: Bruce Willis' performance, his blue collar hero makes every man believe he can take on a skyscraper full of terrorists...which is probably a bad thing...
4. Blade Runner
Certain films are so pored over, so revered that they become almost mythical, like some fable to be passed down to future generations. I believe that Ridley Scott's towering sci-fi masterpiece is one such fable and if a film was ever worthy of perfect status, it's this one.
From the frighteningly prescient dystopia in which it's set, to the dazzling effects that add a Gibson-esque spin to a classic noir tale that sees hard boiled anti-hero Deckard hunting and exterminating renegade androids, Blade Runner is what all other sci-fi cinema aspires to be.
HIGHLIGHT: Roy Batty's dying soliloquy, the majority of which was improvised by actor Rutger Hauer. Magical.
3. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
As loveable rogue Randal P. Mcmurphy, Jack Nicholson gives his best performance in a career that can hardly be called mediocre and everything else in this classic nuthouse drama just seems to fit so perfectly. Few films manage to evoke emotion with such potency, it's a triumph over adversity tale in which the hero dies yet it still manages to be uplifting. The best film to come out of the strongest decade in modern cinema.
HIGHLIGHT: The Chief smashes his way to freedom.
2. It's A Wonderful Life
The fact that this is the greatest ever Christmas movie is without question, but this heartwarming classic can be enjoyed all year round. The story, which you should already know by now, is a bittersweet fairytale about George Bailey, a loving family man who tries to end it all one Christmas eve, only to be introduced to a world in which he never existed by his guardian angel Clarence. Bailey's journey is always a joy to watch, thanks in no small part to Jimmy Stewart's masterful performance.
HIGHLIGHT: An ecstatic George Bailey runs up main street and bellows seasons greetings to Bedford Falls.
1. The Lord Of The Rings
The greatest achievement in the history of cinema. Regardless of how much that phrase is thrown around by Rings fanboys, it's still an apt description of Peter Jackson's magnum opus.
Adapted from a beloved source material and made infinitely better by the genius writing team of Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, this 12 hour masterpiece is the final result of hundreds of talented and dedicated people working to the bone for 8 years straight (including reshoots, editing and the like).
Even if it wasn't one of the greatest stories ever told (which it is), LOTR would still be technically perfect thanks to Jackson effects company, Weta, who pioneered digital techniques (chief among them the groundbreaking battle scenes and performance capture technique used for Gollum) in between linking thousand of bits of iron to make real chainmail and crafting fantastical worlds ripped straight from Tolkien's pages.
Then there's that cast, a delicious blend of the best actors of cinema's past (Christopher Lee, Ian Mckellen, Bernard Hill, Ian Holm), present (Viggo Mortensen, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Sean Bean) and future (Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan), the residents of Middle Earth will always have a special place in our hearts.
HIGHLIGHT: There are so many it's almost impossible to choose one, but for sheer magisterial beauty, the battle of Pelennor Fields has to take the top spot.
Battle of Helms Deep!
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