Huntsman's Lists

Well here is the 50 Best Films of All Time. It is actually only half of my IMDB list of The 100 Greatest Films of All Time that I updated yesterday. I only felt like posting the top 50 here because they were easy to pick especially the top 10, but once I get below 50 it becomes harder to place a film in one slot or what film I should add or leave out. If you would like to see the bottom half of my list simply follow the link here. http://www.imdb.com/list/6FgfDwqWmgY/?publish=save There are a few things you will notice here. 1. I have great respect for Akira Kurosawa who has 5 films in the top 25, and has influenced a few other films on this list after all I still consider him the best director of all time. 2. I am not afraid to give respect to anime films that deserve it. 3. I am not a fan of comedy or don't think comedies deserve to be on the top tier of films. I don't have a pure comedy on this list. If you look at the second half of my list you will see the likes of Airplane, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Princess Bride and Life of Brian. Anyway enjoy the list. I hope you've seen them all, but if you haven't seen some I highly recommend you do as soon as possible.

I just finished watching Man on Fire again, which is a really good film and decided to create a top 10 list in honor of the late director Tony Scott. Though he isn't on the level of his brother he's still was a good director who's given us some really good and fun films and worked really well with Denzel Washington who he did 4 films with. 1. Crimson Tide: His best film as a director with a great plot and truly memorable performances by Gene Hackman and Washington. 2. Spy Game: Of all of Tony's film Spy Game probably has the best plot along with it being one of Brad Pitt's best performances. 3. Man on Fire: Washington's second film with Scott and this revenge film is all his as he kicks ass down in Mexico. 4. Top Gun: What more can be said about Top Gun. It doesn't matter if it doesn't have a great plot, the memorable young characters/actors along with the fighters and great music make Top Gun a great film. 5. Days of Thunder: A guilty pleasure of mine, and I still remember buying the toy cars at Hardee's restaurant when I was a kid. 6. Unstoppable: Washington and Capt. Kick try to stop an out of control train. 7. True Romance: Christian Slater, Samuel L. Jackson, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken and Gary Oldman lead this violent wild ride of a film. 8. Enemy of the State: A film about lack of privacy and government surveillance with a bad plot, but fun thrill ride. 9. Beverly Hills Cop 2: Ah the days when Eddie Murphy was actually funny and a decent actor. 10. The legendary actor Anthony Quinn stars along side Kevin Costner and Madeleine Stowe in this underrated drama.

Updated on 02/19/2013: I added Argo after I bought and watched the Film.

While Akira Kurosawa isn't perfect as the debacle with Tora! Tora! Tora! displays Kurosawa is still the best director of all time to date. 1. Seven Samurai: The greatest film of all time and one of the most influential films of all time. See my review for more. 2. Yojimbo: Again an original story co-written by Kurosawa as a wandering samurai plays two warring clans against each other. Again Yojimbo is a very influential film with one of the biggest examples being Clint Eastwoods A Fist Full of Dollars. 3. Hidden Fortress: Without this film there truly might not have been a Star Wars or the film Lucas has given us might not be recognizable to us. 4. Rashomon: The film follows for different perspective of the same event. It is brilliant written story with a unique vision which I believe was original and had never been done before in film. Again Rashomon has influenced many a writer and director. You can sense a theme here and see how great a director Kurosawa was by how influential his films were. 5. Ikiru: Admittedly I had overlooked this little known or overlooked Kurosawa film most likely because it didn't involve samurai, and I did not actually watch it till a couple of years ago. The film has no samurai or great battles and certainly not the influence on film making that Kurosawa's other films have had and I think that is what has kept if from being number 2 or even number 1 on this list. Ikiru follows Kanji Watanabe a simple bureaucratic who lives a simple and boring life until he learns that he has stomach cancer cancer. The journey of Watanabe is beautifully written and acted, and the ending as he sits on the swing is so sad yet satisfying and fitting. If any of you are a fan of Kurosawa or just looking for a great film than don't miss out on Ikiru which is perhaps Kurosawa's most moving film. 6. Ran: Akira Kurosawa last great film based on Shakespeare's story King Lear. Admittenly I only read his story once and that was probably nearly twenty years ago while I was in high school and I don't remember liking the story or maybe I was just bored and couldn't understand old English. Still Kurosawa puts his own mark to the story and makes it his own. 7. Throne of Blood: The second film of Kurosawa that was influenced by Shakespeare in his play Macbeth. Not a lot is changed from the original play, but it is nice to see it in a Japanese setting. 8. Red Beard or the Japanese name Akahige: I remember finding this film on Amazon a few years ago. I was looking for a Blu-Ray copy of Ikiru and typed in Kurosawa's name and found this gem in the search. Again Red Beard is like Ikiru as it is a simple film with no grand battles or vastness in scope. It just follows two men in Dr. Noboru Yasumoto and Dr. Kyojō Niide. The film takes place during the early 19th century. Dr. Yasumoto is an arrogant and ambitious who wants to work for the Tokugawa shogunate and the film focuses on his journey throughout the film. Red Beard isn't as compelling as Ikiru, but is still a great film. 9. High and Low: The film centers on Kingo Gondo, a wealthy executive of a shoe company who dreams and is planning of taking the company over, but is stopped when he gets a phone call from a stranger who says he has Gondo's son. It isn't Kurosawa's best written or most original film, but the story works and the film is really good. 10. Sanjuro: Again Kurosawa turns to the great actor Toshiro Mifune. Mifune was the director's go to actor as he starred in six of Kurosawa's films. The director and actor work well together and it shows in Sanjuro as the story follows a group of young samurai of a lord who learn of corruption and fear for their lords life and try to help their master with the help of a Ronin played by Mifune.