Life Without Toast - Sibling Rivalry

Damn you Annie, I saw this and then I just had to do it myself. It's a bit of a weird one I must admit, listing my ten favourite films but excluding any I think might be one of the ten best ever made. Hmmm... Here we go so:

1) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across The 8th Dimension
Anyone else seen this? It's fucking brilliant. Starring Peter 'Robocop' Weller as Buckaroo Banzai, brain surgeon, test Pilot, rock star and international crime-fighter, and also starring John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Christopher Lloyd and more, made in 1984 for approximately twenty pence and featuring evil Red Lectroids from Planet 10, It's a laugh-a-minute sci-fi 'Z' movie that I really love, not least for it's sample-friendly quotes ("Sealed with a curse as sharp as a knife. Doomed is your soul and damned is your life").

2) The Day The Earth Stood Still
Forget the numerous alleged religious references (Mr. Carpenter anyone?) and instead have a good look at the far-ahead-of-their-time special effects and the beautiful art direction, not to mention the message contained within the economically-told story, which is basically "come on, humanity, grow the fuck up, for crying out loud"

3) Evil Dead II
Apart from being the 34th funniest comedy film of all time, it's also a superlative horror/schlock/splatter romp that hits every mark it aims for. Starring Bruce Campbell (BEST...ACTOR...EVER...) and directed by the ridiculously talented Sam Raimi (of recent Spider Man I & II fame), the "GIMME BACK MY HAND!" scene is worth whatever admission price you may or may not have paid alone (oh, and I choose this one over the original Evil Dead movie on the basis that it kicks it's ass).

4) Back To The Future
Do I really have to explain myself on this one? When this came out in 1985, I was eight, and it was the coolest thing in the history of the world. Every boy my age wanted a DeLorean, and to travel through time, and to have a crazy old 'Doc' as a friend, and to skate like Marty McFly.

5) Finding Nemo
I don't actually think I need to explain this one either! Pixar really have set the bar unattainably high with their last few films, but I still really (just by a tiny amount) think this is their best work, even though it's also possibly their most kiddywinkle-friendly outing. I really, really, really can't wait to see Cars, from what I've heard, despite some poor early reports, it's just as good as Finding Nemo and the Incredibles. WOO-HOO!!!

6) Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1
I caught this completely by accident late one night on TG4, the Irish-language TV station. It's not in Irish, but German, and it takes the complete piss out of every sci-fi or fantasy film you can think of, from The Phantom Menace to The original Star Trek, from Back to the Future to a Knight's Tale and beyond, all in the highest camp German accents you can imagine, and with a gay Mr. Spock. Brilliant. Real Shame you can't gt it on DVD with subtitles (as my German ain't the best) yet.

7) The Rocky Horror Picture Show
I actually started loving this while working on the Rocky Horror Show for a month about 9 or so years ago. From "Over At The Frankenstein Place" to "Super Heroes" (which used to send a shiver up my spine, believe it or not), the songs are all superb (if also superbly 'lame') and the humour has it's tongue so far in it's cheek that it's like, touching it's ear or something. To quote: "Yes, it really is the greatest cult-film of all-time".

8) Clerks
"Hello. What? No I don't work today, I'm playing hockey at two.". So you think, Danté, so you think. In fact, you'll be working all day, during which you'll make a sign using boot polish, people will throw cigarettes at you, you'll knock a coffin over at a wake, you will play hockey (on the roof of the Quick-Stop), you'll talk about Star Wars a lot with your friend Randall, and your ex-girlfriend will fuck a dead man in the toilet, thinking it's you. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, and I really hope Mr. Smith doesn't fuck it up completely with Clerks II.

9) Team America - World Police
When I saw the South Park movie, I thought Messers Stone and Parker had finally shown their true genius, but I also thought it would be their finest (two) hour(s). I was wrong. With Team America, they have not only rekinded the memories ot the Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet et al, told every actor in the world that they're a wanker, and constructed some of the finest puppet-based action sequences ever comitted to celluloid, they've also made me nearly poop myself laughing, and made Kim Jong Il cry (if he's seen it). Respect, Matt and Trey.

10) Brazil
Terry Gilliams 1985 opus is number ten on this list, but I've saved the best until last. This fantastical tale of the heroic dreams of a bureaucrat in the ministry of information in a distopian future society sees Gilliam at his visual and creative peak, full of completely insane characterisations, scenes and situations. The cameos by Robert De Niro and Bob Hoskins stand out as significant and throw-away at the same time, Jonathan Pryce's central character of Sam Lowry is inneffectual and essential simultaneously, and the film is full of such paradoxical situations. It's crammed full of visual detail, from the propoganda signs present everywhere ("Mind that parcel. Eagle eyes can save a life" / "Trust in Haste - Regret at Leisure"), to Bob Hoskin's hat with the stupidly oversized peak (which emphasizes the ridiculousness of his character's occupation), to the "MOI" (Ministry of Information) logo seen on everything from cups to goldfish bowls in Kurtzmann's office. The Final scene in which Michael Palin's character Jack, best friend of Sam, is revealed as the torturer who is to extract information from Sam, is brilliantly executed as both touchingly affectionate and brutally sinister.

So that's my ten, like them or lump them. Comments very welcome on this one, and I'm not tagging anyone.