OZARK'S TOP 250 MOVIES: #100-#91

#100 - The Last Seduction (1994)
Linda Fiorentino is quite possibly the hottest woman on the planet and in this film noir she pratically burns off the screen. She plays the femme fatale Bridget Gregory a voracious man-eater playing a con. It is such a shame that this film was first shown on TV in the US which made ineligible for an Academy Award nomination that it rightly deserved.

#99 - Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
"It's all in the reflexes!"
Kurt Russell is at his coolest as Jack Burton, the all-american truck driver who is pulled into a mystical battle of the ages in Chinatown. Instantly quoteable and always enjoyable.

#98 - Batman Begins (2005)
Christopher Nolan brings the Batman franchise into the new millenium and with the help of Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne they reinvent the mythology showing the darker side of the Dark Knight. What is more amazing the incredible supporting cast they pulled together, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy and Tom Wilkinson all great actors. This represents a great year for comic book movies and a even better year for Frank Miller.

#97 - Evil Dead II (1987)
"Groovy."
The best of Raimi and Bruce Campbell's Evil Dead movies. This horror blends black comedy and gore into an exciting experience. Campbell's performance as Ash is over the top, outlandish and so completely tongue in cheek you can almost see him winking at the camera.

#96 - Swingers (1996)
"You're so money baby."
Vince Vaughn is the teacher and Jon Favereau is the student in the class of how to pick up chicks. Vaughn leads the way in trying to show his buddy how to get the girl. The script is hilarious and Vaughn is almost too beleiveable as the pick-up artist. This movie is so money.

#95 - Enemy at the Gates (2001)
One of the best WWII movies I have ever seen. It tells the story on the Eastern Front opening with the Battle of Stalingrad it drags you straight into the horror of war as the audience follows the duel between two snipers, Jude Law and Ed Harris.

#94 - Heathers (1989)
This wickedly funny high-school comedy has Winona Ryder trying to get in with the in-crowd whilst hanging out with a rebellious Christian Slater, who has a devious plan to restructure the social groupings at the school.

#93 - Six-String Samurai (1998)
"Float away little butterfly. Just flutter away."
A true guilty pleasure. This excellent campy post-apocalyptic adventure follows Buddy (Jeffrey Falcon) as he makes his way across the desert to 'Lost Vegas', which is now searching for a new king after the death of Elvis. A live action comic book samurai action adventure.

#92 - Swimming with Sharks (1994)
"You are nothing! If you were in my toilet I wouldn't bother flushing it. My bathmat means more to me than you!"
Another stand out performance from Kevin Spacey as the incredibly abusive movie producer Buddy Ackerman who is ends up being held captive and tortured by his trod-upon assistant played by Frank Whaley.

#91 - The Warriors (1979)
"I'll shove that bat up your ass and turn you into a popsicle."
Walter Hill found the novel that this is based on in a bookstore bargin rack. What he made out of it is great tale of a battle against adversity as one gang has to fight there way back home through New York. Each gang has it's own style and there are many including The Boppers, The Hi-Hats, The Riffs and of course the Warriors.

OZARK'S NOT QUITE TOP 250 MOVIES: Part 1

As I reach the my top 100 this is my first post about some movies that didn't make my Top 250 but that I feel are worthy of a mention as somethings you shouldn't miss or a film that is just underrated.

I think I should start in the 80s.. the ultimate guilty pleasure decade. The decade of the teen drama-comedy as brought to you by John Hughes. Just his movies are enough to fill this post... films like Mr Mom, National Lampoon's Vacation, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful and Planes Trains and Automobiles.

But it's really the movies that could have been John Hughes movies that I want to really acknowledge:

Adventures in Babysitting (1987) - Elizabeth Shue is the babysitter you don't want to fuck with... or do you? And remember you can't leave until you sing the blues.
Real Genius (1985) - Val Kilmer is a college genius, no really he is. Funny stuff as him and his team of genius are trying to make a laser.
Three O'Clock High (1987) - This little known movie stars little known Casey Siemaszko as the loser kid who somehow gets challenged to a fight with the high school bully at 3 o'clock.
Better Off Dead... (1985) - John Cusack is Lane Meyer, he is pretty much a loser. He is trying to kill himself and keeps failing and finally gives up after meeting a exchange student from France. "I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!!!!"
Licence to Drive (1988) - The best of the two Coreys movies.

There are many more out there... but is all I have for now.

OZARK'S TOP 250 MOVIES: #110-#101

#110 - Gangs of New York (2002)
With a bit of poetic license this is Martin Scorsese take on the true story of the New York City Draft Riots. Featuring a career best performance from Leonardo DiCaprio.

#109 - Face/Off (1997)
John Woo's best Hollywood action flick to date. Made with his traditional orgy of violence, two-gunned, slow-motion and mexican stand offs. Also has John Travolta and Nicholas Cage firing on all cylinders.

#108 - Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Audrey Hepburn is absolutely gorguous and delightful as Holly Golightly in this Blake Edwards comedy. Brings out the romantic in everyone.

#107 - The Pianist (2002)
A great view of WWII from the eyes of Polish Jewish pianist (Adrien Brody) as he struggles to survive through the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto.

#106 - The Jerk (1979)
This is Steve Martin at the peak of his comedic brilliance. He is Navin R Johnson a simpleton struggling through life until an invention of his makes his wealthy.

#105 - Lethal Weapon (1987)
A defining moment in the action movie genre. The first of the great buddy cop movies, the highstrung suicidal white cop (Mel Gibson) and old retiring black cop (Danny Glover). A formula that will be copied many times.
"I'm getting to old for this shit."

#104 - High Noon (1952)
The classic black and white western. Gary Cooper is the marshall of a small town who finds out the criminal he incarcerated is coming back to town at noon only to find out his own town refuses to help him. One of the early examples of a movie being filmed in real time.

#103 - City of God (2002)
A multilayered ganster film from Brazil. It follows two kids lives in the ghetto as the grow up running on different sides of the law. Amazing in it's execution and style.

#102 - Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
An epic in the true sense of the word. Everything about this Sergio Leone western is huge. From the desert vistas to the extreme closes up of twitching glances.

#101 - Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Controversial and deemed both sacrilegious and blasphemous by many people upon it's release it is the story of Brian, a man born at the same time as Christ and is then mistaken for the messiah.

OZARK'S TOP 250 MOVIES: #120-#111

#120 - ET: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
This family sci-fi adventure has a place even in the meanest of hearts. Spielberg lays on the sentimentality so think it invests you in this story. It also features one the most ominous bad guy's in Peter Coyote's government agent Mr Keys.

#119 & #118 - Kill Bill Volume 1 (2003), Volume 2 (2004)
Tarantino reinvents the kung-fu samurai epic with much aplomb and style. Uma Thurman is 'The Bride' a bad ass momma who slices and dices with the best of them ending in suitable amounts of arterial spurtage.

#117 - The Untouchables (1987)
"I want to piss on his grave!"
Robert De Niro chews up the screen as Al Capone in Brian De Palma's telling of Elliot Ness and team of Untouchables who went to war with the gangster during prohibtion.

#116 - Harvey (1950)
Years before Roger Rabbit got framed James Stewart was seeing this six foot tall rabbit. Imagenary or not, this is a wonderfully funny and quirky film.

#115 - Sin City (2005)
Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller collaberated to make this on screen comic book. An almost frame to frame adaptation of Miller's noir stlyed comic book series this movie blows the viewer away with it's visionary technique and outlandish violence.

#114 - Battle Royale (2000)
A class of Japanese school kids think they are going on a field trip but they end getting kidnapped and dumped on an island. Each of them is given a weapon and the single mission of killing everyone else until there is only one left.

#113 - The Frighteners (1996)
Michael J Fox is perfectly cast as the psychic private detective/exorcist is Peter Jackson's first Hollywood movie. The script has the right pitch of comedy and scares with some excellent performances from the supporting cast, namely Jeffrey Combs.

#112 - 12 Angry Men (1957)
Henry Fonda stands as the one man against eleven other jurors in this tense drama. The whole film is set in the humid jury room and tempers are soon frayed leading to some of the best performances put on celluloid.

#111 - Bullitt (1968)
McQueen is and always will be Lt Frank Bullitt, he will always drive that car and it will always be on the Streets of San Francisco.

MOVIE REVIEW - Land of the Dead (2005)

Director: George A. Romero
Starring: Simon Baker, Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo, Asia Argento

Romero returns with the fourth and possible final installment in his zombie saga. This time we join some of the last surviving humans as they have walled themselves into a city that is surrounded by water. Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) is the man who runs the city and he sends out Riley (Simon Baker) and his crew of militants to search for food in abandoned towns. It is on one of these scavenger trips that Riley discovers something about the zombies that worries him. They are trying to be like humans. They are evolving.

This time around the zombies are characters themselves lead by Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), who is the first one to start realising how to do things and to the point of almost having feelings. It's a funny moment when at the sight of the death of a fellow zombie he yells out in anguish. But the scariest part is when he gets hold of a gun. I mean fighting off hoardes of the undead is hard but when they are armed with M16s it can be a little more difficult.

Now in this day and age some 2o years on from his last episode, 'Day of the Dead', gore plays a big part of horror flicks and this is no exception. In fact Romero has pulled out all the stops he is relentless in showing the sights and allowing us to hear the sounds. There is almost no end to the squishing and squelching sound effects on top of people having large bites taken out of them. One bite in particular is the woman with a belly ring, well you can imagine.

Another plus point is since his older films Romero can now actually get good actors to play the zombie-fodder. Simon Baker is commanding in the lead role and John Leguizamo is suitably cocky as the expert zombie-killer. Then the cream of the crop in this movie is Dennis Hopper, is the very dislikable corrupt boss of the city, he plays the bad guy so well.

The Good: Very well acted for a horror. The master is back in control.
The Bad: It's a zombie-horror not exactly to everyone's tastes
The Ugly: Gore, blood, gore, squelch, scream, slurp, munch, blood.

Overall: A triumphant return. 8/10

OZARK'S TOP 250 MOVIES: #130-#121

#130 - LA Confidential (1997)
The film that made Hollywood sit up and notice Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce. This excellent adaptation of James Ellroy's novel showcases how modern film noir thrillers should be made.

#129 - The Exorcist (1973)
Critically acclaimed and controversial upon release this terrifying horror movie won Oscars. Centered around a disturbing performace from Linda Blair and her makeup.

#128 - The Italian Job (1969)
"You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off."
This classic English comedy crime caper sees Michael Caine and company attempting to make the biggest gold heist in history.

#127 - Trainspotting (1996)
Danny Boyle's version of Irvine Welsh's drug-laced novel is a marvel to watch. We follow Ewan McGregor as Renton in his multiple attempts, and failures, to quit drugs.

#126 - Batman (1989)
At the time it was made this was the definitive take on the Batman mythology. Burton's dark cityscape of Gotham and Keaton's portrayal of Wayne were spot on. But the movie's limelight was stolen by Jack Nicholson as Jack Nicholson (Joker).

#125 - Desperado (1995)
Director Robert Rodriguez gets a budget, a script and two sexy leads. What follows is an orgy of action, violence and sex that craves to be watched.

#124 - House of Flying Daggers (2004)
Visually and audible gorguous. Zhang Yimou's follow-up to Hero is far more enjoyable and captivating in it's execution. Zhang Ziyi has also never looked more beautiful.

#123 - Crash (2004)
From his own screenplay, Paul Haggis directs this ensemble piece which deals with the issues of racism in a realistic way. It delves into the reasons people are just the way they are. Incredibly powerful and ultimately life changing in many ways.

#122 - The Wild Bunch (1969)
It is the end of an era, the death of the true cowboy is close at hand. But one last group of aging outlaws refuses to go out quietly and set about making one more score. This is truly Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece western.

#121 - Vertigo (1958)
James Stewert stars in Hitchcock's great thriller about mistaken identity and obsession. Is the woman in front him really the one he thought had died?