Films I've Seen In 2013 - Best To Worst

What's there to say that hasn't been said about The Godfather? Perhaps THE American masterwork, although it's heart is of course Italian. I think you'd struggle to find many 3 hours films that can hold an audience's attention throughout it's entire duration. My favourite scenes? I'll pick just two. I'll pick Michael's nerve-filled preparation for the double-assassination of Sollozzo and McCluskey - the way Coppola tricks us into thinking that the gun may have been removed from it's set position in the bathroom, if it was even left there at all, is a stroke of pure genius. The climax of the film is also incredible. We have the baptism scene, the literal baptism of the latest member of the Corleone family as well as Michael's symbolic baptism as the new Don, affirming his vows whilst his enemies are eliminated. It's a beautifully rich film, both in colour and in substance with some superb, effortless performances.

One of those films that occasionally comes along and blows your mind, whilst simultaneously reaffirming your love for films. Oldboy is incredible, it had me gripped from the very beginning and left me breathless by the end. One of my goals this year is to explore Korean cinema so seeing this was a no-brainer. Mind-bending and exciting revenge thriller it may be, it's also essentially a Greek tragedy, and a brilliantly presented and performed one at that - Min-sik Choi is a captivating anti-hero, whilst Ji-tae Yu is equally as impressive as the tragic villain. I need to see the other two parts of Chan-wook Park's revenge trilogy now, this is amazing. An instant favourite.

What sets this apart from the two other films in Leone's Dollars trilogy is that it's a study of the villain and not Eastwood's "Man With No Name". And it's all the more interesting and rewarding because of it. Gian Maria Volontè turns in an incredible performance as Indio, full of both wickedness and pathos, his motive for murder being steeped in tragedy. Easily Leone's most poetic spaghetti-western after Once Upon A Time In The West, with one of Morricone's finest scores to move it along. Sweeping, provocative, dreamlike cinema.

Terrific. A concisely told, beautifully shot movie, detailing a forgotten campaign of World War II - the Kokoda Track, as a battalion of inexperienced, amateur Australian soldiers face the full invasion force of the Japanese, outnumbered at 10 to 1. The harsh, claustrophobic, horrific and brutal conditions of jungle-warfare are brilliantly captured here ('Apocalypse Now' on a budget, if you will), suitably tense in all the right places whilst adding a few subtle injections of patriotism, without the need for flag-waving melodrama (à la 'Saving Private Ryan'). The characterisations and character developments are wholly believable, whilst seemingly endless amounts of haunting images make for captivating viewing - good score too. Hollywood take note.

The film that inspired Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 film, 'Drive', 'The Driver' is an iconic and stylish movie in its own right. It's easy to see where Refn took his influences from (a 360° hallway shot is lifted directly from this film). Ryan O'Neal's Driver is just as enigmatic as his successor, Ryan Gosling, an aloof, introverted individual involved in a violent game of cat and mouse with bent detective, Bruce Dern and beautiful, if mysterious, witness, Isabelle Adjani (her English-language film debut). There is double crossing and murder aplenty as the Driver goes all out to avoid getting caught in the trap and the impressive car chases rival anything from 'Bullitt'. Very good stuff. A classic of the genre for sure.

Perhaps the finest B-movie ever made. Superb.