The best film twists of all time

Three new films are set to have memorable twists. Our

film critic salutes those movies that have delighted in
sudden shock. Warning: contains spoilers
Watch clips: Great Expectations: Pip meets Magwitch I The Empire Strikes Back:
Darth reveals his secret I Rosemary's Baby: Mia Farrow's shocking discovery I The
Wicker Man: Edward Woodward toasted by mad islanders I The Cabinet of Dr
Caligari: inside a mental hospital I Fight Club: Ed Norton deals with his alter-ego I
Planet of the Apes: Charlton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty
Do you agree with our choices? Have your say at the foot of this article
The most powerful tool in cinema is the perfect twist, those vertiginous seconds when the
bottom falls out of your seat and you are no longer sure whether to trust your eyes.
It is the scene where Bruce Willis discovers a bloodstain on the back of his raincoat in The
Sixth Sense: he is dead and that is why Haley Joel Osment can see him.
It is the panic on Stephen Rea’s face when his shy new girlfriend, Dil, takes her kit off in
The Crying Game: she is a he.
It’s the roar of despair from Charlton Heston when he stumbles across the decapitated head
of the Statue of Liberty on a sandy beach in Planet of the Apes: Heston realises that he has
been on Earth all along and humanity has destroyed itself.
These great film twists are pure and delicious shocks. Aristotle called the process
peripeteia: the sudden reversal from one state of affairs to its ghastly opposite via a
“discovery” that turns blind ignorance into painful knowledge. As an example he cites the
scene in Oedipus Rex by Sophocles in which the messenger unwittingly damns the hero
with the happy (but fatally wrong) news that Oedipus probably didn’t kill his father and
marry his mother.
The scene in Fight Club in which a schizophrenic Ed Norton discovers that he is possessed
by a homicidal alter-ego played by Brad Pitt is just as mad and electric. The potty
melodrama could so easily beggar belief. Instead, it sets the imagination on fire. Most of
all, this single scene inspires you to replay, and reassess, the picture in your head. The grip
we have on reality seems to slip the moment that Norton regains his. With one ingenious,
crazy leap of faith, the director David Fincher plugs our imagination into every grim
nuance of his story. Norton’s split personality is a sublime stunt, whatever your views on
the story.
For every film armed with a reversal as traumatic and remarkable as Fight Club, there are
hundreds that fail spectacularly.
The road to the holy grail is generously feathered with turkeys. The most prolific offender
is M. Night Shyamalan, who has tortured his career to death trying to re-mint the elusive
box-office success of The Sixth Sense.
Films that are dependent on flipping expectations within the space of a single scene are
precarious gambles, which probably explains why there are so few big twisters in
production.
But there are three intriguing prospects on the immediate horizon. Tom and Charlie Guard’s
ghost story, The Uninvited (April 24), stars David Strathairn and Elizabeth Banks in a
terrifying battle of wills between parents and children.
Ron Howard’s Angels & Demons (May 14) is the eagerly awaited and, rumour has it,
superior sequel to The Da Vinci Code.
Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York (May 15) is guaranteed to raise hackles and
eyebrows — as it did in Cannes last May — with its wild and bizarre shifts of time and
place. All three films are expected to be primed with lethal twists.
A poll of colleagues was remarkably consistent about which films had the best twists:
Great Expectations (when Pip discovers that his entire fortune, privilege and place in
society has been paid for by an ex-convict, Magwitch); Rebecca (the scene in the boathouse
when de Winter reveals to his new bride that he absolutely hated his dead wife); Blade
Runner (when we realise Harrison Ford is a robot); The Shining (when Wendy, Jack’s wife,
realises that he is insane; the book he has been writing is one line written hundreds of
times: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”); The Usual Suspects (Kevin Spacey
is pulling the strings); The Prestige (double twist: Christian Bale is his own twin and Hugh
Jackman has managed to clone himself), The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (the “narrator” of this
silent movie turns out to be telling the entire story from inside a mental institution); The
Others (Nicole Kidman realises that she and her children are dead); and The Empire Strikes
Back (Darth Vader is revealed as Luke’s father).
The actor David Morrissey was not the only one to laud the ending of Jacob’s Ladder.
“Your heart breaks when you realise the whole film is in fact a soldier’s [Tim Robbins]
dying thoughts in Vietnam,” he muses. “But my all-time favourite twist is in The Wicker
Man when Edward Woodward finally clocks that he has been lured to this Scottish island
because the locals want to sacrifice him. Brilliant. The modern twist I’ve enjoyed best is in
Shane Meadows’s film Dead Man’s Shoes. I actually shouted out
There can be great pleasure in being in on a twist, says Morrissey, as in Sunset Boulevard:
“The twist is the opening shot, a voice from a dead man in a swimming pool, and then he
tells us how he got there.” The rest of the film unpeels how he got there: he starts and
finishes the film dead.
Hitchcock, of course, picked up bundles of votes. The critic Mark Cousins nominated the
scene in Vertigo in which Kim Novak’s dual role is unmasked (as loving wife and heartless
future mistress of James Stewart). But he also argued the brilliance of the Thai director
Apichatpong Weerasethakul. “His movies have the biggest twists of all because they stop,
and then restart,” explains Cousins. “They are reincarnated: that’s the influence of
Buddhism I reckon.”
Cousins adds: “We experience films with twists in two parts. The first, before the twist,
when we see them innocently, without the full knowledge, and then the second part, after
we’ve eaten from the tree of knowledge and then we rewind the films in our heads and see
it again. The worst twist in recent memory was the revelation that Charlize Theron was a
superhero in Hancock. Rather than rejuvenating the movie, it sucked the entire life out of
it.”
The screenwriter Peter Morgan is far more ambivalent about twists. “While there’s
something undeniably satisfying about watching a well-constructed reversal, or a ‘hairpin-
bend’ twist, more often than not they are cheap and contrived, and you leave the cinema
feeling as if you’ve been mugged. Plot and understanding is a gladitorial arena: a power-
based battleground where writer and audience are in a constant battle for supremacy. A
good writer can afford to let an audience play with an open hand.
“But hairpin-bend reversals are the ultimate expression of a writer exerting total control
over a viewer. It is a high-wire act in terms of trust. If you can pull it off, great. If you fail,
you expose your insecurity as a storyteller. The harder a narrative is to follow, the more the
balance of power favours the writer. The more even the balance, the freer a viewer is to
judge the rest of the writer’s work, his characters and the way he shapes the dialogue.”
Those misgivings apart, Morgan names The Sixth Sense, Rosemary’s Baby (there really are
devil worshippers living next door to poor Mia Farrow), and Psycho (in which Norman is
revealed as the voice of his dead mother) as films with classic-twist moments.
I ask Stephen Woolley, producer of Neil Jordan’s film, The Crying Game, about what
makes the perfect twist and particularly that iconic moment when Dil reveals all, indeed far
too much, out of pure love, to a horrified Stephen Rea.
“The reason the twist in The Crying Game works is that, like Psycho, it is really a double
twist,” reckons Woolley, who I’ve tracked down on set in deepest Africa. “Most audiences
know there’s a surprise coming. They believe the shock moment is the death of Forest
Whitaker — like Janet Leigh in the shower — and so the real ‘reveal’ [when Dil reveals her
penis] is a double whammy, just as when Anthony Perkins is revealed as his own dead
mother! Killing off Forest Whitaker was a totally novel twist at the time. He was a main
character.”
Woolley believes that the entire concept of film twists is in continual flux, that there are no
golden rules, that traditional ideas about the perfect rug-pulling moment are mutating daily.
We love to be confounded. It is one of the infernal joys of cinema.
“To me, films like Vertigo, even Great Expectations, are less cathartic now because they
feel like literary subterfuge,” argues Woolley. “They don’t hit you round the head and
confound your expectations. Movies that truly shock are not those that contrive a slap in the
face, but those that really do slap you in the face. Films like Hunger, Waltz with Bashir,
Lost/Found, or Hidden have twists that are tangible and scary.”
The ultimate twist, he adds, is mass annihilation. The twist in Dr Strangelove is that they
drop the Bomb. The twist in Kiss Me Deadly is that they unleash nuclear radiation into the
sea, destroying the entire planet for all we know.
“There are probably thousands of unexpected plot twists that haven’t been explored or
brought to the screen, says Woolley. “As society changes, our obsessions alter. We become
galvanised against certain taboos and liberated by others. Once upon a time a flaccid penis
in 1993 (The Crying Game) was banned in Japan. But nowadays if your sympathetic hero is
revealed to be a member of the Taleban, that would probably be a twist too far.”
The implicit and telling point Woolley makes is that film-makers today are still required to
hedge their bets, and temper their shocks — which reflects, very accurately, the financial
and moral lay of the land.
“The real power of a decent film twist,” claims Woolley, “lies in its ability to loosen the
proverbial screws. That’s the kind of twist we all ought to aspire to.”
Twists that did not turn
By Wendy Ide
Signs (2002)
M. Night Shyamalan established himself as the master of the twist with The Sixth Sense,
then promptly shot himself in the foot with every film that came after. The crop-circle
thriller Signs is particularly lame. The invading aliens’ Achilles’ heel turns out to be water,
which makes them fizz like a frog dropped into sulphuric acid. So why attack a planet that
is 70 per cent covered in the stuff?
Identity (2003)
John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet and others are stranded in a motel; someone is
murdering them one by one. It turns out that both murderer and victims are all in the head
of the nutjob Pruit Taylor Vince. Hilariously similar to the spoof thriller The Three in
Charlie Kaufman’s adaptation.
Switchblade Romance (2003)
A gamine lesbian, played by Cécile De France, is terrorised by a homicidal truck driver
with a penchant for decapitation. Her lover’s entire family is bloodily wiped out. But the
psycho truck driver turns out to be our heroine’s alter-ego. So that scene when she attacks
the driver with a barbed wire club? That’s just a messy plot hole we should ignore, OK?
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Tim Burton’s lamentable remake of Planet of the Apes is wrong on many levels, but the
fundamental problem is the nonsensical twist ending. Mark Wahlberg travels back to the
present day to find that the Lincoln Memorial has been replaced by a statue of the ape
leader General Thade. This suggests that Thade has leapfrogged Wahlberg into the past and
changed the course of history — which makes the entire film redundant.
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Kevin Spacey is on death row. But he’s innocent — or is he? It turns out that he implicated
himself as a murderer to highlight the flaws in the death penalty. So what about the rape
charge? How did he implicate himself into that situation? Both Spacey and the film-makers
deserve the harshest of sentences for this nonsense.
Do you agree with our choices? Have your say below
The implicit and telling point Woolley makes is that film-makers today are still required to
hedge their bets, and temper their shocks — which reflects, very accurately, the financial
and moral lay of the land.
“The real power of a decent film twist,” claims Woolley, “lies in its ability to loosen the
proverbial screws. That’s the kind of twist we all ought to aspire to.”
Twists that did not turn
By Wendy Ide
Signs (2002)
M. Night Shyamalan established himself as the master of the twist with The Sixth Sense,
then promptly shot himself in the foot with every film that came after. The crop-circle
thriller Signs is particularly lame. The invading aliens’ Achilles’ heel turns out to be water,
which makes them fizz like a frog dropped into sulphuric acid. So why attack a planet that
is 70 per cent covered in the stuff?
Identity (2003)
John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet and others are stranded in a motel; someone is
murdering them one by one. It turns out that both murderer and victims are all in the head
of the nutjob Pruit Taylor Vince. Hilariously similar to the spoof thriller The Three in
Charlie Kaufman’s adaptation.
Switchblade Romance (2003)
A gamine lesbian, played by Cécile De France, is terrorised by a homicidal truck driver
with a penchant for decapitation. Her lover’s entire family is bloodily wiped out. But the
psycho truck driver turns out to be our heroine’s alter-ego. So that scene when she attacks
the driver with a barbed wire club? That’s just a messy plot hole we should ignore, OK?
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Tim Burton’s lamentable remake of Planet of the Apes is wrong on many levels, but the
fundamental problem is the nonsensical twist ending. Mark Wahlberg travels back to the
present day to find that the Lincoln Memorial has been replaced by a statue of the ape
leader General Thade. This suggests that Thade has leapfrogged Wahlberg into the past and
changed the course of history — which makes the entire film redundant.
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Kevin Spacey is on death row. But he’s innocent — or is he? It turns out that he implicated
himself as a murderer to highlight the flaws in the death penalty. So what about the rape
charge? How did he implicate himself into that situation? Both Spacey and the film-makers
deserve the harshest of sentences for this nonsense.
Do you agree with our choices? Have your say below
The implicit and telling point Woolley makes is that film-makers today are still required to
hedge their bets, and temper their shocks — which reflects, very accurately, the financial
and moral lay of the land.
“The real power of a decent film twist,” claims Woolley, “lies in its ability to loosen the
proverbial screws. That’s the kind of twist we all ought to aspire to.”
Twists that did not turn
By Wendy Ide
Signs (2002)
M. Night Shyamalan established himself as the master of the twist with The Sixth Sense,
then promptly shot himself in the foot with every film that came after. The crop-circle
thriller Signs is particularly lame. The invading aliens’ Achilles’ heel turns out to be water,
which makes them fizz like a frog dropped into sulphuric acid. So why attack a planet that
is 70 per cent covered in the stuff?
Identity (2003)
John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet and others are stranded in a motel; someone is
murdering them one by one. It turns out that both murderer and victims are all in the head
of the nutjob Pruit Taylor Vince. Hilariously similar to the spoof thriller The Three in
Charlie Kaufman’s adaptation.
Switchblade Romance (2003)
A gamine lesbian, played by Cécile De France, is terrorised by a homicidal truck driver
with a penchant for decapitation. Her lover’s entire family is bloodily wiped out. But the
psycho truck driver turns out to be our heroine’s alter-ego. So that scene when she attacks
the driver with a barbed wire club? That’s just a messy plot hole we should ignore, OK?
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Tim Burton’s lamentable remake of Planet of the Apes is wrong on many levels, but the
fundamental problem is the nonsensical twist ending. Mark Wahlberg travels back to the
present day to find that the Lincoln Memorial has been replaced by a statue of the ape
leader General Thade. This suggests that Thade has leapfrogged Wahlberg into the past and
changed the course of history — which makes the entire film redundant.
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Kevin Spacey is on death row. But he’s innocent — or is he? It turns out that he implicated
himself as a murderer to highlight the flaws in the death penalty. So what about the rape
charge? How did he implicate himself into that situation? Both Spacey and the film-makers
deserve the harshest of sentences for this nonsense.
Do you agree with our choices? Have your say below
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6061080.ece?token=nu
ll&offset=24&page=3

20 movies which make you wish you'd gone to

college
Film critic Jo Berry didn't go to university (which may have been wise in the current
climate), but here are her choice of 20 films which make her realise that she just may have
missed out on a true experience....
1. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
"Toga! Toga! Toga!" + John Belushi's Bluto + Kevin Bacon being spanked + 'double secret
probation' = the best college comedy ever.
See a toga-wearing John Belushi above.
2. The Sure Thing (1985)
John Cusack has the road trip from hell with prissy Daphne Zuniga as he heads from his
Ivy League college across the US to California in search of a promised 'sure thing' in this
classic romantic comedy. Take notes when he shows her how to shotgun beer – it's an
essential skill.
Watch a classic scene.
3. Good Will Hunting (1997)
Oscar-winning drama about a janitor at MIT (Matt Damon) who has a gift for mathematics,
and psychiatrist Robin Willams and mathematician Stellan Skarsgard who battle over his
genius. Being brainy's never been more romantic than when Damon insults a Harvard
boffin to win the hand of Minnie Driver, but it's actually the onscreen bromance between
Ben Affleck and Damon that's most touching.
Watch Matt Damon and Minnie Driver bonding over organic chemistry...
4. Circle Of Friends (1995)
Minnie Driver again, this time in her breakthrough role as the dumpy young Benny, who
heads off to university in the Dublin of the 1950s with best pals Eve and icy Nan (Saffron
Burrows), who cosies up to Benny's crush (Chris O'Donnell).
Watch Chris O'Donnell have a rather unfortunate reaction to an anatomy lesson - and
Minnie try to support him.
5. Starter For 10 (2006)
Cheeky James McAvoy is the University Challenge-addicted boy who wins a place at
Bristol University in 1985, and tries out for the quiz show team to get close to a girl in this
cute comedy with a memorable soundtrack (The Cure, New Order, Style Council, Echo
And The Bunnymen, Tears For Fears).
Watch this great scene of the team meeting up (a wonderful performance by Benerdict
Cumberbatch)
6. Flatliners (1990)
Medical students practice on themselves – trying to 'flatline' and experience death before
being brought back – and it all has rather nasty consequences in this flashy chiller. While I
don't particularly want to see the Other Side, sharing a scalpel with the stars – Kevin
Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, William Baldwin (and Julia Roberts) would have been fun ...
Watch the trailer.
7. Brideshead Revisited (2008)
This so-so film version of Evelyn Waugh's novel boasts those dreaming spires of Oxford's
academies, and adorably foppish college students lolling about the place in long scarves as
Charles loses his innocence and his way when he meets the unbalanced Sebastian and his
posh totty sister before World War II.
Watch the three of them together.
8. Hoop Dreams (1994)
Superb three-hour documentary following two inner city African American kids from
school, through college, as they follow their dreams of becoming basketball superstars. A
sharp social commentary about class privilege and the racial divide that's unforgettable.
Watch the trailer.
9. We Are Marshall (2006)
Based on a true story, this college movie is inspiring (if a little cliched) stuff. In 1970 the
football team of Marshall University was killed in a plane crash – this drama follows the
one player and coach who missed the flight trying to rally the grieving town into finding a
new team. Matthew Fox and Matthew McConaughey star.
Watch this inspiring speech (but ignore the misspellings in the intro!)
10. The Way We Were (1970)
Classic romance starring Barbra Streisand as Katy, the frizzy-haired political activist who
falls for middle class Hubbell (Robert Redford) at university in the 1930s, and then meets
him again during the war and takes him to bed despite their different political and social
standings. The 'Your girl is lovely, Hubbell,' scene will reduce even manly viewers into a
pile of sobbing mush.
Watch the end of the film with that classic scene (cue some "memories")
11. The Paper Chase (1973)
Cracking drama, with Timothy Bottoms as the Harvard law student struggling to survive
being taught by strict professor Kingsfield (the marvellous John Houseman), and
complicating matters by dating Kingsfield's daughter (Lindsey Wagner). One of the few
movies that shows just how hard college can be...
Watch Timothy realise that Lindsey is Kingsfield's daughter
12. Educating Rita (1983)
Willy Russell's play became a fun screen comedy with Julie Walters as Rita, the mouthy
hairdresser who wants an education, so signs up to the Open University and discovers
whisky-sodden Frank (Michael Caine) is her English Literature tutor. Of course, she
inspires him, Pygmalion-style, to help her...
Watch this tribute.
13. Higher Learning (1995)
Columbus University as seen through the eyes of track star Malik (Omar Epps),
'professional student' Fudge (Ice Cube), naive Kristen (Kirsty Swanson) and Midwest boy
Remy (Michael Rapaport). Jennifer Connelly, Tyra Banks and (blink and you'll miss her)
Gwyneth Paltrow costar.
"Information is power", watch this clip.
14. Legally Blonde (2001)
This fluffy comedy sends daffy blonde Elle (Reece Witherspoon) to Harvard so she can win
back her preppy boyfriend, who has dumped her because his family want him to marry 'a
Jackie, not a Marilyn'. Of course, Elle discovers all you need to get through Harvard Law is
pink scented paper and a matching pink suit. . . what, you mean that wouldn't happen in real
life?
Watch the brilliant Reese Witherspoon have her moment in court.
15. The Skulls (2000)
A pretty naff thriller, but the idea is cool – top US universities have secret societies, in
which old boys help each other climb the political ladder to untold riches (they do exist -
George Bush Sr was allegedly a member of Yale's Skull And Bones society). Here it's a bit
more sinister as Joshua Jackson discovers The Skulls will even commit murder for their
brethren... and he may be next...
Watch the trailer.
16. Blondie Goes To College (1942)
Ditsy Blondie (Penny Singleton) signs up for college when her husband Dagwood decides
to go, as they both feel they missed out when they were younger. Cuter than candy floss
comedy that's as warm, fuzzy and nostalgic as a Val Doonican jumper....
Read the New York Times review.
17. Old School (2003)
When Luke Wilson buys a house on a college campus, his middle aged pals see it as the
perfect opportunity to relive their wild 'n' crazy youth in this comedy best
remembered/forgotten (depending on your point of view) for Will Ferrell's nude streak
through town. Vince Vaughn and Jeremy Piven costar.
Watch Will Ferrell's memorable wedding.
18. School Daze (1988)
Spike Lee's quirky drama about an all-black college is a series of musical set-pieces sort-of
linked together that covers subjects such as the conflict between militant activists and the
college's frat boys.
Watch the good hair/bad hair scene.
19. A Yank At Oxford (1938)
Robert Taylor is the brash American who doesn't fit in amongst Oxford's college elite in
this classic romantic comedy drama. The lovely Maureen O'Sulllivan and Vivien Leigh
costar. (While they were filming none of the cast and crew were actually allowed inside any
of Oxford's colleges.)
Watch a clip of Taylor at college here (and a bit of Latin too!)
20. Fandango (1985)
One of many college road trip movies, this little known one has a young Kevin Costner,
Judd Nelson (remember him?), and pals heading off in a car in 1972 before facing up to life
after graduation and the possibility of going to Vietnam. Well worth seeking out.
Watch the original (and excellent) trailer
See more of Jo Berry's reviews

The End: the best movie endings ever,

from E.T. to Casablanca
Is it E.T. leaving in a spaceship or Butch and Sundance
going down in a hail of bullets? Here Times critics choose
their Top 20 film endings. But be warned: it does contain
spoilers
20 Se7en
David Fincher, 1995
Kevin Spacey’s gruesomely creative serial killer takes the Seven Deadly Sins as his
inspiration for a series of horrible and slightly sanctimonious murders. Can Brad Pitt and
Morgan Freeman catch the killer before he dispatches all of his targets?
The “head in a box” denouement is a jaw-dropper of an ending. Pitt and Spacey’s
characters take on the mantles of Wrath and Envy, respectively: Spacey’s jealousy of the
cop’s domestic bliss with bride Gwyneth Paltrow causes him to chop her head off; Pitt’s
rage and grief prompts him to execute the killer on the spot. WENDY IDE
19 The Blair Witch Project
Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez, 1999
After numerous screen freak-outs, lost students Heather (Heather Donohue), Mike (Mike
Williams) and Josh (Josh Leonard) are in a deserted house. Heather screams, Mike is killed
by an unseen assailant and the last shot we see, in Heather’s grainy video footage, is of Josh
standing in a catatonic stupor, facing the corner walls of the basement, like a punished
child. Creepy. KEVIN MAHER
18 Memento
Christopher Nolan, 2000
Leonard (Guy Pearce) is so traumatised by his wife’s murder that he is incapable of
remembering anything, bar the occasional jigsaw-like flashback. As he pieces together the
clues and tracks down the man who killed his wife, we share his revelations and his
triumphs, sympathising with his need to remind himself of what he’s done using notes and
tattoos. Then we realise that Leonard is on his way to kill an innocent man. As Leonard
drives away his satisfaction at killing his wife’s “murderer” is, we realise, only temporary.
We have been had. Leonard’s amnesiac quest for revenge has turned him into a serial killer,
doomed to repeat his actions ad infinitum. And we have been on his side. NIGEL
KENDALL
17 Planet of the Apes
Franklin J Schaffner, 1968
Dignified seminaked astro-hunk George Taylor (Charlton Heston) has finally escaped from
his brutish gorilla overlords, and is taking a coastal canter when it happens. First the
mangled torch creeps into shot, then the crown of lady Liberty herself. Taylor realises that
he’s not on another planet but on postapocalyptic Earth! “You maniacs!” he screams. “You
blew it up! Damn you! God damn you all to Hell!” KM Read the Times review
16 The Shawshank Redemption
Frank Darabont, 1994
Having endured decades of wrongful incarceration, beatings, rape and false hope, Andy
Dufresne (Tim Robbins) escapes from his gothic jail. After gleefully detailing Dufresne’s
flight, Darabont was unsure whether to show his subsequent reunion with jail buddy Red
(Morgan Freeman) on a Mexican beach. He wisely chose the even more uplifting option –
as his editor noted: “Tell me that smile on Morgan’s face isn’t going to leave the audience
as high as a kite.” ED POTTON
15 Gone With the Wind
Victor Fleming, 1939
Boasting a double-whammy of iconic endings, this Civil War epic closes with the destitute
heroine Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) being dumped by husband Rhett Butler (Clark
Gable) with the immortal lines: “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” The feisty Scarlett
regroups and, within 50 seconds of screen time, faces the camera for that classic tear-
stained close-up, announcing: “I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow
is another day.” KM Read the Times review
14 Doctor Strangelove
Stanley Kubrick, 1964
This comedic countdown to nuclear apocalypse concludes in appropriately bombastic style,
with Peter Sellers’ eponymous, wheelchair-bound strategist suddenly finding the use of his
legs and Slim Pickens’s bomb commander riding an ICBM, rodeo style, out of a plane.
Kubrick’s masterstroke was following such outrageousness with a michievously serene
montage of explosions set to Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again. EP Read the Times review
13 Les Diaboliques
Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955
Forget the so-so American remake – the black-and-white French original has one of the
most shocking denouements in screen history. The illtreated wife and the mistress of a cruel
provincial head-master are conspiring to kill him, and appear to have done so. Until his
“corpse” rears up out of the bathtub, sending his wife into terminal cardiac arrest. Just as
her plotting husband and his mistress had hoped. EP Read the Times review
12 The Wizard of Oz
Victor Fleming, 1939
The prototype twist ending has Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) waking up back in drab and
dreary Kansas and realising that the previous 90 minutes of multicol-oured action adventure
were only part of a fever dream. Bummer. Farm hands Hunk (Ray Bolger), Zeke (Bert
Lahr) and Hickory (Jack Haley) gather round Dorothy’s sickbed, invoking their
counterparts from Oz – Scarecrow, Lion and Tinman respectively. Dorothy decides that,
despite the allure of faraway lands, “There’s no place like home”. KM Read the Times
review
11 Thelma & Louise
Ridley Scott, 1991
In this outlaw chick-flick Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are on the lam in a Ford
Thunderbird convertible. After a truck-stop altercation turns deadly, the two women flee
across the US. Eventually they are cornered by the police, but Sarandon floors the
accelerator and sends the car hurtling over a cliff. Part exploitation movie, part cri de coeur
for abused women, this film let its girls go down gloriously unrepentant. WI
10 The Sixth Sense
M. Night Shyamalan, 1999
The twist to end all twists. Try as he did in subsequent movies such as Signs and The
Village, Shyamalan has failed to trump his debut film’s climax. Malcolm Crowe, Bruce
Willis's child psychologist is making good progess with a troubled boy who can “see dead
people” (Haley Joel Osment), until it dawns on Crowe that he himself is a ghost. The
genius of the ending was not just its unexpectedness, but the way it forced a reevalution of
the film’s previous events – “So that’s why his wife was ignoring him!” EP
9 The Usual Suspects
Bryan Singer, 1995
Cop Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) thinks he has the case of enigmatic criminal
mastermind Keyser Söze sewn up, until it turns out that Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) – the
informer Kujan has rashly set free – made up most of his story and is probably Söze
himself, a double bombshell that Singer drops in a dazzlingly edited final flourish. EP
8 The Italian Job
Peter Collison, 1969
This light-hearted heist movie boasts the ultimate cliff-hanger ending – literally. Michael
Caine and his colourful band of crims have just pulled off a daring bullion robbery from a
bank in Turin. The getaway by bus goes smoothly until an accident sends the vehicle into a
skid, leaving it dangling precariously over the edge of a cliff. Cue great final line: “Hang on
lads, I’ve got an idea . . .” WI Read the Times review
7 Some Like It Hot
Billy Wilder, 1959
It’s the perfect ending to the perfect screwball comedy. Italian mobsters have seen through
Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis’s female disguises. Along with Marilyn Monroe, they flee
on board the yacht of millionaire Osgood Fielding III, who is smitten by Lemmon’s female
alter ego, Daphne. Lemmon desperately tries to dissuade Osgood, finally ripping off his
wig and shouting: “I’m a man.” The smirking Osgood’s reply is one of the great last lines:
“Nobody’s perfect.” WI Read the Times review
6 Breakfast At Tiffany’s
Blake Edwards, 1961
In torrential rain, in an insalubrious Manhattan alleyway, Audrey Hepburn’s Holly
Golightly desperately searches for Cat, the stray pet she just cruelly dumped from a cab.
The missing cat represents her decision not to close herself off from love and mutual
dependency. Only when she finds him can she move on with George Peppard’s
impoverished writer Paul. There’s not a dry eye in the house – and the sodden cat’s furious
expression is hilarious. WI Read the Times review
5 Chinatown
Roman Polanski, 1974
Private eye Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) has blundered into a murder case that involves
multimillionaire Noah Cross (John Huston) and a scandal about the Los Angeles water
supply. Gittes, hired by Cross, discovers that Cross has had an incestuous relationship with
his daughter, Evelyn, that has produced a child, Katherine. Cross wants the child. Evelyn
wants to keep her away from her wicked father. Gittes has fallen in love with Evelyn, but
suspects her of murder.
In the devastating final scene, all the film’s protagonists and plotlines twist together. Evelyn
drives away at high speed with her daughter through the streets of Chinatown. The police
fire warning shots, one of which kills Evelyn. Cross takes Katherine. He has the child he
wanted.
But at what cost? Gittes knows the truth about Cross’s relationship to the child, but is
powerless to stop him. A crowd gathers around the fatal scene. Gittes is told to turn away.
“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” The camera, indifferent, fades out, leaving us as desolate
and shocked as Gittes. NK Read the Times review
4 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Steven Spielberg, 1982
After weeping at E.T.’s tragic death, then weeping again at his resurrection, and again as
Elliott (Henry Thomas) and Co magically take to the skies, what could possibly be next?
Nothing but the mother of all weepies in the final farewell scene. Here the composer John
Williams pummels the soul, Spielberg yanks every heartstring, and E.T. touches the
blubbering Elliott’s forehead with his flashlight finger, saying: “I’ll be right here.” Then
E.T. disappears up inside a giant Fabergé egg. Brilliant. KM Read the Times review
3 Casablanca
Michael Curtiz, 1942
Driven to cynicism and exile in wartime Casablanca by a woman who abandoned him in
Occupied Paris, Rick (Humphrey Bogart) is not best pleased when she turns up in town
with her freedom-fighting husband. But Bogie can’t stop loving her, nor she him. Now
though, with Nazis all around, the fate of the world may depend on her husband’s safe
passage out of Casablanca. Rick and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) must choose between enriching
their own lives by eloping, or enriching the world’s by helping her escape with her
husband. On the tarmac, the plane ready to taxi and the Nazis ready to spring, Bogart and
the love of his life embrace for what we know will be the last time. Bogie’s ability to
suggest the soft centre at the heart of a tough nut has never been matched. NK Read the
Times review
2 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
George Roy Hill, 1969
Pale, bullet-ridden, yet still bantering, our improbably handsome bank-robbing heroes
Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) are trapped in an
adobe barn, surrounded by the entire Bolivian army. They have just enough time for a few
gags before it’s time for a suicidal frontal assault on their foes. “For a minute there, I
thought we were in trouble,” quips Butch, before leading the charge. The soundtrack then
reveals the inter-ballistic mayhem that follows, yet the screen simply freeze-frames on the
men, an elegant portrait of courageous insanity. KM Read the Times review
1 Carrie
Brian De Palma, 1976
At the end of this Stephen King adaptation, Carrie (Sissy Spacek), who begins the film
doused in the blood of her first period, has ended it drenched in the blood of pigs at a high-
school prom. Unfortunately for her classmates, Carrie’s womanhood brought with it
telekinetic powers, which she then uses to wipe out most of them – and herself – in a blaze
of purifying flame. Sue (Amy Irving), one of the few survivors, visits Carrie’s freshly dug
grave. She lays flowers. Carrie’s arm thrusts out of the soil and grabs her. A million
stomachs leap. Sue wakes up. It was just a nightmare, but one that will never end. NK Read
the Times review
The End II: the worst movie endings ever,
from Grease to Blade Runner
Last week, our Top 20 film endings prompted a huge
response from readers. Now, Times critics present the 20
worst endings in film. From the absurd to the
underwhelming, these are the closing scenes that have
ruined memorable films
20 Velvet Goldmine
Todd Haynes, 1998
Using a Citizen Kane-style flashback frame, Haynes harks back to the pan-sexual
subversions of Bowie, Iggy and the early1970s glam-rock era. By the end he seems to have
run out of money.
What’s supposed to be 1984 New York looks like Birmingham on a bleak Monday; Ewan
McGregor and Christian Bale share an unconvincing memory of their gay rooftop romp –
and the Bowie figure is reinvented as Swiss Toni.
JAMES JACKSON
19 Cast Away
Robert Zemeckis, 2000
Being stuck alone with Tom Hanks on a desert island for 90 minutes is itself a test of
patience, but at least there is the whole “will-he-escape?” question. He does . . . but things
don’t stop there. In a turgidly anticlimactic homecoming, he discovers that his girlfriend is
married to their dentist. He looks sad. Time passes. Just when things threaten never to end
he finds himself standing at a crossroads. Like we don’t get it.
JJ
18 Planet of the Apes
Tim Burton, 2001
The special effects in Burton’s remake are certainly superior to those of the original, and
Helena Bonham Carter, even wearing her prosthetic monkey snout, gives a nuanced
performance. But the ending is nonsensical: Mark Whalberg returns from the ape-ruled
future to 2029 to discover that the Lincoln Memorial now honours the ape ruler General
Thade – which would mean that the Thade he met in the future was more than 2,500 years
old.
WENDY IDE
17 Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
Richard Marquand, 1983
It’s not the sickly ending, where Leia and Luke Skywalker find out they are siblings. It’s
not the unlikely rehabilitation of Darth Vader, or even the way that George Lucas keeps
digitally embellishing it with every rerelease. No, it’s those bloody dancing teddy bears. We
fought an intergalactic war for this? Read the Times review
NIGEL KENDALL
16 Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, 1975
They changed the face of modern humour, but the Python boys, moving away from
standard sketch construction, often left themselves with no punchlines. In a half-hour TV
show, that’s acceptable. But on the big screen, after some of the most hysterical comedy
moments in cinema history, to have King Arthur and his knights arrested by contemporary
policemen is, literally, a cop-out. Read the Times review
NK
15 Blade Runner (original release)
Ridley Scott, 1982
The studio-tampered original has much to recommend it, including Harrison Ford’s noir-
style voiceover, the perfect complement to Scott’s dark, rain-drenched hellhole. What really
sucks is the decision to remove all ambiguity from the ending, leaving Deckard (Ford) and
Rachael (Sean Young) driving in sun-drenched mountains that look as if they were torn
from another movie. They were. From the outtakes of the opening minutes of The Shining.
Read the Times review
NK
14 Magnolia
Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999
How do you tie up the loose ends in an ambitious comedy-drama? Answer: you introduce a
freak meteorological event, a rain of frogs that falls on your characters, interrupting suicide
attempts and causing havoc on the highway. Biblical imagery? Or a desperate attempt to
plug plot holes with amphibians?
WI
13 There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson, 2008
For two hours, Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance as the monstrous oilman teeters just the
right side of the line between genius intensity and unintentional self-parody. Come the
bizarre coda and things lurch over the line. “I – will – drink – your – MILKSHAKE!” he
slurps crazily at the simpering preacher before smashing in his head with a bowling ball.
Hilarious, yes. Intentionally so?
JJ
12 Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock, 1960
“Matricide is probably the most unbearable crime of all!” And so begins an agonisingly dull
lecture from know-all Dr Richmond (Simon Oakland) that explains the psychopathology of
Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) in painfully literal terms, and brings the formerly thrilling
proceedings to an undignified splat. Read the Times review
KEVIN MAHER
11 Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola, 1979
Philosopher soldier Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) discovers that, after gunfights, river
chaos and encroaching insanity, the heart of darkness contains a fat man called Kurtz
(Marlon Brando) who allows himself to be killed during a cow-chopping ceremony. Willard
subsequently leaves. The horror indeed. Read the Times review
KM
10 The Great Escape
John Sturges, 1963
“The Great Escape Attempt”, more like it. After 170 minutes of digging tunnels and faking
documents, nearly every one of the escapers is captured or killed. Even the hero Virgil Hilts
(Steve McQueen), after a botched bike jump, is sent back to the cooler. But, hey, he’s got
his baseball. So that’s OK. Read the Times review
KM
9 Saving Private Ryan
Steven Spielberg, 1998
Spielberg opened his war drama with one of cinema’s most visceral combat scenes. But he
added on a coda in the style of a Werther’s Original ad, in which Ryan, now a grandad,
reflects on whether he was a good man. Spielberg at his gloopiest.
ED POTTON
8 The Great Dictator
Charles Chaplin, 1940
Chaplin’s goofy Jewish barber, through a series of zany misadventures, speaks at a
climactic Fascist rally. “Let’s do away with hate!” he says, gushing through a four-minute
monologue, Miss World-style. The Fascists love it. Chaplin’s in tears. “We are coming out
of the darkness!” he thrills. He was, in 1940 at least, the only one. Read the Times review
KM
7 Brief Encounter
David Lean, 1945
Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) finally leaves her doctor crush Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard).
She stares into the fireplace and is pestered by her dreary husband Fred (Cyril Raymond).
“Whatever your dream was, it wasn’t a very ‘heppy’ one, was it?” he probes. “Oh Fred!”
she says, suddenly flinging herself at him. As if! Read the Times review
KM
6 Grease
Randal Kleiser, 1978
Olivia Newton-John’s overnight transformation from virginal moppet to leather-clad vamp
might have stretched credulity, but Kleiser’s musical at least conformed to the laws of
physics. Until the final shot, in which John Travolta’s hotrod takes flight and soars away
into the clouds. Why, oh why? Read the Times review
EP
5 The Maltese Falcon
John Huston, 1941
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre spend 90 minutes
crossing, double-crossing and second-guessing one another in the hunt for the priceless
jewelled falcon. Am I the only person disappointed by the ending, where Greenstreet
reveals it to be a fake, and Bogie tidies up the loose ends in three minutes flat? Read the
Times review
NK
4 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick, 1968
The mysteries of the Universe are revealed to super-astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea).
He flies through an intergalactic lava lamp, lands in a chintzy hotel room, becomes an old
man, points to a black slab, and then a giant baby floats across the cosmos. Kubrick, here,
has lost the plot. Read the Times review
KM
3 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Peter Jackson, 2003
Overegging the pudding in epic style, Jackson wraps up his nine-hour saga with no fewer
than four endings. The coronation of Viggo Mortensen’s king was euphoric, but the
dockside farewell and Sam’s return to Bag End were unecessary, and don’t get us started on
the scene in which Frodo and friends laugh like stoned schoolgirls.
EP
2 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Steven Spielberg, 2008
In a film that already spawned a new term for over-the-top, unprecedented silliness
(“nuking the fridge”), a well-reasoned ending was perhaps too much to expect. But what
was an enjoyable ripping yarn is let down by an ending that plays out like something the
screen-writer suggested for a joke. The Mayan temple turns out to be a spaceship. Riiight . .
.
WI
1 Citizen Kane
Orson Welles, 1941
After nearly two hours of screen-chewing performances and trickery, we finally discover
the secret of “Rosebud”, the last word uttered by Charles Foster Kane (Welles). It’s his
sled! Yes, it’s supposed to be metaphorical. But really, it’s his sled! Did someone say
shaggy dog? Read the Times review
KM

The 100 Best Films of 2007

Do you agree with our selection? What have we missed?
What were your favourites this year? Have your say at
the foot of this article
Times and Sunday Times critics pick their favourite films of the year
div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited { color:#06c; }
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
"Greeted with universal approval from the critics, an exceptional, masterful piece of film-
making that combines social realism, political comment and nail-biting tension" - Wendy
Ide
Babel
"A stunning piece of cinema that hinges on one reckless moment of childish stupidity. The
most exhilarating Oscar contender by a long stretch" - James Christopher
Blade Runner: The Final Cut
"It has taken 25 years, three cinema edits and possibly a round trip to Mars for Ridley Scott
to arrive with the definitive version of his sci-fi masterpiece" - James Christopher
The Seventh Seal
"Ingmar Bergman’s black and white masterpiece has matured like a great wine over 50
years [and had a welcome re-release a month before the director's death]" - James
Christopher

300
"A high-speed ride into the white heat of the battle of Thermopylae in 480BC. The result is
something fantastic, voluptuous, bloody, ferocious and sublime" - Cosmo Landesman
3:10 to Yuma
"A thrill-filled ride across a flyblown dustbowl where the heroes are iconic, unwashed and
deadly. They spit out killer lines like bullets" - Wendy Ide
12:08 East Of Bucharest
"Droll delight that questions the nature of historical record and the realities of
postcommunist Romania with a slyly comic and disarmingly self-mocking tone" - Wendy
Ide
Alpha Dog
"Cynics will doubtless fear the film for all the wrong reasons. They will fume about its
credibility. They will wonder about the phenomenal number of tattoos on show" - James
Christopher
American Gangster
"A gangster epic from Ridley Scott is no Goodfellas, but it has all the right ingredients for a
fine crime flick" - Wendy Ide
And When Did You Last See Your Father?
"Blake Morrison’s delicate tear-jerking memoir stars Firth as the embittered son Blake, and
Broadbent as the garrulous, insensitive father" - Kevin Maher
The Assassination of Jesse James
"It's 1881 and when Brad Pitt swaggers into view, dressed from head to toe in black, we
know we are in the presence of a superior bastard" - James Christopher
Atonement
"Starry, sexy and unmistakably British, Atonement is the kind of film that comes along all
too rarely" - Wendy Ide
Beowulf
"The dreary bête noire of English literature students, is given a surprisingly potent
makeover by its co-writers Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman" - Kevin Maher
Black Book
"Paul Verhoeven’s Second World War thriller is a remarkable departure for a director best
known for Robocop and Basic Instinct" - James Christopher
Blame It on Fidel
"Director Julie Gavras has created a very funny and moving look at the clash between the
personal, the political and parental" - Cosmo Landesman
Bobby
"An eloquent requiem for what might have been, and a tragic reminder of how much that
bullet cost" - James Christopher
The Bourne Ultimatum
"The latest Jason Bourne film leaves you truly shaken and stirred – but why is he reading
The Guardian?" - Cosmo Landesman
Blue Blood
"This assured and highly entertaining film could hold its own against pretty much any
sporting documentary you care to name" - Wendy Ide
The Brave One
"We haven’t seen Jodie Foster in a big dramatic role that really had some power to it since
The Silence of the Lambs" - Cosmo Landesman
Bridge to Terabithia
"This is a remarkable film for children – and pretty powerful for adults. A sudden and
unexpected twist should have all the family weeping together" - Cosmo Landesman
Climates
"It’s a handsomely photographed film. Minutely observed, painfully honest and acutely
perceptive, this is a mournful masterpiece" - Wendy Ide
Control
"By fateful coincidence, the Cannes debut of Corbijn’s cinematic homage to Ian Curtis fell
just one day short of the anniversary of his suicide" - Stephen Dalton
The Counterfeiters
"Germany seems to be producing a wealth of quality drama at the moment, the latest being
a lean, urgent piece based on a real-life Second World War story" - Wendy Ide
Curse of the Golden Flower
"Zhang Yimou’s latest has spectacular, beautified action of the sort he delivered in Hero
and House of Flying Daggers, combined with over-the-top melodrama" - Edward Porter
The Darjeeling Limited
"It may not have you weeping in the aisles, but it will be with you for days after you see it"
- Kevin Maher
Days of Glory
"Bouchareb’s film carries its message with dignity and a restraint that never dominates the
storytelling. The result is the most powerful war film of the year" - Wendy Ide
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
"All of Julian Schnabel’s films have been about the struggle to create art. This is a
gorgeously atmospheric and deeply affecting piece of work" - Wendy Ide
Dracula
"Hammer’s 1958 account of the blood-sucking Transylvanian is back in cinemas, in a
restored print, for Hallowe’en" - Edward Porter
Earth
"Wondrous footage from the BBC natural-history series Planet Earth has been remixed to
create this documentary feature" - Edward Porter
Eastern Promises
"A film about the horror and kindness of strangers, and an industry that enslaves young
lives. Cronenberg doesn’t paint theme-parks; this is the curb-crawling reality" - James
Christopher
Enchanted
"I haven’t been as delighted and surprised by an old-fashioned Disney tale since I was a
child" - James Christopher
Far North
"Throw another log on to the fire because the story I’m about to tell blows as cold as an
Arctic wind. The tale begins with a curse" - James Christopher
Flanders
"The most potent antidote to a Bruce Willis myth that you could possibly inject. An
extraordinary and raw piece of work" - James Christopher
For Your Consideration
"Christopher Guest’s timely comedy about the turmoil of winning an Oscar nomination is
tinged with disgust and despair" - Wendy Ide
Funny Ha Ha
"The humour is never forced and the dialogue is completely persuasive. Bujalski is one of
the most original film-makers of his generation" - Wendy Ide
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
"Perhaps the biggest surprise is that it is the male director of Secretary who has painted this
almost feminist fairytale of Arbus" - James Christopher
The Golden Compass
"That rarest of blockbuster beasts: a film that stretches children’s imaginations and
stimulates their intelligence with important ideas and issues" - Cosmo Landesman
The Golden Door
"Gorgeous to look at, unfashionably optimistic and quirkily seductive, certainly one of my
favourite releases of the year so far" - Wendy Ide
Hairspray
"John Travolta has made plenty of mistakes as an actor, but he has rejected every film role
that could tarnish his 1970s musical legacy" - James Christopher
Half Nelson
"Ryan Gosling gives one of the outstanding performances that only turn up every 10 years
or so. A special film, rich with heart and laced with a bittersweet melancholy" - Cosmo
Landesman
Hallam Foe
"It’s a testament to Jamie Bell’s growing talent that we can accept this half-crazed boy in a
badger-skin headdress and warpaint as the lead" - Wendy Ide
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
"The formulaic structure notwithstanding, the Potter films continue to be one of the most
visually inventive and meticulously detailed franchises" - Wendy Ide
The Hitcher
"So similar to the 1986 original you wonder why Meyers bothered. The answer is simple.
The ingredients still scare us 20 years on" - James Christopher
The Hoax
"To describe Clifford Irving as a consummate liar would be an understatement. The man
elevated bulls*** into an art form" - Wendy Ide
Hot Fuzz
"Pegg and Wright dispense lines crafted from purest comedy gold amongst the cast like
sweets. Even the briefest cameo appearance gets a laugh" - Wendy Ide
I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone
"Tsai Ming-Liang brings a dreamlike beauty to his native Malaysia: there’s a languid
sensuality to the story" - Wendy Ide
I'm Not There
"Todd Haynes’s film about Bob Dylan is one of the greatest rock’n’roll swindles of all
time. The real star is Cate Blanchett" - James Christopher
In The Shadow of the Moon
"For those who grew up with the Moon landings already a fait accompli, the film presses
home the excitement, wonder and fear of an incredible journey" - Holden Frith
Infamous
"How many Truman Capotes does it take to nail the myth? Toby Jones defies the odds with
an extraordinary impersonation of the author" - James Christopher
Into The Wild
"I’ve always loathed Penn’s films, and suspected that they were given special praise
because people love his veneer of I-hate-Hollywood hipness"- Cosmo Landesman
Jindabyne
"The Australian director Ray Lawrence turns a murder chiller into a debate about right and
wrong within a marriage" - Wendy Ide
Knocked Up
"The story is hardly revolutionary – boy meets girl, boy gets girl pregnant, and life as we
know it is thrown into turmoil" - Kevin Maher
The Last King of Scotland
"Forest Whitaker not only plays Idi Amin, the most celebrated lunatic in African history, he
is half-convinced he actually is him" - James Christopher
Last Tango in Paris
"Bernardo Bertolucci’s erotic masterpiece - utterly dominated by a bullish Marlon Brando -
still has the unnerving power to shock after 35 years" - James Christopher
Letters from Iwo Jima
"You suspect Eastwood has a sneaking respect for the heroism of the Japanese, who,
outnumbered and knowing they would die, fought bravely to the end" - Cosmo Landesman
The Lives of Others
"Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Oscar triumph should have earned him a firework
display, a team of nubile cheerleaders and a nifty title to add to his preposterous name" -
Wendy Ide
Michael Clayton
"Gorgeous George is wonderfully jaundiced as Michael Clayton, an amoral corporate
lawyer who has made his name by defending the indefensible, discovers" - James
Christopher
A Mighty Heart
"Winterbottom’s harrowing film about Danny Pearl, the reporter kidnapped in Karachi, is a
raw account about the frantic efforts to get him back" - James Christopher
Miss Potter
"The thought that Beatrix Potter might actually have enjoyed a sex life will doubtless come
as a terrible shock to Mrs Tiggywinkle’s many admirers" - James Christopher
Mr Brooks
"Kevin Costner has come over all Jekyll and Hyde in a preposterously enjoyable thriller.
Lead us into temptation" - Cosmo Landesman
Mutual Appreciation
"Shaping up to be the voice of a generation that communicates through dead air and
stuttering silences, Bujalski returns with his second film" - Wendy Ide
Oceans 13
"It’s one of the smuggest franchises in cinema, but it’s also a guilty pleasure to watch. You
know the score" - James Christopher
Once
"A unique film: a low-budget, low-fi modern musical that is scruffy, soulful and full of
beautiful tunes about battered hearts and bruised hopes" - Cosmo Landesman
Raging Bull
"Reissued in a new print, Scorsese’s 1980 portrait of boxer Jake La Motta should still stop
younger audiences unfamiliar with it in their tracks" - Peter Whittle
Ratatouille
"Anton Ego, the restaurant critic of The Grim Eater, is one of the greatest performances of
Peter O’Toole’s career" - James Christopher
Reprise
"A playfully irreverent take on traditional Scandinavian pursuits such as depression and
suicide attempts" - Wendy Ide
Rescue Dawn
"The work of a man who is tired of being a legend and wants to make a living. Herzog’s
most accessible, and enjoyable, film to date" - Cosmo Landesman
The Savages
"A satisfying sense of a rite of passage: the characters we leave at the end of the film are
still flawed, but perhaps more fulfilled" - Wendy Ide
Sherrybaby
"Maggie Gyllenhaal’s most memorable performance since Secretary. Sherry’s problems are
revealed with all the gradual menace of a horror film - Wendy Ide
Sicko
"This is probably the best of Michael Moore’s films, in the sense that you don’t have to
share his leftist politics to appreciate it" - Cosmo Landesman
The Simpsons Movie
Homer Simpson, the oafish paterfamilias of America’s favourite dysfunctional family,
emerges from his big-screen debut a bona fide Hollywood action hero - James Bone
Sleeping Dogs
"Goldthwait’s inspiration is to coax genuinely affecting performances. Hamilton is
wonderful as the bruised victim of an oedipal insanity for truth" - James Christopher
Sparkle
"A bittersweet joy, the film is a delicate daisy chain of unexpected sex and East London
manners" - James Christopher
Stardust
"A magical kitchen sink is the only thing not thrown into the mix in this comic fairy tale,
mixing humour, action and sweetness" - Edward Porter
Sunshine
"The only thing more dazzling than the star throbbing at the centre of our dying solar
system is the design on Danny Boyle’s visually arresting sci-fi pic" - Wendy Ide
Superbad
"Avoids the regular pitfalls of the teen comedy and instead manages to be funny, crude and
charming at the same time" - Cosmo Landesman
Taking Liberties
"I came out of this eloquent mugging exhausted and in despair. It’s a film that champions
free speech by a director who once championed Blair" - James Christopher
Tell No One
"It’s so rare to find in a thriller a character whose fate you could possibly care about – but
you hope against all reason for a happy ending" - Cosmo Landesman
Ten Canoes
"It’s a hypnotically slow-burning, magical piece of film-making, the spell occasionally
disrupted by disarmingly ribald humour" - Wendy Ide
This Is England
"I don’t think Shane Meadows set out to shoot a state-of-the-nation parable. This is by far
his most personal and powerful testimony" - James Christopher
A Throw of the Dice
"The BFI re-release of Franz Osten’s 1929 Indian melodrama is one of those rare moments
when you feel blessed to be sitting in the stalls" - James Christopher
Two Days in Paris
"Reveals the darker side of Julie Delpy, a wonderfully acrid and bleakly funny persona that
her previous collaborators (mostly men) have clearly been keen to suppress" - Kevin Maher
The Upside of Anger
"Binder has created a funny and dramatically engaging study of a dysfunctional mother
trying to hold her family together as she falls apart" - Cosmo Landesman
Venus
"It’s a romantic comedy with a difference: instead of meeting cute, we get prostate cancer,
impotence, incontinence and death." - Cosmo Landesman
The Walker
"Woody Harrelson plays Carter Page, a gay and witty socialite whose “job” involves
squiring the wives of the rich and powerful" - James Christopher
When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan
"On this riotous six-week tour of the US, we are introduced to the fastest violinist in the
world; the mother of 47 children; and the daughter of a singer so fat that she looked like a
cathedral" - Wendy Ide
Withnail & I
"Timely reminder of how British movies can have impeccable writing, bravura
performances and deft direction without once resorting to either sledge-hammer plotting or
narrative inanity" - Kevin Maher
The Wicker Man
"Back from the celluloid grave, and no doubt inspired by the failure of last year’s flaccid
remake" - Kevin Maher
Zodiac
"So appealing are its characters, and the performances of the cast, so we become
participants in a riveting jigsaw puzzle" - Cosmo Landesman

28 Weeks Later
"A blockbuster horror that chimes noisily with local fears: immigration, needy strangers,
feral disease and Draconian laws" - James Christopher
Air Guitar Nation
"Instead of portraying her subjects as sad wannabes, Lipsitz focuses on the theatricality,
camaraderie and fun that bind the air-guitar community" - Cosmo Landesman
Blades of Glory
"The writing is as slick as the ice rink they train on. This is a script that puts an Olympic
effort into making us laugh" - Wendy Ide
My Blueberry Nights
"Cannes celebrates 60 dazzling years with an opener so beautifully painted you can forgive
it any number of sins" - James Christopher
Death Proof
"Tarantino's film is an eloquent lament for a sleazy age when drive-in movies were the
norm and flea pits were tacky and smoky" - James Christopher
Die Hard 4.0
"He may be bald and on the wrong side of 50, but in Die Hard 4.0 John McClane is a hero
for our times" - James Christopher
The Good German
"The first 20 minutes of Soderbergh’s black and white thriller are an old-fashioned
sensation. It’s like discovering the missing reel in Casablanca" - James Christopher
La Vie En Rose
"Watching Olivier Dahan’s film about the life of Edith Piaf, it occurred to me that if you’ve
seen the life of one tragic artiste, you’ve seen ’em all" - Cosmo Landesman
Rocky Balboa
"Spare a tear for Sylvester Stallone. The vintage beefcake is back for one last shot in Rocky
Balboa, and only the most stony-hearted critic would deny him" - James Christopher
The Science of Sleep
"Eccentric, indulgent and yet somehow disarmingly sweet. It’s also the kind of confidently
original work that’s almost impossible to summarise" - Wendy Ide
Straightheads
"Has the pornographic ingredients of a first-rate cult thriller. It's cheap. And there is copious
footage of Gillian Anderson's naked breasts" - James Christopher
Do you agree with our selection? What have we missed? What were your favourites
this year? Have your say
The 100 Best Films of 2008
Here is our pick of the best movies released in the UK
this year. Do you agree with our selection? What have we
missed? What were your favourites? Click film titles to
read the reviews, and have your say below
The Dark Knight
"Heath Ledger’s posthumous Oscar looks in the bag. The film is bleak and brilliant.
Batman is Hamlet and Ledger is a sensation as the Joker. The late legend doesn’t just steal
the film, he murders it in style. You will feel utterly numb afterwards" - James Christopher
Gomorrah
"Matteo Garrone’s startling film about the criminal underworld in Naples is one of these
rare movies that can alter our perception of life. It's brave to the point of foolhardy" - James
Christopher
Man On Wire
"The American director James Marsh has created one of the greatest heist films of all times.
Two things make his gripping docudrama so different: it’s all true, and the only thing stolen
is air. It isn’t about art, it’s about us" - Cosmo Landesman
There Will Be Blood
"Paul Thomas Anderson's movie about the scramble for oil is a masterclass in how the West
was truly sold. It's a marvellously entertaining soap: a sort of Dickens does Dallas, without
the sex or swimming pools" - James Christopher
Time and Winds
"The kind of movie that was invented for the word “ineffable”. It is, at a guess, about life’s
relentless march, about death, rebirth, and the hollow limits of religion in the face of
overwhelming nature. When you’ve got it you’ve got it for good" - Kevin Maher
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
"Every frame of this Romanian drama set in the 1980s about two female students trying to
arrange an illegal abortion is brilliantly thought out. A stunning and demanding watch" -
James Christopher
Alexandra
"Aleksandr Sokurov’s strange and dusty fable charts the unlikely visit of an old Russian
woman to her grandson’s desert garrison in Chechnya. Full of intriguing mysteries" -
Edward Porter
Appaloosa
"Director (and star) Ed Harris reintroduces us to the old-style strong and silent western
hero. Get ready to swoon" - Wendy Ide
Assembly
"Feng Xiaogang’s epic war film is just about the most impressive one since Saving Private
Ryan" - Cosmo Landesman
Australia
"Baz Luhrmann's long-awaited, and over-budget epic manages, against the odds, to avoid
turning into one big sunburnt stereotype about Godzone country. Compellingly beautiful
and breathtakingly cruel" - Anne Barrowlcough
Be Kind Rewind
"The plot here is perfunctory, but the amateur-movie shoots are wonderful, mixing equal
parts of silliness, sweetness and wit" - Edward Porter
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
"Nobody does self-loathing with quite the same dissolute panache as Philip Seymour
Hoffman" - Wendy Ide
Bigga than Ben
"Two Russian immigrants come to London hoping to make an easy fortune, but turn to a
life of crime: dark, funny, charming, fast, immoral, decadent and delightful" - Cosmo
Landesman
Blindsight
"Strikingly photographed documentary that unfolds into a story of human achievement and
a study of the East-West culture clash" - Wendy Ide
Black White + Gray
"Terrific documentary about the unsung collector Sam Wagstaff and his lopsided
relationship with his hungry young artist lover Robert Mapplethorpe" - James Christopher
The Boss of It All
"The Danish iconoclast Lars Von Trier finally embraces the centre ground with this smart
and witty mainstream comedy" - Kevin Maher
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
"One of the most moving and remarkable films about childhood I’ve ever seen: a simple
tale of unimaginable horror" - James Christopher
Burn After Reading
"An irreverent blast of screwball nihilism, twisty machinations and goofball performances"
- Kevin Maher
California Dreamin'
"Inspired by a real life stand-off between stranded US troops and the inhabitants of a tiny
Romanian village" - Kevin Maher
The Changeling
"This mature and thoughtful film is a many-layered triumph for Clint Eastwood and
Angelina Jolie" - Kevin Maher
Chocolate
"From the director who brought us the stunt-tastic Ong-Bak comes another symphony of
exquisitely choreographed carnage" - Wendy Ide
Cloverfield
"An hour in I started to sweat. And I nearly threw up trying to make sense of the
increasingly chaotic and frightening scenes of the gripping climax" - James Christopher
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures
"An egocentric documentary-maker traces his romantic ineptitude and sexual impotence
through awkward interviews with irate ex-girlfriends" - Kevin Maher
Couscous
"Few recent films have captured family as evocatively as this multi-award-winning French
movie" - Wendy Ide
Definitely, Maybe
"A romantic comedy with a refreshingly adult sensibility and plot that doesn’t feel that it
has been recycled and regurgitated by innumerable Cameron Diaz movies" - Wendy Ide
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
"Julian Schnabel has taken the hoary old hospital/disabled drama and given it an art-house
makeover, producing something moving and visually stunning" - Cosmo Landesman
Donkey Punch
"This neat British horror-thriller stood head and shoulders above almost all of the fare on
offer in Sundance this year" - Damon Wise
The Edge of Heaven
"Isn't an homage to anything other than the unassuming genius of its German-born Turkish
writer-director Fatih Akin" - Kevin Maher
Four Minutes
"Chris Kraus's second feature is a marvellous piece of cinema that hides its secrets like a
Russian doll" - James Christopher
Frost/Nixon
"The build-up to the final confrontation in Peter Morgan’s pin-sharp drama about the
television duel between Richard Nixon and David Frost is an absolutely electric piece of
cinema" - James Christopher
Garage
"Josie is a lonely bachelor who mans the local garage. The beauty of this lovely, sad little
film is the wealth of detail in every scene" - Wendy Ide
Garbage Warrior
"For the past three decades a silver-tressed eco-hero has been transforming piles of glass
bottles, beer cans and rubber tyres into wondrous houses in the New Mexican desert" - Ed
Potton
Gone Baby Gone
"Gripping film that uses the disappearance of a child to explore the disappearance of the
basic decencies within adult society" - Cosmo Landesman
Half Moon
"The savage drama of the landscape, the indomitable optimism of the people and the
passion of the ubiquitous music is universal in its appeal" - Wendy Ide
Halla Bol
"Asserts that many Indians are hapless victims of a hierarchical nepotistic society which
offers little leeway. Exerts a powerful grip" - Anil Sinanan
Happy-Go-Lucky
"Mike Leigh has devised a delightful comedy that sinks its teeth into your heart with
unexpected power" - James Christopher
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
"A wonderful mix of pulp fiction and fairy tale, monster saga and Tolkien mythology.
Imagine Philip Marlowe going down the mean streets of an underworld awash with psycho
goblins and killer fairies" - Cosmo Landesman
High School Musical 3
"As shiny and polished as newly fitted dental veneers and, like most Disney products,
relentlessly family-friendly" - Wendy Ide
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
"This hilarious account of the fall and rise of an English hack in New York is about what
happens when you lose your principles and become alienated from your better self" -
Cosmo Landesman
Hunger
"Turner prize-winning artist Steve McQueen's savage portrait of hunger striker Bobby
Sands is a chilling drama, a controversial and provocative act of remembering" - James
Christopher
I.O.U.S.A.
"Unexpectedly entertaining, given that it’s about dodgy accounting on an epic scale, the
film predicts an economic cold shower that is about to douse America’s prospects" - Wendy
Ide
I've Loved You So Long
"This impressive film debut by the writer and director Philippe Claudel is a story of
redemption and rehabilitation" - Cosmo Landesman
In Bruges
"A witty, wordy film which, for the first half at least, is driven almost entirely by dialogue
rather than action" - Wendy Ide
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
"Made on a tiny budget, this black-and-white gem is one of the best US indie movies since
Clerks" - Wendy Ide
In the Valley of Elah
"Tommy Lee Jones’ Oscar-nominated performance is impeccably judged. Paul Haggis’s
superb script is multi-layered" - Wendy Ide
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
"This fantastic Steven Spielberg adventure is a marvellous return to form for Professor
Henry Jones Jr" - James Christopher
Iron Man
"The first blockbuster movie of the summer, and, despite the topical Taleban atrocities, a
roaring fairground ride" - James Christopher
Jar City
"An atmospheric police procedural full of scorched sheep heads, pickled babies’ brains and
ice – and that’s just for lunch" - Wendy Ide
Jodhaa Akbar
"Oscar-nominated Lagaan director Ashutosh Gowariker’s sumptuous period epic has all the
ingredients of a Cecil B DeMille entertainer" - Anil Sinanan
Joy Division
"Although the death of Curtis casts a shadow over the film, there is also a spirit of
celebration and genuine admiration for the band" - Wendy Ide
Juno
"A small, quirky teenage comedy that was all set to become a cult classic like Rushmore –
then went and earned four Academy Award nominations" - Cosmo Landesman
Kamikaze Girls
"Tetsuya Nakashima has created a truly original teenage film - and, in doing so, shows how
predictable recent similar projects from Hollywood have been" - Cosmo Landesman
Kenny
"This low-budget Australian mockumentary is one of the funniest, warmest films of the
year, and Jacobson’s performance is so real that at times it feels unscripted" - Nigel Kendal
Kung Fu Panda
"In terms of pure family fun and entertainment, this is one of the best animation films to
appear for a long while" - Cosmo Landesman
La Zona
"Rodrigo Plá's story of murder in a gated community is a searing commentary on life in
contemporary Mexico and the vast disparity in influence, privilege and life expectancy
between the rich and the poor" - Wendy Ide
Linha de Passe
"Ultimately, there is optimism, albeit tempered by the poignancy of lives shadowed by São
Paulo’s harsh indifference" - Wendy Ide
Lust, Caution
"Only a director as revered as Ang Lee could have shot a story about China as explicit and
raw as this. The sex is brutal. The history is taboo" - James Christopher
Mad Detective
"This brilliant, funny Hong Kong thriller puts Hollywood to shame. A rookie cop enlists the
aid of the former homicide detective to solve a murder case involving a missing policeman
and his stolen gun" - Tom Charity
Mamma Mia! The Musical
"They’ll probably revoke my membership of the Straight Men’s Sneering Association for
this, but Mamma Mia is actually rather wonderful. Sharp, hilarious and so beautifully shot
that you can almost smell the Ambre Solaire" - Hugo Rifkind
Memories of Underdevelopment
"A fascinating and subtle study of an intellectual adrift in Castro’s Cuba, mixing
documentary footage, flashbacks and literary narration" - Cosmo Landesman
Mongol
"Are you ready for the new Genghis: romantic lover, caring dad, wonderful husband and
enlightened ruler?" - Cosmo Landesman
My Brother is an Only Child
"Formula-free melodrama that follows two boisterous brothers through the turbulent
realities of Italian political extremism" - Kevin Maher
My Winnipeg
"Shot mostly in black and white, in the densely cut style of the 1920s movies that director
Guy Maddin loves, the film has a strange, incantatory rhythm" - Tom Charity
No Country for Old Men
"A tense thriller with a dusty Texan ambience and a melancholy tone, featuring a wonderful
bit of casting: Javier Bardem in the bad-guy role" - Edward Porter
OSS-117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
"Forget 007 - action fans can have all the fun with his magnificently titled smooth French
counterpart" - Kevin Maher
Of Time and the City
"This rich cinematic memoir of Liverpool from Terence Davies is a British gem. Elegant
and slightly elegiac, this is a film to be cherished" - Wendy Ide
Out of the Blue
"The genius of the film is to draw the audience, almost immediately, into the community.
These are ordinary people who could be living next door to any of us" - Wendy Ide
P2
"The cruel beauty of the film is that it hinges on obsession and hate. The performances are
outstanding" - James Christopher
Persepolis
"This vivid autobiographical animation shows the human cost of life under a totalitarian
regime" - Cosmo Landesman
Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea
"Sparsely populated by Miyazaki’s usual standards, the film concentrates on family,
specifically the relationship between mother and child" - Wendy Ide
Quantum of Solace
"Daniel Craig’s craggy agent picks up exactly where he left off in another bruising thriller
that leaves you feeling both drained and exhilarated" - James Christopher
Quarantine
"Dowdle’s thriller is a consummate nerve-shredder. And any film that buries an axe in the
skull of reality television is to be cherished" - James Christopher
Quiet Chaos
"Moretti's movie about a media executive whose wife dies in a freak fall builds a
devastating portrait of a man mildly estranged from his daughter yet completely out of
touch with his own humanity" - Kevin Maher
Rachel Getting Married
"Jonathan Demme pays homage to Robert Altman with the emotionally charged and darkly
comic drama" - Wendy Ide
Redacted
"Not just a damning inside account of loud and bullish rednecks, but a virtuoso piece of
experimental film from Brian De Palma" - James Christopher
RocknRolla
"You can sneer at Guy Ritchie's mockney heritage. But you cannot deny that as a full-
throttle film-maker he is hard to beat for sheer energy" - Kevin Maher
Shine a Light
"Martin Scorsese’s recording of the band’s 2006 charity concert in New York’s relatively
intimate Beacon Theatre is a revelation" - Kevin Maher
The Silence of Lorna
"The tension grows, scene by guilty scene. This is another absorbing piece of cinema by
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne" - James Christopher
Somers Town
"Not as touching as Meadows wants it to be: too lightly sketched for that. Even so, the film
puts a smile on your face and freshens your brain with its li veliness" - Edward Porter
The Spiderwick Chronicles
"The most enjoyable PG fantasy this side of Hogwarts, and the first worthy rival to J. K.
Rowling’s mighty franchise" - James Christopher
Still Life
"A low-key meditation on the final days of a community through the eyes of two outsiders,
it's a fascinating, understated masterpiece" - Wendy Ide
The Strangers
"Supposedly based on a true story, this is the terrifying tale of what happened one night in
2005, when a couple were paid a visit by strangers at four in the morning" - Cosmo
Landesman
Summer Hours
"In Olivier Assayas’s drama, three siblings must decide what to do with a valuable art
collection inherited from their late mother" - Edward Porter
Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
"As the boat slips under a spooky London Bridge it becomes quite clear that Tim Burton
was born to film this strange and spooky chamber piece" - James Christopher
Taxi to the Dark Side
"America’s abhorrently flexible attitude towards torture in the post-9/11 era has inspired
several recent dramas, but none packs the punch of Alex Gibney’s Oscar-winning
documentary" - Ed Potton
Terror's Advocate
"The subject of Barbet Schroeder’s documentary is Jacques Vergès, a French lawyer who
has defended numerous terrorists and other pariahs" - Edward Porter
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
"Delightful Bollywood fantasy which is an inventive blend of Mary Poppins meets The
Sound of Music" - Anil Sinanan
Under the Bombs
"Not the usual look at the Middle East: a love story, a road movie and an important piece of
reportage that is angry, funny and deeply moving" - Cosmo Landesman
Unrelated
"This subtle film about an unhappily married woman in her forties – desperately seeking
the rest of her life – is a gem" - James Christopher
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
"Woody Allen’s latest comedy is a subtle spoof on the Don Juan myth and the funniest of
the four films that he has assembled in Europe" - James Christopher
W.
"The sheer warmth of Josh Brolin’s performance as George W Bush is as unexpected as
Oliver Stone’s restraint" - James Christopher
The Wackness
"Not a portrait of a generation, it’s a portrait of outsiders and oddballs of every age: funny,
poignant and well worth seeing" - Cosmo Landesman
Wall-E
"The future unspools like an old-fashioned silent movie. Barely a word is spoken, yet the
sepia images reveal a dystopian marvel" - James Christopher
Water Lilies
"Captures the casual cruelty, paralysing uncertainty and exaggerated passions of teenage
girls, conditioned to be decorative" - Wendy Ide
Waltz with Bashir
"This is one of those rare films that leaves you feeling as if you’ve seen something you can
take home and talk about" - Cosmo Landesman
The Wave
"The question that hangs over this high-school drama meets liberal Germany’s worst
nightmare is this: could totalitarianism ever happen again there?" - Cosmo Landesman
We Are Together
"Spiritually uplifting documentary about an institution that provides a roof, bed and a
surrogate family for children who have lost their parents to Aids" - Wendy Ide
What Just Happened?
"Withering comedy of appalling Hollywood manners that puts the boot into poncy art
house directors and charts the tantrums of over-paid stars" - James Christopher
XXY
"LucÍa Puenzo’s dry and prickly drama is a terrific flash of Argentine magic. The twists
would delight Almodóvar" - James Christopher
You, the Living
"The slapstick sequences are every bit as hilarious as the best of Tati, Keaton or Chaplin,
and you end up willing the rest of the movie to sustain that level of euphoria" - Tom Charity

20 sequels that were better than the

original
Whenever a movie sequel is announced, the cry that
Hollywood has run out of ideas won't be far behind: But
which are the follow-ups that buck the trend?
Sequels are all too often dismissed by cineastes as being recycled piffle for the great
unwashed. Movies with a number in the title rarely win awards, but we, the great
unwashed, keep going to see them. Why? Because they’re great: Here are 20 movies that
were at least as good as, if not better than, the first in the series.
20: Bride of Frankenstein
In Time magazine’s rundown of the 100 greatest films ever it was described as "one of
those rare sequels that is infinitely superior to its source". Certainly in terms of its influence
(you will still see Elsa Lanchester’s lightning-struck hairdo wherever big-budget
Hallowe’en parties are thrown) it’s one of the few movies of the 1930s great efflorescence
of horror that is still watchable today.
19: Magnum Force
The movie that brought David Soul to global attention would have to do a lot wrong not to
feature on a list of great sequels, and Magnum Force does nothing wrong. The screenplay's
great strength is how satisfyingly it establishes ‘Dirty’ Harry Callaghan’s moral standpoint.
Eastwood’s maverick cop is on the right-hand edge of the law, not outside it, and his
conflict with a group of young vigilantes defines that position in a way that a straight
cops’n’robbers narrative never could. Of course, the other key lesson that the film
establishes beyond all dispute is – Don’t be Harry’s partner.
18: Dawn of the Dead
Undeniably a more thrilling and horrifying movie than its dark ancestor, Dawn of the Dead
improves on Night of the Living Dead in almost every way. Cineastes can see important
lessons about the consumer society in its tale of a tiny band of humans holed up in a
shopping mall surrounded by ravenous zombies but the rest of us will just watch it for the
now much imitated viscerally undead action.
And besides, any film that inspired Shaun of the Dead can’t be all bad.
17: Clear & Present Danger
Movie nitpickers can argue all they like whether this is a sequel or not. It is. Third in a
series of movies featuring Tom Clancy’s CIA superman Jack Ryan, but only the second to
feature Harrison Ford in the role, it’s grimmer, more action-packed and less idealistic than
Patriot Games and better – so much better – than either of the non-Harrison Jack Ryan
adaptations.
16: Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
The second Bill & Ted movie is less highly regarded than its freewheeling, time travelling
forebear, but it is due a cinematic rehabilitation for sheer its exuberance, imagination and
silliness. Factor in the daftest reference ever to Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and you’ve got
a perfect ‘end of the weekend, let’s not think about tomorrow’ Sunday evening comforter.
15: French Connection II
Even though the real-life case that inspired the movie had no sequel, moviegoers wanted
more of Popeye Doyle. French Connection II was a completely fictitious follow-up using
most of the same characters. It’s worth looking the movie up just to see unlikely athlete
Gene Hackman run. And run. And run.
14: Back to the Future II
Often described as being ‘darker’ and ‘more complicated’ than the original, still marvellous,
Back to the Future movie, Back to The Future II delivered as many laughs as its
predecessor while offering a plausible and self-consistent set of laws for time travel that
make many ‘serious’ sci-fi films look a trifle sloppy. It also spawned a line of training shoes
that were so desirable there was still a market for them when they eventually turned up in
shops last year.
13: Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn
The Evil Dead was a superior take on the generic ‘Teens in Cabin’ genre that spawned
Friday The 13th and countless imitators. Evil Dead II used the events of the first film as a
springboard to a loopy, unpredictable, downright evil world where anything can and
probably will happen. Packed with insane scenes that defy rational description it made a
cult hero of Bruce Campbell and set Sam Raimi on the path that would lead him to Spider-
Man. And, of course, Spider-Man II.
12: Superman II
Giving the big blue boy scout some villains who are actually in his league, as opposed to
Gene Hackman’s clownish take on Lex Luthor, immediately elevates Superman II above
the first movie. More wisecracks and a little less screaming from Margot Kidder, and the
gleeful destruction of the Daily Planet newsroom and Oval Office ensure that despite its
troubled origins - Dick Lester replaced original director Richard Donner after a substantial
amount of the film had been shot - Superman II remains the best Superman movie ever.
11: After The Thin Man
Not quite the first sequel (politically incorrect silent saga Birth of a Nation was followed in
1916 by The Fall of a Nation) but the second instalment of probably the first movie
franchise. After the Thin Man revisited tipsy wisecracking sleuths Nick and Nora Charles as
they tried to solve another mystery, deal with a seemingly endless cavalcade of colourful
supporting characters and care for officially the best dog in motion pictures. Nick and
Nora’s near-constant bickering stand in contrast to the captivating five minute search scene
where not a word is spoken. For that, and for the little surprise at the end, After the Thin
Man belongs on any list of great sequels.
10: From Russia with Love
Still thought by many Bond fans to be the finest entry in the super-spy’s canon, From
Russia with Love introduced many of the themes that we now consider essential Bond
movie elements. The stirring John Barry score and action-packed pre-title sequence are
now Bond staples. And what other 007 offers an antagonist like Rosa Klebb? With a name
drawn from the popular Soviet phrase for women's rights and those wonderful shoes, she
was the ultimate feminist villain.
9: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
The glacial pace of the first Star Trek movie stands in stark contrast to this all-phasers-
blazing sequel to a classic Trek episode Space Seed. Ricardo Montalban returns as GM
superman Khan Noonian Singh, a warrior so brilliant that he even recognises Chekov in the
movie despite the Russian moptop not having appeared in the original TV episode. Despite
not performing quite as well as its predecessor at the box office Wrath of Khan is the most
fondly remembered of the ‘Original crew’ movies today and is the root of the tradition that
even-numbered Trek movies are better than odd-numbered ones. Planned at one point as the
final instalment of Star Trek it spawned eight (soon to be nine) more movies and four more
long-running TV shows.
8: Before Sunset
Sequels, and especially franchises, tend to blossom from the action and sci-fi genres. This
slow-moving talky return for the characters from 1995’s Before Sunrise is a rare exception.
The fleeting romance of the earlier film is reawakened for the characters who, like us, have
had ten years to love, learn and lose. It’s by no means our final look at Ethan Hawke and
Julie Delpy’s touching story: Both stars have expressed a willingness to make a third film
which – if the interval between Before Sunrise and Before Sunset should be taken as a guide
– should be due some time in 2013.
7: The Bourne Supremacy
More running, more car chases, more Byzantine conspiracy, more guns and much more
unpleasant brutal violence. If you liked the first Jason Bourne movie, and a lot of people
did, Matt Damon brought all the same stuff to the cinema again, but turned up the wick just
a little bit more.
6: Aliens
Terminator director James Cameron took characters and creatures from Ridley Scott’s eerie
claustrophobic sci-fi horror original and extrapolated around them an entire consistent
universe. As if that were not enough he used those characters and creatures to stage a
bloody, action packed Custer’s Last Stand with a small squad of tough trash-talking space
marines besieged by endless waves of ghastly insectile aliens. Further, it was this movie
that cemented Sigourney’s status as the action heroine of the franchise – inspiring countless
imitations for which Milla Jovovich, among others, should be grateful.
Further sequels followed the law of diminishing returns but rumours emanating from
Hollywood suggest that Ripley may have further adventures to come with - but this time
without her chitinous adversary
5: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
It’s hard to say whether it’s the still jaw-dropping effects, the relentless pace or the deft
dovetailing of the script with still- excellent 1984 original that makes Terminator 2 one of
the best sequels ever. Flipping Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Model 101 (if you’re being picky,
Cyberdyne Systems Series 800 Model 101 Version 2.4) Terminator to the good guys side
and pitting him against the newer, more lethal T1000 is a masterstroke.
The additional detail of preventing the ‘good’ terminator from adding to the movie’s
surprisingly low body count just adds to the overall feeling that despite the innovative
charm of the original movie, Judgement Day is the film that Christian Bale’s rebooted
Terminator franchise needs to beat.
4: The Empire Strikes Back
Despite the bluff and bluster of his press campaign for Star Wars, it’s by no means certain
that George Lucas really did have a nine-movie Jedi saga planned out. The success of the
first movie clearly emboldened him though: Empire Strikes Back is the film where the Star
Wars mythology really begins to build and Lucas dares to dream of the grand generation-
spanning arcs that would make his creation one of the most pervasive memes of popular
culture. The downbeat ending that had fans desperate for the release of Return of the Jedi
was the much-imitated mark of a franchise assured of its future. It’s probably best that no-
one knew in 1980 that the future would turn out to be characterised by with clunky
dialogue, videogame sets and combat-ready Care Bears.
3: Dark Knight
If we accept that Batman Begins was a new cinematic start for the caped crusader, then
Dark Knight is definitely a sequel. And what a sequel. Stripping away much of the
brooding build-up that gave the first half of ‘Begins’ its stately power and just diving into
frenetic, dizzy action it’s the super-hero movie par excellence and whether you’re looking
at critical reaction, box office receipts, or indeed anything other than the pseudo-intellectual
whims of the Academy Awards judges one of the greatest sequels in movie history.
2: Mad Max 2
Improving in the original in every way The Road Warrior (as our American cousins think of
it) extrapolated the social breakdown of its predecessor into a convincingly bleak dusty
post-civilised future.
Audiences shared in an involving story of personal redemption for Max Rockatansky, the
emotionally cauterised Road Warrior, that also featured a gratifying wealth of car chases
and crossbow combat. Still inspiring screenwriters and fashion stylists some quarter of a
century later (The video for California Love was a particular highlight) Mad Max 2 is
almost certainly the second greatest sequel ever.
1: The Godfather, Part II
Functioning as both sequel and prequel to the first Godfather movie, Francis Ford
Coppola’s dizzyingly ambitious follow-up to his justly lauded 1972 mob drama is seen in
its own right as one of the finest movies of all time. Half of the film shows us Robert
DeNiro slipping into a life of crime in order to care for his family, and half shows his son
Michael trying vainly to extract his family from the underworld without losing everything
in the process. Culminating in one of the most downbeat endings of any major studio film
to date, The Godfather Part II has, even more than its progenitor, shaped the way all mafia
films (and TV dramas) have been made since. An extended mini-series was created by
editing the 1972 and 1974 Godfather movies together in roughly chronological order but
that only served to highlight the value of Coppola’s deft juxtaposition of the 1920s and
1950s elements of Godfather II.