40 Films

I was chatting with a Chinese friend at work, and we got to talking about films – and I realized that there were so many classic films that he hadn’t seen.  So I said I would send him my top 10.  Come the next day, I sent him a list of 40 – and even then, I’m sure there a plenty of films that didn’t but should’ve made the list (as with any of these things, they are extremely subjective and prone to change at any given time).  So, for the sake of curiosity and completeness, here is the list I sent him (in no particular order):

Apocalypse Now Redux
The Godfather/The Godfather Part II
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Memento
Trainspotting
Blade Runner
The Shawshank Redemption
WALL-E
Full Metal Jacket
Zulu
The French Connection
The Deer Hunter
American Beauty
City of God
Donnie Darko
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
L.A. Confidential
Reservoir Dogs
Magnolia
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of Africa
The Usual Suspects
Platoon
Seven
Pulp Fiction
The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy)
Kill Bill (Volumes 1 and 2)
Goodfellas
Airplane!
Chinatown
Lawrence of Arabia
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Schindler’s List
Pan’s Labyrinth
Fight Club
Alien/Aliens
Star Wars (Original Trilogy)
The Matrix
Heat

I’m sure you’re thinking about some strange admissions and some startlingly obvious omissions, but perhaps most troubling of all – no James Bond!  But this was the list I composed last night, so I feel obliged to stick to it.  I said I would come up with a revised list later on, so it seems that I will need to scan through my film collection and come up with (at least) another 40 that he should watch!