My top 30 films - No.6

6. The Italian Job (1969) - "This is the self preservation society."
A brilliantly British film featuring one of our country's greatest icons - the Mini Cooper. Oh, and to some extent Michael Caine. It is the epitomy of Britain in the 1960s.
Caine (Zulu and The Dark Knight) plays Charlie Croker who at the beginning of the film has just been released from prison. However, his friend is killed in an car crash in the Alps by the Mafia. He therefore wants Charlie to carry out a job he had lined up. It involves stealing $4 million, by causing a traffic jam in the centre of Turin. He cannot do it by himself so goes to see the leader of a gangland empire Mr. Bridger (Noel Coward). However, this involves breaking into prison. Bridger dismisses the idea, but soon warms to it. Charlie then puts together a team to carry out the job, including getaway drivers, other criminals and a computer expert played by Benny Hill (The Benny Hill Show). He does make it clear to them "It's a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say."
The opening scene of the film, as mentioned before, is set in the Alps with a man driving a Lamborghini Miura and Matt Monro's On Days Like These in the background. That is probably driving heaven. It's just a shame that the car eventually crashes into a bulldozer. They actually used two Miuras for that scene - one was new and sold after shooting; the other had been written off. Cars do play an important part of the film. There are the 3 Mini Coopers which they use as their getaway vehicles. Because of this film, I have always wanted an original Mini. It is the star of the film. It also features two other British motoring icons - the Aston Martin DB4 and the E-type Jaguar (in fact there are 2 E-types). Being in Turin, there is also a large number of original Fiat 500s.
The film is also famous for its ending scene. I say it in case anyone hasn't seen the film, but it ends with Charlie saying "Hang on a minute lads, I've got a great idea. Er..." What that great idea was, we may never know. However, it was solved three years ago. Click here to see. It did open possibilities of a sequel, but this was shelved because of te lack of success in America. Part of this was down to the unattractive and misleading advertising. In 2003, there was a remake of The Italian Job, starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Jason Statham. No offence, but Mark Wahlberg, even though he is a really good actor, is no Michael Caine.
The final reason I love this film is that it contains, in my opinion, the greatest movie quote of all time. "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" about Gone With the Wind, because as we all know, "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"

My top 30 films - No.7

7. The Great Escape (1963) - "Hours ago... Minutes ago.... These men were behind barbed wire."
You might want to whistle this film's iconic theme as you read this.
Base on true events during the Second World War, The Great Escape is about a group of British and American soldiers who have been sent to a prisoner of war camp in Germany called Stalag Luft III. The Germans believe it to be escape-proof and want the prisoners to divert their attention to anything other than escaping. However, these prisoners have made numerous escape attempts previously. Squadron Leader Bartlett (Richard Attenborough (Jurassic Park)), known as "Big X", comes up with an escape plan, which involves digging 3 separate tunnels, called "Tom", "Dick" and "Harry", under the fence. The number of people he wants to escape - 250. This involves the likes of Sedgewick (James Coburn (The Magnificent Seven and Monsters Inc.)), "The Manufacturer"; Hendley (James Garner), "The Scrounger"; Blythe (Donald Pleasence (You Only Live Twice and Halloween)), "The Forger" and Danny (Charles Bronson (The Magnificent Seven and Once Upon A Time In The West)), a "Tunnel King". Also trying to escape from the camp, though more frequently that the others is an American officer called Hilts (Steve McQueen (The Magnificent Seven and Bullitt)). He is repeatedly caught and spends most of his time in the "cooler", hence he is "The Cooler King".
The film lasts 172 minutes and it does feel that long. After 100 minutes, they actually get round to the night of their escape. Maybe that just reflects the length of time that they spent in the camp. I don't mind long films as long as they have an engaging story. The Lord of the Rings films are engaging and have a plot; 2001: A Space Odyssey is engaging and has a plot; Titanic isn't and doesn't. Like I said before, it is based on true events, though the characters are fictitious or amalgams of several real characters. It was adapted from the book by Paul Brickhill, who was an actual prisoner in Stalag Luft III. One of the film's technical advisers, Wally Floody, was the real-life "Tunnel King".
It is a war film, yet there are some comedic elements to it. However, some of these are the sorts of things that would genuinely happen in a prisoner of war camp. One of my favourite sequences is when the three Americans take all the potatoes in the camp and turn them into moonshine to celebrate the 4th of July. It was those kinds of things during the war which would keep up the spirit of the POWs. To cover the sounds of digging, many of the prisoners, bizarrely, sing Christmas carols. Surely you would think something strange was happening if you heard people singing O Come All Ye Faithful in Spring. There is also the issue of hiding 50 tonnes of dirt on the site. I'll let you work out how they do it before seeing it.
It was an allstar cast at the time. Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn had all worked together in The Magnificent Seven. Out of all the members of the cast, the best performance is that of McQueen, in a role that was completely fictitious. He requested perhaps the most iconic sequence from the film and performed most of the stunts accompanying it himself. He was "The King of Cool", perhaps the coolest person of all time. Most of the other cast members had previous military experience. James Garner served in the Korean War and Donald Pleasence was an RAF pilot in the
One of the joys of the film is the relationship between Blythe and Hendley. They start by sharing a room in one of the huts and Hendley acquires for Colin all he needs such as the necessary ID papers for him to forge and also a camera. However, Blythe develops progressive myopia and Bartlett questions whether he should go or not. However, Hendley decides that Blythe is safe if he goes with him. They do seem like an unlikely couple of friends.
This film has such a status that there are references to it/connections in Inglourious Basterds, The Shawshank Redemption and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. There have also been spoofs of it in TV programmes, such as 'Allo 'Allo! which had an episode called The Great Un-Escape, in which they try to get rid of the British Airmen by tunnelling into a prisoner of war camp. Even The Simpsons have spoofed and the Aardman film Chicken Run is exactly the same, but with chicken...obviously. It is clear that this film is aimed primarily at a male audience. That doesn't mean that women won't like it, but it has everything that a man would want from a film.

My top 30 films - No.8

8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - "There can be no triumph without loss. No victory without suffering. No freedom without sacrifice."
For a long time, this was my favourite film and for ages I didn't want to admit that there were any films better that it. Now, I will admit it but this was a fantastic film. It is the final film in Peter Jackson's trilogy and the final book in J.R.R. Tolkein's saga.
This brief description is working on the theory that you know what happens in the previous two films and the books. If you don't, where have you been?
Frodo (Elijah Wood (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)) and Sam (Sean Astin) are getting closer to Mordor, where they hope to finally destroy the One Ring. However, Gollum (Andy Serkis (King Kong, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll)) plans to steal the Ring from them by leading them to Shelob's Lair. Whilst that is happening, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and The Road)) has decided to become king of Gondor, as the heir of Isildur. However, before he can do that, he, Legolas (Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean)) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) must take the Pathes of the Dead, in order to summon the Army of the Dead to the aid of Gondor. To aid him, Aragorn is given the re-forged sword of Elendil, which is the one weapon Sauron fears the most. However, he is told by Elrond (Hugo Weaving (The Matrix)) that Arwen (Liv Tyler (Armageddon)) is dying, as she would rather lead a mortal life than go with the elves to leave Middle Earth. Gondor comes under attack from the armies of Sauron, so Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellan (X-Men and The Da Vinci Code)) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) travel to Minas Tirith to aid the city and Merry (Dominic Monaghan) rides with the Riders of Rohan.
One of the issues with the Lord of the Rings films I always found was which parts from the books to include. For instance, The Fellowship of the Ring doesn't include the encounter with Tom Bombadil and Frodo and Sam do leave the Shire more hastily than they do in the book. It ends at a point similar to the book. The Two Towers features a lot more in the book than it does the film, mainly because the film is dominated by the scenes in Rohan and the battle of Helm's Deep. It does drag on therefore, even though it does look spectacular. Therefore, a lot of what happens in The Two Towers book is carried over into The Return of The King film. This includes Pippin's encounter with the Palantir, the Pathes of the Dead and Shelob's Lair. However, one major chapter from the book which isn't included in the film is The Scouring of the Shire, which does feature Saruman  (Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man)) and Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)). Both of them do feature in the extended version of the film, however early on.
Like Schindler's List, I always get a lump in my throat whenever I watch The Return of The King. There are a couple of sequences in particular and I'm sure that others would agree with me about them. The very end of the film is one and the other is when Frodo is near the point of giving up all hope and Sam says to "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you". The relationship between Frodo and Sam is one of the key parts of the trilogy. In the film, though not in the book, Gollum tries to turn Frodo against Sam, telling him he can't trust him. Frodo tells Sam to go home, but he doesn't. All the hobbits change in some way throughout the trilogy, but Sam is the one who for me changes the most. He becomes more confident and more determined to help Frodo; he is so much more than Frodo's gardener. As the tagline suggests, victory is possible, yet there is a sense of mortality and self-sacrifice as well.
Another spectacular part of the films are the visual effects. They seemed to get bigger and better as the films went on, especially the siege on  Minas Tirith. It was also used for the larger creatures, such as trolls and the Mumakil. The best visual effect, however, was Gollum. Andy Serkis would start by shooting the scene on set with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, whilst wearing what looked like a wet suit, and then in the studio they would use motion-tracking, which would also capture the facial movements. Finally, they would add the voice, which was inspired by cats and the noise they make when they cough up furballs. It was ground-breaking at the time and Andy Serkis is a pioneer of this system. He has also used in King Kong and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Correct me if I am wrong, but some critics wanted Serkis nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards. He was rejected because there were thoughts some of his movements were too dependent on CGI. It's a real shame, because it was an award winning performance.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was nominated for 30 Academy Awards and won 17 of them. The Return of the King won all 11 categories that it was nominated for. The only other films ever to win 11 Academy Awards are Ben Hur and Titanic. Peter Jackson's films not only appealed to fans of the books, but also inspired a new group of readers. The demand/popularity of books by J.R.R Tolkein has increased dramatically thanks to Jackson's films. It also most likely helped the New Zealand tourist industry, with people coming to sites that were used as locations for the film. They do look stunning. Me and my family went in the summer of 2003 and we visited a number of locations, including a farm outside Matamata, where they filmed Hobbiton. Part of Mordor is actually a ski resort.
As you may also know, later this year Jackson along with Guillermo del Toro are releasing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, with the second part There and Back Again released the following year. If you don't know (shame on you), it is the prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and tells how Bilbo Baggins originally found the Ring. It stars Martin Freeman (The Office) as Bilbo Baggins and will also feature Richard Armitage (Robin Hood and Spooks), Aidan Turner (Being Human), Stephen Fry (QI) and the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) as Smaug. However, the best thing I think is the fact, where necessary, they have recalled some of the original actors, including Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis. It is perhaps the film I am most looking forward to seeing this year. No pressure then...
N.B. The Return of the King also holds the record for having the longest end credits for a film - nine minutes...

My top 30 films - No.9

9. Inception (2010) - "Your mind is the scene of the crime."
"Avatar was never a great film; Inception is a masterpiece..." - Mark Kermode. No surprises that it was his favourite film of 2010.
Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic and Catch Me If You Can)) and his partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt ((500) Days of Summer)) are specialists in the art of extraction, capable of stealing people's darkest secrets from their subconscious. This has, however, made them international fugitives. They are hired by Saito (Ken Watanabe (Letters from Iwo Jima)), who wants them to do an "inception" rather than an extraction. This means planting an idea in somebody's mind which they believe to be their own. Their target - Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later... and Batman Begins)), who is to inherit a business empire from his dead father Maurice (Pete Postlethwaite (Brassed Off)) and Saito wants to break up. Cobb's team also consists of Eames (Tom Hardy (Warrior and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)) and Ariadne (Ellen Page (Juno)). However, he is constantly haunted by his past, especially his dead wife Mal (Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose and Public Enemies)).
I hope I have done my best to simplify the plot of this film. Apologies if I am wrong in anyway or if your opinions differ. This is my interpretation of it. I once tried to explain the plot of this film to six people who only started watching this about halfway through. Don't do that. "Like Woody Allen in Annie Hall, you're supposed to watch movies from the very beginning to the very end. If you turn up late, tough: go and see something else - The Sorrow and the Pity, perhaps" (That's not a quote from the film, but I think it is relevant). The rule was, when it was released, you had to see Inception the whole way through without pauses. If you had to go to the toilet, you would come back and you would not know what was now happening. But that's great about it. It wants the audience to try and keep up with it. The one quote that best sums it up is when Ariadne says "Wait, whose subconscious are we going through, exactly?" I was unfortunate not to see Inception at the cinema; I instead watched it on a plane coming back from Australia, where I had the luxury to pause it if I needed to. I didn't need to and yet, I felt that I needed to watch again when I got home. Inception is a film which has benefited greatly from repeat viewings, so people can understand it, similar to Nolan's film Memento. I've seen it again and it has become clearer to me. But, I would have loved to have asked somebody after the opening screenings "What's the plot?" and watched them go "It's about...Oh, hang on a minute." There was also a large amount of secrecy surrounding the film in the production. Trying to keep a secret about a film like this, especially in the era of the Internet and WikiLeaks is near impossible isn't it?
The film is famous for its amazing visual set pieces and the majority of them were not created using CGI. Christopher Nolan said "It's always very important to me to do as much as possible in-camera, and then, if necessary, computer graphics are very useful to build on or enhance what you have achieved physically." The first example of this is the scene where Cobb is standing in a room which rapidly fills up with water. There were water cannons outside the windows which fired off 3000-4000 gallons of water. Another is the fight scene in the hotel corridor featuring Arthur in zero gravity. A 100-foot-long rotating hallway was created and the camera was locked down so it would rotate with it. The scene with the exploding books was done using an air canon. These work really went together with the award winning cinematography of Wally Pfister. The two of them have worked together ever since Memento back in 2000.
Like with his other major films, mainly the Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan has put together a cast of many big name actors. Many of them have worked with him on previous and upcoming films; Tom Hardy of course plays Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, which will also feature Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Caine. Ken Watanabe and Cillian Murphy both worked on Batman Begins as well. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Marion Cotillard is in the film and they play "Non, je ne regrette rien".
Christopher Nolan received Academy award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and best Film, losing out on both occasions to The King's Speech. However, why wasn't he nominated for Best Director? No offence to Tom Hooper, David O'Russell, Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher and the Coen brothers. Still, that means a Kermode Award for Nolan instead. Which type of award would you prefer - one that looks like C-3P0 or one made from God only knows that looks like Richard Nixon?
It was the right decision not to release the film in 3D, even though Warner Bros. approached him about it. Nolan believed that it would "distract the storytelling experience", as well as the whole loss of foot candles of light. As we all know, 3D is annoying and just unnecessary. The only successful 3D film recently, as we all know, was Martin Scorsese's Hugo. Further good news, Nolan revealed early on that The Dark Knight Rises would be available in normal format and IMAX, not 3D. Thank you.
Inception is proof that you can spend a lot of money ($160 million) making a movie that make $800 million at the box office worldwide, but be smart and challenge the audience to think at the same time. That's the beauty of Christopher Nolan's films and long may he continue to make ones as intelligent as this...

What do you remember about Patrik Stefan?

This may be the first in a series of posts trying to recall many of sport's forgotten people. Who knows? Memories of these people may come flooding back. That may be very very unlikely.
It is always a big moment every year - the NHL Entry Draft. This is where the best young players are selected at junior level hockey from North America and Europe by the NHL teams. It's always a tense moment to see who will be the 1st overall pick. So many great players in the league's history have been selected 1st - Guy Lafleur (1971), Mario Lemieux (1984), Mike Modano (1988), Joe Thornton (1997), Alexander Ovechkin (2004), Sidney Crosby (2005) and Steven Stamkos (2008). Some were selected later on in the Draft - Ray Bourque (8th in 1979), Steve Yzerman (4th in 1983), Patrick Roy (51st in 1984), Nicklas Lidstrom (53rd in 1989), Pavel Bure (113th in 1989), etc. Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr were never originally drafted into the NHL.
However, just because you get drafted 1st overall, doesn't mean you'll have a great career and be remembered for it. E.g. in 1993, the Ottawa Senators selected Alexandre Daigle ahead of the likes of Paul Kariya and Chris Pronger. Daigle famously said "I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two". Sorry mate, Pronger was 2nd overall and is more well known than you. Daigle scored 51 points in his first season, but never bettered that tally in his entire NHL career. His off-ice activities included late-night partying, drug taking and dressing up as a nurse for a magazine ad. That's not a joke. He also had spells with the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Minnesota Wild. Nowadays, he is "apparently" still playing in National League A in Switzerland, but hasn't played a game since 2010.
Alexandre Daigle may sound like the worst player to be drafted 1st overall, but he isn't. There is someone else who was, if possible, worse than him. Unlike Daigle, ask any hockey fan "What do you remember about Patrik Stefan?", only one thing will come to mind.
Patrik Stefan was selected 1st overall in 1999 by the Atlanta Thrashers. He started his career playing for HC Sparta Praha, but in 1997 moved to play for the Long Beach Ice Dogs in the IHL (International Hockey League), hoping it would help his chances in the Draft. He was held in high regards back then and was described as the best prospect to come from the Czech Republic since Jaromir Jagr. In his first NHL season with the Thrashers, the weight of the whole team was on his shoulders, because they were an expansion team, about to start their first year in the league. Stefan only picked up 25 points. The following year, he did score 31 points, but then he was plagued with injuries. His best year in the NHL was 2003-04, when he played all 82 games of the season and scored 40 points. In 2004-05, during the NHL Lockout, he played for Ilves in SM-liiga in Finland and scored 41 points in 37 games. The following year, he had more injuries and was eventually traded to the Dallas Stars. On 4th January 2007, he became famous for all the wrong reasons (see video below). At the end of the season, the Stars decided not to re-sign Stefan. Instead, he joined SC Bern of the National League A in Switzerland. He only played 3 games, before a serious hip injury effectively prompted his retirement. He is now a player agent in Laguna Beach, California. However, it's just for what you're about to see which is why Patrik Stefan is known throughout the hockey world. It's truly one of the craziest, unlikeliest and greatest hockey moments ever...