by Jobie Weetaluktuk

Created on: January 22, 2010

Naturally, I’ve not seen all movies.  This list of the ten top movies of all time does not pretend to be fair to all movies of all times.  This is mostly a Hollywood centric list and is not representative of all genres of movies.  These movies however are great and have stood or will stand the test of time.  This is not even my definitive top ten list, but I regard these films very highly. 

Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

A wonderful and engrossing film in Chinese Mandarin, this film is much more than a Kung Fu flick.  This film is about love, intrigue, Chinese medicine, Wudang theory of fighting and life.  The storyline is tight, the period depiction faithful, and the cinematography is breathtaking. 

This film has over 40 awards, is the highest grossing foreign film in the USA.  Ang Lee and stars Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, and Zhang Ziyi also direct it.  What more can a movie lover want. 

China Town

This 1974 is in black and white.  It is a mystery and borrows heavily from the film noir genre.  The story is set in Los Angeles in 1937 and the storyline is based on the historical land and water disputes.  It stars Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston.  This film directed by Roman Polanski holds you with its’ compelling grasp. 

Fanny and Alexander

This grotesque film is not for the faint of heart.  It is so compelling that it is impossible to leave, even though it can be wearing.  The film is about a boy Alexander Ekdahls and his Fanny in Uppsala, Sweden.  The well to do family father dies and the mother Emilie has to remarry.  She re-marries a widower bishop, who is hell, bent on breaking the spirit of Alexander.  Directed by the legendary Swedish Ingmar Bergman. 

The Gladiator

Epic, spectacular, and cinematically beautiful.  Russell Crowe is the Gladiator.  Like many great films this film is all about power and the players thereof.  Set in the latter days of the Roman Empire, Crowe is General Maximus.  Joaquin Phoenix is a convincing Commodus, the power hungry who kills his father, the Emperor Aurelius. 

Maximus suspects Commodus killed the emperor and refuses to pledge his allegiance.  He is arrested and set for extra judicial execution but escapes.  He eventually becomes a slave and a gladiator.  Great cast, tight writing, and to top it off directed by the master himself, Ridley Scott. 

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