For this page I had to choose my five favourite films. There are many great films to choose from so the decision was not easy. I decided on the following:
OK so three of the films are fairly obvious choices for your typical male. But why the 'The Waterboy' and 'Mike Bassett England Manager' I hear you ask? Read on as I will explain all of my choices individually.
Scarface is my all time favourite film. It is an epic story of an underdog’s rise and fall. Tony Montana (Al Pacino) is the main character and
starts off as a Cuban in a refugee camp in 1980’s Miami, Florida. He then gets into to crime (distribution of cocaine) moves up in the ranks and bit
by bit becomes the biggest and richest drug lord in Miami. Just as Montana appears to have it all, he loses it by disobeying one of the vital rules-
'Never get high on your own supply'. He takes more and more cocaine until he finally flips. The film ends with a cocaine fueled Montana wiping out an army
of enemys before taking countless shots until he eventually dies.
Scarface has to be one of the most influential films of our generation, none more so than in the hip-hop community. The film also contains endless great
quotes with the most popular being, “Say Hello To My Little Friend”. The drug help-line ‘Talk to Frank’ also takes its name after
a line in the film.
I love 'The Godfather' because it is just a brilliant story about family and the family values of Italian-Americans in the 'Mob' era. It is the story of the Corleones, a Mafia Crime Family in 1940’s New York. It is a story of the demise of Don Vito (Marlon Brando) and the transformation of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the good, respectable, war hero son into the new Don.
He claims revenge for a murder attempt on his father and flees to Sicily. He returns ready to head the Corleone family and he eventually becomes far more ruthless than his father ever was. It is the portrayal of this transformation that makes the film as great as it is, not to mention the famous scenes and phrases such as "I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse" that are present throughout the film.
This is by no means a classic film, however this film is full of constant hilarious gags. It is the ‘documentary style’ story of the unknown newly-appointed England Manager, Mike Bassett (Ricky Tomlinson). His England team is complete with stereotypical ‘rip-offs’ of real players- i.e. the overweight, drunk Geordie joker (Gazza), the violent, nutter defender (Various but Vinnie Jones comes to mind), the image obsessed, always on the phone, pretty boy (David Beckham) the pony tailed ‘keeper (David Seaman) amongst others.
Bassett is an idiot and he bumbles his way to qualification for the World Cup and progression through the group stages but is then triumphant as England beat arch-enemies Argentina in the very same fashion in which they beat England in 1986 (i.e. Hand of God). Bassett had been slated by the media and his family abused but he comes through in the end.
To me the Waterboy is an amazing, laugh-a-minute film starring Adam Sandler. It is one of my childhood favourites and I have probably seen it too many times. It is the story of Bobby Boucher, a retarded 30 something who is still controlled by his mother. He is obsessive about drinking water and has been a Waterboy for local American Football teams all his life. To him, only pure H20 is acceptable. He then learns that by channelling the aggression that has built up over the years, due to being constantly abused and insulted, he can become the greatest tackler in the game and lead his team to the ‘Bourbon Bowl’.
It is a typical childish Adam Sandler film but still hilarious …I love it.
Pulp Fiction is also a certified classic and again is an obvious choice. It is a complicated yet immensely ‘cool’ film which documents two loosely connected main stories. The first story is of two hit-men, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L Jackson). The two stories constantly overlap each other and each time takes you to a dark unexpected place.
The two hit-men ooze ‘cool’, particularly Samuel L Jackson’s character. Another great feature is the dialogue. It contains funny, everyday conversations like no other film. The most famous being the brilliant 'Differences between burgers in Europe and America' conversation.