My 25 Favourite Films of All Time

As it is my 25th birthday today, I wanted to share with you my 25 favourite films. It just so happens to be the 25th as well so, that makes it even more special. Think of this as my way of spending my birthday with you and hopefully, you can take away some movies from this list that you would like to watch. So without further introduction, let me take you through this list of my 25 favourite films with a little background as to why they make this list.

My 25 Favourite Films of All Time

25. Caravaggio

Derek Jarman is one of my favourite filmmakers and his film about the artist Caravaggio is something I love to re-watch. I saw it for the first time when I was sixteen and since then I have seen it numerous times. I have not met many people who have watched this film so, if you haven't I would love for you to watch it and tell me what you think. My favourite scene is the re-enactment of the burial of Christ near to the end. You will know when you see it.

24. Jackie Brown

This is my favourite Tarantino film. I cannot explain to you how many times I have watched this film and still managed to get a laugh out of it. Pam Greer is really a great actress and her efforts in this film to play this Devil-May-Care attitude woman did not go unnoticed. Michael Keaton also makes for great entertainment in this film as he is no longer doing the Batman thing. It is a truly violent movie, not only physically but also psychologically. Darkly comically and brilliantly filmed, this movie makes the list for its polished nature in the world of Tarantino movies.

23. Rear Window

One of my favourite Hitchcock films and a film that has honestly made such an impact on cinema - this is probably an obvious entry to the list. As its cinematography is so different and works so well, its influence upon cinema later in the century often goes unnoticed in favour of other Hitchcock films. "Rear Window" is one of those films where not only is the cinematography good but it is also displaying some of the best performances of the careers of James Stewart and Grace Kelly.

22. The Seventh Seal

One of my favourite films that I have watched and re-watched multiple times over the course of the last decade, "The Seventh Seal" always astounded me with its deep and philosophical look at life and death. The fact that people spend their entire lives escaping death means that they don't really live at all. It is quite a strange thing when you see one man in very physical light, try to cheat death in a game of chess but it is also one of the most respected and renowned scenes in all of international cinema.

21. Batman

Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson are two brilliant actors in a film directed by Tim Burton - and there are not more lines than that which will make you want to watch a film. Jack Nicholson's Joker basically set the bar for all live-action Jokers with Heath Ledger imitating Jack Nicholson's laughter and psychotic manners and Joaquin Phoenix dancing his way to a Best Actor Oscar very recently in the style of Jack Nicholson's circus-style super-villain. Arguably one of the greatest and most iconic films in all of superhero cinema, this set the bar for all the right reasons as to how to portray one of the greatest villains of all time.

20. Cloud Atlas

One of my favourite films in the whole world based on one of my favourite books of all time - a masterpiece of beauty directed by the Wachowski Sisters, it is a visual orchestra of a film. Each world and each character has been meticulously planned, written and casted in order to link them so intricately to their next version of themselves. My favourite character will always be Robert Frobisher because of his overwhelming sense of emotional self. Even in the book, he is a perfect character.

19. Breakfast on Pluto

For well over a decade, the film "Breakfast on Pluto" has been there when I have not been myself, have been depressed and down and upset - it always and I mean always, made me feel that slight bit better. About a transgender woman who finds herself and her identity in Ireland and then goes searching for her lost mother in London with nothing more than the clothes on her back, Cillian Murphy makes his greatest performance on the screen in my opinion. I remember when I was growing up, I had a lung infection for about six or seven months and I was deathly sick, this film never failed to make me feel a little better, get a smile on my face and make me more positive that I was going to recover even though I was vomiting blood. It means a lot to me.

18. Malcolm X

A lengthy but brilliant movie, this is a film about one of the most important figures in all of human rights history. Malcolm X, a figurehead of the Civil Rights' Era, wrote an autobiography on which this film is based. Directed by the legendary Spike Lee, it not only pays homage to the colourful and bright world of African American People who did not give up fighting for their rights, but it also has Denzel Washington playing Malcolm X, and that is great even as an idea - wait until you see the real thing. The best scene is where Malcolm X knows he is going to die and he's in the car simply staring off into the distance whilst Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" plays in the background. One of my favourite scenes in cinematic history.

17. 2001: A Space Odyssey

A visual masterpiece created by one of the most incredible and enigmatic, yet intelligent people in all of cinema history - Stanley Kubrick. This film is normally revered as being the greatest Sci-Fi movie ever made and its cinematography with its grand visions of space, its tight spaces within the spacecraft and its giant monolith structures are just part and parcel of the entire experience. I watched this film over ten years' ago and ever since, I have seen it a probable fifteen to twenty times and it never fails to leave me in absolute awe.

16. City Lights

If you know me, you will know that I love and adore Charlie Chaplin with all of my heart. "City Lights" is a movie I also adore with all my heart. An incredible story with moments of absolute laughter and happiness, blended with moments of awe - this film is Charlie Chaplin at the heights of his creativity. I actually have a poster of this movie on my bedroom wall, alongside my Charlie Chaplin mural and the poster of him on my bedroom door [on the outside]. It is one of those films that you could never just watch once. It will always be a timeless love story.

15. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

A big happy birthday to Tobe Hooper as well, I share a birthday with him and I am very proud of that fact because he was a genius. The original film created in 1974 is a perfect homage to the horror resurgence of the 60s and 70s and has all the qualities of an amazing film. The true horror not really kicking in until about halfway, it starts off with gruesomeness to the worst degree and then, allows the audience to falsely put faith in the calm before the storm. The scene at the dinner table will always be one of my favourite bone-chilling scenes in all of cinematic history.

14. Synecdoche, New York

I remember telling my brother to watch this for an entire year before he actually did. It is the most complex storyline I have ever watched and yet, it is strangely simple in its design. I love the acting of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Michelle Williams, I think they are both absolutely amazing at their jobs and I also love the way in which the film is structured to imitate the ideas we have about reality. When I watched this film for the first time several years ago, I watched it at night and then stayed up for the rest of the night having an existential crisis because of it. I was just thinking about it constantly. It was brilliant.

13. Dr. Zhivago

Forever a masterpiece of cinema, this film not only has Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, but also has Charlie Chaplin's daughter - Geraldine and plus, it is just a gorgeous film. My favourite scene was always the funeral scene near the start of the film [I'm not going to say who died and ruin it if you have not watched it], but the woman who died is dressed absolutely beautifully and made up to look like she's sleeping. The rest of the funeral goers are dressed down in jet black. She stands out amongst them and it is just such a slow, tense and visually stunning scene. The entire film is so very well made.

12. The Maltese Falcon

One of the greatest movies ever made and one of the greatest noirs in the world stars Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. A brilliant actor in an amazing role, this film covers a strange sculpture of a bird. I have watched this film so many times over the course of over a decade and honestly, it doesn't get much better than this. As I am writing this article, I am also watching "The Maltese Falcon" and I suggest you do the same.

11. Strangers on a Train

Another one of my favourite Hitchcock films, this one is about two men who meet on a train and one makes the implication that they should do each other's bidding because the police would have no suspects and therefore no motive. It's got some brilliant scenes: the train scene, the murder scene, the tennis court and the carousel. It is a brilliant film with so much deeper meaning that its one of those you must watch more than once in order to truly understand.

10. Dr. Strangelove

A brilliant film and incredibly funny, this dark comedy and political satire is one of the most well-known movies in the world of political film because of its brilliance. Peter Sellers is an absolute legend and the script is just incredible - written in order to make fun of the whole concept of war, it shows us the circles that people run in to try and make it work to their advantage. I have seen this film many times and each time I watch it, I discover a new side to it, something that was hidden before.

9. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

One of the best films ever in my opinion, this film is a great watch for any occasion and is one of the first instances in cinema history of a twist ending. It is a frame narrative film and very well done so. The legend of the somnambulist is something of brilliance and it seems to be filmed absolutely brilliantly. The height of German Expressionism - and you all already know how much I love that movement. So you would understand why this film is so high on the list.

8. The Exorcist

It is no argument that "The Exorcist" is the greatest horror movie ever filmed but then again, there is so much more to it than that. There is so much history and symbolism involved with the film, so much thematic meaning and so much characterisation. Personally, I do think that Jason Miller's execution of Father Karras is possibly one of the greatest roles in cinema history. It was just an incredible character portrayed by an incredible actor.

7. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

One of the great psychological thrillers, this film is a perfect example of the films that really get us thinking about human nature. Whilst men accuse each other of theft whilst going mad in the search of treasure, whilst they basically live off the land and that land is a desert, whilst they sleep on the ground and cannot quench their thirst - this treasure haunts them all into a frenzy of distrust and harm. It is a brilliant film starring Humphrey Bogart and I suggest you go and watch it right away.

6. Vertigo

My favourite Alfred Hitchcock film by far, this film has been voted as the greatest film ever made by various magazines and film critics over the years. There is something really endearing about it mainly because of its dramatic irony concerning Kim Novak's role and the way in which the entire story is made to present us with very classic cases of very human fears - one of the main ones being imposter syndromes made flesh.

5. Chaplin

A film about the comedic legend starring Robert Downey Jr, it became my one of my favourite films after I watched it when I was about fourteen on television. I was entirely in love with it because mainly, it was about Charlie Chaplin, his life and his career. It was based mostly on his autobiography, but I feel like there were probably many sources involved - it managed to tell such an incredible story from start to finish and that, even when he was old and grey - he was still the inventor of modern comedy and one of the masters of cinema.

4. The Third Man

I adore this film and I have seen it more times than I would actually like to admit. When a man's friend turns out to be dead, he finds out a weaving of intricate lies that lead him down the rabbit hole of believing that people may know more than they are putting out. Starring Orson Welles in his classic Ferris Wheel scene, this film is one of the greatest noir films of all time and one of my favourite films to re-watch in the entire world.

3. Gaslight

Ingrid Bergman is no doubt, a legend of cinema. If you believe that her greatest role was in "Casablanca" then I would wager you watch "Gaslight". It is her at her most complex and in one of her most difficult roles and really solidifies her in the running for the title of the greatest actress of all time. Her speech near towards the end of the film about being 'mad' is just brilliantly delivered and is perhaps, my favourite speech in all of cinematic history. She is an absolute inspiration - she was just so talented it amazes me to watch that scene to this day.

2. Interview with the Vampire

I re-watch this film whenever I can and literally this means maybe once a month or so. I love the way this film presents vampires to us as victims of their own curses. They are brilliantly complex creatures and they are also bound together with this strange brotherhood. I was obsessed with the books as a teenager and since I watched the film over ten years' ago, I have been obsessed with the film too.

1. I'm Not There

Really, I don't think you actually thought that there would be any other film here except for one about Bob Dylan. This film stars Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Ben Whishaw and they all play Bob Dylan. I think that really this is one of the best films ever because it isn't trying to be a biopic. Instead, it is just a film for people who love Bob Dylan and want to watch his life episodically.