The CS! AFI Top 100 Movies: 1980 - 1999

A group of high-end professional thieves start to feel the heat from the LAPD when they unknowingly leave a clue at their latest heist.

CS! Voice: At the very least you have to give credit to Michael Mann for solving one of the biggest problems in film writing; making a crime film with equally compelling protagonists and antagonists. How many movies have their been where we watch captivating, engaging criminals rob banks or make a huge heist only for them to be pursued and eventually captured by a boring, stale, cliched, paper-thin, 'fast forward through his scenes' police officer? The Town is a good example of this. There are a thousand others. Not so with Al Pacino's Vincent Hanna in Heat, a homicide investigator obsessed with relentlessly pursuing Robert DeNiro's Neil MacCauley, a razor sharp thief who's looking to make his biggest score before riding off into the sunset. What makes Heat such a compelling movie, aside from what's probably the best shootout ever put to screen, is that each character is so rich and you see not only the things that motivate them but also what brings them down. Hanna is married with an insecure and unstable step-daughter and he comes to the realization that 'all he is is what he's going after' and that it's almost impossible to live the normal life that many people are fortunate enough to have. MacCauley himself finds unexpected companionship before needing to make that choice of walking out in thirty seconds flat when he spots the heat around the corner, a decision which is consistent with his character but also brings him down. The famous dialogue at the diner between the two is a masterclass in building tension through conversation and really explores each character. It's a movie that's tough, violent, tense, dramatic and really pushes the bar to a new level. As cliche as it sounds, they don't make movies like Heat anymore. - Doomsday

As corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.

CS! Voice: Enthralling storytelling. A neo-noir which is able to move past aesthetic fetish and provide introspective dives into a collection of memorable and fascinating characters. It's also staggering that the complex plot-lines are all able to converge in a way which actually makes sense. L.A. Confidential is Old Hollywood not necessarily in its style or form, but in its storytelling principles. The script is structured and tight, all of the major characters have rewarding character arcs which develop naturally, the dialogue positively sings, and the direction is lean and intelligent. And I suppose the wealth of talent in the ensemble cast helps too. Oh, and there's also Jerry Goldsmith's amazing score and the film's vivid period detail which is nonetheless treated as background detail and never overtakes the story. Really, every element here is firing on all cylinders.

L.A. Confidential is a masterpiece. - PG Cooper

After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.

CS! Voice: The film looks at the Nazi purges in Belarus in the late stages of World War II before Stalin finally turned the tides on the Eastern Front as seen through the eyes of a teenage (possibly preteen?) boy who is conscripted into a partisan group. The first half largely has to do with the degree to which the kid gets his life upended by the war, but it’s really the film’s third act for which it is most widely remembered which is this horrifying re-enactment of the Nazis rounding up and murdering a Slavic town en masse, which is notable in part because it doesn’t depict the Nazis in question as being the dispassionate murder machines they’re normally depicted as but rather as a hate mob that takes active pleasure in what they’re doing like a sort of evil circus that’s come to town. I’m not sure which version of them is more frightening: the one that makes them seem devoid of humanity or the one that makes them seem incredibly human in their passions… which suggests that humanity is generally over-rated. I don’t know that I’m going to come up with anything much more insightful about the film on first viewing, it’s… an experience. - Dracula

Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

CS! Voice: I think that this movie would be on a lot of people's lists. It just has that charm that draws people in, along with a great story of the human spirit. It verges on sentimentalism but never tips over the edge. It has some really great feel-good moments like when he plays the music for the prison or when he manages to score some beers for his buddies on the roof. And the last 20 or so minutes is just the perfect way to end this great movie. - IanTheCool

After the Rebels are brutally overpowered by the Empire on the ice planet Hoth, Luke Skywalker begins Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.

CS! Voice: It's easy to think of the Star Wars trilogy as my favourite films of all time, and they have always been associated as such. But when I made this list, I revisited the question, okay but which one of those is my favourite. After much debate I landed with Empire. The first film has a lot of power in how complete of a story it feels and with how successfully it built the world. Empire however really took it to a new level. The stakes felt ore personal, the drama was deeper, and the overall look of the picture was much richer. Not to mention that it contains tons of my favourite movie moments; the Hoth snow battle, almost any scene with Yoda, the Millennium Falcon in the asteroid field, and of course the final showdown between Luke and Vader. Therefore, I am declaring The Empire Strikes Back as my favourite film. - IanTheCool

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

CS! Voice: Raging Bull is one of the best movies ever made that can be very hard to recommend. The film is beautifully made on a technical level, with the cinematography, editing, and sound design in the boxing scenes elevating the matches from an athletic contest to a sort of spiritual battleground for Jake to lay himself bare. These are contrasted with the domestic scenes, which are no less careful in their construction, but far more mundane, with Scorsese drawing a clear line between the mythic romance of the boxing ring and the harshness of Jake's personal life. And that of course ties into why Raging Bull can be a hard movie to recommend. This is an absolutely unflinching look at a horrid abuser who slowly brings misery to himself and everyone around him. Jake La Motta is an undeniably cruel and often vile human being whose path to self destruction is almost entirely one of his own making. True, we see that La Motta is himself immersed in a world ruled by violence but the film never poses this as some sort of excuse or justification for his behaviour. Watching La Motta's horrid abuses spiral out of control should be entirely unpleasant.

But instead, I can't keep my eyes off Jake or his story. Crucial to this is of course Robert De Niro, who in a career full of impeccable performances does what may be his best work here. De Niro fully embodies La Motta at various stages in his life and invests in the character. He never shies away from the unsavory aspects of the character, but there's a deep sense of vulnerability to La Motta that De Niro really brings to the forefront. Scenes like the locker room post Jake's thrown fight or the climactic jailhouse are just drenched in pain. De Niro doesn't play these scenes for sympathy, but with a raw emotional honestly. This ties in with the overall construction of the film, which never asks us to feel sorry for Jake, but merely presents him as he is and allow us to weigh our on thoughts and feelings. The film on the whole is a striking exploration of a pitiful cycle of abuse and pain, as La Motta continuously inflicts suffering on those close to him while rendering his own accomplishments hollow. This eventually amounts to a pitiful final act with Jake reduced to an abysmal low point.

And for many, that journey is going to be wholly unpleasant. More than any other Scorsese film and protagonist, Raging Bull and Jake La Motta can be profoundly unlikable. But there's something about the film I've never been able to shake. The film came at a famously low-point in Scorsese's life, with Scorsese believing he may never make a feature film afterwards. Consequently, he put everything he had into the work and I think that comes through, both in the masterful craft, but also deep feelings of self-loathing and shame. It's a film that feels ripped from Scorsese's soul, one attempting to reckon with our worst impulses and traits. The resulting film isn't always fun, but it is honest. - PG Cooper

Fifty-seven years after surviving an apocalyptic attack aboard her space vessel by merciless space creatures, Officer Ripley awakens from hyper-sleep and tries to warn anyone who will listen about the predators.

CS! Voice: Aliens is arguably the greatest action film of all time and yet it’s surprisingly low on action once you look close. Taking from the Jaws handbook there is a full hour without an Alien (in the 2:40 Special Edition) complete with one of the best “it’s a little too quiet” arrival scenes. The original Alien was great at what it set out to do, but it was also a man in a rubber suit. Now H.R. Giger’s alien is fully realized and completely bad-ass.

The slick, mouthing-off marine bunch seems cliché now, but only because half of the marine-based video games (Halo) have tried to recapture it. I wonder if Bill Paxton knew what he was starting. This movie should also get credit for perhaps introducing the first respectable female action hero.

The movie ends with the greatest of all finales. Not just the tremendous battle between the queen and Ripley in the walker, but the quieter, tenser scene leading up to it where she retrieves Newt and meets the queen and the nest. I’ll never stop smiling at “You now have 15 minutes to reach minimum safe distance.” - Jibbs

Ultimate L.A. slacker Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for a rug ruined by debt collectors, enlisting his bowling buddies for help while trying to find the millionaire's missing wife.

CS! Voice: Chalk The Big Lebowski up as one of those movies that gets better the more it sits with you and the more you watch it. I'm usually hit-or-miss when it comes to comedies from the Coen Brothers, but this one is undoubtedly their funniest and most awesome. The script and story are surprisingly well-executed, the acting is excellent and the humor is hilarious with so many memorable scenes and quotable lines throughout -- "YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY?" is probably my favorite scene. Jeff Bridges and John Goodman are in top form and their chemistry is fantastic. What else is there to say, The Big Lebowski is awesome and The Dude abides. - PhantomKnight

On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.

CS! Voice: Part of what I love so much about Do the Right Thing is how fully Lee understands his characters. Not only are these multi-faceted people who you can sense a deep history from, but Lee also draws attention to the sociological forces that help shape them. I think a lot about that scene where Pino talks about how uncomfortable he feels in a neighbour's home that isn't his own, something he's frequently mocked for. Such a moment does not excuse Pino - he's still a hateful racist who believes some really horrid things - but Lee does understand where he comes from, and I think it's important to understand why such attitudes emerge. Similarly, the conflict between Sal and Buggin' Out which escalates to a race riot is nothing less than brilliant. The seemingly simple disagreement which actually represents much larger issues of inequality, power, and how structural problems manifest themselves in very personal conflicts. The conflict also expertly demonstrates how disagreement can make hostility, and hostility then racism.

And for as heavy, thought-provoking, and sadly still timely Do the Right Thing is, it's also a very entertaining movie, spotting a fantastic soundtrack and some very energetic filmmaking from Lee. The vibrant colour cinematography not only sells the heat of the day, but it also invests such personality and character into the neighbourhood. On that note, certain scenes, like the collection of racist monologues, are just really inspired and creative. I love this movie. - PG Cooper

When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.

CS! Voice: I never fail to marvel at The Matrix. No matter how many times I see it, I still sit in awe as I watch this great science-fiction story unfold. It isn't merely the premise, which is certainly an engaging place to start but is not in and of itself enough to sustain a film (indeed, much has been said about the improbability of using human beings as an energy source). Rather, it's the nuts and bolts of the world that I respond to. I love the rules the film establishes and expands on, I love the visual design, and I love the little details that help flesh things out. Things like Mouse casually asking how Machines know what food tastes like and wondering if they, "got it wrong" is an amusing little idea and shows the Wachowskis did put a lot of time thinking about their world. I also really noticed the influence of Kafka in the film's first act in terms of bureaucratic control and the individual being pursued for reasons they do not understand. Such influences work really well in setting a tense mood and the way the film eventually reveals the insidiousness nature of such controls is really frightening.

The Matrix also works really well on a simpler level just as an action-adventure story. This follows the "hero's journey" playbook pretty well and Neo's path is really rewarding. What's also interesting is that, after choosing the red pill and entering, "the special world", Neo is forced into being something of a passive character as the real world is introduced to them. Because of this, I always find myself emotionally effected when Neo takes charge and chooses to save Morpheus leading into the third act. People dog on Keanu Reeves for being a wooden actor. Maybe so, but I do feel a growth in Neo and moments like the aforementioned, the bullet-time, the actual saving of Morpheus, standing up to Smith, "My name is Neo"; all of these moments get me absolutely giddy. Not just because of the technical brilliance and exhilaration of these set-pieces (which go without saying), but because they represent seeing this lowly and confused guy grow into a hero and that is straight up inspiring. - PG Cooper