Top 5 Chain Gang Movies

#5. The Chain Gang (1930)

#4. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

#3. The Defiant Ones (1958)

#2. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932)

#1. Cool Hand Luke (1968)

Survival in Nature

Top 5 Survival Movies
The best 5 movies where survival in nature is a major part.

#5. Quest For Fire (1981)

#4. The Grey (2011)

#3. Alive (1993)

My favorite survival story, and the movie was well-made, but not perfect.
I read the book "Miracle in the Andes" recently, a book I strongly recommend.

#2. Kon-tiki (2012)

#1. Cast Away (2000)

Watch more: IMDb List

Time travel

Time travel is one of those sub-genres I always seem to find interesting, even if the movie were quite bad. I started a time travel maraton this week, saw five time travel movies I hadn't seen before, which resulted in two of them ending up in this list.

When I made the list I didn't just look at the overall rating I gave to the movies, I also took into account how much the time travel part contributed to how good the movie was. For example, I liked Twelve Monkeys a lot but not because there was time travel in it.

Top 5 Time Travel Movies

1. Back to the Future (1985)
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Genre: Sci-fi, Comedy

2. Frequency (2000)
Directed by: Gregory Hoblit
Genre: Sci-fi, Drama, Crime

3. Primer (2004)
Directed by: Shane Carruth
Genre: Sci-fi

4. Los cronocrímenes (2007)
Aka: Timecrimes
Directed by: Nacho Vigalondo
Genre: Sci-fi, Crime, Thriller

5. Midnight in Paris (2011)
Directed by: Woody Allen
Genre: Drama, Comedy

You all know Back to the Future. I normally don't like 80s comedies that much, but this one is an exception. Also, it does take time travel seriously and makes it funny without making it too silly.
Frequency is the first film to appear on a list for the second time. It's an interesting story about a son that by mistake contacts his father 30 years earlier on a radio.
Primer may be the movie in this list with the least plot holes and is also the most scientific one. It's a low budget movie that's quite hard to follow, but the story is well written and interesting. I'd say, use subtitles, it'll make it easier.
Los cronoscrimenes, or Timecrimes, has kind of the same theory about time travel as Primer, but focuses more on the story than the theory.
Midnight in Paris was a great movie, not about the science of time travel, but mostly about what you make out of the oppurtunity, which is kind of unusual.

For more recommendations:
Check out this thread: Time travel
Or this list: Time Travel Movies

21th Century Horror

Horror is one of those genres that I enjoy watching mainly because I know what to expect, like when watching a tv-series. Watching movies like 2001: A Space odyssey is great, but I wouldn't do it every day. Watching a horror movie is much easier even if it isn't better.


It's not often a horror movie exceeds my expectations, but sometimes it happens.
Five things that impresses me in a horror movie:
1. I seldom get really scared, so I'm impressed if I do.
2. If it's not too clichéd. You gotta expect some cheesy scenes though.
3. A twist that I couldn't see coming.
4. If the characters doesn't even once say "hello" in a suspicious situation.
5. If they kill that motherf*cker when they have the chance.

Top 5 Horror films of the 21th century

I have not included comedy or musical horrors, I'll do a list of those separately later.

1. Sunshine (Danny Boyle, 2007)
A mission to save the sun doesn't go as planned when they discover the ship of a previous mission that failed years ago.
Maybe not a traditional horror film and surely didn't expect one, but I was occasionally scared watching this.

2. The Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001)
A woman is confident that the house she and her children lives in is haunted. 
It's a few years since I saw this, I should watch it again soon to see if it really were that good. Otherwise I remember it being a great mystery horror

3. Villmark (Pål Øie, 2003)
The members of a TV-crew is preparing for a new tv-show by living primitively in a cabin for a weekend. 
This is the best "cabin in the woods" themed horror I have ever seen. The danger is constantly present without revealing too much.

4. Triangle (Christopher Smith, 2009)
Friends on a yachting trip has to go aboard a bigger ship when mysterious weather conditions occur. The ship itself holds an even bigger mystery.
A great mystery horror that really impressed me when watching it.

5. Trolljegeren (André Øvredal, 2010)
Students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings. They start following a hunter and witnesses the real reason behind the killings.
The only movie I liked in the "cam horror" genre so far. Great movie with good special effects.

Other strong candidates:
El orfanato, Orphan, Ôdishon, The Mist, The Ring, Saw, Eden Lake, El espinazo del diablo, Bakjwi, 28 Days Later..., Dawn of the Dead (2004), and more

My Top 10 horror films list on IMDb

On a boat!

Top 5 movies taking place on a boat

Which means not a ship or anything in that size. Yachts, motorboats, rowing boats and everything in between are accepted. Another requirement is that the time spent on the boat has to be more than 50% of the running time and it's a bonus if there are only a few characters. There aren't too many movies that fit this description, but at least enough to make a list of five good ones. 

Nr 5: Knife in the Water (Nóz w wodzie) (1962)

Directed by: Roman Polanski
Genre: Drama, Thriller

The first full-lenght film by Roman Polanski is a polish drama/thriller about a couple that invites a young hitchhiker to join them on their sailing trip. As you can understand, being a thriller, the sailing trip isn't completely troublefree. 
This is a quite slow movie, but it's also quite good. Or maybe that depends on what you're used to.

Nr 4: The African Queen (1951)

Directed by: John Huston
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Romance, (War)

This is a more fun and entertaining film and instead of being a drama or thriller, this is an adventure and a typical "love starts with fighting" romance film. 
Bogart plays a grumpy riverboat captain who loves his boat and gin, while Hepburn plays just the opposite: a proper well-educated missionary. It's WW1 and after the germans have burned down the mission and caused her brothers death, she want's revenge. Her plan is to attack a German warship. Most of the movie is about the trip along the river to reach the destination. It's a fun movie to watch.

Nr. 3: The Perfect Storm (2000)

Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Genre: Action, (Adventure) 


I chose the perfect moment for watching this. It was storming outside, the windows rattled and apart from that I was in the mood of something simple to follow. So I ended up enjoying this more than I thought I would. The movie is based on true events, where a fishing boat gets stuck in a storm far from coast. As often happens when a movie is based on true events, they make up a lot of stuff to make it more dramatic. So wait for the next storm and then watch this.

Nr. 2: Dead Calm (1989)

Director: Philip Noyce
Genre: Thriller


A great, effective thriller about a couple taking time off on a yacht after loosing their son in a car accident. Far out on the ocean they find a sinking boat with only one person alive and the rest dead. He claim they died of a disease, but did they? 

Nr 1: Jaws (1975)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Thriller, Horror


Okay, so this being my number one may not come as a surprise. It's a great thriller and a real classic. I Don't think I need to say anything about the plot. If you haven't seen it, just see it.






Other recommendations: Lifeboat (1944), Waterworld (1995)
These I haven't seen myself: The Old Man and the Sea (1958), Open Water 2: Adrift (2006), The Last of Sheila (1973), Kon-Tiki (1950)
Some time spent on a boat: Deliverance (1972), Apocalypse Now (1978)

Top 5 Black comedies 2000-2009

So, this is my first blogpost and an introduction to what this blog is about. And what is a better introduction than an example? So here I present to you my first Top 5 list:


Top 5 Black Comedies of the 00s


Okay, so I made this a hard first list as there are many great films that fit this category, but I thought, as this is one of my favorite genres, I might aswell start here. I had to restrict it to the first decade of the 21th century as it would have been impossible to pick out the top five black comedies of all time. Later I'll make a list of earlier black comedies.


Nr. 1 - In Bruges (2008)
Nr. 2 - O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2001)
Nr. 3 - Persepolis (2007)
Nr. 4 - Planet Terror (2007)
Nr. 5 - American Psycho (2000)


There are many things that make these movies great black comedies.
1. The dialogue
2. The characters
3. The situation
4. Not knowing what to expect

I would argue that the dialogue is the most important part. I just love smart quotes. These movies are just full of them. Here's a few examples:

"A bottle! Don't bother" - In Bruges
"Damn. We're in a tight spot!" - O Brother, Where Art Thou?
"I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane?" - American Psycho

For a longer version, check out my black comedy list on IMDb:
http://www.imdb.com/list/jeBzey0hj6E/