When I think about my favorite movies, I realised that there are no easy top ten list for me to pick from. My film watching habits over the years has transverse every genre, over many countries and different film eras. It is rare for me to view a film repeatedly. Actually, my problem is that i do not watch enough films anymore considering the demands on my time these days. Still, I think it is worth a shot to try to pin down the films that I felt most entertained, most moved and most deeply affected.

• Citizen Kane - a classic of traditional American film making showing the rise and fall of a William Randolph Hearst type character shot, for its time, in a radical way of film making and cinematography that stands up today
• Excalibur - John Boorman beautiful looking retelling of the King Arthur legend where Camelot dazzles and man’s honor soars, falls and soars once more.
• Charge of the Light Brigade - The first eighty percent of the film is standard 1930’s Hollywood fare of stories of the British Empire but whenever the DVD version comes out, I will replay that glorious charge lead by Errol Flynn over and over again.
• Last of the Mohicans - the version starring Daniel Day Lewis, this adventure story set in a lush wilderness barely touched by man has strong performance by Wes Studi, Lewis and Madeleine Stowe.
• Lord of the Rings trilogy - adventure, magic, an altogether different world, I looked forward to December each year for three years in seeing the new released part. Decembers are not the same anymore. It is a triumph of film making where the personal stories are never overcome by the special effects.
• Farewell to my Concubine - an epic tragedy set during the turmoil within China in the mid 20th century, it is a masterpiece by Kaige Chen with the luminous Gong Li in the starring role.
• Ran - from a director noted for several masterpieces (Seven Samurai, Rashmon, Dreams), Akira Kurosawa retelling of Shakespeare King Lear set in medieval Japan is his greatest film. Battle scenes set against the human drama contained within a family, it should be a must see by anyone who appreciates film.
• Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - western panoramas, humorous dialogue and strong performances by Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee van Cleef set against the familiar soaring Enrico Morricone’s score, this film defined the western for good against Hollywood’s sanitized version at that time. It must always be seen in the original widescreen for nothing else would do.
• Metropolis -Lang’s futuristic vision still haunts us with its depiction of a society tearing itself apart over class.
• Lawrence of Arabia - brilliant cinematography, a reluctant hero and a nearly true story that needs to be seen in its restored glory. David Lean’s finest
• Zulu - starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker, this last stand film is a thriller set at the original location of the historical battle of 120 British soldiers holding off three thousand Zulu warriors.
• Raging Bull- in a long line of performances that have diminished in quality lately, this is Robert de Niro’s finest and deserving of an Academy Award of the boxer who can not control his demons
• Tora,Tora,Tora - shot in a documentary style, this is a superior film to the recent Pearl Harbor film. Using real planes and ships and shot on location, you feel that you are seeing a real-life enactment of that day in December

Undoubtly there are other films of a more personal nature and more obscure that I should put on this list but these films should be recognized by most people. Naturally, they lean to the epic and spectacle genre of film but I do a softness for the grandiose visions.

As can be seen from the list, there has not been much in the past few years that really have captured my imagination. Like I said, I have not been able to view many films in the past few years and what I have seen tend to be more escapist fare to pass away the time. I miss the days especially back in the early nineties when I lived in Toronto and I watch films all of the time whether in the theatre or on video. It is was a golden age for me in many respects when it came to film. I do wish I could watch as many films now as I did then but family and work life takes precedence now.

Even though I do have a DVD player, it is virtually unused. Cable television is what I use the television for these days. I even gave up my Netflix membership this past year because I was not watching any films. I would rent them and then they would be sitting there for weeks unwatched and sometimes returned unwatched.

Then again, life changes. Back then, I did not have the Internet or photography to distract me. Now, my free time is seemingly consumed by them. But I do not regret it and if perchance, a film comes on one of the cable television stations that I always desired to see but never took the opportunity to do so, then I may just be able to update my list.