Through a Glass Darkly - conquered certainty. Still compelling stuff though.įun fact: When Kabi Laretei (Bergman's wife at the time) saw Winter Lights for the first time, she said, 'Ingmar, it's a masterpiece. Weakest link? Although it won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (What did you expect? Best Visual Effects?), Through A Glass Darkly is the least affecting of the three. If you're feeling a bit down in the dumps, however, best stick with Glee. Each film is marked by eerie settings, minimal dialogue, great Sven Nykvist photography and superb performances from Bergo's stock company. The Silence ticks all the art house boxes, depicting lesbianism, a troupe of dwarves, symbolism and Ingrid Thulin dying of tuberculosis it was a surprise hit due its explicit (for the time) rumpy-pumpy scenes. Winter Light sees a pastor in a spiritual meltdown and might be the grimmest film Bergman ever made (and that's saying something). Through A Glass Darkly charts a family's descent into madness on a remote island. Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Max Von Sydow, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Jorgen LindstromĪlthough it's too much of a stretch to call it Bergman's franchise, this early '60s troika are exquisite chamber pieces built around themes of sanity, madness and the wavering of religious faith, thus earning the right to be called a trilogy. 'I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.' The other two are It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Hannibal suffers from the world's worst last act (in fairness, hamstrung by the source novel and improving slightly on it) whereas Red Dragon is a decent if unexceptional thriller.įun fact: The Silence of the Lambs is one of only three films ever to win all 'Big Five' Oscars: Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress. Weakest link? For perhaps the only time in history, we're going to argue that a Ridley Scott film is weaker than a Brett Ratner one. So why not settle down with a nice Chianti and enjoy the cannibal holocaust? It's no wonder that studios kept trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle, recruiting cinema's best ever villain for a sequel and a prequel (there's another prequel, not starring Hopkins and not included here) which saw diminishing returns but which still benefitted from that uncanny, barely blinking performance. He's only onscreen for 16 minutes, but such is his domination of the film that you'd swear it was two or three times that. Jonathan Demme, Ridley Scott, Brett RatnerĪnthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Ted Levine, Scott Glenn, Julianne Moore, Ray Liotta, Gary Oldman, Giancarlo Giannini, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Mary Louise Parker, Philip Seymour HoffmanĪnthony Hopkins' performance as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs is the shortest ever to win Best (leading) Actor at the Oscars. 'Hasn't it become abundantly clear during the tenure of our friendship that I don't know shit?' 32. 'I'm not even supposed to be here today.' Weakest link? Mallrats, which didn't deserve the kicking it got on release but is also by far the weakest of the three.įun fact: Wondering where the letters in the Clerks logo came from? Well, C is from Cosmopolitan, L is from Life, E is from Rolling Stone, R is from Ruffles potato chips, K is from Clark Bar and S is from a Goobers box. It just goes to show you don't need fallen angels, chimps or even Rosario Dawson to make a great movie. Smith hasn't surpassed Amy yet, but we can only hope he keeps trying to at least equal it. And on that basis it's hard to surpass Kevin Smith's first three films, a more grounded group than his follow-ons and, in the case of Chasing Amy especially, a near perfect mix of foul mouthery, far too in-depth geek discussions and warm heart.

Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Shannon Doherty, Jeremy London, Claire Forlani, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Ethan SupleeĪ loose trilogy, this, but we're assuming you readers felt this list was a little light on profanity and needed some explicit discussion of oral sex to balance out the selection.

Best movie endings match point