Interested to see which ones. I just checked and 2 of mine are originally in Manderin.
2 more of my favorite Chinese ones didn't make the top 50 (Hero, The emperor and the assasin)
Japanese, 7 and many more couldn't fit in sadly, have to leave room for others.

Great special effects own the 2 disc DVD which I bought back when it first got released back in March of 2002 but still haven't watched it all the way through.

My #47 is Lost in Translation. For years, I held firm to my belief that Sofia Coppola would be the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director, but alas Kathryn Bigelow ruined my prediction. Coppola could easily have won for Lost in Translation -- her work is just that good. She manages to capture the loneliness and anonymity of city life, and draws out of Bill Murray the performance of his career. Too bad Sean Penn gave a slightly better performance that same year, or Murray wouldn't still be hunting for that elusive Oscar. Lost in Translation is one of those movies that stays with you long after the credits cease to roll.

Lost in translation was great, I definitely want to see it again some day.
I don't mind Kathryn Bigelow winning the Acedemy Award for best Director, but she should have gotten it sooner. Then Coppola could have gotten it for Lost in translation. Bigelow is coming up in my list soon, not for the hurt locker though.
Bill Murray did an awesome job, the scene with the treadmill still makes me laugh.

The problem is that Coppola was never going to win it. And it's because the Academy, in one if its more shameful moves, decided in 2001 that The Return of the King and Peter Jackson would win Best Picture and Best Director, respectively, in 2003.

Grave of the fireflies is a lot easier to stomach then Barefoot Gen at least. Grave of the fireflies could apply to any war situation, which makes Grave of the fireflies even more powerful in my opinion.
Barefoot Gen is a pretty similar story, but set right in Hiroshima. Written by someone who lived through the ordeal, a truly haunting movie.

The whole movie is available on you tube.


The bomb drops at 30 minutes in. Although historically accurate it is very graphic, cannot be unseen.

48. Alexander revisited: The final cut, 2004, Oliver Stone


One of the great historical movies following the live of Alexander the great. I love this adaptation by Oliver Stone. He manages to paint a very human picture of a great conqueror. This is the lowest scoring movie on my list with a 5.4 on IMDB. Hugely underrated in my opinion, maybe it's the close relation between Alexander and Hephaestion that puts people off. It all makes perfect sense in the movie and the time period.
Though not the highest ranked historical movie or the highest ranked Oliver Stone movie on my list I can highly recommend it. It kept me bound to the screen for it's entire 214 minute runtime.

Kingdom of Heaven is alright too. That and Troy didn't make as much of an impression on me as Alexander revisited though.

47. Logan's run, 1976, Michael Anderson


Classic 70's sci-fi at its best. Humanity has retreated underground to live in an utopian society, however you only get to live till 30. Logan is a sandman whose job it is to take out runners, people that try to escape their fate. However after being taxed with a special assignment to infiltrate a community of runners he begins questioning his motives and finds himself on the run.
It's a little bit slow at time but it keeps you guessing what will happen next.

Meh, getting snubbed once by the Acedemy Awards isn't too big of a deal.  My favorite movie music composer of all time Ennio Morricone got snubbed five times before finally getting a honary award in 2007, which is really sad since he won every other major award one can think of before that (Nastro d'Arento, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Grammy etc.).