I’ve heard Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund’s 2004 Oscar-nominated film to be likened to Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”. Yet, I’d hazard a guess this is more a marketing ploy to pigeonhole the film into a more saleable product. It is like saying Antonia Bird’s drama “Priest” is like “The Exorcist”. They both feature members of the church questioning their own faith after all, but the two films couldn’t be more dissimilar. Granted, “ City of God” and “Pulp Fiction” share the depiction of crime and a time-switching, non-linear narrative, but there is little ironic humour to find in Meirelles and Lund’s uncompromising film. “City Of God” isn’t interested in stylised characters that overplay the merits of the metric system or theatrical violence and pop-culture references, it cuts far closer to the bone than that.

The tiny territory of Hong Kong has been responsible for producing some of the greatest action movies the world has ever seen. Here are ten of the very best from before the digital age; a time when often the only thing an actor had to save him from a painful trip to the hospital was a thin straw mattress or a small cushioning pad under the shirt! In reverse order, I give to you:
10. CRIPPLED AVENGERS
Director: Chang Cheh
Starring: Phillip Kwok, Lo Meng, Chiang Sheng, Sun Chien, Lu …

Warning: the following article contains images of graphic violence, blood, and gore. If you find these offensive or do not wish to see these images CLICK HERE to read a non-graphic version of the article OR browse our other top 10 lists.
Having been a horror movie fan since I can remember I’ve always felt great works of the genre didn’t have to resort to violence and gore to frighten or affect an audience. That said, there’s a place for all types of horror film and the ‘gore movie’ is one …

Anime began at the start of the 20th century, when Japanese filmmakers experimented with animation techniques pioneered in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia. The oldest known anime in existence first screened in 1917 – a two-minute clip of a samurai trying to test a new sword on his target, only to suffer defeat.
The success of The Walt Disney Company’s 1937 feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs influenced Japanese animators. In the 1960s, manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified many Disney animation-techniques to reduce …

World Cinema fan? – World Cinema bargains on Amazon.co.uk
10. Mark Lee (AKA Mark Gor)
Played by Chow Yun-Fat
Gangster Mark sports a duster, Alain Delon sunglasses and constantly chews a toothpick – and it’s a well known fact it doesn’t get any cooler than that (in fact, Quentin Tarantino reportedly copied the look and sported it for months after watching the movie). Mark isn’t just the epitome of cool though – he is a hitman of considerable skill and flair, and you cross him at …

ISABELLA ROSSELLINI’S TOP 10 FILMS
“Blue Velvet” actress and Lancome model Isabella Rossellini picks the films that have brought most joy into her heart. Listed here courtesy of Time Out, she explains each of her choices as she presents a diverse and eclectic mix of movies.
Incidentally, Isabella only lists her top 8 films, which appear below.

1. Some Like It Hot (Wilder, 1959)
She says: “I think Marilyn Monroe was never in sexier form than here in her third-last film playing the uber-zaftig Sugar Kane Kowalczyk. As wonderfully as Orry-Kelly made the gowns …

KEN LOACH’S TOP 10 FILMS
1. A Bout de Souffle (Godard, 1959)
2. The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo, 1965)
3. A Blonde in Love (Forman, 1965)
4. Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948)
5. Closely Observed Trains (Menzel, 1966)
6. Fireman’s Ball (Forman, 1967)
7. Jules et Jim (Truffaut, 1962)
8. La Règle du Jeu (Renoir, 1939)
9. The Tree of the Wooden Clogs (Olmi, 1978)
10. Wild Strawberries (Bergman, 1957)

MICHAEL MANN’S TOP 10 FILMS
1. Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
2. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925)
3. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
4. Dr Strangelove (Kubrick, 1963)
5. Faust (Murnau, 1926)
6. Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais, 1961)
7. My Darling Clementine (Ford, 1946)
8. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
9. Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
10. The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah, 1969)