27 - Mad Max 2: Road Warrior
Before things got Hollywood and silly, Mad Max was the ultimate in low budget thrills. Coming from that interesting period in the 80s when Australia was making awesome grindhouse movies the Mad Max films were notable for their excellent car stunts. Now, I chose the first sequel over the original for the reason that while the costumes are hilarious (obviously reflecting Australia's booming gay scene) the over all narrative is much more epic, much more bleak and much more high octane. The hugely sexy Ford XB Falcon made a return, though a little worse for ware, but it's the end scene with the oil tanker than really just blows it out of the water. Mel Gibson might look like he has fought his way out of a rendition of YMCA but lets not forget that for a time, all post apocalyptic wardrobes were copying Road Warrior.
Best bit: The tense stand off over a measly trickle of fuel.
26 - District 9
What début. When Neill Blomkamp, who's previous experience was as a visual effects artist on a hand full of American TV shows including Smallville and some impressive short films, was put up for the job of directing a Halo movie people were concerned. However, when Halo fell through and Neill and producer Peter Jackson got together to discuss what to do with the small amount (relatively) of money raised as a budget, we got District 9. Oh we took it all back, this guy knows his s**t! Where the pseudo documentary style wore a little thin by the second act, the third act (which thankfully dropped it) was about the best alien based action ever to be committed to film. When Wikus gets a face full of alien deodorant (or something) he starts to turn into a prawn (slang, speciesist term for the aliens) and while that freaks him the hell out, he soon realises that maybe he has been on the wrong side. With a stunning finale that includes the best battle mecha battle ever, District 9 has entered sci-fi royalty.
Best bit: Wikus getting his hands on some surprisingly potent alien guns and killing a load of gangsters.
25 - Dirty Harry
"Do I feel lucky?........."you know what comes next. Everyone knows. Some lines from some movies just resonate for all time as being cool. "You lookin' at me?" or "So I'm here to amuse you?" and, though partially through repetition; "I'm Batman." Well, Dirty Harry and the subsequent sequels have certainly added a few such lines in their time. Of course, it isn't be bad ass, right wing, pro-guns, anti-anything that's not white 70's dialogue that makes the film legendary. It just helps. Dirty Harry is a loose re-imagining of the Zodiac Killer case. By loose, I mean I lost 400 pounds and can stand in one leg of my old trousers loose. For a start, they catch the killer, so you know....this isn't really the same at all. However, the Scorpio Killer has traits taken from the Zodiac killer which certainly adds an interesting edge to the proceedings. It is those proceedings that rank Dirty Harry so highly on my list, as all of them involve a 45 Magnum which would blow your head clean off.
Best bit: For me it is Clint bus surfing, every time.