Mindblowing duels

We think you know the drill by now. We write lists and then post them here. We decided to continue our "action" themed lists, so this one is with the best one-on-ones in film. Like always, it's all opinion-based.


1. Robin Hood vs. Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood. The most classic of duels. It has influenced pretty much every swordfight in film history.

1. Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.  This one's maybe not as "cool" as the previous fight, but the emotional charge in this whole scene more than makes up for it.

3. Beast vs. Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. Probably the best part in the movie. Also, the music is awesome.

4. Vash vs. Monev the Gale in Trigun. This is the point where the show started to get really good. It made it more than anime. (Couldn't find a picture of the fight, so we had to compromise and just put individual photos).

5. Kenshin vs. Saito in Kenshin.  Now this would be #1 if it wasn't for those annoying and interrupting minor characters. The coolest swordfight ever.

6. Ripley vs. The Alien queen in Aliens. When watching this particular scene, you just wanna scream "kill that bug!" It's pure adrenaline.

7. Indiana Jones vs. The German nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Thoroughly entertaining fistfight. You laugh & you gasp as you cheer for Indy.

8. Blade vs. Frost in Blade. Most likely this will remain our only entry with vampires. The last duel is pretty cool, not gonna lie.

9. Batman vs. Catwoman in Batman Returns. Here it's not so much that the fighting is impressive but more that you just enjoy watching their personalities clash. Plus you want both characters to win, which makes this refreshingly different.

10. Po vs. Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda. The best parody duel ever. You'll cry from laughing so much.

Ladies in action

Our criteria for this list is character development, their contribution to the story and in how much action they take part. So let's start!

1. Ripley in Aliens. There can be no dispute about this matter. The reason we mention only the second film is because in the first one she seems to do things because of her survival instincts but in the second one she just kicks ass. She's the ultimate action heroine. 

2. Princess Leia in the Star Wars trilogy. She doesn't take part in the action as much as some other characters on this list, but she totally makes up for that in character development and how significant she is to the story. She holds a gun pretty darn convincingly as well.

3. Mulan in, woot, Mulan. She is awesome! (Jonna is the reincarnation of her) She's a very unconventional female character for a Disney film. She doesn't really need saving, like, ever. In fact, she saves everyone else. 

4. Nausicaä in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Now who said that princesses are sissies? She's kind of the odd one out. If Jesus was a female warrior, we think he'd be a lot like her. 

5. Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Batman Returns. She's nuts. She's like Susan (from Bringing up Baby), only like an insane, action version of her. She just does whatever she pleases, and we gotta say, it's quite refreshing. 

6. Mason in Strange Days. Holy smokes, is Angela Basset's character awe-inspiring or what! She could have her own movie. The main protagonist of the film would've probably been found from the dumpster with a bullet in his head if it wasn't for her. It's great to see a black woman not in need of rescue and who's not oversexualized.

7. Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. She looks really capable and her physique is probably the most realistic, you believe she'd kick anyone's ass. She is not the main protagonist of this sequel, unlike in the first movie, which makes us kinda sad, since she's a very intriguing character.

8. Leigh in Assault on Precinct 13. She is one of the first proper female characters in action films. She actually does stuff instead of screaming her head off the whole time; she can use a gun and keep a cool head in danger. 

9. Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. Of course we had to add her. It's just so great to see that some people have finally realised that women can be good characters in an action film and that doesn't take anything away from the men in the movie. Plus she has a backstory (weird!) and she's a better shot :O.

9. Susan in Spy. Holy shit her character is great! Part of what makes her such an ass-kicker, is because she's so unassuming at first. It was super awesome to see that someone this sweet could also be intimidating. Plus she's hilarious.

11. Rita in Edge of Tomorrow. We thought the film itself was quite mediocre, but found Rita to be pretty damn awesome . Her fighting isn't really shown, nevertheless she's a very independent character which gives her points in our eyes. 

12. Nikita in Nikita. She'd probably be way higher on our list if it wasn't for that yawn-worthy boyfriend of hers. He does not bring out anything of value or interest in her personality. Otherwise she's a well-rounded character. 

13. Helen Parr/Elastigirl in The Incredibles. She's lots of fun, and as it is a children's film, it's clear that she's supposed to be more entertaining rather than interesting.

Music is half the battle

Right, we're taking it for granted that the music fits their respective films perfectly so we're not going to talk about that. There are so many great original scores to go around, but we wanted to take the ones we like all the way through. When we say scores, we mean scores. Not a theme or theme song or just that one song everyone knows from the score. Also, we are aware that this is all modern film music (and modern is a bit foreign to us), but we've found these soundtracks to be more complete musically in comparison; there are some magnificent film themes in the older films and you'll get to see them when we make that list. And no, you won't find any Hans Zimmer here. 

1. Princess Mononoke by Joe Hisaishi. Utter brilliance. The music in this film creates such amazing visuals in your head. Is it any wonder he's our favourite film composer?

1. The Mission by Ennio Morricone. This is what music in heaven must soud like. Morricone is a genius.
 


3. Kenshin OVA by Taku Iwasaki. This isn't your normal anime soundtrack, it's art, man. It's so melancholic, it really speaks to our Finnishness.

4. Spirited Away by Joe Hisaishi. Did we mention that he's a genius too?

5. Edward Scissorhands by Danny Elfman. This is the ultimate fairytale soundtrack. Hauntingly beautiful.

5. Schindler's List by John Williams. It has the echo of older soundtracks (such as Ben-Hur). Such an effective score.

7. Beauty and the Beast by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. The best Disney soundtrack. Not only are the original songs (NOT Broadway) great but the entire score is just magical. All you need to do is think about the opening scene.

8. Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain by Yann Tiersen. Probably the most adorable score we have on this list; it just puts you in a good mood.

9. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Joe Hisaishi. Definitely his most unique work. It's simply electrifying. 

10. Once by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. This soundtrack is filled with better tunes than exist on any modern pop music chart. The harmonies are great.

 

 

11. The Secret of Nimh by Jerry Goldsmith. This rather brief soundtrack is so lovely and very evocative.

 

12.Don't Look Now by Pino Donaggio. The best horror score we've ever heard. It's brief, but like Secret of Nimh, so amazing.

Bromance at its best

We'll kick off by explaining what we understand by the term bromance. For us it's something with humour (maybe even bickering) and also real friendship+teamwork. This time we could cut the list to top 10.

1. Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt in Life on Mars. It's such a classic English detective show bromance. There's so much humour to go around, but the essence of this relationship is real friendship. Their verbal stuff is beyond brilliant. "How do you think I spend my time around here Tyler?" "Building a death star?"

2. Vash and Wolfwood in Trigun. What makes this interesting is the fact that they have opposing ideologies but still their teamwork is seamless. 

3. Nicholas and Danny in Hot Fuzz. First of all, Pegg&Frost have such an awesome real-life bromance it really carries to the screen automatically. We love that there isn't a romantic interest in the film, but instead all that goes to their relationship. 

4. Bud White and Ed Exley in L.A. Confidential. This one's not as hilarious as bromances usually are, but the tension between them is really gripping and once they team up, it's so memorable and cool. That final shootout is stinking awesome.

5. Tim and Mike in Spaced. This is the original "guy love" and had it before Scrubs took it for a spin. The best male bonding scene ever is in episode five, season two. 

6. Mike and Sully in Monsters, Inc. This is the reason the film works so well. Their camaraderie is very believable. 

7. Po and Master Shifu in Kung Fu Panda. The combination of a cranky old geezer and a naive and clumsy beginner (we have a word for that in Finnish: tumpelo. Ah, we pity all you non-Finns) is so much fun to watch. 

8. Tugg Speedman and Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder. They were supposed to have a fake bromance in a fake film but ended up having a real one. "I'm the dude playing the dude who's disguised as another dude!"

9. Kenshin and Saito in Rurouni Kenshin. This is the only reason to watch the show, trust us, the rest is CRAP. Yeah, we really don't enjoy the show otherwise, but holy cow their "friendship" rocks.

10. Sherlock and Watson in Sherlock. It's #10 only because the series hasn't ended yet. If the show stays good until the end, we'll have to update this list. Their bromance is so classic, like Sam&Gene's. The English are very good at portraying buddyness. So in the end it might be sharing #1.