Desert Island Films – Steve O’Brien
Tue Apr 2024Desert Island Films Ed. 3
Imagine being trapped on an island with nothing to do; no phones, no laptops, no wifi and the boring old commodities like food and water. But have no fear! Your island does, for some reason, come complete with a state of the art cinema with a lovely big screen and eight of your most beloved, favourite films of all time!
We have interviewed a number of people of note that are connected to the historical city of Bath. Third, is the freelance writer, editor and sub-editor Steve O’Brien.
Steve O’Brien
Steve has worked in film and TV journalism for 25 years, starting as a New Editor and Reviews Editor on SFX magazine before becoming a Reviews Editor on the magazine Filmstar.
Now he works as a freelancer, writing about movies for various websites such as Yahoo, Cineworld, Empire, Den of Geek and Digital Spy.
“I’ve lived in Bath my entire life, having been born in Oldfield Park and lived – over the years – in Southdown, Combe Down and now Batheaston.”
Steve's love of film
I fell in love with film at an early age. I was a massive James Bond and Star Wars fan, passions that have endured to this day. My tastes now, however, are much broader and I relish everything from summer blockbusters to intimate arthouse curios.
1. Back to the Future, Robert Zemeckis, 1985
“There’s not a dropped stitch in this screenplay. It’s a chef’s kiss of a movie. I love time travel stories and this one is so ingenious, being complex enough to satisfy hardcore sci-fi-heads and also simple enough for SF-sceptics to get behind.”
2. The Wicker Man, Robin Hardy, 1973
“This is a film that’s very hard to categorise. It’s happily been adopted by horror enthusiasts over the years, but there’s actually little horror in it, except that scarring final scene. There’s still no other movie like it.”
3. The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola, 172
“It’s the cooler choice to pick its more narratively ambitious sequel, but I love the purity of the first Godfather. From Gordon Willis’ shadow-drenched photography to Coppola’s stately pacing, it’s a genre-defining masterpiece that’s lost none of its dark power in the past 51 years.”
4. The Ladykillers, Alexander Mackendrick, 1955
“Ealing at its blackest, The Ladykillers is a late-period gem from the studio that gave us Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Man in the White Suit. Amazing cast, too, especially Alec Guinness’ Alastair Sim-channelling turn as Professor Marcus.”
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick, 1969
“Kubrick’s sci-fi epic elevated science fiction from the low-rent tropes of bug-eyed monsters and space battles. More than half a century on from its release, it still feels like it’s a movie made by someone who knows more than we do.”
6. In Bruges, Martin McDonagh, 2008
“There hasn’t been a film this relentlessly quotable since Withnail & I. Martin McDonagh’s movie rips up the hitman thriller rulebook and it’s anchored by career-best performances from Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.”
7. Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, 1976
Scorsese’s movie is one that gets under your fingernails, so evocative it is of downtime 70s New York. Forget Raging Bull and Goodfellas, this is Scorsese’s masterpiece and the role for which De Niro should be remembered.
8. Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock, 1960
At the age of 60, who’d have thought that the most successful director in the world still had it in him to do a small, punky exploitation quickie that would end up as one of his very best? It may be classed as a horror, but Hitch’s bruise-black sense of humour is in every frame of this, and if you’re not laughing during Psycho then you’re not watching it right.
Thanks to Steve for his Desert Island Films! Look out for the next in our series, coming out in May!