"Get busy living or get busy dying. That's God damned right" - Shawshank

You would be forgiven for thinking that two relatively intelligent twenty somethings travelling around Europe would invest their free time, of which there is a lot, on noble pursuits. Immersing themselves in the local history so that they can compete with other travellers in Pretention Competitions for example. Or perhaps working on that tan, creating sculpted bronzed bodies that the ancient Greeks would be proud of.

Not us.

We have been spending our free time trying to agree on the top five films of all time, by genre.

This isn't as easy as it may first seem. First, we had to agree on what genres there actually were. And then we had to argue about individual films, and where to pigeon hole them. Is, for example, Aliens a sci-fi film or an action film? Is Sin City a film starring Bruce Willis or a film with Bruce Willis in it? Is Leon a thriller? What the hell kind of film is Fight Club? And which is the best sport-comedy-starring-Adam-Sandler - is it Waterboy or Happy Gillmore?

It was finally agreed that a Thriller, by definition, is a film where any other stuff (be it action, sci-fi b******s, animation or sex) is ancillary to the plot.

So then the arguing proper began. We thought we'd start small, with sports films, and then work from there. We also decided to document our findings here so that it can become the most definitive film list of all time. And because it's the only of remembering what the fruits of our hour long arguments actually are.

It is agreed that in special cases a film that only one of us has seen can enter the ranking, but that it cannot occupy the top spot. Also honourable mentions are necessary.

Conversations usually begin when we're waiting an hour for a train or a meal or a football game to start and we've forgotten to bring the cards.

Last night we got marvelously drunk, and as the fine women of Sarejevo wouldn't look twice at two disheveled hairy goons like us, we made some headway and agreed on our first lists.....

Top 5 Sports Films
1 Rocky
2 Dodgeball
3 Jerry Maguire
4 Raging Bull
5 Chariots of Fire

NB: Chariots of Fire would have been bumped in favour of either Waterboy or Happy Gillmore is we could agree which one was best.

Top 5 Foriegn Films
1 Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
2 Hard Boiled
3 Battle Royale
4 City of God
5 Life Is Beautiful

NB: Vinny hasn't seen City of God, and I haven't seen Life is Beautiful, so these may have placed higher.

Honourable Mentions: Oldboy, The Killer, Hero

Top 5 Comedy Films
1 Life of Brian "He's not the Messiah he's a very naughty boy"
2 Sean of the Dead "OK, but dogs CAN look up"
3 Airplane "Don't call me Shirley"
4 Austin Powers "I also like to live dangerously"
5 Ace Ventura "Do I have something in my teeth?"

Honourable Mentions: Will Farrell, Stiller, Parker & Stone, Ferris Bueller and Groundhog Day.

Top 5 Action Films
1 Aliens
2 Predator
3 Hard Boiled
4 Die Hard
5 The Rock

Honourable Mentions: Rambo 2, The Crow, Desperado, Dusk till Dawn

Top 5 Arnie Films
1 Terminator
2 Predator
3 Terminator 2
4 Total Recall
5 Twins

Honourable Mention: True Lies

Top 5 Bruce Willis Films
1 Die Hard
2 Sixth Sense
3 Die Hard with a Vengeance
4 Die Hard 2
5 Fifth Element

NB: Bruce Willis vehicles only... Sin City and Pulp Fiction weren't considered.

Top 5 Kurt Russel Films (!!!!!!)
1 Breakdown
2 Big Trouble in Little China
3 The Thing
4 Escape From New York
5 1000 Miles From Graceland

Top 5 Keanu Reeves Films
1 The Matrix
2 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
3 Speed
4 Constantine
5 Point Break

Honourable Mention: Devil's Advocate, B&T's Bogus Journey.

Top 5 Stallone Films
1 Rocky
2 Rambo First Blood Part 2
3 First Blood
4 Demolition Man
5 Cliffhanger

Honourable Mention: Copland, Assassins

We've still got a long way to go, and we're looking forward to literally hours of arguing, biting and scratching. We also reserve the right to change these lists as we remember films at the last minute.

And we're also working on our other list - the 20 most definitive cinematic moments of all time.....

At some point we're going to stop doing this and start looking round the places we visit, interacting with the locals and going to museums and stuff.

It's just that this doesn't cost anything.