A friend from NTI decided to start watching films recently after decades of indifference. He emailed round asking for top 5 recommendations. Needless to say I could not reply with true brevity, not with only 5. Even these ten leave out some real classics, but, hey, you have to start somewhere...
PERSONAL FAVES
Tremors
top pick: a total masterpiece! Attention to detail, characters, dialogue, suspense, silliness... This should be top of everyone's list of quality and love!
My Cousin Vinny
fun courtroom drama with oscar-winning Marisa Tomei and a host of B-movie figures to spot.
La cite des enfants perdus
earlier, darker work from the director of Amelie, like a modern fairy-tale.
Serenity
wonderful, tongue-in-cheek spin off from sci-fi series 'Firefly'; quite thought-provoking, and incredible quality to budget ratio!
Galaxy Quest
spoofy blockbuster sci-fi, child-friendly, which pushes all the right buttons.
Raising Arizona
young Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter in Cohen brothers farce, much nicer than their sinister later films (which are also excellent, of course).
MORE SERIOUS
Boys Don't Cry
utterly harrowing, painful, important, tough issues, incredible performances.
Crash
the new one about race in America and cleverly interlinked stories, not the twisted weird one based on Ballard's novel.
East/West
Russian-French family return to Stalin's USSR and find that life is not nice.
Kekexili
true story of locals vs poachers in Western Chinese icy desert.
Grand Canyon
like an 80s version of Crash - big names, big drama, big heart.
