#20 - Boys Don't Cry [Adam's pick]
Hilary Swank's greatest performance as a Brandon Teena, a trans man. Treats its protagonist's identity and sexuality struggle in a deeply sensitive way, and doesn't hide from the brutality of the violence committed against him due to ignorance. Heartbreaking.
#20 - American Beauty [Jeff's pick]
One of the few Best Picture winning films I can agree with, this debut by Sam Mendes features excellent performances by its whole cast and great writing. Kevin Spacey alone makes the movie great.
#19 - Insomnia [Adam's pick]
A murder mystery in broad daylight. Stellan Skarsgard's fatalistic performance and the sinister Norwegian setting result in a deeply unnerving psychological thriller.
#19 - Pee Wee's Big Adventure [Jeff's pick]
Tim Burton's full-length debut, and still one of his most entertaining and imaginative. I never was a fan of Pee Wee before I watched this, but now I can happily point to this as one of my favorite comedies of all-time.
#18 - The Devils [Adam's pick]
Pure insanity. Ken Russell pulls noo punches in his critique of religious fanaticism.
#18 - Aguirre, Wrath Of God [Jeff's pick]
Klaus Kinski delivers one of the most terrifying and complex performances ever as the living embodiment of a man driven mad with power. Werner Herzog's masterpiece, and a veritable classic.
#17 - Audition [Adam's pick]
A man's shallow search for an ideal bride turns into a horrific nightmare. Takashi Miike is a master of uncomfortableness, and this film just keeps more surreal and terrifying until its agonizing climax.
#17 - The Lion King [Jeff's pick]
Hands-down my pick for the greatest Disney movie ever. Filled with beautiful animation, memorable voice acting, amazing music (both musical score and original tracks), and astonishingly sad moments, this is basically the best Disney can ever do.
#16 - I Stand Alone [Adam's pick]
90-minutes of being stuck in the head of a man on the verge of going on a violent rampage. Philippe Nahon's stream-of-conscious ramblings feel shockingly authentic. And the climax is an ingenious visualization of his insanity.
#16 - The Shining [Jeff's pick]
Kubrick's most direct attempt at a horror film, a film most would consider to be among the finest of the genre. I would tend to agree. Nicholson is incredible, giving a suitably creepy lead performance to match the films chilling atmosphere.
#15 - Dead Man [Adam's pick]
An art-house western. Jim Jarmusch's fascination lies with the myths and poetry of the old West. A time where death came more often, and had more meaning.
#15 - Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes [Jeff's pick]
Equal parts stupid humor and some of the most clever satire I've ever seen. There is no doubt most people would hate this movie, but its that unique style of humor and campy appeal that makes this a hilarious classic I will always adore.
#14 - Near Dark [Adam's pick]
Kathryn Bigelow's breakout film is a vampire movie that's equally romantic and macho. When the violence hits, it hits hard.
#14 - The Decalogue [Jeff's pick]
Though this is technically a television series (of sorts) broken into 10 individual segments, I'm still putting it on this list, because it's that good. Daunting as it may be, this 10 hour series is one of the greatest things ever filmed.
#13 - Videodrome [Adam's pick]
Violence as a deadly and spreading disease, the perfect theme for David Cronenberg. And he doesn't disappoint.
#13 - Fargo [Jeff's pick]
The Coen Brothers would be high up on pretty much any list of the greatest filmmakers currently working, and this movie alone is enough to earn them a spot on that list. Darkly humorous, brilliantly acted, and visually unique.
#12 - RoboCop [Adam's pick]
Back when Hollywood satire had fangs. An incredibly smart critique on the militarization of the police, the limits of technology (especially AI), and a terrifying look at just how expendable we all become to the government when shit gets bad.
#12 - The Elephant Man [Jeff's pick]
One of those movies that makes you hate humanity and want to give its main character a giant hug. John Hurt is absolutely incredible and heart-breaking, with David Lynch showing off some great range as a dramatic director.
#11 - Ms. 45 [Adam's pick]
Abel Ferrara's rape-revenge film doesn't get off on the misery of its protagonist (Zoe Lund). He knows just how much to show us to get the point across, and saves the fetishization for the glorious vengeance. Lund is hypnotic as the mute .45-totting vigilante.
#11 - Das Boot [Jeff's pick]
A claustrophobic character study with fantastic acting and some of the most incredible cinematography I've ever seen. Don't let the runtime fool you, this movie flies by and is totally engrossing the entire time.
#10 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Adam's pick]
Comedy so full of imagination and wit that it just isn't fair to everyone else. The smartest type of stupidity.
#10 - Vampire's Kiss [Jeff's pick]
The greatest and most insane performance by the deranged genius Nicolas Cage. A puzzling movie in more than one sense, this is just one of those movies that is so fun to watch, it doesn't matter if it's good or not. It's better than good: it's amazing.
#9 - Chungking Express [Adam's pick]
Wong Kar-wai makes films so original it isn't fair. His obsession with time and loneliness is at its most beautiful and sad in Chungking Express.
#9 - Suspiria [Jeff's pick]
The '70s were a great time for the horror genre, and this is one of the best examples of how great a time it really was. The pinnacle of Italian horror, this giallo is beautiful to look at as well as being unsettlingly eerie from start to finish.
#8 - Heat [Adam's pick]
Michael Mann is one of modern cinemas great auteurs, and Heat is his masterpiece. Takes a cat-and-mouse game between an obsessive cop (Al Pacino) and a genius criminal (Robert De Niro), and makes it a romantic tragedy. A world of survival, where only the men without honor are villains.
#8 - Do The Right Thing [Jeff's pick]
Spike Lee may not be one of my favorite filmmakers (he'd be lucky to squeak into my top 250), but damn was this movie good. Racially-charged in all the best ways, darkly amusing, filled with intriguing characters, and just really really great.
#7 - Don't Look Now [Adam's pick]
An amazingly layered horror film. Plays off the wonderful chemistry between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie to create a sense of incoming terror. The opening sequence sets the pace for the entire film, where fractured editing and aurally overwhelming sound design make a moment of tragedy so devastating that all order is destroyed.
#7 - Troll 2 [Jeff's pick]
Again, I fill my list with a movie that is technically a bit of a disaster. But it's one of the most entertaining disasters ever made. Few comedies are able to be this hilarious, and the fact this movie was able to do it without even trying to be funny just makes it all the better.
#6 - Possession [Adam's pick]
Such a weirdly genius film. Starts out as a agonizingly uncomfortable marriage drama, and then gradually becomes complete madness. And introduces a Hellraiser-esque monster parasite 5 years before Clive Barker wrote The Hellbound Heart. The climax reveals so many layers that were completely hidden
#6 - Ed Wood [Jeff's pick]
For years, this was my answer to the eternal question: "what is your favorite movie?" Though this may have fallen from the top, I still absolutely love it. This is a movie for movie people. A great tribute to classic horror.
#5 - Se7en [Adam's pick]
The first film where David Fincher had complete creative control, and the result was a murder mystery masterpiece. The murder scene set pieces are a masterclass of gruesome production design, and the execution of the killer reveal, and the infamous twist, are never not horrifying.
#5 - The Exorcist [Jeff's pick]
The most influential, terrifying, complex, and memorable movie of its genre. This is without a doubt the absolute best horror movie ever made. That is all.
#4 - Blue Velvet [Adam's pick]
David Lynch is the master of creating dream realities, and Blue Velvet is one of the greatest examples of this. Its the one film where he balances a coherent narrative with his terrifyingly surreal tendencies.
#4 - The Conversation [Jeff's pick]
Most people would name The Godfather (Parts I & II) or Apocalypse Now as the best Francis Ford Coppola film, but to me, this is the easy answer. An excellent character study with Gene Hackman at the top of his game and some of the most impressive sound design ever in a film.
#3 - Dead Ringers [Adam's pick]
David Cronenberg's body-horror fascinations are explored in a less literal way here. Jeremy Irons will never top this double-role as identical twin surgeons whose psychological syncracy is destroyed by a disturbed woman (Geneviève Bujold ). A subtle exploration of emotional dependency and growing madness that climaxes in pure Cronenbergian fashion.
#3 - Brazil [Jeff's pick]
A dystopian masterpiece if there ever was one. Gilliam, one of the most insanely erratic directors in history, takes themes from Orwell's 1984 and blends them with his sense of humor to make one of the most bizarrely hilarious, effective, and imaginative films I've seen.
#2 - The Shining [Adam's pick]
2001: A Space Odyssey may be the ultimate trip, but The Shining is the ultimate mindfuck. Stanley Kubrick almost completely distances himself from the supernatural aspects of Stephen King's (great) novel, and in the process makes the most terrifying exploration of madness.
#2 - Dead Alive [Jeff's pick]
Made back at the time when Peter Jackson was one of the craziest directors in the business. This is the zombie movie to end all zombie movies. Hilarious, grotesque, filled with creative deaths and so much gore it's almost unbelievable. This is easily one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen. Can he go back to making movies like this again? Please?
#1 - Blow Out [Adam's pick]
The is where Brian De Palma finally escaped Alfred Hitchcock, and make a thriller completely his own. Its surveillance-based paranoia is shockingly relevant post-Snowder/NSA. The opening SteadiCam shot is mind-blowing, and the ending is stunning and terrifyingly cynical in equal measure.
#1 - Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas [Jeff's pick]
Yes, Terry Gilliam has 2 films in my top 3, so what? Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is one of my all-time favorite books, and the fact that he was able to pull this off as effectively as he did is almost inconceivable. Depp and Del Toro give delirious, insane performances that match the pathos and humor of the novel's characters. Filled with great music, visuals, dialogue, and plenty of memorably awesome and hilarious scenes, this is the single best film adaptation of a novel I have ever seen. I can watch this movie over and over again and still love every minute of it.
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