Paul's Favourites
The 7th Arts's highest level of achievement can be judged alongside great literature, great music, and great painting, with many filmmakers creating enduring masterpieces.
The list of film titles below may not all be enduring masterpieces, but I have however, fond lingering memories of all of them. They all fit the criteria of what I feel films can or should do, to not only be well crafted, but also to entertain, inform, enlighten and more often than not, take the viewer down roads less travelled...
Can only hope you also will discover or rediscover some viewing pleasures among my all-time favourites' listed below.
The King of Comedy (1982)
7.8/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott, Tony Randall, Sandra Bernhard
Robert De Niro is an obsessive stand-up comic performing in front of cardboard cut-outs in is mum's basement. Jerry Lewis is the host of a talk show t... Read more
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
7/10
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton
You want some fresh air? Here it is! Pee-wee Herman goes on an adventure to recover his most important possession - a bicycle stolen by some nasties.... Read more
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
7.9/10
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Winona Ryder, Vincent Price, Johnny Depp, Dianne Wiest, Alan Arkin
He's got a sad, white face, a wild haircut, and shears at the ends of his arms. He's Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp), creation of a mad scientist, w... Read more
Adam's Apples (2005)
7.8/10
Director: Anders Thomas Jensen
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Ulrich Thomsen
A wickedly dark comedy about an overly-optimistic preacher with a penchant for taking in lost causes to help around his remote church who finds his ro... Read more
Sleuth (1972)
8/10
Director: Joseph L Mankiewicz
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine
Mystery tour-de-force based on Anthony Shaffer's play starring Laurence Olivier as an eccentric writer of mystery novels coercing his wife's lover Mic... Read more
Blow-up (1966)
7.6/10
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, David Hemmings
Michelangelo Antonioni's close-up of Swinging Sixties London. David Hemmings plays a master photographer who explores the city twenty-four hours a day... Read more
Osama (2003)
7.4/10
Director: Siddiq Barmak
Starring: Marina Golbahari, Arif Herati, Zubaida Sahar
The first feature film from post-Taliban Afghanistan, this award-winning drama is set during the radical Islamic regime's rule. With women forbidden t... Read more
Joyeux Noel (2005)
7.8/10
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: Diane Kruger, Benno Furmann, Guillaume Canet, Daniel Bruhl, Gary Lewis
This Oscar-nominated film tells the true story of troops whose lives were changed on Christmas Eve of 1914 as they put down their weapons and celebrat... Read more
The Mosquito Coast (1986)
6.6/10
Director: Peter Weir
Starring: Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, River Phoenix, Conrad Roberts, Andre Gregory, Marth...
Director Peter Weir ('Witness') re-teams with Harrison Ford as they tackle Paul Theroux`s novel of an obsessive American inventor who transplants his... Read more
Betty Blue (1986)
7.4/10
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Starring: Beatrice Dalle, Gerard Darmon, Jean-Hugues Anglade
Jean-Jacques Beineix has restored 62 minutes to his romantic masterpiece ('Version Integrale') expanding the adventures of Betty and Zorg. There are s... Read more