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.
Kingpin (1996)
6.9/10
Director: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Vanessa Angel, Bill Murray
A hilariously tasteless comedy about a hook-handed ex-bowling ace turned travelling salesman (Woody Harrelson) who joins forces with Amish lane maestr... Read more
Deep Water (2006)
7.8/10
Director: Louise Osmond, Jerry Rothwell
Starring: Narrated by, Tilda Swinton
The stunning true story of the first solo, non-stop, round-the-world boat race. In deep financial straits and possessed of an unquenchable thirst for... Read more
The Tenant (1976)
7.7/10
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Shelley Winters
Polanski's most autobiographical film is, like "Repulsion", a journey through the distorted realm of the human mind. Polanski himself plays Trelkovsky... Read more
The Stunt Man (1979)
7.2/10
Director: Richard Rush
Starring: Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, Barbara Hershey
A fugitive stumbles onto a movie set where he accidentally causes death of their ace stunt man. The director offers to hide him from the police - if h... Read more
As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (2001)
7.4/10
Director: Hardy Martins
Starring: Bernhard Bettermann, Michael Mendl, Irina Pantaeva
Captured while fighting in World War II, German soldier Clemens Forell (Bernhard Bettermann) escapes the hell of his confinement in a Siberian labor c... Read more
The House of Sand (2005)
Director: Andrucha Waddington
Starring: Fernanda Montenegro, Fernanda Torres
In 1910 Aurea and her mother arrive in the Brazilian town of Maranhao where her husband believes he'll find prosperity in the barren desert. As the fa... Read more
House of Games (1987)
7.3/10
Director: David Mamet
Starring: Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum
Playright David Mamet's directorial film debut is this superbly crafted story about an uptight psychiatrist (Lindsay Crouse) who goes thrill-seeking w... Read more
The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
7.9/10
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Bruno S, Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira
About a young man who in the 1820's suddenly appeared in a small German town, full-grown but seemingly a new born child, unable to speak and stand. Br... Read more
Allegro Non Troppo (1976)
7.5/10
Director: Bruno Bozzetto
Starring: Maurizio Nichetti, Marialuisa Giovannini
Bozzetto's cult feature-length parody of Walt Disney's classic 'Fantasia' is both a send-up and an imaginative and beautiful film in its own right. "A... Read more
Stalingrad (1992)
7.5/10
Director: Joseph Vilsmaier
Starring: Dominique Horwitz, Thomas Kretschmann
One of the most realistic depictions of war ever filmed, this stunning epic chronicles the six-month siege of the Russian city by German forces in Wor... Read more