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 Fountainhead (1949)
7.1/10
Director: King Vidor
Starring: Gary Cooper, Raymond Massey, Patricia Neal, Kent Smith, Robert Douglas, Henry Hu...
Ayn Rand's classic novel is vibrantly bought to life with a screenplay by the author. Brilliant, uncompromising architect Gary Cooper must fight to ma... Read more
The Game (1997)
7.8/10
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn, Deborah Kara Unger, Peter Donat, Carr...
David Fincher's suspenseful follow-up to the magnificent 'Seven' deals with an investment banker (Michael Douglas) who has everything he could ever wa... Read more
The Holy Mountain (1973)
7.9/10
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Starring: Alejandro Jodorowsky
After "El Topo" and with the production assistance of John Lennon and ABKCO Films and the desire to become "the Cecil B. De Mille of the underground",... 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
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
7.3/10
Director: Joel Coen
Starring: Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Newman, Charles Durning, John Mahoney
The Coen Brothers' extravagant, dazzling comedy of invention features dynamite performances from Tim Robbins as the fall guy and Jennifer Jason Leigh... Read more
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
The Kite Runner (2007)
7.6/10
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Khalid Abdalla, Homayoun Ershadi, Shaun Toub, Atossa Leoni, Said Taghmaoui
Director Marc Forster's adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's bestseller about one man's search for redemption following a childhood betrayal in his native... Read more
The Machinist (2004)
7.7/10
Director: Brad Anderson
Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, John Sharian, Michae...
Trevor (Christian Bale) hasn't slept in a year. The shocking deterioration of his physical and mental health makes every waking moment an unrelenting... Read more
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
8.1/10
Director: John Huston
Starring: Peter Lorre, Mary Astor, Humphrey Bogart
Even if you've seen this film so often that you know all the dialogue, it never ceases to amaze. Great actors Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet a... Read more
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
6.7/10
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Starring: David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark, Buck Henry
Nicolas Roeg's stylish classic stars David Bowie as a cosmic visitor to the planet, overwhelmed by capitalist society, human technology and earthly lo... Read more