JAWS
The first movie that I ever saw and, almost by default, the one that has had the longest effect on me. It’s the perfect film, genuinely. It nails the three-act structure, and mixes elements of genres that were previously never thrown together. Like, ever. It showed me that a story can have everything – action, adventure, romance, mystery, horror, comedy – without being overwhelmed by the sum of its parts.
THE FIFTH ELEMENT
Luc Besson is a man with vision, and he has been consistent with it over his 30-year career. In the same way that you know when you’re watching a Quentin Tarantino movie, you know when you’re watching a Luc Besson movie. Nothing is more outlandish, more OTT, more gratuitous, and more him than The Fifth Element, which – unlike a lot of other sci-fi movies that shoot for the stars – holds up with multiple viewings. It was like watching pop art brought to life with a good smattering of scenery-chewing performances, catch phrases, mind-boggling art design, action, romance, unique mythology, and iconic cinematic imagery.
ATTACK THE BLOCK
Watching this movie for the first time at ComicCon in San Diego back in 2010, I remember clearly and crisply thinking, “This movie has fucking changed my life.” The love and unhealthy obsession was immediate. From the dialogue to the colour palette, everything about Attack The Block is unique, while at the same time feeling distinctly like something that you loved once before. The spiritual sequel to The Goonies, the stakes were high and the danger real as John Boyega leapt of the screen in a star-making turn as Moses. Believe it, bruv.
KILL BILL: VOLUME ONE
An example of when a filmmaker is at their peak, utilising every tool in their arsenal – and then some! – in a story so ambitious and relentless that you walk out of the cinema with wobbly legs.
SCREAM
There are few filmmakers as consistent as Wes Craven, who not only had a hit every decade from when he started, but also a seminal entry in the genre that he loved – horror. Self-aware, whip-smart, and setting up an endless stream of imitators, I became obsessed with Scream as a kid, and that obsession never waned as I began to understand its many layers in adulthood.
BRICK
One of the truest noir detective movies – and set in a high school no less. Director, Rian Johnson, and star, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, simultaneously shook people up with this stylish, charismatic, and moody beauty of a movie that had no right to be as clever it was.
ALIEN
The bar-setter. The rule breaker. The genre shaker. Alien was all of that and more, cementing Ridley Scott as one of the great cinema magicians as he pulled rabbit after acid-blooded rabbit out of the hat. Pulling a bait-and-switch with its lead characters, its monsters, its method – the experience of watching Alien for the first time cannot be matched. It’s seminal in the life of a movie maniac, but the good news is that the movie never falters, not when you watch it in the seventies, the eighties, the nineties, the noughties, and eternally into the future. A minimal and masterful work.
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS
One of the most underrated satires of all time…yes, you heard me correctly, I’m not suffering from concussion! Doing more for Girl Power than The Spice Girls Movie and Coyote Ugly combined, this is a meta, fourth-wall breaking, and hilarious slice of pop culture pornography…it’s marvelous. That’s not to mention Alan Cumming’s absurdly great performance, the tongue-in-cheek charm of Du Jour, and an album of genuinely great pop-rock songs. This was a comic book movie unlike anything that I’d seen at the time.
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
Few movies have communicated “less is more” better than this John Landis monster mash, which keeps its action confined to a tight hour-and-a-half before dropping the mic. Funny and ferocious in equal measure, there’s a reason why this remains the best werewolf movie ever made and yes, a big part of that has to do with the grueling transformation sequence.
BLADE II
As far as sequels go, a better one doesn’t exist. Sure, Aliens is incredible and Terminator 2: Judgment Day is bananas, but when it comes to things that James Cameron hasn’t directed, Blade II is where it’s at. Guillermo Del Toro raises the cool factor on an already ice cold premise with more action, more bad-assery, more monsters, more slow-mo strutting to a Mos Def banger, and more BLADE. The best comic book movie I’ve ever seen.
Who’s Afraid? is available now. For all details on where to buy it, head to www.marialewis.com.au.
