Terry Gilliam's satirical take on George Orwell's 1984 see's an office worker played by Johnathan Pryce, who's attempts to correct a filing error leads to a series of events that makes the government mistake him for a terrorist. I recently watched this at College, and was reminded just how much I love this film. The world it presents parallels our own society, more so than it did when it was made. The many fantasy dream sequences through out are fantastically realised and the ending is one of the best ever. It's also one of only two Criterion Collection DVD's I own, mostly because a) I live in the UK so I would have to import them and b) they are really expensive.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The people of earth are slowly being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates in this remake of the 1950's classic. The film does what a good remake should, takes the basic story and effectively updates it for modern audience's. Add to that some genuinely disturbing imagery and a memorable twist ending, that make this recommended viewing for Sci-Fi fans. Plus it's got Donald Sutherland in it, who doesn't love Donald Sutherland.
Manhunter (1986)
Based on Thomas Harris' Red Dragon, this is the first and, in my opinion, best of the Hannibal Lector films. FBI agent Will Graham is brought out of retirement to find serial killer the Tooth Fairy. What makes this film great is the performances by William Peterson and Tom Noonan as Graham and The Tooth Fairy respectively. Brian Cox makes for a far more realistic Lector (spelt Lektor in the credits for some reason) than Athony Hopkins' over the top and hammy portrayal. Some of the directorial choices and music are dated but this is still an effective and well made thriller.
Seven Samurai (1954)
This is a film I would recommend to everyone. Even if you don't like black and white or subtitled films I guarantee you will still love this, it's that good. Directed by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, the film tells the story of seven samurai hired to protect a village from a gang of bandits. The action scenes are great but it's the characters that make the film, the stand out being Kikuchiyo played by Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune, he's just so fun to watch.
This film was remade a few years later as The Magnificent Seven, which is also a great film.
South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut (1999)
This feature length spin off from the popular adult cartoon series is actually my favourite musical (after A Hard Day's Night of course) and animated film. After Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman sneak into an R-rated film from Canada, they begin repeating some of the colourful language they heard in it at school. This leads to they're parents convicting the American President to declare war on their cousins from the North. Not only is this funny, the songs are well written and memorable.
It also works as a standalone film, and got a lot of people, myself included, interested in the show.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
While Empire Strikes Back may be the best film in the series, on a level of pure enjoyment I prefer this one. This is a film pretty much everybody has seen by now, but if you haven't the story is about a farmhand named Luke Skywalker who teams up with a smuggler, a wise old Jedi Knight, an alien and two droids to rescue a princess from the evil Darth Vader and defeat the Galactic Empire.
There really isn't much I can say about this film other than see it now.
The Terminator (1984)
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the Cyborg sent back in time to kill the mother of the man who will lead humanity in a war against the machines. Michael Biehn plays the man sent back to protect her. The plot is simple but the intelligent script and well done action sequences more than make up for that. It's actually a shame that Arnie didn't play more villains, because he's very intimidating as the T-800.
Out of the sequels, only 1991's Terminator 2: Judgement Day is worth watching (although I've always found it a bit overrated personally).
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