THE DANMAN CAN

A romantic comedy as only  Terry Gilliam  could make one, The Fisher King (1991) features four fantastic (arguably career-best) lead performances, laughs, tears, and fairy tale fantasy while remaining grounded in reality and without ever sacrificing characters or wit. A wonderful, poignant, disturbing, and moving picture. Terry Gilliam Feature Films Ranked

A perfectly serviceable  Jaws   (1975) ( review ) rip-off with a few nice kills and some funny moments,   Grizzly , released a year after the shark blockbuster, is mostly slow and unexciting but has a very rewarding payoff.

Experimental psychosexual yakuza nonsense. What a weird, wild, and wonderful film. Seijun Suzuki Feature Films Ranked

The Night Of The Hunter (1955) is a dreamy, haunting, and menacing  Bluebeard ian fairy tale noir with some of the most indelible and expressionistic black & white imagery ever put to celluloid (courtesy of Stanley Cortez ). On this viewing, some of the flaws were more apparent and some of the tonal shifts were off-putting (the ending in particular doesn’t thrill me) but I can’t deny that it’s a film that sticks with you. Charles Laughton ’s sole directorial effort is a singular experience with timeless themes and career-best performances by Robert Mitchum  and Lillian Gish (together perfectly capturing the duality of humankind). Film Noir Feature Films Ranked The Danman Top 100 Films (2019 Edition)

The Return Of The Living Dead   (1985) is one of those films that no matter how many times I've seen it, no matter what mood I'm in, and despite any flaws it has, I can't award it anything but a perfect score. It's one of my  Top 100 Films , one of my  Top 10 Horror Films , and simply one of the most fun movies ever made. TROLTD  is bleak but hilarious, the characters are indelible, the dialogue is endlessly quotable, the effects and gore are over the top, and the horror/punk/death/psychobilly soundtrack rips. It successfully spoofs its genre while also resting (maybe not so peacefully) alongside its contemporaries, a true cult classic that never goes out of style—etched into my  braaain(s)  for life.

"Who are you?" Not quite perfect but pretty close. "No, I'm real." Recommended for fans of  Dario Argento ,  Darren Aronofsky ,  David Lynch , and  Brian De Palma .