Top 5 Movies that you should watch more often.

Leeloo Dallas Multipass.

Like a loving cat bringing home a mangled bird corpse, I bring you this: five movies that will enrich your life immensely and make your friends appreciate you more.

1. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th dimension - As a young child I loved this movie greatly, it played a major part in creating the ideal of "cool" in my fresh and impressionable mind. The hero wasn't some imperfect alcoholic struggling with decisions, making moral judgments. NO! He was the epitome of cool - given it was an 80s cool, but cool nonetheless. Brilliant, cool under pressure, on the cutting edge of fashion. And this was the first movie to set the "Aliens as Rasta dudes" trend. My favorite part was the alien guy pulling on the jelly teat-like appendages in order to drive the giant meatball.

2. Ishtar - Technically this movie was a flop (as was Buckaroo Banzai), but it features all the good stuff you expect from an 80s action buddy adventure. Think Lawrence of Arabia meets Seinfeld. Hilarious dialogue and wacky situations make for a good time: I want to buy a blind camel! HA! My sister and I would play out the vultures in the desert scene every time we had a huge expanse of sand to crawl around in. And not to mention Isabelle Adjani... For you folks out there that are drawn to her like a dung beetle to a campfire: let's just say it'll do for you what the alien pulling on the jelly teat-like appendages did for me as a young boy.

3. The Fifth Element - In my personal opinion, this movie is the cream of the cream of Luc Besson's repertoire. The first time I saw this movie I really wasn't impressed, but what did I know, I was just some lame teenager. I saw this movie again later on in life and I really enjoyed it. I got all the quick one-liners and appreciated the most excellent vision of the future that it portrays. If you enjoy the technicalities of films then this is a really tight movie. Layers of details and the different story lines come together to make it great. And for all you fashionistas, Jean-Paul Gaultier did the costume design work. While you're watching try and guess who's a model and who's an actor! Really, a great movie and one of my all time favorites!!!...!

4. Last Tango In Paris - I think this is one of Marlon Brando's best roles. The dialogue is absolutely outstanding - some of the best writing I've heard yet - and I think a lot of it was improvised. It's got everything (and probably a little more) you could possibly want from a Euro flick: wild cut scenes of the movie within a movie, long soliloquies in a foreign language, and an overwhelming sense of laissez-faire malaise (Parlez Vous?) smeared all over it. I love this movie because the French avant-garde parts are really French, the American one-linerism is really American, and the absurdity of the "let pretentious art fall flat on it's face" Italian surrealism brings it all together. If none of that made any sense then your BS detector is set on high. But seriously, this movie will get a response out of you one way or another. I personally think that this is such a great comedy (Commedia dell'arte if you will) that those with less finely-tuned comedic feelers will view this strictly as a tragedy. I mean come on! "I want you to smell the dying farts of the pig" - don't tell me you wouldn't giggle a little bit at that!

5. John Carpenter's The Thing - As far as science fiction movies go, this is one of the best ones. The special effects are great non-CGI. The plot is suspenseful and thrilling, and it will leave you questioning which of your friends are human. But it has more than just that: it is also an excellent filmographic treatise on human nature. Throughout the film there is an underlying revelation of our desire to push ourselves as humans almost to the brink of destruction to better know what we are (you really should turn down your BS detector). The ending is left open, but in my opinion it is a fitting end to the discussion: only a human that isn't infected by the hyper-survivalist alien thing would take a drink of alcohol. The very artful and subtle balance between leaving an opening and firmly closing the book is what makes this movie one of my top picks.  Plus it has Wilford Brimley!

You dropped your fake doggy poo.

Honorable Mentions:

• Top Secret: A hilariously original film. Gag upon gag upon gag: you'll have to watch this movie over and over to get them all. There have been times in my life where I have quoted this movie non-stop for weeks at a time: "Souvenirs! Novelties! Party Tricks!". Actually, I would have moved this movie up and created a Top 6 list if I weren't so lazy.
• The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit: A movie that is pleasantly enjoyable while you're sober...or an absolutely ripping good time in an altered state. If you leave your preconceptions and prejudices at the concession stand, then this is bound to be a cult favorite.
• The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse: To tell you the truth, I didn't get through this one; I thought it was a blue movie. I put it up just to see how you pronounce it. I should have known it wasn't what I thought it was when Edward G. Robinson had top billing... Paging Dr. Clitterhouse, where are you Dr. Clitterhouse? Maybe I'll give it another chance, spend some time getting to know it better.
• Meetings with Remarkable Men: For all you philosophizing, esoteric knowledge types. The filming and scenery are exquisite. The underlying belief theory wasn't really for me, but maybe it'll charm you into giving away all your possessions, and then becoming disillusioned and buying more possessions on Shopwiki's Store Browser.