Movie: Revolver.
Released: 2005.
IMDB rank: 6.2.
IMDB link.
Notes: Revolver is yet another Guy Ritchie film starring Ritchie mainstay Jason Statham, and packed with nudity and violence - which might be why Ritchie is often misunderstood as a filmmaker. Statham is Jake Green, an ex-con who gets out of jail and becomes a successful gambler, thanks to a […]

Movie: The Limey.
Released: 1999.
IMDB rank: 7.0.
IMDB link.
Notes: Terence Stamp has had a long film career as a character actor, starting in 1962, but you might know him best from appearances in films such as Superman I and II, the Smallville TV series (as Superman’s real father, Jor-El), Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Star Wars: Episode I […]

Movie: Insomnia.
Released: 2002.
IMDB rank: 7.2.
IMDB link.
Notes: Detectives Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are sent to Alaska to investigate the murder of a teen girl. The time of year is such that the sun doesn’t set, and during the investigation, Dormer accidentally shoots and kills Donovan. Dormer is suffering from guilt, not […]

Movie: American Psycho.
Released: 2000.
IMDB rank: 7.2.
IMDB link.
Notes: Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a Jekyll and Hyde style character. By day an investment banker; by night a cold-blooded killer. He’s got everything going for him - looks, career, money, lifestyle - but it’s not enough. In fact, he hates the world and begins to kill, with […]

Movie: Lucky Number Slevin.
Released: 2006.
IMDB rank: 7.8.
IMDB link.
Notes: When Slevin Kelevra visits a friend in New York, what comes after is a complete surprise to him. He gets mugged upon arrival, the friend, Nick, is missing, and thugs show up at Nick’s apartment and mistake him for Nick. Now, he’s being pursued by men working […]

Movie: The Killer.
Released: 1989.
IMDB rank: 7.9.
IMDB link.
Notes: Orginally filmed in Cantonese and Japanese, The Killer is about an assassin (Chow Yun Fat) who wants to retire after one last job. The money from that job will go to help a nightclub singer, Jennie, that he blinded in an early job, and whose state has troubled […]

Movie: 300.
Released: 2006.
IMDB rank: 8.0.
IMDB link.
Notes: In 5th century B.C., King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 elite guard defend Sparta at Thermopylae (aka the Battle of Thermopylae), in a narrow canyon, from becoming part of the Persian empire under King Xerxes. The movie is based on the graphic novel “300″, by Frank Miller and Lynn […]

Movie: Trainspotting.
Released: 1996.
IMDB rank: 8.1.
IMDB link.
Notes: Anyone with sense knows that drugs are “bad for you.” But for some people, it’s all they have for staying sane. You just never really believe how bad things can get until they actually do. So despite a permeating humor, thanks to the narration and a couple of scenes, […]

Movie: Snatch.
Released: 2000.
IMDB rank: 8.1.
IMDB link.
Notes: Snatch was director Guy Ritchie’s (aka Mr. Madonna) third directorial effort, after 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (elsewhere in this list). Snatch is probably the better known of the two (not to mention 2005’s Revolver), likely due in part to both a growing profile, as well as […]

Movie: American Gangster.
Released: 2007.
IMDB rank: 8.1.
IMDB link.
Notes: Denzel Washington has repeatedly shown the range of his acting abilities. In Training Day, he was a mean, nasty cop who had already crossed the line. So his role as Frank Lucas, a Harlem heroin kingpin in the 1970s (based on a real character), is quite believable. (Though […]