Reviewer Lists His Favorites

I’ve just typed my last movie review for the “Our Generation” section. There’s been a lot of ups and downs during the past three years reviewing movies - ups being gifts from Clint Eastwood, downs being death threats - but the one lesson I’ve learned is: In most cases, independent studios are the only companies producing original films.

Hollywood can churn out star-studded action movies like “Virtuosity” or “Bad Boys,” but not a lesbian romance like “The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls In Love,” or a shockingly hilarious horror film like “Evil Dead 2.”

Independent studios are not guided by audience polls or star power, so new techniques and methods are more common.

The foreign films that make the trip overseas (or land) to the United States are often worth the price of admission, too.

Most independent and foreign films are available on video, but there is one movie theater in Spokane, The Magic Lantern, that specializes in non-Hollywood films.

Of course, there have been some excellent films to come out of the big studios. But usually for something truly new and original, try an independent film.

My “favorite” film is always changing (right now it’s “Red”) so I won’t do a 10-best, but here’s a list of some of the films I think are the best ever made (in no order): “The Seven Samurai,” “Heavenly Creatures,” “Pump Up The Volume,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “The Evil Dead Part 2,” “Eraserhead,” “The Double Life of Veronique,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Red,” “La Femme Nikita,” “The Commitments,” “Dazed and Confused” and “Flirting.”