My 10 Favorite Movies Ever

This was extremely difficult, narrowing it down to only 10 films. After I gave it a lot of thought, I surprised myself even more by not including films from any of my "sacred cow" franchises like Star Wars, James Bond or Star Trek. I'm not sure why -- maybe because it's difficult to pick one from each and I didn't want the list getting bogged down with multiple episodes of certain series.

Anyway, for sheer enjoyment, here are the 10 that do it for me:

King of New York: Why don't more people know about this movie? Forget Al Pacino's hyped-up overacting in Scarface. Christopher Walken, who in my opinion is a much better and more interesting actor (the Bond purists will smack me for this, but I consider A View to a Kill one of the 10 best Bond flicks strictly because of his being in the movie) gives a great performance as a crime boss out of jail and trying to pick up the pieces. David Caruso and Lawrence Fishburne also make strong contributions, and without giving anything away, the final scenes of this movie are as powerful in an understated way as anything I have ever seen. Abel Ferrara is a master director and should be required viewing for anyone who calls themselves a film fan. (And with all the talk about the upcoming Nicole Kidman/Daniel Craig film putting a modern spin on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, let's not forget that Ferrara's oft-forgotten remake from the early 1990s did that first.)

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid: The best western ever made, mainly because it stars the sheriff of cool, James Coburn. But Kris Kristofferson is no slouch either -- plus Bob Dylan contributes music and acts as well. But I love the subtleties of the conflicted relationship between Garrett and the Kid. At one point, Coburn is so torn internally about whether he is man enough to kill his former friend that the only way he can believe in his own superiority is to employ the services of the Kid's favorite prostitute. That's some messed up dude! I'll take Sam Peckinpah over John Ford or Sergio Leone any day.

After Hours: This Scorsese film always gets forgotten in favor of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or GoodFellas. But After Hours is a brilliant little gem of dark humor and offbeat characters. If you're one of those people who are afraid of going into the city at night, this movie will not put you at ease. They could just as easily have called this Murphy's Law: The Movie.

Black Christmas (1974): It ticks me off when people always credit Halloween with siring the genre known as slasher films and/or the modern day horror film. Not true -- Halloween itself was clearly inspired by this Canadian import from the late, great Bob Clark. Black Christmas came four years before Halloween, and in my opinion is 10 times scarier. Like Halloween, gore is downplayed in favor of real scares. The movie also knows that sometimes what you hear can be far more frightening than what you see, and each time the killer calls on the phone ... let's just say that what he says alone can give you nightmares. Genuinely unsettling and disturbing.

Midnight Run: A brilliant combination of the buddy film and those old "road" pictures that Hope and Crosby used to make. Of course, they were not able to use all the F-bombs employed here by Robert De Niro, who actually is genuinely funny in this film made years before he started saying yes to every script that came his way. This film will always snap me out of a bad mood every time I see it, guaranteed. Plus, it's got the great Dennis Farina, who utters one of my favorite lines of dialogue of all time: "You boys need to start being a little more conscientious about your work, or I'm going to come down there and stick you in the heart with a f***ing pencil." A modern classic.

Manhunter: At the risk of committing blasphemy, forget Anthony Hopkins' scene-chewing hammery, which got increasingly silly as those movies went on. Manhunter is grounded in realism and tension, and even though Hannibal Lecter is really just a minor character here, Brian Cox serves the movie better in his limited appearances than Hopkins did in the remake known as Red Dragon, where he became a distraction after a while. Interesting that William Petersen went on to do CSI, given that this early role is so similar.

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976): John Carpenter's best film, and it exemplifies all the best qualities of his work. Tightly shot and directed, manages to make a low budget look impressive, interesting and original music, good actors and plenty of tension. And quite possibly one of the most shocking moments in the history of film: I'm talking about the little girl at the ice cream truck. Once that happens, all bets are off. I still wonder how they got away with that, especially back then.

Clean and Sober: Michael Keaton. Remember him? A great actor who unfortunately was not always good at picking the right roles. Still, I'd rather watch one of his lesser movies than the best works of some other actors. But this is clearly his best film, and the first time he was able to show that he could do drama just as well as comedy. He should have gotten an Oscar.

Dead Calm: It's amazing what you can do with three actors and two boats out in the middle of nowhere. A very underrated, suspenseful little movie about a couple trying to get away from their problems by taking a boat trip. They pick up a survivor from another vessel who is not quite what he seems to be. Meanwhile, the foolish husband leaves his gorgeous young wife alone with the stranger while he goes off to check out the stranger's story. Sam Neill manages to be compelling even when he is all alone on a sinking boat with no dialogue for long periods. His plight parallels tensely with the interplay between Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane back on the yacht, as she gradually realizes he is a psycho and tries to stay one step ahead. There comes a scene with them that is both disturbing and erotic at the same time -- is she just trying to manipulate him into a vulnerable spot, or is she really feeling an attraction to him? Either way, it's fascinating to watch.

The Return of the Living Dead: At first, I was going to put one of Romero's zombie flicks here; of course, that would have brought the agonizing decision as to which one. But then I realized that this film is more entertaining than any of the master's quartet. It's funny, has great zombie makeup and kills, and of course there's that little scene with Linnea Quigley. Sue me -- it's the best zombie film ever made.