12 Angry Men is a classic of American cinema. Henry Fonda stars in this legal drama, which is set in a hot, stuffy jury room where 12 men debate whether to convict a young man for murder, possibly sending him to the electric chair. There's no music. There are no flashbacks, no special effects, and no changes of scene; everything's in one room, and you feel as though you're trapped there, yourself.

What makes the film suceed is the enormous amount of time and energy it can devote to developing its twelve distinct characters. The dialogue is terrific, and there is palpable emotional tension that builds as the men debate the case. While the film is most assuredly a celebration of the American jury-trial system, it is an excellent one, and it serves up a banquet of food for thought. 12 Angry Men is a triumph.

6.Miller's Crossing A lot of mob movies have been made over the years, and some of them (Scarface, The Godfather, Casino) have actually been quite good. In many ways, the story of organized crime in America is also a story of immigration, class structure, and the way people relate. What The Godfather did for the family dynamic in a mob environment, Miller's Crossing does for friendship; the entire film is, to some extent, a meditation on the meaning of loyalty and affection. It's also an amazingly sharp film, on all levels. Visually, it captures the roaring 20s with great skill. Verbally, the tics and slang of its characters are endlessly entertaining, and they meld seamlessly with the world the Coen brothers create. One of the Joel and Ethan Coen's finest efforts, Miller's Crossing never stops being entertaining as it takes the viewer on a trip through some very dangerous and colorful territory. It also features one of the best shoot-out scenes in history, as assassins confront a mob boss in his own home.

7.Barton Fink What does it all mean? Barton Fink isn't a particularly simple film, and it's not one that explains itself very explictly. The meandering, confusing, Kafkaesque feel of the film is terrific; it's a movie about moviemaking, and the paranoia and doubt that drown its characters stand in stark contrast to the mythical California most viewers are familiar with. John Turturro is amazing, as usual. He pulls off a masterful portrayal of a writer immersed in his own thoughts, and largely oblivious (or indifferent) to those around him. Through this character, Barton Fink, a good deal of exploration of the topics of artistic creation and alienation is made. John Goodman's performance is spectacular, and, like most Coen films, the cinematography is first rate.

Much like 12 Angry Men, Glengarry, Glen Ross is a film that shuts a number of agressive men behind closed doors, and lets them get under each other's skin. With stellar performances from Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and others, Glengarry, Glen Ross is writer David Mamet's cinematic masterwork, an amazing celebration of dialogue, ego and conflict.

If there's any violence in this film, it's mental; the pressure of selling real estate in a boiler room atmosphere is immense, and the characters jostle and harass one another, making things tenser still. A terrific movie with an amazing cast, Glengarry, Glen Ross is surely one of the best films of the last 20 years.

The Godfather is a classic film, and a great deal has already been written about it. Nonetheless, in a few sentences, I'll do my best to reaffirm its greatness. The Godfather understands power: how it works, how it's obtained, how it erodes, and how it's passed from generation to generation. Anyone with an interest in politics (of any sort) would gain from watching and studying The Godfather; it's a good movie because so much of it rings true.

But The Godfather also suceeds because it's an intimate look at a large, powerful and complicated family. The relationships are carefully built up and explored, and the family's history (explored more thoroughly in The Godfather, Part 2) is meaningful and strongly portrayed. It's an epic, it's a classic, and it's well worth the time.

10.MST3K: Manos, the Hands of Fate Manos, the Hands of Fate, is unquestionably the worst film ever released, under any conditions. It has everything required for a really terrible film: bad music, bad acting, bad effects, bad dialogue, and, most importantly, hubris, and lots of it. Nothing is worse than something that struggles to be really really noble, and fails miserably in the trying. With that in mind, it's not much of a leap to understand why the guys at Mystery Science Theater 3000 were able to do an amazing bang-up job on taking this clunker to task. Mystery Science Theater has undergone a great deal of evolution as a TV show durings its decade-long run. But one thing has remained relatively constant, and this is highlighted by Manos: bad drama can mean very good comedy. The more stiff, serious and ambitious a failed work of art is, the more entertaining it becomes in the hands of the right folks.

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