Ace in the Hole - MatthewHunt

Tampopo
(Juzo Itami, 1985)
A Japanese one-off that speaks the international language of food and finds the richness of
the world in a bowl of noodles. Ostensibly the comic tale of a widow's quest for culinary
distinction, this throws all manner of flavours into the mix - from erotic interludes to western
parodies - but never over-eggs the pudding.
The Taste of Cherry
(Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)
Kiarostami produced his masterpiece with this elegant, spare, humanist work. A middle-aged
man drives around the itinerant labour-markets of Tehran. What does he want? To commit
suicide, and to efface himself utterly from the world. So needs a shovel-wielding labourer to fill
in the shallow grave in which he will lie, after swallowing poison. An old man tries to talk him
out of it, passionately praising the fruits of God's bounty.
Taxi Driver
(Martin Scorsese, 1976)
All movie lunatics must be forever judged against Travis Bickle, whose nightly encounter with
Gotham's depravity spurs his deranged quest to save a young prostitute from the underworld.
The mayhem comes with an ironic coda that almost makes you wonder if it was all a bad
dream.
Team America: World Police
(Trey Parker, Matt Stone, 2004)
Magnificently funny, bad-taste puppet satire on American hubris, and a clever deconstruction
of Hollywood action pictures to boot. Team America are the A-team of US foreign policy,
kicking terrorist ass. Like the Thunderbirds, they move about in a funny head-bobbing way,
but they can fight and have sex. The film has the greatest vomit scene in Hollywood history.
Tears of the Black Tiger
(Wisit Sasanatieng, 2000)
A recklessly inventive, vibrantly stylised Thai western that looks like it was made by someone
who had never seen a real one. But what a beautiful concoction it is, with its saturated
colours, ingenious gunfights, 1940s love songs and absurd extremes of melodrama. It's both
strange and familiar, like an acid trip at a village fete.
Ten Things I Hate About You
(Gil Junger, 1999)
Updated Shakespearean teen comedies were the staple of the late 90s, and this one fares
well with the pivotal casting of an unknown Heath Ledger in the debut role of arrogant Patrick
Verona, whose baiting of the phenomenally hostile Julia Stiles' Kat is worthy homage to the
sizzling chemistry between Taylor and Burton (who were paired in the 1967 version of Taming
of the Shrew).
The Terminator
(James Cameron, 1983)
The movie that made Arnold Schwarzenegger an icon, in transition from body-builder
beefcake to grade-A action star. He is the implacable cyborg sent from a totalitarian future to
kill the mother of a future resistance fighter. James Cameron's direction is virile and stylish
and Arnie is magnificent with his absurd body, treacle-thick voice and an infinitesmal touch of
drollery that none of his subsequent attempts at out-and-out comedy ever equalled.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
(James Cameron, 1991)
He said he'd be back, and here he is: Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the time-traveling
cyborg in a rare sequel that tops the first, with bigger stunts, bigger effects and a bigger story.
This time he's been sent back to the 1990s to protect future saviour of humanity Edward
Furlong and his long-suffering mum Linda Hamilton from Robert Patrick's new shape-shifting
Terminator model.