Brazil

Terry Gilliam's masterpiece brings his wacky Pythonesque humor and his trademark larger-than-life fantasy imagery into a futuristic bureaucratic dystopia. The story centers on an accused everyman (perfectly played by Jonathan Pryce) and is not just Kafkaesque but evokes Orson Welles's adaptation of The Trial specifically. Smart, imaginative, exciting, directed with astounding attention to detail and featuring a magnificent cast, this was my single favorite movie when I was in my teens.

The elements of comedy, tragedy, and fantasy are so perfectly strung together in this surreal mind-fuck of a film. So so so many intricate details that makes this one of my absolute favorites, just about too much to take in one viewing. The only thing keeping this from perfection is a regrettable female character.

An amazing take on an Orwellian nightmare. A little slow at the beginning, but quickly grows into a dark comedy that is both exciting and terrifying. One of the greatest twist endings of all time, too.

Quite possibly one of the best movies to come out of the 80's. Takes imagination and future as separate aspects of a movie rather than one thing, hellish and amusing at the same time, like watching a cold sweat on TV.

I often cite this as my favorite film (but I'm really unable to pick one). I can't give much of an itelligent sounding review, but this film overwhelms me with its visuals, its music, its characters, and its dreams both nightmarish and lovely. If I have some gripes they're minor, like a few moments of weird foley work and an ill-fitting musical cue, otherwise I love this film to death and watch it a couple of times a year.