Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

As far as great comedies go, Ace sits at the top of the heap. Jim Carrey had an incredible string of hits in the 1990s, from his stint on sketch comedy series In Living Color to The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, and many more, but his first major studio hit is still as funny as it was 30 years ago. This shit is over the top, weird and audacious, but so singular in its stupidity that it transcends further critical analysis. Maybe you just have to be totally puerile to get on its wavelength. 

This is one of those films that has been deemed "offensive" in recent years, as changing mores don't allow you to poke fun at certain topics anymore. Yawn.

4 Alrighty Thens! out of 5

The Wrestler (2008)

Mickey Rourke gives the performance of his life as ageing wrestler Randy the Ram, twenty years past his prime. Randy grapples with the realities of a world that has moved on the only way he knows how.
Aronofsky’s direction is mostly vérité; it’s simplistic, but the depth of character and enormous sense of integrity he captures is astounding, even during shots that are little more than the back of Randy’s head.
Marisa Tomei burns bright as the love interest with problems of her own.
It’s a heart-wrenching journey that’s relevant to anyone who’s ever faced hardship or loneliness, regardless of your feelings about wrestling.

5 Ram Jams out of 5

The Pit and the Pendulum (1991)

Having grossed us out with Lovecraft more than once, Stuart Gordon moved onto Edgar Allan Poe. Keeping it faithful to the period meant he could present the Spanish Inquisition in all its terrible glory.
Lance Henriksen’s Grand Inquisitor Torquemada is a lecherous, masochistic bundle of moral and religious contradictions that embodies well the kind of obsessional traits that haunt many of Poe’s literary characters. His fascination with the beautiful Maria (Rona De Ricci) will leave no one in any doubt where the film is headed, but it pendulums (*ahem) in quality.
If you like it, Gordon’s Masters of Horror episode, The Black Cat (2007), saw him return to Poe, along with Jeffrey Combs.

3 nipples for Satan out of 5

π (1998)

π was Aronofsky's début feature. It'll be instantly recognisable as his work if you've seen any of his more well-known subsequent films. It has the quick cuts, the perfect marriage of music and image, the disorientating POV shots and the unsettling way the environment seems to be watching you whilst you’re watching it. Visually it's a dark and grainy monochrome nightmare from beginning to end. There's no colour here. There's sunshine but it doesn't illuminate in the way we think it should.
It's the story of a pent-up and stressed-out mathematician obsessed with finding meaning in the Pi equation. His efforts are monitored by outside forces that want the same information but for very different reasons. I assure you, it's a lot more engaging than it may sound.

5 number systems out of 5

THE FOUNTAIN [2006]

The Fountain is a deeply personal film from director Darren Aronofsky that I wasn't too sure about at first but several years later have found it's aged quite nicely, amidst all its problems.
It explores themes of love, life and death meshed in with religion, science, theologies and philosophies which makes for a bit of an abnormal experience for someone not expecting it.  Still, Aronofsky never quite finds an even flow for the narrative or a heart to anchor the human aspects of this overly ambitious story, so when we are supposed to feel our hearts are manipulated by Clint Mansell's wonderful music.  When it all comes down to it The Fountain is a daring celebration of human mortality and an admirable effort in doing so.

3 Trees Of Life out of 5

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Requiem scares me; not in the traditional sense, but in a very real, unshakable, under the skin way. It has two parallel stories that overlap occasionally. Together they present an overwhelmingly suffocating experience that once seen will never be forgotten, no matter how much you may want to.
If film awards meant anything then Ellen Burstyn would have a closet full of them for her work. Stylistically, it’s Aronofsky through and through - for me that’s a good thing. Watch it.

5 refrigerators out of 5