City Of God (2002) Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Seu Jorge, Phellipe Haagensen
Proof, if any were really needed, that movies for grown-ups don't have to be about grown-ups. After all, there's few things more chilling than the sight of a child firing a gun - let alone one mercilessly massacring a room full of cowering people while giggling like he's watching a puppet show. Still, Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund knew the power such scenes would exert when they took on a movie which masterfully exposes the daily tragedies that occur for those growing up in the slums of Rio. Its true triumph, though, is the way it avoids documentarian po-facedness, with Meirelles keeping things snappy and absorbingly vivid in a manner reminiscent of Scorsese at his most vital.
The Omen (1976) Director: Richard Donner Starring: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw
Boy, does Richard Donner have his cake and eat it with The Omen. On the one hand, the director was aiming to make an eerie and understated '70s conspiracy thriller about a US Senator who gradually becomes unhinged and begins to believe that his adopted son may be the antichrist. On the other hand, he can't resist all these COOL death scenes, in which people are HANGED, and IMPALED, and BITTEN, and CHUCKED OUT OF WINDOWS, and in the real show-stopper, DECAPITATED IN SPECTACULAR SUPER SLO-MO. The wonder of The Omen is that Donner managed to marry both approaches successfully and make a truly classic chiller.
