Multiple Oscar-winner (beating out Scorsese's Raging Bull) from 1980, directed calmly (and, for some, soporifically) by Robert Redford. It's a sombre, actorly affair in which wealthy Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore grieve for their son's death; his brother Timothy Hutton blames and shames. An early, earnest look at the dysfunctional family: American Beauty without the laughs.
Reissued as part of the Superbit series, Barry Sonnenfeld's witty and energetic spoof fields a wonderful tearning in sassy Will Smith and sardonic Tommy Lee Jones. "Searching for a handle on the moment?" asks the latter when the rookie alien investigator is first confronted with the tentacled weirdos from outer space. Fave moment: Noisy Cricket.
