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Video: Ten Gems From The $3 Weekly Shelves
by John C. Murray
House of Games (David Mamet, 1987)
John C. Murray was a former Principal Lecturer and Head of the Arts Education Department in the then School of Education, Phillip Institute of Technology at Coburg, Melbourne. He retired in March 1988 after 40 years of teaching.
This list has nothing to do with the Ten Best of All Time; it's just a sample taken from that army of films which spends the days gathering dust on the el cheapo shelves of the local video library. It's doubtful if any movie on my list will ever be the subject of scholarly analysis; perhaps a flash of recognition and a respectful comment en passant is the best they can hope for. Yet I find each of the ten to be completely satisfying in their own distinctive way. Unassuming and quietly competent, every single one does its job admirably. So give them a treat, folks, and let them once again feel the warmth of an operating VCR.
In no special order of merit:
- Desert Bloom (Eugene Corr, 1986)
- House of Games (David Mamet, 1987)
- A World Apart (Chris Menges, 1988)
- Tremors (Ron Underwood, 1990)
- Metropolitan (Whit Stillman, 1990)
- Paper Mask (Christopher Monahan, 1991)
- One False Move (Carl Franklin, 1992)
- Kalifornia (Dominic Sena, 1993)
- Living in Oblivion (Tom DiCillo, 1995)
- Flirting With Disaster (David O. Russell, 1996)
© John C. Murray, December 2000
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