#40 - #36
=#40 - The Big Lebowski (1998) - 90 points from three voters
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, and Steve Buscemi.
Director: Joel Coen.
Writers: Joel & Ethan Coen.
Awards: N/A
From the brilliantly witty and twisted minds of the Coen Brothers came this career redefining film starring Jeff Bridges as the cool as a cucumber 'Dude'. With bizarre characters and even more bizarre situations, the film epitomises the directorial style of the oddball brothers and is worth a look for anybody who likes the absurd.
#39 - Django Unchained (2012) - 96 points from four voters
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christophe Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L Jackson.
Director: Quentin Tarantino.
Writer: Quentin Tarantino.
Awards: Best Supporting Actor (Waltz).
Tarantino's most recent offering saw him taking on the spaghetti western with a healthy dose of stylized violence and black-sploitation for good measure. While Foxx was cold as ice as the titular Django, it was the performances from Waltz as his eccentric sponsor and DiCaprio as a slave-trading southerner that garnered the most critical plaudits.
#38 - The Castle (1997) - 100 points from four voters.
Starring: Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry, Sophie Lee, and Eric Bana.
Director: Rob Sitch.
Writers: Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, and Rob Sitch.
Awards: AACTA Award for Best Screenplay.
The highest ranked Australian film on the list, The Castle stands as one of the most universally beloved films in the history of Australian cinema. With its easily approachable story of a battling Aussie family standing up against a corrupt government and with the comedic talents of the Working Dog crew behind the camera, it was an immediate hit at home.
"How's the serenity?", "He's an ideas man," and many other phrases entered the Aussie vernacular as a result of the film. A classic.
#37 - The Princess Bride (1987) - 107.5 points from five voters.
Starring: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Andre the Giant, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, and Chris Sarandon.
Director: Rob Reiner.
Writer: William Goldman.
Awards: N/A.
Another beloved childhood favourite with a few of the voters, The Princess Bride adapts William Goldman's novel of the same name as a tale of love, swashbuckling, and humour as Robin Wright's 'Buttercup' is kidnapped by bumbling bandits and inadvertantly reunited with her childhood love. It's all terribly silly, but one that kids and adults alike still enjoy to this day.
#36 - Back to the Future II (1989) - 110 points from four voters.
Starring: Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson.
Director: Robert Zemeckis.
Writer: Bob Gale.
Awards: N/A.
Not as popular as its predecessor (but infinitely moreso than its sequel), Back to the Future II reunited Marty McFly and Doc Brown as they had to go to the future to save Marty's kids from being colossal screwups. With some pretty bold predictions for the future and the same fun-spirited approach as the first film in the series, it was a welcome addition to the series and was clearly rated quite highly by LU voters.