1. Bernie (2012): Sinfully lacking popular reception, Bernie was one of the best comedies last year that featured Jack Black playing a character we haven’t seen him ever try before. Bernie, a mortician in a small town in Texas, befriends a nasty old lady and then kills her. The movie is his attempt to hide the evidence. Masterfully told, as it blends classic storytelling with documentary style interviews with townspeople who experienced the actual event

2. Battle Royale (2000): The inspiration for The Hunger Games (though tenfold times better), the movie features Japanese students who, after the Battle Royale Law is passed by a tyrannical government, must kill one another until only one remains. Frighteningly realistic but at the same time heartfelt, Battle Royale is great because it can be taken as literally or figuratively as you want, though you should avoid it if you don’t like reading subtitles.

3. Drive (2011): Part noir, part love story and part action movie, Drive is a bloody, emotional and exciting tale of a man who is a Hollywood stunt driver by day and professional getaway driver by night. There are some fantastic performances by Bryan Cranston and Ryan Gosling, but it’s comedy legend Albert Brooks who steals the show as the villain, a man who wants to promote Gosling as a racecar river.

4. Lars and the Real Girl (2007): Also featuring Ryan Gosling in love, this unconventional take on love and delusions is heartfelt and touching. Gosling plays a man who is delusional and believes his life-sized sex doll is his actual girlfriend. His small town rallies to try and help him overcome his mirage.

5. Young Adult (2011): A genius mix of drama and comedy, Young Adult is the tale of Mavis, a fiction writer who has never been able to move on from high school. Though she is now in her 30s, her divorce causes her to go back to her hometown and try and relieve her glory days when she ruled high school. Bolstered by a great performance by Patton Oswalt.