seven samurai (kurosawa, 1954)

no offense peter o'toole, but i like my epics like i like my japanese food: asian (but...you know...not counting the arabian peninsula, of course.). lord of the rings, 24, and--to a lesser extent--pre-anti-semitic mel gibson take note: see how much more interesting battles are when they're humanized? i learned a few things from this film: kurosawa may be the best ever, badasses can in fact have a sense of humor, and 300 could have been the best movie of our generation if it was taken seriously and not graphic-novelafide. (and that it is quite easy to fall into the ":" trap.)

stark list scale: 6.5/10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/