Fast Times At Ridgemont High is The Godfather or the Gone With The Wind of '80s teenage sex comedies. It's bigger and better than its lesser peers including My Tutor, The Last American Virgin, Porky's, Losing It, and a list that goes on and on. Inspired by the success of the wonderful National Lampoon's Animal House as well as the ensemble attitude of American Graffiti, based on a book by Cameron Crowe, with an exceptional cast of then unknowns (including two of their generation's best, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Sean Penn), Fast Times At Ridgemont High is an epic study of Southern California teen suburban culture of the early 1980s.

"Bobby Cooper" (Penn) is a wandering gambler whose car breaks down in some lost Southwestern town where he’s pulled into a web of lies, deceit, and murder.

Oliver Stone (W) directs one of his most re-watchable and entertaining films in a long and ambitious career. He creates a sinisterly fun Neo-Noir within the confines of a funky cowpoke town. The film maintains a strong mood throughout, with special attention paid to the details, and at a pace that never lets up.

Robert Richardson continued his visual exploration with Stone following Natural Born Killers. Although the shooting style is more reserved than the serial murder tale, U-Turn has a wonderful aesthetic, with a stunning color palette and good use of exaggerated angles.

Composing legend Ennio Morricone’s score is delightfully quirky and almost cartoonish—really adding to the dark humor of the piece.

Milk is the true story of gay-rights activist Harvey Milk who was the first openly homosexual man elected to public office.

Dustin Lance Black won the Academy Award for his screenplay, which is tense with information, but never loses sight of its human content. The story has a dynamic structure and has many scenes that pack an emotional punch.

There are few modern directors who push the envelope of filmmaking more than Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy, Elephant). With Milk, all of his greatest strengths as a storyteller are at the forefront, creating perhaps his finest work so far. The film shines through on all levels, from the writing to the performance to the staging.

Harris Savide’s cinematography is stunning and really grasps the details of that time and place in the world. His use of reflections within glass and mirrors is particularly outstanding-- a good visual tool to express that these issues are ongoing ones and that we all must deal with.