The Independent Recommends: The Five Best Films

Get Carter (18)

Mike Hodges' gangland picture retains a seedy allure, thanks to bleak locations, spare dialogue, and a performance of near-heroic unpleasantness from Michael Caine.

A Simple Plan (15)

Cult horror director Sam Raimi makes a dramatic entry into the mainstream with this chilling, snowbound thriller about a $4m windfall that brings nothing but ill. Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton star.

10 Things I Hate About You (12)

Surprisingly irreverent and sharp teen movie (right). So many good lines, so little time... Miss Perky, the school's foul-mouthed guidance counsellor, deserves a film of her own.

The Travelling Players (15)

Exasperating, moving and disturbing, this treatise on Greek history from 1939 to 1952 was once voted the most important film of the Seventies. But don't let that put you off.

Cruel Intentions (15)

This sly take on Les Liaisons Dangereuses is set in high-society Manhattan, where Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe plan their seduction with all the cruelty of the original aristocrats.