Many dyed-in-the-wool cinephiles will gleefully go to bat for Hong Kong original Infernal Affairs, but at the end of the day, The Departed is the movie for which Martin Scorsese finally won Best Picture. Yeah, fine, that rat crawling against the backdrop of the Boston skyline might’ve been a pretty heavy-handed metaphor on which to end things, but The Departed — brace yourself for a hot take, here — rips. Jack Nicholson is at his devilish best (literally, in some shots his wide smile has a Satanic curl to it) as mob boss Frank Costello, while Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon engage in a thrilling cat-and-mouse as the former tries to root out the mafia-friendly turncoat embedded in the Boston PD. It’s dark, it’s hilarious, it’s top-tier Marty.

2. A Star is Born (2018)

Four films have been made out of the premise of A Star is Born, including the 1937 original, so it’s kind of the go-to Hollywood reboot; maybe in another decade or so we’ll have a fifth one about the rise of a sentient AI pop star who usurps her human creator. (Warner Bros., call me.) For now, it usually comes down to Gaga vs. Garland, ie. the gritty, heartfelt version directed by Bradley Cooper against the sweeping Technicolour glory of George Cukor’s 1954 musical-drama. There’s not a huge amount in it, but we’ve gotta give it to Jackson Maine: Cooper’s direction is full of electricity from the moment he mounts the stage at the start, Gags is just mindblowing as Ally, and it’s all elevated by a complex plot whose themes run the gamut from addiction to familial trauma. It’s triumphant. It’s tragic. It’s gorgeous.

1. Casino Royale (2006)

Not many people know that the Daniel Craig Casino Royale is actually a sort of remake — and not just in the sense that it reinvented James Bond for the fraught new post-9/11 world, 007 taking on the era’s action-cinema trend of adopting grounded, gritty realism. The first adaptation of Ian Fleming’s novel was actually an unofficial, parodic romp starring A Matter of Life and Death‘s David Niven as a retired Bond called back into action to face off against Russian baddies SMERSH. (He is joined by a litany of other fake Bonds, played by Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress and Woody Allen, among others.) It’s a bit of cheeky, schlocky fun, and feels incredibly ‘60s — but there’s a good argument to be had that Craig’s version is the best Bond movie, period.