Basic Instinct

Sharon Stone playing the sexiest movie character of all time in the sexiest movie of all time, so to no surprise, it’s a hall of fame movie front to back. Normally this would easily be the best movie of any director’s oeuvre but Verhoeven is so good this will have to settle for his second best.  One of the most tightly scripted of Verhoeven’s American run, and it pays off with an endless list of steamy and hilarious lines. Of course this can be attributed to Joe Ezsterhas’ incredible screenplay that perfectly nails the American crime thriller in a way that balances Verhoeven’s European sexiness and his eye for grotesque violence. The juice these two had together should’ve been a collaborative force for decades but that was unjustly stolen from us…! Crazy to think the follow up from these two is the greatest movie ever made, right after they’d pretty much accomplished that the first time.