The latest cinematic releases have proven to be overwhelming and there is nothing to serve our appetite for the best. While you may feel there is a dearth of interesting flicks around, hold on. Here are 10 top films that are worth a watch.

1. The Shawshank Redemption

Standing the test of times, The Shawshank Redemption is a spinning narrative about patience, resilience, loyalty, realisation of one’s self-worth; and how such attributes put together can keep a man afloat in the most jarring times. Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is the new prisoner, sentenced for life for murdering his wife. Formerly a banker, the tall and lanky man is apparently innocent. It’s there in the walls of the prison, where Andy finds the friendship of an older man, Red Redding (Morgan Freeman). Andy upholds a reservoir of determination and strength in him, which allows him to seek the glory of redemption. The film greatly stresses on the importance of holding on to one’s self-worth and how unflagging loyalty uncovers wonders. Most importantly, this movie is a story about faith.

2. The Silence of the Lambs

If you are into crime and drama with ample seasonings of grotesque twisted criminal minds, you will enjoy this unmissable classic. Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), a top FBI student is assigned to interrogate the brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Hannibal’s criminal mind may help catch FBI a serial killer called Buffalo Bill, who skins his female victim’s corpses. Chilling, horrifying, The Silence of the Lambs will have you transfixed from the first scene to the last.

3. The Godfather (1972)

On the list of the greatest films ever made and one which bagged the rightful Oscar, stands The Godfather. The crime film draws around the powerful Italian-American family of Don Vito Corleone, artistically cornering away the flashy gangster lifestyle and serving the viewers astonishingly fierce and wild portrayal of tribal loyalties, powerful wrath and vengeance from all quarters. The fitting casting of Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and James Caan deliver the richness of their roles, which another actor perhaps may not have managed to deliver.

4. Taxi Driver

There are a few films that are bound to stay with you forever, and if you have watched Taxi Driver, you will agree that it is one of “those” films. Under the expert direction of Martin Scorsese, the movie is a bone-chilling depiction of social disarray. Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is disturbed and insomniac cabbie who finds himself getting detached from the realities around him and fantasises about cleaning up the city. In an overwhelming angst of a socially dysfunctional citizen, he conjures up unreal ways of saving the world. In a riveting storyline, he ends up saving the life of a child prostitute Iris (Jodi Foster).

5. Forrest Gump

It is believed that any attempt to describe the movie Forrest Gump or the Forrest Gump in the movie will expose the film to risks of being called conventional. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) is mentally challenged, but is never made to feel that, thanks to his supportive mother. The story revolves around Forrest swaying everyone with his child-like optimism, but one person who may matter a lot to Forrest is not be swayed. In text, it may seem like a conventional story that is narrated thousands of times, but in picture, Forrest Gump is a beauty to watch; both, the movie and Tom Hanks.

6. Jaws

If you are listless of the mundane romance, repetitive crime and drama films around you, it’s time you treat yourself to the visuals of a giant man-eating great white shark spill some blood on a beach. Yes, you will never be too comfortable about bathing in the sea after it. Spielberg’s Jaw is the acute representation of man vs. nature. When a young woman is killed by a beast at the beach, the local police want to close the beach but are stopped by the town’s mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), who fears it will impact the revenues from the tourism. Turns out more blood is yet to be shed till the people get full measure of what a blood-thirsty beast is capable of.

7. The Green Mile

Is a movie truly capable of transforming one’s take on life? If so, then The Green Mile can surely be the one. Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is the head guard at the death-row prison. He has seen many prisoners but none like the black giant John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) who is charged with the rape and murder of two innocent twins. In spite of the heinous allegations, John is completely opposite of his imposing domineer; he is innocent and harmless. A series of event unfold which become testaments to John’s innocence, but can prison head guard do anything about it?

8. Good Will Hunting

Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is blessed with a genius-level IQ that many intellectuals would kill to get, but he chooses to work as a janitor at MIT. His talent is discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), when he catches the rebellious boy secretively solving graduate level math problems. But Will refuses to be tamed till he is given under the wing of therapist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams).

9. All Quiet on the Western Front

The film is visually told through the experiences of young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of being part of a raging war. A clan of German schoolboys embarks on enlisting at the beginning of World War I by their jingoistic teacher. The film is the tragic account of how war tears and mutilates thousands alike in its wake.

10. Fight Club

A lot of broken noses, necks, fists and fights are not all Fight Club has for you. The damage is mind deep. A man called Tyler Durden (Edward Norton) is depressed and insomniac. A strange string of events are occurring to him that he seemingly has no control over. And to say the least, his life takes a dramatic turn when Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) enters his life.