4. Oliver Stone's Vietnam Trilogy
The Films: Platoon (1986), Born On The Fourth Of July (1989) and Heaven And Earth (1993).
Why So Awesome: Oliver Stone has had a sad fall from brilliance; his last three films, W., Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Savage,s could be called the Mediocre Trilogy. But at his prime he was a directing powerhouse, even turning ludicrous ideas (JFK), into satisfying movies. In the late eighties and early nineties he made three films about the then still quite fresh Vietnam war which gel perfectly together. Oliver Stone was himself a soldier in Vietnam, making this trilogy particularly poignant. Platoon, the first and most acclaimed of the three, is the most autobiographical, dealing with the war itself. Born On The Fourth Of July tackles the aftermath and Heaven And Earth turns the camera around, looking the Vietnam side of things. While Apocalypse Now may be the quintessential Nam film, this trilogy is the best way to view the conflict as a whole.