did you just group BRING IT ON with WITNESS and WHALE RIDER...? brilliant. it's like Oscar meets Razzie.

I'm going to say the upcoming "Passengers" by Jon Spaihts... since this a screenwriting blog, I'm thinking of scripts that create an atmosphere.

Spaihts' script is undeniably brilliant, breathtaking, and beautiful. It's in a realm of its own.

Just watched CHOKE last night with Sam Rockwell. The subculture of the sex addict. What an great film, had a blast watching it, even though it is quite sad, ultimately.

I going to have to go with "Fight Club".

This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.~Fight Club

Subculture movies are tricky because unless you really know your subject, you’ll alienate your target audience.

My favorites are espionage, military and crime movies. At the same time, some of the worst movies I’ve seen dealt with those subjects; because they were generally written by someone with no street cred in the subculture.

Two films I’ve seen in the last couple of years that are standouts for me are Traitor and The Kingdom. When I looked into the writing more closely, I discovered that in both cases the writers had significant consultation on the ins and outs of espionage and counterterrorism operations. Both were good films, but for me they were great because of the realism (and banality) they portrayed about those particular subcultures.

On the flip side, films like the Bourne or James Bond series are great fun because they go beyond stretching the limits of reality. When they’ve failed (Bond) it was because they tried to bring the story into the real world.

This is some great insight on where to take your story.

Scott, with this way of looking at the journey you hero takes,I'm looking back at some of the movies I love,when the antagonist is in his own element, he's pretty damn tough, but when you take him out, he seems to lose his mojo.

The opposite seems to be with the hero, he seems weak or lacking in his world, but when called to action, he gets stronger as he makes his way to this new world.

305 Writer mentioned Fight Club right after I tossed out Choke.

Is it safe to assume we should all read more Palahniuk?

@305writer who said: "Scott, with this way of looking at the journey you hero takes,I'm looking back at some of the movies I love,when the antagonist is in his own element, he's pretty damn tough, but when you take him out, he seems to lose his mojo.

The opposite seems to be with the hero, he seems weak or lacking in his world, but when called to action, he gets stronger as he makes his way to this new world."

From the paradigm of The Hero's Journey, that is precisely right. In their Ordinary World, they are unrealized potential, a reflection of their Disunity with their core essence suppressed, repressed, ignored. It takes their shift into the Extraordinary World where their defenses get broken down (Deconstruction) that they can build themselves up (Reconstruction) based upon their core essence, that authentic part of their self.

By extension, this enables the Protagonist to meet the Nemesis on a more level playing field, and if the story isn't a tragedy, the P defeats the N.

Good insight, 305writer. Glad the light bulb went on for you!