"Miami"

1983 · Brian De Palma · 170 min · Crime / Drama

Scarface is excessive by design, a rise-and-fall gangster epic that pushes every element past the point of comfort and dares you to look away. Al Pacino's Tony Montana is one of the most recognizable characters in film history, a performance so outsized it became a cultural icon independent of the movie itself. The 170-minute runtime tests patience, the dialogue stumbles in places, and the moral framework isn't subtle. But the film's commitment to its own extremes gives it a hypnotic quality that more restrained crime dramas can't match, and its influence on everything from hip-hop to television crime storytelling is undeniable.

2007 · 7 Seasons · USA Network · Action, Comedy, Drama, Thriller

Burn Notice found a winning formula by dropping a resourceful spy into Miami and letting him solve problems with duct tape, yogurt, and voiceover narration explaining exactly how. Jeffrey Donovan's Michael Westen is charming and competent without being invincible, and the trio of Michael, Fiona, and Sam became one of television's most entertaining teams. The overarching burn notice mythology grows unwieldy in later seasons, but the show's blend of clever problem-solving, sunny location, and self-aware humor makes it one of the most rewatchable action shows of its era.