Your Favorite Films?
Here is our list of favorites from the last 20 years or so. Thanks to the Netflix DVD mailing program, we were able to see all of these great films for a few dollars a month. Netflix dumped the (profitable) DVD program and went to over-priced streaming garbage (which is still not profitable for them). One of the great things about the old Netflix program is that there were so many excellent reviews on their website. As a result we rarely picked a bad film, unlike today with streaming where most of the crap is an utter waste of time and there is no easy way to predict what might be worth watching. What happened to that Netflix DVD library, I wonder?
Casablanca
1942
Director: Michael Curtiz
Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Lebeau, S.Z. Sakall, Dooley Wilson
"I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. "
The Godfather
1972
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
"'The Godfather' is told entirely within a closed world. That’s why we sympathize with characters who are essentially evil. The story by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola is a brilliant conjuring act, inviting us to consider the Mafia entirely on its own terms. Don Vito Corleone emerges as a sympathetic and even admirable character; during the entire film, this lifelong professional criminal does nothing of which we can really disapprove." - Roger Ebert
Come and See
1987
Director: Elem Klimov
Aleksei Kravchenko, Lubomiras Lauciavicius, Olga Mironova
Director Elem Klimov's drama shows the atrocities of World War II through Soviet eyes. When 13-year-old commoner Florya joins a group of partisans fighting the Nazis in Belorus, he doesn't suspect that he is plunging through the looking glass. Separated from his comrades during a paratroop attack and struck deaf by artillery, Florya wanders a battle-scorched Russian purgatory of forests and man-made slaughter.
On the Waterfront
1954
Director: Elia Kazan
Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger
"You don't understand! I could'a had class. I could'a been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it."
Apocalypse Now
1979
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper
"If I say its safe to surf this beach, Captain, then its safe to surf this beach! I mean, I'm not afraid to surf this place. I'll surf this whole fucking place!"
The Grapes of Wrath
1940
Director: John Ford
Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin
“Then it don' matter. Then I'll be all aroun' in the dark. I'll be ever'where - wherever you look. Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an' - I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build, why, I'll be there.”
It's a Wonderful Life
1946
Director: Frank Capra
James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell
"Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about... they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?"
The Human Condition
1958
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama
Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi adapts Junpei Gomikawa's epic six-volume novel to produce a trilogy of films that follows the World War II journey of naive pacifist Kaji (Tatsuya Nakadai) from prison camp supervisor to combat soldier to Soviet POW. Staggering in its scope, Kobayashi's achievement -- which skillfully blends searing social indictment with deeply felt human drama -- stands as a landmark of Japanese cinema.
Das Boot
1981
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
"It's all about the boat."
The Night of the Hunter
1955
Director: Charles Laughton
Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, and Lillian Gish
"In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also cowrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil. " - Jim Emerson
Double Indemnity
1944
Director: Billy Wilder
Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Byron Barr
"How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle? "
The Godfather: Part II
1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
12 Angry Men
1957
Director: Sidney Lumet
Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Ed Begley
"He's a common ignorant slob. He don't even speak good English. "
The Organiser
1963
Director: Mario Monicelli
Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Folco Lulli, Gabriella Giorgelli
Set in Turin at the end of the 19th century, it stars Marcello Mastroianni as a labor activist who becomes involved with a group of textile factory workers who go on strike.
Coming Home
2014
Director: Zhang Yimou
Gong Li, Daoming Chen, Huiwen Zhang, Tao Guo
Lu and Feng are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner during the Cultural Revolution. He finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife no longer recognizes him.
Anatomy of a Murder
1959
Director: Otto Preminger
James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell, Eve Arden, Kathryn Grant, George C. Scott, Orson Bean, Russ Brown, Murray Hamilton
Nominated for seven Oscars, this legal thriller profiles the attempts of country lawyer Paul Biegler to exonerate Frederick Manion, who's charged with a local barkeep's murder but claims the victim raped his wife. Employing a temporary insanity defense, Biegler tries to outmaneuver slick celebrity prosecutor Claude Dancer but discovers there's more to the case than meets the eye.
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946
Director: William Wyler
Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Fredric March, Teresa Wright
Billy Wilder called this "the best-directed film I have seen in my life." Bette Davis called it the best Hollywood film ever made.
Children of Paradise
1945
Director: Marcel Carné
Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Renoir
Poetic realism reached sublime heights with Children of Paradise, widely considered one of the greatest French films of all time. This nimble depiction of nineteenth-century Paris's theatrical demimonde, filmed during World War II, follows a mysterious woman loved by four different men: an actor, a criminal, a count, and, most poignantly, a mime.
Raging Bull
1980
Director: Martin Scorsese
Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent
"I don't go down for nobody!"
To Live
1994
Director: Zhang Yimou
You Ge, Gong Li, Ben Niu, Wu Jiang. After Fugui and Jiazhen
A bold, energetic masterpiece from Zhang Yimou, the foremost director from China's influential "fifth generation" of filmmakers. Continuing his brilliant collaboration with China's best-known actress, Gong Li, Zhang weaves a tapestry of personal and political events, following the struggles of an impoverished husband and wife (Ge You and Li) from their heyday in the 1940s to the hardships that accompanied the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.
The White Ribbon
2009
Director: Michael Haneke
Christian Friedel, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur, Ursina Lardi, Fion Mutert, Michael Kranz, Burghart Klaussner, Steffi Kühnert, Susanne Lothar, Theo Trebs, Josef Bierbichler, Marisa Growaldt, Janina Fautz, Jadea Mercedes Diaz
A year before World War I, a series of strange and brutal pranks threaten to shatter a northern German town's orderly existence. But the residents' response may have even more disturbing implications for the future. Celebrated Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke helms this Golden Globe-winning, sumptuously photographed black-and-white drama that stars Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Tukur and Theo Trebs.
Golden Door
2007
Director: Emanuele Crialese
Vincent Schiavelli, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vincenzo Amato, Aurora Quattrocchi, Francesco Casisa, Filippo Pucillo, Massimo Laguardia
In this sweeping immigrant's tale from director Emanuele Crialese, Sicilian widower Salvatore Mancuso leaves behind everything he knows to pursue a better life in America at the dawn of the 20th century. With his sons in tow, Mancuso survives the harrowing Atlantic crossing only to suffer more hardship and humiliation on Ellis Island. But along the way, he finds romance with a mysterious Englishwoman.
Reds
1981
Director Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosinski
John Reed, the October Revolution
Malcolm X
1992
Director: Spike Lee
Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Spike Lee, Albert Hall, Delroy Lindo, Al Freeman Jr., Ossie Davis, Michael Imperioli, Giancarlo Esposito
Spike Lee's Oscar-nominated drama illuminates the life of black nationalist Malcolm X
The City of Lost Children
1995
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon.
A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.
To Kill a Mockingbird
1962
Director: Robert Mulligan
Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy
"Some men in this world are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us."
A Monster Calls
2016
Director: J.A. Bayona
Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Lewis MacDougall, Liam Neeson, Toby Kebbell
In this adaptation of a children's fantasy novel, 12-year-old Conor has been devastated by his mother's terminal cancer diagnosis. Then a monster begins visiting Conor at night, who tells stories that help him come to terms with the truth.
Dersu Uzala
1975
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Yuriy Solomin, Maksim Munzuk, Mikhail Bychkov, Vladimir Khrulyov
The Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.
The Wind Journeys
2009
Director: Ciro Guerra
Marciano Martínez, Yull Núñez, Jose Luis Torres, Carmen Molina, Erminia Martinez, Justo Valdez, Hector Brito, Guillermo Merlo
In the wake of his wife's death, Ignacio leaves his small Colombian town and journeys to the country's remote northern region, resolving to return his devil-cursed accordion to the teacher who once gave it to him. His traveling companion is teenager Fermín, who aspires to emulate Ignacio's past life as an accordion-playing troubadour who roamed the countryside. Marciano Martínez and Yull Núñez star in filmmaker Ciro Guerra's enthralling odyssey.
The 400 Blows
1959
Director: François Truffaut
Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble
The defining French New Wave drama film, and the directorial debut of François Truffaut.
The Third Man
1949
Director: Carol Reed
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
The zither musical soundtrack alone is more than enough to make this a classic.
Gaslight
Director George Cukor
Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, May Whitty
“Because I am mad, I have betrayed you. And because I'm mad, I'm rejoicing in my heart, without a shred of pity, without a shred of regret, watching you go with glory in my heart!”
America, America
1963
Director: Elia Kazan
Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Elena Karam, Lou Antonio, John Marley, Estelle Hemsley, Katharine Balfour, Harry Davis, Joanna Frank, Robert H. Harris
Director Elia Kazan vividly recounts the dramatic life story of his own uncle, who's encouraged by his father to leave their home village in Turkey when oppression of the Greek minority living there becomes more intense. Young Stavros (Stathis Giallelis) travels first to Constantinople, where his family plans eventually to join him. But soon Stavros begins to set his sights on a bolder destination: the distant shores of America.
The Chorus
2004
Director: Christophe Barratier
Gérard Jugnot, François Berléand, Kad Merad, Jean-Paul Bonnaire, Marie Bunel, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, Maxence Perrin, Grégory Gatignol, Thomas Blumenthal, Cyril Bernicot
Music teacher Clement Mathieu lands a job at a boys' boarding school populated by delinquents and orphans. Sensing potential in the rambunctious ruffians, Mathieu forms a choir to rein in his charges through the transforming power of song.
The Wizard of Oz
1939
Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Mervyn LeRoy, Norman Taurog, Richard Thorpe, King Vidor
Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. "
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
2005
Director: Zhang Yimou
Ken Takakura, Shinobu Terajima, Kiichi Nakai, Ken Nakamoto
In an effort to reconnect with his dying filmmaker son, an aging Japanese fisherman travels thousands of miles to film an important folk opera. Along the way, he develops a greater understanding of their relationship and estrangement.
Zelary
2003
Director: Ondrej Trojan
Anna Geislerová, György Cserhalmi, Jaroslava Adamova, Miroslav Donutil, Jaroslav Dusek, Iva Bittova, Ivan Trojan, Jan Hrusinsky, Anna Vertelarova, Tomás Zatecka, Ondrej Koval
Two disparate worlds collide in this gorgeously shot World War II drama that tells the story of Eliska, a nurse in a city hospital who donates her blood to save the life of injured mountain-dweller Joza, forging a powerful bond between them. When the Gestapo discovers the resistance group to which Eliska belongs, she's forced to seek refuge with Joza, leaving her urban life behind and starting anew in the remote mountains.
Psycho
1960
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
"I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching. They’ll see. They’ll see and they’ll know. They'll say 'why she wouldn't even hurt a fly.'"
City Lights
1931
Director: Charles Chaplin
Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers
"If only one of Charles Chaplin's films could be preserved, 'City Lights' would come the closest to representing all the different notes of his genius." - Roger Ebert
The Maltese Falcon
1941
Director: John Huston
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
American film noir written and directed by John Huston in his directorial debut, based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and indebted to the 1931 movie of the same name.
The Wages of Fear
1953
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Folco Lulli
In a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
Incendies
2010
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Mustafa Kamel
Twins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history and fulfill their mother's last wishes.
The Pianist
2002
Director: Roman Polanski
Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
The story begins in Warsaw, Poland in September, 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, first introducing Wladyslaw (Wladek) Szpilman, who works as a pianist for the local radio. The Polish Army has been defeated in three weeks by the German Army and Szpilman's radio station is bombed while he plays live on the air.
Life Is Beautiful
1997
Director: Roberto Benigni
Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who employs his fertile imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp.
The King of Masks
1996
Director: Tian-Ming Wu.
Li Chen, Zhaoji Jia, Zhigang Zhang, Zhigang Zhao
Nearing the end of his life, Wang -- a locally renowned street performer and wizard of the venerable art of mask magic -- yearns to pass on his technique. But custom decrees that he can only hand down his craft to a male successor. Anxious to preserve his unique art, the heirless Wang buys an impoverished 8-year-old on the black market. But when the child divulges a dreaded secret, Wang faces a choice between filial love and societal tradition.
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006
Director: Clint Eastwood.
Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Sweet Bean
2015
Director: Naomi Kawase.
Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase, Kyara Uchida, Miki Mizuno
The manager of a pancake stall finds himself confronted with an odd but sympathetic elderly woman looking for work. A taste of her homemade bean jelly convinces him to hire her, which starts a relationship that is about much more than just street food.
Bicycle Thieves
1948
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Elena Altieri
The story of a poor father searching post-World War II Rome for his stolen bicycle, without which he will lose the job which was to be the salvation of his young family.
Far from Men
2014
Director: David Oelhoffen. With Viggo Mortensen, Reda Kateb, Djemel Barek, Vincent Martin
Algeria, 1954. Two very different men thrown together by a world in turmoil are forced to flee across the Atlas mountains. Daru, the reclusive teacher, has to escort Mohamed, a villager accused of murder.
My Dinner with André
1981
Director: Louis Malle
Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory
"Someone asked me the other day if I could name a movie that was entirely devoid of clichés. I thought for a moment, and then answered, “My Dinner With Andre.” Now I have seen the movie again; a restored print is going into release around the country, and I am impressed once more by how wonderfully odd this movie is, how there is nothing else like it. It should be unwatchable, and yet those who love it return time and again, enchanted." - Roger Ebert
Cinema Paradiso
1988
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili, Isa Danieli
Beautiful, enchanting story of a young boy's lifelong love affair with the movies, set in an Italian village. Salvatore finds himself enchanted by the flickering images at the Cinema Paradiso, yearning for the secret of the cinema's magic. When the projectionist, Alfredo, agrees to reveal the mysteries of moviemaking, a deep friendship is born.
Under the Sand
2000
Director: François Ozon.
Charlotte Rampling, Bruno Cremer, Jacques Nolot, Alexandra Stewart.
When her husband goes missing at the beach, a female professor begins to mentally disintegrate as her denial of his disappearance becomes delusional.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939
Director: Frank Capra
James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold
Tremendous dramatic impact threaded throughout the picture, interwoven with those deft human episodes which have become familiar with Capra’s direction in previous pictures. He keys the motivation of his basic premise without wasting time, and then carries it through vigorously.
Chinatown
1974
Director: Roman Polanski
Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
Fargo
1996
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare
Minnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
The Shawshank Redemption
1994
Director: Frank Darabont
Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.
Wings of Desire
1987
Director: Wim Wenders
Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, Peter Falk, Hans Martin Stier, Elmar Wilms, Sigurd Rachman, Beartice Manowski
From director Wim Wenders comes this hypnotic fantasy about an angel who falls in love with a beautiful circus performer while drifting unnoticed through West Berlin. Overcome by the girl's beauty, the angel decides he wants to become human.
The Great Dictator
1940
Director: Charles Chaplin
Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner
Brilliant lampoon of Adolph Hitler that is proof of Chaplin's pantomime genius. The movie's famous highlight comes in its final scene, when Chaplin steps out of character and addresses the camera with an eloquent plea for the triumph of reason and humanity over mindless militarism.
The Deer Hunter
1978
Director: Michael Cimino
Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage
An in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.
Molière
2007
Director: Laurent Tirard
Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Laura Morante, Edouard Baer
In 1645, the French playwright and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin -- better known as Molière -- mysteriously disappeared for several weeks, and this lavish comedy drama imagines a scenario that could explain what may have happened to him.
Whale Rider
2002
Director: Niki Caro.
Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis
Set in the Maori community of New Zealand. According to legend, the Maori came to Whangara when their great leader Paikea led them by riding on a whale. Ever since, the Maori have been led by the descendants of that leader. The movie begins with the birth of twins, the latest in that line. But the boy twin and his mother die.
The Guilty
2018
Director: Gustav Möller
Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Omar Shargawi, Johan Gotthardt Olsen
Working a desk job as an emergency dispatcher after being relieved of his beat cop responsibilities, Asger Holm fields a panicked call from a kidnapped young mother and must race against time as the situation gets worse with each passing minute.
Darbareye Elly
2009
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Golshifteh Farahani, Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Merila Zare'i
The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
All About Eve
1950
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter, Marilyn Monroe
A seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.
Anne Frank: The Whole Story
2001
Director: Robert Dornhelm
Ben Kingsley, Brenda Blethyn, Lili Taylor, Hannah Taylor-Gordon, Tatjana Blacher
This filmed version of Anne Frank's famous diary -- which she kept while in hiding in Amsterdam during World War II -- fills in gaps omitted when her father (Ben Kingsley, who won a SAG Award for his performance) submitted the work for publication. In addition to Anne's time in Amsterdam, the story follows her to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and documents the horrors she experienced there with her sister, Margot.
Rear Window
1954
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter
It Happened One Night
1934
Director: Frank Capra
Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Pre-Code American romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed and co-produced by Frank Capra, in collaboration with Harry Cohn, in which a pampered socialite tries to get out from under her father's thumb and falls in love with a roguish reporter.
Ponette
1996
Director: Jacques Doillon. Victoire Thivisol, Delphine Schiltz, Matiaz Bureau Caton, Léopoldine Serre
The film centers on four-year-old Ponette, who is coming to terms with the death of her mother in a car crash.
Jean de Florette
1986
Director: Claude Berri
Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu
A greedy landowner and his backward nephew conspire to block the only water source for an adjoining property in order to bankrupt the owner and force him to sell.
The Intouchables
2011
Directors: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano
François Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny, Audrey Fleurot
After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.
Bamako
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Aïssa Maïga, Tiécoura Traoré, Maimouna Hélène Diarra, Habib Dembélé.
Melé is a bar singer, her husband Chaka is out of work and the couple is on the verge of breaking up. In the courtyard of the house they share with other families, a trial court has been set up.
Life of Pi
2012
Director: Ang Lee
Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Tabu, Adil Hussain, and Gérard Depardieu
The storyline revolves around an Indian teenager named "Pi" Patel, telling a novelist about his life story, and how at 16 he survives a shipwreck and is adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.
36th Precinct
2004
Director: Olivier Marchal.
Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Depardieu, André Dussollier, Roschdy Zem
The film takes place in Paris, where two cops are competing for the vacant seat of chief of the Paris Criminal police while involved in a search for a gang of violent thieves.
The Tree of Wooden Clogs
1978
Director: Ermanno Olmi.
Luigi Ornaghi, Francesca Moriggi, Omar Brignoli, Antonio Ferrari
This ambitious effort from Italian filmmaker Ermanno Olmi spans an entire year, capturing the lives of four peasant families in turn-of-the-century Lombardy who all live in the same farmhouse on the estate of their boss, an often-absent man.
Che
2008
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Julia Ormond, Benicio Del Toro, Oscar Isaac, Pablo Guevara
"Che Guevara is conventionally depicted either as a saint of revolution, or a ruthless executioner. Steven Soderbergh's epic biography 'Che' doesn't feel the need to define him. It is not written from the point of view of history, but from Guevara's own POV on a day-to-day basis in the process of overthrowing the Batista regime in Cuba and then failing to repeat his success in Bolivia. Both parts of the film are based on his writings, including a diary in Bolivia written in the field, day to day." - Roger Ebert
Journey's End
2017
Director: Saul Dibb
Sam Claflin, Asa Butterfield, Paul Bettany, Tom Sturridge, Toby Jones
British war film based on the 1928 play by R. C. Sherriff.
The story follows a young James (Jimmy) Raleigh who signs up for the war under the command of his old school chum, Stanhope. The conditions in the trenches have forced Stanhope to resort to the bottle, but Raleigh is hardly fazed by any of it. Intel says that the Germans are bound to attack the line in Northern France any day.
Indian Horse
2017
Director: Stephen Campanelli
Sladen Peltier, Forrest Goodluck , Ajuawak Kapashesit, Martin Donovan, Edna Manitowabi
An adaptation of Ojibway writer Richard Wagamese's award-winning novel, this moving and important drama sheds light on the dark history of Canada's boarding schools or Indigenous Residential Schools and the indomitable spirit of aboriginal people.
Waiting for Happiness
2002
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Khatra Ould Abder Kader, Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed, Fatimetou Mint Ahmeda
Mauritanian drama film written and directed by Abderrahmane Sissako. Main characters are a student, who has returned to his home in Nouadhibou, an electrician and his child apprentice, and the local women. The film is characterized by a succession of scenes of the daily life of the characters which are unique to their particular African and Arab cultures.
Nomadland
2020
Director: Chloé Zhao.
Frances McDormand, Gay DeForest, Patricia Grier, Linda May
A woman in her sixties, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
Camp de Thiaroye
1988
Directors: Ousmane Sembene, Thierno Faty Sow
Sidiki Bakaba, Hamed Camara, Ismaila Cissé, Ababacar Sy Cissé
In this semi-autobiographical film, black soldiers help to defend France, but are detained in prison camp before being repatriated home.
Secrets & Lies
1996
Director: Mike Leigh.
Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, Brenda Blethyn, Claire Rushbrook
Following the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.
Ivan's Childhood
Director Andrei Tarkovsky
Eduard Abalov, Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeniy Zharikov, Stepan Krylov. A poetic journey through the shards and shadows of one boy’s war-ravaged youth. Moving back and forth between the traumatic realities of World War II and serene moments of family life before the conflict began, Tarkovsky’s film remains one of the most jarring and unforgettable depictions of the impact of war on children.
On a Clear Day
2005
Director: Gaby Dellal.
Peter Mullan, Brenda Blethyn, Sean McGinley, Jamie Sives
Frank Redmond, an engineer in the shipyards on the River Clyde, who becomes stagnant and quickly sinks into depression following his redundancy. He determines to salvage his self-esteem and tackle his demons by attempting the ultimate test of endurance - swimming the English Channel.
Bread and Tulips
2000
Director: Silvio Soldini
Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz, Giuseppe Battiston, Antonio Catania
After being forgotten in a highway café during a bus trip, a housewife decides to start a new life by herself in Venice.
Dukhtar
2014
Director: Afia Nathaniel
Samiya Mumtaz, Mohib Mirza, Saleha Aref, Asif Khan
In the mountains of Pakistan, a mother and her ten-year-old daughter flee their home on the eve of the girl's marriage to a tribal leader. A deadly hunt for them begins.
Frantz
2016
Director: François Ozon
Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber
In the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious Frenchman who visits the fiancé's grave to lay flowers.
Neruda
2016
Director: Pablo Larraín
Luis Gnecco, Gael García Bernal, Mercedes Morán, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba
An inspector hunts down Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, who becomes a fugitive in his home country in the late 1940s for joining the Communist Party.
The Motorcycle Diaries
2004
Director: Walter Salles
Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo De la Serna, Mía Maestro, Mercedes Morán.
The dramatization of a motorcycle road trip Che Guevara went on in his youth that showed him his life's calling.
Night on Earth
1991
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder, Lisanne Falk, Alan Randolph Scott, Roberto Benigni, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Rosie Perez, Isaach De Bankolé, Matti Pellonpää, Kari Väänänen
Hacksaw Ridge
2016
Director: Mel Gibson
Andrew Garfield, Richard Pyros, Jacob Warner, Milo Gibson
World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
Phoenix
2014
Director: Christian Petzold
Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Trystan Pütter
A disfigured Holocaust survivor sets out to determine if the man she loved betrayed her trust.
Difret
2014
Director: Zeresenay Mehari
Meron Getnet, Tizita Hagere, Abel Abebe, Shitaye Abraha
A young lawyer travels to an Ethiopian village to represent Hirut, a 14-year-old girl who shot her would-be husband as he and others were practicing one of the nation's oldest traditions: abduction into marriage.
Manchester by the Sea
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Casey Affleck, Ivy O'Brien, Kyle Chandler, Richard Donelly
The plot follows a depressed man who, after his brother dies, is entrusted with the care of the latter's teenage son. Manchester by the Sea is a treatment of profound grief from which it is difficult or impossible to recover.
A Perfect Day
2015
Director: Fernando León de Aranoa
Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins, Olga Kurylenko, Mélanie Thierry
The film is about an interesting day of two aid workers and an interpreter working on taking back a corpse from a well during the Balkan conflicts.
Days of Glory
2006
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila.
During WWII, four North African men enlist in the French army to liberate that country from Nazi oppression, and to fight French discrimination.
Ballad of a Soldier
1959
Director: Grigoriy Chukhray
Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko, Antonina Maksimova, Nikolay Kryuchkov. Young Russian soldier Alyosha earns a medal, but asks to visit his mother instead. His journey recounts various kinds of love during wartime.
The Cranes Are Flying
1957
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Tatyana Samoylova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasiliy Merkurev, Aleksandr Shvorin
Veronica plans a rendezvous with her lover, Boris, at the bank of river, only for him to be drafted into World War II shortly thereafter.
The Shop on Main Street
1965
Director: Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos.
Ida Kaminska, Jozef Kroner, Frantisek Zvarík, Hana Slivková
Czechoslovakian film about the Aryanization program during World War II in the Slovak State. A carpenter in the Fascist Slovak State is appointed "Aryan controller" of a Jewish widow's store.
Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams
2006
Director: Jasmila Zbanic
Mirjana Karanovic, Luna Mijovic, Leon Lucev, Jasna Beri, Kenan Catic, Dejan Acimovic, Bogdan Diklic, Emir Hadzihafisbegovic
In the aftermath of the Balkan War, a widowed seamstress named Esma (Mirjana Karanovic) takes a waitress job to help pay for a pricey school trip for her daughter Sara (Luna Mijovic). While Esma ponders a romance with a co-worker (Leon Lucev), she also copes with Sara's budding adolescence. Writer-director Jasmila Zbanic's gut-wrenching drama was the surprise winner of the Berlin Film Festival's prestigious Golden Bear award.
Divided We Fall
2000
Director: Jan Hrebejk
Bolek Polívka, Anna Siskova, Csongor Kassai, Jaroslav Dusek, Martin Huba, Jiri Pecha, Simona Stasova
In Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, Josef and Marie Cizek grudgingly agree to shelter David, a Jewish concentration camp escapee, in their tiny apartment. When Josef takes a job with a Nazi collaborator to ease suspicion, mayhem consumes the household. Filled with pungent humor and universal truths about the fragility of the human condition, director Jan Hrebejk's poignant film skirts a fine line between comedy and tragedy.
Platoon
1986
Director: Oliver Stone
Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Keith David, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Forest Whitaker, Johnny Depp
Stone wrote the screenplay based upon his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam, to counter the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne's The Green Berets.
Fences
2016
Director: Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo
A working-class African-American father tries to raise his family in the 1950s, while coming to terms with the events of his life.
Vertigo
1958
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
Disturbing film.
The Commitments
1991
Director: Alan Parker.
Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle Kennedy
"World's Hardest Working Band" bring soul music to the people of Dublin, Ireland. "The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once and say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud."
Glory
1989
Director: Edward Zwick
Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman
Robert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
Letters to Father Jacob
2009
Director: Klaus Härö
Kaarina Hazard, Heikki Nousiainen, Jukka Keinonen, Esko Roine
With few options, newly pardoned convict Leila agrees to work as an assistant to a blind pastor. Father Jacob spends his days answering the letters of the needy, which Leila finds pointless. But when the letters stop, the pastor is devastated and Leila finds herself cast in a new role.
Before the Fall
2004
Director: Dennis Gansel
Max Riemelt, Tom Schilling, Jonas Jägermeyr, Leon A. Kersten
In 1942, Friedrich Weimer's boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) - high schools that produce Nazi elite. Over his father's objections, Friedrich enrolls. During his year in seventh column,Friedrich encounters hazing, cruelty, death, and the Nazi code.
A Very Long Engagement
2004
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, André Dussollier, Marion Cotillard, Denis Lavant, Jodie Foster
A fictional tale about a young woman's desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed during World War I. "The barbarity of war and the implacable logic of revenge are softened by the voluptuous beauty of Jeunet's visuals and the magic of his storytelling. Here is a director who loves -- adores! -- telling stories, so that we sense his voluptuous pleasure in his own tales. He must work in a kind of holy trance, falling to his knees at night to give thanks that modern special effects have made his visions possible. Some directors abuse effects. He flies on their wings." - Roger Ebert
Au Revoir Les Enfants
1987
Director: Louis Malle
Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carre de Malberg, Philippe Morier-Genoud, François Berléand, François Négret, Peter Fitz, Pascal Rivet, Benoit Henriet, Richard Leboeuf
As World War II rages on, two students at a boarding school form an unlikely friendship. Although the boys begin as adversaries, they find common ground, especially when it becomes clear that one is merely trying to survive the tyranny of the Nazis.
Strangers on a Train
1951
Director: Alfred Hitchcock.
Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll
Psychotic mama's-boy Bruno Antony meets famous tennis player Guy Haines on a train. Guy wants to move into a career in politics and has been dating Senator Morton's daughter Anne while awaiting a divorce from his wife. Bruno dreams up a crazy scheme for the perfect murder in which two total strangers, he and Guy, exchange murders on a crisscross.
A Raisin in the Sun
1961
Director Daniel Petrie
Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon, Louis Gossett Jr., John Fiedler, Joel Fluellen, Roy Glenn
Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee shine in this film version of Lorraine Hansberry's play about an inner-city black family. Poitier plays Walter Lee Younger, a chauffeur with a wife (Dee) and family to support. When a financial windfall puts Younger's dream of starting his own business within reach, the family is plunged into conflict with one another and with the intolerant world around them.
The Secret in Their Eyes
2009
Director: Juan José Campanella
With Soledad Villamil, Ricardo Darín, Carla Quevedo, Pablo Rago
A retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.
Judgment at Nuremberg
1961
Director: Stanley Kramer.
Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift
"Herr Janning, it 'came to that' the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent."
Turtles Can Fly
2005
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman, Abdol Rahman Karim, Ajil Zibari
"I wish everyone who has an opinion on the war in Iraq could see Turtles Can Fly. That would mean everyone in the White House and in Congress, and the newspaper writers, and the TV pundits, and the radio talkers, and you -- especially you, because you are reading this and they are not." - Roger Ebert
La veuve de Saint-Pierre (The Widow of Saint-Pierre)
2000 France-Canada
Director: Patrice Leconte
Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil, Emir Kusturica, Michel Duchaussoy
Loosely inspired by an actual case, it tells the story of a disillusioned army officer whose love for his wife in her efforts to save a convicted murderer leads him to disobey orders. "The movie becomes not simply a drama about capital punishment, but a story about human psychology. Some audience members may not connect directly with the buried levels of obsession and attraction, but they'll sense them--sense something that makes the movie deeper and sadder than the plot alone can account for. Juliette Binoche, that wonderful actress, is the carrier of this subtlety, and the whole film resides in her face." - Roger Ebert
The Italian
2007
Director: Andrei Kravchuk
Dima Zemlyanko, Nikolai Reutov, Dariya Lesnikova, Yuri Itskov, Kolya Spiridonov, Andrei Yelizarov, Olga Shuvalova, Vladimir Shipov, Mariya Kuznetsova, Sasha Sirotkin, Polina Vorobieva
Based on the true story of a small Russian boy abandoned in an orphanage who goes in search of his birth mother. "An odd, beguiling little movie -- about two parts Dickens (with some Dickensian Chaplin thrown in) to one part Italian neorealist cinema." - Ken Hanke
You Can't Take It with You
1938
Director: Frank Capra
Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Ann Miller, Spring Byington, Samuel S. Hinds
The son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family, not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.
The Cave of the Yellow Dog
Director: Byambasuren Davaa
Batchuluun Urjindorj, Buyandulam Daramdadi, Nansal Batchuluun, Nansalmaa Batchuluun
In the Mongolian grasslands, a plucky young girl finds a small dog in a cave and befriends it despite her father’s objections. The Cave of the Yellow Dog’s gentle hymn to nomadic life in the steppes depicts a tale of canine companionship resonant with Buddhist tradition, as well as a familiar parental dilemma.
Nobody Knows
2004
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda.
Yûya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura, Momoko Shimizu
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning. The basic necessities become ever out of reach because they must be fulfilled by four young children with little or no help from adults. The movie takes its time in documenting the almost unimaginable challenges that these innocent kids face because their parents have abandoned them.
The Lunchbox
2013
Director: Ritesh Batra
Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Lillete Dubey
A mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.
The Measure of a Man
2015
Director: Stéphane Brizé.
Vincent Lindon, Karine de Mirbeck, Matthieu Schaller, Yves Ory
A middle-aged man's existence becomes precarious after he's laid-off from his skilled job. Transitioning via the unemployment industry to supermarket security guard is the challenge for our hero. His dialogue with petty bureaucracy is obviously the same in France as it is here. There is claustrophobia and frustration with the relentless, compassionless uselessness of the so-called support.
The Burmese Harp
1956
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Rentarô Mikuni, Shôji Yasui, Jun Hamamura, Taketoshi Naitô
An Imperial Japanese Army regiment surrenders to British forces in Burma at the close of World War II and finds harmony through song. A private, thought to be dead, disguises himself as a Buddhist monk and stumbles upon spiritual enlightenment. Magnificently shot in hushed black and white, Kon Ichikawa’s The Burmese Harp is an eloquent meditation on beauty coexisting with death and remains one of Japanese cinema’s most overwhelming antiwar statements, both tender and brutal in its grappling with Japan’s wartime legacy.
Seven Samurai
1954
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki, Daisuke Katô, Isao Kimura, Keiko Tsushima
Akira Kurosawa's heroic tale of honor and duty begins with master samurai Kambei posing as a monk to save a kidnapped child. Impressed by his bravery, a group of farmers begs him to defend their village from encroaching bandits.
The Return
2004
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Natalya Vdovina, Galina Petrova, Aleksei Suknovalov, Lyubov Kazakova, Andrei Sumin, Yelizaveta Aleksandrova, Lazar Dubovik
"The winner of the grand prize at the Venice Film Festival in September, 'The Return' is the stunning feature film debut of Andrey Zvyagintsev, a 39-year-old Russian director who here renews the grand tradition of Russian cinematic mysticism epitomized by Andrei Tarkovsky. With a story line at once enigmatic and psychologically acute, 'The Return' draws on biblical motifs to tell a story of Vanya and Andrey, adolescent brothers who have grown up in the care of their mother in a small, depressed town, their father having disappeared sometime after Vanya's birth." - Dave Kehr NYT
Butterfly
1999
Director: Jose Luis Cuerda
Fernando Fernán Gómez, Manuel Lozano, Gonzalo Martin Uriarte, Uxia Blanco, Alexis de Los Santos, Jesús Castejón, Guillermo Toledo, Elena Fernández, Tamar Novas, Tatán, Roberto Vidal Bolaño, Celso Parada, Celso Bugallo, Antonio Lagares, Milagros Jiménez
At the onset of the Spanish Civil War, a sheltered boy in rural northern Spain forms an indelible bond with his kindly leftist teacher, who imparts his love for nature to the young student. Director Jose Luis Cuerda gentle and nostalgic drama, based on the short stories of Manuel Rivas, was nominated for 13 Goya Awards (the Spanish Oscar), winning for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Leviathan
2014
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Aleksey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Roman Madyanov
In a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. Leviathan represents a power lattice that resides in contemporary Russia. Weaving and developing systems of the church, government, police state, accessibility in rural Russia, disability, and family, the film shows how immediately and intricately these systems affect at the interpersonal scale.
Novecento (1900)
1976
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, Francesca Bertini
The epic tale of a class struggle in twentieth century Italy, as seen through the eyes of two childhood friends on opposing sides.
The Man Who Will Come
Director: Giorgio Diritti
Greta Zuccheri Montanari, Claudio Casadio, Alba Rohrwacher, Maya Sansa
From the frigid slopes of Mount Sole in Northern Italy comes a multiple award-winning WWII epic. On September 29, 1944, a tight-knit community of farmers becomes the target of a ruthless campaign by German forces determined to thwart their renegade existence. Told in the region's now defunct local dialect, this is the only film to shed light on the Marzabotto Massacre, the bloodiest in Italy's history. This touching story is told through the lens of fiercely independent 8 year-old Martina who stands by her family, patiently awaiting the birth of her baby brother, while tensions mount around her. The lead character, Martina, has no lines in the film!
La Terra Trema
1948
Director: Luchino Visconti
Cast with real Sicilian locals as villagers, director Luchino Visconti's haunting film presents a wrenching study of a family struggling to find happiness against the backdrop of Sicily's fishing community. The townsfolk's' lives undergo dramatic changes when they plot to overthrow the greedy wholesalers depriving them of a decent living. But against the odds, they still enjoy love, laughter and friendship within their close-knit community.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
1928
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, Andre Berley, Maurice Schutz, Antonin Artaud, Michel Simon, Jean D'Yd, Louis Ravet, Jean Ayme, Gilbert Dalleu
"You cannot know the history of silent film unless you know the face of Renee Maria Falconetti." - Roger Ebert
"It may be the finest performance ever recorded on film.” - Pauline Kael
In the Heat of the Night
Director: Norman Jewison
Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant
A black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.
Cinderella Man
2005
Director: Ron Howard
Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko, Connor Price, Paddy Considine, Bruce McGill, Ron Canada, Boyd Banks, Fulvio Cecere, Angelo Tsarouchas
"'Cinderella Man' is a terrific boxing picture, but there's no great need for another one. The need it fills is for a full-length portrait of a good man. Most serious movies live in a world of cynicism and irony, and most good-hearted movie characters live in bad movies. Here is a movie where a good man prevails in a world where every day is an invitation to despair, where resentment would seem fully justified, where doing the right thing seems almost gratuitous, because nobody is looking and nobody cares." - Roger Ebert
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1975
Director: Milos Forman
Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco
"Jesus, I must be crazy to be in a loony-bin like this."
Dead Poets Society
Director: Peter Weir.
Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles
Maverick teacher John Keating uses poetry to embolden his boarding school students to new heights of self-expression.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
2000
Director Paul Kafno
Adam Long, Reed Martin, Austin Tichenor, Daniel Singer
Three guys, one dead playwright, and 37 plays, all in under two hours. In this universally acclaimed theater experience, Adam Long (one of the troupe's founding members), Reed Martin, and Austin Tichenor manage to compress the complete works of Shakespeare into about an hour and 40 minutes of high-speed over-the-top hilarity. Knowledge about Shakespeare's works is helpful, but not at all necessary.
Chariots of Fire
1981
Director: Hugh Hudson
Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers, Daniel Gerroll, Alice Krige, Cherly Campbell, John Gielgud, Lindsay Anderson, Ian Holm, Richard Griffiths
Two very different runners -- hotshot Jewish Cambridge scholar Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) and rigid Presbyterian missionary Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) -- compete for the British team in the 1924 Olympics, facing intense pressure and complex personal tests of faith. Hugh Hudson directs this edifying 1981 Best Picture Oscar winner, which is based on a true story. Ian Holm co-stars as Abrahams's mentor, Sam Mussabini.
Sarah's Key
2010
Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Kristin Scott Thomas, Mélusine Mayance, Niels Arestrup, Frédéric Pierrot, Michel Duchaussoy, Dominique Frot, Natasha Mashkevich, Gisèle Casadesus, Aidan Quinn
Paris, 1942: To protect her brother from the police arresting Jewish families, a young girl hides him away, promising to come back for him. Sixty-seven years later, her story intertwines with that of an American journalist investigating the roundup.
Smoke Signals
1998
Director: Chris Eyre.
Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer
Humorous yet serious story about Victor, a young man who Director Chris Eyre describes as "trying to forgive his father." The movie gives us a glimpse into the contemporary Native American world, and is created by an almost exclusively Native American cast.
Blue
1993
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Juliette Binoche, Benoît Régent, Florence Pernel, Charlotte Very, Emmanuelle Riva, Philippe Volter, Julie Delpy
When a young Frenchwoman tries to uncover her famous composer husband's secret life, her steps take her alternately closer to and further from the truth on a journey that ultimately leads to self-discovery.
Max Manus
2008
Directors: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg
Aksel Hennie, Agnes Kittelsen, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Ken Duken, Christian Rubeck, Knut Joner, Mads Eldøen , Kyrre Haugen Sydness, Viktoria Winge, Stig Henrik Hoff
Dismayed by Norway's swift capitulation to Nazi Germany during World War II, Max Manus -- who would become one of Norway's greatest war heroes -- immediately joined the Resistance. This biographical drama tells his story.
Bliss
2007
Director: Abdullah Oguz
Özgü Namal, Talat Bulut, Murat Han, Mustafa Avkiran, Emin Gursoy, Meral Çetinkaya, Sebnem Köstem
After it's discovered that Meryem (Özgü Namal) has been raped, the young girl is ostracized by her family and community, who hold her accountable for the "crime." To salvage the family name, her father, Tahsin (Emin Gursoy), orders Cemal (Murat Han) to murder Meryem. But when Cemal refuses to carry out his orders, he and Meryem escape to a seaside town and set sail with a charismatic professor (Talat Bulut).
Volver
2006
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Penélope Cruz, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Carmen Maura, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, Leandro Rivera
In acclaimed filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar's engaging fantasy, a woman revisits her hometown in the La Mancha region of Spain -- in spectral form -- to resolve problems that she couldn't settle during her lifetime.
Tokyo Story
1953
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura, Nobuo Nakamura, So Yamamura, Kuniko Miyake, Kyôko Kagawa, Eijirô Tôno, Shiro Osaka
An elderly couple in post-World War II Japan travel to Tokyo to visit their children but are received rather coldly by their offspring. In fact, the only person happy to see them is their widowed daughter-in-law.
Sounder
1972
Director: Martin Ritt
Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Carmen Mathews
The oldest son of a loving and strong family of black sharecroppers comes of age in the Depression-era South after his father is imprisoned for stealing food.
Do the Right Thing
1989
Director: Spike Lee
Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Spike Lee, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Paul Benjamin, Frankie Faison, Samuel L. Jackson, Rosie Pérez
What begins as an uproarious comedy evolves into a provocative, disquieting drama as director Spike Lee chronicles trivial events that bring festering racial tensions to the surface on a sweltering day in a largely black Brooklyn neighborhood.
Jacob's Ladder
Director: Adrian Lyne
Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
Captain Abu Raed
2009
Director: Amin Matalqa
Nadim Sawalha, Rana Sultan, Hussine Al-Souse, Udey Al-Qadise, Ghandi Saber, Dina Raad-Yaghnam, Mohammad Qteshat, Nadim Mushahwar, Phaedra Dahdaleh, Khuloud Khaled Issa, Ayat Najah Abd Al-Sadeq
When an old airport janitor finds a captain's hat in the trash, he gets pulled into the lives of children in his poor neighborhood. He weaves imaginary stories of his world adventures to offer hope in the face of their harsh reality.
The Fisher King
Director: Terry Gilliam
Jeff Bridges, Adam Bryant, Paul Lombardi, David Hyde Pierce
A former radio DJ, suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, finds redemption in helping a deranged homeless man who was an unwitting victim of that mistake.
Mystic River
2003
Director: Clint Eastwood.
Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne
Sean, Jimmy and Dave were inseparable friends as children. They have lost sight of each other after a tragic event that changed their lives forever: Dave's abduction by two paedophiles. 25 years later another tragedy brings them back together, that is the murder of Jimmy's oldest daughter. "The reality is we're still 11-year-old boys locked in a cellar imagining what our lives would have been if we'd escaped."
Machuca
2005
Director: Andres Wood
Matias Quer, Ariel Mateluna, Manuela Martelli, Ernesto Malbran, Aline Kuppenheim, Federico Luppi, Francisco Reyes, Luis Dubó, Tamara Acosta, Maria Olga Matte
Seeking escape from his stormy home life, well-to-do youngster Gonzalo (Matias Quer) befriends Pedro (Ariel Mateluna), a poor, bullied pupil who's attending his school on scholarship. The two grow close despite class hierarchy, but politics threaten to destroy their friendship. Set in 1973 Santiago amid political unrest, this tale centers on the friendship of two schoolboys from vastly different backgrounds.
Rashomon
1950
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki, Kichijiro Ueda, Noriko Honma, Daisuke Katô
Considered one of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's masterpieces, this Oscar-winning crime drama unfolds as four witnesses to a rape and murder report their versions of the attack, leaving the viewer to decide what really happened.
Woman in Gold
2015
Director: Simon Curtis
Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl, Katie Holmes
Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.
Pelle the Conqueror
1987
Director Bille August
Max von Sydow, Pelle Hvenegaard, Erik Paaske, Björn Granath, Astrid Villaume, Axel Strøbye, Troels Asmussen, Kristina Törnqvist, Karen Wegener, Sofie Gråbøl, Lars Simonsen
Drunken and defiant laborer Lasse Karlsson and his young son, Pelle, migrate from Sweden to Denmark in search of farm work. They find it -- along with much more than they bargained for -- on the Kongstrup farm.
City of God
2002
Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund
Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Jonathan Haagensen, Phellipe Haagensen, Douglas Silva, Daniel Zettel, Seu Jorge, Matheus Nachtergaele
Growing up in a Rio de Janeiro favela, Rocket is able to avoid being drawn into a life of drugs and crime by having a passion for photography. Through his eyes, the dramatic stories of several of the slum's colorful residents unfold.
Red Beard
1965
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Toshirô Mifune, Yuzo Kayama, Kamatari Fujiwara, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Tatsuyoshi Ehara, Reiko Dan, Akemi Negishi
A testament to the goodness of humankind, director Akira Kurosawa's medical drama chronicles the relationship between an arrogant young doctor (Yuzo Kayama) and the compassionate clinic director (Toshirô Mifune) who teaches him to appreciate the lives of their destitute patients. Mifune, in his last role for Kurosawa, gives a powerhouse performance as the dignified yet passionate director who guides his embittered intern to maturity.
Tell No One
2006
Director: Guillaume Canet
François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, André Dussollier, Kristin Scott Thomas, François Berléand, Nathalie Baye, Jean Rochefort, Marina Hands, Gilles Lellouche, Philippe Lefebvre, Florence Thomassin, Olivier Marchal, Brigitte Catillon, Samir Guesmi, Guillaume Canet
Eight years ago, pediatrician Alexandre Beck (François Cluzet) was the prime suspect in his wife's murder. He's put all that behind him, but now that two dead bodies have been found near his home, he's suspected of wrongdoing once again.
Good Will Hunting
1997
Director: Gus Van Sant
Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
Twenty-year-old Will Hunting of South Boston is a natural genius who is self-taught. He works as a janitor at MIT and spends his free time drinking with his friends Chuckie, Billy, and Morgan. When Professor Gerald Lambeau posts a difficult combinatorial mathematics problem on a blackboard as a challenge for his graduate students, Will solves the problem anonymously, stunning both the students and Lambeau.
Children of Heaven
1999
Director: Majid Majidi
Mohammad Amir Naji, Amir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi, Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi, Fereshte Sarabandi, Kamal Mirkarimi, Behzad Rafi, Dariush Mokhtari, Mohammad-Hasan Hosseinian, Masume Dair
A young boy accidentally loses his sister's shoes and must share his own sneakers with her in a sort of relay while each attends school at different times during the day. The boy eventually enters a foot race in hopes of winning a new pair of shoes.
North by Northwest
1959
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis
Grant found the screenplay baffling, and midway through filming told Hitchcock, "It's a terrible script. We've already done a third of the picture and I still can't make head or tail of it!” Hitchcock knew this confusion would only help the film—after all, Grant's character had no idea what was going on, either.
12 Years a Slave
2013
Director: Steve McQueen
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Alfre Woodard
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details his being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South.
The Battleship Potemkin
1925
Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein
I. Bobrov, Beatrice Vitoldi, N. Poltavseva, Julia Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov, Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Sergei M. Eisenstein, Mikhail Gomorov, Aleksandr Levshin
Director Sergei M. Eisenstein's cinematic landmark charts the events that led to the Bolshevik Revolution. The rebellion of a battleship crew ignites a citizens' uprising, resulting in czarist troops' infamous slaughter of insurgents and bystanders.
Port of Shadows
1938
Director: Marcel Carné
Jean Gabin, Michel Simon, Michèle Morgan, Pierre Brasseur, René Génin, Marcel Peres, Roger Legris, Martial Rebe, Jenny Burnay
Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean (Jean Gabin), an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, when acts of revenge and kindness turn him into front-page news. Based on the novel by Pierre Mac Orlan, Port of Shadows starkly portrays an underworld of lonely souls wrestling with their own destinies. Marcel Carne directs.
The Road Home
1999
Director: Yimou Zhang
Ziyi Zhang, Honglei Sun, Hao Zheng, Yuelin Zhao, Bin Li, Guifa Chang, Wencheng Sung, Qi Liu, Bo Ji, Zhongxi Zhang
In 1950s China, young country girl Zhao Di falls head over heels for her village's new schoolteacher, but the couple's courtship is cut short when the new communist government summons him for questioning during the Cultural Revolution.
Cradle Will Rock
1999
Director: Tim Robbins
Angus Macfadyen, Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Emily Watson
In the 1930s, as labor strikes erupt across the country, New York City launches a dramatic cultural revolution of its own. Orson Welles stages the controversial titular play -- a leftist manifesto. Diego Rivera paints a socialist allegory on the walls of Rockefeller Center. And Margherita Sarfatti gives Da Vinci masterworks to any millionaire who'll fund her war effort on Mussolini's behalf.
Johnny Belinda
1948
Director: Jean Negulesco
Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorehead.
A kind doctor volunteers to tutor a deaf-mute woman, but scandal starts to swirl when his pupil is raped and falls pregnant.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
2012
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly, Lowell Landes, Pamela Harper, Gina Montana, Nicholas Clark, Jovan Hathaway, Jonshel Alexander, Kaliana Brower, Joseph Brown
This fantastical drama follows a little girl named Hushpuppy who lives in a dilapidated pocket of homes in the Mississippi Delta. When her father falls ill and natural disasters strike, Hushpuppy sets off to find her long-lost mother.
I've Loved You So Long
2008
Director: Philippe Claudel
Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius, Laurent Grévill, Frédéric Pierrot, Claire Johnston, Catherine Hosmalin, Jean-Claude Arnaud, Olivier Cruveiller, Lise Segur, Mouss Zouheyri
When Juliette is paroled after serving 15 years for murder, her estranged younger sister, Léa, offers her a place to live and restart her life. Léa's happy to reconnect, but her husband, thinking of the couple's two children, is more reluctant.
In the Name of the Father
1993
Director: Jim Sheridan
Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson, Pete Postlethwaite, Philip King, Nye Heron, Anthony Brophy, Frankie McCafferty, Paul Warriner
Nominated for seven Oscars in 1993, this biopic features the dramatic prowess of Daniel Day-Lewis as the Irishman Gerry Conlon, who was wrongfully sentenced to life in prison for an IRA terrorist attack that killed four people. As if a forced confession weren't enough injustice, the police work to implicate Conlon's father (Pete Postlethwaite) in the same crime. Emma Thompson plays the lawyer who worked for years to uncover the truth.
Mother of Mine
2005
Director: Klaus Härö
Topi Majaniemi, Marjaana Maijala, Maria Lundqvist, Michael Nyqvist, Esko Salminen, Aino-Maija Tikkanen, Kari-Pekka Toivonen, J. Christoffer Slotte, Penny Elvira Loftéen
Director Klaus Härö tackles the real-life drama of history in this heartbreaking film set against the backdrop of World War II. Evacuated to the safety of neutral Sweden along with more than 70,000 other Finnish children, 9-year-old Eero (Topi Majaniemi) grapples with feeling abandoned by his biological parents and yet detached from his surrogate family. Unfortunately, things only get worse when he returns to a much different home life.
Incendies
2010
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard, Abdelghafour Elaaziz, Allen Altman, Mohamed Majd, Nabil Sawalha, Baya Belal
When their mother's will implores them to deliver letters to the father they thought was dead and a brother they never knew about, twins Jeanne and Simon journey to the Middle East and attempt to reconstruct their family's hidden history.
Stormy Weather
1943
Director: Andrew L. Stone
Lena Horne. Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Fats Waller, Nicholas Brothers, Ada Brown, Dooley Wilson
The music and dancing.
To Have and Have Not
1944
Director: Howard Hawks.
Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall, Dolores Moran
"You know how to whistle, don't you Steve? You just put your lips together, and blow."
Sin Nombre
2009
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Paulina Gaitan, Édgar Flores, Kristyan Ferrer, Diana Garcia, Héctor Jiménez, Luis Fernando Peña, Damayanti Quintanar, Gerardo Taracena, Karla Cecilia Alvarado, Tenoch Huerta
Fleeing retaliation from the violent Central American street gang he's deserted, a young hood boards a northbound train, where he takes refuge atop the moving freight cars and hopes for a fresh start in a new country.
The Ascent
1977
Director: Larisa Shepitko
Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Sergei Yakovlev, Lyudmila Polyakova, Viktoriya Goldentul, Anatoli Solonitsyn, Mariya Vinogradova, Nikolai Sektimenko
Acclaimed Soviet film director Larisa Shepitko offers the rigorous and surprisingly spiritual story of two Russian World War II partisans isolated from their comrades deep in the woods, trying desperately to avoid capture by Nazi forces. The tense drama also explores the landscape of the human soul and its capacity for loyalty and betrayal, themes masterfully culminated in the film's final scenes. Boris Plotnikov and Vladimir Gostyukhin star.
Chocolat
2000
Director: Lasse Hallström
Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, Lena Olin, Johnny Depp, Carrie-Anne Moss, John Wood, Leslie Caron
Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche), an expert chocolatière and her six-year-old daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol), drift across Europe following the north wind. In 1959, they arrive in a quiet, traditional French village, overseen by village mayor the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina) at the start of the 40 days of Lent. Vianne opens a chocolate shop, much to Reynaud's chagrin.
As It Is in Heaven
2005
Director: Kay Pollak
Michael Nyqvist, Frida Hallgren, Helen Sjöholm , Lennart Jähkel , Ingela Olsson, Niklas Falk, Per Morberg, Ylva Lööf
This Oscar-nominated drama tells the story of Daniel Dareus, a small-town boy who escaped his tiny village to become a famous conductor. A tragic mishap sends him back home in search of a fresh start, and he ends up leading the local choir.
The Defiant Ones
1958
Director: Stanley Kramer
Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Charles McGraw, Lon Chaney Jr., King Donovan, Claude Akins, Lawrence Dobkin, Whit Bissell, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Kevin Coughlin, Cara Williams
Two escaped convicts -- one black (Sidney Poitier), one white (Tony Curtis) and both shackled in the same pair of handcuffs -- battle the elements and each other as they travel Southern back roads eluding the ever-approaching posse. Produced at the peak of racial disharmony, this story of two men with strong prejudices who find common ground was powerful in its time. Nominated for nine Oscars, the film won for Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
Key Largo
1948
Director: John Huston.
Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor
"After living in the USA for more than thirty-five years they called me an undesirable alien. Me. Johnny Rocco. Like I was a dirty Red or something!"
Cabaret
Director: Bob Fosse.
Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey
A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.
Council of the Gods
1950
Director: Kurt Maetzig
Fritz Tillmann, Paul Bildt, Willy A. Kleinau, Hans-Georg Rudolph, Albert Garbe, Helmuth Hinzelmann, Inge Keller, Yvonne Merin, Kaete Scharf
Based on testimony from the Nuremberg Trials, this East German drama explores the collusion between international corporations and Nazi scientists. Considering himself politically neutral, a chemist remains silent when his company creates the gas that kills millions of prisoners in concentration camps.
Cool Hand Luke
1967
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Cannon, Lou Antonio, Robert Drivas, Strother Martin, Jo Van Fleet, Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper, Joe Don Baker, James Gammon, Wayne Rogers
"What we have here is a failure to communicate." Luke Jackson is a man who likes to do things his own way, which leads to a world of hurt when he ends up in a Southern prison camp -- and on the wrong side of its warden. George Kennedy copped an Oscar as a fellow prisoner who tries to break Luke and later comes to revere him. The cast also includes a young Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton and Joe Don Baker.
Twenty-Four Eyes
1954
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita
Hideko Takamine, Chishu Ryu
In 1928, young Hisako Oishi (Hideko Takamine) comes to a small village to teach the children. As she connects with her 6-year-old students, war threatens their peaceful world, and she struggles to give them hope. But she knows that war will claim the innocent. For the next 20 years, she watches her students grow into adulthood and shares in their tribulations. Keisuke Kinoshita directs this Japanese cinema classic.
Enemy at the Gates
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud.
Jude Law, Ed Harris, Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes.
A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse in this historical war drama focusing upon the 1942 Battle of Stalingrad, which was a major turning point in the war in Europe during World War II. It was known for its brutal urban warfare.
Schindler's List
1993
Director: Steven Spielberg
Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
The Hustler
Director: Robert Rossen
Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott
An up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match.
Gladiator
2000
Director: Ridley Scott
Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed
A former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.
Free State of Jones
2016
Director Gary Ross.
Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Keri Russell.
A disillusioned Confederate army deserter returns to Mississippi and leads a militia of fellow deserters and women in an uprising against the corrupt local Confederate government, based on the life of Newton Knight and his armed revolt against in Jones County, Mississippi during the Civil War.
The Butterfly
2003
Director Philippe Muyl
Michel Serrault, Claire Bouanich, Nade Dieu, Jacques Bouanich, Jerry Lucas, Aurélie Meriel, Helene Hily, Pierre Poirot, Jacky Nercessian
All Julien (Michel Serrault) wants to do in his old age is collect and preserve butterflies. But when a woman and her 8-year-old daughter Elsa take residence in his building, his world opens up for good. Young Elsa befriends Julien and sneakily joins him on a trip to the Alps to find a rare butterfly specimen. During this getaway, their touching intergenerational bond deepens in this family-friendly French film.
The Shop Around the Corner
1940
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, Sara Haden, Felix Bressart, William Tracy, Inez Courtney
In Ernst Lubitsch's charming, Budapest-set romance -- later remade as the Meg Ryan-Tom Hanks vehicle You've Got Mail -- Klara and Alfred fall in love, even though they've only met before as pen pals and don't even know each other's names. Over Alfred's objections, Klara is hired in the shop where he works. But as they continue their loving correspondence, they embark on a combative working relationship.
Meet John Doe
1941
Directed: Frank Capra
Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan
A penniless drifter is recruited by an ambitious columnist to impersonate a non-existent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a political movement begins.
Young Frankenstein
Director: Mel Brooks.
Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, Kenneth Mars.
"Oh, you men are all alike. Seven or eight quick ones and then you're out with the boys to boast and brag. "
Groundhog Day
1993
Director: Harold Ramis.
Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky
A jaded Pittsburgh weatherman finds himself inexplicably trapped in a small town as he lives the same day over and over again.
Fried Green Tomatoes
1991
Director: Jon Avnet.
Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker, Jessica Tandy
Amidst her own personality crisis, southern housewife Evelyn Couch meets Ninny, an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the 1920s.
Man of Aran
1934
Director: Robert J. Flaherty
Colman 'Tiger' King, Maggie Dirrane, Michael Dillane, Pat Mullin, Patch 'Red Beard' Ruadh, Patcheen Faherty, Tommy O'Rourke, Stephen Dirrane, Pat McDonough
Director Robert Flaherty's first sound film is a brilliant dramatized documentary about the Herculean struggles of a community living on the remote and almost completely barren island of Aran, off the Irish coast. Before crops can be grown here, the soil has to be collected from rock crevices and mixed with seaweed. Flaherty also wrote the screenplay, and the film was named Best Picture of the Year (1934) by the National Board of Review.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
2003
Director: Peter Weir
Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Edward Woodall
During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.
My Afternoons with Margueritte
2010
Director: Jean Becker
Gérard Depardieu, Gisèle Casadesus, Maurane, Patrick Bouchitey, Jean-François Stévenin, François-Xavier Demaison, Claire Maurier, Sophie Guillemin, Mélanie Bernier
An illiterate handyman named Germain (Gérard Depardieu) befriends Margueritte (Gisèle Casadesus), a highly educated 95-year-old woman. The two couldn't be more different, with the oafish Germain bewildered by the literature that gives Margueritte such pleasure. Slowly the two form an unusual and intense bond, leading them to a greater understanding of their place in the world, and in each other's lives.
Aftermath
2013
Director: Wladyslaw Pasikowski
Maciej Stuhr, Ireneusz Czop, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Zuzana Fialová, Wojciech Zielinski, Andrzej Mastalerz
"'Aftermath' is a bombshell disguised as a thriller. Its devastating story involves Jews and the Holocaust, yet not a single Jewish character appears on-screen. Instead there are only Poles, grappling to different degrees with a history that is as difficult as it is complex. If the celebrated William Faulkner quote “The past is never dead, it’s not even past” is true anywhere, it’s in Poland, where this film was made and caused a national sensation. The narratives of competing victimization between Poles and the international Jewish community over who suffered most during World War II remain unresolved even decades after the fact, and it is into this maelstrom that 'Aftermath' has inserted itself. Not as a polemic but rather as an especially effective film noir." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
2008
Director: Mark Herman.
Asa Butterfield, Zac Mattoon O'Brien, Domonkos Németh, Henry Kingsmill.
Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Autumn Sonata
1978
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman, Halvar Björk, Arne Bang-Hansen, Gunnar Björnstrand, Erland Josephson, Georg Løkkeberg, Linn Ullmann
In her final film performance, Ingrid Bergman stars as a famous pianist who sacrifices her career to reconcile with her neglected daughter, Eva. Tensions arise when she discovers Eva is caring for her other daughter, who is mentally impaired.
A Foreign Affair
1948
Director: Billy Wilder
Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund, Millard Mitchell
In occupied Berlin, an army captain is torn between an ex-Nazi café singer and the U.S. congresswoman investigating her.
The Petrified Forest
1936
Director: Archie Mayo
Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Genevieve Tobin, Dick Foran
In the midst of the Great Depression, Alan Squier, a failed British writer, now a disillusioned, penniless drifter, wanders into a roadside diner in the remote town of Black Mesa, Arizona, at the edge of the Petrified Forest. The diner is run by Jason Maple, his daughter Gabrielle, and Gramp, Jason's father, who regales anyone who will listen with stories of his adventures in the Old West with such characters as Billy the Kid.
Dark Passage
1947
Director: Delmer Daves
Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) has just escaped from prison after being locked up for a crime he did not commit -- murdering his wife. On the outside, Vincent finds that his face is betraying him, literally, so he finds a plastic surgery to give him new features. After getting a ride out of town from a stranger, Vincent crosses paths with a young woman (Lauren Bacall) who lets him stay in her apartment while he heals and continues to try and clear his name.
Detour
1957
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
In New York, piano player Al Roberts (Tom Neal) laments when his singer girlfriend, Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake), leaves for Hollywood, Calif. When Al gets some money, he decides to hitchhike to California to join Sue. In Arizona, Al accepts a ride with Charles Haskell (Edmund MacDonald), but during a storm in a freak accident, Haskell is killed. Frightened, Al assumes Haskell's identity and car, but soon comes upon the mysterious Vera (Ann Savage), who seems to know all about his true identity.
A Night at the Opera
1935
Director: Sam Wood
The Marx Brothers run amuck in the world of opera when Otis B. Driftwood meets aspiring singer Ricardo , who is determined to win the love of fellow performer Rosa . Aided by Fiorello and Tomasso, Otis attempts to unite the young couple, but faces opposition from the preening star Lassparri, who also has his sights on Rosa. Traveling from Italy to New York, Otis and friends rally to try and win the day.
The Fighter
2010
Director: David O. Russell
Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo
Based on the story of Micky Ward, a fledgling boxer who tries to escape the shadow of his more famous but troubled older boxing brother and get his own shot at greatness.
The Verdict
1982
Director: Sidney Lumet
Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea, Lindsay Crouse, Edward Binns, Julie Bovasso, Roxanne Hart, James Handy, Wesley Addy, Joe Seneca, Lewis J. Stadlen
A washed-up, ambulance-chasing attorney gets a chance at redemption when his friend tosses him an open-and-shut medical malpractice case. But instead of accepting an easy cash settlement, he takes the powerful defendant to court.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936
Director: Frank Capra
Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander
A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.
A Beautiful Mind
2001
Director: Ron Howard.
Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer
American Nobel Prize winner John Nash, whose innovative work on game theory in mathematics was in many ways overshadowed by decades of mental illness.
The Talk of the Town
1942
Director: George Stevens
Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, Edgar Buchanan
An escaped prisoner has to prove his innocence to a stuffy law professor with the help of a spirited school teacher.
Duck Soup
1933
Director: Leo McCarey.
Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx.
"Dig trenches, with our men being killed off like flies? There isn't time to dig trenches. We'll have to buy them ready made. Here, run out and get some trenches. Wait a minute, get them this high and our soldiers won't need any pants. Wait a minute, get them this high and we won't need any soldiers."
The More the Merrier
1943
Director: George Stevens
Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn, Richard Gaines
During the World War II housing shortage in Washington, two men and a woman share a single apartment and the older man plays Cupid to the other two.
The Misfits
1961
Director: John Huston
Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift
The last film appearance for both Monroe and Gable. "Damn 'em all. They changed it, changed it all around. Smeared it all over with blood. I'm finished with it. It's like roping a dream now. I just gotta find another way to be alive, that's all. If there is one anymore."
Antwone Fisher
2002
Directed: Denzel Washington
Derek Luke, Malcolm David Kelley, Cory Hodges, Denzel Washington
A young navy man, is forced to see a psychiatrist after a violent outburst against a fellow crewman. During the course of treatment a painful past is revealed and a new hope begins.
The Whole Town's Talking
1935
Director: John Ford
Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, Arthur Hohl, James Donlan
A meek milquetoast of a clerk's mistaken for public enemy number 1, and the notorious killer takes advantage of the situation
The Producers
1967
Director: Mel Brooks
Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn
"How could this happen? I was so careful. I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right? "
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