100 of the Best Films I've seen in order of Discovery! A list By Tom Palminteri
This list is a work in progress and since it's sort of autobiographical I am still working on the order, selection and mini-reviews. This may take a while so maybe check back from time to time. Although my taste in movies has changed over the years certain movies and televison shows still stand out for me as being "special." That is why I wanted to make this list. What it comes down to for me is after I watch a movie I think "did this film stick with me?" Is there something to see here? Another one of the main things that I look for in a film is an “atmosphere” Did the filmmakers create an atmosphere and can we feel it, is it palpable?! I feel like that is some of the main criteria for a great movie! Here are the films I've watched that did and do stick with me. I can honestly tell you that there is something to see here! From time to time I will add to this list. My latest entry to make this list is Coco (2017)! I thought that was a wonderful film with a beautiful story, great characters and amazing colors! Pixar really knows how to tell a story! Hopefully there will be more good ones to come soon! So stay tuned and feel free to comment. tp
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- DirectorVictor FlemingKing VidorStarsJudy GarlandFrank MorganRay BolgerYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.Ok since I'm going in order of "discovery" I have to start with this one! This was probably the first movie that I fell in love with.
When I was a kid my family didn't have a colored TV so we would drive to my Grandma's house in Ozone Park to see it once a year. It was only on once a year! But that's what made it so special! It was so perfect and people today are still amazed at the music, the B&W into Color....the flying monkeys, the wicked witch of the west and how in the end it was all just a dream. Magic is the only word to describe this movie and when your a kid you love magic I still love it! - DirectorMel StuartStarsGene WilderJack AlbertsonPeter OstrumA poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory.We saw this in the movies when I was 9-years old by accident. We were there to see Charlottes Web but Willy Wonka was part of a double feature. To me and my parents happy surprise it was not only hilarious, edgy and suspenseful but also a really great movie. It may have been my first 'big' movie experience! I couldn't stop thinking and talking about it for a long time and I wouldn't see it again until it was on TV years later. The cast including all of the kids were great, but Gene Wilder was perfect! "If you want view paradise simply look around and view it" -Great Songs too!
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.The synopsis on IMDB for 2001: A Space Odyssey doesn’t do the film justice. This is not about plot although there is one in an oblique way. The main thing that makes a Stanley Kubrick film stand out is the atmosphere he creates. This film has so much atmosphere you can poke it. Of course, that wouldn’t be enough to make it a great film. But what also makes it so unique is how open ended its meaning seems to be. What is the Monolith? Is it God? Is it some type of alien intelligence? It looks forward and ask the questions at the same time. Where is this all going? Well in this film, that is so relentlessly ambiguous yet breathtaking at the same time you may even call it a semi-religious experience. Seeing this on the big screen as a 10-year old kid for the 1st time was like that for me.
The music used in this film is also a big part of what makes it so special. Using classical music was an unusual choice for the time ( 1968) . The scenes with the Monolith featured the music of modern classical composer of György Ligeti. Using Ligeti's Requiem was daring and haunting. The first space scenes were set to Johann Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz which added a much-needed sense of levity to the film. I saw it on a rerelease and I never saw movies in the same way again. It was mysterious, dazzling, puzzling and in some ways down right mystical. To me no other film has been able to match it. If you've never seen this on the big-screen in 70mm you are missing out on one of the great ones! - DirectorFederico FelliniStarsAnthony QuinnGiulietta MasinaRichard BasehartA care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.Fellini's first 'hit' and the first foreign film I actually watched as a kid. I still remember how it haunted me. Fellini is a master at creating atmosphere and if you let him his films will take you to another place. It was like all of the sadness and mystery of life was in there in that story. The characters, the story which plays out like a parable, his use of exaggerated exotic images and of course the music by Nino Rota made it all seem like a dream that I had once a long time ago but forgotten.
- DirectorPeter BrookStarsJames AubreyTom ChapinHugh EdwardsSchoolboys marooned on a Pacific island create their own savage civilization.This film was shown on PBS when I was a kid and it left a deep impression on me. Peter Brooks version is a haunting metaphor for society and the human dilemma. What makes this version so unique was how Peter Brooks used many non-actors and used an improvisation approach; this made it feel very real. The music and the song that the choir boys sing throughout the film was also very haunting to me as a kid. Not to be confused with the later ( 1990's ) American version which has none of the magic of the 1963 version.
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongFord Beebe Jr.StarsLeopold StokowskiDeems TaylorThe Philadelphia OrchestraA series of eight famous pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski and interpreted in animation by Walt Disney's team of artists.For some reason my father dropped me off at the local West Islip Cinema to see this by myself ( in those days you could do that ). It was a Disney cartoon with classical music. Although I did find it a bit of a challenge at first the more I took in the images and music the more I found it dazzling and it was one of my first introduction to classical music. I think it was a pretty daring concept for Disney to make a film like this. Of course in 1940 more people were interested in classical music than now days.
- DirectorGeorge DunningStarsPaul McCartneyGeorge HarrisonRingo StarrThe Beatles agree to accompany Captain Fred in his yellow submarine and go to Pepperland to free it from the music-hating Blue Meanies.For some reason they would show this at the Drive-In as a double feature with a Disney Feature back in the early-70's. My sister was 5 or six at the time. I was 8 or nine. The Disney Feature was Swiss Family Robinson which we thought was boring. The Yellow Submarine was shown sometime around midnight. The images combined with The Beatles music were very colorful and exciting in a way that I had not expected. All I can say is my sister and I loved it but my parents' hated it.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJulie AndrewsChristopher PlummerEleanor ParkerA young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.What can I say about this classic that hasn't already been said. Probably the best on screen version of a Broadway musical of all time. I was lucky enough to see this in the movies on a re-release in the mid-70's with my mom and grandmother. The gorgeous opening with Maria singing "the Hills are alive with the Sound of Music" in the Swiss Alps was movie history in the making. Amazing!
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherLuke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.I was 12-years old when I saw this for the first time with my sister and my friends and we were never so dazzled! I remember how Newsday's critic Joseph Gelmis said that it was a movie that referenced the Lord of the Rings, New Testament, Wizard of Oz, the Hidden Fortress and Flash Gordon, all at the same time. To me everything about the movie seemed new! In retrospect, its appeal seemed to be about architypes, the orphan farm boy, the princess, the swashbuckling rouge, the wise old wizard, and of course the Dark Side represented by Darth Vader plus it had a happy ending. Put it all together in Dolby Stereo and 70-millimeter and you have an instant classic! Many prefer Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi but for me it's the first Star Wars movie that made me a fan and believer in the Force!
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsDustin HoffmanAnne BancroftKatharine RossA disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.It may not have happened to you in this way exactly but in some way every young man is Benjamin Braddock for a brief time in his life. Mike Nichols film strikes me as the first truly ironic American film. By casting Dustin Hoffman in the role as the under confident anti-hero this movie is much more then the sum of its parts.
- DirectorEric IdleGary WeisStarsEric IdleJohn HalseyRicky FataarCharts the adventures of the prefab four, possibly the most famous band of all time.Whenever I watch this "TV Special" it brings back such good memories. The first time I saw this I must have been 13 and I had just become a Beatles fan. I was like "what the ...?" I then bought the soundtrack on vinyl ( which I still play ) Its just great to see all those people up there having fun, Neil Innes and Erics Idle are brilliant.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJohn SavageTreat WilliamsBeverly D'AngeloClaude Bukowski leaves the family ranch in Oklahoma for New York where he is rapidly embraced into the hippie group of youngsters led by Berger, yet he's already been drafted. He soon falls in love with Sheila Franklin, a rich girl but still a rebel inside.
- DirectorJeff SteinStarsRoger DaltreyPete TownshendKeith MoonInterviews, TV clips and concert footage make up this comprehensive profile of The Who, Britain's premiere rock band.The Who Movie which is an all out Rockumentary of the Who by Jeff Stien! I saw this in the movies for the 1st time when I was about 14 and it made me a Who fan for life! Around that time in 1979 I got see the Who but it was after Keith Moon had died and it wasn't quite the same, but if you see this movie you get a sense of just how amazing they were live, their raw energy and as simple a force in Rock 'n' Roll.
- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherAfter the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.The 2nd Star Wars movie and it still feels as fresh today as it did in 1980.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsMel BrooksGregory HinesDom DeLuiseMel Brooks brings his one-of-a-kind comic touch to the history of mankind covering events from the Old Testament to the French Revolution in a series of episodic comedy vignettes.
- DirectorMark RydellStarsKatharine HepburnHenry FondaJane FondaNorman is a curmudgeon with an estranged relationship with his daughter Chelsea. At Golden Pond, he and his wife nevertheless agree to care for Billy, the son of Chelsea's new boyfriend, and a most unexpected relationship blooms.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHarrison FordKaren AllenPaul FreemanIn 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
- CreatorAndrew AlexanderStarsJohn CandyJoe FlahertyEugene LevyComedy parody about TV.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHenry ThomasDrew BarrymorePeter CoyoteA troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.It's hard to believe it's been 35-years since this little gem showed up on the big screen. I was 17 and I saw several times in theaters. I even dragged my parents out to see it and they also liked it. In retrospect I think it's a really small, innocent film with a big theme and a big heart. The appeal to me was the way it depicted suburbia and even though it's a "sci-fi" movie about an alien it's also about the growing pains in an average American family. The cast was excellent and Spielberg's directing seemed more natural than ever, his used of lighting ( darkness and light ) was mesmerizing. It was really a story told in pictures and I think that fascinated me. Plus I can't forget how truly inspired John Williams score was. Put all of that together and you have classic!
- DirectorJim SharmanStarsTim CurrySusan SarandonBarry BostwickA newly-engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must seek shelter at the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-n-Furter.What can I say about Rocky Horror that can possibly add to it's legendary cult movie status?! As a movie it may not be "masterpiece" but it certainly has unique place in cinema history. It opened and it floped in 1975 but a few years later amidst the NYC punk/glam scene it found an audience that grew into a international "cult" phenomenon. I must have seen it 12-times at midnight showings it was great fun. Because of it's humorous way this movie seems to tap into something about sexuality and identity that has never been matched. As a teenager in the early-1980's it was amazing to see all kinds of people ( jocks, geeks, burn-outs, brains ) coming and doing the "Time Warp" if you will. To me in 1979-80 that was quite an achievement plus the songs were great! Of course Tim Curry as Frank 'n' Forter was out of this world! So yeah it is really is something to see!
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTony CurtisJack LemmonAfter two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.I recently got a chance to see Some Like it Hot in the movies on the big screen as part of the TCM’s Fathom Events and what a fun little movie this is! You can really feel that the actors are having a blast. I think I first watched SLIH when I was in my teens and I liked it then but it grew on me after repeated viewings. Over time the film became even more of a classic in the movie world. Billy Wilder crafted something very rare in Some Like it Hot a comedy that gets better over time. If you love movies you have to see this one! It’s an all out romp that is part Marx Brothers meets the gangster movies of the 40’s. When Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon (two out of work musicians) witness a mob shooting they disguise themselves in drag and take a gig in an all-girl band add Marilyn Monroe as the lead singer and you get the one of the best comedies of all time. It is by far Marilyn Monroe's best movie, even though she herself didn't like it very much. It's all very clever and hilarious but to me in the end it's Jack Lemmon and Joe E. Brown the actor who plays Asgood that really steal the show! Enjoy!
- DirectorTerry GilliamTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseEric IdleKing Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.One of the funniest/wackiest movies ever!
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.To me timing can be everything when you discover a film. I saw this when I was 17 on HBO with my one of my best friends, and lets just say we were blown away. Soon after I realized it was the same person who made 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was amazed that this film came from the same person. Like it or not it is one of the most daring, electrifying films you will ever see. To think that Kubrick made this film 3-years after 2001 is in itself astounding. But even though this is a very different kind of film what sticks with me in the end is Kubrick's use of music and visuals, it's like poetry in motion.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowDianne WiestMichael CaineBetween two Thanksgivings two years apart, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.The first Woody Allen film I really got into when I was 20 and I've been hooked ever since. I think Michael Cain said this was Woody Allen's warmest film and I think he's right. It has a great ensemble cast and unlike Annie Hall it weaves together several stories. It also has the sweep of a novel. How one person could have made so many amazing films is beyond me!
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonTony RobertsAlvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.Even though I did see this at the Drive Inn with my brother when I was 12-years old I didn't really understand how great it was. That's why I put it up further on this list. I was also mad that it beat Star Wars for Best Picture, but as I got a bit older I got the Woody Allen thing. Woody Allen has made too many great movies to pick only one so what I did was put his New York Trilogy together. Of coarse they are all slightly different and sometimes wonderful but Annie Hall is the funniest and the one that started the whole thing. There are so many great lines and moments in the film and it seems to say something about relationships that few films have. And even though it is not exactly a Romantic Comedy this movie seems to have reinvented romantic/comedies for decades to come.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonMariel HemingwayThe life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.Black and White and Gershwin! How can you beat that?! In Manhattan Woody captures an atmosphere that is simple NYC circa 1979! it's like Annie Hall only different and perhaps better.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.One of the few movies about classical music to become popular and turned me on to classical music to a certain extent. The acting is as good as it gets with F. Murray Abraham as villainous Saliarri and Tom Holce as the naïve Mozart. In Milos Forman's film we get the man, the myth, the legend of Mozart but we also get the music and the spectacle of epic filmmaking. What I love it that this film seems to have that perfect balance of drama, humor and spectacle that so few movies have been able to combine.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsRuth GordonBud CortVivian PicklesYoung, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsJason SchwartzmanBill MurrayOlivia WilliamsA teenager at Rushmore Academy falls for a much older teacher and befriends a middle-aged industrialist. Later, he finds out that his love interest and his friend are having an affair, which prompts him to begin a vendetta.My first and favorite Wes Anderson film! I regret never having seen it in theaters but if you have the Criterion edition on DVD or Blu-Ray your still get a sense of it's beauty. It's a wonderfully strange and ultimately bittersweet coming of age story that sets Wes Anderson on his path to becoming one the most original filmmakers of our time.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenMia FarrowNick Apollo ForteIn his attempts to reconcile a lounge singer with his mistress, a hapless talent agent is mistaken as her lover by a jealous gangster.Touching, funny, sad and not your typical Woody Allen movie. Shot in B&W BDR is a tall tale about a "nebbish" NYC agent who just can't seem to get a break. Made in 1984 and told in flashback the film plays out like a nostalgia fable. Woody and Mia have never been better or more dynamic. Its so good you wish their fate had ended differently.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowJeff DanielsDanny AielloIn 1935 New Jersey, a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanJon VoightSylvia MilesA naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsDustin HoffmanFaye DunawayChief Dan GeorgeJack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Native Americans and fighting with General Custer.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsAnton GlanzeliusTomas von BrömssenAnki LidénIn the late '50s, young Ingemar learns a lot about life and himself when he is sent away from his sick mother to live with his aunt and uncle in a town full of eccentrics.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsSean ConneryShelley DuvallJohn CleeseA young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.Terry Gillian made a fantasy worthy of and great fun for both kids or adults. It's film filled with great ideas, beauty and imagination as well as lots of intelligent and hilarious dialogue.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsMasatoshi NagaseYûki KudôScreamin' Jay HawkinsThree stories are connected by a Memphis hotel and the spirit of Elvis Presley.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliCharles WaltersStarsLeslie CaronMaurice ChevalierLouis JourdanWeary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship which may not stay platonic for long.Perhaps my favorite musical, corny yes I love it.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroCathy MoriartyJoe PesciThe life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
- DirectorBruce RobinsonStarsRichard E. GrantPaul McGannRichard GriffithsIn 1969, two substance-abusing, unemployed actors retreat to the countryside for a holiday that proves disastrous.A cult movie in the UK; Two down and out actors sharing a flat in 1969 in London deicide to take a break from looking for work and go on holiday in the country and proceed to get stoned and drunk. This is a synopsis that does this little film justice. Because there is so much more here. Through its offbeat, misfit characters and scenario’s Bruce Robinson has created an atmosphere that is both hilarious and bittersweet. Richard E. Grant gives a tour de force as the title characters enraged, bitter and often drunk and out of work thespian. The rest of the small chamber cast is also perfect. To me it works as a metaphor for the end of a great era: the 1960’s!
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMartin LandauWoody AllenBill BernsteinAn ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated with another woman.
- DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDonald O'ConnorDebbie ReynoldsA silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMagali NoëlBruno ZaninPupella MaggioA series of comedic and nostalgic vignettes set in a 1930s Italian coastal town.
- DirectorVictor FlemingGeorge CukorSam WoodStarsClark GableVivien LeighThomas MitchellA sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
- CreatorPaul FeigStarsLinda CardelliniJohn Francis DaleyJames FrancoA high school mathlete starts hanging out with a group of burnouts while her younger brother navigates his freshman year.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJerry LewisDiahnne AbbottA passionate yet unsuccessful comedian stalks and kidnaps his idol to take the spotlight for himself.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsDonald SutherlandMary Tyler MooreJudd HirschThe accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son.
- DirectorWolfgang ReithermanStarsPhil HarrisSebastian CabotLouis PrimaBagheera the Panther and Baloo the Bear have a difficult time trying to convince a boy to leave the jungle for human civilization.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsAnton WalbrookMarius GoringMoira ShearerA young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMichael J. FoxChristopher LloydLea ThompsonMarty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsAudrey HepburnRex HarrisonStanley HollowayIn 1910s London, snobbish phonetics professor Henry Higgins agrees to a wager that he can make crude flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, presentable in high society.
- DirectorPeter GlenvilleStarsRichard BurtonPeter O'TooleJohn GielgudKing Henry II of England comes to terms with his affection for his close friend and confidant Thomas Becket, who finds his true honor by observing God's divine will rather than the King's.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneMaureen O'HaraBarry FitzgeraldA retired American boxer returns to the village of his birth in 1920s Ireland, where he falls for a spirited redhead whose brother is contemptuous of their union.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBertil GuvePernilla AllwinKristina AdolphsonTwo young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.
- DirectorBill MelendezStarsAnn AltieriChris DoranSally DryerDepressed at the commercialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown tries to find a deeper meaning to Christmas.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsJennifer JonesCharles BickfordWilliam Eythe14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, living in a small town in the south of 1850s France, claims to have seen a divine vision, prompting extreme skepticism, concern from her family, and religious and political turmoil.One night in the late-1980's I caught this on the Late Movie on ABC. This is when they still showed movies on non cable TV. Growing up Catholic ( I even go to a church named Our Lady of Lourdes ) I had always been familiar with this story or at least I thought I was. When I finally did watch the film that night I was reduced to tears. What a moving and beautiful story of faith. What I found most moving was Jennifer Jones performance as Bernadette she really captured what a saint might be like. She won an Oscar. Vincent Price is also in it which I was pleasantly surprised by. What a wonderful little movie and it kinda made me happy to be a Catholic.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsOliver ReedRaquel WelchRichard ChamberlainA young swordsman comes to Paris and faces villains, romance, adventure and intrigue with three Musketeer friends.
- DirectorGiuseppe TornatoreStarsPhilippe NoiretEnzo CannavaleAntonella AttiliA filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDanny AielloOssie DavisRuby DeeOn the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
- DirectorCameron CroweStarsJohn CusackIone SkyeJohn MahoneyA noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college.
- DirectorWhit StillmanStarsCarolyn FarinaEdward ClementsChris EigemanA group of young upper-class Manhattanites are blithely passing through the gala debutante season, when an unusual outsider joins them and stirs them up.A film that has grown on me over the years.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsWil WheatonRiver PhoenixCorey FeldmanA writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsDavid ByrneBernie WorrellAlex WeirConsidered by critics as the greatest concert film of all time, the live performance was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December of 1983 and features Talking Heads' most memorable songs.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxRufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartIngrid BergmanPaul HenreidA cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsJohn LennonPaul McCartneyGeorge HarrisonOver two "typical" days in the life of The Beatles, the boys struggle to keep themselves and Sir Paul McCartney's mischievous grandfather in check while preparing for a live TV performance.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsBruno GanzSolveig DommartinOtto SanderAn angel tires of his purely ethereal life of merely overseeing the human activity of Berlin's residents, and longs for the tangible joys of physical existence when he falls in love with a mortal.
- DirectorHarold RamisStarsBill MurrayAndie MacDowellChris ElliottA narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
- DirectorP.J. HoganStarsToni ColletteRachel GriffithsBill HunterA young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartDonna ReedLionel BarrymoreAn angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsZero MostelGene WilderDick ShawnA stage-play producer devises a plan to make money by producing a sure-fire flop.
- DirectorMel BrooksStarsGene WilderMadeline KahnMarty FeldmanAn American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsGraham FaulknerJudi BowkerLeigh LawsonDramatization of events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi from before his conversion experience through his audience with the pope, including his friendship with St. Clare.
- DirectorKenneth BranaghStarsKenneth BranaghEmma ThompsonKeanu ReevesYoung lovers, and soon to wed, Hero and Claudio conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles, Benedick and Beatrice, to wed as well.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsAl PacinoJohn CazalePenelope AllenThree amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsTom WaitsJohn LurieRoberto BenigniTwo men are framed and sent to jail, where they meet a murderer who helps them escape and leave the state.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsRob ReinerMichael McKeanChristopher GuestSpinal Tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DiBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsJason LondonWiley WigginsMatthew McConaugheyThe adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day of school in May 1976.Richard Linklater's makes movies that seem like us, about people. It's like that slice of life that you didn't expect to be on the screen but there it is. The 1970's have never been captured better than in this film. The fact that new generations of young people often tell me how much they can relate to this movie always amazes me.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJohnny DeppMartin LandauSarah Jessica ParkerAmbitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsTom HanksRobin WrightGary SiniseThe history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
- DirectorRoberto BenigniStarsRoberto BenigniNicoletta BraschiGiorgio CantariniWhen an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
- DirectorCameron CroweStarsBilly CrudupPatrick FugitKate HudsonA high-school boy in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.A love letter to the music the of the 1970's. Cameron Crowe-has fashioned a movie that seems personal yet is so charming that it feels like you've been invited on a journey. It's characters are rich and full of life. Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the disheveled Rock critic Lester Bangs is hilarious and poignant. Francis McDarment is wonderful as the protective but intellectually progressive mother of a 15-year old son who wants to be a writer for Rolling Stone magazine. It's a Huckleberry Finn-like tale set in a 1973 tour bus of the Rock and Roll world.
- DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsAudrey TautouMathieu KassovitzRufusDespite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.
- DirectorSpike JonzeStarsNicolas CageMeryl StreepChris CooperA lovelorn screenwriter becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean for the screen.
- DirectorDavid LelandStarsJoe BrownEric ClaptonJools HollandGeorge Harrison's friends, family, and bandmates unite for a tribute concert on the one-year anniversary of his death.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsMaggie SmithHelena Bonham CarterDenholm ElliottLucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) shares a brief romance with George Emerson in Florence. Yet as she tries to move on with her life and look for marriage elsewhere, can she truly forget the events of that summer?This was the first Merchant-Ivory film I really sat down and watched and I was like wow! I think I was tuned off to this sort of thing in my 20's. But sometime in my 30's I had a 2nd look at this film and here we have 19th Century Brits visiting Italy and in what James Ivory creates is an atmosphere of simple beautiful that I found truly intoxicating. If this sounds like a bunch of puffed up artsy fartsy stuff well maybe it is. Merchant/Ivory have created a brand out of such things and this adaptation of E.M. Foresters may be their very best! Sure the pleasure is in the clever conversations and exotic settings but + the music of Puccini and what we are left with = pure magic.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsAnthony HopkinsEmma ThompsonVanessa RedgraveSet in the early 20th century, class distinctions and troubled relations affect the relationship between two families and the ownership of a cherished British estate known as Howards End.I love how this list includes films as goofy as the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Napoleon Dynamite as well as others that are downright lofty and profound like this one. It took me a long time to discover this film. I was turned off to this kind of film when I was in my 20's. When I finally did get around to watching it I was absolutely stunned. Howards End is probably the high-watermark of Merchant-Ivory's 22 plus films and is it a lush, layered period piece in a class of its own. Based on the E.M. Forester novel of the same name Howards End is a film that explores the class relationships of its 1915 British Culture in a unique and complex way that still resonates today. Through creating three worlds; rich, middle class and poor we have the perfect metaphor for what could or perhaps has happened to England in Howards End. The performances by Vanessa Redgrave, Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins are stellar and brilliantly cast. But what makes this film one of the great films is the script (an Oscar) and the atmosphere Ivory and company create in bringing those three worlds together. E.M. Forester would have been proud.
- DirectorJon FavreauStarsWill FerrellJames CaanBob NewhartRaised as an oversized elf, Buddy travels from the North Pole to New York City to meet his biological father, Walter Hobbs, who doesn't know he exists and is in desperate need of some Christmas spirit.
- DirectorMichael McGowanStarsAdam ButcherCampbell ScottJennifer TillySaint Ralph is the unlikely story of Ralph Walker, a ninth-grader who outran everyone's expectations except his own in his bold quest to win the 1954 Boston Marathon.This little gem of a movie caught my eye when I saw it on the wall at Blockbuster video and it turned out to be one of my favorites from that time period. A charming independent-Canadian film about a Catholic school boy trying to perform a miracle by running the Boston Marathon to get his mother out of a coma.
- DirectorJared HessStarsJon HederEfren RamirezJon GriesA listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.
- DirectorNoah BaumbachStarsOwen KlineJeff DanielsLaura LinneyFollows two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.Ok here is a one of kind movie about divorce. Doesn’t that make you want to see it now? Well it should. Haha...well let me explain. Through a story based on his own family’s experience Noah Baumbach has fashioned a drama so frank and so real that it sets us up for what seems to be a metaphor for our relationships to our own parents and families. He does this with a great script, some quirkiness and a quartet of amazing actors (Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, and Owen Kline ) who are really able to show us those honest and sometimes painful emotions unlike any film I've seen in recent history.
- DirectorBrad BirdJan PinkavaStarsBrad GarrettLou RomanoPatton OswaltA rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous Paris restaurant.
- DirectorJohn Patrick ShanleyStarsMeryl StreepPhilip Seymour HoffmanAmy AdamsA Catholic school principal questions a priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled young student.
- DirectorPete DocterBob PetersonStarsEdward AsnerJordan NagaiJohn Ratzenberger78-year-old Carl Fredricksen travels to Paradise Falls in his house equipped with balloons, inadvertently taking a young stowaway.
- DirectorSimon CurtisStarsMichelle WilliamsEddie RedmayneKenneth BranaghColin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier, documents the tense interactions between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during the production of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsOwen WilsonRachel McAdamsKathy BatesWhile on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.What is it about Midnight in Paris that makes it so irresistible? If you like this sort of thing ( and I know there are many who do not ) it resonates in a way that few of Woody Allen's films have in the last decade or so. Is it the music of Cole Porter? Is it the gorgeous still shoots of Paris at the opening of the film? Is it the idea of going back to a place in time when things seem to have more meaning? I'm going to vote for all of the above!
- DirectorLee UnkrichAdrian MolinaStarsAnthony GonzalezGael García BernalBenjamin BrattAspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsPaul ScofieldWendy HillerRobert ShawThe story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsLaurence OlivierDiane LaneThelonious BernardAn American teenager living in Paris meets and falls in love with a local.