Movies that are a lot better than they sound by description
by Captaincoopdawg | created - 16 Sep 2011 | updated - 18 Sep 2011 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Short Circuit (1986)
PG | 98 min | Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi
Number 5 of a group of experimental robots in a lab is electrocuted, suddenly becomes intelligent, and escapes.
Director: John Badham | Stars: Ally Sheedy, Steve Guttenberg, Fisher Stevens, Austin Pendleton
Votes: 66,270 | Gross: $40.70M
2. The Red Violin (1998)
R | 130 min | Drama, Music, Mystery
A red-colored violin inspires passion, making its way through three centuries over several owners and countries, eventually ending up at an auction where it may find a new owner.
Director: François Girard | Stars: Carlo Cecchi, Jean-Luc Bideau, Christoph Koncz, Jason Flemyng
Votes: 34,467 | Gross: $9.47M
3. The Cooler (2003)
R | 101 min | Drama, Romance
In an old school Las Vegas casino, its top gambling jinx breaks his curse when he falls in love, much to his boss' consternation.
Director: Wayne Kramer | Stars: William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Alec Baldwin, Shawn Hatosy
Votes: 35,486 | Gross: $8.24M
4. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Musical
Over 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.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Votes: 48,047 | Gross: $13.78M
5. Paranormal Activity (2007)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery
After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.
Director: Oren Peli | Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong
Votes: 255,961 | Gross: $107.92M
6. Boiler Room (2000)
R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A college dropout, attempting to live up to his father's high standards, gets a job as a broker for a suburban investment firm which puts him on the fast track to success. But the job might not be as legitimate as it first appeared to be.
Director: Ben Younger | Stars: Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, Nicky Katt
Votes: 56,412 | Gross: $16.94M
7. Billy Elliot (2000)
R | 110 min | Drama, Music
A talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Jean Heywood, Jamie Draven
Votes: 142,511 | Gross: $22.00M
8. Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 95 min | Biography, Drama, History
History of Apple and Microsoft.
Director: Martyn Burke | Stars: Anthony Michael Hall, Noah Wyle, Joey Slotnick, J.G. Hertzler
Votes: 25,229
9. The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
PG | 109 min | Adventure, Comedy
A comic allegory about a traveling Bushman who encounters modern civilization and its stranger aspects, including a clumsy scientist and a band of revolutionaries.
Director: Jamie Uys | Stars: N!xau, Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo, Louw Verwey
Votes: 59,413 | Gross: $30.03M
10. The Joy Luck Club (1993)
R | 139 min | Drama
The life histories of four East Asian women and their daughters reflect and guide each other.
Director: Wayne Wang | Stars: Tamlyn Tomita, Rosalind Chao, Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin
Votes: 18,221 | Gross: $32.86M
11. The World According to Garp (1982)
R | 136 min | Comedy, Drama
A struggling young writer finds his life and work dominated by his unfaithful wife and his radical feminist mother, whose best-selling manifesto turns her into a cultural icon.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Robin Williams, Mary Beth Hurt, Glenn Close, John Lithgow
Votes: 29,054 | Gross: $29.71M
12. Toy Soldiers (1991)
R | 111 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A group of troublemaking boys decide to take a stand when terrorists seize control of their boarding school.
Director: Daniel Petrie Jr. | Stars: Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, Keith Coogan, Andrew Divoff
Votes: 24,971 | Gross: $15.07M
13. Caddyshack (1980)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Sport
An exclusive golf course has to deal with a flatulent new member and a destructive dancing gopher.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, Ted Knight
Votes: 127,063 | Gross: $39.85M
14. Pay It Forward (2000)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance.
Director: Mimi Leder | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt, Jay Mohr
Votes: 123,824 | Gross: $33.52M
15. Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama
A Chicago advertising man must struggle to travel home from New York for Thanksgiving, with a lovable oaf of a shower-curtain-ring salesman as his only companion.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins, Michael McKean
Votes: 160,077 | Gross: $49.53M
16. The Jerk (1979)
R | 94 min | Comedy
A simpleminded, sheltered country boy suddenly decides to leave his family home to experience life in the big city, where his naivete is both his best friend and his worst enemy.
Director: Carl Reiner | Stars: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams, Mabel King
Votes: 64,133 | Gross: $73.69M
17. Babe (1995)
G | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Gentle farmer Arthur Hoggett wins a piglet Babe at a county fair. Narrowly escaping his fate as Christmas dinner, Babe bonds with motherly border collie Fly and discovers that he too can herd sheep. But will the other animals accept him?
Director: Chris Noonan | Stars: James Cromwell, Magda Szubanski, Christine Cavanaugh, Miriam Margolyes
Votes: 134,025 | Gross: $66.60M
18. The Remains of the Day (1993)
PG | 134 min | Drama, Romance
A butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years leading up to World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty was to his lordly employer.
Director: James Ivory | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, John Haycraft, Christopher Reeve
Votes: 84,331 | Gross: $22.95M
19. American Pie (1999)
R | 95 min | Comedy
Four teenage boys enter a pact to lose their virginity by prom night.
Directors: Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz | Stars: Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Jennifer Coolidge
Votes: 433,348 | Gross: $102.56M
20. The Goonies (1985)
PG | 114 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A group of young misfits called The Goonies discover an ancient map and set out on an adventure to find a legendary pirate's long-lost treasure.
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman
Votes: 298,062 | Gross: $61.50M
21. Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama
Evelyn, an ordinary housewife, visits a nursing home and befriends the old lady Ninny. Together, they bond over stories from the past about two intrepid women of Whistle Stop Cafe.
Director: Jon Avnet | Stars: Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 83,410 | Gross: $82.42M
22. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
R | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office.
Director: James Foley | Stars: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin
Votes: 116,083 | Gross: $10.73M
23. Blood Simple (1984)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies, and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, M. Emmet Walsh
Votes: 105,051 | Gross: $2.15M
24. Defending Your Life (1991)
PG | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
In an afterlife way-station resembling a major city, the lives of the recently deceased are examined in a court-like setting.
Director: Albert Brooks | Stars: Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep, Rip Torn, Lee Grant
Votes: 21,234 | Gross: $16.37M
25. The American President (1995)
PG-13 | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A widowed U.S. President running for reelection and an environmental lobbyist fall in love. It's all above-board, but "politics is perception," and sparks fly anyway.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox
Votes: 60,596 | Gross: $65.00M
26. The Money Pit (1986)
PG | 91 min | Comedy
A young couple struggles to repair a hopelessly dilapidated house.
Director: Richard Benjamin | Stars: Tom Hanks, Shelley Long, Alexander Godunov, Maureen Stapleton
Votes: 62,155 | Gross: $37.50M
27. Breakdown (I) (1997)
R | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A man searches for his missing wife after his car breaks down in the middle of the desert.
Director: Jonathan Mostow | Stars: Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C. Gainey
Votes: 61,595 | Gross: $50.13M
28. Big Night (1996)
R | 109 min | Drama, Romance
New Jersey, 1950s. Two brothers run an Italian restaurant. Business is not going well as a rival Italian restaurant is out-competing them. In a final effort to save the restaurant, the brothers plan to put on an evening of incredible food.
Directors: Campbell Scott, Stanley Tucci | Stars: Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, Marc Anthony, Larry Block
Votes: 22,798 | Gross: $11.88M
29. Renaissance Man (1994)
PG-13 | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
A failed businessman is hired by the army to teach a group of underachieving recruits in order to help them pass basic training.
Director: Penny Marshall | Stars: Danny DeVito, Gregory Hines, James Remar, Ed Begley Jr.
Votes: 19,024 | Gross: $24.33M
30. Linda (1993 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two couples, friends for a long time, decide to go away together. Things soon take a turn for the worse when Linda and Jeff spend far too much time together instead of with their respective spouses, Paul and Stella.
Director: Nathaniel Gutman | Stars: Virginia Madsen, Richard Thomas, Ted McGinley, Laura Harrington
Votes: 366
31. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
R | 128 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves
Votes: 238,167 | Gross: $82.52M
32. Falling Down (1993)
R | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Rachel Ticotin
Votes: 206,404 | Gross: $40.90M
33. Stripes (1981)
R | 106 min | Comedy, War
Two friends who are dissatisfied with their jobs decide to join the army for a bit of fun.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Bill Murray, John Candy, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates
Votes: 79,923 | Gross: $85.30M
34. Bicentennial Man (1999)
PG | 132 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
An android endeavors to become human as he gradually acquires emotions.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Robin Williams, Embeth Davidtz, Sam Neill, Oliver Platt
Votes: 124,574 | Gross: $58.22M
35. Phenomenon (1996)
PG | 123 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis.
Director: Jon Turteltaub | Stars: John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall
Votes: 83,734 | Gross: $104.64M
36. Knocked Up (2007)
R | 129 min | Comedy, Romance
For fun-loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one-night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant with his child.
Director: Judd Apatow | Stars: Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann
Votes: 384,252 | Gross: $148.73M
37. The Fifth Element (1997)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr. Zorg at bay.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm
Votes: 505,582 | Gross: $63.54M
38. Home Alone (1990)
PG | 103 min | Comedy, Family
An eight-year-old troublemaker, mistakenly left home alone, must defend his home against a pair of burglars on Christmas Eve.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard
Votes: 652,321 | Gross: $285.76M
39. The Illusionist (2006)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
In turn-of-the-century Vienna, a magician uses his abilities to secure the love of a woman far above his social standing.
Director: Neil Burger | Stars: Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti, Rufus Sewell
Votes: 389,479 | Gross: $39.87M
40. Dumb and Dumber (1994)
PG-13 | 107 min | Comedy
After a woman leaves a briefcase at the airport terminal, a dumb limo driver and his dumber friend set out on a hilarious cross-country road trip to Aspen to return it.
Directors: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly | Stars: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly, Mike Starr
Votes: 411,557 | Gross: $127.18M
41. Men in Black (1997)
PG-13 | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
James, an NYC cop, is hired by Agent K of a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial life on Earth. Together, they must recover an item that has been stolen by an intergalactic villain.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 612,293 | Gross: $250.69M
42. Groundhog Day (1993)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky
Votes: 684,220 | Gross: $70.91M
43. There's Something About Mary (1998)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Romance
A man gets a chance to meet up with his dream girl from high school, even though his date with her back then was a complete disaster.
Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly | Stars: Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller, Lee Evans
Votes: 328,643 | Gross: $176.48M
44. Darkman (1990)
R | 96 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A brilliant scientist left for dead returns to exact revenge on the people who burned him alive.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake
Votes: 69,758 | Gross: $33.88M
45. Black Hawk Down (2001)
R | 144 min | Action, Drama, History
The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana
Votes: 423,158 | Gross: $108.64M
46. Into the Deep (1994)
35 min | Documentary, Short
The Tangwalder off California's Channel Islands are full of wonders: hugging starfish, dazzling octopuses, capricious sea lions and more, shot by Howard Hall, the director of Deep Sea.
Director: Howard Hall | Star: Kate Nelligan
Votes: 350
47. Citizen Kane (1941)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery
Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 465,604 | Gross: $1.59M
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