The 25 Best Little Gems
There are a number of relatively unknown movies that few people have heard, but are little great film gems.
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- DirectorMike CahillStarsBrit MarlingWilliam MapotherMatthew-Lee ErlbachOn the night of the discovery of a duplicate Earth in the Solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident.An amazing intimate psychological drama that weaves and reiterates a full panorama of emotional, introspective, and even existential sensations. This movie is about the tragedy wrought by a young, highly intelligent but naive girl and how she attempts to discover redemption, even as the discovery of another world almost identical to earth is announced.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRachel RobertsAnne-Louise LambertVivean GrayDuring a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.A haunting mystery of the unknown fate of three girls in the turn of the century Australian outback. This movie is full of period ambiance and luscious photography along with memorable soundtrack. A cult classic. Directed by Peter Weir.
- DirectorJohn McTiernanStarsLesley-Anne DownPierce BrosnanAnna Maria MonticelliA French anthropologist specializing in nomadic groups moves to Los Angeles with his wife, and starts following a group of sinister street punks who seem to live and move around in a black van. But they aren't what they seem.One of the most captivating, haunting, eerie movies made starring Pierce Brosnan in one of his finest performances as an anthropologist and the female doctor who has a strange connection to him in her attempts to discover the mystery of this man's demise in the City of Angels (LA).
- DirectorMichael MannStarsWilliam PetersenKim GreistJoan AllenFormer FBI profiler Will Graham returns to service to pursue a deranged serial killer dubbed "the Tooth Fairy" by the media.William Petersen (of CSI fame) provides the best detective, techno-thriller movie made. The original Red Dragon (2002) version.
- DirectorJonathan TeplitzkyStarsColin FirthNicole KidmanStellan SkarsgårdA former British Army officer, who was tortured as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during World War II, discovers that the man responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and sets out to confront him.There are few movies that can boast of exploding on the big screen with as gigantic, emotional, riveting, and value-laden inspiring themes and performances. But The Railway Man takes off from Colin Firth's earlier performance in The King's Speech (2010) with this sensitive and heart-wrenching portrayal in this movie. This more intimate and focused post-war drama is a worthy successor to the bigger scaled, epic version of Saving Private Ryan (1998). It offers up a raw glimpse into the damaging and shocking impact of war, especially on those victims of the Japanese incursion during World War II. This movie is full of innocent romance, war brutality, revenge, and redemption. The A-listed stars including Nicole Kidman become the real characters as the story and their performances break through on the screen to transport the audience on a dramatic and horrifying personal nightmare for both partners. This brilliant film deserved a much wider world recognition than it received. An amazing real life human interest story.
- CreatorJames D. ParriottStarsRon LivingstonMalik YobaAndrew AirlieEight astronauts living aboard an international spacecraft on a mission through the solar system, as the world watches from billions of kilometers away.The best sci fi media event yet. This "one season" ABC sci fi television series is a fusion of brilliant sci fi and family drama at its best. Set on a spaceship exploring the solar system, Ron Livingston is given a role of a lifetime as each episode packs a powerful, human interest story with a sci fi backdrop. Along with his sage voice over and with great cinematography, this series offers one of the most meaningful and emotional authentic storylines presented with an honesty that truly captures the essence of filmmaking.
- CreatorGunnar DedioJan PeterStarsUdo SamelGeorge MorrisMark Camacho100 years after its outbreak, this series lets viewers experience WWI solely through the eyes of those who lived it.One of the most penetrating presentations of war (World War I) through extended use of actual film footage and live action dramatization. Except for a lack of follow-up to the characters, America’s involvement, and understanding of the war’s relatively quick ending, this series presents the intimate experiences of sex and brutality on and around the fields of battle and the home front.
- DirectorAlain CorneauStarsSylvie TestudKaori TsujiTarô SuwaA Belgian woman looks back on her year at a Japanese corporation in Tokyo in 1990. She is Amélie, born in Japan, living there until age 5. After college graduation, she returns with a one-year contract as an interpreter. The vice president and section leader, both men, are boors, but her immediate supervisor, Ms. Mori, is beautiful and trustworthy. Amélie's downfall begins when she speaks perfect Japanese to clients. She compounds her failure by writing an excellent report for an enterprising colleague. The person she least expects to stab her in the back exposes her work. Thus begins her humiliations. What can become of her and of her relationship with Ms. Mori and with Japan?The experience of a naive, fluent-Japanese speaking Belgian and as a young female gets a massive dose of the Japanese indoctrination working at a huge import-expert corporation. She undergoes the experiential collision between western and eastern cultures. A fascinating, humbling experience that raised the bar from Lost in Translation that came out the same year.
- DirectorCaradog W. JamesStarsToby StephensCaity LotzDenis LawsonIn efforts to construct perfect android killing machines in a war against China, UK scientists exceed their goal and create a sentient robot.Aptly named, this fascinating, compelling look at the evolution of the humanistic development of artificial intelligence in this sci fi mystery thriller follows in the footsteps of Splice (2010) and pushes the human/techno envelope even further with superb results.
- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsGillian AndersonDan AykroydEleanor BronA woman risks losing her chance of happiness with the only man she has ever loved.A superb focused and singular performance by Gillian Anderson of X-files fame in this historical drama period piece that reveals the rigid gender roles of high class society of 1907 New York and how one woman experienced the difficult nuanced socially complex expectations of the times.
- DirectorShari Springer BermanRobert PulciniStarsScarlett JohanssonLaura LinneyPaul GiamattiA college graduate goes to work as a nanny for a rich New York family. Ensconced in their home, she has to juggle their dysfunction, a new romance, and the spoiled brat in her charge.Scarlett Johansson stars as a recent bachelor graduate in business with a minor in anthropology and voice overs her experience as a nanny in what is one of the best general audience movies that exposes the darker and richer themes of family drama. Even though marketed as a family comedy, this creative movie really is a compelling look at family dynamics with a believable ending.
- StarsPeter KrauseJulianna MarguliesPeter JacobsonA detective investigates a mysterious motel room which acts as a portal to anywhere in the world.A Science Fiction Channel Mini-Series from Lionsgate, starring Peter Krause as a police detective in search of his daughter who becomes lost in an room in an alternative reality and he must search for and encounter various individuals with ordinary objects with strange powers. This is an intense character-driven as well as other-worldly driven script that perfectly captures the strangeness and diverse humanity of good and evil.
- DirectorPhilip SavilleStarsLouis JourdanFrank FinlaySusan PenhaligonThe vampire count leaves his Transylvanian home to wreak havoc across the world.The best and perhaps most faithful Dracula movie made, starring Louis Jourdan as Count Dracula. A fabulous period piece that perfectly captures Bram Stoker's atmospherics of the time.
- DirectorJudd ApatowStarsAdam SandlerSeth RogenLeslie MannWhen seasoned comedian George Simmons learns of his terminal, inoperable health condition, his desire to form a genuine friendship causes him to take a relatively green performer under his wing as his opening act.Adam Sandler's offers one of his best performances with a great script that has Sandler playing a seriously ill stand-up comic and hires an assistant (Seth Rogan) in this black comedy that that has elements from PUNCHLINE (1988), PHILADELPHIA (1993), THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (1995), and LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003) and helping to make this one of the best movies of 2009.
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsSimon YatesJoe SimpsonBrendan MackeyThe true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.A brilliant recreation of a mountain climbing event that went wrong. Some of the most breathtaking and calamitous shots filmed in documentary-like realism, with fantastic continuity and superb sound and music.
- DirectorDon HertzfeldtStarsJulia PottWinona MaeSara CushmanA little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.This animated short about a clone from the future who contacts her original in the present offers up a simple animation that enhances a solid, emotive, and very appealing story about a cynical fantastic future and using the hopeful present. Oscar nominee.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsColin FirthEmma StoneMarcia Gay HardenA romantic comedy about an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle. Personal and professional complications ensue.Woody Allen’s serio-comic, period, romance movie is superb in its photography, directing, and cerebrally witty dialogue and plot. This un-Woody movie demonstrates the wide range that Allen has developed in his ability to present to the audience an intelligent, engaging, and somewhat mysterious romance film.
- CreatorSera GambleJohn McNamaraStarsStella MaeveHale ApplemanArjun GuptaAfter being recruited to a secretive academy, a group of students discovers that the magic they read about as children is very real--and more dangerous than they ever imagined.A remarkable and edgy grown up version of Harry Potter magic that deliberately defies traditional storyline plots incorporating many insidious twists.
- DirectorClaude LelouchStarsAnouk AiméeJean-Louis TrintignantPierre BarouhA widow and a widower find their relationship developing into love, but their past tragedies prove hard to overcome, causing them to proceed with utmost delicacy.One of the best experiential, authentic love stories with a powerful soundtrack without direct action or dramatic thrills that are instead replaced with a more geniune, heartfelt reality of falling in love and addressing the love of the past. 1967 Best Foreign Film Oscar. Anouk Aimee nominated for Best Actress (won Golden Globe) and Director Claude LeLouch for Best Director (and Golden Globe).
- DirectorMike GrayStarsRobert CarradineCherie CurrieKeenan WynnTwo young lovers learn that a small group of child-like space aliens are marooned on Earth and are being held prisoner at a top secret military facility. The couple then decide to liberate the extraterrestrial castaways and help them make a rendezvous with a rescue ship sent from the alien home planet.A little known sci fi movie of great compelling, intimate reach with a tremendous soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and low-budget sequences that actually present a more captivating authenticity to the movie experience. Andromeda Strain (1971) with a heart and wonder.
- DirectorJieho LeeStarsBrendan FraserSarah Michelle GellarAndy GarciaA drama based on an ancient Chinese proverb that breaks life down into four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. A businessman bets his life on a horse race; a gangster sees the future; a pop star falls prey to a crime boss; a doctor must save the love of his life.Brendan Fraser, Forest Whitaker, Sarah Michelle Geller, Kevin Bacon, and Andy Garcia star in this powerful, dark short drama (90 minutes) about a mobster (Andy Garcia) and his muscleman (Fraser), a banker (Whitaker), a pop star, and a doctor (Kevin Bacon) whose lives partially intersect in both tragedy and hope.
- DirectorDaniel BarnzStarsJennifer AnistonAdriana BarrazaAnna KendrickThe acerbic, hilarious Claire Bennett becomes fascinated by the suicide of a woman in her chronic pain support group. As she uncovers the details of Nina's suicide and develops a poignant relationship with Nina's husband, she also grapples with her own, very raw personal tragedy.Golden Globe nominee, Jennifer Anniston stars in a bold and impressive performance about a woman suffering from enormous physical pain after a car accident that kills her daughter and suffers through the guilt of a friend’s suicide. Directed with amazing and sustained authenticity.
- DirectorDouglas TrumbullStarsChristopher WalkenNatalie WoodLouise FletcherResearchers develop a system where they can jump into people's minds. But when people involved bring their personal problems into the equation, it becomes dangerous - perhaps deadly.Partly known as Natalie Wood's last movie (she died tragically during late production) and also as one of the most fascinating examination into virtual reality sci fi movie classic even at this early date. An amazing cinematic experience with a public audience flair (mass movie appeal) and decent storyline about life after death.
- DirectorGil JungerStarsJennifer Love HewittPaul NichollsTom WilkinsonIt takes a tragedy to teach the young businessman Ian to put love ahead of work and open up to his musician girlfriend Samantha.Great singing presentation from Jennifer Love Hewitt in this powerful romantic drama that while ordinary for the most part, has a storyline well presented that rends the heart and introduces its audience to one of the most compelling moments of love.
- DirectorVincenzo NataliStarsAbigail BreslinPeter OuterbridgeMichelle NoldenA teenager is stuck in a time loop that is not quite the same each time. She must uncover the truth, but her actions have consequences for herself and others.Abrigail Breslin stars in this spooky, horror ghost story who relives her life 24 hours at a time, trapped in a recycled nightmare with a quality minimalist use of special effects rising above the genre with its superior storyline. [Reviewed 1/16/2017]. 9/10.