My Movie Collections

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Beauty and the Beast

Directed by Gary Trousdale
Kirk Wise
1991



My gift to my wife when she was pregnant with our oldest daughter eleven years ago, this video has been our favorite since then.

Prince Adam was cursed to a beast form by Enchantress who saw no love in his arrogant heart for others. The one way he could break the spell was to learn to love another and earn her love in return before the last petal from his enchanted rose fell, which would bloom until his twenty-first birthday. But who could ever learn to love a beast? Ten years later, Maurice, an inventor from a nearby village, becomes lost in the woods and seeks shelter in the Beast's castle, the Beast imprisons him for trespassing. His daughter Belle, a bookworm who dreams of life outside her provincial village, finds him trapped in the castle and offers her place in his stead. The Beast accepts with a promise she'll remain in the castle forever. In the beginning Belle views him as nothing more than a monster, he views her as difficult and stubborn. But the two soon taste the bitter-sweetness of finding you can change and learning you were wrong.

Love Happy

Directed by David Miller
1949

Starring: Marilyn Monroe

The Marx Brothers' final starring feature Love Happy began life as a solo vehicle for Harpo. The financiers wouldn't go for this, insisting that all three Marx boys appear on screen. Thus, Chico was hastily written into the proceedings, while Groucho made what amounted to a guest appearance as narrator and last-minute problem solver. The story concerns a group of aspiring actors who are putting together a musical review called "Love Happy." Harpo, the troupe's mascot, keeps the actors from starving by cleverly filching canned goods from a local grocer. On one such excursion, he accidentally gets hold of a sardine can containing a fortune in stolen diamonds. This makes Harpo the target of icy adventuress Madame Egilichi (Ilona Massey) and her henchmen (Melville Cooper, Raymond Burr, Bruce Gordon). When he isn't fending off the villains, Harpo is making life a little brighter for "Love Happy"'s leading lady Maggie (Vera-Ellen). Chico shows up sporadically as Faustino the Great, an itinerant musician, while Groucho plays private eye Sam Grunion, who does the best he can with some pretty weak dialogue. Groucho's best scene is his one-minute confrontation with a gorgeous blonde client, played by a decidedly pre-stardom Marilyn Monroe. Most of the comedy routines in Love Happy are either underwritten or underdeveloped, save for the spectacular finale, wherein Harpo evades the villains by climbing over, under and around neon advertisement signs for such products as Fisk Tires, Mobilgas and Kool Cigarettes. The fact that Ben Hecht wrote the original story upon which Love Happy was based caused the film to be banned in Great Britain, due to Hecht's improvident comments about the British occupation of Palestine. Though dyed-in-the-wool Marx Brothers fans tend to dislike Love Happy, the film manages to deliver quite a few solid laughs when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jane Eyre

Directed by Robert Stevenson
1944

Starring:
Orson Welles
Joan Fointane
Elizabeth Taylor

Orson Welles has to be the most interesting film artist of the past 100 years, and here's why: not only did he make what is considered the greatest movie of all time (Citizen Kane) as well as eleven other amazing films, but also he left twice that many puzzles for film buffs and historians to tackle. Jane Eyre (1944) was Welles' third completed film after Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). Officially, Welles starred as Rochester, but did not direct or write.

Based on Charlotte Bronte's gothic romance, the film begins when young Jane (the extraordinary Peggy Ann Garner) departs the company of her evil auntie (Agnes Moorehead) for an equally awful orphanage. There she briefly befriends Helen Burns (an uncredited, astonishingly beautiful Elizabeth Taylor), but suffers under the tyrannical Henry Brocklehurst (Henry Daniell). When she comes of age (now played by Joan Fontaine) she takes a job as a governess to little Adele (Margaret O'Brien, also in Meet Me in St. Louis), working for the mysterious, brooding Rochester. She finds herself drawn to him, despite his odd behavior and mixed messages.

Credited director Robert Stevenson (who went on to become one of Disney's top men, making Darby O'Gill and the Little People, Mary Poppins and many others) gives the production a touch of class, even if the performances don't always appear to be on the same page. Welles brings a large theatricality to his role, and O'Brien is a delightful little ham, while Fontaine tries to hide her beauty behind a "mousy" façade (something she was also asked to do in Rebecca four years earlier). The standout is easily Peggy Ann Garner, whose extraordinarily unguarded face gives the young Jane a beautiful soul. Stevenson also chooses to film actual printed passages from the novel, accompanied by narration. Another clue that Welles didn't actually direct the film is that the dialogue sounds like normal, Hollywood talk (everyone speaks in turn) rather than Welles' trademark overlapping dialogue. Indeed, it's difficult to watch the film without considering aspects of authorship, but if you can, there's a very good film underneath.

Hero

Directed by Zang Yimou
2004

Hero is two-time Academy Award nominee Zhang Yimou's directorial attempt at exploring the concept of a Chinese hero. During the peak of their Warring States period, China was divided into seven kingdoms all fighting for supremacy. Most determined to dominate China was the kingdom of Qin, whose king (Chen Daoming) was wholly obsessed with becoming the first emperor of China. Though he was an assassination target for many, none of his would-be killers inspired as much fear as the legendary assassins Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung), and Sky (Donnie Yen). In hopes of thwarting his death, the king has promised endless wealth and power to anyone who defeats his would-be murderers. No results come until ten years later, when a man called Nameless (Jet Li) brings the weapons of the three assassins to the Qin king's palace. Nameless claims to be an expert swordsman who had defeated Sky and destroyed the famed duo of Flying Snow and Broken Sword by using their love for one another against them. Once Nameless comes face to face with the king, however, it looks as if the situation is more complicated than he had thought. Also featured in Hero is actress Zhang Ziyi (The Road Home, Crouching Tiger, Hiden Dragon) as Broken Sword's devoted servant, Moon. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Awards:
2002 Hong Kong Film Awards Best Sound Tao Jing
2002 Hong Kong Film Awards Best Costumes/Make-Up Emi Wada
2002 Hong Kong Film Awards Best Action Choreography Ching Siu Tung
2002 Hong Kong Film Awards Best Cinematography Christopher Doyle
2002 Hong Kong Film Awards Best MusicTan Dun
2002 Hong Kong Film Awards Best Art Direction Yi Zhenzhou
2002 Hong Kong Film Awards
2003 Berlin Film Festival Alfred Bauer Prize Zhang Yimou
2004 National Society of Film Critics Best Director Zhang Yimou
2004 National Society of Film Critics Best Cinematography Christopher Doyle
2004 New York Film Critics Circle Best Cinematography Christopher Doyle
2004 Chicago Film Critics Association Best Cinematography Christopher Doyle
2004 Toronto Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film

The Boy with Green Hair

Directed by Joseph Losey
1948

Celebrated director Joseph Losey made his debu with this 1948 war allegory, but his star, 12 year-old Dean Stockwell was already a veteran actor, having made at least half-dozen pictures. A handsome boy with a sturdy face and dark, brooding eyes. Stockwell would grow into a slightly offbeat character actor in pictures like Paris, Texas, To lIve and Die in L.A., Blue Velvet and the Player, earning an Oscar nomination for Married to the Mob. In the Boy with Green Hair, Stockwell plays Peter, a war orphan who suddenly wakes up with a head of green. Everyone teases him until he realizes that he's become a symbol for war orphans everywhere (the green represents spring and rebirth). Had the film been made today, Peter would have been interviewed by Oprah and become an intolerable media darling. But through sheer determination, honestly and early smattering of his famous icy control, Losey avoids sentimentality and crafts his tale into an oddly effective little film. It's certainly the most bizarre ant-war film ever made, chiefly because of the scene in which a group of ghostly poster children appear to peter and explain his purpose in life. The great, underrated Robert Ryan also appears as a child psychologist who gets the bald Peter to tell his story in flashback.

The Blue Lagoon

Directed by Randal Kleiser
1980

This 1980 version of the oft-filmed Henry Devere Stackpoole novel The Blue Lagoon was the first to be stamped with an "R" rating. The basic story remains unchanged. Two very small children, a boy and a girl, are shipwrecked on a lush tropical island. They are cared for by fellow castaway Leo McKern. When he dies, the kids, played with a minimum of clothing by Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins, have no one but each other. When they grow into teen-hood, they also fall madly in love. Heavily reshaped and reedited before its release, The Blue Lagoon's principal attribute is the lush photography by Nestor Almendros. In 1990, a sequel was made, Return to the Blue Lagoon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Superman: Doomsday

Directed by Lauren Montgomery, Bruce W. Timm, Brandon Vietti
2007

When Lexcorp accidentally unearths the intergalactic serial killer Doomsday, Superman battles the creature head on in the fight of his life…literally. The world collectively mourns their fallen hero; humanity realizes it will never feel truly safe again. Superman’s enemies rejoice all but Lex Luthor, who grieves the loss in his own demented manner, setting off a chilling chain of events that even he couldn’t have foreseen. Inspired by the bestselling graphic novel of all time, DC Comics’ The Death of Superman, this feature-length animated adventure boasts exciting action sequences that rivals anything you’ve ever seen starring the Man of Steel!

Real ACTION!

Wild Strawberries

Ingmar Bergman
1957

After exploring his disillusionment with religion in his previous films, Ingmar Bergman adopted a humanistic approach for this classic study in isolationism. Legendary Scandinavian director Victor Sjöström stars as Isak Borg, an aging medical professor who reassesses his life while journeying to his former university to receive an honorary degree. Borg travels with his estranged daughter-in-law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin) and revisits many of the landmarks of his past, conjuring up memories of his family and of his onetime sweetheart Sara (Bibi Andersson). Returning to the present, he meets a teenage girl who resembles the long-departed Sara. She hitches a ride with the professor and Marianne, as do a ceaselessly bickering married couple. These new characters eventually become intertwined with Borg's hazy flashbacks and fantasies, as the old man recalls the disappointments and disillusionments that have left him cold and guilt-ridden, attributes emphasized when he encounters his equally cold and resentful son. Bookending Borg's odyssey of self-discovery are a series of symbolic images at the beginning of the film (a clock without hands, a man without a face) and a hauntingly beautiful finale, in which professor is beckoned back to the "perfect" world he left behind so many years earlier. This classic art movie remains one of Bergman's most accessible films and one of the most influential European art movies of its generation. Its intense focus on one man's thoughts, regrets, and memories set the tone for innumerable psychological character studies in its wake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wild Strawberries is one of the masterpieces of world cinema, a key early representative of the European art films that would change how people thought about movies in the late 1950s and 1960s. While the film posits a frightening questioning of life, it ultimately offers hope and redemption to its dying protagonist, and ultimately to us all. Director Ingmar Bergman effectively alternates emotional warmth with coldness to create one of the screen's greatest philosophical character studies. His shot composition is remarkable, particularly his close-ups of legendary Swedish director Victor Sjöström, here playing the dying professor. The film is full of masterful symbolic imagery and allegorical storytelling. Most important, Bergman makes his film accessible to the ordinary viewer. This is a warm and human film, strongly filled with a richness rarely experienced on screen. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide

Awards:
1960 Golden GlobeBest Foreign Film
1959 National Board of Review Best Actor Viktor Seastrom
1958 Berlin International Film Festival Best Film
1958 Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear
1959 National Board of Review Best Foreign Film

A Short Film About Killing

Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski
1988

This disturbing and violent feature opens with a scene of a dead rat and a lifeless cat hanging by the neck. As the plot unfolds, Yatzek (Miroslaw Baka) is a 20-year-old drifter who murders a testy taxi driver (Jan Tesarz) in a gut-wrenching scene of excessive violence. Tension continues to build as a newly licensed young attorney (Krzysztof Globisz is chosen to represent Yatzek in court. Much anticipated and well-received at Cannes, the film won the European Film Academy Award for "Best European Film" in 1988. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Awards:
1988 Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival
1988 FIPRESCI Prize, Cannes Film Festival
1988 Best Film, European Film Awards
1988 Best Foreign Film, French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
1988 Golden Lion Award, Polish Film Festival
1990 Best Foreign Film (Årets udenlandske spillefilm), Robert Festival
1990 Best European Film (Bedste europæiske film, Bodil Awards

Ballad of a Soldier

Directed by Grigori Chukhrai
1959

Ballad of a Soldier is not primarily a war film: it recounts, within the context of the turmoil of war, various kinds of love: the romantic love of a young couple, the committed love of a married couple, and a mother's love of her child. The film tells the story of a young soldier making his way through the countryside during the first few months of the war at a time when the Soviet Union seemed destined to fall to the powerful Nazi onslaught. Awarded a six-day pass for destroying two German tanks, Alyosha (Vladimir Ivashov) makes his way home to visit his mother. The film received considerable praise for both its technical craft and its strong, yet subtle story. Viewed from the earnestness and unabashed youthfulness of the protagonist, "Ballad of a Soldier" distanced itself from the fierce propaganda which bound other films before it. American critics, particularly, hailed it as an instant classic, with the New York Times's own Bosley Crowther offering it iconic status.[1]

Amadeus

Directed by Milos Forman
1984

Amadeus is a rarity: a dramatic film made by people who understood music as much as filmmaking. A celebration of music and genius, the film exults over Mozart's seemingly divine creations even as it refuses to canonize the man behind them. Instead, the decision to tell the story from Salieri's point of view provides a justly critical portrait of Mozart, and in so doing so it provides a commentary on genius that mines trenchant insight from resolute objectivity. That Mozart's music is beyond reproach is never called into doubt; likewise, that the man himself could be utterly reproachful is also beyond question. Paradox is at the film's core, both in the presentation of Mozart and his music, and in the character of Salieri, who managed to be both Mozart's greatest fan and most punishing detractor. In making this sort of paradox its central theme, Amadeus is one of the most illuminating pictures of genius ever committed to celluloid. Part of its brilliance lies in its principal performances: in Tom Hulce's Mozart, we see a man equally un-self-conscious about his genius and his vulgarity, and in F. Murray Abraham's Oscar-winning Salieri, we see the tragedy that results from the inability of talent to live up to desire. These performances are lavishly complemented by the music in question, a forceful character in its own right. Part of Forman's great acheivement as the film's director was bringing this music to millions who had never set foot inside of an opera house or theatre, with a passion and immediacy that could appeal to a much wider audience than just classical music enthusiasts. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide

Awards:
1984 Academy Best Actor
1984 Academy Best Picture
1984 Academy Best Art Direction
1984 Academy Best Sound
1984 Academy Best Director
1984 Academy Best Makeup
1984 Academy Best Adapted Screenplay
1984 Academy Best Costume Design
1984 Golden Globe Best Film - Drama
1984 Golden Globe Best Actor - Drama
1984 Golden Globe Best Director
1984 Golden Globe Best Screenplay
1984 L.A. Film Critics Association Best Actor
1984 L.A. Film Critics Association Best Picture
1984 L.A. Film Critics Association Best Director
1984 L.A. Film Critics Association Best Screenplay
1984 Directors Guild of America Best Director
1984 French Academy of Cinema Best Foreign Film
1998 American Film Institute 100 Greatest American Movies

A Street Car Named Desire

Directed by Elia Kazan
1951

Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Tennessee Williams, 'A Streetcar Named desire' is set in post World War II New Orleans and centers around a young married couple attempting to keep their bond despite a noted class distinction. Stanley Kowalski, played by Marlon Brando in perhaps one of the greatest performances ever to project off the big screen, is a young Polish American living in a cozy apartment with his quasi-newlywed bride. Stella, a magnolia fresh off a Southern plantation, portrayed with equal panache by Kim Hunter. Things seem to be going along pretty well until Stella's older sister shows up on the doorstep. Blanche Dubois, ( Vivian Leigh ) is a figure as obnoxious as she is tragic, and almost from the very start she is despised by her Polish brother-in-law. Kowalski suddenly discovers that his middle class roots, which hadn't seemed like a much of a point of contention with his new wife, are the subject of snide insinuations and clandestine conversations rolling off the tongue of his sister-in-law. Who, it turns out, is not without considerable baggage herself. That's when the once toasty love nest ( Complete with the memory of twinkling Christmas lights ) turns into a war zone. Things are further complicated when Stanley's Army/factory buddy, brilliantly portrayed by Karl Malden, suddenly takes a shine to Miss Dubois, The incredible thing about 'Streetcar' is not just the quality of the acting, but the way the actors approach the complex and beautiful dialog. Brando combines dynamic sexual magnetism with passionate anger, possessive love and cynicism. Vivian Leigh's tragic character perhaps mirroring the insanity she suffered through in her own life, is portrayed with raving vanity one minute and fleeting youth the next. As she often hears and sees flashbacks which the audience does not. William's dialogue manages to do the impossible, that is to blend in poetic imagery with normal conversation, while not sounding sickly sentimental or downright ridiculous. This is as much a credit to the actors themselves, especially Leigh, who really had to do the bulk of the tough solo scenes in which Blanche begins to lose her mind for good. But Brando is simply too hard to beat. Stanley Kowalski is fully rounded in every sense when this great American actor delivers his lines. Perhaps the only injustice is that Brando did not receive the Oscar for this film, while his costars Hunter, Leigh and Malden all did. Numerous attempts have been made to remake this film, both on the stage and for television. But no one has been able to execute the premise like this wonderful quartet. A fantastic and moving American classic. 10 out of a possible 10.

The Chorus (Les Choristes)

Directed by Christophe Barratier
2004

The Chorus (French: Les Choristes), is a 2004 film directed by Christophe Barratier. The plot is about a passionate music teacher who arrives at a correctional boarding school for boys and transforms their lives through music. The film stars Gérard Jugnot as Clément Mathieu the teacher, and Jean-Baptiste Maunier as Pierre Morhange, one of his students, a musical prodigy. The movie is based on La Cage aux Rossignols.

The film explores the pain of a child's separation from his parents, and the transcendence of music as the greatest form of expression.

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; the song "Vois Sur Ton Chemin (Look To Your Path)" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song.

Awards:
2004 Audience Award Best Narrative Feature, Austin Film Festial
2005 Golden Kinnaree Award Best Director, Bangkok International Film Festival
2005 César Best Music Written for a Film (Meilleure musique), Cesar Awards, France
2005 César Best Sound (Meilleur son)Cesar Awards, France
2004 European Film Award Best, Composer
2004 Jury Award Best Film, Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival
2004 Crystal Heart Award, Heartland Film Festival
2004 Audience Award, Ljubljana International Film Festival
2005 Lumiere Award Best Film (Meilleur film), Lumiere Awards, France
2005 Audience Award Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera, Sant Jordi Awards
2005 Étoile d'Or Best Composer (Compositeur de musique originale),Étoiles d'Or

Letter From an Unknown Woman

Directed by Max Ophuls
1948

Letter From an Unknown Woman is the classic romantic film - a lush tearjerker par excellence - of the bittersweet theme of unrequited, lost love (it's considered a quintessential "woman's picture"). Legendary European director Max Ophuls' deeply-moving, timeless film, considered his greatest and most successful American film but a film unlike most Hollywood films. [The director's name was given an alternate American spelling, OPULS, in the credits, as in his other American films of the 40s.] It demonstrates his lyrical, gliding camera movements, long tracking shots, atmospheric melancholy and romantic dialogue, the recreated flavor of turn-of-the century Vienna, and the exquisite acting talents of its delicate blonde heroine - portrayed by 31 year-old actress Joan Fontaine.
The film's literate screenplay was written by previous Academy Award winner Howard Koch (screenwriter for Casablanca (1942)), and adapted from a 1922 short story by Stefan Zweig. Fontaine's own production company produced the film. John Houseman, Orson Welles' former partner and the uncredited co-author of Citizen Kane (1941), was the film's producer, through Rampart Productions (a company owned by William Dozier and his wife, actress Joan Fontaine).

Although the film was not a commercial success upon its release and criticized as sentimental soap-opera, it has attained well-deserved status as one of the greatest films of its kind. Its cyclically-told tale of romantic yearning and pining for love is about an imaginary romance, embodied in the doomed, delusional (and illusory) relationship of the two romantic leads: a young neighbor girl's (Fontaine) steadfast, sacrificial love for a self-absorbed, frivolous dilettante concert pianist (Jourdan). A seduction leads to an unexpected pregnancy, and then to marriage to another. Both face an inextricable impasse and experience numerous missed opportunities over a span of twenty years - and ultimately fail to attain true romance. The heart-breaking tale of their relationship is communicated through flashbacks and the night-time reading of the deathbed letter written by the dying woman - she is the wife of the man the pianist must duel at the coming dawn.

Gone With the Wind

Directed by Victor Fleming
1939

Scarlett O'Hara is in love with drippy Ashley Wilkes, and is devastated when he announces that he plans to marry his cousin Melanie. She pleads with Ashley to marry her instead, but then, on the first day of the Civil War, she meets mercurial Rhett Butler. A man to match her strength of character and romantic desires, Butler changes the course of her life. Despite hunger, and the burning of Atlanta, Scarlett survives the war and its aftermath, but ultimately loses the only man she really loved.

This is by far the best movie ever made. I love the way it compliments the attributes of the South while shining light on the less pleasant things of war. The classic love story was beautifully portrayed by Vivein Leigh and Clark Gable. I recommend everyone watch this movie at least once in their life for it will truley stay with you for a lifetime. (read more...)

Saw this movie again today while waiting for the coming of the new year (with my whole family). It's really a masterpiece. For lovers of soap operas - it's a perfect 10!

Awards:
Academy 1939
- Best Actress Vivien Leigh
- Best Art Direction Lyle R. Wheeler
- Best Color CinematographyRay Rennahan, Ernest Haller
- Best Director Victor Fleming
- Best Editing Hal C. Kern, James E. Newcom
- Best Picture
- Best Screenplay Sidney Howard
- Best Supporting Actress Olivia De Havilland, Hattie R. McDaniel
- Honorary and Other Awards William Cameron Menzies

Film Daily 1939
- 10 Best Films

New York Film Critics Circle - 1939
- Best Actress

New York Times - 1939
- 10 Best Films

National Board of Review - 1940
-Best Actress

Library of Congress - 1988
- U.S. National Film Registry

American Film Institute - 1998
- 100 Greatest American Movies

Beethoven

Directed by Abel Gance
1936

Abel Gance 's film is very sensitive. His high point is the creation of atmosphere, and the black and white filming lends itself very well to this. A film of undeniable aestheticism.

The plot is above all symbolic. The great moments in the composer's life are filmed in grand style. The talent of director, Abel Gance, and of the principal actor, Harry Baur, give the film constant animation.

The characters are all very Machiavellican: Giulietta is Beethoven's muse - good and attentive; Therese is egoistic, indecisive and unhappy; Karl is the yob all too frequently described; the composer's friends form a band of happy, loyal companions; his servant is completely devoted to him, all his life...

The music is by ... Ludwig van Beethoven. And the "Miserere" finale, sung to the "Moonlight Sonata" arouse incredible emotion.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Directed by Henry Selick
1993

By 1993, director Tim Burton was such a successful filmmaker in Hollywood that he was able to return to one of his most beloved early projects, "The Nightmare Before Christmas." It's certainly an inspired movie, as it is also very weird, and when I say "weird," I mean it's distinctly Burton.

Even though it was directed with enough competency by Henry Selick, this groundbreaking stop-motion animation film is Burton all the way, as it contains ample "esque" qualities that make this "Nightmare" uniquely his vision.

As the film opens in the twisted, "Burton"-esque village of "Halloweentown," Jack Skellington, who is dually voiced by Chris Sarandon and longtime Burton collaborator Danny Elfman, is celebrating another "horrible" Halloween. You'll be shocked and amazed at some of the town's inhabitants, who include jazz-playing zombies, Four Tenor-like vampires, a wolf man, and a wheelchair-bound scientist who occasionally opens up his cranium to (literally) scratch his brain; his creation, a Frankenstein-like scarecrow named Sally (Catherine O'Hara), yearns for contact with others and is quite fond of Jack Skellington.

But Jack's quickly growing tired of the same old routine year after year, and because he's so downtrodden with boredom, he ventures into the dark forest outside the town's borders, and accidentally stumbles onto the wondrous, jolly world of "Christmastown." Enticed by its splendor, he decides to bring back his discovery to the residents of Halloweentown, who of which are just as shocked by Christmas as he is. Jack gets the brilliant idea to pose as Santa Claus but hires three mischief-makers to kidnap the real Santa so he can share his own, misguided vision of Christmas with an unprepared world.

Painstakingly and meticulously crafted, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a beautiful and wonderful film from start to finish. The most famous image of this film is the cover art, which features Skellington eerily silhouetted against a full moon while he stands atop a coiled hill that overlooks a desolate graveyard.

Burton is such a wonderful director, who had already brought us one unique "esque" vision after the other, especially with the first two "Batman" films and "Edward Scissorhands" behind him as of '93 when "Nightmare" was made (dee.reid from USA)

Awards:
1994 Best Music Award, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films
1994 Best Fantasy Film Award, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films
1994 Best Individual Achievement for Artistic Excellence in the Field of Animation, Annie Awards
1994 Best Individual Achievement for Creative Supervision in the Field of Animation, Annie Awards

Purple Storm

Directed by Teddy Chan Tak-sum
1999

In the latest HK attempt at big-budget action filmmaking, director Teddy Chan (Downtown Torpedoes) brings us something unheard of: a story. Purple Storm tells the tale of Todd (Daniel Wu), a Khmer Rouge terrorist working for legendary evil bastard Soong (Kam Kwok-Leung). Soong’s plan is to wipe out much of Southeast Asia with a lethal poison which, when seeded into the rain clouds, will liquefy people in a bloody purplish-red mess (hence the title Purple Storm).

Soong’s plan goes awry when Todd is injured, gets amnesia, and is promptly captured by HK’s anti-terrorist unit. Headed by a dour and surprisingly effective Emil Chow, the HK do-gooders go the morally questionable route of brainwashing Todd. They give him a new identity and a new past as an undercover working for the government. Joan Chen makes a dubbed and welcome appearance as Todd’s psychologist, who takes it upon herself to make Todd not just an effective undercover, but a good person to boot. That’s the key to Todd’s eventual path, and the saving grace of this effective action thriller.

In comparison to its predecessors Gen-X Cops and Downtown Torpedoes, Purple Storm relies far less on pop-star good looks and in-your-face attitude. Most of the actors play against type with surprising effectiveness. Emil Chow and Josie Ho are particularly good, and Daniel Wu manages to carry the film decently. The action from ace Stephen Tung is up-to-standard, but somewhat sporadic. There is far more plot and narrative than one would expect from an HK action film, but it makes the film better if not more palatable to mass audiences. Ultimately this is an event picture that succeeds at being far more well-rounded than one would expect for a Hong Kong film. (Kozo 2000)

Awards:
19th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards
• Winner - Best Cinematography (Arthur Wong Ngok-Tai)
• Winner - Best Action Design (Stephen Tung Wai)
• Winner - Best Editing (Kwong Chi-Leung)
• Winner - Best Costume Design (Ng Lei-Lo)
• Winner - Best Sound (Tsang King-Cheung)

Dancer in the Dark

Directed by Lars von Trier
2000

Masterpiece or masquerade? Lars von Trier's digicam musical split the critics in two when it debuted at Cannes in 2000. There were those who saw it as a cynical shock-opera from a manipulative charlatan, others wept openly at its scenes of raw emotion and heart-rending intensity. There is, however, no in-between. Dancer in the Dark is that rarest of creatures, a film that dares to push viewers to the limits of their feelings.

In her first and most probably last screen performance (she has foresworn acting after her bruising on-set rows with von Trier), brittle Icelandic chanteuse Björk plays Selma, a Czech immigrant living in a folksy American small town with her young son, Gene. Selma is going blind and so will Gene if she does not arrange an important operation for him. To cover the expense, Selma works every hour she can, cheating on her eye tests so she can keep working at the local factory long after her vision has become too unreliable to work safely. She sublets a house from a local cop, Bill (David Morse), and his wife, Linda (Cara Seymour). When nearly bankrupt Bill asks Selma for a loan, she refuses, but he later returns and steals the money, which she demands back in a furious confrontation. In the ensuing melee, Bill is fatally shot and Selma is arrested and put on trial. Will justice prevail?

Von Trier's passionate, provocative film runs all our emotional resources dry with suspense, giving us occasional flashes into Selma's gold heart and mind with superb song-and-dance numbers she conjures to banish the nightmare (Björk also wrote the score). At some two-and-a-half hours, it's not for lightweights, but anyone bored with today's smug, "ironic" cinema will relish this as an astonishing assault on the senses and a stark reminder of von Trier's uncompromising talent. --Damon Wise

Awards:
2000 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress
2000 Cannes International Film Festival Best Actress
2000 Cannes Film Festival Palme D'or
2000 Cannes International Film Festival Palme d'Or
2000 Cannes Film Festival Best Female Performance
2000 European Film Awards People's Choice Award: Best Actress
2000 European Film Academy Best European Actress
2000 European Film Awards Best European Actress
2000 European Film Awards People's Choice Award Best Director
2000 European Film Academy Best European Film
2000 European Film Awards Best European Film
2000 Jameson People's Choice Award Best European Director
2000 Jameson People's Choice Award Best European Actress
2000 Independent Spirit Award Best Foreign Film
2000 National Board of ReviewBest Musical Performance
2000 National Board of Review

Ratcatcher

Directed by Lynne Ramsay
1999
James' family live in a poor neighborhood of Glasgow in the late 1970s. While they wait for relocation to a nicer part of town, James makes do with playing by the canal with Margaret Anne and Kenny. Margaret Anne is older, and willing to sleep with the local boys for a bit of affection, while Kenny loves animals, but is slow-witted. As the garbage piles up during a prolonged strike by the garbage collectors, James dreams of a better life and tries to escape the realities of his family and personal tragedies. As his family's dream of moving to a new home slowly fades, James also finds himself increasingly estranged from his loved ones and surroundings. The only place where he can find any solace is in a half-constructed housing subdivision in the pastoral suburbs--a bus journey away--for it is here where James feels he truly belongs.

Awards:
Newcomer of the Year, 2000 British Academy of Film & Television Arts; Sutherland Trophy, 1999 London Film Festival; Georges Delerue Prize, 1999 Flanders International Film Festival; New Director's Award, 1999 Edinburgh International Film Festival; Douglas Hickox Award, 1999 British Independent Film Awards.

Innocent Voices

Directed by Luis Mandoki
2004

Set in 1980's El Salvador, where a boy's twelfth birthday enlists him automatically in the army, Kella struggles to protect her family in the middle of a civil war. Kella's son, Chava, spends his 11th year chasing a first love, shielding siblings from bullets, testing his mother, and taking on the role of his absent father (read more details here).

A history lesson on the 1980s El Salvador civil war and a story of children caught in the crossfire combine in Luis Mandoki's Innocent Voices.

It's a stark, but sentimental account from Oscar Torres, one of the youngsters lucky enough to survive the bloodshed.

Torres' alter ego is 11-year-old Chava (wily, adorable Carlos Padilla), who lives in a village situated between the warring factions, with his hardworking seamstress mother and sister.

With his father absent, Chava is the man of the house, a role that he will probably not hold onto long, since the army drafts all boys out of school at the age of 12.

Chava is a typically stubborn lad, not eager to obey his mother, who fears for his life in the gunfire that occurs nightly after curfew. By day, he helps the meager household treasury by working on the local bus, calling out the stops.

Mandoki has a strong visual sense for the chaos of warfare, and the episodic screenplay keeps coming up with perilous incidents in a film that gives the emotions quite a workout.

One of the best films captured on screen!

Himala

Directed by Ishmael Bernal
1982

Himala ("Miracle") is an award-winning international Filipino film directed by Ishmael Bernal and written by Ricardo Lee. Based on a 1967 incident, it was premiered in 1982 and was shown in other countries. The film stars the Filipino actress Nora Aunor, who is best known for her performance as Elsa in this film. The role was considered by some critics to be the best performance in her career.

The film is centered on the issues of religious faith and faithlessness. In a notable line from the film, the character Elsa says, Walang Himala! Ang himala ay nasa puso ng tao... ang himala ay nasa puso nating lahat. (There is no miracle! A miracle is found in a heart of a person... a miracle is found in all of us!)

This line is well-known in the Philippines, and is considered the most famous line in Aunor's career. The film was a box-office hit, earning an impressive 30 million pesos, becoming one of the highest grossing Filipino films in the 80's. (Please read more here.)

I have always loved this movie. A lot of times I have asked my wife to watch this movie together(again) and she just can't do anything but to agree and disappear at the middle (haha!). It's not that I am a fan of Nora but rather the craft that she have shown in this film.

A lot of videos about this film are available at youtube.com. Please help yourself...

City of God

Directed by Fernando Meirelles
2003

The film tells the story of life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, in an area known as the Cidade De Deus, the City of God. The story is told from the narration of the young photographer, Rocket. The different scenarios of life that make up the wider-story are presented in Pulp Fiction style chapters, complete with on-screen titles for each different story component. The story covers all the facets of the life, charting the growth of several key members of the gangs from childhood through to young adulthood, with their transformation from young hoodlums to local drugs barons. The final parts of the story focus on the battle within the Cidade De Deus between two different groups, when business and personal matters lead to an unavoidable confrontation. And what a confrontation it is, although details will not be given away here. The result is a powerful telling of life based around real-life events.

Martin Scorsese seems to have a heavy influence on the direction of this picture, with many moments looking familiar to fans of the legendary American filmmaker. Close ups, sweeping scene shots, freeze-and-zoom shots, and a frenzied handheld approach are all trademarks that will be recognisably traceable to Scorsese, having been used throughout his career. Many shots remind the viewer of Scorsese's narrative dialogue-camera relationship in Goodfellas, in which the camera was used to brilliant effect to highlight the main points in the script. This technique is used heavily in the first twenty minutes of Cidade De Deus, with the freeze frame trick being used to introduce the story's main characters alongside the dialogue of narrator, Rocket.

Throughout the film one cannot help but watch a scene and think, 'I've seen that in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, or Casino', and this may make some look less favourably on the film's direction. However, it is not fair to consider this 'a Brazilian Goodfellas', as one critic has observed. The story has parallels - the underlying ideas of gangsters, drugs and violence -, the direction is similar, and the story is told with narration, much like Ray Liotta's role in Scorsese's epic. But to regard this film in terms of what styles it repeats or nods it's hat to, is to be very ignorant. Fernando Meirelles, has done a wonderfully hypnotic job of blending the old styles, and bringing them up to date with flashy and sometimes dangerously kinetic direction and editing. Look only to the leaving-party scene in which strobe lighting is used to extraordinary effect, almost suffocating the story below a bombardment on the visual senses. Think of a crossover between the visual energy of the Matrix and the violence of the club scene in Bad Boys.

Cidade De Deus is much more than a directorial assault on the senses. As Raul Walsh said if you don't have a story you have nothing, and many flashy Hollywood films have fallen short in using 'ultra-modern' direction to disguise the fact that no substantial story exists underneath. Cidade De Deus is most brilliant in that it combines directorial and editorial brilliance with a story that is almost second to none in recent times. Only the true greats manage to cater to these two needs of cinema, and this is one that does. The direction is amazing, but not to disguise the story flaws, and the story is brilliant, but does not overwhelm directorial originality. But simply, Cidade De Deus is a perfect film for avid fans of cinematography, and those just in search of two hours of a bloody good story.

I cannot decide yet if I would consider this better than Amores Perros, but it is certainly not inferior. The at-the-same-time stylish and brutal visuals of Amores Perros are replaced by a grittier, more hands on approach to the subject. Whilst in Amores Perros the characters took precedent, in Cidade De Deus the location is as big a character as those who live there. As a result we get a much greater feeling of the environment in which the characters exist, and so it is perhaps easier to empathise, and/or sympathise with them. As the official press synopsis says, Cidade De Deus is a character, but is a place not a person. Amores Perros triumphs in creating relationships between the audience and the characters, as it concentrates for a long time on relatively few people, each of whom we grow to know and ultimately care about, which is important for the emotional impact of the film. Cidade De Deus deals with dozens, even hundreds, of characters, and so it is only a minority that we become attached to. This means that while the film leaves a lasting impact we are not left with the same inquisitiveness about the future for the characters that we meet in Amores Perros. Both films leave open ends, but Cidade De Deus feels closed. Whether you consider this a good or bad thing is a matter for personal choice.

Cidade De Deus is essential viewing, and is cinema at its most brilliant. It will of course feel the wrath of critics who will dwell on the almost unimaginably high body count, but there are always those who will reject violence in the movies. In fact the violence in Cidade De Deus, even the apocalyptic ending, is not as raw and bloody as many will expect. Blood spilling is a rare sight, and the violence rests mostly, but not always, on choreography rather than in your face bloodshed. The result is violence, but it is often so artistic that it looks beautiful rather than deterring. Like Scorsese's Taxi Driver the violence is abhorrent, but admirable from a cinematic perspective.

In short, this is a superb achievement, and is easily one of the best films of the year, and of the decade so far. Like it's predecessors, this is the latest film to come out of South America that indicates the emergence of major new talent in filmmaking. Hollywood beware. (Dave Newsome)

Taste of Cherry

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
1997

Co-winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, The Taste of Cherry is the venerable Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami's examination of life, death and the small miracles in between. Homayoun Ershadi stars as Mr. Badii, a middle-aged man wishing to kill himself; driving his Range Rover across the arid outskirts of Tehran, he searches for someone to aid him in his final hours, someone who will agree to bury his body if he succeeds in his mission -- a planned overdose of sleeping pills -- or rescue him if he fails. Offering a large sum of money in exchange for services rendered, he first picks up a Kurdish soldier who ultimately flees in fear upon learning of Badii's plan; the next passenger, an Afghani seminary student, instead attempts to convince him of the sanctity of human life. Finally, Badii picks up a Turkish taxidermist who reluctantly agrees to check the body for signs of life; having long ago contemplated suicide himself, the taxidermist also tries to dissuade Badii from ending it all, accepting the offer only because he needs the money to care for his sick daughter. Kiarostami's refusal to answer the film's two most obvious questions -- exactly why does Mr. Badii wish to end his life, and does he successfully carry out his plan? -- invites viewers to share in his protagonist's plight by triggering their own powers of imagination. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Ran

Directed by Akira Kurosawa
1985

A story of Greed, a lust for power, and ultimate revenge. The Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) has decided to step aside to make room for the younger blood of his three sons, Taro (Akira Terao), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu). The Lord's only wish now being to live out his years as an honored guest in the castle of each of his sons in turn. While the older two sons flatter their father, the youngest son attempts to warn him of the folly of expecting the three sons to remain united, enraged at the younger sons' attempt to point out the danger, the father banishes him. True to the younger sons' warning however, the Oldest Son soon conspires with the Second Son to strip The Great Lord of everything, even his title. The story follows the decent of the old man into madness, the machinations of treachery and deceit by the two older sons and their downfall, and the loyalty of the youngest who ultimately rescues his father. But in the end it is the past deeds of The Great Lord that bring on the final battle and end the era of the Lord Hidetora and his clan. (Bill albers.bill)

Grave of the Fireflies

Directed by: Isao Takahata
1988

In the aftermath of a World War II bombing, two orphaned children struggle to survive in the Japanese countryside. To Seita and his four-year-old sister, the helplessness and indifference of their countrymen is even more painful than the enemy raids. Through dessperation, hunger and grief, these children's lives are as heartbreakingly fragile as their spirit and love is inspiring. Grave of the Fireflies is a tale of the true tragedy of war and innocence lost, not only of the abandoned young, but of an entire nation (read more...).

I was teary-eyed after watching this film. Maybe because I immersed myself (I mean my kids) too much into the situation/s that the main characters have been through. I must say that this is the best animated film I ever saw to this date and the only war film that really made me focus my attention into. I watched it together with my wife and my kids and believe me, it just struck us... leaving us all teary-eyed. You can watch the trailer below.

Medea

Directed by Lars von Trier
1988

Cinematic genius Lars von Tier explores the dark passions of a woman scorned in this shocking and powerful film adapted from a screenplay by the great Carl-Theodore Dreyer.

The drama unfolds in shimmering marshlands and gloomy subterranean passageways. Medea is a foreign sorceress, abandoned by Jason, her lover. In a fit of mad, jealous rage, she plots a vicious revenge and murders her own children.

Medea is a revelation - the discovery of a rarely-seen, legendary film from the director of Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, and Dogville.

Arghh! I wanted to hate it but loved it anyway! For a family man like me, you will surely hate writer and director Lars von Trier for having a movie like this. But, ok.. for the sake of art, go ahead! watch this, people!