Holley
Eagle vs. Shark (Rated R for language, some sexuality, and brief animated violence)
This film from New Zealand is sweet and cute but with some bite! Lily works at a mall restaurant and is in love with Jarrod, who works in a gaming store in the same mall. These two lonely misfits collide and hilarity and awkwardness ensue. It's closest comparison could probably be made with the film Napoleon Dynamite, but this film has little more heart (and quite a few more F-bombs) to it. Highly recommended!
Holley, Emmet O'Neal
Fly Girls (not rated)
This fascinating documentary film chronicles the experience of the more than 1,000 women of the Women Airforce Service Pilots trained during WWII to test and move aircraft from place to place, instruct male pilots, and even tow targets for anti-aircraft artillery practice. I remember hearing snippets about this in history classes from time to time but this is a story not to be missed. Riveting! (no pun intended, Rosie)
Holley, Emmet O'Neal
Red Riding 1974 (not rated)
(Rotten Tomatoes) A rookie journalist, Eddie Dunford, investigates a series of child abductions and murders, leading him to suspect that there's a terrifying connection between the perpetrators and the upper echelons of Yorkshire power.
Samuel, Five Points West
Understanding Art: Hidden Lives of Masterpieces (not rated)
(Amazon) This exceptional series documents the Louvre's study days, in which works by five major artists— Raphael, Rembrandt, Poussin, Watteau, and Leonardo—were collected together, removed from their frames, and set on easels, replicating the feel of an artist's studio. Curators, historians, restorers, and scientists from around the world came to examine and discuss them in total freedom.
Samuel, Five Points West
Stonewall Uprising (not rated)
(Amazon) Stonewall Uprising explores the dramatic event that launched a worldwide rights movement. When police raided a Mafia-run gay bar in Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn, on June 28, 1969, gay men and women did something they had not done before: they fought back. As the streets of New York erupted into violent protests and street demonstrations, the collective anger announced that the gay rights movement had arrived.
Samuel, Five Points West
Mrs. Miniver (not rated)
(Amazon) Winner of six Academy Awards(R) including Best Picture, this memorable spirit-lifter about an idealized England that tends its prize-winning roses while confronting the terror of war struck a patriotic chord with American audiences and became 1942's #1 box-office hit.
Samuel, Five Points West
Philadelphia Story (not rated)
(Amazon) Katharine Hepburn revisits her famous stage role as a socialite whose impending marriage is threatened by a reporter and her ex-husband.
Samuel, Five Points West
Gigi (Rated G)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Leslie Caron plays Gigi, a young girl raised by two veteran Parisian courtesans (Hermione Gingold and Isabel Jeans) to be the mistress of wealthy young Gaston (Louis Jourdan). When Gaston falls in love with Gigi and asks her to be his wife, Jeans is appalled: never has anyone in their family ever stooped to anything so bourgeois as marriage!
Samuel, Five Points West
Black Cat (not rated)
(Amazon) Sven is your run-of-the-mill sweeper (a.k.a. bounty hunter) - down on his luck, haunted by the perpetual grumbling of his stomach and looking to make enough cash just to get by. When a damsel in distress enlists his aid, Sven crosses paths with the worst possible luck - Black Cat (a.k.a. Train Heartnet). At odds now with the branded assassin, Sven seeks to save a young girl before the unlucky Number can carry out his mission.
Samuel, Five Points West
Lost (not rated)
(Amazon) Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue.
Samuel, Five Points West
Ballykissangel (not rated)
(Amazon) A captivating comedy-drama about a young British priest and the quirky townsfolk he counsels after being dispatched to a small hamlet on the Emerald Isle.
Samuel, Five Points West
Monarch of the Glen (not rated)
(Amazon) Set among the ruggedly scenic Scottish Highlands, the show centers around an ancient castle and its quirky inhabitants, as well as the handsome new lord of the manor who assumes ownership of the threadbare estate.
Samuel, Five Points West
Sordid Lives (Rated R for sexual content, nudity, and language)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Writer-director Del Shores serves up a heaping helping of Southern-fried comic melodrama in this adaptation of his own play about infidelity, country & western music, and Airstream trailers. Also adapted into a tv series of the same name.
Samuel, Five Points West
Black Narcissus (not rated)
(Amazon) A group of nuns—played by some of Britain’s best actresses, including Deborah Kerr (From Here to Eternity, An Affair to Remember), Flora Robson (The Rise of Catherine the Great, Wuthering Heights), and Jean Simmons (Great Expectations, Hamlet)—struggles to establish a convent in the snowcapped Himalayas; isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad. A darkly grand film that won Oscars for its set design and for its cinematography by Jack Cardiff (The Red Shoes, The African Queen), Black Narcissus is one of the greatest achievements by two of cinema’s true visionaries.
Samuel, Five Points West
Elf (Rated PG for some mild rude humor and language)
(Rotten Tomatoes) For his sophomore stab at directing, actor/writer/director Jon Favreau (Swingers, Made), took on this holiday comedy starring Saturday Night Live-alum Will Ferrell. Ferrell stars as Buddy, a regular-sized man who was raised as an elf by Santa Claus (Edward Asner). When the news is finally broken to Buddy that he's not a real elf, he decides to head back to his place of birth, New York City, in search of his biological family.
Mondretta, Leeds
The Mask (Rated PG-13 for some stylized violence)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Hyperactive mayhem results when a mild-manned banker discovers an ancient mask that transforms him into a zany prankster with superhuman powers in this special-effects-intensive comedy.
Mondretta, Leeds
Serial Mom (Rated R for satirical presentations of strong violence, vulgar language, and sexual episodes)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) is the perfect suburban housewife and mother. She likes to cook, her home is immaculately clean, she's always well-groomed and cheerful, and she loves her husband Eugene (Sam Waterston) and her two children, Misty (Ricki Lake) and Chip (Matthew Lillard). There's just one problem with Beverly -- if you do anything to make someone in her family feel bad, you're dead meat on a stick.
Mondretta, Leeds
War of the Roses (Rated R for adult situations, language, and violence)
(Rotten Tomatoes) The War of the Roses can best be described as a slapstick tragedy concerning the decline and literal fall of a marriage.
Mondretta, Leeds
Unforgiven (Rated R for language, violence, and a scene of sexuality)
(Amazon) Unforgiven is a modern classic that “summarizes everything I feel about the Western,” director/star Clint Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times. This American Film Institute Top-100 American Movies selection rode off with four 1992 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman) and Editing (Joel Cox). Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty. Richard Harris is an ill-fated killer-for-hire. And Hackman is a lawman of sly charm…and chilling brutality. Unforgiven is “a Western for the ages” (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times).
Mondretta, Leeds
Independence Day (Rated PG-13 for sci-fi destruction and violence)
(Rotten Tomatoes) A group of intrepid humans attempts to save the Earth from vicious extraterrestrials in this extremely popular science-fiction adventure.
Mondretta, Leeds
Dirty Dancing (Rated PG-13 for adult situations and language)
(Amazon) In the summer of 1963, innocent 17-year-old Baby (Grey) vacations with her parents at a Catskill's resort. One evening, she is drawn to the staff quarters by stirring music. There she meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, who is as experienced as Baby is naive. Baby soon becomes Johnny's pupil in dance and love.
Mondretta, Leeds
All the President's Men (Rated PG)
(Amazon) The riveting story of real-life Washington Post Watergate-scandal reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
Mondretta, Leeds
Jane by Design (not rated)
(Amazon) For anyone who's ever had a passion for fashion, ABC Family's JANE BY DESIGN is tailor-made fun! Jane Quimby (Erica Dasher) is leading the ultimate double life. Jane, a regular high school student, applies for a coveted internship at fashion house Donovan Decker. Through a case of mistaken identity, Jane lands a job as the assistant to Gray Chandler Murray (Andie MacDowell), a high-powered executive. Only her best friend Billy (Nick Roux) knows the truth about Jane's two lives. Will she be able to juggle a life of high school AND high fashion or will they come crashing together at the most inopportune time? Complete with 10 episodes -- relive all the drama, romance and excitement.
Mondretta, Leeds
The Station Agent (Rated R for language and some drug content)
(Rotten Tomatoes) In New Jersey, Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) is a four-foot-tall lonely man who chooses to live the life of a hermit in an abandoned train yard following the death of his friend. While he is there, he unexpectedly meets and befriends a couple of fellow loners.
Mondretta, Leeds
What's Up, Doc? (Rated G)
(Rotten Tomatoes) When wacky co-ed Judy Maxwell (Barbra Streisand, in the Katharine Hepburn part) spies nebbishy musicologist Howard Bannister (Ryan O'Neal in bespectacled Cary Grant mode) in a San Francisco hotel lobby, she decides that Howard and his precious igneous rocks are right up her alley.
Mondretta, Leeds
Simply Irresistible (Rated PG-13 for adult situations, language, and sex)
(Amazon) Beautiful restaurant owner Amanda Shelton (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is falling head over heels for handsome, hard-driving executive Tom Bartlett (Sean Patrick Flanery). Unfortunately, Tom is too busy to recognize that she's truly the girl of his dreams until Amanda puts him under her tantalizing spell!
Mondretta, Leeds
Hot Coffee (unrated)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Seinfeld mocked it. Letterman ranked it in his top ten list. And more than fifteen years later, its infamy continues. Everyone knows the McDonald's coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how citizens have taken advantage of America's legal system, but is that a fair rendition of the facts? Hot Coffee reveals what really happened to Stella Liebeck, the Albuquerque woman who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald's, while exploring how and why the case garnered so much media attention, who funded the effort and to what end. After seeing this film, you will decide who really profited from spilling hot coffee.
Mondretta, Leeds
Any Arnold Schwarzenegger film (various ratings)
Mondretta, Leeds
West of Memphis (Rated R for disturbing violent content and some language)
(Rotten Tomatoes) From director Amy Berg, in collaboration with first time Producers Damien Echols and Lorri Davis along with filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh comes West of Memphis, a powerful examination of a catastrophic failure of justice in Arkansas. The documentary tells the hitherto unknown story behind an extraordinary and desperate fight to bring the truth to light.
Kelly, Springville Road
Paradise Lost trilogy (not rated)
(Amazon) The landmark documentary that sparked an international movement to 'Free the West Memphis Three', PARADISE LOST investigates the gruesome 1993 murder of three eight-year-old boys and the three teenagers accused of killing them as part of a Satanic ritual. From real-life courtroom drama and clandestine jailhouse interviews to behind-the-scenes strategy meetings and intimate moments with grief-stricken families, acclaimed filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky were granted unprecedented access to all the players involved, capturing the events as they unfolded.
Kelly, Springville Road
Down From the Mountain (Rated G)
(Amazon) On May 24, 2000, the historic Ryman Auditorium was booked to offer Nashvillians an evening of sublime beauty. Label executives and soundtrack producers so loved the music of O Brother, Where Art Thou? that they brought it to life as a benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame. Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen loved it so much that they hired famed documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker to record the show for posterity. The concert that unfolded that night was one of the greatest musical moments in the annals of Music City. Performers: John Hartford, Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Chris Thomas King, The Cox Family, Fairfield Four, Union Station, Colin Linden, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, The Peasall Sisters, Ralph Stanley, David Rawlings, The Whites.
Kelly, Springville Road
Hard Candy (Rated R for language and disturbing, violent, and abberant sexual content involving a teen)
(Rotten Tomatoes) A teenage girl agrees to meet a thirtysomething fashion photographer in person after becoming acquainted with him in an online chat room, and the resulting encounter finds the line between predator and prey slipping slowly out of focus in director David Slade's provocative and topical thriller.
Kelly, Springville Road
Winter's Bone (Rated R for some drug related material, language, and violence)
(Amazon) 17-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth. Based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, Winter's Bone is the winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize.
Kelly, Springville Road
Freaks & Geeks (not rated)
(Amazon) Follows the Weir siblings--former math whiz Lindsay (Linda Cardellini of the Scooby-Doo feature films and ER) and her younger brother Sam (John Francis Daley)--as they navigate the perils and pleasures of a Michigan high school circa 1980.
Maura, Trussville
Gavin & Stacey (not rated)
(Amazon) Written by and starring Ruth Jones (Little Britain, Nighty Night) and James Corden (The History Boys), Gavin and Stacey follows the trials and tribulations of two young lovers as they embark on a whirlwind romance that brings their nations, and their families, crashing together. Gavin is an ordinary boy from England, Stacey is an ordinary girl from Wales, but when these two fall in love, the peculiar personalities of their families and friends make it a rocky road to happiness.
Maura, Trussville
The Secret of Kells (Rated G)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Follow 12-year-old Brendan (voice of Evan McGuire) as he battles Vikings and confronts an ancient serpent god on a mission to locate a legendary crystal and complete the mythical Book of Kells.
Maura, Trussville
(Rotten Tomatoes) As Finland's withdrawal from World War II draws ever closer, a tentative relationship between an abandoned Finnish soldier, a Lapp woman, and a Russian captain accused of anti-Soviet correspondence offers momentary solace to a trio of lost souls.
Maura, Trussville
3:10 to Yuma (2007 remake), Rated R for violence and some language)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Russell Crowe plays a desperado whose accomplices stage an ambush after he is taken into custody by a determined local sheriff in this remake of the 1957 film starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. James Mangold directs a script based on the Elmore Leonard short story and penned by Stuart Beattie, Michael Brandt, and Derek Haas.
Maura, Trussville
Vicar of Dibley (not rated)
(Amazon) The winner of an International Emmy(R) Award for Best Comedy Program, The Vicar of Dibley is one of the most popular series ever produced by the BBC. It boasts the brilliant comic writing of Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Bridget Jones's Diary) and a gifted ensemble cast led by Dawn French of the hilarious comedy duo, French and Saunders. The sleepy village of Dibley was blindsided back in 1994 by the arrival of its new vicar -- who had the audacity to be a woman! Over the twelve ensuing years -- with the help of a sharp wit, a double dose of double entendre and a healthy supply of chocolate -- she gradually won the hearts of even the crustiest of the town's eccentric inhabitants.
Michelle, Irondale
Tim's Vermeer (Rated PG-13 for some strong language)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, (Video Toaster, LightWave, TriCaster) attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer ("Girl with a Pearl Earring") manage to paint so photo-realistically - 150 years before the invention of photography?
Michelle, Irondale
The Rape of Europa (not rated)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Adolf Hitler spent years struggling to establish himself as an artist before his political ambitions rose to the surface and he brought the Nazi Party to power in Germany, and documentary filmmakers Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham, and Bonni Cohen offer a unique perspective on how Hitler's aesthetic viewpoint may have affected his nation's actions during World War II. The Rape of Europa examines the artistic tastes of Hitler and his leading advisors, and how they looted many of the great museums and private art collections of Europe during the course of World War II in order to stock museums built during the Third Reich (and benefit the collections of Germany's leaders).
Michelle, Irondale
Le Monde du Silence (The Silent World, 1956) (not rated)
(Amazon) Le Monde du Silence (The Silent World) is based on the best-selling book of the same name by famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. Set on board--and below--the good ship Calypso during an exploratory expedition, this feature-length documentary was codirected by Cousteau and Louis Malle, whose first film this was (Cousteau selected Malle for this assignment immediately upon the latter's graduation from film school).
Jon, Avondale
Le Monde Sans Soleil (World Without Sun, 1964) (not rated)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Jacques Cousteau and his team of underwater explorers dive nearly 1,000 feet down in the Red Sea in this Academy Award-winning documentary from 1964. The divers base their operations from a prefabricated underwater house that isolates them from the rest of the world, where the sea is teeming with plants and animals including sharks and colorful fish. The feature won an Oscar for "Best Documentary."
Jon, Avondale
Disney's The Living Desert (1953, Rated G)
(Amazon) Documentary of the live of flora and fauna in a desert in the US. Academy award winner best feature documentary 1953.
Jon, Avondale
Disney's The Vanishing Prairie (1954, Rated G)
(Amazon) The American prairie. A wondrous expanse teeming with life and vitality before the march of civilization all but destroyed it. Disney photographers use ingenious and innovative techniques to capture the magic of nature remaining on the prairie. Reproduction, survival, and the elements affecting life are brought to you in this magnificent, Academy Award-winning film!
Jon, Avondale
Before the Mountain Was Moved (1969, not rated)
(Amazon) Experience the American Journey through our country's visual heritage in this historical recording provided by the National Archives of the United States. Documents the dramatic struggle by the poor mountain people of Raleigh County, West Virginia, to save their land from the ravages of strip mining and to gain passage of state legislation for conserving their environment.
Jon, Avondale
Harlan County, U.S.A. (Rated PG)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Director Barbara Kopple's look at a 13-month coal miners' strike that took place between 1973 and 1974 in Harlan County, KY, is one of the great films about labor troubles, though not for a sense of objectivity. Kopple lived among the miners and their families off and on during the four years the entire story played out, and it's clear in every frame of the film that her sympathies lie with the miners and not their bosses at Eastover Mining, owned by Duke Power Company.
Jon, Avondale
Pushing Daisies (not rated)
(Amazon) It's the story of Ned, a lonely pie maker whose touch can reanimate the dead. Cool, but there's a hitch. If Ned touches the person again, the miracle is reversed. If he doesn't, a bystander goes toes up. What to do? Easy. Team with a private eye, bring murder victims back just long enough to discover whodunit, and collect the rewards. Things go well until Ned's boyhood sweetie is the next dear departed, and he can't resist bringing her back for keeps!
Jon, Avondale
Enchanted (Rated PG for some scary images and mild innuendo)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Classic Disney animation meets contemporary urban chaos when a frightened princess is banished from her magical animated homeland to modern-day New York City in a romantic comedy penned by Bill Kelly (Blast from the Past), directed by Kevin Lima (Tarzan), and featuring music by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz.
Jon, Avondale
The Book Thief (Rated PG-13 for some violence and intense depiction of thematic material)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Based on the beloved international bestselling book, The Book Thief tells the story of an extraordinary, spirited young girl sent to live with a foster family in WWII Germany. Intrigued by the only book she brought with her, she begins collecting books as she finds them. With the help of her new parents and a secret guest under the stairs, she learns to read and creates a magical world that inspires them all.
Jon, Avondale
True Grit (2010 remake, Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of western violence including disturbing images)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) joins an aging U.S. marshal (Jeff Bridges) and another lawman (Matt Damon) in tracking her father's killer into hostile Indian territory in Joel and Ethan Coen's adaptation of Charles Portis' original novel.
Jon, Avondale
Empire of the Sun (Rated PG for adult situations, language, and violence)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Based on J.G. Ballard's autobiographical novel, Empire of the Sun stars Christian Bale as a spoiled young British boy, living with his wealthy family in pre-World War II Shanghai. During the Japanese invasion, Bale is separated from his parents. With the help of soldier-of-fortune John Malkovich, Bale learns to survive without a retinue of servants at his beck and call. By the time Malkovich and Bale are tossed into a Japanese prison camp, the boy has picked up enough street-smarts and developed enough intestinal fortitude to regard his imprisonment as an exciting adventure.
Jon, Avondale
The Money Pit (Rated PG for adult situations and language)
(Amazon) Evicted from their Manhattan apartment, Walter and Anna (Hanks and Long) buy what looks like the home of their dreams – only to find themselves saddled with a bank-account-draining nightmare. Struggling to keep their relationship together as their rambling mansion falls to pieces around them, the two hapless homeowners watch in hilarious horror as everything – including the kitchen sink – disappears into The Money Pit.
Jon, Avondale
Groundhog Day (Rated PG for some thematic elements)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Bill Murray is at his wry, wisecracking best in this riotous romantic comedy about a weatherman caught in a personal time warp on the worst day of his life. Teamed with a relentlessly cheerful producer (Andie MacDowell) and a smart-aleck cameraman (Chris Elliott), TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. But on his way out of town, Phil is caught in a giant blizzard, which he failed to predict, and finds himself stuck in small-town hell. Just when things couldn't get any worse, they do. Phil wakes the next morning to find it's Groundhog Day all over again... and again... and again.
Jon, Avondale
Flammen & Citronen (Flame & Citron) (not rated)
(Amazon) Copenhagen, 1944: As the Nazi occupation of Denmark rages, two Resistance fighters, a young idealist codenamed Flame (Thure Lindhardt of INTO THE WILD) and tense family man Citron (Mads Mikkelsen of CASINO ROYALE), become the underground's most proficient killers of collaborators and sympathizers. The SS is hunting them. They trust only each other. But in a time where fear and mercy must live in the shadows, will a mysterious woman and a new assignment to assassinate the head of the Gestapo lead them to the deadliest places of all? Christian Berkel (DOWNFALL) co-stars in this white-knuckle noir thriller based on the Holger Danske's most infamous agents from co-writer/director Ole Christian Madsen that critics worldwide hail as an explosive saga of justice, vengeance and the moral complexities of true heroism.
Jon, Avondale
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963, Rated G)
(Amazon) Spencer Tracy heads a hilariously zany cast that stars Hollywood's greatest comedians and features cameo appearances by every joker and jester in the business. On a winding desert highway, eight vacation-bound motorists share an experience that alters their plans and their lives! After a mysterious stranger divulges the location of a stolen fortune, they each speed off in a mind-bending, car-bashing race for the loot and the most side-splitting laughfest in history.
Jon, Avondale
Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (not rated)
Not your average documentary. No words, no obvious topic, no narrative, no story. Just music and visuals, but what visuals they are, some of the most staggering and stunning in cinema. Relentless and lyrical music by Philip Glass may well put you in a trance. The title is Hopi for “life out of balance.” One of the rare avant-garde movies that has had mainstream success, and one that rewrote what you could do in a mainstream movie.
Richard, BPL Central
A Brief History of Time (Rated G)
1.
This may change the way you look at time, too. You
don’t need to read the Stephen Hawking book of the same name (I haven’t) to
like this documentary about how the universe came to be, how it works and where
it’s going. Hawking, who narrates, demonstrates why the wonder and awe he feels
when faced with the universe made him a scientist. You’ll probably feel the
same after watching this.
Richard, BPL Central2001: A Space Odyssey (Rated G for violence)
Like Barry Lyndon, another Stanley Kubrick movie. Back in the 60s, the heads lined up to watch this over and over, but you don’t need drugs to experience an altered state of consciousness, which 2001 delivers. What is that state? Awe, wonder, tranquility, ecstasy? All, some, none, something else. Whatever happens, it will be personal. The movie also has the greatest jump cut ever. Like Barry Lyndon, it changes your sense of time.
Richard, BPL Central
Bonnie & Clyde (1967, Rated R for violence)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Based loosely on the true exploits of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker during the 30s, the film begins as Clyde (Beatty) tries to steal the car of Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway)'s mother. Bonnie is excited by Clyde's outlaw demeanor, and he further stimulates her by robbing a store in her presence. Clyde steals a car, with Bonnie in tow, and their legendary crime spree begins.
Richard, BPL Central
Barry Lyndon (Rated PG)
Gets my vote as the most beautiful movie in history. That’s only one good thing about it, though. Heartbreaking and devastating. Through the eyes of one man we can see every level of late-18th Century European society, and none of it is pretty (despite the scenery).
Richard, BPL Central
Drugstore Cowboy (Rated R for adult situations, language, and violence)
(Amazon) Gus Van Sant's gripping examination of two couples on a road to self-destruction, robbing drugstores to stay high.
Richard, BPL Central
Ed Wood (Rated R for some strong language, mild sexual references, and drug references)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Hollywood visionary Tim Burton pays homage to another Hollywood visionary, albeit a less successful one, in this unusual fictionalized biography. The film follows Wood (Johnny Depp) in his quest for film greatness as he writes and directs turkey after turkey, cross-dresses, and surrounds himself with a motley crew of Hollywood misfits, outcasts, has-beens, and never-weres. The real story, however, is his friendship with aging, morphine-addicted Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), whom he tries to help stage a comeback.
Richard, BPL Central
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (not rated)
(Rotten Tomatoes) John Huston's 1948 treasure-hunt classic begins as drifter Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), down and out in Tampico, Mexico, impulsively spends his last bit of dough on a lottery ticket. Later on, Dobbs and fellow indigent Curtin (Tim Holt) seek shelter in a cheap flophouse and meet Howard (Walter Huston), a toothless, garrulous old coot who regales them with stories about prospecting for gold. Forcibly collecting their pay from their shifty boss, Dobbs and Curtin combine this money with Dobbs's unexpected windfall from a lottery ticket and, together with Howard, buy the tools for a prospecting expedition.
Richard, BPL Central
Godfather (Rated R for violence, some sexual content, and brief nudity) & Godfather 2 (Rated R for violence, some sexual content, and brief nudity)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time.
Richard, BPL Central
Psycho (1960, Rated R for adult situations, language, and violence)
(Amazon) One of the most shocking films of all time, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho changed the thriller genre forever. Join the Master of Suspense on a chilling journey as an unsuspecting victim (Janet Leigh) visits the Bates Motel and falls prey to one of cinema’s most notorious psychopaths - Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins).
Richard, BPL Central
Double Indemnity (not rated)
One of the best film noir movies, and one of the best movies full stop. Two people in lust try to bump off an inconvenient husband so they can collect insurance big time. He’s going down, she’s further down. Right down the line.
Richard, BPL Central
Sunset Boulevard (not rated)
Like Double Indemnity, another Billy Wilder-directed movie, though not a tragedy. A half-tragedy, though, and a half-comedy. Also noir. A washed-up silent film star plans a comeback with a going-nowhere screenwriter. It doesn’t work. It couldn’t. It’s fascinating to see why.
Richard, BPL Central
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, Rated PG)
A man’s loneliness is reflected in the empty, stunning landscapes. Landscapes have never been more effectively used, and the limits of hero-making have never been probed in a better way. And yet he still seems heroic.
Richard, BPL Central
Beetlejuice (Rated PG for adult situations, language, and violence)
(Amazon) Say his name once, twice and three times nice! A fantastically imaginative comedy about a couple of recently deceased ghosts who contract the services of a bio-exorcist" in order to remove the obnoxious new owners of their former home.
Richard, BPL Central
The Shining (Rated R for adult situations, language, nudity, and violence)
(Amazon) Heeeeere's Johnny! In a macabre masterpiece adapted from Stephen King's novel, Jack Nicholson falls prey to forces haunting a snowbound mountain resort with a terrifying history.
Richard, BPL Central
The Mouse That Roared (not rated)
(Rotten Tomatoes) The economy of the teeny-tiny European duchy of Grand Fenwick is threatened when an American manufacturer comes up with an imitation of Fenwick's sole export, its fabled wine. Crafty prime minister Count Mountjoy (Peter Sellers) comes up with a plan: Grand Fenwick will declare war on the United States.
Richard, BPL Central
Being There (Rated PG)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Based on Jerzy Kosinski's satirical novel about an illiterate gardener who has lived his entire life behind the walls of a Washington, D.C., house, his only knowledge of the world coming from the TV programs he watches. When his employer and protector dies, he is catapulted into the fast lane of political power.
Richard, BPL Central
Le Chagrin et la Pitié (The Sorrow and the Pity, 1970, Rated PG)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Made for French television, Marcel Ophüls' four-hour-plus documentary explores the average French citizen's memories of the Nazi occupation.
Richard, BPL Central
